Many who are evidently children of God believe
that the gospel is preached to those dead in sin for the
purpose of quickening them; that the Lord uses the
ministry of the word as the ordinary means of bringing
his people from death to life. I believe this to be an
error, and like all error it tends to the discomfort of
those among the living family of God who embrace it.
Throughout the scriptures living souls are designated
as the subjects of gospel address. "He hath
anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor." (Luke
4:18) "The poor have the gospel preached to them."
(Matt. 11:5) "Children of the stock of Abraham, and
whosoever among you feareth the Lord, unto you is
the word of this salvation sent." (Acts 13:26) "Ho,
every one that thirsteth." (Isaiah 55:1) "I am not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of
God unto salvation to every one that believeth."
(Rom.1:16) All these, the poor, those who fear God, the
thirsty and the believer, are living characters. But
when it is said that to such only is the gospel sent, then
some will assume that we believe that the minister
must be careful to select those whom he knows to be
the elect and speak only to them. The apostles whom
the Saviour sent "unto all the world," that is, among
Gentile nations as well as to the Jews, could not know
the elect until they were manifest by believing the
gospel which they preached. They proclaimed the
gospel, the glad tidings of salvation, wherever a door
was opened in providence to all that came within the
sound of their voice; and so do all of the ministers of
Jesus Christ. But none hear it spiritually but those
who have spiritual ears; none believe it but those who
have faith to believe. Some say it is to be preached to
those without faith. In a literal sense this is true, but
not in order to produce faith in them, but to separate
from among them those who have faith. Paul tells
some unto whom the gospel was preached who were not
profited by it because they had no faith. (Heb. 4:2)
If one should be sent with a message from a king to all his subjects
in a certain distant land, he would not have to inquire out those subjects
before delivering it; for the message itself, proclaimed openly among
the people, would find out those in whose native language it was
delivered, and thus distinguish them from among all the multitudes
as the ones unto whom it was sent. So the gospel is a message of
glad tidings sent in the language of Canaan, and though proclaimed
among all people, none hear and understand but those who have been
born of God. Unto these he "has turned a pure language," and by
hearing and believing that sweet message they are manifest as those
unto whom it was sent by the Great King. These are new creatures in
Christ, unto all of whom the gospel is preached.
The Saviour said to his apostles, "Go ye into all the
world, and preach the gospel to every creature." The
expression "every creature" is acknowledged by all to
have a limited meaning. Unlimited, it would embrace
the animal creation. But all must acknowledge that it
is still further limited, for it could not include infants
and those not literally capable of hearing and understanding.
(This shows that the preaching of the gospel
is not necessary to eternal salvation, as some ignorantly imagine,
for infants of days, removed from this
world, sing the glory through Jesus Christ our Saviour.)
But of those who are capable of hearing and
understanding naturally, how very few have ever heard
the literal sound of the gospel. If, then, we understand
the Saviour's command to the apostle to be that they
should preach the gospel to every one of the race of
Adam who was capable of hearing and understanding
the words, we must conclude that his command has
not been obeyed, and that the will of God has not been
done. But this cannot be, for many scriptures declare
that all of his will is done in heaven and on earth; that
whatsoever his soul desireth even that he doeth."
Also, he declared that "The poor have the gospel
preached to them." And an inspired apostle has said
that this gospel of the kingdom was preached to every
creature which is under heaven. (Col. 1:23) It has been
asserted that the expression, "every creature," as
used by the apostle does not mean the same as when
used by the Saviour. But to prove this assertion the
very point in controversy is assumed. It is said that the
apostle could not have meant that the Saviour's command
was fulfilled, because the gospel had not then
been preached very far from the Mediterranean Sea.
But the apostle is authority for believing the gospel
was preached to every creature which is under heaven
in that age, and has been ever since, in full obedience
to the Saviour's command, which embraced every
creature only in a spiritual sense, every one who is
created in Christ Jesus. These only have ears to hear,
and the Saviour said, "Let them hear." These only
hunger and thirst after righteousness, and the Saviour said
"They shall be filled." These only are poor in
spirit, and the Saviour said, "Unto the poor the gospel
is preached."
How often it is said that the preaching of the gospel
is the means of quickening dead sinners. But it is not
so said in the Bible. Our Saviour said, "As the Father
raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the
Son quickeneth whomsoever he will." And again, "It
is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing."
