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raised Him from the dead” (Acts 13:28-30). What a tree!It was this very point that Peter was driving home at

Pentecost when he said: “The God of our fathers raisedup Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hathGod exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and aSaviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgivenessof sins” (Acts 5:30-31). Now technically, the Lord washanged on a tree and slain, not the other way around. ButPeter was reminding the people of their own well-knownhistory. The book of Joshua, in recording the conquest ofCanaan, recounts the execution of the Canaanite kings

and their being hanged on trees(Josh. 8:29; 10:26). The Lord Jesuswas the only “King of the Jews” whowas slain and “hanged on a tree.”The leaders of the Jews had wantedthe Lord to die at the hands of theRomans because the Romans exe-cuted by crucifixion. The Sanhedrinwanted Him under the curse of God.But, by a happy circumstance, Godwanted Him under the curse of God

as well! Paul explained the necessity of the Lord dying ona tree: “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of thelaw, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursedis every one that hangeth on a tree: that the blessing ofAbraham might come on the Gentiles through JesusChrist; that we might receive the promise of the Spiritthrough faith” (Gal. 3:13-14).

Later in life, the one who had rebuked the Lord foreven suggesting that He would die on a cross (Mt. 16:22)now understood the significance of the tree and the sweetfruit it would bear: “Who His own self bare our sins inHis own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins,should live unto righteousness…” (1 Pet. 2:24). What didthe Buddha ever do for our sins?

There is an eternity of difference between a man who“received the enlightenment” and the Man who is “theLight of the world.” Who but Heaven can measure thedistance between a man under a tree and the Man on thetree? It is Calvary’s tree, when planted near the heart, that“assures happiness and prosperity.”

y wife and I had occasion recently to visit theMarie Selby Botanical Gardens which sit on apeninsula jutting into Sarasota Bay in sunnyFlorida. The gardens are noted for their

bromeliad and orchid collection (there are 2,500 differ-ent kinds of bromeliads in the world, they told us, and25,000 different kinds of orchids, not including hybrids).It is a breathtaking display of “the wonderful works ofGod” (Acts 2:11). There is also a fernery with some ofthe 10,000 species of ferns that occur worldwide. A bam-boo pavilion highlights the largest of the grass family,and there are banyan and palm groves,a wonderful hibiscus garden, and alarge display of succulents (including awide variety of North American cacti).

As we relished the tropical air, theriot of color, and the exotic aromas thatwafted past us, we came to the furthestpoint of the walk at the end of thepeninsula. There spreading its branchesby the water’s edge was a bo tree, ficusreligiosa, or so said the sign at its base.

Why the term religiosa? The sign explained:

SACRED TO BOTH HINDUS AND BUDDHISTS, THE BO TREE

IS THE MOST REVERED TREE IN THE WORLD. THE BUDDHA

MEDITATED FOR SIX YEARS UNDER A BO TREE AND THERE

RECEIVED THE ENLIGHTENMENT. BO TREES ARE PLANTED

NEAR TEMPLES IN INDIA BECAUSE OF THIS ASSOCIATION

WITH THE BUDDHA, AND NEAR HOMES TO ASSURE HAPPI-NESS AND PROSPERITY.

I appreciated receiving the information on the plaque,but I must beg to differ. The bo tree is definitely not themost revered tree in the world. There is another tree, dearto the hearts of untold millions, once planted on the browof Golgotha. What fruit it has borne! The life from thattree has been grafted into a multitude of others, bringingeternal blessing. Of this tree Peter could write: “Andthough they found no cause of death in Him, yet desiredthey Pilate that He should be slain. And when they hadfulfilled all that was written of Him, they took Him downfrom the tree, and laid Him in a sepulchre. But God

2 UUPPLLOOOOKK • MAY 1999

E D I T O R I A L

b y J . B . N I C H O L S O N , J R .

THE MAN ON THE CENTER TREEHis body was prepared to do God’s will—even death on a cross.

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M

A BO TREE

3UUPPLLOOOOKK • MAY 1999

UPLOOK(USPS 620-640)

Founded in 1927 as Look on the Fields, UPLOOKis published eleven times a year by UplookMinistries, 813 North Ave., N.E., Grand Rapids,MI 49503.

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ISSN #1055-2642Printed in USA.© Copyright 1999 Uplook MinistriesPeriodical postage paid at Grand Rapids, MI. International Publication Mail Product (CanadianDistribution) Sales Agreement No. 1064363

UPLOOK magazine is intended to encouragethe people of God in fidelity to His Word, ferven-cy in intercessory prayer, labors more abundant,and love to the Lord. Believing in the practicalHeadship of Christ and the local autonomy ofeach assembly, this is not intended to be anofficial organ of any group or federation of localchurches. The editor and authors take responsibil-ity for materials published. For any blessingwhich accrues, to God be the glory.

UPLOOK is copyrighted solely for the pur-pose of maintaining the integrity of the material.It is not intended to limit the proper use of articlescontained in the magazine. Please include thewords: “UPLOOK magazine, by permission” onphotocopies made for personal use. For largequantities or other purposes, contact UPLOOK.

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Website: http:\\www.uplook.orgemail: [email protected]

FEATURESGOSPEL MEETINGS IN ISTANBUL? George Bristow 4

WEEP FOR THE BALKANS…AGAIN Ron Young 9

THE SILENCE OF GOD Sir Robert Anderson 10

OUTREACH IN OCALA David Dunlap 13

WONDERFULLY MADE Dr. Paul Brand 14

FOUR MYSTERIES J. B. Nicholson Jr. 16

THE BODY’S SACRIFICE 20

DIVINE HEALING R. A. Torrey 21

A MAN OF SUBSTANCE Stephen Anderson 22

DEPARTMENTSEDITORIAL 2FRONT LINES 5WHAT’S GOING ON? 8BOUQUET OF BLESSING The Human Body 15HEROES John Hambleton 17

Uplook Ministries is a tax-exempt corporation looking to the Lord to provide for the needs of this ministry. This magazine is sentfreely to those who request it, but evidently is not freely produced. Donations should be made payable to “UPLOOK” and sent to:

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C O N T E N T S

Number 5Volume 66 May 1999UPLOOKUPLOOK

The UPLOOK lettering on the cover lets you look beyond what the humaneye can see: the U magnifies a human hair; the P shows the cerebral cortex;the L enlarges a sampling of the sin nombre disease (171,000x); the two Osshow heart and nerve tissue; the K magnifies the influenza virus (295,000x).

diately so we can search the build-ing!”

Before long, the courtyard of thechurch was crowded with peoplewho had emptied out of the buildingand others who were still arriving.The police found nothing, and wewere thrilled to see the crowd deter-minedly pressing back into the build-ing for the meeting.

Both floors were soon packed tooverflowing and an eager crowd ofover 900 people joined in singingTurkish hymns. Luis Palau preachedanother powerful gospel message,following his own advice—“Keep onpreaching the same old thing!” (theglorious gospel of salvation throughthe Lord Jesus Christ).

This time the small space betweenthe platform and audience was notlarge enough to hold all those whocrowded forward to speak to coun-selors about the Lord. It is amazingto see this eager response in Turkey,even if only a token!

The Lord is still abounding inriches for all who call upon Him,wherever they are. Even though theevent did not happen as planned, theLord worked to honor His name inthese meetings.

Please continue to pray for thisneedy land as a few of the Lord’speople here work together to get Hisgospel out to a population of 65 mil-lion who have never heard! “Howshall they call upon Him in whomthey have not believed? And howshall they believe in Him whom theyhave not heard? And how shall theyhear without a preacher? And howshall they preach unless they aresent?”

a group of church leaders to hearwhat the Lord might say to usthrough the famous evangelist. Wereceived a rich message on maintain-ing our walk with Christ who lives inus. He reminded us from Exodus 3that any old bush will do as long asthe fire of God is in it!

Thursday evening we gathered andthe meeting began with a crowd ofnearly 600 people. I was asked to siton the platform as an occasionaltranslator and helper for Dr. Palau, soI was able watch the eager faces ofmostly local believers as they had therare opportunity to sing and praisethe Lord as a large group.

Luis Palau asked how to say“Good evening” in Turkish and Idrilled him a few times to say “iyiaksamlar.” He preached a simple,powerful gospel message and a num-ber of people came forward at theinvitation to receive counseling. Itwas an encouraging beginning.

On Friday, local Christian busi-nessmen and others with friends fromthe business world invited our friendsto a special meal sponsored by LuisPalau. My wife Donna and I sat at atable with co-workers of a brother inour fellowship while his businessmanfather sat next to Dr. Palau and chal-lenged him regarding the truth andfinality of the gospel of Jesus. Again,a few folks indicated interest in fol-lowing Christ.

On Saturday evening, the crowdbegan to gather for the final meeting.Ten minutes before the meeting wasto start, a group of police rushed intothe building. “Who’s in charge?” theydemanded. “There’s been a bombthreat. We want everyone out imme-

or a number of monthsbelievers from the handfulof evangelical churches inIstanbul have worked toprepare for a first-time

event in Istanbul—a Luis Palau evan-gelistic “crusade.”

Roger Malstead and others fromEngland had coordinated with the LPorganization and a 1,500-seat theaterhad been rented, invitations printed,counselors trained, and prayer offeredto the Lord.

Two days before brother Palauarrived, the government pulled a sur-prise and delayed permission for apublic meeting on the grounds thatwith elections coming up and therecent capture of Abdullah Ocalanthe political climate was too unstable.We were told that Dr. Palau couldspeak two months later, which ofcourse was their way of underminingthe plans without directly refusing us.

We were left with a crisis: LuisPalau and his team were scheduled toarrive the following day. What werewe to do?

After a long session, we decidedto use the largest church buildingavailable to us for two meetings forbelievers and the friends they hadinvited. Up to 900 people could beaccommodated on its two floors.

A crazy day followed—locatingchairs, locating and setting up a largevideo screen on the overflow floor,helping musicians set up in the oldchurch building, picking up litera-ture, and countless other tasks.

On Wednesday evening we met as


Yes, it’s true! Rejoice with what the Lord is doing in the land where many of the early churches were located.

