Part 6

The one way to be ready for his coming, to have boldness and not to be ashamed, is to abide in him. “Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not” (1 John 3:6); to be cleansed from sin and to abide in that cleansing makes us ready for his coming. If we are not enjoying the Victorious Life, which is just another way of saying “abiding life,” we are not ready for his coming. And if we are not ready for his personal coming, we are not ready for his presence in our midst now. That which gives us boldness _then_ is what gives us boldness before his throne _now_ when we come to pray. “Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, we have boldness toward God: and whatsoever we ask we receive of him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight ... and he that keepeth his commandments abideth in him, and he in him” (1 John 3:21, 22, 24).

If the coming of the Lord is in God’s Word linked so vitally with a life of personal holiness, it is essential that Christians should understand what the Spirit has revealed to us concerning the truth of his coming. It is only at our peril that we neglect it. It is not an accident that most of those who are rejoicing in the Victorious Life are or become deeply interested in the truths of the Word concerning Christ’s coming.

But how shall we know whether our view of his Second Coming is the Scriptural view?

Testing Our View of His Coming

There are two tests that will show with certainty to what extent our belief about Christ’s coming is a vital heart belief such as the Apostles had. The first test concerns more definitely our personal relation to his coming. Is the hope of his coming a real hope for you that makes it the incentive to be ready and makes it a real event to watch for with expectation, as for the return of a loved one?

The second test relates to the whole sweep of God’s purposes of redemption and the part that Christ’s Second Coming plays in them. A right understanding at this point will determine the general plan of activities of the Church of Christ and of the individual Christian in this present day of Grace. How essential then to know God’s thought on this subject, and how idle to suggest that this truth is not of practical bearing on present service. Both the spirit of service and the scope of service are involved, and these two tests show how intensely practical and necessary is the right view of his coming.

The first test has already been considered, and it is seen that the Victorious Life truth is vitally linked with the hope of his coming. The second test of our belief regarding his coming is even more fundamental, and again it will be seen to be closely tied up with the heart secret of the Victorious Life, and with the truth of regeneration as well.

It is a common thing to speak of the doctrine of Christ’s Second Coming as of greater or less relative importance than certain other doctrines; thus, it is pointed out that the Second Coming is mentioned more often in the New Testament than any other doctrine except that of the atonement. It leads to confusion thus to speak of the teachings of the Word as though they could be divided. While it is convenient to study the doctrines separately we miss a great truth if we fail to remember that all these teachings brought to us by the Word of God are connected one with the other and together form a complete unity.

The Second Coming Necessary to the Atonement

The doctrine of Christ’s Second Coming is not a teaching apart from the atonement, but is _necessary to the atonement_. That is, God’s plan of redemption for us cannot be completed apart from the coming of Christ and the events connected with that coming. His coming therefore is essential to salvation. Not that the understanding of the doctrine is essential to individual salvation. A sinner needs to know very little Scripture in order to be saved; when the Spirit has convicted him of sin a single sentence of Glad Tidings will suffice. But it requires the whole redemptive purposes of God to make that salvation possible. And those redemptive purposes include the appearing a second time of the God-man, our Lord Jesus Christ. The importance of our Lord’s Second Coming, then, is exactly parallel with the importance of his first coming and of his present ministry for the believer.

The Word of God presents salvation in a threefold aspect. There is the past, the present, and the future of salvation. “We were saved; we are being saved; we shall be saved.”

The Three “Appearings”

On every side these three aspects of salvation are emphasized in the Word. Attention has frequently been called to the three appearings mentioned in the ninth chapter of Hebrews: “_now to appear_ in the presence of God for us ... now once in the end of the world _hath he appeared_ to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself ... and unto them that look for him _shall he appear_ the second time without sin unto salvation” (Heb. 9:24, 26, 28).

In the three Shepherd Psalms the same truth is shadowed forth. The twenty-second Psalm points to the redemption accomplished on Calvary, and is the Psalm of crucifixion and resurrection; the twenty-third Psalm is a picture of the present resurrection life in Christ; and in the twenty-fourth Psalm we have the picture of the coming King. He is seen in these three Psalms as the Good Shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep; as the Great Shepherd who rose again from the dead, who makes us perfect “in every good thing to do his will, working in us that which is well-pleasing in his sight” (Heb. 13:20, 21); and as the Chief Shepherd who will appear to give the crown of glory to his faithful servants (1 Peter 5:4).

This threefold salvation is sometimes spoken of as justification, sanctification, and glorification: first, salvation from the penalty of sin; second, salvation from the power of sin; and third, salvation from the possibility of sin.