And again, "The hour is coming and now is when
the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and
they that hear shall live." "Yes," it is replied, "this is
true, but the spirit sends that life or quickening power
through the preaching of the word; the dead hear the
voice of the Son of God in the gospel, believe and live."
A little more thoughtful attention would cause them
to reverse the order of those words, remembering that
life must precede both hearing and believing. And in
considering all the scriptures which are presented to
sustain the idea that the preaching is instrumental in
bringing the dead to life, such as the command to teach
all nations, and the apostles' obedience to that command,
and the declaration that many hearing the
preaching believed, we must bear in mind that none
but the living can be taught, or can believe.
There are no instances recorded where eternal life
is said to have been communicated through the preaching
of the gospel. But there are instances where it is
known to have been possessed by those who had not
heard the preaching by human lips, as the eunuch, the
jailor, Saul of Tarsus and Cornelius with all his house;
and in the case of Lydia the power of God is expressly
declared as preparing her to attend the things spoken,
while Paul was preaching. In my mind this is expressly
to teach that the preaching, and the preparation to
hear and receive the preaching, are to be considered as
distinct from each other. It was not said that the Lord
opened Lydia's heart through Paul's preaching. I
must therefore believe that not only in some, but in all
cases, spiritual life is communicated before there is
power to hear and believe, instead of being given
through and by the hearing. The life must precede the
hearing, though it be but for an instant.
It is very often the case that condemnation on
account of sin is first felt when not under the sound of
preaching, and often by those that never heard the
truth preached. Also deliverance from that condemnation
is experienced most generally, perhaps, when
the poor soul is in secret trying to cry and beg for
mercy. Now the preaching of the gospel can be heard
and understood by that one. If he has sat under the
sound of it before, it now has a new sound. It tells what
he has felt. He believes because he has the witness in
his own heart to prove the truth of what the preacher
says. It is to him the power of God unto salvation,
because that power has been experienced within him.
"This gospel of the kingdom," the Saviour said," must
be preached in all the world, for a witness unto all
nations, and then shall the end come" (Matt. 24:44)
This was done before the apostles had fully finished
their work in declaring the end of that dispensation,
and establishing the gospel church in all its order in obedience
to the command of Christ. It must be preached, not to quicken dead
sinners, but for a witness, manifesting those unto Saviour
has communicate eternal life and the glad tidings of
salvation. The preacher can tell no one anything
which has not already been taught him by that anointing
which he has received of Jesus, and which teaches
of all things. (I John 2:27) And it is only concerning the
work of God's grace and his power unto salvation
experienced in the heart that any one is fed with
knowledge and understanding by the pastors after
God's own heart whom he sends unto them. It is
supposed by some that "Feed my sheep," is not the
limit of the Saviour's command to the apostles, and of
the apostle's directions to ministers; that when Paul
said to Timothy, "Preach the word," he opened up a
larger field of labor than when he said to the Elders of
Ephesus, "Feed the church of God which he hath
purchased with his own blood." But did the apostles or
ministers ever preach anything in obedience to his
command but the truth as it is in Jesus? And is not
every part of that truth always the food which is to be
ministered to the sheep and lambs, to the church of
God? Did any one ever profit by the preaching of the
gospel but the sheep? Then it must be acknowledged
that neither apostle or prophet can go beyond the
command given to Peter, "Feed my lambs."
To speak of the Lord using means and instrumentalities to
bring his people from death to life appears to
me derogatory to his majesty and power. It seems like
limiting the Holy One of Israel. Although many who
believe this would not limit him, but wish to honor his
name. If such a thing were expressly declared in the
scriptures that would settle it as the truth, but since it
is not, it is always an inference. In defending the
doctrine of means, one says, "The tool of the mechanic
will of itself never accomplish anything, yet in all the
mechanic's purposes the tool and its uses are included."
And with this he illustrates how he supposes
the gospel ministry has been appointed by God as
instruments to be used in severing the stones from the
rocks, and in building up the church. But the mechanic
is dependent upon the tool. Is the Lord dependent
upon the ministry to do that work? The very thought
is limiting him. I know it is said that he has ordained
the means with the end. But when the Bible talks that
way, I will receive it. He has ordained everything, in
a certain absolute sense. Nothing transpires but is in
accordance with his eternal purpose. He has chosen to
feed his people by the hand of poor sinners saved by
grace, but he does not speak of them as means and
instrumentalities. This is the inference of men, and is
calculated to make them appear of some importance.
