The Wayside Pulpit No.65
The Moral Dilemma. A Personal Answer
I have received a
sufficiently large number of requests to warrant putting my personal answer out
as a following number of the Wayside Pulpit. I may do it in two parts.
Certainly what I have to say in this article will not be along the expected
lines. It is abundantly clear that my wife and I believe strongly in God's
Total Victory. We have advertised that fact on numerous occasions, together
with many and varied reasons, stemming from a flash revelation back in April
1969, when the Lord showed me His plan for mankind in a most dramatic way, even
though it was not on my mind at the time.
Since writing the last paper,
I have read through the Book of Acts once again, and the following impression
was foremost in my mind as a result. I could not help but see that God was
opening wide the floodgates of His mercy to the Gentiles, but that the Jews
attacked the proposition vigorously, and with vitriolic hatred towards the
Apostles from the word go. During the previous 4000 years, God had been taking
out a "people for His name", first of all from mankind as a whole,
and then from the House of Israel, coupled with a few proselytes. This was for
the express purpose of demonstrating to the rest of mankind what their Creator
God was like, that they may turn to Him and love Him. According to James and
Peter at the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15, God was now breaking down the "middle
wall", the national barrier, and seeking a remnant from peoples of all
nations, and this would continue until "the times of the
Gentiles" were fulfilled, until God had selected, called, chosen, and
trained His disciples to the full number of His requirements. After that, a
whole new regime was forecast, to be known as the
Why did the Jews react so
violently? Was it not because they classed themselves as God's special people,
His only people? Didn't the Jews refer to the Gentiles, the Goyim, as
"dogs"? Were they not distressed beyond measure to hear some of their
own people speak of a widening of God's favour? As a result they could hardly
restrain themselves from anger, violence, and hot-headed anti-social behaviour.
Saul of Tarsus was perhaps the supreme example before his conversion.
But after the passage of
many years, and the dispersion of the Jewish people after A.D. 70, the Gentile
remnant began to flourish without Jewish persecution. And after many more
centuries the world now contains a predominantly Gentile church. Many
thoughtful people in the churches of the world believe that the time has nearly
run out, and that the
What has God in store for
the days of the Kingdom? Putting it another way, what was His purpose in taking
out of the nations of the world "a people for His name" throughout
6000 years of human history? Is it not that the answer is becoming more and
more plain these days, and that many more people are beginning to see the
Scriptural evidence of an even greater expansion of God's grace? In our spirits
are we not being prepared for an event which parallels the first days of
Christianity? And sadly, are we not seeing a resurgence of the same anger,
violence, and hatred that possessed the minds of the Jews 2000 years ago,
whenever that broadening, that expansion, is mentioned? Is it not true
that the church, by and large, looks upon itself as God's special people, and
that all the rest will end up in hell-fire?
But the truth of the matter
is that God's remnant has been called and chosen, not for its own sake, but as
a future ambassador of righteousness, to be sent forth to turn the nations to
righteousness, to help the peoples of the world learn who God is, what He is
like, and that He is now beginning to call ALL MEN EVERYWHERE to Himself. Far
from sending them all to a never-ending hell-fire, God is anxious to
enlighten them, that they may call upon Him for mercy and forgiveness, even as
we have tasted that sweet fruit in days gone by.
It is my own personal
opinion that this is at least PART of the answer to my question about the Moral
Dilemma. It is based on a vision of self-opinionated righteousness and presumed
favouritism amongst Christians, acting as strongly as the pharisaic attitude of
1st century Jews. Human nature has not changed, even if times have changed. If
what I say is true, then the process of bringing in the Kingdom will prove to
be as difficult as it was for the 1st century apostles, and the problems will
NOT arise from the world at large, but from within the church itself.
But God will have His way,
even as He by-passed the nation of
I think I have another
angle to present, but will reserve it for the next number.
From Arthur and Rosalind
Eedle,