1 Sunday, December 9, 2012 Grace Life Schl f Thelgy Grace Histry Prject Lessn 83 The Early Dispensatinal Witness f H.A. Irnside, Part 2 The Mysteries f Gd (1908), Cntinued Chapter VII The Mystery f the Rapture f the Saints Chapter VII begins with anther clear statement regarding Pauline truth and the revelatin f the mystery. T the epistles f Paul alne d we turn fr the revelatin f the mystery. He was the special vessel chsen t make knwn the heavenly calling. The twelve were, as we have seen, cnnected primarily with the testimny t Israel. Paul, as ne brn ut f due time, was selected t be the messenger t the natins, annuncing the distinctive truths f the present dispensatin. (74-75) This chapter cntains the nly allusin in the bk t the Acts 2 dispensatinal psitin. First then, let it be nted that Old Testament prphecy never refers t the dispensatin in which we live (extending frm Pentecst t the Lrd s cming fr His wn) save in a mst indefinite way, as, fr instance, in Dan. 9:26, a passage which will cme befre us a little father dwn. Frm Mses t Malachi, Scripture is mainly ccupied with ne natin, Israel, (Ams 3:2, Deut. 7:6, Ps. 147:19-20), and the hpe f that natin, namely, the raising up f the Prphet (Duet. 18:15), Priest (Ps. 2:6), wh is t bring them int everlasting blessing as a peple (Ps. 132:11-18, Isa. 35:10, 51:11, 61:7), thugh nt until their regeneratin (Ezek. 36:24-30). The Gentiles shall share in that blessing (Isa. 56:6, 65:1), but nt as n the same fting with Israel; rather in subjectin t them (Isa. 14:1-3, 60:3-5, 62: 1-2)... The prphetic clck, as nted befre, stpped at Calvary. It will nt start again till the fullness f the Gentiles be cme in. The present is a timeless epch, parenthetically intrduced between the sixty-ninth and seventieth weeks, in which Gd is taking ut frm amng the Gentiles a peple fr his name (Acts 15:14). Nt that he has utterly given up the Jew nw, but bth Jew and Gentile stand n ne fting there is n difference, fr all have sinned (Rm. 3). Bth alike are saved thrugh faith in Christ, and all such are made members f the ne Bdy, the Church by the Hly Ghst united t the Lrd Jesus Christ as Head in heaven, accrding t the revelatin f the mystery which we have already cnsidered. The Church began with the baptism f the Hly Spirit n the day f Pentecst. Hw lng will it exist n earth? Will it remain here thrughut the time f Jacb s truble, and until the times f the Gentiles are fulfilled? (80-81) Despite the bvius references t the church beginning in Acts 2, mst mid-acts dispensatinalists wuld agree with the general rder f events laid ut by Irnside. The dispensatin f grace was parenthetically inserted int the sentence f prphecy between the end f the 69 th week and the beginning f the 70 th week f Daniel s prphecy. Pastr Bryan Rss
2 With respect t the final questin raised by Irnside in the passage quted abve, Will it (the church) remain here (n earth) thrughut the time f Jacb s truble, and until the times f the Gentiles are fulfilled? Irnside answers with an emphatic n! Irnside believed that anther mystery was revealed t Paul dealing with the clse f the current dispensatin f grace. Scripture answers N! Anther mystery was made knwn t the apstle Paul, declaring the clse f the Church s histry by a mighty miracle which may take place at any mment... (qutes I Cr. 15:51)... This is the prper hpe f the Christian, and it is this marvelus event which marks the fullness f the Gentiles. The time f the Gentiles will nt end until the tribulatin perid is ver, which begins upn the rapture f the Church. The Church has n part in that time f truble. It belngs t heaven, and will be taken hme t glry ere it begins... I wuld nte briefly the characteristics f that perid f judgment. It will be a shrt dispensatin, in which divine wrath will be pured ut upn Israel, apstate Christendm, and the natins at large... This is the great tribulatin; but we search in vain fr any mentin f the Church r the heavenly saints n earth during that fearful time. N! they are abve it all with the Lamb wh redeemed them, and wh shall have taken them t be with Himself. (81-83) The Grace Histry Prject agrees with Brther Irnside that the Rapture/catching away f the saints t meet the Lrd in the air is the hpe f the Church. We must, hwever, respectfully disagree with Mr. Irnside in ne detail with respect t this event. The nly