Peace
There has been much talk of “peace” in our world in recent years. From ceasefires and political agreements to international negotiations and fragile truces, leaders promise stability and safety. Whether these arrangements will last only God knows. Certainly everyone hopes for an end to violence and bloodshed. But as far as peace is concerned, we must not forget that the Bible has something to say about it.
For one thing, the Bible tells us “that “there is no peace … to the wicked” (Isa. 57:21). They say, “Peace, peace,” when there is no peace (Jer. 6:14). They are “like “the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt” (Isa. 57:20). They do not even know “the way of peace” (Isa. 59:8).
All this is true because the only real peace is peace with God through Jesus Christ. He is the “Prince of Peace” (Isa. 9:6). His peace is the peace of being right with God: of knowing that God will not condemn, the peace of experiencing the forgiveness of sins through His sacrifice and the shedding of His blood on the cross.
True peace is the quietness of heart, soul and conscience that comes from the knowledge that God is not angry with us and that Christ has taken away our sin so that nothing can separate us from the love of God. “And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever” (Isa. 32:17).
This peace comes through faith in Him: “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1). It belongs to those who walk in the way of obedience to all that God commands. “Wherefore, beloved … be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless” (II Pet. 3:14).
Without that true spiritual peace, nothing else matters. Peace among men is a sham if they are not at peace with God. Nor will they ever really be at peace with one another until they are at peace with God through Jesus Christ.
Politicians, negotiations and ceasefires can never give true and lasting peace, for even if they should accomplish their aims, they have not changed the hearts of men. Until the grace of God in Jesus Christ comes to them, men will be “living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another” (Tit. 3:3).
That is the reason Jesus says to all who believe in Him, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you” (John 14:27). Do you have that true peace? May God grant it to you and me. May He give it to many! Rev. Ron Hanko
God’s Sovereignty and Missions
“Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest” (Matt. 9:37-38).
This text was submitted to us with the request that special attention be given to what it teaches concerning God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility.
Jesus is speaking here about mission work and especially about mission work within countries where the church has already been established but is really on the road to apostasy. Historically that would have been the land of Israel.
That this is Jesus’ main concern here is evident from the preceding verse: “But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd” (36).
So it is today. The church is full of unfaithful shepherds who scatter the sheep in their unfaithfulness. The Western world of Europe and America is particularly cursed with such unfaithful shepherds and the scattered sheep are everywhere and fainting!
The questioner wants special attention given to God’s sovereignty. The text does that plainly.
God’s sovereignty is set forth first in the words, “The harvest truly is plenteous.” Jesus tells His disciples that the harvest is ready for reaping, and that harvest is God’s sovereign work. This is further supported by the fact that in verse 36 the people who make up the harvest are called “sheep.” In Scripture, “sheep” refers to God’s elect (see John 10).
The point is that God has elected His own from all eternity. They are the harvest in God’s field, prepared in every way by Him. God knows each one, though we do not. Through the work of labourers the harvest of God’s elect is gathered.
God’s sovereignty is set forth second in the words, “that he will send forth labourers.” God alone calls men of His sovereign choice to be labourers in fields that are white unto harvest. God alone gives such men to the church for that work. A man does not choose this of himself. He does not volunteer for Jesus. He does not appoint himself or go forth because of his willingness to serve. God alone calls, and this too is God’s sovereign work.
That it is God’s work is also shown by the command to “pray the Lord of the harvest.” The people of God are to pray to Him because He alone can send forth workmen. The church must pray because God is “the Lord of the harvest.”
This remains true for all time. The sheep are scattered by unfaithful shepherds, yet the harvest is still plenteous. This is true throughout the world, for the harvest is great because God has an innumerable throng of saints whom He has chosen. Yet the labourers are few.
How true that is today. There is much work to do to gather the scattered sheep of God, and few to do it. The church does not lack ministers and preachers, but faithful men who love the Scriptures and labour to gather the scattered sheep are hard to find.
Man’s responsibility is also set forth plainly. We are to “pray” the Lord of the harvest to send forth labourers. That means, first, that we must be zealous for mission work. It means, second, that we must give of our efforts, our money, our time and our strength for the work. It means, third, that we must be ready to give our sons to the work, from our families and from our congregations, that there may be labourers in the field.
This is a great and glorious calling God has given us: to be used by Him, the Lord of the harvest, to gather the scattered sheep. Woe to unfaithful shepherds! Woe to the church that will not do her work! Blessed are those who are earnest in prayer and diligent in the work of missions! They labour in the full assurance that the Lord of the harvest will complete His work. Prof. Herman Hanko
How Were Old Testament Believers Saved?
We follow up the discussion of dispensationalism in the last two issues of the News with a related question: “What is your view of the dispensational teaching that before the cross men were saved in prospect of Christ’s atoning sacrifice through believing the revelation thus far given them?”
Modern dispensationalism tends to place more emphasis on this point. Older dispensationalism tended to teach that salvation in the Old Testament was not through faith in Christ. We say “tended” because there is a lack of clarity here. On the one hand, even older dispensationalists said that salvation is only through Jesus Christ. Yet in their theology of dispensations they continually weakened that confession. The Scofield Reference Bible, for example, says, “As a dispensation, grace begins with the death and resurrection of Christ … The point of testing is no longer legal obedience as the condition of salvation but acceptance or rejection of Christ …”.
Newer dispensationalists are more careful. They repudiate any form of works salvation in the Old Testament and insist that salvation is only by faith in Jesus Christ. Yet even then the difficulty remains. Charles Ryrie, for example, says that the content of faith was different in the Old Testament and explains, “We believe that it was historically impossible that the Old Testament saints should have had as the conscious object of their faith the incarnate, crucified Son, the Lamb of God (John 1:29), and that it is evident that they did not comprehend as we do that the sacrifices depicted the person and work of Christ” (Dispensationalism Today, p. 123).
But what of John 8:56? “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad.” What of Isaiah 53:7? Certainly Old Testament believers did not see as clearlyas we do, but to say that the content of faith was different is to deny Christ as the only way of salvation. Christ Himself, in His suffering, death and resurrection, is the content of saving faith. That is the only reason faith justifies and saves. “There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
The problem is inherent in dispensationalism. One writer speaks of “the foundational assumption that there is a strong dichotomy between Israel and the church, such that the Old Testament saints will not be in the body and bride of Christ in eternity.” This means, he says, that the dispensational system requires its adherents to explain Old Testament salvation in such a way that it does not involve covenant membership in the body of Christ. To be in covenant union with Christ is to be in the body and bride of Christ. To be in the body and bride of Christ is to be in the church universal. For Old Testament saints to be in the church universal would be to deny dispensationalism.
The statement that the Old Testament believer was saved “in prospect of” Christ’s sacrifice is not wrong in itself. The problem is that dispensationalism uses such language to conceal its teaching that Old Testament salvation was not truly in Christ. For this reason especially, we continue to reject dispensationalism as an unbiblical departure from the truth. Rev. Ron Hanko
