Many weak children, many dull pupils

Commenting on John 20:24-31, J. C. Ryle wrote:

We should mark for another thing in this verse, how kind and merciful Christ is to dull and slow believers. Nowhere, perhaps, in all the four Gospels, do we find this part of our Lord’s character so beautifully illustrated as in the story before our eyes. It is hard to imagine anything more tiresome and provoking than the conduct of Thomas, when even the testimony of ten faithful brethren had no effect on him, and he doggedly declared, “Except I see with my own eyes and touch with my own hands, I will not believe.” But it is impossible to imagine anything more patient and compassionate, than our Lord’s treatment of this weak disciple. He does not reject him, or dismiss him, or excommunicate him. He comes again at the end of a week, and apparently for the special benefit of Thomas. He deals with him according to his weakness, like a gentle nurse dealing with a froward child:—“Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side.” If nothing but the grossest, coarsest, most material evidence could satisfy him, even that evidence was supplied. Surely this was a love that passeth knowledge, and a patience that passeth understanding.

A passage of Scripture like this, we need not doubt, was written for the special comfort of all true believers. The Holy Ghost knew well that the dull, and the slow, and the stupid, and the doubting, are by far the commonest type of disciples in this evil world. The Holy Ghost has taken care to supply abundant evidence that Jesus is rich in patience as well as compassion, and that He bears with the infirmities of all His people. Let us take care that we drink into our Lord’s spirit, and copy His example. Let us never set down men in a low place, as graceless and godless, because their faith is feeble and their love is cold. Let us remember the case of Thomas, and be very pitiful and of tender mercy. Our Lord has many weak children in His family, many dull pupils in His school, many raw soldiers in His army, many lame sheep in His flock. Yet He bears with them all, and casts none away. Happy is that Christian who has learned to deal likewise with his brethren. There are many in the Church, who, like Thomas, are dull and slow, but for all that, like Thomas, are real and true believers.

Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: St. John, Volume III, John XX: 24–31, p. 406

Right on time

Right on time.

John 11:17, 39.

17 Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already. … 39 Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.

Introduction: 

The sickness and death of Lazarus shines a bright light on the fact of Jesus being an “on-time God.” We are creatures of time, but time is putty in the hands of God. By man’s standards and calculations, Jesus arrived at the tomb of Lazarus four days late. However, with a long look of faith, may we study, see, and believe that Jesus arrived right on time! A popular inspirational or spiritual song is “He’s an on- time God.” “[Jesus is] an on-time God, yes, he is. He may not come when you want him, but he’ll be there right on time. He’s an on-time God, yes, he is.”

1. By the time Jesus came to Bethany, Lazarus had been dead four days.

• He came four days late, right on time. His not coming when they wanted him:

o Was not because he did not know. Mary and Martha sent him a message, verse 3.

o Was not because he did not care. Jesus loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus, verse 5.

o Was not because of the circumstances. He stayed in place for two more days, verse 6.

o Was not because he could not do anything to help. He could have healed him, verses 21 and 32.

2. By the time Jesus came to Bethany: 

• Lazarus was dead & buried (v. 17)

• Martha & Mary were distraught (vs. 21, 32)

• Friends had gathered to comfort them (v. 19)

• The disciples were confused (vs. 7-16).

3. When Jesus spoke to Martha & Mary, they testified their belief in him.

• They believed Jesus could have healed him, verses 31, 32.

• They believed Jesus was Israel’s Messiah and God’s Son, verse 28.

• They could not quite believe that Jesus had arrived right on time.

• They are about to see Jesus “do exceeding abundantly above all that [they could] ask or think” Ephesians 3:20

4. When Jesus came to Lazarus’s tomb, he spoke life into the dead.

• If Jesus had arrived early, he could have merely healed Lazarus. Verses 31, 32.

• Since Jesus arrived right on time, he raised Lazarus from the dead! Verse 43.

• John 5:25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.

Conclusion:

We walk by faith and not by sight. By faith may we see, understand, and believe that Jesus is an on-time God. He may not come when you want him, but he’ll be there right on time. Jesus came to his own, right on time. When he sprang from Mary’s womb in a stable in Bethlehem, he arrived right on time. Paul said, “When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman.” Jesus grew up in the carpenter’s home and was subject to his parents, till in his purpose he came to reveal himself, he went to be baptized of John in Jordan right on time! “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” When Jesus came to Lazarus’s tomb, it may have seemed like he was four days late, but he was right on time! Jesus said he came into the world to seek and to save that which was lost, and to give his life a ransom for many. Six days before the Passover, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a colt the foal of an ass, right on time! The people strewed branches before him and cried, “Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.” When he was sufficiently ready, he was arrested and tried. The Jews thought they had achieved exactly what they wanted; Pilate and the Roman authorities thought they were in charge of things. But when they nailed Jesus to that old rugged cross, then slammed that cross into the ground, so that he hung between heaven and earth, they did it right on time! Jesus hung between heaven and earth from the third hour to the sixth hour, and from the sixth hour to the ninth hour a thick darkness engulfed the earth, and in the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice of victory, “It is finished” – right on time. They took Jesus down from the cross, laid him in a borrowed tomb, “as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” The first day, the first night, sadness reigns. The second day, the second night, all is silent. The third day, the third night passes, and when he fulfilled had three days and three nights, Jesus came up out of that tomb, right on time! For forty days he showed himself alive by many infallible proofs, then in the presence of his disciples ascended back into heaven, right on time! He left them with this blessed promise, “I will come again.” The angels said “why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” Fifty years. No return. One hundred years pass. One thousand years pass. Two thousand years pass. Scoffers and mockers, unbelievers all, ask  “Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” Oh, but things will not continue as they were. One day Jesus will split the eastern sky. We are looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, and I assure you, brothers and sisters, by the authority of God’s word, and by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, he is coming back RIGHT ON TIME!

Comfort one another with these words. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.

Remember the Lord

“A psalm of David, to bring to remembrance.” Psalm 38, in the title.

This psalm, as well as the seventieth, is particularly marked in the title, and distinguished from every other; and it will be worth while to seek into the cause. A great light will be thrown upon it, if we connect with this title, the character of the great author, under whose inspiration David, as the penman, wrote it: I mean, that sweet and blessed office of the Holy Ghost, the Remembrancer of the Lord Jesus. “He shall teach you” (saith the Lord Jesus, when describing the blessed Spirit in his offices) “all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you:” John 14:26.

Now, if this psalm be found, on examination, to be speaking much of the person and character of Christ, ought it not, when read under the divine teaching of its Almighty Author, to act as a psalm to bring to remembrance, how Jesus thus suffered, thus groaned, bled, and died for his people? 

…

If then the great design of this psalm is to bring to remembrance the Redeemer, in those solemn seasons; shall we make application of the contents of it to David, king of Israel, and overlook David's Lord? Oh! thou great and divine Remembrancer of the Lord Jesus! I beseech thee, thou matchless Instructor! To cause every thing, and every incident, to call my poor forgetful heart to remember its Lord!

…

Robert Hawker (1753-1827), The Poor Man’s Morning and Evening Portions, March 8—Evening

The Corner-Stone

65. L. M. Anon.

Corner-Stone….Isaiah xxviii.16….1 Pet. ii.6.

1. Laid by Jehovah’s mighty hands,
Zion’s foundation firmly stands;
Rais’d up on Christ, the corner stone,
Secure as God’s eternal throne.

2. See how the glorious fabric grows,
Fram’d of materials that he chose!
Each stone prepar’d, and fitly set,
The royal structure to complete.

3. Still shall this edifice arise,
’Till all shall reach the lofty skies;
And joyful hosts shall praise above,
Jehovah’s grace and Jesu’s love.

The above hymn was published in an 1806 hymn book (A New Selection of Seven Hundred Evangelical Hymns for Private, Family, and Public Worship...) by John Dobell (1757-1840) of England. John Julian describes him as follows in his Dictionary of Hymnology.

Dobell, John, b. 1757, d. May, 1840, was a port-gauger under the Board of Excise, at Poole, Dorset, and a person of some local note. In 1806 he published:—

A New Selection of Seven Hundred Evangelical Hymns for Private, Family, and Public Worship (Many Original) from more than two hundred of the best Authors in England, Scotland, Ireland, and America, Arranged in alphabetical order; Intended as a Supplement to Dr. Watts’s Psalms and Hymns. By John Dobell. Lond., Williams and Smith, 1806.

Subsequently this Sel. was increased to “More than Eight Hundred” hymns, and the wording of the title-page was changed in several instances. Dobell’s account of this work is:—

“The hymns here presented to the public I have collected from more than two hundred authors; many of them are taken from Manuscripts which I deemed too valuable to be suffered to remain in obscurity, and some have been supplied by friends. As this work has been the labour of years, and the choice of many thousand hymns, it will, I trust, give satisfaction to the Church of God.” Preface, p. iii.

In addition to a work on Baptism, 1807, and another on Humanity, 1812, Dobell also published:—

The Christian’s Golden Treasure; or, Gospel Comfort for Doubting Minds, 1823. This work was in two vols., the first of which contained 124 hymns, several of which were by Dobell.

Of this writer’s hymns very few are found in modern hymn-books. We have from the 1806 book:—(1) “Come, dearest Lord, and bless this day” (Sunday Morning); (2) “Great Ruler of the earth and skies” (In time of War); (3) “Now is the accepted time,” (Invitation) — in C. U. in G. Britain and America,[i] out of twenty or more. It is not as a hymn-writer, but as a diligent and successful hymnologist, that J. Dobell is best known.

A Dictionary of Hymnology, Vol. 1, A-O, John Julian, Editor. New York, NY: Dover, 1907, p. 304

Dobell ascribes this cornerstone hymn to “Anon.,” so it should not be mistaken as written by him.[ii] Though John Julian does not identify the following hymn by Dobell as in use, we can find it used in The Sacred Harp (see 479, 2012 Cooper Edition), with the song Behold A Sinner by W. J. Bartlett:

Behold a sinner, dearest Lord,
Encourag’d by thy gracious word.
Would venture near to seek that bread,
By which thy children here are fed.