saints that are resurrected t meet the Lrd in the air accrding t I Thessalnians 4 are members f the bdy f Christ frm the current dispensatin f grace. Irnside taught that saints frm previus generatins wuld als take part in this unprphesied event. This is the mystery f the rapture. The shut f the Lrd will awaken all the sleeping Church; the vice f the archangel (Michael, wh is the prince f Israel) will summn the saints f by-gne dispensatins frm their tmbs; the trump f Gd will sund (the last trump f I Cr. 15:52), clsing up this dispensatin; and in a mment all the redeemed, whether raised r changed, shall be caught up t meet the Lrd in the air. (84) Chapter VIII The Mystery f Lawlessness In Chapter VIII, Irnside addresses the subject f the mystery f iniquity in II Thessalnians 2:7. An analysis f his thughts cncerning the subject is bth impressive and instructive. Simply stated, Irnside believed that when Gd revealed the mystery cncerning the bdy f Christ, Satan respnded by changing the way he perated. Far therwise: even in his wn days, when Christianity was but in its infancy, the apstle wrte, The mystery f lawlessness (iniquity KJB) dth already wrk, and that effectually, fr s the last wrd implies in the riginal (II Thess. 2:7). Side by side with the prclamatin f the truth has ever been the satanic wrk, energetically carried n, t crrupt the truth, intrducing pisnus cunterfeits that delude the suls f all wh receive them... Invariably Satan wrks by imitatin. Gd has revealed hly mysteries t Pastr Bryan Rss
3 His servants. The devil t must have his deep things, which thus appear t the spiritually prud and carnally-minded. The mystery f lawlessness is, in fact, the wrking f the human mind, energized by Satan, in divine things. Refusing the sure testimnies f the Lrd, and walking in vain cnfidence, the ear is readily given t fables, and the mind revels in wnderful and strange teachings, which delight and bewilder, but are nt nly t n prfit, but t the actual subverting f thse wh run greedily after them. The bject f Satan is t turn the eye frm Christ; hence the mystery f lawlessness makes much f man and, by means whatever, puts the Lrd Jesus at a distance. (85-86) Accrding t Irnside, the gal f the mystery f iniquity is t bscure the truth f the mystery frm the minds f Christians. This is dne by causing believers t sink dwn t the level f the wrld rather than keeping their affectins n things abve. In its earliest inceptin, this mystery cnsisted in taking up the hpes, frms and ceremnies f the Jewish dispensatin, and transferring them gradually t the Church f the present perid. This accmplished, the heavenly calling wuld be lst sight f; the great mystery f Christ and the Church wuld be effectually hidden; and believers wuld thus sink dwn t the level f the wrld, becming in spirit, dwellers n the earth and frgetting that their pliteuma is in heaven (Phil. 3:20)... Hence we sn see that the truth f the priesthd f all believers, each ne having immediate access t Gd, displaced by the teaching that, as in Judaism and in heathenism, s nw, there is a special priestly rder wh alne have t d directly with the mystery f religin, and nw act as mediatrs and g-betweens fr the laity, r the cmmnalty. This was ne f Satan s mst cunning devices t put the peple at a distance frm Gd. Hw well it has succeeded the centuries witness! By degrees, mre and mre pwer, with its accmpanying pmp, was delegated t this superir hierarchy; grgeus vestments were adpted, magnificent titles accrded, and thus the simple Christianity f early days seems almst crushed ut f existence. (87-88) While the mystery f iniquity is already wrking, the presence f the church n earth is hindering its full nset. Once the Rapture ccurs and the church is remved, the mystery f iniquity will be allwed t run its curse. It will ultimately culminate with the wrship f Satan himself, accrding t Irnside. Suffice it t say that s effectual has been the wrking f this mystery f lawlessness that there remains n ne dctrine f Scripture that has nt been denied, and an imitatin fisted upn the ignrant in its place. Thus it went n spreading, nt nly thrugh the Rman cmmunin, but amng s-called Greek rthdx, and nw amng Anglican and even Prtestant denminatins, as well as heretical sects like Christian Science, New Thught, etc. But it has nt yet attained its full grwth, nr will it while the Church, indwelt by the Hly Spirit, remains upn the earth. In II Thess. 2 we read f a hindrance t the full manifestatin f the evil f the mystery f lawlessness referred t, which is evidently the presence f the Hly Ghst in the Church n earth. He lets, r hinders Pastr Bryan Rss
