Divine ordinances (e.g. circumcision) have received their fulfilment in Christ. Our

circumcision is "made without hands." Human ordinances, such as "touch not, taste not,

handle not," and all the multifarious rules and regulations of religion, have no power over

one who has died with Christ. The ordinances of Believers' Baptism and of the Lord's

Supper, while directly connected with faith, were also directly associated with the flesh

and things seen in a marked manner. The believer, who has entered into the fulness of the

gospel as proclaimed in Ephesians, wherein he sees that he has been quickened, raised

from the grave of sin, and seated with Christ in the heavenlies, will not need reminders

every week of the debt he owes.

We must realize that we cannot disassociate the Lord's Supper from its typical

character, and its dispensational connection with kingdom promises. Nicodemus loved

the Lord, or he would not have brought the spices to embalm His body, for by so doing

he exposed himself to the hatred of the Sanhedrim. Nicodemus would have loved the

Lord better, and with far more reality, if he had believed the Lord's words that He would

rise again the third day. The others might have said that Nicodemus did not love the Lord

so much had he refrained from sharing in the offices of the dead, but he would really

have loved his Lord the more if he had believed in and waited for His resurrection from

the dead. So with ourselves, we love the Lord none the less because we set our affections

on things above. Our fellow-believers may chide us with coldness, but what of that! our

joy is not resting in the approbation of the most saintly; our joy is found in Him and His

approval. We know that if we rightly divide the Word of truth we shall be workmen who

will have no need for shame in that day, although much misunderstood in man's day.

Again, many feel the loss of I Thess. 4: very keenly. Oh, that they may feel the "gain"

of Phil. 3: as Paul did. As a Pharisee, and after his conversion, Paul believed that the

dead would be raised, and that Messiah would come in glory to take the kingdom. He

believed that the archangel Michael would stand up for Israel during their time of trouble,

and that there would then take place the resurrection mentioned in Dan. 12: There is only

one archangel mentioned in Scripture, and his name is Michael. He is always connected

with Israel (Dan. 10: and 12:). "The archangel" of I Thess. 4: is Michael, and the

resurrection there mentioned is the same as that of Dan. 12: I Thess. v connects it with

"The day of the Lord." Paul willingly gave up all these things, and many other hopes

which he had entertained after his conversion. When he had the mystery revealed to him

he could gladly "count all things but loss" for the things which were before.

Is it nothing that our hope is related to His glory? Is it to be despised that soon we

shall exchange these bodies for bodies like unto that of the glorified Lord? Is there

nothing "tangible" in a "citizenship in heaven"? Is the promise "vague" that when Christ

who is our life shall be manifested we shall be manifested with Him in glory? Did

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob suffer so much because of the promise that they should inherit

the earth, and shall we speak of "the inheritance of the saints in the light" as something

not worthy of comparison? We are all so much of the "earth, earthy" that we do not really

enter into "the calling wherewith we have been called." The traditions of the ages have so

blunted our feelings, and blinded our eyes, that we cannot perceive "what is the hope of

His calling." By our attitude we are in reality asking, "What is the hope of His calling,