Chapter 10

The progress of the gospel of Christ is often hindered or prevented by a hostile public sentiment (Matthew 13:58; 17:20; 10:14; Luke 10:10-12). When Christ sent forth His twelve disciples He recognized the strong opposition which their message and mission would often meet and said, "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves; be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves" (Matthew 10:16). The disciples were taught to expect social ostracism and private and public persecution (Matthew 10:17-26). There were times when they were to flee before the gathering storm of opposition and there were times in which they were to maintain their position to the death, but even if they fled (Matthew 10:23) they were not to cease to preach the gospel.

It is the duty and the right of Christians not only to seek for the regeneration of individuals, but also to protest and work against social and political wrongs and to seek to create and strengthen a strong public Christian sentiment. The Church of Christ should be the conservator and promoter of high moral ideals in every city and town where it has a name and place and seek to extend its good influence into regions where it has no standing.

Better Conditions of Living.--The Bible is always upon the side of the oppressed and down-trodden. No laws ever enacted by any nation ever made it so easy for the working man as the Mosaic ordinances; every seventh day (Exodus 20:9,10) was a day of rest; there were seven feasts in seven months which called for many other days of rest; every seventh year (Leviticus 25:2-7) was a rest year; and every fiftieth year (Leviticus 25:10-17) was one of rest and restitution. Christ everywhere championed the cause of the poor and the heavy burdened (Matthew 9:36; 11:28-30; 11:4,5).

But the Bible also clearly sets forth the fact that little can be done towards bettering even the material conditions of living when men's hearts are not right towards God. If a man lets the spirit of avarice reign over him, no matter how much money he may have he will still want more and he will not care whom he oppresses to get it. If the spirit of a purely worldly pleasure rules him his money will go into a bottomless pit and he will not care whom he makes suffer to get more money to gratify his insatiable desires.

Better material conditions of work and living can only come from the adoption of high moral and spiritual standards and in advocating these the Christian Church to-day is the truest friend of the oppressed.

The Maintenance of Law and Order.--It is not an unusual thing for political parties to elect men to offices of trust and then to have these same men refuse to enforce the laws which they have sworn to uphold. In consequence we have all kinds of abuses and evils growing up in the body politic. Too often the political race is for the honour and the spoils of position.

Outside the political arena stands the Christian Church and it can, if it will, demand that clean and upright men, whatever the issues of the parties may be, be placed in nomination. Here Christians may hold the balance of power. If their loyalty is to Christ first of all they will vote for no man for any office who is known to be of an evil character. The maintenance of law and order depends in large measure, in any community, upon the Christian sentiment of that community.

The Turning of the World to Christ.--The Christian's hope is that Christ may be Lord of and dominate the individual and the home life, the social, the business and the political worlds, as well as the ecclesiastical.

The worship of God in Christ ought not to be only upon a particular day or in a certain place, but upon all days and in every place men should lift up their hearts to Him (John 4:21-24). If He is Lord of all (John 1:1-14; 14:9-13) He should be Lord of all; there is no matter too small and none too great to bring before Him. When Christ said, "Go ye therefore and teach all nations ... teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:19,20) He meant that His teachings should be dominant over all the earth and in every department of life. And for this we pray "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10). It is only as this kingdom shall come in power that we can expect to better the conditions under which men live and work.

HOPE IN THE FUTURE LIFE

Christianity is not small in its anticipations, its desires, its aspirations and its plans.

It speaks of a large hope for the future, so large that many men fail to comprehend its magnificence (John 11:23-26; Mark 16:11). It declares that while the body may be placed in the grave, the real man never dies. Man in all that he thinks and does lives with two worlds plainly in view, the one that now is and the one which is to come.

The disciples immediately after the ascension of Christ began to preach and teach the resurrection from the dead (Acts 2:30-32; 3:15; 4:10,33; 1 Corinthians 15:1-8). They used this fact of the resurrection as a reason for the belief in Christ as the Saviour of men, a forsaking of sin and an incentive to a life of righteousness. They taught, as Jesus Himself did, that this life, no matter how great its opportunities, was but the vestibule to a new and larger life beyond the grave. It is better to sacrifice everything in this life, if necessary, rather than to miss the glory of the life to come (Matthew 5:29; 10:28; Mark 9:47). No good deed done in this life, in the name of Christ, can fail of large reward in the life to come (Matthew 19:28,29; 25:34-40). By this emphasis, which was laid upon the future life, the horizon of thought and action was marvellously widened. Men were taught no longer that they were to exist for a few years and then go out forever into the darkness of annihilation, good and bad alike, but that they were to live forever.