4 until He be taken ut f the way... when the Church will be gne, the secret f iniquity will be headed up in ne man, the Antichrist f prphecy; and all wh had chsen the earth in place f the heavenly prtin will be given ver t the strng delusin... Thus shall Babyln s pwer be brken, and all wrship and hmage be paid t a man the man f Sin wh heads up in himself the mystery f lawlessness. This is the subject f the 13 th chapter f Revelatin, which in pint f time seems t be subsequent t chapter 17, fr there we see n wman riding the beast. Her dm has already cme, and nw the man f sin is fully revealed, and all pay hmage t the Antichrist, the false Messiah. This is the devils masterpiece, and the culminatin f the mystery he has been develping fr s lng. But his triumph shall be but mmentary; fr when iniquity is at its height, and Satan s pwer seems t be supreme, the heavens shall be pened, and He shall ride frth whm Jhn saw in visin, as described in chap. 19 f the same bk. (89-93) Cncluding Thughts n The Mysteries f Gd The Grace Histry Prject acknwledges that The Mysteries f Gd is nt ttally a mid-acts wrk. Irnside clearly thinks that the bdy f Christ began n the day f Pentecst in Acts 2; hwever, the wrk des cntain many pints that are cnsistent with the mid-acts view. When ne cnsiders the timing f its publicatin in 1908 n the eve f the publicatin f the Scfield Reference Bible and the same year as the cnversatin between Charles Welch and E.W. Bullinger, The Mysteries f Gd is truly unique. First it has mre in cmmn with the mid-acts view than des the Scfield Reference Bible. Secnd, it des nt exhibit the excesses f the Acts 28 view that was develping in Great Britain at the same time. The Mysteries f Gd shares the fllwing views in cmmn with the mid-acts psitin. Clear distinctin between prphecy and mystery. Israel s king and kingdm is the subject f prphecy and deals with Gd s dealings in the earth. The Church was a mystery pertaining t the secret plan and purpse f Gd cncerning the heavenly places. The reasns the church is s cnfused tday are that the wrd f Gd has nt been rightly divided between these tw purpses f Gd. Rman Cathlicism has sught t bscure the truth f the mystery by using the term t refer t her sacramental system. The unbelief f Israel and her rejectin f king and kingdm is what has wrught ut the revelatin f Gd s secret plan and purpse cncerning the bdy f Christ. When the Pastr Bryan Rss
5 Gentiles abuse the grace f Gd as Israel did, they will be cut ff and Gd will resume and finish his dealings with Israel. The mystery was a unique Pauline revelatin cmpletely unknwn in Scripture befre it was revealed t Paul. Furthermre, the revelatin f the mystery fulfilled r cmpleted the wrd f Gd. The catching away f the Church t meet the Lrd in the air will end the current dispensatin f grace. This was even part f the revelatin f the mystery and cmpletely unknwn befre the time f Paul. Satan has attacked the revelatin f the mystery thrugh the mystery f iniquity. The mystery f iniquity has sught t bscure the truth f the heavenly calling and purpse f the bdy f Christ by trying t get the church t think and functin like Israel. Presently, the bdy f Christ n earth is hindering the full nset f the mystery f iniquity. Once the bdy is taken ut f the way i.e., raptured, the mystery f iniquity will prceed unabated t the wrship f the Antichrist. Sailing With Paul: Simple Papers fr Yung Christians, (1913) Written in 1913, Irnside s Sailing With Paul als cntains sme histrically significant infrmatin with respect t the develpment f dispensatinal truth. As the title suggests, this wrk cntains 18 shrt papers n varius aspects f what it means t sail with Paul in the Christian life. In this wrk, Irnside challenged his readers t give heed t Pauline authrity in their Christian lives. Regarding Luke s accunt f Paul s vyage t Rme recrded in the bk f Acts, Irnside asks his readers, D yu sail with Paul? It is nt nw a questin f tempral but f eternal salvatin. The vyage I have in mind is nt frm ne earthly prt t anther, but that vastly mre imprtant vyage frm earth t heaven, frm the City f Destructin t the Celestial city. One thing is certain: Yu are n a vyage, sailing ver the sea f time bund fr eternity. D yu sail with Paul? All wh d shall reach the prt f endless glry at last, whatever vicissitudes they many pass thrugh n the vyage. All wh d nt sail with the great apstle t the natins will fail f final salvatin; let their hpes be never s high and their passage never s calm and peaceful. What is it t sail with Paul? It is t knw Paul s Saviur and t share Paul s blessings. Are these things true f yu? There are untld thusands in Christendm tday, wh are nminal believers, wh belng t the Church in its utward aspect, wh partake f the sacraments and are mre r less zealus in what is called Christian wrk, but wh d nt sail with Paul. He repudiated all such things as a grund f cnfidence, and trusted alne in the matchless grace f Gd. Pastr Bryan Rss
6 Time and space will nt permit an exhaustive analysis f Sailing With Paul, s we will limit ur cmments t nly thse areas that are mst reflective f Pauline truth. In each f the fllwing sectins, the italicized title crrespnds with a chapter frm the bk fllwed by sme summary qutatins frm that chapter. Please nte that every chapter is nt discussed. Cnversin t Gd He wh sails with Paul has been truly and definitely cnverted t Gd. Cnversin is a turning frm self t Christ; it is ceasing t rely n ne s wn fancied merits and trusting in the Lrd Jesus Christ alne... remember it is nt the right faith that saves, but faith in the right persn. Yu might have the strngest pssible faith in yurself, in the priest, in the church, in the sacraments, in visins r dreams, and be lst frever. But, n the ther hand, the feeblest faith in Christ Jesus, Gd s Lamb, saves fr all eternity, and puts yu frever in Paul s cmpany... let nthing make yu dubt that yu are cnverted, and therefre eternally saved, if Christ is the One t whm yu have turned fr deliverance. (10-11) Frgiveness f Sins N unfrgiven sul sails with Paul: which is t say that Scripture recgnizes n such persn as a believer in Christ Jesus wh has nt already received frgiveness f all his sins... The wrd (feel) des nt belng t the Christian, yu see, but t the heathen wh have n written revelatin. Our wrd is faith r believe. We d nt knw because we feel; but we believe Gd s wrd, and thus we knw... We read in Scripture f the witness f the Spirit t us, and the witness in us. Until we receive the witness t us, we cannt have the witness in us. This is f supreme imprtance and, I hpe, will be carefully nted... The Spirit s witness is nt a happy feeling in my heart. It is the recrd f the wrd f Gd as t the wrk f Christ and its results. (12-15) Justificatin Frm All Things The just shall live by faith; it remained fr the apstle f the Gentiles t fully develp and widely prclaim the great dctrine f justificatin by faith. It is the crnerstne f the mystery f the gspel. N ther apstle r apstlic writer s much as mentins it, save Luke, as the inspired histrian, tells us hw Paul preached it...it is the sentence f the judge in favr f the prisner. And yet it is the ungdly wh are justified by a hly Gd n the principles f abslute righteusness. Hw can such an event be brught abut?... The Lrd Jesus Himself had taken the place f the guilty, brne the judgment due t sin, and, having fully glrified Gd in this respect, had been raised frm the dead and seated in highest glry as Man, in tken f Gd s full satisfactin in His finished wrk (Rm. 4:25-5:1)... It is the very simplicity f it ver which men stumble. That He, the Hly One, shuld have been made a sin-ffering that we might becme the righteusness f Gd in Him is smething mere human reasn wuld never have cnceived. Yet this is the very pith and marrw f the gspel... Sin is nt merely pardned. It is atned fr. Guilt is nt simply verlked. It is gne frever frm the eye f Gd in the crss f His Sn. Iniquity is nt nly frgiven, it is purged by the bld f the Sn f the Highest, and the transgressr is justified frm all things... He Himself tk the cndemnatin, endured the wrath Pastr Bryan Rss
