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Love In Action
A
PREPARATION FOR CHRIST’S COMING
NOTES OF BIBLE TEACHING
GIVEN BY PASTOR O. STOCKMAYER, AT DOVER, APRIL, 1895.
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II
Heavenly Songs
“And I saw, and
behold, the Lamb standing on the Mount Zion, and with Him a hundred
and forty and four thousand, having His Name, and the Name of His
Father, written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven,
as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder:
and the voice which I heard was as the voice of harpers harping with
their harps: and they sing as it were anew song before the throne,
and before the four living creatures and the elders: and no man
could learn the song save the hundred and forty and four thousand,
even they that had been purchased out of the earth. These are they
which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are
they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. These were
purchased from among men, to be the firstfruits unto God and unto
the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no lie; they are without
blemish” (Rev. 14:1-7).
I ask: Who are these hundred and forty and four thousand?
Personally, I see no reason why they should not be identified with
the hundred and forty and four thousand Israelites of chap. 7,
twelve thousand of every tribe. The four angels hold back the four
winds of judgment until they shall have been sealed in their
foreheads (ver. 3); and here we find this company, having the names
of the Lamb and of His Father, written in their foreheads. It maybe
that, under the protection of the Divine seal, they have followed
the Lamb so far that now they can be seen standing with Him upon
Mount Zion. These hundred and forty and four thousand are
firstfruits from among men unto God and the Lamb. The people of
Israel were called in the first place, as a nation to be firstfruits
unto God, from among all people, His “peculiar treasure” (Ex. 19:5-
6); and, as a nation, the people turned back from that call. The
Lord pressed the same call on “a remnant” out of this people of
Israel, and now we see a hundred and forty and four thousand appear
as the firstfruits of Israel. Jesus Christ is “the firstfruits of
them that are asleep” (1 Cor. 15:20, 23); the Church, in a sense,
has succeeded Israel as the firstfruits. “Though the number of the
children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be
saved;” yet afterwards we read, “All Israel shall be saved” (Rom.
9:27; 11:26). It may be that, as the remnant was the firstfruits of
Israel, so there will be a firstfruits of the harvest of the Church.
This company have reached Mount Zion through following the Lamb
whithersoever He goeth.
They have gained a position nearer heaven than others, and therefore
they can hear and learn a song, which is sung by another company in
heaven, singing and harping as the voice of a great thunder. So far
as I can understand, other firstfruits have already arrived in
heaven; the four living creatures, typified, perhaps, by the “sheaf
of the firstfruits” offered to God at the Passover before the “two
wave loaves” of the firstfruits were offered at Pentecost (Lev.
23:10, 15, 20). Neither the living creatures nor the twenty-four
elders are the singing and harping ones, for the new song is being
sung before the throne, and before the four living
creatures and the elders.” In chapter 4:6, we see these living
creatures are “in the midst of the throne, and roundabout the
throne;” and in chapter 5:6, the Lamb is seen standing “in the midst
of the throne and of the four living creatures;” they are identified
with the throne. You see there are different, distinct companies in
heaven, and this other company on earth. Through what apprenticeship
and scholarship, think you, have they become able to learn this
song, which no others on earth can learn? It is clearly stated at
the end of ver. 3, that they had been “purchased out of the earth."
Turning to Phil. 3:17-21, you will find there are two kinds of
people, heavenly and earthly, even within the Church; if I
understand the Apostle aright.
“Brethren, be ye imitators together of me, and mark them which so
walk even as ye have us for an example.” You cannot suppose that
Paul speaks here of the world. The world cannot walk as Paul walked;
it is earthly-minded, and cannot be otherwise. But he says further:
“Many walk, of whom I told you often, and now tell you even weeping,
that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ.”
Enemies of the cross, amongst those who profess that the world is
crucified to them and they unto the world! Without question, there
were in Paul’s time, and there may be still, such enemies of the
cross. An enemy of the cross is one who loves his own life, and has
not yet learned to hate it. The cross does not only mean forgiveness
of sins, but also that through Jesus we are crucified to the world
and to ourselves; not keeping hold of our self-life, our likes and
dislikes. Christians are crucified ones, or they are not Christians.
“Whose end is perdition, whose god is the belly, and whose glory is
in their shame, who mind earthly things.” Earthly people, who mind
earthly things—ambition, love of pleasure, love of the creature,
earthly glory, human approbation; not purchased from the earth, not
purchased from among men. Contrasted with the Church, the people of
Israel is an earthly people. But now, of that earthly people,
Israel, there are first-fruits who have followed the Lamb so far
that they are able to hear and learn heavenly songs.
