Evening And Morning: 1
By George H. Warnock
To men of foresight and understanding it is quite evident that the Church of Jesus Christ is about to enter into a new phase of life and truth in this the most critical hour of her long history. It seems, of course, as far as the vast majority of the people are concerned, that the sun is about to set upon a once glorious, and radiant, and triumphant Church. But to those whose eyes have been enlightened, and whose hearts have been enlarged to perceive what God is doing, it is not really the setting of the sun, but rather the rising of the sun, even the beginning of a new day. God's order, established right back in the book of beginnings, is first "evening" and then "morning." This must of necessity be so, because invariably in God's dealings with men the darker the hour of human frustration and peril, the brighter is the light of hope that radiates from the hearts of those who are the children of the light. It all depends on our viewpoint. By that we mean, it all depends upon the side of the pillar of fire from which we make our observation. If we are dwelling with the Egyptians as God's judgments begin to fall, then certainly there is darkness--a darkness that becomes so intense one can actually feel it, But if at that very moment we stand with the chosen people, with anticipation and hope of a great and complete and speedy deliverance, then our homes are full of light. Or if we stand with the hosts of Egypt as they pursue the covenant people of God, there is gross darkness. Yet on the other side of the blackness there is light--radiant and glorious--enlightening and cheering God's people as they face the future, and the prospect of a glorious inheritance, even though such a prospect might be intermingled with perplexities and questions concerning the ways and means of entering into it.
Why such a great contrast? Simply because the people are dwelling on different sides of the same cloud. The Church has an old chorus about "turning those ugly clouds about" But that really solves nothing. It is not a mere change of circumstances that we need. Turn the clouds about as often as you will and they continue to be clouds of darkness and apprehension and fear--as long as we are dwelling on man's side of the cloud, away from the sun.
The only solution is in getting on the other side of the cloud, where the sun is in full view. What a beautiful sight it is when you climb into a plane on a cloudy day and soar into the atmosphere far above the clouds, and hasten forward to your destination in the clear blue sunny skies of the atmosphere above, with the clouds under your feet. I sometimes say to people by way of encouragement, "Keep looking down." For ours is a heavenly heritage, as it is also a heavenly walk. God "hath raised us up together, and made us sit together (with Him) in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:6). As we take that position with Him in "the heavenlies" in Christ Jesus, then indeed there is no place in our thinking for defeat. By defeat we mean some kind of a partial victory, or a falling short in some sense of the word from that high and holy calling by which and unto which we have been called. We mean exactly that.
If there is a falling short of that high-calling in any sense of the word, that means defeat. Why does the Church of Christ insist that a 90% or a 99% conquest of the inheritance would be more honoring to God than total victory? Why do we feel that if we retain just a small fraction of the old nature and the old life, with the rest given over to the judgment of the Cross, that God is truly glorified? The spirit of Saul prevails everywhere in the Church of Christ. He insisted he had fulfilled the commandment of the Lord and was quite proud of the fact. But "what then is this bleating of the sheep, and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?" asked the prophet. Well, of course, the prophet did say to destroy everything, but surely he did not mean exactly that. He could not have meant that all those "good" things of the Amalekites, and the king himself, should he slain. These he would bring as a sacrifice unto the Lord! In vain do we honor the Lord by bringing all the good of our old nature unto Him, and seek to keep our WILL on the throne. We feel we just simply must keep the king of Amalek alive in order to honor God, because man is a "free will moral agent." The fact is that man is in no sense "free" either as the seed of Adam or as the seed of Abraham. Jesus makes this abundantly clear.
Only the Son can make one free, and this is the only true freedom that man can have (Jn. 8:32-36). By natural birth we are impelled by the desires or the WILL of the flesh and of the mind, which leads only to bondage; and we are energized by the spirit of disobedience (Eph. 2:2, 3). It is only by the grace of God that this wall of rebellion is broken down, and we are called forth into the light by His creative voice. One only knows true freedom when that last great stronghold of the old life is broken down, even the king of Amalek, the WILL--and the will of God takes its place. Then we may truly say, "I delight to do Thy will, O God"; and again, "My meat (my very food, my very life) is to do the will of Him that sent me, to finish His work" (Jn. 4:34).