7 Regeneratin f Gd and has made full satisfactin fr all the believers sins. Faith rests n this and fears n mre. (16-19) Gd nt nly clears the believer frm every charge, frgiving his sins and justifying him frm all things, but he makes him a new creature, giving him a new nature and intrducing him int a new creatin f which the risen Christ is the Head... Paul never speaks f being brn again, thugh he uses ther terms that mean practically the same thing. He lks at man as dead and needing life, s he says t believers, When we were dead in sins we were quickened tgether with Christ (Eph. 2:5). We have becme sharers f Christ s life; hence we are brn frm abve. And nw we belng t the new creatin f which Christ is the Head... Once in the new creatin, I am in Christ, and can never again be separated frm Him. (20-23) Acceptance It is a precius truth that Gd accepts every believer in the Lrd Jesus Christ, nt accrding t any real r fancied gdness in himself but accrding t the Father s estimate f His belved Sn... And being thus brught s near t Gd in the persn f ur Lrd Jesus Christ ur security naturally fllws. We are in Him and, cnsequently, as safe frm judgment as He is. He died in ur stead and faith reckns His death as ur death. Nw He lives frever beynd the reach f death and judgment. And in Him we are accepted! If He falls, then d we als fall; but He has said, Because I live ye shall live als. We have died ut f the ld relatinship, in which we had part by nature, but we have nw been raised with Christ and ur life is here with Christ in Gd... But let it never be frgtten n merit attaches t the believer because f his gdliness and devtedness. He needs nne. He is already accepted in the Belved, and nthing can be added t this. N lving bedience he can render can make him ne whit dearer t the heart f Gd. (32-35) The Assembly As The Bdy f Christ At the time f his cnversin n the Damascus turnpike, the germ f a great truth was revealed t Paul, which later became the chiefest in the galaxy f dctrines which it was his missin, as an apstle, t make knwn fr the bedience f faith... But this dctrine f the ne bdy is never referred t by any ther apstle than Paul. He calls it the dispensatin f the mystery which he had especially been entrusted with. Indeed it was the characteristic truth f his large and varied ministry... the truth f Jew and Gentile being frmed by the Spirit int ne bdy, upn being brn f Gd, and by that same Spirit linked up t Christ as Head in heaven, was a truth never befre made knwn. The Old Testament will be searched in vain fr it. It is nt there because it was hid in Gd. It was the secret purpse f His heart, nly t be revealed after the rejectin f His Sn. It actually became a fact when the Hly Spirit was given n Pentecst... thugh until the special revelatin given t Paul, it was nt seen that this invlved membership in the bdy f Christ. The fact existed prir t the knwledge f it. Nw, every saint shuld have clear light as t it, because it is everywhere declared, r taken fr granted, in Paul s epistles. (44-48) Pastr Bryan Rss
8 Baptism and Cnnected Truths Baptism is the initiatry rdinance f Christianity. It expresses subjectin t the Lrdship f Christ. T fritter away what Gd has said cncerning this beautifully expressive rdinance, as sme d tday, n the plea that it did nt belng t the special revelatin given t Paul, and cnsequently has n place in the dispensatin f the mystery, is t ignre r pervert what ur apstle has himself left n recrd regarding it. (54) When ne cnsiders this last statement regarding baptism it is imprtant t keep in mind that it was made in 1913. This is befre the time f O Hair, Stam, r Bultema, the early champins f Pauline mid-acts dispensatinalism in the United States. One shuld ask himself f whm is Irnside speaking? Wh was ut there teaching n water baptism prir t 1913? Frm the standpint f the Grace Histry Prject there are nly tw ptential answers t this questin, E.W. Bullinger and Charles Welch. Nt nly were these men teaching that water baptism is nt fr tday but they were als using the exact verbiage dispensatin f the mystery in their writings. Once again an evaluatin f Sailing With Paul reveals that it is nt ttally cnsistent with the mid-acts dispensatinal perspective, hwever, the bk des teach many great truths with which mst mid-acts dispensatinalists wuld agree. Unfrtunately, as we will see in future lessns, Irnside changed his mind n sme f these dctrines later in his ministry. Wrks Cited Irnside, H.A. The Mysteries f Gd. New Yrk, NY: Lizeaux Brthers, 1908. Irnside, H.A. Sailing with Paul: Simple Papers fr Yung Christians. Neptune, NJ: Lizeaux Brthers, 1913. Pastr Bryan Rss