The Last Reformation Part 14

Reader, this is the work of reformation that G.o.d is now accomplis.h.i.+ng in the world. Babylon is spiritually fallen, and G.o.d is calling his people out. In the well-known Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary, Rev. A.R. Fausset, commenting on Rev. 18:4, has well said: "Even in the Romish Church, G.o.d has a people; but they are in great danger; their only safety is in coming out of her at once. So also in every apostate or world-conforming church, there are some of G.o.d's visible and true church, who, if they would be safe, _must come out_."

When literal Babylon was overthrown, the Jews escaped to their own land. Likewise G.o.d's people in spiritual Babylon are commanded to come out, and with songs of rejoicing they are to make their way to Mount Zion, and then lend all their efforts to the one work of restoring primitive truth, thus making Jerusalem "the joy of the whole earth."

Like the Jews of old, "the ransomed of the Lord _shall return_ and COME TO ZION with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away"

(Isa. 35:10).

The Psalmist informs us that in Babylon the Jews hung their harps on the willows and wept when they remembered Zion. When their captors demanded of them the songs of Zion, they answered despairingly, "How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?" (Psa. 137:1-4).

Zion's songs were _songs of deliverance_; hence the Jews could not sing them in captivity. So also has it been in spiritual Babylon. But when the ransomed of the Lord "return and come to Zion," "songs and everlasting joy" break forth again.

The Revelator describes this glorious result after the period of the apostasy in these words: "And I saw as it were a sea of gla.s.s mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of gla.s.s, _having the harps of G.o.d_. And they _sing the song of Moses_ [a song of deliverance] the servant of G.o.d, and the song of the Lamb [a song of redemption]" (Rev. 15:2, 3). Those who have returned from Babylon have heavenly harps and can sing the songs of Zion. Praise G.o.d!

"From Babel confusion most gladly I fled, And came to the heights of fair Zion instead; I'm feasting this moment on heavenly bread; I'll never go back, I'll never go back.

"The beast and his image, his mark, and his name, My love or allegiance no longer can claim, Though men may exalt them to honor and fame; I'll never go back again."

The prophecies already cited make clear a mighty religious movement before the end of time, a movement designed to triumph over the apostasy. Since the apostasy was twofold in its nature, comprehending a corruption of evangelical faith and the development of ecclesiasticism, it is evident that the Last Reformation must both restore primitive truth and eliminate ecclesiasticism, thus bringing back to the world the original conception of the church as embracing the whole divine family under the direct moral and spiritual dominion of Christ. It is also evident from the prophecies that this is to be accomplished by literally forsaking the systems of man-rule just as ancient Israel was restored after the captivity by G.o.d's people leaving Babylon and coming home to Zion.

Zion represents the church in its primitive, unified condition under the government and law of Christ alone. Babylon represents a foreign rule and another law. The two systems are fundamentally different.

This difference was true in the type and must therefore be true in the ant.i.type. In the old days of Israel's glory foreigners visited Jerusalem, but their presence in the city of G.o.d did not make them Israelites. And at one time the people of G.o.d were carried into captivity in Babylon, but their presence in that foreign, heathen city _did not make them Babylonians_.

This distinction is also clear in the ant.i.typical relation. We do not have to go to prophetic symbols to find in the New Testament clear predictions of the rise of a false Christianity in opposition to the true. They stand out in marked contrast in the prophecy. On the one side there is a false religious system described as a beast power reigning. On the other side is placed in contrast a company that have gotten the victory over the beast and over his image and over his mark, and they stand on the sea of gla.s.s, having the harps of G.o.d. The mother of harlots appears, but in contrast therewith is seen a pure woman, the bride of Christ. In contrast with Babylon we have Zion.

The sect system, wherein ecclesiasticism reigns and where the full truth in all its purity can not be taught and practised, does not represent the true church, but Babylon. The system is foreign. It contains, however, many _who are not Babylonians_ but children of the divine family--Israelites indeed. The awful judgments of G.o.d p.r.o.nounced against Babylon are directed against the false system itself and the real beast-wors.h.i.+pers it contains, not against the true people of G.o.d, who love their Lord and are willing to walk in the light of his Word as fast as they are able to understand it. When we consider that this sect system has been the means of deceiving millions--millions who will come up in that last day and plead their religious profession, only to hear the awful words, "Depart from me, I never knew you"--when we consider, I say, these evil results, we can not but repeat the words of the prophecy concerning the overthrow of Babylon, "True and righteous are His judgments." The commandment of G.o.d is, "_Come out of her_, MY PEOPLE, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and THAT YE RECEIVE NOT OF HER PLAGUES."

The movement to ignore sect lines and bring the true people of G.o.d into unity is not based upon a mere interpretation of prophecy, however. The necessity of such a work is being felt by the true people of G.o.d everywhere, even those who make no particular claims to knowledge of prophetic interpretation. Knowledge that the ecclesiastical systems of the present day do not represent the real church outlined in the New Testament is all that is absolutely necessary in order to stir the heart for reformatory action. Departure from the truth of G.o.d carries with it responsibility on the part of all those who become awakened to that departure--_responsibility to return to the Bible standard_. A final reformation there must and would be even if it had never been predicted by the prophets of old; for Christ, the great ever-living head of the church, would at the proper time pour out upon his servants the spirit of judgment against all unscriptural systems and forms of wors.h.i.+p and demand the restoration of the pure church of the morning time of our era.