Ý

S P E C I A L R E P O R T

FGEORGE BRISTOW

Gospel meetings in Istanbul?Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey

WILLOWBANK, BERMUDA Dr. Dave Reid (IA) will be the

speaker June 12-18 at Willowbank,Bermuda. If you are planning avacation, and wish to fellowshipwith other assembly believers andenjoy ministry from God’s Word,contact:

Mark KolchinPO Box 305 Lanoka Harbor, NJ 08734

TOUR OF GREECE & ISRAELAlan Parks (Myrtle Beach, SC) is

planning to host a tour of Greece andIsrael June 20-30, 1999. Greece willinclude visits to Athens and Corinth,and Israel will be from Dan toMasada. Philip Halperin will be theIsraeli guide, Lord willing.

Alan ParksPhone: (843) 238-4844Fax: (843) [email protected]

MEN’S BIBLE STUDYPine Bush Bible Camp is plan-

ning, Lord willing, the 5th Men’sBible Study Seminar Aug. 29-Sep. 2.Randy Amos will lead the study inActs with the theme, “Living True tothe Faith,” an intensive study forthose who are serious about God’sWord. For more information:

Charles Myers1473 Witty Rd.Toms River, NJ 08753(732) 341-7669

WORD ALIVE WEEKENDThis past season there were five

Word Alive Weekends held inWinnipeg, MB. All who attendedwere “built up on their most holyfaith.” Benefitting from the ministrybrought at the Friday evening rally,the all-day Saturday seminar, and theSunday meetings were not onlybelievers from Manitoba assembliesbut a number of saints from assem-

when, Lord willing, they will havetwo similar evangelistic outreaches inaddition to the regular monthly meet-ings. Your prayers are greatly valued.

Five assemblies in theWashington, DC, area have beenencouraged by their inter-assemblyfellowship efforts in 1998. A meetingis held each month, with each assem-bly in turn hosting the others.

A joint evangelistic outreach heldeach Saturday in October wasencouraging, and resulted in at leastone lady getting saved. The groupmet at a different assembly buildingeach week and distributed gospel lit-erature throughout the neighborhood.

They are looking forward to 1999,


A capital timeInter-assembly fellowship in Washington, DC.

F R O N T L I N E S

This summer, Winnipeg,MB will host the largestmulti-sport event everheld in CanadaÑlarger

than the 1988 Calgary and 1976 Montreal Olympics. In fact, outsideof the Õ84 Los Angeles and Õ92 Atlanta Olympics, the XIII Pan AmGames will be the largest games ever held in North America.

From July 23 to August 8, 5,000 athletes along with more than3,500 coaches, trainers, and officials, accompanied by families andfans will come to Winnipeg from 42 nations throughout the WesternHemisphere. Half of the visitors coming to Winnipeg will have eitherSpanish or Portuguese as their first language.

Plans are being made by Winnipeg-area assemblies and otherbelievers to conduct a daily program of evangelism involving litera-ture distribution, personal witnessing, and open-air work for thelast week of the GamesÑAugust 1-7. Contact Ron Hampton:

Phone: (204) 669-6026 Fax: (204) [email protected]

GOSPELOUTREACHat the PAN-AMGAMES

Ý

situation is not ideal for a familywith children, but would suit aretired couple willing to help and toengage in outreach to build up thework in the area. The ability to speakFrench would be a bonus.

Those who feel they may becalled to this work or would like toreceive further information, contact:

Danny Dugas345, Route 132 EstNew Richmond, PQ GOC 2BOCanada (418) 392-5723

The brethren in New Richmondwould like it to be known that if anEnglish-speaking, assembly-basedwork is to continue in these town-ships, help is urgently needed. Theyare not looking for a Pastor, but theisolation of the Gaspé requires thatwhoever would respond, should bemature, having conservative views,assembly principles and practices,and able to carry the burden of pub-lic preaching in the assembly untillocal gift is developed. Housing isavailable adjacent to the chapel. The

blies in ND, MN, and WI. For information about next sea-

son’s Word Alive Weekends, contact:Ron HamptonPhone: (204) 669-6026Fax: (204) [email protected]

WORKERS TOGETHERWorkers Together (PO Box 481,

Wheaton, IL 60187) is still verymuch in operation and functioning asit has been for almost 50 years. Thoseresponsible for publishing the 1999Commended Workers Directory ofChristian Brethren Assemblies in theUS and Canada inadvertently omittedtheir organization under the listing ofService Organizations found in theback of that book. We trust this errorhas not caused concern to those whohave been faithful to this ministry.

CHANGE IN ASSEMBLYCORRESPONDENT

The new correspondent for theChattanooga Bible Chapel is:

Samuel Bennikutty4026 Timber Trace Dr.Ooltewah, TN 37363(423) 855-0200

NEW ASSEMBLY WORKPray for the Lord’s blessing on a

Bible study that has been going on inthe Chattanooga, TN, area with theview to seeing another assemblystarted there. For information:

Roger and Meg Ufford3207 Banks Rd.Chattanooga, TN 37421(423) [email protected]

A CALL FROM THE GASPÉAt one time, the Gaspé Peninsula

in Quebec, Canada was privileged tohave many able preaching brethrencome to work in the area. As a resultseveral English-speaking assemblieswere established. Now only tworemain, and these are struggling.


FRONT LINES

Upward Bound is a two-week program that willbe held from Saturday, Aug. 14 to Friday, Aug. 27.The first week will be a time of serious Bible studyand fellowship at Wilfrid Laurier University(Waterloo, ON). Lord willing, Boyd Nicholson(ON) will be speaking on the Person and Work ofthe Holy Spirit; Brian Russell (UK) will addressthe topic of Practical Living from the Proverbs;Frank Burgess (MO) will speak aboutEvangelism and Soul-winning; and SandyMcEachern (ON) will teach How to Study theBible.

If your schedule permits, plan to stayfor the second week, and take a canoetrip into the interior of AlgonquinPark—a journey you’ll never forget.

The minimum age is 18. The cost is$390 (Cdn.) for both weeks or $200(Cdn.) for the first week only if paidbefore July 1. A late charge will beapplied to anyone who registers afterJuly 1. This covers meals and accom-modations.

Check out the website:http://welcome.to/UpwardBoundFor more info. or to register:Sandy McEachern(519) [email protected] Acorn(519) 885-2413

UPWARD BOUND

city. He was challenged by the manytowns in northern ON, largelyFrench-speaking. When he learnedthere were no evangelical workersamong the francophones in NorthernOntario, he began praying about this.

Bob attended Bethel BibleInstitute in Lennoxville, QC, to learnFrench. He then went to northernQC as a missionary. While in theRouyn Noranda area, he came intoassembly fellowship at Rollet, QC.

It was in Rollet that he metCatherine Hazel Dower. She becamehis lifelong partner in ministry.Some assemblies in northern ONand Rollet commended them in 1967to the Lord’s work in Hearst,Kapuskasing and Timmins.

In 1989, Bob and Hazel moved toFrance and worked with assembliesthere, in Entrepierres and Sisteron.

They returned to Toronto last yearbecause of Bob’s health, and after 5months of illness, on Jan. 14, theLord called him Home.

—submitted by C. Donaldson

NO GAMBLE IN LAS VEGASWe received an e-mail this week

from Las Vegas, NV:

“We want you to know that weare trying to get an assembly startedhere. We have been Breaking Breadand meeting for 5 months now.There are 4 families, and a few sin-gles, and a very good spirit amongus. Breaking of Bread is at 9:30 andministry at 11:00. Also on Tuesdaywe have a Bible study at 7:30 PM.

“At present we are meeting at myhome; however, we look to the Lordfor the increase and have been look-ing for a facility to rent for our use.”

They would welcome visits fromthe Lord’s people. Contact:

Ed Greenwood: 7511 Cedargulf Ave. Las Vegas, NV 89131-3360 Phone (702) 645-1132 e-mail: [email protected]

THE HINTON PROJECTFollowing a series of meetings in

May 1998 by Dr. Paul Carmean(FL) the idea arose for conducting amass distribution of Seed Sowerspackets to the homes in Hinton, WV.The week of June 7 was set for theproject. Three thousand packets arebeing assembled and will be carriedto each home. Preceding articles ina local weekly paper will informHinton residents that the RiverviewChapel will be reaching out to thecommunity in this way. In addition,three gospel meetings are sched-uled. Will you join in lifting up thecity of Hinton? Contact:

Dr. Paul Carmean(850) [email protected] Pilkington(304) 466-0950

PORTUGUESE WORK IN U.S.Carlos and Margarida Cerquerias

came to the US from Angola wherethey were both saved and served theLord in Luanda. After the revolution,they had to leave Angola and abouteight months later they came to theUS. This was 23 years ago.

When they arrived in RhodeIsland, they began to work among thePortuguese and met at the PawtucketGospel Hall. Through the years theLord blessed their labor with manysouls professing to be saved, but atpresent the assembly is small.Outreach is difficult. They have a TVprogram but they are using old pro-grams. They also have a 15-minuteradio program, four times a week.

Their concern is to reach thePortuguese with the gospel and thenteach them the Word. They wouldalso like to be more involved in writ-ing or translating good literature forthe assemblies in Portuguese.

AT HOMERobert LeRoy (Bob) Hanks was

born in Toronto and grew up in that

SERVICE OPPORTUNITYPittsboro Christian Village is a

retirement center for assemblyChristians located in central NorthCarolina. As part of their ministrythey operate a 40-bed Health CareCenter. They are looking for an addi-tional Health Care Manager to workwith the Director of Nursing. Theydesire to hire a registered nurse(licensed in the US or Canada) with aservant attitude for this position.Please pray that God will provide thenecessary staff to fill this position.

Contact Dave DewhurstPhone: (919) 542-3151 Fax: (919) [email protected]

WELCOME HOMERest Haven Homes, an assembly

home in Grand Rapids, MI, is in theunique situation of having immediateopenings in all levels of care—inde-pendent apartments, independent-living in the home, and full nursingcare facilities. If you or someone youlove is ready to move from theirhome to a retirement community, per-haps Rest Haven is the answer.

