WAIT FOR ME! (Continued from Page 19)
The Body of Christ still waits for its completion—-for others still somewhere out there on the shore trying to make the sail. We who are secure in the Ark of Safety see the plank about to be pulled in and the anchor loosed. The love of Christ constrains us; these are the “ other lost sheep” for whom Christ died. We beseech the Lord of the harvest and Captain of our salvation to keep the way open just a little longer, for above the raging tempest and roar of a storm- tossed sea, we hear the anguished cry of the lost of all nations: “Wait for me!”
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do we have to go to heathen lands, so- called, to find demonism or spiritualism in its most subtle form. The Christian should avoid all contact with spiritual ists, fortunetellers, and necromancers, except as he may be used of God to lead such as these out of spiritual darkness into the light of God’s truth. Either they are fakes—and who wants to be the dupe of a deceiver? Or they are demon-pos sessed—and what child of God would dare play into the hands of Satan, with his eyes open to his deed. The Bible makes no comment, one way or the other, about Jephthah’s vow; but Jephthah is listed in Hebrews 11:32 as one of the heroes of faith. And certain it is that he worshiped the God of Israel. As reliable a commentator as Fausset thinks that Jephthah did not offer his daughter, his only child, as a human sacrifice for that was an abomination unto the Lord. The heathen nations of Palestine did offer human sacrifices to their false gods, but Jehovah repeatedly warned Israel not to do this very thing. Since Jephthah was a God-fearing judge of Israel, and since he knew that human sacrifices were an abomination to God, Fausset thinks he offered his daughter as a spiritual burnt-offering unto the Lord, in the sense that she was set apart for His service, forever to be a virgin. (See verses 37-40.) However that may be, these were his words to God when he “vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Am mon into mine hands, Then it shall be, that whatsoever [literally, whosoever] cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace . . . shall surely be the Lord’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering” (Judges 11:30,31). Even if he did offer his daughter as a human sacrifice, because he had fool ishly made such a vow yet he very evi dently did it without the approval of God. Many of God’s children make griev ous mistakes. David sinned willfully and woefully; but his sin did not rob him of his salvation; and God forgave him, even as He often has to forgive us. So that our only conclusion must be that God honored Jephthah’s faith.. And as the Scriptures are silent as to a more defi nite outcome of the story, so we too, must be silent in our own conclusions concerning the matter. Was God pleased with “Jephthah’s awful vow,” the story of which is re corded in Judges 11:80-U0?
Why did God say in Romans 9:13: “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated” ? It is very important that we get clear ly in mind this fact: Paul was quoting Malachi 1:2, 3; and Malachi wrote more than a thousand years after Esau de spised his birthright, and turned his back upon the privileges of the first-born son. Again, we are to think of these words loved, and hated as expressing a comparative approval and disapproval of the attitude of the two sons of Isaac toward the things of God. Our God hates sin, but always loves the sinner. Other wise He would not have planned to die for sinners. Moreover, this whole subject comes under the much-discussed question of the sovereignty of God, which we have at tempted to set forth in answer to other questions. Again, when God chose Jacob, even before the sons were born, it was be cause He knew Jacob would seek spirit ual things in however faltering and grasping a manner. And He chose Jacob as the one through whom the seed, even Christ, should come. He did nothing to hinder Esau from being a saved man! Remember that. If Esau repented of his sin, and put his faith in the coming Re deemer, then his soul was saved. The Scriptures do not tell us whether he did or did not; but he seems to have been a man of the world, seeking his satisfaction in the things of the flesh. We shall have no difficulty in under standing this command, repeated and enlarged upon in Leviticus 19:31; 20:6, 27; Deuteronomy 18:9-14, if we get clearly in mind the character of witches in the days of Moses and Joshua. They were the greatest enemies of God’s truth, even as the witch doctors of Africa are today. Their hands were steeped in blood; they were the exponents of im morality. Therefore, God commanded that they should be cut off, in the in terest of His people. The heathen nations, among whom Israel dwelt, had turned their backs upon God. Sometimes God has to cut off the wicked who refuse to obey Him, in order to protect His people. Missionaries today tell us of these Satan-possessed witch doctors of pagan lands. They are unspeakably cruel, vile, and horrible in their evil practices. Nor J U N E , 1951 What is the explanation of Exodus 22:18, “ Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live” ?
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