T H E K ING ’S BUS INESS 285 LIGHT ON PUZZLING PASSAGES AND PROBLEMS By R. A. Torrey
we shall see Him (that is the Father God) even as He is.” However, we do not need to go into these other passages; for the passage given in Acts 7 :55, 56, settles the matter. If one requires further proof, he might read Rev. 4. Here in verse 2 John says that he saw a throne set in heaven and one sitting upon the throne; and he that sat was to look upon like the jasper stone and the sardius: and there was a rainbow about the throne like an emerald To look upon” That this one sitting upon the throne was God the Father is evident from the fact that farther down in the narrative John says that he saw in the right hand of this.-one that sat upon the throne a book (ch. 5:1) and he saw the Lamb (i. e. of course, the Son) come and take the book out of the right hand of Him that sat on the throne, (ch. 5: vs. 5-8). And in the thirteenth verse praise was as cribed “unto Him that'sitteth on the throne and unto the Lamb,’’ clearly drawing a distinction between the Father, whom John saw sitting on the throne, and the Lamb. How can we tell when the Spirit ceases to strive with us? When the Holy Spirit ceases to strive with a man he has no interest in spiritual things, no desire to give up sin, no desire whatever to come to Christ, no sorrow for sin. He delights in doing evil and has no desire to do anything else. He is thor oughly. hardened in sin. It must, be borne in mind, too, that the Spirit may cease to strive with a man for a long time to the extent that the man has no consciousness whatever that the Spirit i$ dealings with him, and afterward may strive with that man again with great power and bring him to true repentance and a genuine ac ceptance of Jesus Christ. This has been the experience of a great many. But this should not encourage any one to trifle with the Holy Spirit and His dealings. Such presumptuous conduct has led to the eternal ruin of many.
A great Bible student once ^solemnly de clared, “I never expect to see God the Father," and went on to say he believed it probable that from all eternity to all eter nity God is manifest to men and angels only through Christ, who is the image of the invisible God. Was this > great Bible _ student right? No, he was unscriptural, therefore wrong. It is true that God in His essentiaf nature is invisible, He is the “invisible” God (Col. 1:15; 1 Tim. 1:17). He is essentially spirit and not matter (John 4:24). It is true also that our Lord Jesus said when He was on earth, “He that hath seen me hath seen the. Father.” (John 14:9). But this is only one side of the truth. While God in His essential nature is invisible, He has mani fested Himself in visible form (Ex. 24: 9 ,10).' The “Angel of Jehovah” in the Old Testament was a visible manifestation of Jehovah. And we are distinctly told that when Stephen was dying that he “saw the glory of God and Jesus standing jit the right hand of God.” And, of course, if he had not seen God (and of necessity God here is God the Father) he could not have seen Jesus standing on His right hand. And Stephen himself exclaimed,' “I see the heavens open and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God.’’. There-, fore, he must have seen both our Lord Jesus, the Son of Man, standing on the right hand of His God and Father and ours. When our Lord Jesus Himself said, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God” (Matt. 5 :8), He certainly was not speaking of seeing Himself. And in 1 John 3 :1, 2, we read, “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called children of God. . . . Behold, now are we the children of God, and it is not yet made manifest whartwe shall be. We know that when He shall be manifested (the “He” here clearly from the connection refers to the Father God) we shall be like Him; for
Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker