Behold
Your God by Fred T.
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suspended from their necklaces, as the nuns do now.
“The Egyptians did
the same, and many of the barbarous nations with whom they had intercourse,
as the Egyptian monuments bear witness. In reference to the adorning of some
of these tribes, Wilkinson thus writes:
‘The girdle was sometimes highly ornamented; men as well as
women wore earrings; and they frequently had a small cross suspended to a necklace, or to the collar of their
dress. The adoption of this last was not peculiar to them; it was also
appended to, or figured upon, the robes of the Ro-n-no; and traces of it may
been seen in the fancy ornaments of the Rebo, showing that it was already in
use as early as the fifteenth century before the Christian era.’ (Fig. 44.) There is hardly a Pagan tribe where
the cross has not been found.” The Two
Babylons, 197-199.
Paul’s statement
that the cross was foolishness to the Greek cannot be rightly understood
except it be known that the cross was as much an integral and important part
of Greek and Roman religion then, as it is of papal and Protestant religion
today. Consequently, if Paul’s words had been reported to a Greek or Roman of
that time, they would have ridiculed the
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idea as being utterly false, exactly as a modern religionist
would, if it was suggested that the cross was foolishness to him. They would
point to the dominant role of the cross in their religious rites and
ceremonies, to its multiplied appearances in every church function, and on
every person and building, offering these things as evidence that the cross
is anything but foolishness; and that it is an object receiving the deepest
reverence and continual adoration in their worship.
They would have
contended that Paul’s assertion, not the cross, was the foolish thing.
Thus there existed
the testimony of God’s Word through the inspired apostle versus the
counterclaim by the Greek and Roman. The former taught that the cross was
foolishness to the Greek, while the latter disclaimed such a charge. It must
be conceded that the Greek would e entirely sincere in what he said,
believing that he, and not Paul, spoke the truth.
The real fact is
that both the Spirit of God and the Greek spoke the truth because they were
speaking about two different crosses.
The cross, as Paul knew and taught it, was utterly foolish to the Greek,
while the cross, as the Greek knew it, was anything but that. Nothing has
changed since that day. The cross of Christ with all it stands for is still
foolishness to the world, including the modern religionist, while the cross
known and understood by the world is the epitome of human wisdom and ways.
The cross, be it
that of Christ or of Babylon, is nothing in itself. It is merely two pieces
of inanimate wood crossed and joined together. But it is highly symbolic. It
is representative of the culture, learning, beliefs, and ways of the two
great opposing powers. When that is comprehended, it will be seen just how
the cross of Christ is foolishness to the Greek, the Roman, and to everyone,
but he who is vitally connected in spirit and principle to Christ.
Consider, then, the
symbolism of the cross as it was known to the Babylonian, be he Greek, Roman,
Jew, Papist, or Protestant. These powers are all highly religious in nature,
but it is not to be supposed that the principles of their religion differ
from their daily practices. Of course, there are some high pretensions in
these faiths which do not find matching behavior in the life. With that there
is no concern here. Rather, the interest is in the principles of the
religion, what it really is, not what it pretends to be.
In short, while the cross as Paul knew,
lived, and taught it, was the revelation of God’s character, it was the
manifestation of the character of the man of sin, the son of perdition, as
the Babylonians knew, lived, and taught it. Therefore, while the cross, as a
symbol, did not appear till the days of Tammuz, that which it represents
dates back to Lucifer’s defection, when the counter-philosophy was
established.
The cross, as the
conveyor of God’s message to the universe, is the expression of that spirit
which seeks the blessing and salvation of others, no matter how much the cost
may be to one’s self. As the symbol of Satan’s
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Way, it declares that character which seeks its own benefit,
no matter what the cost to others.
Give careful consideration now to the
development of the Babylonian’s character. The man of sin is not original.
The first man was righteous. That is a self-evident truth, for in the
beginning the Lord made all things good. Therefore, the man of sin must be a
perverted development of that original righteous man. Step by step, for this
can never be the work of a moment, the deviation has matured until it is
utterly at enmity with the God Who gave it its original perfect existence.
Its first appearance
was in Lucifer, the bright and morning star, but what happened in him has
been repeated in every subsequent departure from the living God and the cross
of Christ.
The way of the
living God is self-sacrificing, self-renouncing love. It is God’s infinite
wisdom that there should be a circle of love reaching out from Him to the
uttermost limits of the universe and returning to Him to flow out again in a
transcendent glory of joy and praise. No one is to receive merely for his own
gratification and advantage. Each is to be a channel so that everything
received is passed on to those around, for them to administer the same
blessing to still others and they to others yet beyond.
While that
beautiful stream flowed in unbroken rhythm, no note of sadness or jarring
discord broke the sweet harmonies of the universal kingdom. Lucifer, the
covering cherub, was as happy as the rest as he faithfully fulfilled his
appointed mission of service.
But the time came
when his fidelity to this principle began to waver and then to break down. He
was the brightest and therefore, most privileged, of all the angels. He held
the highest position available to a creature. He had developed the most
brilliant talents, and his arrival at this pinnacle of power and glory was the
result of the gifts showered upon him by his Creator, combined with his own
diligent effort. At first, he felt only gratitude to God for His wonderful
love; his heart daily responding to the life flowing from God to him. But the
passing of time eventually brought him imperceptibly to the point where he
came to be increasingly aware of himself and his brilliance and less aware of
the God Who had given it all to him.
With marvellous
perception, the Scriptures discern the cause of Lucifer’s fall from his lofty
elevation.
“By the multitude
of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou
hast sinned.” Ezekiel 28:16.
The nature of the
merchandise which dethroned the beautiful one is not known to us. Earthly
merchandise is salable goods from the most common to the most valuable form.
They are eagerly sought by the world, for possession of them assures freedom
from want, and the assurance of security, comfort, and power.
Whatever form they
took in heaven is not important. Merchandise meant for Lucifer the increase
of personal possessions, power, and wealth.
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It had the same effect upon him as it has had upon
earth-dwellers through all time, except for those rare exceptions, the
individuals who have so taken hold of the spirit of self-sacrificing love
that they escape that snare.
That effect was to
cause Lucifer to gradually transfer his faith from the Giver of all good
things to the gifts provided by the
Giver. He began to realize that if he retained that which came into his
possession, then he would accumulate so much more of these delightful things.
Thus the already wealthy angel would become just that much wealthier.
All this is not so
easily seen in Lucifer’s life as it is in the lives of men and women. The
procedure has been repeated countless times since Satan came to Eve at the
forbidden tree. It is most noticeable in the history of movements which have
been raised up by God to effectively demonstrate His character and thus bring
about the termination of sin and its attendant horrors.
Such movements are
born out of times of great spiritual apostasy. The exodus movement from Egypt
lifted the people out of the deep darkness of the long Egyptian night. So it
was with the retrun to the promised land after the Babylonian captivity.
Later the apostolic church emerged from the darkness of the long Jewish
rejection of divine principles as did the reformation churches from the papal
midnight.
Such returning to
God are championed initially by a lone voice pitted against overwhelming
opposition from the ruling elite, aided by the superstition, fear, and
ignorance of the general populace. The Lord’s chosen messenger sees with
vivid clarity the human’s hopeless inadequacy to cope with these combined
powers of darkness, but he cannot draw back. He is committed to his mission.
Therefore, he is forced to flee to the Mighty One for strength.
As he pours out his
confession of frailty and need and by faith makes a living connection with
the Almighty, the windows of heaven are opened and light, power, and material
aid are directed to him. He hurries these gifts into the battle, and, as
quickly as they are exhausted, he returns to receive more and still more. As
others join him, they, with like consecration, throw all they have into the
battle, looking to God and God alone for their guidance and support. The
sense of need during this period is very great, resulting in a total absence
of self-sufficiency.
As time goes by,
great victories are achieved, numbers are added to the ranks, and the initial
struggles are followed by a relatively quieter period. God continues to
deliver His wonderful blessings to them for the purpose of their using them
to reach out still further with the message of power.