And now about the other people spoken of in Phil. 3:20: “For our
citizenship is in heaven:”—we are at home in heaven, strangers upon
earth. “Redeemed from among men,” our name is written in the books
above and blotted out from the books and memories of earth. We are
truly crucified ones, established, seated in heavenly places; not
strangers, visiting heaven for Sunday morning worship, but at home
there. Whatever we may be doing on earth we are at the same time
seated in heavenly places; citizens of heaven, while others are
working their way through the earth, like the worm; earthly
creatures, with earthly cares, earthly remembrances and hopes,
earthly lusts and pleasures—they cannot learn heavenly songs.
“For our citizenship is in heaven; from whence also we wait for a
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall fashion anew the body of
our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of His glory,
according to the working whereby He is able even to subject all
things unto Himself.”
No; I do not see, in this hundred and forty and four thousand, the
Church but the firstfruits unto God and the Lamb from among the
Jews, and I ask, and I lay this question on your hearts before God,
whether those whom the angels shall gather from the four winds
(Matt. 24:31), may not be this people of the Old Covenant. Here also
the last may become first, and the first last. Let us, if need be,
learn from these “firstfruits” the elements of Christian life, of
Church life, of Bride life.
One word more about Rev. 14:3.
It is the privilege of members of the body of Christ to learn
heavenly songs. “Teaching and admonishing one another with psalms
and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts
unto God” (Col. 3:16). Spiritual songs, not soulish songs! “Soulish”
should be the adjective of “soul,” as “spiritual” is the adjective
of “spirit.” In 1 Cor. 15:44-45, we read: “It is sown a natural [Gr.
soulish] body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a
natural [Gr. soulish] body, there is also a spiritual body.
So also it is written: ‘The first man, Adam, became a living soul.
The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.’” Spirit is life-giving;
soul is living but not life-giving. Nothing that is of self is
life-giving ; only that which is of the spirit is creative, and
develops life. A soulish man lives unto himself; a spiritual man
lives to serve Christ; his peace, righteousness, and service are for
Christ.
Well, people purchased from the earth, loosed from earth, i.e.,
form self-life, can learn and teach others spiritual songs. Soulish
people love soulish songs; they are not redeemed from the earth, and
they like to enjoy their songs in their so-called worship, and to be
thought much of in their work; they seek their own life; and when
they go out of their meetings they feel no need to keep quiet.
Returning home, things all around them tempt them to impatience, and
having nourished themselves in a worldly way, even in the holy
gatherings of the people of God, they cannot overcome the world.
In 1 Pet. 1:17, we read: “If ye call on Him as Father, who without
respect of persons judgeth according to each man’s work, pass the
time of your sojourning in fear.” Let it be a time of sojourning;
let us be strangers here because we are citizens of heaven. “Knowing
that ye were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or
gold, from your vain manner of life, handed down from your fathers;
but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without
spot, even the blood of Christ.” Through our first birth we are
earthy and earthly; we have inherited corruption from our fathers,
and we have grown up in vanity of conversation, of thought, of hope,
of prospect. What does vanity mean? To have our own self as the
center of our life, to be bound to the corrupt, petrifying corpse of
our own self-life, unable to escape “from the corruption which is in
the world through lust” (2 Pet. 1:4); to seek our own glory even in
seeming devotion, and to love, for our own sake, those whom we find
lovely, and avoid those whose character, education, and manner of
life is unlike our own:—that is “vain conversation” or “manner of
life.”
By the blood of Christ we have been “redeemed;” “purchased” out of
this corrupt, miserable, first world of self, of vanity; purchased
to be members of a kingdom of priests unto God. Whatever is not
lived for God and unto God is vain, corrupt life. God, in His
infinite mercies, must needs redeem us as He redeemed His people of
old from their bondage to be His peculiar treasure. The blood of
Christ has sufficient power to loose us for ever from all the vain
life handed down to us from our fathers, and to enable us to learn
heavenly songs and every secret of heavenly life. Our “life is hid
with Christ in God,” we are purchased; and no old habit, nothing in
earth or in hell, has power to keep us in bondage to our own old
self-life.