Contact Terry Carrick or BrianWilson at:

(616) 363-6819


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FRONT LINES

MOBILE OUTREACHThe gospel outreach in Mobile,

AL, that has been the subject ofmuch prayer will not be takingplace the week of June 6-12.Therewas an enthusiastic response frompeople wishing to be involvedwith the week-long effort, but noone who was willing to movethere permanently to do the follow-up work. Continue to prayfor the Lord’s leading in thisregard and obvious open doors ifa united outreach is to take placein Mobile or elsewhere in thefuture. —Robert Brown

lars on lovers, cars, and jewels. In a press conference outside his

church in St. Petersburg, FL, Lyons,57, resigned as president of theNBC. Sobbing and apologizing, hesaid he was “truly repentant…I hatethat I hurt so many people.” Boardmembers rallied around him, assur-ing him that they had forgiven him.

Lyons pleaded guilty to 54counts, including tax evasion andfraud. He could face a sentence of upto 75 years, but it is expected to bemuch shorter. —World

VIOLENCE IN INDONESIAAccording to a World Evangelical

Fellowship correspondent, more than2,000 people in Ambon, Indonesia,have died in recent Muslim-Christianrioting. One source says that the vio-lence is mutual, and that manychurches and mosques have beenburned. Reports indicate that in atleast some instances, Christian andMuslim neighbors worked to protecteach other’s houses. —Pulse

Y2K BUSINESS BOOMINGLehman’s is a massive one-acre

indoor hardware store in Ohio thatspecializes in equipment for livingwithout electricity. The 43-year oldfamily-owned store has traditionallysold gear to Amish families and tomissionaries going overseas.

But with a growing number ofpeople believing that the turn of themillennium may usher in a period ofwidespread power failure, Lehman’shas been touted on the internet andthrough books and at conventions onY2K preparedness as a key supplierof necessary items. Now they canhardly keep up with business.

The store which prided itself onquick turnaround is a month behindin supplying some items. A popularwood-burning stove is sold out untilthe middle of 2000. —CT

OUT OF CONTROLIn a television interview on

March 15, Henry Lyons, formerpresident of the National BaptistConvention admitted having dis-graced the church and the blackcommunity.

“I was out of control,” Lyonsreplied when interviewer ConnieChung retraced how he swindledmillions of dollars from corpora-tions, stole nearly $225,000 in dona-tions for burned churches, and lav-ished hundreds of thousands of dol-

Ankerberg, and S. Lewis Johnsonwere the conference’s principalspeakers. Jim McCarthy, author ofThe Gospel According to Rome,helped organize the conference. Hesaid, “We are encouraged finding thatmore are opposed to ECT than wewould have thought.”

Southern Baptist ConventionPresident Paige Patterson sent a rep-resentative to the conference to statethat Patterson and the boards andagencies he represents disavow in nouncertain terms the ECT documents.He did not speak for the SouthernBaptist Convention as a whole, com-prised of theoretically autonomouslocal churches.

Patterson hopes “to clarify ourconvention’s position on ECT,” that“most members of our convention arequite unhappy” with ECT and were“relieved when our two officialagency representatives, Richard Landand Larry Lewis, removed theirnames from the document. CharlesColson’s [an SBC member] nameremains, yet he is not in any officialway representing our convention.”

Some have dismissed these out-cries about compromise to Catholicdoctrine and have endorsed ECT as a“united voice against the moral,social ills of our day.” But this is thenose of the camel, who will soon belooking to move right in.

The document Evangelicals andCatholics Together (ECT), releasedin Mar. 1994, was signed by 40 evan-gelical and Catholic leaders. In 1997a second document was released.

The documents called for a truce,stating that proselytizing Catholicsneeds to stop. The signers of thesedocuments include evangelicals BillBright (Campus Crusade), CharlesColson (Prison Fellowship), and J.I.Packer. To mark the fifth anniversaryof the signing of ECT the“ExCatholics for Christ” organiza-tion met Mar. 26-27 at CountrysideBible Church in Southlake, TX, in theDallas-Fort Worth metro area. “Wefelt compelled [by] our love for thesemen and our love for the truth,” saidconference chairman Tom McMahon.

The organizers of the conference,for the most part directors of evangel-ical ministries dedicated to evange-lizing Roman Catholics, view ECT as“deceitful at best, destructivelyheretical at worst.” Dave Hunt, John


A call to repentSigners of the Evangelical-Catholic accords are beingpublicly urged by opponents to repent.

W H A T ’ S G O I N G O N ?

St. PeterÕs Square, Vatican CityÝ

water wells, and did a lot of othermissionary work there…We havehundreds of Christians there.”

Harvestfield is supported finan-cially by Assemblies of God, Churchof God, and independent congrega-tions. The three workers were heldwithout bail on charges that couldbring life sentences. —World

shotguns, a light machine gun, hand-guns, firearms, telescopic sights,knives, camouflage cream, two-wayradios, and ammunition.

Officials in Zimbabwe say thegroup is funneling arms to Congorebels. Jonathan Wallace, head ofHarvestfield Ministries, denied thecharges. “We preached, we drilled

MISSIONARIES DETAINEDThree workers associated with an

Indianapolis-based missionary groupwere taken into custody in Zimbabwewhen, as they boarded a flight forSwitzerland, a gun set off an airportmetal detector. A subsequent searchof their pickup truck at the airportturned up assault and sniper rifles,


WHATÕS GOING ON?

RON YOUNG WRITES FROM ALBANIA:Refugees are still pouring in and all have horror sto-

ries to tell. Here in Elbason we have about 4,000 now.But there are thousands and thousands more. We are toldto expect a quarter of a million—but that may even bedoubled if things don’t calm down.

This morning I went to pick up some refugees. As Italked with the police officer, waiting for the officials toregister them, he asked me if we would take a specialcase—a pregnant woman, two weeks from delivery, andher family. Yesterday as they were fleeing, theSerbs killed her husband in front of her, alongwith his brother. Two other brothers accompa-nied the family to the border and then wentback to fight with the resistance. We now haveher in-laws, other women and about 8 chil-dren—24 people in all—downstairs.

Today we spent about eight hours gettingthem situated, buying food and sorting cloth-ing. We thank the Lord that just two weeks ago,clothes, shoes, and a lot of blankets arrivedfrom the believers in N. Ireland. We didn’tknow how important they would be until now.

Right now a girl is talking on the phone. Shehas been crying all day. These people can’t stopremembering all the atrocities, On their wayout, they literally had to walk on dead bodies to wherethey could be taken in trucks. The roads were litteredwith bodies—children, babies, women and men—throats cut, riddled with bullets and tortured. A few daysago, many had to try and identify their men—heads inone pile and bodies in another. You might find this hardto believe, as even they do, but there are even worse stories to tell.

Please pray for these poor souls, that we might beused by the Lord to meet their deep needs. Pray also forour witness among them. They need to be saved.

HELP IS ON THE WAY:Evangelical relief agencies are beginning to help

victims of the war in the Balkans. The UN HighCommissioner for refugees estimates that more than450,000 people have been forced from their homes inKosovo and more than 2,000 lives have been claimedthis past year. And tens of thousands of Kosovars havefled to neighboring countries, including Albania andMacedonia. Medical supplies are going to Christianhospitals in Albania and Macedonia. —MNN

WEEP FOR THE BALKANS…AGAINWEEP FOR THE BALKANS…AGAIN

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Testa del Gargano

L. Scutari

L. Ohrid

L. Prespa

L. Xiniás

Olympus

Ossa

Gur-i-Topit

Solunska

Sarajevo

ara

Split

Skopje

Sofiya

Leskovac

Cetinje

TiranëDurrës

Brindisi

Bari

Thessaloníki

Kérkira Lárisa

Tetovo

Bitola

Prilep

Sibenik

etto

VastoTermoli

Benevento

Salerno

Peschici Vieste

Melfi

Barletta

Altamura

Agropoli

Senise

Potenza

Scalea Castrovillari

Rossano

TarantoLecce

Gallipoli

Tricase

Elbasan

Gjirokaster

Ioánnina

Vólos

Trikkala

Kozáni Kateríni

Véroia

Vranje

Drama

Sérrai

Kyustendil

Blagoevgrad

Nis

Mikhaylovgrad Pleven Krusevac

Cacak

Mostar

Foca

Pljevlja

Pec Pristina

Ivangrad

Urosevac

Shkodër

Livno

Dubrovnik

Novi Pazar

Campobasso

Foggia

Cetraro

WHAT CAN WE DO?The whole region is in turmoil. It would take sev-

eral months for clothing, etc. to arrive. CMML has afund set up to which you may contribute:

CMML Disaster Fund (Albania)PO Box 13, Spring Lake, NJ 07762

In Canada:

MSC Disaster Fund (Albania)27 Charles St. E., Toronto, ON M4Y 1R9

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world “is become our Lord’s and HisChrist’s, and He shall reign for everand ever” (Rev. 11:15).

At this signal, the wonderfulbeings that sit on thrones around thethrone of God shall raise the anthem,“We give Thee thanks, O Lord GodAlmighty, which art, and wast, andart to come, because Thou hast takento Thee Thy great power, and hastreigned. And the nations were angry,and Thy wrath is come, and the timeof the dead that they should bejudged, and that Thou shouldest givereward unto Thy servants theprophets, and to the saints, and themthat fear Thy name, small and great;and shouldest destroy them thatdestroy the earth” (Rev. 11:17-18).

Then at last He will assume thepower that even now is His by right,and openly reward the good and putdown the evil. In a word, He will dothen what men think He ought to donow and always. And if He delays todo this, it is not that He is “slack con-cerning His promise.” God’s own“apology” for His inaction is that He

advent peace and good will becamethe attitude of God to men. And this“on earth,” even in the midst of theirsorrows and their sins. “He came andpreached good tidings of peace”(Eph. 2:17, RV marg.).

“He that has ears to hear” cancatch the echo of that voice as it stillvibrates in our air. If God is silentnow it is because Heaven has comedown to earth, the climax of divinerevelation has been reached, there isno reserve of mercy yet to be unfold-ed. He has spoken His last word oflove and grace, and when next Hebreaks the silence it will be to letloose the judgments which shall yetengulf a world that has rejectedChrist. For “our God shall come, andshall not keep silence” (Ps. 50:3).