But, like the Israelites of Joshua’s day,
who did not push the battle to the utmost ends of the land but allowed
pockets of rebellion to remain, so the believers do not follow the directive
to go beyond Jerusalem and Samaria to the uttermost parts of the earth.
Privation, self-denial, and sacrifice are not attractive to the human nature
which prefers rest from bat-
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tle, ease, pleasure, comfort, and above all, security. The temptation to turn aside, at least in
part, from the heat of the battle is so attractive as to win little by
little. More and more of God’s gifts are appropriated for personal security
and comfort.
As a firm base of
material security is formed, the intense sense of need which previously drew
them to God as the Supplier of all good things diminishes, while the accent
is placed more and more on the acquisition of the material and the visible.
Soon, house is being added to house, and land to land, until the whole
mission of the church is lost, the accumulation of personal wealth, becoming
the one great objective in life.
Inevitably this
will produce changed conditions in the spirit and experience of those who had
once been devoted only to the service of God and humanity. Their thoughts and
interest will be less and less upon God, and more and more on merchandise.
The increase in possessions will breed a growing feeling of security. The
basis of their faith has become money, houses, land, and other visible
life-support systems. Such have lost faith in God. But it is important to
understand that they have not lost
faith. Instead they have transferred it from the great Giver of all things to
the gifts given by the Giver.
Increasing pride
and personal satisfaction is taken in their enlarging prosperity. They view
with gratification their industrious labor, their honest, faithful payment of
accounts, and their scrupulous attention to their various obligations, as
proof that they have gained their wealth blamelessly. They feel entitled to all that they have.
They consider themselves blessed of heaven, possessors of no more than their
just rights. This conviction develops in them the spirit of contention for
those rights, so that, if anyone should threaten to relieve them of the least
part of their gains, they will resist and even counterattack to the limit of
their powers.
The human tragedy
is that the real nature of what they have done is hidden from them. That
which they regard as being a perfectly legitimate course is in fact one of
fraud and embezzlement, for they have misappropriated the goods entrusted to
them, to a purpose other than that designated by the Giver.
This earth is not
heaven. It is a wilderness of suffering and despair created by the entry of
sin. A crisis situation exists which the Father and the heavenly ministers
are devoted to ending as soon as possible. But it is impossible to accomplish
this without the entire cooperation of the human family. God does not leave
those who accept their responsibility to do this work alone. He has made
available every necessary facility. But, none of this is given to man to make
this earth into a paradise for himself while the vast majority suffer want,
disease, afflictions, and degradation. All these gifts are given for carrying
forward the vast program of salvation. Some of it is needed to house, feed,
and clothe the ones who are participant in the work just as a soldier in the
field must be personally sustained. But, beyond
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what is strictly needed for this purpose, the facilities
provided by the grace of God and the diligent industry of the believer are to
be returned to the Lord with interest.
Jesus Christ
provided the finest example of this. There was much which He received from
His Father, day by day, but none of it was used for His own personal
gratification. Everything entrusted to Him, He used as a faithful steward in
the pursuance, with single-minded consecration, of the commission to preach
the gospel of the cross.
Tragically, this
peerless example is seldom understood and even less emulated by those who
claim to be followers of the meek and lowly One. Instead of being strictly
faithful stewards, they have misappropriated into other uses that which the
Lord gave for specifically designated purposes. The charge of unfaithfulness
will be laid against such. The stream of blessing intended by God to flow
through them has stopped with them to become a Dead Sea.
This is only the
early stages of human defection. The Scriptures tell us that in Lucifer’s
case, the multitude of his merchandise filled the midst of him with violence
(see Ezekiel 28:16). Therefore the
decay is not complete until it develops into violence. This it will always
do.
As man becomes obsessed
with the drive to accumulate more and more material merchandise, he shows
less and less consideration and regard for his fellow men. Should they stand
in the way, he will oppress them. If they can be used to assist him in
building his empire, he will not hesitate to exploit them.
While he retains a
superior advantage, he will successfully rise in power and wealth by this
means. Yet continually, there will be a growing resentment on the part of
those being used which will eventually break out into open violence.
Throughout earth’s history it is possible to find examples of this as long
oppressed races rise against their overlords. Rivers of blood are shed, great
changes are made in the political structure of the world, and the sceptre of
power passes from one group to another.
The ruling elite’s
development of a power structure through the heavy oppression of the masses
had been achieved by the Jewish hierarchy at the time of Christ’s first
advent. God had appointed the Jewish nation to carry the truth of His
righteousness to the farthermost parts of the habitable globe. To them had
been given every possible advantage and blessings as equipment for the speedy
and complete execution of their calling. But they had turned from living by
the law of self-renouncing service to others, to gathering power and glory to
themselves. They had fully transferred their faith from God to the earthly,
and, by the time Christ came, exhibited all the outworking of such a course.
Every principle of
operation among them was that of Babylon which declares that you either serve
the powers that be, as they want you to serve them, or you perish. This is
the very heart and substance of Babylonian
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philosophy by which she seeks to justify her mass slaughter of
those who dare refuse to subscribe to her philosophy. That is her religion;
and her cross, dating back to Nimrod and Tammuz, is the symbol of it.
Into the darkness
and sorrow Jesus came to shed forth the light of the opposite principles of
self-serving and self-sacrificing love. The Pharisees and Sadducees found
themselves confronted with a threat, the life of which they had never known
before. The peril of losing their authority, power, wealth, and all else
which they had so painstakingly and untiringly worked to achieve, suddenly
became terribly imminent to them.
They had
experienced throughout their quest for wealth and power, the continual danger
of someone coming to wrest it from them, but this was by people devoted to
the same principles as themselves. They could understand the workings of
their minds for they were the same as their own. They knew how to cope with
such supplanters and did so to the full extent of their powers.
But Jesus brought
an entirely different method of working. He did not seek their power and
wealth as a primary or any other objective. He came to implant in the hearts
of all men a new principle which in reality is the oldest principle of all,
for it had operated throughout the limitless eternity of the past. (The
Pharisees’ principles had not existed till sin appeared.) That principle is
the cross of Christ as distinct from the cross of Tammuz. It is the guideline
for living in which “the love which ‘seeketh not her own’ has its source in
the heart of God.” The Desire of Ages,
20.
Every word spoken
by Christ taught these principles. Every act of His life was a living,
practical demonstration of them, while the potency which flowed from God
through Him as a stream of vibrant life, bequeathed upon those willing to
receive its ministry, the same spirit of selfless service. Because of it, men
and women were drawn to Him and longed to be recipients of His wonderful
life. Its drawing power reached out to encircle even those who had devoted
their entire lives to self-aggrandizement. For the most part, those proud and
sensual minds, recognizing the call to an entire change in their attitudes
and procedures, involving the surrender of that which they cherished as their
rights, resisted with increasing vehemence the Saviour’s loving ministry.
The more earnestly
Christ worked to save them the more decidedly they entrenched themselves in
their way and devised every means possible to prevent Him from reaching the
minds of the people. They hoped that mild measures would intimidate and turn
Him from His mission, but as this did not effect the desired objective, they
went on under the command and leadership of Satan, their master, until they
had Him nailed to the cross.
Before Christ began
His public ministry the devil met Him on the mount of temptation. There he
propositioned Christ by showing Him the kingdoms of the world with their
glory and power, promising all this to Christ if He would but worship him.
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“Again, the devil
taketh Him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth Him all the
kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
“And saith unto
Him,
All these things will I give Thee, if Thou wilt fall down and
worship me.” Matthew 4:8, 9.
Those kingdoms with
their pomp and glory, had been put together by following the methods of
serving self no matter what the cost might be to others. They could be
maintained as such only by continuing those same procedures. Therefore, when
Satan called upon Christ to bow down and worship him that He might receive
the possession of all these earthly systems as His reward, he was, by
implication, beseeching Christ to change from His principles of kingdom
building to those of Satan and sinful man.