There are three fundamental errors by which Satan seeks to rob of its power this threefold Gospel, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ in his past, present, and future work.

Discounting Christ’s Past Work

There is the teaching that we are saved from the death penalty of our sins by Christ plus our own effort. This error finds expression in many ways. One mistake, more common in the past generation than to-day, is to consider it presumptuous to be sure of salvation. Now if the work is wholly Christ’s it cannot be presumptuous to be certain that that work is complete and is satisfactory to the Father. Then there is the belief that salvation from death and hell depends on our holding on to Christ, and since we may fail and thus fall away, we are never entirely sure of salvation until death comes or until the Lord comes to claim us. These teachings present a subtle _mixture of works and grace_. If we are saved by grace, if redemption is entirely the work of Christ, then may we indeed have assurance of eternal salvation. In its extreme form this error is pure paganism, salvation by our own efforts. In its more refined and moderate form it keeps Christians from the glorious present assurance of their eternal safety in the Lord Jesus. The safeguard against all these errors is to remember that salvation from the penalty of sin is all of grace. And grace means, Jesus Christ did it all for me. If he did, the work is finished, the work is perfect, and we have a sure guarantee that the purposes of God will be carried out. No one can pluck the saved soul out of the Father’s hand.

Discounting His Present Work

Most Christians are clear on the truth that they are saved by grace. They make no effort of their own to add to the perfect atonement that Christ has made for their sins. But these same Christians when facing the present tense of salvation, the second part of the threefold Gospel, declare that here our own efforts are necessary. We must co-operate with God in fighting sin. We are justified by faith, but we are sanctified, gradually, by struggle. Their error is that they are _mixing works and grace_. God’s plan for present salvation from the power of sin is exactly the same as his plan for deliverance from the penalty of sin. It is all of grace.

The test of the truth of our view as to Christ’s Second Coming and the future tense of our salvation is as infallibly certain as the tests of the other aspects of salvation. For salvation is all of grace, and any view which makes salvation for the individual or for the universe a mixture of God’s work and man’s work, a mixture of God’s grace and man’s effort, is in error.

The Two Views of Our Lord’s Return

There are two views of our Lord’s coming. One is that the Church of Christ through the preaching of the Gospel and by co-operating with other agencies for righteousness, will Christianize the social order and bring in the period of righteousness which the Bible pictures as the Kingdom age. At the close of this period, the Lord Jesus will come to judge the world. This is called the post-millennial view, because the Kingdom age is known as the “millennium,” or the thousand years. The other view is that this thousand years of blessedness, or the Kingdom age, will not be inaugurated until Christ himself comes as King to set up the new order on earth. This is known as the pre-millennial view.

A well known Christian leader who has been very active in the preaching and working for “social regeneration,” gave a message on the task of the Church in the present world crisis, and the problem of the Church in making the world what it ought to be. He announced as his text, “And he that sitteth on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new” (Rev. 21:5). One who heard the message remarked that the speaker after announcing his text, “with two swift kicks kicked the text out of the auditorium, and did not allow it to enter again during his discourse.” For the opening sentence of his message was this: “Can we, the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, make things over?”

God’s Word does not say, “we, the followers of the Lord Jesus.” It says “I”; and the Son of God sitting on the throne of his glory is the speaker. The Word of God does not speak of making things over. It says, “Behold, I make all things _new_.”

Discounting Christ’s Future Work

Here is the fundamental error of the post-millennial view of the Lord’s coming: _it is a mixture of works and grace_.

God’s plan for establishing righteousness in the universe is exactly the same as his plan for establishing righteousness in the human heart. It is all of grace, not of works. The pre-millennial view means the Kingdom age by grace, as the Victorious Life means the Kingdom principles in the individual heart by grace.

Let each Christian earnestly face these two tests of his attitude toward the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Make the Blessed Hope a Vital Power!

If his hope of the coming of the Lord is not an incentive of vital and present power in his life, there is something wrong with his theory. If a Christian believes that it is not possible for the Lord to come for at least a thousand years, or until the period during which Satan is bound has run its course (whether a thousand literal years or not), can he honestly say that the blessed hope of the personal appearing of his Lord is a vital power in the life?

The second test of our view of his coming can apply also to every part of our salvation. Have we the blessed assurance of eternal salvation through the blood that gives us eagerness and power to lead others into the same assurance? Are we rejoicing in all the blessed “present tenses of salvation,” victory by grace through faith? Are we surrounded by his own light in these dark days because we know that the world’s problem is to be solved by grace, by God himself, so that we live “soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ”?