A silent Heaven is a part of themystery of God; but Holy Writdeclares that a day is fixed in thedivine chronology when “the mysteryof God shall be finished” (Rev. 10:7).And when that day breaks, the heav-enly host shall again be heard, pro-claiming that the sovereignty of the

silent Heaven! Yes, butit is not the silence ofcallous indifference orhelpless weakness; it isthe silence of a great

sabbatic rest, the silence of a peacewhich is absolute and profound—asilence which is the public pledgeand proof that the way is open for theguiltiest of mankind to draw near toGod. When faith murmurs, and unbe-lief revolts, and men challenge theSupreme to break that silence anddeclare Himself, how little do theyrealize what the challenge means. Itmeans the withdrawal of the amnesty;it means the end of the reign of grace;it means the closing of the day ofmercy and the dawning of the day ofwrath.

Among the statements which dis-tressed the orthodox in ProfessorTyndall’s famous Birminghamaddress on “Science and Man,” washis reference to the Herald Angels’song. “Look to the East at the presentmoment” (he exclaimed) “as a com-ment on the promise of peace onearth and good will towards men. Thepromise is a dream ruined by theexperience of eighteen centuries, andin that ruin is involved the claim ofthe ‘heavenly host’ to propheticvision.”

But the angels’ song was not apromise; still less was it a prophecy.That anthem of praise was a divineproclamation. The time was not yetwhen God could enforce peacebetween man and man; but grace“came by Jesus Christ,” and with that


The silence of GodThe author was motivated to write this book because of the seeming indifference ofGod to the “ethnic cleansing” of Armenians. The book was written in 1897!

K E Y I S S U E S

ASIR ROBERT ANDERSON

If God is just,how can He

stand by andwatch what ishappening in

Kosovo?

If God is just,how can He

stand by andwatch what ishappening in

Kosovo?

Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thy heart that Godraised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Rom.10:9, RV). The sinner who thus believes in Christ antici-pates now and here the realization of the supreme pur-pose of God, and he is absolutely and for ever saved.

It was in the power of these truths that the martyrslived and died. Here was the secret of their triumph—not“the general sense of Scripture corrected in the light ofreason and conscience”; not the insolent pretensions ofpriestcraft, degrading to everyone who tolerates them.With hearts awed by the fear of God, garrisoned by thepeace of God, and exulting in the love of God, shedabroad there by the divine Spirit, they stood for the truthagainst priests and princes combined, and, daring to becalled heretics, they were faithful to their Lord in life andin death.

Heaven was as silent then as it is now. No sights wereseen, no voice was heard, to make their persecutorspause. No signs were witnessed to give proof that Godwas with them as they lay upon the rack or gave up theirlife-breath at the stake. But with their spiritual visionfocused on Christ, the unseen realities of heaven filledtheir hearts, as they passed from a world that was notworthy of them to the home that God has prepared forthem that love Him.

But with us, the degenerate sons of a degenerate age,faith falters beneath the strain of the petty trials of ourlife. And while He is saying, “I will never leave thee norforsake thee,” our murmurs drown His voice. Thoughprofessing to be “followers of them who through faithand patience inherit the promises,” our petulance andunbelief put from us the infinite compassions of God.“They endured as seeing Him who is invisible”: we cansee nothing but our troubles and our sorrows, which loomthe greater because viewed through tears of selfish grief,

is “longsuffering to usward, not willing that any shouldperish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pet.3:9).

Through all the ages until Christ came, the course ofhuman history was an unanswered indictment by whichevery attribute of God was seemingly discredited. Thedivine power and wisdom and righteousness and lovewere all brought into question. But the advent of Christwas God’s full and final revelation of Himself to man.

There are mysteries, no doubt, which remainunsolved, but they are mysteries which lie beyond thehorizon of our world. But of all the questions whichimmediately concern us, there is not one which the Crossof Christ has left unanswered. Men point to the sad inci-dents of human life on earth, and they ask “Where is thelove of God?” God points to that Cross as the unreservedmanifestation of love so inconceivably infinite as toanswer every challenge and silence all doubt for ever.1

And that Cross is not merely the public proof of whatGod has accomplished; it is the earnest of all that He haspromised. The crowning mystery of God is Christ, for inHim “are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hid-den” (Col. 2:2-3, RV).

Those hidden treasures are yet to be unfolded. It isGod’s purpose to “gather together in one all things inChrist” (Eph. 1:10). Sin has broken the harmony of cre-ation, but that harmony shall be restored by the suprema-cy of our now despised and rejected Lord. In the veryname of His humiliation every knee in heaven and onearth and in the underworld shall bow before Him, andevery tongue shall confess that He is Lord (Phil. 2:10).

To believe in Christ is to own His Lordship now.Hence the promise, “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth


THE SILENCE OF GOD

Toronto is one of the most culturally diverse citiesin the world, containing 3 Chinatowns, Greektown,little Italy, little India and over 200,000 Muslims.What better place for missionary training?

A group of believers from Markham Bible Chapeland Greenwood Gospel Chapel have come together toorganize ÒImpact Toronto 99.Ó The purpose of thisoutreach is not only to take the gospel out to the lost,but to provide a way for local churches to send indi-viduals or groups to a real mission field (Toronto) fora single day, for a fraction of the cost of an ÒoverseasÓmissions trip!

Starting in May and continuing every Saturdaythroughout the summer, believers will meet atGreenwood Chapel by noon, then head out on thestreets to different locations across Toronto to sing,preach, hand out tracts and dramatize the gospel. Achance to experience the mission field without leav-ing your own backyard!

Do you live within an hour or two of Toronto? Couldyou set aside one Saturday this summer and helpmake an impact for eternity?

For more information, please contact Greg Croal orShawn Cuthill by phone: (416) 443-5369 or email:[email protected].

Imagine the impact you could make!

DARKEST TORONTOTORONTO

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that blind our eyes to the glories of eternity.The dispensation of law and covenant and promise—

the distinctive privileges of the favored people—wasmarked by the public display of divine power on earth.But the reign of grace has its correlative in the life offaith. Ours is the higher privilege, the greater blessednessof those “who have not seen and yet have believed” (Jn.20:29). And walking by faith is the antithesis of walkingby sight. If “signs and wonders” were vouchsafed to us,as in Pentecostal days, faith would sink to a lower level,and the whole standard and character of the discipline ofChristian life would be changed.

The sufferings of Paul denote a higher faith than “themighty deeds” of his earlier ministry. Not until miracleshad ceased, and he entered on the path of faith as we nowtread it, was it revealed to him that his life was to be “apattern to them that should afterwards believe” (1 Tim.1:16). And what a life it was! You know the amazingrecord (2 Cor. 11:24-27). And all this not only without amurmur, but with a heart exulting in God. Instead ofgrumbling at his infirmities he made a boast of them.Instead of repining at his persecutions he learned to takepleasure in them. Not vainly nor morbidly, but “forChrist’s sake,” his Master and Lord, for whom, hedeclared, “he had suffered the loss of all things.”Reviewing all his privations and sufferings he describesthem as “light affliction which is but for a moment,”working for us “a far more exceeding and eternal weightof glory,” and he adds, “while we look, not at the thingswhich are seen, but at the things which are not seen; forthe things which are seen are temporal, but the thingswhich are not seen are eternal” (2 Cor. 4:17-18).

The sons of faith look away from the fierce waves andthreatening storm-clouds, for well they know that “abovethe voice of many waters, the mighty breakers of the sea,the Lord on high is mighty” (Ps. 93:4, RV). And thus,filled with glad thoughts of the home beyond and of theglory to which He is calling them, they can rejoice inHim, even though in heaviness in manifold trials, for theproof of their faith is precious (1 Pet. 1:6-7).

Men understand and appreciate the asceticisms ofreligion—“will-worship, and humility, and severity tothe body”—penances and ordinances which are “afterthe precepts and doctrines of men” (Col. 2:23, RV). Butthese have nothing in common with the life of faith. Theyare paths by which men delude themselves in vain effortsto reach the Cross. But it is at the Cross itself that the lifeof faith begins. And the spiritual miracles of that life aremore wonderful than any which merely controlled or sus-pended the operation of natural laws.

Greatest of them all is the miracle of the new birth bythe Spirit of God, with its outward side of conversion


THE SILENCE OF GOD

from a life of selfishness or sin to a life of consecratedservice. And those who have experienced it can say in thewords of Holy Writ, “We know that the Son of God iscome, and hath given us an understanding, that we mayknow Him that is true” (1 Jn. 5:20). And carrying thetruth to others, they find it produces the same resultswhich they themselves have proved. And this not merelyin isolated cases or in favoring circumstances.

In recent years, during which so many ministers (whohave publicly pledged their belief that the Bible is true,and who are subsidized to teach that it is divine) havebeen laboring to prove that it is unreliable and human—these have been precisely the years in which Christianmissionaries have carried it to some of the most degrad-ed races of the heathen world, with results that surpass allprevious records, giving overwhelming proof of its divinecharacter and mission.

To men like these there is a sense in which Heaven isnot silent. Those who can escape from the influence ofearth, and rise above the seen and temporal, have eyes tosee and ears to hear the sights and sounds of anotherworld; and with united voice they testify that God is withHis people and that His Word is true.

And behind these men are tens of thousands ofChristians at home, including not a few of the greatesttheologians, and thinkers, and scholars of the age, whoshare their beliefs and rejoice in their triumphs. Not thatthe question, What is truth? can be settled by a plebiscite!For truth has always been in a minority. But there is noelement of cohesion in error. Among the children of errorthere is no bond of unity save such as depends on com-mon hostility to truth. One generation kills the prophets;another builds their sepulchers. Those who shed the mar-tyrs’ blood are repudiated and condemned by their suc-cessors and representatives today. But the children oftruth in every age are one. Great is the “cloud of wit-nesses” encompassing us round—the righteous dead ofall the ages past. And when our race shall have been run,we too in time shall pass from the arena to join themighty throng, until at last, their ranks complete, theever-swelling host shall stand, a countless multitude,before the throne of God.