Only so far as we have courage to be free from every human bond, and
to do everything for Christ and in Christ, do we really act upon the
world. You must be entirely free from the world, taken out from
among men, before you can definitely exercise divine power upon men,
and be made a blessing to them; otherwise you communicate to others
your own mixed life, half human and half divine, and your work is
not lasting. Only that which comes down from heaven can last to
eternity and produce everlasting fruit. Do not be afraid if you are
misunderstood by your own wife, or your own husband; accused of
being hard and cruel. Let it only make your heart, through the heart
of Christ, more compassionate. The nearer you are to Him the nearer
you are to men, and He can give the key to unlock every heart, as
long as you are thoroughly separated from all and united to God. He
teaches us to love, not to please self or man; we are separated from
among men, to be God’s messengers, the interpreters of His divine
life which has been given to us, and which we must live before we
can communicate it to others. Separated unto God we become a
priest-people, really living for others through separation
from others.
“In their mouth was found no lie, no guile” (A.V.), because they
followed the Lamb. “Neither was guile found in His mouth” (1 Pet.
2:22). First purchased, they now bear the character of the Lamb. If
you want to understand what His character means, you must turn to 1
Pet. 2:19-21:
“For hereunto were ye called.” To what? To suffer when you have not
deserved to suffer; to suffer patiently in well-doing, and
well-doing is love; we do well so far as we love others. Only
purchased ones can so love, because they only are not self-centered;
Christ is their center. Hating their own life all along the way,
there remains no hindrance to unbroken, invincible love; they are
able to “overcome evil with good.” While others are disappointed by
the injustice and iniquity of the world, their love can never be
disappointed for it is never dependent upon the treatment they
receive from others, and the prejudice they meet with only
intensifies their love. It is not nourished by the love of others;
but at the source of eternal love, in the bosom of the Father.
Ingratitude only exercises followers of the Lamb, and brings them
nearer to the heart of Christ, to receive communications of heavenly
love that can overcome the hindrances of daily life. They are called
to suffer, to meet wrong-doing; and when they who have long been
accustomed to be put forward are now thrust into the corner, and
others intrude into the work which they have commenced, they can
recognize them as God’s instruments. They know that the world was
not redeemed by Christ’s miracles, not even by raising the dead, but
His by suffering and dying; and none can hinder them from dying when
once united to Christ. And when you meet with the human sympathy in
your suffering which once pleased you, your heart is now filled with
sorrow. The time is coming when men will not attempt to sympathize
with you; they will see you are the object of God’s highest grace
when called to suffer in well-doing. That is the way to conquer the
world, the way in which Gospel work can bring forth everlasting
fruit.
The world must be evangelized by lambs. “Christ also suffered for
you, leaving yon an example that ye should follow His steps”—the
Lamb’s steps, the same lines of conduct, suffering to conquer,
overcoming evil with good, hatred with love, injustice with
blessing. “Who when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He
suffered, threatened not, but committed Himself to Him that judgeth
righteously ; who His own self bare our sins in His body upon the
tree, that we, having died unto sins, might live unto righteousness:
by whose stripes ye were healed” (ver. 24).
The moment you are glad to let others know any wrong done to you by
your brother, that moment you judge him, and the moment you set
yourself up as judge you are in a wrong, not a right way, where you
will never see light in God’s light. Unless you are in God’s life
you will never have God’s light about the characters, or intentions
of others; and you never can be in God’s light unless you are in His
love. He does not love us for our well-doing, He loved us even when
we were sinners and criminals. You have God’s love so far as there
is in your heart no complaint against a brother or a sister who has
wronged you. God has used your brother or sister, as He used Shimei
when David fled from Absalom. David saw God’s hand directing him.
“Let him curse, because the Lord hath said unto him, Curse David” (2
Sam. 16:10). When an unhappy man comes to put another drop of
suffering into your cup, it is God who permits him, and so you can
love your enemy even when he is doing you a wrong. You are walking
in the footsteps of the Lamb; you are spreading abroad the savor of
Christ’s sufferings and entering into fellowship with Him. My
brother, never murmur against another. Christ “is at the doors,” and
He is using others to bring out in you the Lamb-character: only in
such conditions can you learn not too be anxious about anything. You
will see all things in divine light and divine love. No guile in the
mouth, no reproach in the heart, no murmuring, no complaining! As
sheep you were seeking your own way and your own life, but now you
have returned to that Lamb who through being slain became your
Shepherd, mighty to transform you into lambs (1 Pet. 2: 25). |