E.
L. Langston E.
L. Langston
The
Authority of Christ
and His Utterances
I.
AN EPOCH MAKING STATEMENT.
THESE words bring us face to face with an irresistible alternative, and one whose
issues cannot be avoided.
He Who said these words "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall
not pass away," must be either divine or demented; either an irresponsible fanatic,
or Very God of Very God. There can be no
middle ground upon which we can take our stand concerning this matter.
In the light of this statement, the authority of the words of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth cannot be called into question. Everybody
must decide one way or other, either that He was God,
or else He was insane.
Surely, it is an amazing sign of the times, that scholarly and apparently earnest
Christian men doubt the authority and trustworthiness of our Lord's utterances. Yet, alas, we are faced with the fact today, that
many of our leading theologians, scholars and preachers, call into question the absolute
authority and accuracy of the words of our Lord.
It is therefore essential for us to investigate the whole question, and in so
doing, we shall find that as a result of a close study of our Lord's own testimony both to
Himself and to His utterances, that the matter is settled once and for all.
Let us for a moment try by imagination to transfer ourselves in thought to the days
in which our Lord lived.
Here was a poor man of the most
despised nation on the earth, the son of a humble Jewish carpenter of the most despised
village in that country, and apparently only an illiterate peasant, speaking to a few
fisher folk and others upon the Mount of Olives. In
that conversation He had been giving them a panorama of the things that were to come to
pass on this earth during the space of the next 2,000 years. He predicted with much detail the things that
should happen in Jerusalem, in Palestine and throughout the whole world, such as wars,
famines, pestilences, earthquakes, a universal preaching of the Gospel which He Himself
was then inaugurating, the destruction of Herod's Temple, the devastation of the city of
Jerusalem, and the scattering broadcast of the Jews, as "captives amongst all
nations."
In this remarkable forecasting of events, He Himself said that Jerusalem should be
under the heel and domination of the Gentile nations, until a certain time when "the
times of the Gentiles should be fulfilled," when the city of Jerusalem should be
freed from Gentile power; and that when that came to pass it would be one of the great
signs of His return again to this earth; this time not as a poor carpenter's son, the
apparently illiterate peasant, but triumphantly in the clouds of heaven with hosts of
angels, "with power and great glory," and that He would judge and reign over the
nations of this earth.
Try and place yourself in the
midst of that little group on the Mount of Olives, and imagine that you had never heard
of, nor seen, Jesus of Nazareth before. How
would all these statements and predictions have sounded to you? You would have said in your heart, at any
rate, "Who is this man? How can he know
of these things? Surely he must be mad."
We are therefore faced with this alternative; either He was an irresponsible fanatic, or
none other than God manifest in the flesh." He was either the one or the Other. After having foretasted all these things,
He calmly set His seal to His predictions by saying
"Heaven and earth shall
pass away, but My words shall not pass away."
Think of the important meaning
attached to this remarkable statement! He bade His disciples look at the sun, moon, and
stars, and then on the earth with all their apparent stability, and He boldly said to them
that though heaven and earth should pass away, His words would still abide, unaltered,
unchanged, and unchangeable. Surely
"Never man spake like this Man!"
This statement carries with it the
impression of its own truthfulness, and we are constrained to see in this Jesus of
Nazareth, none other than Deity Incarnate. Here
in the form of man is the Creator of the heavens and the earth Whose words are more sure than His own creation. Yes, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away."
II.
WHAT IS IMPLIED BY THIS STATEMENT?
Undoubtedly He could and did both
foreknow and foresee all the eventualities that would seek to hinder the fulfillment of
His words. This Man of Nazareth was therefore
superhuman and supernatural in His knowledge and foresight.
None other than God Himself could thus forecast, and foretell the happenings
of the future.
2.
In the second place, this statement
"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away," implies
that the Speaker Himself had at His command, power and wisdom sufficient to meet and
control any combination of opposing forces.
Take for example the predictions in St.
Matthew xxiv. 14, with regard to the preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom, as a witness
to all nations. As we look back upon the
history of the past nineteen centuries, what tremendous forces have been and still are
arrayed against this divine programme. Empires,
governments, kings, princes, and public opinions have done all they could devise to
prevent the preaching of the Gospel.
False systems of religion through the
ages have tended to silence those who have sought to preach the Gospel. Yet today, as never previously, the Gospel is
being preached as a witness to the nations. Men
may plot and plan, and all the powers of hell with all the unseen demons of darkness may
do what they may, yet He Who was the lowly Jesus of Nazareth has at His disposal wisdom
and might, greater and stronger than any seen or unseen opposing forces.
"Heaven and earth shall pass away,
but My words shall not pass away."
3.
This statement implies the conscious
unchangeableness of His purpose.
Heaven and earth shall pass away, but
My words, under no conceivable contingency, will either be modified or altered. There is only one Person who could thus speak, and
that is our unchangeable God.
4.
What reference has this statement to the doctrines our Lord taught?
There is nothing ambiguous, vague or hazy about what our Lord taught when He
was here upon earth. He did not mince His
words. He told men that they were slaves of
sin, and in consequence they were lost spiritually. That
no man could either see or enter the Kingdom of God unless he was "born
again"--born from above. He taught that
He had come to this earth for the very purpose of making this "new birth"
possible, and to shed His own life-blood as men's substitute for the "remission of
sins." He therefore gave His Life as "a ransom for many." He taught that He
would rise again from the dead, triumphant over the grave, and ascend to heaven, to the
Father's right hand, and would come back again a "second time" to this earth
"with power and great glory" and that all men should be summoned before the
judgment bar of God.
It is just here, in this enlightened
democratic century, that many theologians wish to cross swords with the Lord Jesus. They say they cannot accept the same religious
teaching that was promulgated in the first century. Those
that believe in the ipsissima verba of Christ,
they say, must recognize that there is such a thing as "progressive revelation";
that men therefore know more today than either our Saviour or His disciples did.
Modern scholars may say what they like
but they cannot get away from what the Saviour said, when He was here upon earth,
"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away."
5. Let us apply this statement to
the warnings of our Lord. He gave us warnings
many: "He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth
on him."
Surely this refers to our Lord's utterances, as well as to His claims! That we are not wrong in thus interpreting this
verse, we find as the result of a close study of the following passages: St. John vi., verses 63 and 64. "The words that I speak unto you, they are
spirit, they are life, but there are some of you that believe not." To whom did our Lord refer? Who was it amongst His followers that did not
believe in the words and utterances of his Master? Our
Lord tells us in verse 71: "He spake of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon." Then
we conclude that to disbelieve the words and utterances of Jesus Christ is to have the
spirit of Judas Iscariot.
Look again at another remarkable
statement of our Lord's in St. John, chapter viii., verse 47, "He that is of God
heareth God's words; ye therefore hear them not because ye are not of God." Our Lord
thus definitely testifies that His words are the very utterances of God Himself.
This is a tremendous position for any
man to take up, but in our Lord's High Priestly prayer, St. John xvii., verse 8, He says,
"For I have given unto them the words which Thou gavest Me." Language cannot be
plainer; He Himself substantiated this very clearly in John, chapter xii., verses 47-50:
"If any man hear My words and believe not, I judge him not! He that rejecteth Me and
receiveth not My words hath One that judgeth him. The
word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day, for I have not spoken
of Myself, but the Father which sent Me gave Me a commandment what I should say, and what
I should speak. Whatsoever I speak therefore even as the
Father said unto me, so I speak."
Man may ignore these statements--many do; men may cavil at them--many do! Men may prove to their own satisfaction that these
words do not mean what some people think they do; yet over and against their ignoring,
their cavilling, their discarding, their explaining away, stands this tremendously solemn
statement, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away."
6.
Let us apply this statement to the
promises of the Lord Jesus Christ.
"Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
"I will give unto My sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish."
"I will not leave thee nor forsake thee."
These and hundreds of other promises, our Lord assures us, are in the eternal
purposes of God for those who believe and accept Him.
"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away."
7.
Let us apply this statement to His predictions.
What are predictions but promises and warnings?
Our Lord predicted that there would come false prophets, or teachers, and as a
result of their false teaching "iniquity should abound" and the love of many wax
cold, there would be "distress amongst nations," perplexity, men's hearts
failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth. He foretold that at the very period when He
should come the second time His own professed servants should slumber and sleep, and not
be ready for His coming.
He clearly indicated that the professing Church in the last days would comprise two
distinct classes of people, the "wise and the foolish", the "wheat and the
tares," and the professing and the possessing Christian, and that there would come a
great separation day, when He would come as lightning from heaven suddenly, unexpectedly,
and unannounced. In St. Luke xiii. 25, He very solemnly predicted the fate of those who
would not be ready, the unprepared, the professor who was not a possessor.
When once the Master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye
begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, "Lord, Lord, open unto
us," and He shall answer and say unto you, "I know you not, whence ye are." Then shall ye begin to say, "We have eaten
and drunk in Thy presence."
That is to say, "We have knelt at the Lord's table; we have partaken of the
Lord's supper or Holy Communion. Thou
hast taught in our streets; yes, we have attended the House of God; we have heard Thy word
expounded, but He shall say,
"I tell you, I know you not whence
ye are; depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity."
What
bitter disappointment there will be that day amongst the so-called Christians of
Christendom who are not ready for His coming. These
words may seem hard to understand, but let us never forget that He Who spoke them said,
"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away."
In the light, therefore, of our study
of our Lord's statement, and His testimony both to Himself and to His words and to His
utterances, let us take all the more heed to what He said, and to what He promised, what
He warned, and what He predicted, for this we know, "God manifest in the flesh"
in the form of the lowly Jesus of Nazareth, said,
"HEAVEN
AND EARTH SHALL PASS AWAY, BUT MY WORDS SHALL NOT PASS AWAY."
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