[Sidenote: The future prospect]

The work of G.o.d in the latter days is to be more extensive, however, than simply calling G.o.d's people together from their scattered condition in sect Babylon. There are indications in the prophecy already cited that the "everlasting gospel" is to be carried to the ends of the earth. The movement is to be world-wide. In our consideration of parallel prophecies in Daniel, we saw that the kingdom is represented in two phases--first as a _stone_, under which symbol it broke down the kingdoms of heathen darkness; and then as a _mountain_, when it _is to fill the whole earth_. And again, after describing the 1,260-year reign of the papacy, Daniel said: "But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end. And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom _under the whole heaven_, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and _all dominions shall serve and obey_ HIM"

(Dan. 7: 26, 27).

There is abundant evidence to be seen by the careful observer that there are now at work in the Christian world forces that are preparing for great changes. Christian charity is refusing to be confined by sectarian barriers. The Christian consciousness is becoming aroused to the evils of sectarianism and sectarian systems as it has never been aroused in any past age. There is a longing among spiritual people everywhere to escape from the blighting effect of a divided Christianity. Evangelism is becoming more and more detached from organized denominations, and the denominational lines are being ignored in a way that would have astonished the people of a century ago. Numerous attempts are being made to unite the various denominations on the mission fields and in the homeland. While many of these efforts are mere blind groping for a way out of the fogs of sectarianism, they show unmistakably that back of and underlying all these efforts is a mighty force slowly but surely gathering power that (so far as G.o.d's true people are concerned) shall in time rise to break once for all the rigorous reign of human ecclesiasticism and reestablish in power and glory the simple, primitive theocracy, where Christ shall be exalted as the true and only ruler of his people.

Ecclesiasticism, however, dies hard. In fact, it is scarcely correct to say that it will die at all. The churches of men are largely made up of worldly-minded professors who know not the birth and life of the Spirit. To such the church will never appear as anything different from an inst.i.tution organized and governed after the pattern of the kingdoms of this world. According to the prophecy, G.o.d's true saints will die to ecclesiasticism by forsaking the sect system, but the rule of human churchly power will go right on until the end of time.

Furthermore, we may expect the contrast and the conflict between these two forces to become more p.r.o.nounced as the years go by. While the Revelation represents the call of G.o.d's people out of Babylon as the movement that again brings into prominence the "bride," the true church (chap. 19:1-9), it also reveals the fact that there will be another great movement in opposition to the truth.

"And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of G.o.d Almighty"

(chap. 16:13, 14). The nature and purpose of this gathering is described in another place. "Satan ... shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and _compa.s.sed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city_: and fire came down from G.o.d out of heaven, and devoured them" (chap. 20:7-9).

Let this be a solemn warning to all, that G.o.d's people may discern between the false and the true. The movement that brings together in one the real saints of the Lord is effected by the Spirit of G.o.d, while "unclean spirits" operating in the apostate powers of the ecclesiastical world will effect a totally different union. The distinction is clear in the prophecy and must therefore become true in fact.

The final reformation is on. "Final," I say, because it leaves nothing to be restored as regards either doctrine, practise, or spirit.

It stands committed to the restoration of the whole truth and the harmonious unity of all true Christians in one Christ-ruled, Spirit-filled body. In short, it stands committed to the restoration of apostolic Christianity in its entirety--its doctrines, its ordinances, its personal regenerating and sanctifying experiences, its spiritual life, its holiness, its power, its purity, its gifts of the Spirit, its unity of believers, and its fruits. This reformation will continue until it becomes a great mountain and fills the whole earth, until "the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High."

Nor is this picture of events a mere dream of fanciful idealists; for it is already true in part, and the "more sure word of prophecy" to which we have appealed sustains our hope. The actual fulfilment of so many predicted events a.s.sures us that there shall not fail one word of all his good promises. Already multiplied thousands of the Lord's redeemed people have discerned G.o.d's plan of effecting unity and have completely ignored all the lines of sect and human ecclesiasticism, recognizing as the church nothing else than the entire brotherhood in Christ, and recognizing as ecclesiastical authority nothing else than that moral and spiritual dominion of Christ by which alone he governed his people in primitive times.

This reformation is the movement of G.o.d. It is not a humanly organized movement depending for its success on the ability of men to persuade people to leave other churches and join them. G.o.d himself is breaking down the barriers that divide, and in response to his call the redeemed are forsaking human sects and creeds, and their hearts are flowing together. The center of this movement is not a particular geographical location, nor is its nucleus a particular set of fallible men: the center and nucleus of this world-wide movement is OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, and its operative force is the SPIRIT OF THE LIVING G.o.d, which draws the faithful together in bonds of holy love and fellows.h.i.+p. Mult.i.tudes already recognize no other bonds of union than that moral and spiritual affinity which is the common heritage of all the disciples of Jesus that know the blessed experience of the heavenly birth. Mult.i.tudes more are beginning to see the light of this glorious truth, and in due time Christ, the Light, will illuminate the hearts of all the saved ones. All hail the day that lies just ahead!

"Back to the one foundation, from sects and creeds made free, Come saints of every nation to blessed unity.

Once more the ancient glory s.h.i.+nes as in days of old, And tells the wondrous story--one G.o.d, one faith, one fold."