ENDNOTE:1. Anything which is manifest is of course raised out ofthe sphere of doubt or question; and God declares that inthe Cross of Christ His grace and kindness and love havebeen manifested (Titus 2:11, 3:4; 1 Jn. 4:9). But, ignoringthe stupendous fact that, for our sakes, He “spared not Hisown Son,” men seek to put Him upon proof of His love;and the test is whether He complies with some specificappeal urged in the petulance of present need or sorrow.

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brought a group of young peoplefrom the Miami area who were agreat help. Uplook Ministries sup-plied 2,000 professionally printedand designed gospel flyers advertis-ing the evening gospel meetings. Theintrepid gospel workers were able todistribute about 1,800 gospel tractsand nearly all the gospel flyers, andcanvas homes with the gospel, cover-ing about a 3 to 4 mile radius fromthe chapel. Numerous good contactswere made through the gospel work,with some desiring a return visit.

Strong gospel messages weregiven at each meeting; none left indoubt concerning the saving work ofthe Lord Jesus Christ. On Fridayevening, after the preaching of TiceOzinga, of Ohio, a man named Tomprofessed salvation. Calvin Fritcheygave the message Saturday evening,and Eric Avila shared in a powerfulway how he was saved.

The assembly in Ocala wasexceptional in their hospitality andinvolvement in this gospel effort.Many from the host assembly joinedin with the gospel work and othershelped in the kitchen or other needyareas. Many expressed their joy inbeing a part of the outreach. Oneworker wrote after the outreach, “Wecame home with happy hearts. Isn’tit great to have a part in the Lord’swork? He always suits a blessing toHis servants! We are now encour-aged to love Him more and serveHim better.”

May the Lord stir your heart toreach out with the gospel in yourarea, and may He direct us as we pro-claim the truth of the gospel in a lostworld.

1. C. H. Mackintosh, The MackintoshTreasury, (Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux,1976), p. 720.

lowed by gospel meetings held eachevening and Sunday morning.

Since we are dependent on theLord’s hand of blessing, generousportions of time are set aside forearnest seasons of prayer for theunsaved. Each morning there are ses-sions of instruction for the workerson outreach and evangelism.

This past March, a weekendgospel outreach was held at the OcalaBible Chapel. We enjoyed workingtogether with believers from acrossNorth America: Arizona, Ontario,and Iowa. Many assemblies fromthroughout Florida were represented:Park of the Palms Chapel,Carrollwood Bible Chapel, North56th Street Chapel, Brooksville BibleChapel, Hialeah Bible Chapel, BibleTruth Chapel, Holiday GospelAssembly, Hiawassa Bible Chapel,and Lakeside Bible Chapel.

Duane Brown and his wife, Alice,from Iowa labored in open-air puppetwork in a nearby park, presenting thegospel three times on Friday andSaturday. During the Friday after-noon presentation, as many as 50children and adults heard a 25-minutegospel presentation. During theweekend, about 130 children andadults attended the meetings in thepark. One man professed salvationthrough the personal work of DuaneBrown. A mother attended the gospelmeeting Saturday evening, afterbeing contacted in the park.

There were forty-nine Christiansinvolved in the outreach. Larry Pricebrought a group from the Orlandoarea on Saturday, who were able tocover a large area and develop a num-ber of good contacts. Calvin Fritchey

early 100 years ago C. H. Mackintosh pas-sionately urged believ-ers to labor to winsouls for Christ. He

wrote, “It is my firm persuasion thatno Christian is in a right condition ifhe is not seeking in some way tobring souls to Christ. And on thesame principle, no assembly ofChristians is in a right condition if itbe not a thoroughly evangelisticassembly. We should all be on thelookout for souls; and then we mayrest assured we should see soul-stirring results.”1

In the same way, it has been ourdesire to do all we can to win soulsfor Christ in Florida. For the past fewyears Bible & Life Ministries hasbeen conducting gospel outreaches,working with local assemblies. It hasbeen our burden to draw togetherChristians from nearby assemblies toreach out to the lost through weekendevangelistic campaigns.

Our first effort was held in March1997 at Grace Gospel Chapel in St.Petersburg, FL. Since then, gospeloutreaches have been held in Land O’ Lakes, Tampa, Ocala, and Holiday.Future outreaches are being plannedfor Brooksville and Clearwater. Atthese outreaches, we have beenblessed to labor with spiritual anddevoted fellow-workers in the harvestfrom the Miami, Orlando, and theTampa area. During these weekends,often 40-50 believers give themselvesto door-to-door gospel work, tractdistribution, open-air meetings, fol-


Outreach in Ocala, FLIf you think sunny Florida is only white beaches, golfcourses and retirees, think again!

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E V A N G E L I S T I C

NDAVID DUNLAP

cells modulate the width of myblood vessels, gently push matterthrough my intestines, open andclose the plumbing in my kidneys.When things are going well—myheart contracting rhythmically, mybrain humming with knowledge, mylymph laving tired cells—I rarelygive these cells a passing thought.

But I believe these cells in mybody can also teach me about largerorganisms: families, groups, com-munities, villages, nations—andespecially about one specific com-munity of people that is likened to abody more than thirty times in theNew Testament. I speak of the Bodyof Christ, that network of peoplescattered across the planet who havelittle in common other than theirmembership in the group that fol-lows Jesus Christ.

My body employs a bewilderingzoo of cells, none of which individu-ally resembles the larger body. Justso, Christ’s Body comprises anunlikely assortment of humans.Unlikely is precisely the right word,for we are decidedly unlike oneanother and the One we follow…How can any organism composed ofsuch diversity attain even a sem-blance of unity?…

The unifying factor is connectionwith and commitment to the Head.We can only find true fellowship,meaningful growth and maturity inour mutual obedience to Him.

Then we will “grow up into Himin all things, which is the head, evenChrist: from whom the whole bodyfitly joined together and compactedby that which every joint sup-plies…makes increase of the bodyunto the edifying of itself in love”(Eph. 4:15-16).

From Fearfully and WonderfullyMade, by Dr. Paul Brand & PhilipYancey, Zondervan.

I am first struck by their variety.Chemically my cells are almost alike,but visually and functionally they areas different as the animals in a zoo.Red blood cells, discs resemblingLifesaver candies, voyage throughmy blood loaded with oxygen to feedthe other cells. Muscle cells, whichabsorb so much of that nourishment,are sleek and supple, full of coiledenergy. Cartilage cells with shinyblack nuclei look like bunches ofblack-eyed peas glued tightly togeth-er for strength. Fat cells seem lazyand leaden, like bulging white plasticgarbage bags jammed together.

Bone cells live in rigid structuresthat exude strength. Cut in cross sec-tion, bones resemble tree rings, over-lapping strength with strength, offer-ing impliability and sturdiness. Incontrast, skin cells form undulatingpatterns of softness and texture thatrise and dip, giving shape and beautyto our bodies. They curve and jut atunpredictable angles so that everyperson’s fingerprint is unique.

The king of cells, the one I havedevoted much of my life to studying,is the nerve cell. It has an aura ofwisdom and complexity about it.Spider-like, it branches out andunites the body with a computer net-work of dazzling sophistication. Itsaxons, “wires” carrying distant mes-sages to and from the human brain,can reach a yard in length.

I never tire of viewing these spec-imens or thumbing through bookswhich render cells. Individually theyseem puny and oddly designed, but Iknow these invisible parts cooperateto lavish me with the phenomenon oflife. Every second my smooth muscle

have closed my eyes. Myshoes are kicked off, and I amwiggling the small bones inmy right foot. Exposed, theyare half the width of a pencil,

and yet they support my weight inwalking. I cup my hand over my earand hear the familiar seashell phe-nomenon, actually the sound ofblood cells rushing through the capil-laries in my head. I stretch out myleft arm and try to imagine the mil-lions of muscle cells eagerly expand-ing and contracting in concert. I rubmy finger across my arm and feel thestimulation of touch cells, 450 ineach square-inch patch of skin.

Inside, my stomach, spleen, liver,pancreas, and kidneys, each packedwith millions of loyal cells, are work-ing so efficiently I have no way ofperceiving their presence. Fine hairsin my inner ear are monitoring aswishing fluid, ready to alert me if Isuddenly tilt off balance.

When my cells work well, I’mhardly conscious of their individualpresences. What I feel is the compos-ite of their activity. My body, com-posed of many parts, is one, the anal-ogy our Bible uses for the Church.

One drawer in my medical labora-tory contains neatly filed specimensof an array of cells from the humanbody. Separated from the body,stained with dyes and mounted inepoxy, they hardly express the churnof living cells at work inside me. Butif I parade them under the micro-scope, certain impressions about thebody take shape.


Wonderfully made“In the absence of any other proof, the thumb alonewould convince me of God’s existence.” —Isaac Newton

T H I N K A B O U T I T

IDR. PAUL BRAND

B O U Q U E T O F B L E S S I N G

THE HUMAN BODYMarvel—and adore the Designer!


What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which yehave of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God inyour body, and in your spirit, which are God’s. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

IN ONE MINUTE:

• Your heart beats 70-80times (100,000 times perday);

• You breath in 5 or 6 quartsof air;

• Gases travel through yournose at 436 feet perminute;

• You make about 300 mil-lion new red blood cells;

• Blood travels 100 feetthrough your arteries;

• Blood in your veins travels40 feet;

• You consume about onequart or nine cubic inchesof oxygen;

• You breath out about threegallons of carbon dioxide.

—The Incredible Human Body

The DNA is so narrow and compacted that all the genes in all my body’s cells would fit into an icecube; yet if the DNA were unwound and joined together end to end, the strand could stretch from theearth to the sun and back more than four hundred times.

—Fearfully and Wonderfully Made by Dr. Paul Brand & Philip Yancey

The hard outer bone is four timesstronger than concrete and as toughas granite. A block the size of amatchbox can support as much asnine tons in weight.

—Your Body Up Close

After World War II, German students volunteered to help rebuild a cathedral

in England, one of many casualties of the Luftwaffe bombings. As the work pro-

gressed, debate broke out on how to best restore a large statue of Jesus with His

arms outsretched and bearing the familiar inscription, “Come unto Me.” Careful

patching could repair all damage to the statue except for Christ’s hands, which

had been destroyed by bomb fragments. Should they attempt the delicate task of

reshaping those hands?