And generally the means are said to be in men's hands,
as though the Lord worked by means but men used the means.
He works in and through them by his controlling and directing
spirit, causing them to preach in such a way that the excellency of the
power may be of God and not of man. But not to give life through them
or through their preaching.
The same author just alluded to speaks of the ram's
horns as the means by which the walls of Jericho fell
down, and implies that the preaching of the gospel is
thus represented as the means of quickening dead
sinners. But Paul in presenting the truth concerning
this subject, does not even allude to the blowing of the
ram's horns, but says, "By faith the walls of Jericho fell
down after they were compassed about seven days."
One might reply that faith enabled them to use the
means. Then we must refer to some of the other
examples which the apostle gives in the same connection
of the character and power of faith to see if this is
to be so understood. "By faith Enoch was translated
that he should not see death." "By faith women
received their dead raised to life." Were any means
used here? Were the empty pitchers and lamps and
trumpets in the hands of Gideon's little army means
by which the Midianites were overthrown, or were
they dispersed by the sword of the Lord and of Gideon?
the word of God, which by faith the little company
believed. In all these instances the apostle is showing
examples of faith as the substance of things hoped for;
the evidence of things not seen. Faith is the knowledge
of God's will and purpose which he gives to his people
according to his own pleasure, causing them to desire
and pray for the very things he has foreordained for
them, and to be absolutely assured of them, so that
they will move on in obedience to his commands
against impossible barriers, against all the dictates of
worldly wisdom, not to effect the fulfillment of his
purposes, but to display the power of that faith of
which he is the author and finisher, by holding the
pitchers and lamps, compassing the walls, blowing the
ram's horns, and even sounding the trumpet of victory
before the enenmy knows of defeat. Joshua did not say
Shout, that the Lord may give you the city, but,
"Shout, for the Lord hath given you the City" and after
that the walls fell down. The Lord threw them down
without the aid of the ram's horns. He overthrew the
armies of the aliens. He raised the dead to life,
and translated Enoch that he should not see death.
And he gave his people faith as the substance and evidence of
these things before they were seen, and by that faith
made them overcome the world. They were witnesses
of his work. And so are all the Lord's servants witnesses
of his work. He sent Paul as a witness both of the things he
had seen, and those things which he would appear unto him.
(Acts 26:16) If any insist that the Lord Jesus opened the eyes
of the heathen and turned them from darkness to light through
the preaching of Paul, they must still remember that only the
living are blind. That the Pharisees, our Saviour said,
were not blind in the sense that those were whose eyes
he came to open. Those who experience a hope are
often left long in the bondage of error and delusion,
before the Lord sends the truth home to them, opening their
eyes to see it as in accordance with what they
have experienced. So when they hear the truth
preached and the Lord attends it with power to them
as living souls, their eyes are opened to see it, they
believe it, they are turned from the darkness of error
to the light of it, and as sheep they feed upon it.
"Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth,
that we should he a kind of first-fruits of his creatures."
(James 1:18) This is regarded by some as a declaration
that the preaching of the word quickened
those alluded to. But the apostle James includes
himself with those of whom he speaks. What he says
of them was true in his case. But we know he was not
made alive by means of preaching, for the Saviour
called him by his own voice, saying, follow me. That same voice is heard
by all his sheep. By him as the word they are begotten and born,
for Peter says 'Being born again, not of corruptible seed' but of
incorrupible by the word of God which lives and abideth forever."