Conscious Personal Existence of the soul after death. This fact is conspicuously taught in the Gospels, the Acts, the Epistles and Revelation. In the world to come people are not shades or ghosts, but they have certain bodies (1 Corinthians 15:44), they know themselves to be and are known as the same persons who once lived on the earth (Matthew 17:2-4; Luke 24:36-48; John 20:24-28; 11:25,26; Luke 16:19-31; 23:42,43). Christ said, "But as touching the resurrection of the dead have ye not read, that which was spoken unto you by God saying, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but the living" (Matthew 22: 31,32).

Eternal Citizenship in heaven. The aim of Christianity is to make men righteous. The abode of the blessed hereafter is one wherein dwells holiness, purity and truth.

There are conditions and hindrances to the entering of the abode of the blessed.

1. Conditions. The great prerequisite to entering into the joy of heaven is righteousness, perfect obedience to the law of God. But every man of himself, when he enters into an honest self-examination, feels that he comes far short of the perfect keeping of the divine commands (1 John 1:8,9; Romans 3:23). He needs forgiveness for past disobedience, he needs help to lead a righteous life. Hence Jesus Christ, the divine Son of God, came that through His life and death we might receive pardon for past sin and help to live the righteous life (John 3:16-23). What man could not do for himself Jesus Christ does for him (Romans 3:20-26). The disciples of Christ were rightly enthusiastic in proclaiming Him as the propitiation for man's sin and belief in Him, with all that it implied, as the entrance gate into the heavenly life. Jesus said of Himself, "I am the way, the truth and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by Me" (John 14:6). "In My Father's house are many mansions if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also" (John 14:2,3).

2. Hindrances. The great hindrance to the entering of heaven is disobedience of God, not only acts of disobedience but a state of disobedience, where the soul of man desires to have no fellowship with God or His righteousness. There is a disobedience of God through carelessness, through ignorance and through willfulness; there is little hope for a man when he deliberately turns his back upon God. It is wonderfully shown in the Bible how God has sought to make Himself known to man and to save him here and hereafter. Every possible appeal has been made to man to turn to God. The Scriptures give no answer of hope for a happy hereafter for those who deliberately reject all of God's invitations and pleadings in this world (Matthew 25:46; Daniel 12:2; John 5:29; Romans 2:1-6).

The Glory of Heaven.--The New Testament writers vie with each other in striving to make plain the glory of heaven. John describes it, in a vision, as a magnificent city of gold and precious stones, wherein can come no evil thing (Revelation, chapters 21,22). "And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their honour and glory into it" (Revelation 21:23,24). The real glory of heaven, however, is not in its outward adornment or pageantry, but in the triumph of righteousness and the supreme reward of constancy to the truth of God (Revelation 7:9-17). The holiness of God is vindicated (Revelation 4:8,9). "The tabernacle of God is with men" (Revelation 21:3,4), and every good deed stands out glorified in the clear white light of eternity. Every saint in heaven will feel that he has the hundredfold reward for all the sacrifices he made when upon the earth for the kingdom of God.

The effort of the New Testament writers is to make the followers of Christ joyfully do their work here, much of which may be distasteful and difficult. "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:2). It is worth while to work for a limited future earthly reward; it is much more worth while to work for a heavenly reward which shall endure throughout eternity.

QUESTIONS

What can be said of the Christian's hope in the present life? What is the regeneration of the individual through faith in Christ? What is meant by the enlightenment of the social conscience? How can better conditions of living be secured through Christ? How can law and order be maintained through the advancement of Christian principles? What is the Christian's hope in turning the world to Christ? What is the Christian's hope in the future life? What is meant by conscious personal existence after death, eternal citizenship, the glory of heaven?