Finally the workers reached a decision that still stands today. The statue of

Jesus has no hands, and the inscription now reads, “Christ has no hands but ours.”

—Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

Christ has no hands but our handsTo do His work today;He has no feet but our feetTo lead men in the way;He has no tongue but our tongueTo tell men how He died;He has no help but our helpTo bring them to His side.

We are the only BibleThe careless world will read;We are the sinners’ gospel,We are the scoffers’ creed;We are the Lord’s last message,Given in deed and word;What if the type is crooked?What if the print is blurred?

What if our hands are busyWith other work than His?What if our feet are walkingWhere sin’s allurement is?What if our tongues are speakingOf things His lips would spurn?How can we hope to serve HimUntil He shall return?

—Annie Flint Johnson

Even scientists who are not Christians standin awe of the human brain, though frequentlythey stubbornly refuse to acknowledge itsDesigner. It is so complex that no computer willever be able to match it.

Edmund Bolles called it “the most complicat-ed structure in the known universe.”

Dr. Michael Denton, in Evolution: A Theoryin Crisis, concludes that “it would take an eter-nity” for engineers to assemble an object evenremotely resembling the human brain, using themost sophisticated engineering techniques.”

The brain’s sophistication has also promptedprolific science writer Isaac Asimov to acknowl-edge that “in man is a three-pound brain which,as far as we know, is the most complex andorderly arrangement in the universe.”

The information that can be held in thehuman brain is staggering in its extent. It hasbeen estimated that it would fill twenty millionvolumes. Many of the world’s largest libraries donot have more than that. —The Wonders of God

that occasion, Gentiles came inthrough the back door, so to speak,as proselytes to the Jewish faith.Now the Cross had leveled theground. The middle wall of partitionhad been demolished, the enmityabolished (Eph. 2:14-15), and far-offGentiles and nearby Jews whobelieve have equal “access by oneSpirit unto the Father” (Eph. 2:18).We also have the same citizenship,foundation, and habitation (vv. 19-22). Like Solomon’s temple, with“Jewish” stones and “Gentile” tim-bers, today Jews and Gentiles, “fitlyframed together,” grow “unto a holytemple in the Lord” (v. 21).

This is “the mystery which hathbeen hid from ages and from genera-tions, but now is made manifest toHis saints: to whom God wouldmake known what is the riches of theglory of this mystery among theGentiles; which is Christ in you, thehope of glory” (Col. 1:26-27).

THE GLORIFIED BODY

“Behold, I show you a mystery;We shall not all sleep, but we shallall be changed, in a moment, in thetwinkling of an eye…the dead shallbe raised incorruptible, and we shallbe changed” (1 Cor. 15:51-52).

If it is a great wonder that Christcame to us in the lowly garb of ahuman body, and is linked with us asHead to body in the Church, and isnow in us, the hope of glory amongthe Gentiles, then who can anticipatethe unfettered joy when “we shall belike Him”? Then shall the sons ofAdam truly be manifested as thesons of God (Rom. 8:19).

riage to show the bond of love as thesecret of that oneness. “For the hus-band is the head of the wife, even asChrist is the head of the church: andHe is the saviour of the body…Hethat loveth his wife loveth himself.For no man ever yet hated his ownflesh; but nourisheth and cherishethit, even as the Lord the church…Forthis cause shall a man…be joinedunto his wife, and they two shall beone flesh. This is a great mystery: butI speak concerning Christ and thechurch” (Eph. 5:23-32).

THE UNIFIED BODY

Unless we were Jewish believersof the first century, we could hardlyregister the shock they would, whenhearing Paul expound his “knowl-edge in the mystery of Christ.” Whatwas it? “That the Gentiles should befellowheirs, and of the same body,and partakers of His promise inChrist by the gospel” (Eph. 3:6).

It was not a mystery that Gentilescould be saved. There were manyexamples in the Old Testament ofthat: Rahab, Ruth, Uriah, to name afew. But what happened in the houseof Cornelius was revolutionary. Until

f we find a tour through thehuman body breathtaking andmind-boggling, what can wedo with these four mysteries

but fall down and worship!

THE INCARNATION BODY

The mystery of the incarnationbody of Christ is spoken of in poeticsymmetry, “And without controversygreat is the mystery of godliness:God was manifest in the flesh, justi-fied in the Spirit, seen of angels,preached unto the Gentiles, believedon in the world, received up intoglory” (1 Tim. 3:16).

Who of us can understand thewonder of it? The God of whom it isstated, “Will God indeed dwell on theearth? behold, the heaven and heavenof heavens cannot contain Thee…” (1Ki. 8:27) took up residence in a body.How could the little Babe upheld inthe arms of a young virgin be uphold-ing all things by the word of Hispower? Great indeed is the mystery.

Yet Paul, seemingly alluding toBethel, “the house of God” with itspillar and angels and revelation ofGod in glory, tells Timothy that occu-pation with the Man Christ Jesus isthe true secret to being transformedto be like Him.

THE MYSTICAL BODY

The link between Christ and HisChurch is so intimate that Paul, bythe Spirit’s inspiration, uses the rela-tionship between a body and its headto show the organic oneness, andbetween a man and woman in mar-


Four mysteriesA biblical mystery is a truth unknowable except by revelation which God has with-held until an appropriate moment in history. There are four concerning the body.

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D O C T R I N A L

IJ. B. NICHOLSON, JR.

as we could reach the point of our ambition, and find theprecious gold upon which our sordid hearts were set?”

He almost died several times, at least once each bydrowning, stabbing, shooting, thirst, and disease. At hislowest, his “friends” went to dig a grave while he laynearby under a tree. He did look grim. “As I lay upon thatgrassy couch, apparently upon the eve of death, my soultrembled as conscience suggested the question, ‘Wherewill you go when the end comes?’ Then the scenes of mypast life rushed with fearful imagery through my mind. Ithought of the home I had deserted, of my mother’s heartI had broken, the talents I had I abused, the grace of God

which I had despised and rejected. And thenI thought of the just retribution of the wickedand of the awful eternity, when impenitentsinners such as myself shall reap ‘for everand ever’ what they have sown in time.” God had his attention, but John did not yetsee the way of salvation. He recovered phys-ically, but was still not a new creature. Circumstances came together for him to sailback home. After seventeen years absence,he stepped onto the dock at Liverpool onApril 1, 1857. His quest for any relativesseemed futile. Finally he found his sisters. Before his mother had died years previously

she asked her daughter to write a declaration of herprayer of faith. John’s sister produced the paper. One ofher declarations read that God would save her prodigalson John, and bring him back to Liverpool, that he mightbecome “a preacher of the gospel.”

Determined to change, John tried the route of self-effort and for weeks he strove, struggled, vowed andresolved his way into a “Slough of Despond.” Thankfully,during this time he went to a bookstore and bought aBible. In despair of saving himself, he saw the Saviour heneeded while reading John chapter 3 and 5:24.

Once he knew he was at peace with God, he wantedthe same for others. “At the first my knees trembled likeJeremiah, but God directed me to His Word, saying:‘Thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee; and whatso-ever I command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of

ohn Hambleton (1820-1889) was raised in theseaport city of Liverpool, England. His saint-ly mother was one strong link in the eventsleading to his conversion. “I shall never forget

the lovely way she used to place her hand upon my head,and talk about that peerless Person who was ‘God mani-fest in the flesh,’” he recounted.

But as a teenager he rebelled against his upbringing.With his peers he became an openly depraved delinquent.At sixteen he ran away from home to enter the theater,and travel England, Australia and America as an actor,theatrical manager, adventurer, and gold digger.

The way home began in 1850 in a saloonin Geelong, Australia, when a fellow actorridiculed the Bible. Everyone joined thelaughter except John. Unable to shake off theimpressions of his mother’s consistent,Christ-like example and teaching, he spokeout to defend the Bible and Christianity. “Inmy own heart,” Hambleton observed, “Ibelieved every doctrine of the Christian faith,though I was a rejecter of Christ and aneglecter of God’s great salvation.”

The California gold rush drew men ofHambleton’s type. Hearing about the fortunesto be had, he left Australia to go digging forsomething to satisfy his heart. But he would not find it inthe muck of the placer.

San Francisco was going through wild times. The lawsallowed people to carry out, tax free, any gold theypicked up, panned, or dug. Fortunes were made and lostovernight in the gold fields. Hambleton narrowlyescaped alive. “Careless of fatigue, hunger, and disap-pointment, we pursued our way over wild and desolatetracts of country, where nothing met the eye but vastprairies, from which there arose immense mountains,capped with snow, and slopes that were wooded withtrees of enormous growth. Of course we had to enduremany hardships, and often to suffer the pangs of hunger,thirst, fever, and fatigue, to say nothing of peril of rob-bers, and the rowdyism of some desperate characters inour own party. But what did we care for all this so long


H E R O E S

b y J O H N A . B J O R L I E

JOHN HAMBLETONThe gold digger who struck it rich.

J

The only known likenessof John Hambleton

Christian ever accused him of being a sectarian bigot. Heloved God’s people, and they knew it.

Hambleton, Usher and Moorhouse attended the ter-centenary festival honoring William Shakespeare atStratford-on-Avon. Needing a text for one of his banners,Hambleton was supplied with the right words one nightas he lay awake and heard Henry talking in his sleep(which he often did). “There I stood with a board, onwhich was printed, ‘Christ for me! Christ for me!’ and thepoor people were singing so happy.” Moorhouse paused,and then added, “Praise the Lord! Mercy’s free!” He qui-eted down and slept till morning. So it was that “Christfor me! Praise the Lord! Mercy’s free!” becameHambleton’s text for use at the Shakespearean festival.

The drama of hearing Hambleton in full stride trans-fixed the people. That day he was a man with a message.The text made a startling impression. People were stirred,and fruit gathered.