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE AND VICTORY

Christian Science offers a life of freedom from worry or anxiety. It proposes to give the secret of the smiling face in the midst of any sort of circumstances.

Christian Science offers complete freedom from the dominion of sin.

Christian Science offers to make faith a vital and all-pervading force in daily life.

Christian Science offers to give deliverance from the bondage of sickness.

It is not wise for Christians to attempt to meet Christian Science by ridicule and sarcasm. Christian Science is offering to supply exactly the things that the hearts of thousands of church members are craving. It is not strange that many should be investigating its claims. If the indication in a single Christian Science center is a fair criterion, there are thousands of church members daily looking into this supposed “new” teaching to see if they can find a faith with a vital reality in it.

These things that Christian Science claims to supply are just the things that are offered to every Christian through the sufficient grace of the Lord Jesus.

The Victorious Life in Christ is a life kept free from worry or anxiety. Its possessors have the secret of a constant, abiding joy that is independent of circumstances (Phil. 4:6, 7; John 15:11; 16:22).

The Victorious Life, which is just Christ himself in the believer, gives complete victory over sin, without struggle (Rom. 6:14; 1 Cor. 10:13; John 8:36).

The Victorious Life is the life of faith, walking in the Spirit, looking unto Jesus, enduring as seeing him who is invisible, counting the unseen things the eternal and real things (Col. 3:3; Gal. 2:20; John 15:7).

The Victorious Life is a life of prosperity for body as well as for spirit, for in Christ is the supply of every present need, for body, soul, and spirit (3 John 2; Ps. 103:3; Matt. 8:17; Rom. 8:11).

If the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ were faithfully preached there would be little prepared soil among church members for the springing up of the seeds of “Christian Science.” It is the Enemy who is sowing these seeds and the supreme sign of his subtle work is this apparent likeness to the true grain. What is the fundamental distinction between Christian Science and the Victorious Life in Christ, between God’s truth and Satan’s imitation of that truth?

Error’s Imitations of Truth

Christian Science says: “In nothing be anxious: there is nothing to be anxious about. All troubles are creations of the mind, results of wrong thinking, and the cure for them is to think them away.”

The Word of God says, “In nothing be anxious.” Not because there is nothing to be anxious about. There is. There is that which required the bloody sweat of the Son of God in Gethsemane. But the Word of God tells us that full provision has been made for those wrong things that may well cause anxiety. Back of the word of the Spirit in Philippians, “In nothing be anxious,” is God. Back of the Christian Science word is “mortal mind.”

Christian Science says, “Reckon yourselves dead unto sin: because sin has no real existence, and since it is a creation of the wrong thinking of mortal mind, the way to think it out of existence is to reckon yourself dead to it. As you reckon, as you believe, you are dead to sin, and for you it has no reality or existence.”

Faith Does Not Create Facts

The Word of God says, “Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin.” Not because sin does not exist. It does. Not because sin is not real. There is nothing more real in the universe. But Jesus Christ has met the full measure of the guilt and penalty and pollution of sin, and has completely conquered it. If we are crucified with him, buried with him and risen again with him, as every child of God is, then we are to reckon it true that we are dead unto sin: not because our thinking can change facts, but because God himself tells us to count on a great fact, something that he himself has accomplished; as we reckon that fact true our faith is laying hold of the benefits in present experience of that redemption which God has accomplished. _My faith does not make the fact true._ Faith gives me the benefit of a fact that is true whether I believe it or not. True faith is impossible without something real to rest upon. Satan’s counterfeit faith in Christian Science returns upon itself, endeavors to create facts by thinking them true.

Christian Science says that sickness and death are delusions of the mortal mind. It does not offer a scheme of healing disease but a philosophy to make clear that disease does not exist except as an error in the thinking of mortal mind. Clear away that error in thinking, and the effects of the so-called sickness will disappear.

The Word of God says, “The wages of sin is _death_”; and, “Himself took our infirmities, and bare our _sicknesses_.” Without entering here into the question of the use of remedies, or the limitations to the use of “the prayer of faith” which will heal the sick, let us remember that in Christ there is full provision for sin _and all its results_. He came to destroy the works of the devil. It is certainly God’s highest and first will that his children should be in health of body, not in sickness, if this result can be had without injuring his children in other ways. God’s permission of sickness and premature death among his devoted children must not be pointed to as an indication that it is not his first will that all his children should enjoy health of body. God would have all men to be saved, and has made full provision for their salvation: but not all are saved; God would have all his children abide continually in Christ and be kept from sinning, and he has made complete provision for this: but few are entering into their full privileges of victory; God would have his children free from disease, for he is the God who forgives all our iniquities and heals all our diseases, and in Christ he has made full and complete provision for this: but in his infinite love and wisdom he permits many of his children to continue in suffering of body for longer or shorter periods.