He does not say they are born again by the preaching of the gospel,
but he says that this word of God by which they are born again and
which endures forever, is the word by which the gospel is preached unto
them. (1Peter 1:23-25) That word is Jesus, whose name in salvation
called the Word of God. (Rev. 19:13). This is the word which
was in the beginning and which was God, and which was made flesh and
dwelt among us, and we behold his glory, the glory as
of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and
truth. (See John 1:1,14) The gospel is not this word,
but is glad tidings of it. This word by the gospel is
preached unto the saints who have felt the glorious
power thereof, as the apostle John says: "That which
was from the beginning, which we have heard, which
we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked
upon, and our hands have handled of the word of life,
(for the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and
bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life
which was with the Father, and was manifested unto
us) that which we have seen and heard declare we unto
you, that your fellowship may be with us." (I John 1:1,14)
Here is the word of truth, the word of life, the word
of God, the eternal life, by which the saints are all
begotten and born again. This is the word of God by
which hearing and faith come. If that word of God be
not in the heart, there can be no power to hear, nor can
the faith or truth of the gospel be received. For Isaiah
says, "Lord, who hath believed our report?" They all
heard literally, for "their sound went into all the earth,
and their words unto the ends of the world." But only
those who had been begotten by the word of truth
could hear and understand. (Rom. 10: 15-20)
The gospel stands contrasted with the law. A little
consideration of this point will show that the gospel
cannot be to the dead, but to the living. The Lord's
people must first know the law in its condemning
power before they can receive the gospel, the glad
tidings of salvation. But none can know himself to be
a lost sinner, justly condemned by the holy law of God,
until he has been made alive by the quickening spirit
of God. Only by the light of divine life can one see
himself dead in trespasses and sin. Paul was alive
spiritually or the coming of the commandment would
not have caused sin to revive and him to die. It is only
to the living soul that the law is felt to be a ministration
of condemnation and death. On the day of Pentecost
there were many living souls, who up to that time had
been working under the law. When Peter was inspired
by the Holy Ghost to proclaim the end of that dispensation,
and the abrogation of its ritual service by the
death of Christ whom they had crucified, and to proclaim
him as having been made both Lord and Christ,
this word that he preached pricked them in the heart,
inflicting a death wound, killing them to all hope of
ever again approaching a holy God by the works of the
law. Only those who had spiritual life, and were by
that enabled to see the just demands of the law,
making its service a heavy yoke to them, and yet
knowing no other way of pleasing God but by striving
to keep it, only those could be pricked in the heart. No
natural man was thus made to feel the sword of the
spirit which is the word of God. But those who had
seen a necessity for a sacrifice for sin, as Abel did, and
who had heretofore known no other than that which
pertained to the worldly sanctuary and Levitical priesthood,
were made to feel the hopelessness of their case
when the end of that dispensation of legal sacrifices
was announced, and they were assured that God would
never accept them again. Then was fulfilled in their
experience the words of Joel, the prophet. The sun,
representing all natural wisdom and knowledge, was
turned into darkness, the moon, representing the law,
was turned into blood, demanding the death of the
sinner, and they saw signs of death, destruction and
desolation in those legal heavens and in that legal
earth, blood and fire and pillars of smoke, and cried
out, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" Then
Peter proclaimed to them the gospel and its blessings
and privileges, and they gladly received his word.
This was apostolic work. Since the last word by the
apostles was spoken and written none can ever do
apostolic work again. They are still on the twelve
thrones, but it is by the words left on record that they
judge the church of God.
But in the experience of the saints the same order
still prevails. First a knowledge of the law by the light
of divine life, then a knowledge of the death it demands, then
an experience of salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord.
In this experience the preacher can render no help. But this preaching
follows on in the path the Savior leads. He tells the story to the hearer
no faster than it is told in his own soul by the Savior. His preaching of
the truth is sweet, for its sweetness has been felt within. Many have
passed through all the order of experience, from the first knowledge of
the law's demands to a full deliverance, before they ever heard the gospel
preached by man. Then from that time it is a savor of life unto them.
They are fish that are caught by it. They are sheep and lambs
to be fed by it. Wherever they are, among false
professors, or in the world of the unbelievers, they can
never listen to it with indifference, but it will have a
drawing power upon their souls. By it they are ministered
to, edified, perfected in the knowledge of the
truth whose power is in the heart, sustained under
heavy trials, comforted in affliction, encouraged in
darkness, until they have finished their course as
witnesses in this world of sin and sorrow. Then
tongues will cease, prophecies will fail. Knowledge
will vanish away, faith will be lost in sight. And love,
sweet, holy love, which has been the one never failing
light and comfort and guide of our souls while here,
will open to us the gates of eternal day, and usher us
into that world where all is love.
Please direct your comments to
Mike Krall.