Together Weaver and Hambleton were Boanarges forthat age. Henry Pickering described Hambleton’s preach-ing partner as a man with peculiar unction. With such“spiritual electricity…a greater God-made preacher hasnot been known in living memory. The moment he beganto speak—at least in his palmy days—he sent a powerand reality through the hearts of the thousands whothronged to hear him. You felt God was there. The Spiritwas working. The Bleeding Lamb, of whom he loved tosing, was the center, and eternal issues were at stake.”

Usher, Moorhouse, and Hambleton came to Dublin in1862, and an eighteen-year-old named Thomas JohnBarnardo heard things from the converted actor that henever knew before. Days later after speaking with hisbrother, he entrusted himself for time and eternity to ourLord Jesus. This brilliant young man went on to study inEdinburgh, Paris, and London. There in 1866, a destituteboy—commonly called a “street arab”—took him towhere eleven others were sleeping on the roof of an ironbuilding under the stars. Dr. Barnardo opened his doorsto these waifs. His mottos became, “Admit first—inquireafterwards,” and “No destitute child ever refused admis-sion.” For forty years he ran the “Barnardo Homes,”housing almost 67,000 runaway or abandoned boys andgirls. In fishing terms, Barnardo was a big catch.

From Dublin, these men ranged out into the south ofIreland. In Cork, Moorhouse and Hambleton weredrowned out by a mob singing, “We’ll hang Garibaldi ona sour apple tree.” But Garibaldi was in Italy, and theclosest enemies that mob saw were the two preacherswho insisted that a free and full salvation came onlythrough faith in the blood of Christ, not in ritual or eccle-siastical decree. Hambleton was a lionlike man. With noamplification system, or gorilla bodyguards, he stared

their faces, for I am with thee to deliver thee.’” Reginald Radcliffe, the Liverpool lawyer, was an

early encouragement to the new believer. The marketplace was John’s brief apprenticeship in open air work.He and a dock worker named Edward Usher rented theTeutonic Hall for gospel services. It was happy work. Aconsiderable number claimed to have been converted.Then, “with a shilling between them,” he went travelingin the Name of the Lord.

Mrs. Reginald Radcliffe says, “It was laid on thehearts of Hambleton and his friend to go into Lancashire,and preach the gospel to some of the great populations inthe towns and villages. I remember well, when they start-ed they were going to trust God for everything. So withvery little in their pockets, and hearts full of faith, theyset off from Chatham Place. Mr. Radcliffe accompaniedthem out of town, as they went afoot. Before parting theystepped over a hedge, knelt down in the field, and com-mended each other and the work of God into His ownkeeping. Some weeks after, when they returned, theyboth stood up before me, and said, ‘Look at us; we arebetter dressed than when we started, and have lackednothing.’”

Better still, God had blessed their words to manysouls. We are often told that God wants faithful servants,not necessarily successful servants. But Hambleton wasboth faithful and successful. The most notable success inhis ministry was the men he trained. Wherever we seehim, he was pushing another servant out into the work.

He had urged Richard Weaver to launch out. Andwhen the revival stream which began flowing in 1859was at high tide, Henry Moorhouse was converted in1861. Henry came into touch with Richard (UndauntedDick) Weaver, John Hambleton, Edward Usher, ReginaldRadcliffe, and Joshua (Fiddler Joss) Poole. And therewere others besides these. Sometimes these men filledfourteen rented theaters in London on one Sunday nightto herald out the gospel.

When Henry Moorhouse left auctioneering to preachthe gospel, the first man he went looking for was JohnHambleton of Liverpool. Under Hambleton’s wing,Henry quickly grew in grace and in the knowledge of ourLord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Hambleton gave youngHenry the “sink or swim” approach in learning how topreach the gospel. Together they entered on an evange-listic tour through the provinces. These men did theirevangelizing without a fixed salary, or human promiseof support. They spoke about “depending on God.” Itmeant not depending on any denomination, organization,sect, society, or committee. John Hambleton was fear-less, willing to do God’s will at all costs. He did not makehis attainments a standard of Christian fellowship, and no


JOHN HAMBLETON

as his face betokened that the enemy death was doing hislast work. I said, ‘Harry, we shall soon meet up yonder.’

“He replied, while gasping for breath, ‘Sure, sure,sure!’ How plainly visible is the work of God in puttinginto such a little frail vessel as our brother such a trea-sure, showing us all that the excellency of the power is ofGod.”

Henry Moorhouse had introduced the idea of the Biblecarriage in England, and Hambleton liked it. Hambleton

was inventive, always looking for better ways to getthe work done. The Bible carriage was a bookmo-bile, portable pulpit, and sleeping accommodation

all in one. George Müller hadbacked up this method of Bibledistribution. In 1884, whenHambleton again sailed forAustralia, he brought along aBible carriage that had beenmanufactured by Müller’sfriends in Bristol, England. ThisBible carriage would be widelyused in Australia. His last act of service was topack a box of books for one ofthe Bible carriages, load it into awheelbarrow, and walk it to thestation 500 yards from his home.It was there in Geelong,Australia that he heard hishomecall on December 8, 1889. Hambleton used his magnificentvoice, command of language,and ability to think on his feet inEngland, Ireland, Scotland, and

Wales; in the open air, in tents,halls, chapels, and rented theaters. He took advantage ofpublic executions, carnivals, circuses, fairs, and racetracks. He also engaged in Bible carriage work, as well aslecturing throughout the country on a large chart whichhe called “Ezekiel’s Tile.” An indefatigable soldier forHis master, the one-time rebel became a servant, the actorproclaimed instead eternal realities, the prospector foundthe treasure more precious than “gold that perishes.”

MATERIAL IN THIS ARTICLE WAS GATHERED FROM:

Henry Moorhouse: The English Evangelist, J. MacPhersonBuds, Blossoms, and Fruits of the Revival, John HambletonThe Converted Actor: A True Narrative of God’s RemarkableDealings with the Late John Hambleton, E. H. B.

down, outsmarted, overshouted and outlasted that uglymob.

Near a racecourse, a gang instigated by an IrishRoman Catholic created a disturbance. Hambleton toldthe ringleader that he would allow him to speak if hewould answer one question. Prodded on by his comrades,he stepped on the platform.

Hambleton asked, “Why did Cain murder his brotherAbel?” That question seemed to reach out to that youngman like the hands of an invisible giant. Stunnedand shaken, he bolted from the platform in a panic,leaving Hambleton to answer his question and by itpreach on sin, righteousness,and judgment.

On another occasion, the cir-cus people thought business wassuffering due to Hambleton’spreaching next door. Theirclown volunteered to dress up ina bizarre costume, ridicule thepreacher, and distribute circushandbills.

Hambleton knew how to foola fool, “Look here, friends, andyou will see two fools, one forthe devil and the other forChrist. God made man in Hisown image, but look at that poorfellow there and see what Satanhas done for him. By God’sgrace I am a free and a happyman, serving a good Master, butthat poor man is only serving thedevil, and will only get thewages of sin, which is death. Yetthe God he mocks sent His only Son to die on the crossto save sinners from eternal punishment, and I am here todeclare the glad tidings that there is forgiveness of sinsfor all who believe in His most blessed Name.”

The jester shrank into the crowd, as if he had vapor-ized, but at the end of the day he rematerialized in frontof the “converted actor,” to ask for prayer. The clownconfessed, “I am wretched in my quiet moments.”

In 1879, Hambleton returned to Australia for a year,this time on a mission for the Lord. Edward Moyse,Harrison Ord, and Henry Rainey had also gone DownUnder. These itinerant evangelists saw fruit in the gospel,and several large congregations of saints sprang up inVictoria and Tasmania.

In December of 1880, Hambleton made it to HenryMoorhouse’s deathbed back in England. “Calling to seehim on Monday last, before he left us, I grasped his arms,


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JOHN HAMBLETON

ÒThe Ezekiel TileÓ chart used by Hambleton

and my hope, that in nothing I shallbe ashamed, but that with all bold-ness, as always, so now also Christshall be magnified in my body,whether it be by life, or by death”(Phil. 1:20). “Always bearing aboutin the body the dying of the LordJesus, that the life also of Jesusmight be made manifest in our body”(2 Cor. 4:10).

9. Our natural bodies are faintglimmers of the spiritual bodies weshall enjoy in the life to come, illus-trated by the contrast between awrinkled seed and the plant intowhich it grows. The body “is sown incorruption; it is raised in incorrup-tion: it is sown in dishonor; it israised in glory: it is sown in weak-ness; it is raised in power: it is sowna natural body; it is raised a spiritualbody” (1 Cor. 15:42-44).

We “…also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselvesgroan within ourselves, waiting forthe adoption, (that is), the redemp-tion of our body” (Rom. 8:23). TheLord “…shall change our vile body(body of humiliation), that it may befashioned like unto His gloriousbody, according to the workingwhereby He is able even to subdueall things unto Himself ” (Phil. 3:21).

To this end, we offer this ancientprayer for every saint living in theworld today: “And the very God ofpeace sanctify you wholly; and I prayGod your whole spirit and soul andbody be preserved blameless untothe coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”(1 Thess. 5:23).

house not made with hands, eternal inthe heavens.…knowing that, whilewe are at home in the body, we areabsent from the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:1, 6).

5. The body is the tool box of thesoul, instruments for righteousnessor unrighteousness, weapons of war.“For we must all appear before thejudgment seat of Christ; that everyone may receive the things done inhis body, according to that he hathdone, whether it be good or bad” (2Cor. 5:10). So the body should besubject to the spirit. “But I keepunder my body, and bring it into sub-jection: lest that by any means, whenI have preached to others, I myselfshould be a castaway” (1 Cor. 9:27).“Let not sin therefore reign in yourmortal body, that ye should obey it inthe lusts thereof ” (Rom. 6:12).

6. As such, our bodies need to beprepared as one would prepare holyvessels for the sanctuary. “Let usdraw near with a true heart in fullassurance of faith, having our heartssprinkled from an evil conscience,and our bodies washed with purewater” (Heb. 10:22).

7. In fact they are to be offered asour supreme act of worship, our log-ical service in light of Calvary. “Ibeseech you therefore, brethren, bythe mercies of God, that ye presentyour bodies a living sacrifice, holy,acceptable unto God, which is yourreasonable service” (Rom. 12:1).