He was seeking to
have Christ abandon the principle of self-sacrificing service for that of
self-service no matter what the cost might be to others. Satan well knew that
if Christ should abandon those principles in favor of his, he would forever
be the victor in the contest.
When Christ utterly
rejected Satan’s offering, then the king of demons was left with no
alternative but to live out fully, the spirit which motivated him. He would
have his own way, serve his interests, ambitions, desires, and aspirations no
matter what it might cost others. As day by day Christ pursued with
unwavering fidelity the way of the cross to the cross, the devil mounted an
ever-intensifying campaign against Him in which he strove to force Him to
deviate from His chartered course by making His mission as costly as possible
through personal inconvenience, suffering, pain, humiliation, rejection,
deprivation of comfort, security, protection, and merchandise. One of the
greatest possible tests which can be imposed on human nature, is to call upon
it to serve others at its own expense.
When that expense
calls for the supreme sacrifice, exacted under conditions of extreme torture
and fearful mental suffering, then the test has achieved maximum intensity.
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his
friends.” John 15:13.
This was the
service which Christ came to give, thereby demonstrating the very heart of
the nature of God’s character. As that marvellous revelation of God is
portrayed before the wondering gaze, it is to be known that thereby God
through Christ has declared that He will serve even the creatures He has
made, no matter what the cost to Himself. God had declared before sin ever
entered, that this was what He would do as the outworking of His nature. When
rebellion arose, then that declaration was tested to the uttermost. God in
Christ demonstrated that God is true, that He is motivated by the principle
of service to others no matter what the cost to Himself. If Calvary does not
prove this, then it proves nothing.
Inasmuch as Satan
understood that his principles could become the established way only by the
dethronement of God’s way, he worked relentlessly to make Christ’s service as
costly as possible, hoping the time would come when His humanity would protest
to the point where He would proceed no further in paying the price for
others.
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But no matter how
Satan levied upon Him cost and added cost, the Saviour continued with the
undeviating consistency toward the moment of total sacrifice. Not only on
Calvary, but at every step towards that pivotal point in eternity, Jesus
lived out the principle of serving with no regard of the cost to Himself.
Therefore, the crucifixion was nothing new to Him. It was but the ultimate
confirmation of what He had been and lived eternally and would continue to
live forevermore.
The revelation of
God’s character as the One Who serves others irrespective of the cost to
Himself, was only one side of the picture. On the other side, Satan’s
continual exaction of the highest possible cost to the Son of God was
revealing in him that character whereby he would gain his ends, no matter how
high the cost to be paid by others.
Likewise, Calvary
was nothing new for Satan. It was the ultimate manifestation of his character
of total selfishness. As we behold his behavior there, we are given a glimpse
of the nature of his principles and their ultimate outworking. It is seen
that there is no length to which he will not go, no suffering he will not
cause, no price that he will not exact even to taking the life of the very
Being who gave him life and everything he ever had—the One who had given him
only kindness, love, justice, mercy, and every other goodly thing.
Thus on Calvary’s
hill, the cross on which the Saviour hung, was, in reality, two crosses.
There was the Roman or Greek cross which antedated back to the initiation of
satanic rebellion. It was the statement, in its most cogent expression, of
Satan’s principles of operation. There Satan demonstrated to every creature
in the universe what he would do to them if they did not pay the price
whereby he could have the best for himself. Every person, system, and
organization which has followed his leadership operates under the same
principles to whatever extent they have the power to enforce their wills.
A graphic
illustration of this is found in the behavior of the war lords of Europe
during the second world war. More than one cartoonist illustrated this with
pen and brush, depicting Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini piling the
sacrifice of millions of human lives, hopes, and fortunes into a mountain
high enough to permit them to view and seize the coveted prize of absolute
world dominion. It was inconsequential to them how much others had to pay,
provided they acquired what they desired.
There is nothing
foolish to the Greek in this cross. He understands and accepts its message.
