The Restitution Times
"Whom heaven must receive until the Times
of Restitution of all things" Acts
A series of papers devoted to the restoring of
original truth.
By Arthur & Rosalind Eedle
Oxleigh,
Home page www.oxleigh.freeserve.co.uk
No. 19 Old and New
Covenants.
For the
last 23 years we have lived in a farmhouse in rural Lincolnshire. The original
house was built about 1780, and when our extension was being built some years
ago, and one of the old original ceilings was taken down, we found a silver
coin dating from the reign of George III. An interesting momento! Our house is
situated along a narrow farm road, originally called Langham Row, leading
to Wesley House. This was named after John Wesley who used to visit on
horseback during the years 1779 - 1788. They constructed a wooden
pulpit in the farmyard for his use, and this was still standing until some
years ago, when it finally rotted away. In Wesley's journal he wrote that he
preached to a "congregation gathered from many miles around." A
particular entry for Sunday 18th June 1780 refers to his journey from Wainfleet
to Louth, as follows, "We now passed into Marshland, a fruitful and
pleasant part of the county. Such is Langham Row in particular, the abode of
honest John Robinson and his fourteen children. Although it was a lone house,
yet such a multitude of people flocked together that I was obliged to preach
abroad. It blew a storm, and we had several showers of rain, but no one went
away. I do not wonder that this Society is the largest, as well as the
liveliest, in these parts of Lincolnshire." By the time Wesley came on
Tuesday 1st July 1788 Mr Robinson had doubled the size of the meeting house,
and yet so many came to hear him that it overflowed.
The reason
for reporting this little snatch of history is as follows. From other parts of
Wesley's journal he tells of his standard method in preaching to various rural
localities in Lincolnshire. He sent on in advance certain stalwarts of the
faith, to teach the local people the Ten Commandments, so that by the time he
arrived to preach, there was a clear message to be spelled out, namely that
they were all in default at one point or another, and the knowledge of their
sin had become manifest to them. He was then able to lead them to a knowledge
of salvation via repentance and accepting Christ as Saviour.
Many other
famous preachers of the Gospel have used the same method, as may be found by
reading the biographies of men such as Charles Finney, and Dwight L. Moody in
America, and Charles Haddon Spurgeon in Britain. The Ten Commandments formed
the basis of the Old Covenant, but some are now speaking of this Covenant in
detrimental terms. However, it must be remembered that it was God's Covenant,
and it was not faulty because it drove men to realise their need of God's
mercy. It was a Covenant of Death because all men are sinners, but without the
Law, without the declaration of God's standards, personal knowledge of sin
would of necessity be extremely partial.
The New
Covenant is mentioned in Jeremiah 31. God said that He would write His laws in
men's hearts, not just on tablets of stone. The New Covenant is therefore not
an abolition of law, but God's own answer - a covenant between Jesus and His
Father which He kept perfectly for us. So as we become part of
Christ we, enabled by His Spirit, can walk righteously before
God. Paul declared that the law is holy and righteous and good, but he
bewailed the fact that he was born under sin. The law drove him to Christ to be
saved. The Psalmist (119) said, "Great peace have they who love Thy law,
and they shall have no stumblingblock." To do away with God's Moral
Code is to court disaster. It was God's vehicle to bring men to repentance
and faith in Christ. Even in O.T. days, this lesson was known and
respected by many, as the 11th chapter of Hebrews is witness. That is why we
read in the O.T. about circumcising the heart, not just the flesh. Men were
expected to honour the Law, and "keep" it. The word "keep"
means to treasure it, rather than to fulfil it. They would very soon learn that
they could never fulfil it in the flesh, but to "keep" it was to
respect the Law and God who gave it, and realise why He instituted it. The
Law was and is intended to be the Absolute standard against which we all fall
so that we recognise our need of a Saviour. Then after we have believed and are
in Christ, it remains as that standard which convicts and causes us to throw
ourselves on our knees before our Saviour. "The battle against sin is
obligatory for believers in Christ. . . . Only as we strive to put to death the
desires of our sinful natures do we become truly conscious of how great our gratitude
for Christ's work should be, and how dependent we are on the power of the Holy
Spirit. . . . As Christians, then, we are to submit to God's law because the
law tells us what is pleasing to God, it tells us what the things of the Spirit
are, and it tells us what it means practically to walk in the Spirit.
Paul is not speaking about justification, he is
referring to how we as justified Christians are to live each day. (Quote
from Ranald Macaulay and Jerram Barrs in their book, "Being Human.")
If we speak
disparagingly of the Great Moral Code of the Ten Commandments, then we treat
the Old Covenant as something that was faulty, having to be corrected by
Jesus when He came to earth. Anyone who holds such a perverted view should
think again, and repent. The escalating scene of violence and perversion in
the world is directly related to the way in which "The Gods of the
Copybook Headings" have been replaced by the "Gods of the Market
Place," to quote Kipling. One may trace the modern growth of lawlessness,
starting from the end of the second world war, to the abolition of
time-honoured laws. In one way it is not surprising to find the world
doing this, but when so many Christians are also speaking the language of
lawlessness, where on earth can man find the place of repentance any longer?
Sin is endemic to man. The Moral Law in both Testaments is given to help man
recognise that fact. To despise the Law is to prevent man from being driven to
Christ for salvation. That is a cunning device of the Devil.