8. As we live in this world, ourbodies, like telescopes, can bringChrist near to people who by natureare far from Him. Unregenerate mencan see the Lord up close as He livesout His purposes in our bodies.“According to my earnest expectation

asterfully woven togeth-er, its sinews and ves-sels and nerves forminga breathtaking tapestry,the human body visibly

displays its invisible Creator. Scientists have spent billions

unlocking the marvels of the humanbody, answering many of the howquestions. But we must turn to thebody’s Maker Himself to answer whyHe designed it so.

1. The body is a stewardship onloan to the occupant for a limitedtime. “What? know ye not that yourbody…ye have of God, and ye are notyour own? For ye are bought with aprice: therefore glorify God in yourbody, and in your spirit, which areGod’s” (1 Cor. 6:19-20).

2. Our bodies are the sanctuary ofGod, the only place where He feels athome on earth. “…your body is thetemple of the Holy Ghost which is inyou, which ye have of God, and ye arenot your own” (1 Cor. 6:19).

3. The human body is used as anapt illustration of the organic unityand marvelous diversity that exists inthe Church. “But now hath God setthe members every one of them in thebody, as it hath pleased Him” (1 Cor.12:18). “There is one body, and oneSpirit, even as ye are called in onehope of your calling…For the per-fecting of the saints, for the work ofthe ministry, for the edifying of thebody of Christ” (Eph. 4:4, 12).

4. My body is a temporary tent, apilgrim’s portable dwelling, and aslong as I live in it I am not really athome. “For we know that if our earth-ly house of this tabernacle were dis-solved, we have a building of God, an


The bodyÕs sacrificeThe Christian’s body is a special vehicle designed toaccomplish the will of God and to enjoy Him.

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S T E W A R D S H I P

M

2:16-18 (ASV), that those who soteach have erred concerning thetruth and are teaching destructiveerror whereby they “overthrow thefaith of some.” Let me quote Paul’sexact words, “But shun profane bab-blings: for they will proceed furtherin ungodliness, and their word willeat as doth a gangrene: of whom isHymenaeus and Philetus; men whoconcerning the truth have erred, say-ing that the resurrection is pastalready, and overthrow the faith ofsome.”

No, we do not get the full measureof what Jesus secured for us by Hisatoning death on the cross in the pre-sent life, but at His coming again. Itis at the coming of our Lord that“our spirit and soul and body” are to“be preserved entire” (1 Thess. 5:23,ASV). When He comes again, therewill not only be wonderful manifes-tations of healing power among thepeople then living upon the earth,but we who have believed in Himbefore that will have not merely per-fect physical healing, but a resurrec-tion body, a glorified and perfectedbody, which was secured for uswhen He bore our sicknesses as wellas our sins on the cross of Calvary. Ihave had in the past many friendswho have believed and taught thisextreme doctrine regarding healingbeing included in the atonement.Most of these friends are now dead.

But while we do not get the fullbenefits for the body secured for usby the atoning death of Christ in thelife that now is, but when Jesuscomes again, nevertheless, just asone gets the first-fruits of his spiritu-al salvation in the life that now is, sowe get the first-fruits of our physicalsalvation in the life that now is. Wedo get in many, many, many casesphysical healing through the atoningdeath of Jesus Christ even in the lifethat now is.

Romans 8 makes that plain, “For Ireckon that the sufferings of this pre-sent time are not worthy to be com-pared with the glory which shall berevealed to usward. For the earnestexpectation of the creation waitethfor the revealing of the sons of God.For the creation was subjected tovanity, not of its own will, but by rea-son of him who subjected it, in hopethat the creation itself also shall bedelivered from the bondage of cor-ruption into the liberty of the glory ofthe children of God…And not onlyso, but ourselves also, which have thefirstfruits of the Spirit, even we our-selves groan within ourselves, wait-ing for our adoption, to wit, theredemption of our body” (vv. 18-23,ASV).

The atoning death of Christsecured for us not only physical heal-ing, but the resurrection and perfect-ing and glorifying of our bodies. Canwe therefore have the resurrection ofour bodies right now? And have we aright to claim that now, because itwas secured by the Cross work, justas we claim forgiveness of all oursins now? Paul says in 2 Timothy

et us look at a passagemuch dwelt on nowa-days: “And when evenwas come, they broughtunto Him many pos-

sessed with demons: and He cast outthe spirits with a word, and healed allthat were sick: that it might be ful-filled which was spoken throughIsaiah the prophet, saying, Himselftook our infirmities, and bare ourdiseases” (Mt. 8:16-17, RV).

It is often said that this verseteaches that the atoning death ofJesus Christ avails for our sicknessesas well as for our sins. In otherwords, that physical healing is in theatonement. I think that that is a fairinference from these verses, eventhough, in their context, they refer tothe life of the Lord Jesus, not Hisdeath.

“That being the case,” many say,“every believer has a right to claimphysical healing for all their physicalsicknesses and infirmities right now,just as much as a right to claimimmediate pardon for all their sins,on the ground of the atoning death ofJesus Christ.”

But that does not follow; it is poorlogic. For the question arises, Whendo we get what Jesus Christ securedfor us by His atoning sacrifice? TheBible answer to that question is veryplain: when Christ comes again.

We get the firstfruits of the aton-ing work of Christ, the firstfruits ofsalvation in the life that now is, butwe get the full fruits only when theLord Jesus comes again.


Divine healingDoes God perform miraculous healings today? Arethere healers? Is healing included in the Cross?

M A T T H E W 8 : 1 6

LR. A. TORREY

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faith discovered it, or an occasiondemanded it. His official glory Heveiled likewise. He did not walkthrough the land as either the DivineSon from the bosom of the Father, oras the authoritative Son of David.”(To this we might add that He alsoveiled every physical glory whichmight commend him to men’s eyes.)Bellett continues, “Such glories werecommonly hid, as He passed on inthe circumstances of life day by day.But His moral glory could not behid.”

Here is the secret. Themoral glory of the LordJesus Christ

was the means bywhich all men would be drawn toHim. It would not be a physicalattraction; in fact, nothing would dis-tinguish Him to the undiscerning eyefrom any other Galilean tradesmen.But the beauty of His Person wouldbe unmistakable.

What a rebuke this is to ourappearance-loving society. We areintoxicated with dreams of youth andoutward beauty. We swarm to enter-tainment that is superficially gaudy,but spiritually desolate. We adorecelebrities whose glowing faces beliethe spiritual morass of their privatelives. Even in our religious pursuits,we love appearance, and we disdainsubstance. But God does not think aswe do.

May we take the ancient prayer asour own: “And let the beauty of theLord our God be upon us: and estab-lish Thou the work of our hands uponus; yea, the work of our hands estab-lish Thou it” (Ps. 90:17).

became! That face, so unremarkableas it was, would be “marred morethan any man’s.” Beaten by the stonyfists of soldiers, ripped as they pulledout His beard, gouged by cruel thornsand anointed with the spittle ofmockers, that face would suffer moreindignity than any ever has, or everwill. Where is the stately form thatwe should be drawn to Him?

Artists and illustrators have madegreat efforts to reverse this. They rep-resent Him as attractive, portrayingHim with a mild and smooth visage,soft eyes, well-proportioned features,and a tall frame. In depictions of thecarpenter shop or the cleansing of theTemple we often see Him as ruddyand muscular, an imposing physicalspecimen. When we see Him tendingsheep or standing at the door toknock, we picture Him as handsome,with an inviting tenderness.

Even in depictions of the crucifix-ion we imagine him as preservedfrom the indignities of profoundphysical trauma. There is no suchwarrant in Scripture. When God sentHis Son into the world, it was withoutphysical attractiveness. When Hedied, it was with horrible disfigure-ment, more that man will ever know.

Why this? It is characteristic ofmankind to look on the outwardappearance, but of God to look on theheart. In coming to earth, the Son ofGod veiled His glory, setting asidethe advantages which were His byright, and assumed the most unim-pressive form. He did not rely onphysical attractiveness to win men toHis cause.

As J. G. Bellett observes, “Hispersonal glory He veiled, save where

hen the Fatherbrought the Soninto the world, itwas written ofHim, “He had no

stately form or majesty that weshould look upon Him; nor appear-ance that we should be attracted toHim” (Isa. 53:2).

He was not “head and shouldersabove other men” in stature, as wasthe first king of Israel, nor is itrecorded that He had “beautiful eyesand a handsome appearance,” as weread about David. Instead, we areflatly told that He had no appearancethat we should be attracted to Him.

How wrong this seems when wethink of it from the human perspec-tive. Ought not the One who was theprototype of all mankind and theHead of the human race to possess allthe best refinements of the humanform? More than this, the One who iscalled the “express Image” of God,should He not convey in His appear-ance superhuman majesty? But no,God specifically records that He hadno such outward form or majesty thatwould make him desirable, nothingoutward to draw men to Him.

When the Son of God walked theearth there was nothing in His looksto commend Him above other car-penters from Galilee. No regal bear-ing betrayed the fact that He wasKing. No pious visage signaled thatHe was High Priest. No ethereal glowhinted at His true origin. To allappearances, He was ordinary.

How much worse than that it


A Man of substanceDon’t misquote the verse to say there was no beauty in Him. He was beautiful allright, but it wasn’t the beauty we were looking for. It was the beauty of holiness.

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M A S T E R P I E C E

WSTEPHEN ANDERSON

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Did He smell the scent of the morning,The dew-wet grass and the hay,As down He came in the dawningFrom the hill where He went to pray?Did He hear the birds in the branches,And the soft little sounds of sheep,As He passed the quiet housesWhere the people lay asleep?

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How precious also are Thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!(Ps. 139:17)

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil.(Jer. 29:11)

Sometimes in the early morningAs I watch the stars grow dim,I smell the scent of the unseen flowers,And I often think of Him.When He prayed for those who would believeAll down the years to be,I like to think as He turned to leave,That He also thought of me.

—Dawn Finlay

IN HIS THOUGHTS

The northwest corner of the Sea of Galilee Photo by Joshua FitzhughThe northwest corner of the Sea of Galilee

1999_05

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