That is the only way of life he understands, for to him it is the secret both
of survival and access into the comforts and powers which the sinful human
nature craves.
The greatest
contradistinction to this cross and its message is the cross of which Paul
spoke so reverently and enthusiastically. This is the cross as Christ
resented it to the universe both in His daily life and on the cross itself.
This is the supreme testimony that it is God’s way to make any
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Sacrifice—even of His own life if that should prove
necessary—to serve others to the measure of their helpless need.
From that cross the
beautiful and touching submission of Christ to the demanding cost of our
salvation calls every being within the farthermost outreaches of God’s
kingdom, to take up his individual cross and follow where He has led the way.
Hear His voice ringing down the ages from that day when He addressed His
counsels to His beloved apostles.
“If any man will
come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”
Matthew 16:24.
This is no plea to
take two pieces of wood and secure them in the form of a cross, or to hammer
into shape gold, silver or other precious metals. These directives are not
fulfilled by wearing a cross on a cord about the neck, or by fixing it on
doors, walls, or any other part of our homes. This is an invitation to
abandon forever the Babylonian, Greek, Roman and heathen principle of making
the service of self foremost, no matter what the cost may be to others. It is
a challenge to so utterly deny self, that service to the needs of others will
be life’s first and greatest mission, no matter how costly such a work may
become.
Rightly understood
and lived, it will mean that, when
they smite you on one cheek, you will offer them the other also;
When they sue you
at the law and take you coat, you will let them have your cloak as well;
When they compel
you to go the first mile you will cheerfully go the second;
You will give to
them that ask and will loan to those who would borrow;
You will love your
enemies;
will bless them that
curse you;
do good to them that
hate you;
and pray for them
which despitefully use and persecute you. See Matthew 5:38-45.
To the unsanctified
mind, the mind of the Greek, this is indeed foolishness. He can see no sense
in it. But he can see much sense in the sacrifice of another on his behalf.
Therefore, if the cross were no more than Christ giving His all for others,
then it would not be foolishness to the Greek or anyone else. But when it
calls on him to follow in the same pathway, to live as Jesus lived, to serve
others, no matter how great the cost to himself, then that to the
Greek is foolishness indeed. That is to lose all that would ever make life
worth living. He can see himself becoming a slave, being exploited, used,
humiliated, deprived, oppressed, despised, and finally discarded, and all
this for nothing, while those to whom he gave himself in service, live fatly
and comfortably, enjoying the best of living at his expense. Such a prospect
makes this way only foolishness to the Greek.
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There are indeed
heights and depths in the cross of Christ as distinct from the cross of
Tammuz, the Babylonians, the Romans, the Greeks, and the heathen, which
eternity itself can never exhaust. When it is truly seen, it constitutes the
finest revelation of God character available. The Lord of glory and His
righteousness will appear at their wondrous best, while Satan and his
unrighteousness stand forth at their very worst.
The cross does
prove that God does not destroy as man does, for should He do so in order to
preserve His kingdom then He would be serving Himself and His loyal subjects
at terrible cost to others. That is not the way of the cross of Christ and it
is not the way of God’s character. It is the principle of the kingdom of
darkness.
But, while it
proves this point, the cross is vastly more of a message to God’s people than
that, vitally important as that truth is.
Calvary challenges
every individual in the universe to find and follow the way which received
its most magnificent, explicit, and comprehensive exhibition on Golgotha’s
hill. Look again, deeper and still deeper into its splendours. When the
lessons to be learned at the foot of the cross are truly comprehended and
daily and more deeply refreshed, there will walk this earth a transformed
people through whom at last the finishing of the sin problem can be
accomplished.
To the Greek it was
foolishness;
To the Jew it was a
stumblingblock,
But unto them which
are called, both Jews and Greeks,
It is Christ,
The power of God
And the
wisdom of God. See 1 Corinthians
1:23, 24.
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[1] See The Two
Babylons, 61, 62, by Alexander Hislop, published by S.W. Partridge and Co. 4-6,
Soho Square, London W.I. 1957 Edition.