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"When the commandment came"
(Being a series of articles based upon the testimony of readers as
to the particular passage of Scripture that was used to enlighten
them as to the unique character of the Dispensation of the Mystery).
#9.
"With Abraham" and "With Christ".
pp. 18, 19
The apprehension of the truth that brought light and joy to the reader whose testimony
we now give, arose out of a right division of Scripture in connection with the two phrases
"With Abraham" and "With Christ". The reader saw that both were indications of
dispensational truth, and realized that those blessed with faithful Abraham, sharing with
him the Heavenly Jerusalem, and those blessed with Christ, seated together at the right
hand of God, must be two different companies. While the doctrinal position of the
believer, whether in Galatians, Romans or Ephesians is the same, viz., "in Christ", the
dispensational position differs. Those who are found in the churches during the Acts are
said to be "blessed with faithful Abraham". On the other hand, the saved belonging to
the dispensation of the mystery are blessed "with Christ", and their hope is to be
manifested "with Him in glory".
The point that our correspondent stresses in his letter is that we must believe that God
uses words "with precision", and without the mixing of metaphors, and that He really
means what He says. He comments upon the care we bestow upon the wording of a legal
document, which after all belongs only to the realm of time, and contrasts it with the lax
way we handle the Word of eternal truth. We are thankful for this emphasis. When once
we have rightly divided the Word of truth, we are at last free to believe all that God has
said, using every word He has written, and needing no others. It may be that those who
do not distinguish these things dispensationally would resent this claim, and tell us that
they too believe all that God has said without alteration. While we would give all such
credit for sincerity, we would also point out that this is not possible while right division is
ignored.
If we "rightly divide the Word of truth" we must believe that "earth" means "earth" in
Matt. 5: 5, and 6: 10; and that the "heavenly places" of Eph. 1: 3 are "far above" the
earth. However sincere we may be, if we insist that the Sermon on the Mount is
addressed to the same company as the Epistle to the Ephesians, we cannot avoid
confusing "earth" with "heaven". And this is but one example. The recognition of
dispensational truth goes hand in hand with the acknowledgement that God uses His
words with precision--or, as our correspondent writes at the end of his letter:
"Thy words are pure words
(Words of the earth)
As silver is tried in a furnace of fire
Purified seven times."