Christian Science Kills Faith

In this contrast between Christian Science and the Word of God it will be seen that the teachings of this “faith” cult make faith impossible. Satan always strikes at the center of things in his attacks on Christians and on the Word of God; so he takes away their faith and that which it rests upon. Again and again in personal interviews with those seeking victory, when the meaning of faith has been explained the answer has come, “Why, that would be just like Christian Science. I cannot make a thing true just by believing it.” With Christian Science, thinking a thing true makes it true, or rather, “thinking right” removes the error which has resulted only because the thinking has been wrong. But real faith rests always on facts. We believe, not in order to make a fact true, but because it is true.

So startling is the parallel between what Christian Science offers and what the Victorious Life in Christ guarantees, that a number who have read articles in _The Sunday School Times_ have written to ask if the Victorious Life teaching and Christian Science were not practically the same. In answer to these inquiries a brief Open Letter was published a few years ago pointing out the difference between Christian Science and “the Victorious Life.” The Open Letter closed with this sentence: “They differ from each other as do food and poison, noon-day and midnight, omnipotence and impotence, life and death, Heaven and hell, Christ and Satan.”

A Christian Science Leader’s Admission

A leading advocate of Christian Science called upon the Editor of _The Sunday School Times_ to protest against this article. The interesting thing about the interview with this cultured representative of Christian Science was his earnest effort to prove that he and his fellow Scientists believed just what Christians who were teaching the Victorious Life believed, and were aiming at the same kind of life. As each point was mentioned there was this apparent agreement, until――mark this――until the vicarious atonement through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ was mentioned. There he frankly confessed that they parted company; they do not accept any atonement for sin.

At a Victorious Life Conference a Christian Scientist girl was prevailed upon to attend a meeting where the subject was the meaning of faith in laying hold of God’s Word that “My grace is sufficient for thee,” and similar words of fact and promise. At the close of the meeting an opportunity was given for those who wished by rising to commit the whole matter of victory to God, trusting him to do it all by grace. To the astonishment of her friends, the Christian Scientist girl rose. She asked them, “Are you surprised that I stood? That is what I have believed all along.” She was accepting it all as good Christian Science. At the close of the period of question and discussion the speaker asked if there were those present who had never accepted the Lord Jesus as Saviour from sin, and did not know salvation through the shed blood of Jesus. At the mention of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, this young woman who had stood up to take a step of faith for victory, rose at once from her seat and left the room.

Here we come to the heart of Christian Science error: it denies the blood, the vicarious atonement for sin. And here is the secret of many unsatisfactory attempts on the part of Christians to live a life of victory. Earnestly seeking to claim the wonderful promises of God’s word, many have failed to understand the meaning of the blood of Christ and to share in experience his crucifixion death, that they might also know the resurrection victory.

A Masterpiece of Imitation Victory

Christian Science is the devil’s great masterpiece of imitation victory. It is the vain attempt to know the resurrection life without the crucifixion death. It is the attempted robbery of the life pictured in the twenty-third Psalm, the life of still waters and green pastures, the life in which all the needs of the sheep are met by an all-powerful and all-loving Shepherd. But while attempting to claim the twenty-third Psalm, the Christian Scientist blots out the twenty-second Psalm with its agony of Calvary and its resurrection victory. We must be one with the Lord Jesus in his death and burial before we can be one with him in resurrection life. The blood of the Lord Jesus must be kept always at the heart of the teaching and the experience of the Victorious Life. The reason for much disappointment in the living of the Victorious Life is because there is what may be called a Christian Science acceptance of the teaching without a real foundation being laid in the blood of the Lamb.

First of all, the foundation must be laid in a clear understanding of the meaning of the new birth. Those who have had experience in dealing with hungry Christians seeking the life of victory in Christ, have been amazed at the number of such earnest inquirers who have no clear conception of what it means to be born again, or to be saved by grace.

Can You Tell a Sinner Just How to Be Saved?

The following question has been put again and again to audiences consisting of Christian workers and Bible students: “How many here are sure you could tell an inquirer exactly what he must do to become a Christian and receive the new birth?” The result of this question is nothing less than startling. As many as half and two-thirds in these audiences have not raised their hands to indicate that they could explain the way of salvation. But if one cannot tell an inquirer how to be saved, neither can he tell why he himself is sure of salvation. And until one knows the word regarding the real meaning of sin and the atonement, there will be only disappointment in trying to get hold of the experience of victory in Christ.