This hymn (No. 287) is based on the “Woman of Canaan….Matt. 15.27,” and is found in three stanzas in his Selection.[iii] 

John Julian does not give a denominational affiliation for Dobell; I had previously assumed he was some sort of independent, and thought he might even be a Baptist. However, based on his inclusion of eight hymns on “infant baptism” (180-187; two of which he wrote), it is clear that John Dobell was a paedobaptist.[iv] 

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[i] That is, “common use in Great Britain and America.”
[ii] “I have endeavored to ascertain the Author of every hymn. In some cases my enquiries have been fruitless, and I have consequently said, Anon. (anonymous)” (p. iv).
[iii] The fourth stanza and chorus were added or arranged by W. J. Bartlett.
[iv] For example, “This water sprinkled on the child…” stanza 5, hymn no. 186, titled “Infants given to God in Baptism.” Additionally, his preface also makes this clear. “It is however, as generally admitted, that there are many subjects for which Doctor Watts has provided no hymns. To see this deficiency supplied amongst pædo-baptist churches, has been the desire of many ministers and private Christians; and to effect this is the principal, though not the only end of this small volume” (“Preface,” p. 3). Dobell mentions in his “Preface” generically “that denomination of christians with which providence has placed me” and “the churches with which I am connected,” but does not identify them by name.

Left foot, right foot, which foot, spite foot

Those who think washing feet in church is sort of odd and quaint often find humor at the expense of feet-washers. I guess it doesn’t hurt for us to laugh at ourselves. Laughter can be good medicine. R. Inman Johnson told the following (probably made-up) story of the New Harmony Church’s origin:

“A little foot-washing Baptist church over in Georgia got concerned over the complication of the foot-washing procedure as the membership grew. By unanimous vote, they decided they’d wash just one foot instead of both feet. Then the church split over which foot to wash.”

The Arkansas Baptist newsmagazine published this story, November 16, 1961 (p. 23). A little extra humor hides in the name of the church – New Harmony. How often we Baptists call our church splits Fellowship, Harmony, and Unity!

Interestingly, washing feet has held an unusual and unique place in the annals of Baptist history, one Baptist leader advocating it while another decries it. For example, in 1882 J. R. Graves called J. B. Gambrell, who in 1877 founded The Mississippi Baptist Record, “the champion advocate of feet-washing in the Southwest.” According to a preacher whose father was in the founding of the Mt. Zion Association in East Texas, and who himself became an ordained minister in it soon thereafter, recorded that almost all the churches of the once practiced feet washing. Within 100 years, none of them did. I do not know for sure, but I suspect at some point, as he became a leading Southern Baptist minister, J. B. Gambrell, probably quietly dropped any mention of feet washing. R. Inman Johnson taught speech and music for many years at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.

The Tennessee Baptist, May 5, 1882, p. 8

Proper pronunciation

How important to biblical scholarship is the proper pronunciation of Greek words?

In the linked video, Mark Ward, John Meade, and Will Ross give a “response” to the sessions of the first meeting Reformation Bible Society. In a complaint about the scholarship, Will Ross (starting at about 13:51) says there were problems with “even basic things like mispronounced words that would be common to people who work in more detail with Septuagint scholarship.” Is this a legitimate complaint, or more a closing of ranks, “You’re not a scholar if you don’t pronounce Greek words like I do”? How well do we really know that everyone across the Roman empire pronounced Koine Greek the same way? I notice that Englishmen, even those in the same country, have a wide range of pronunciations which does not amount to ignorance, but may properly be ascribed to accent. I notice even Mark, John, and Will do not have the same accent. Starting about 47:01 Mark and Will refer to Peter Van Kleeck’s paper on Augustine. Mark calls him “uh-guhs-tin” which I perceive to be popular in academic circles. Will calls him “aw-guh-steen” (for which he gets high points for speaking a little drawl-like, as we talk here in East Texas!). Maybe one or both of them are not well-schooled in their historical scholarship. Or, more likely, they just speak differently. But is not this the pots calling kettles black? Physicians, heal yourselves before you scold others.

I hear and read in the Bible version debates a lot of things from both sides that I believe are petty and lacking in substance. They distract from the substance of the arguments. I see such pettiness in their pronunciation complaint. The more I hear British English on TV, in lectures, videos, and such like, the less I believe there is one proper pronunciation of most English words. Even the Brits do not have one pronunciation shared among themselves. And neither do we.

Mark likes to say that others in the Bible version debates are offensive, but I find their raising themselves up on the backs of others to be offensive.

• Also interesting, the rejoinder by Jeff Riddle to Meade, Ross, and Ward.

The first day of the week

Acts 20:7 assembling in Troas

Verse 7a: They met “upon the first day of the week.” Canon 29 of the Council of Laodicea states: “Christians must not judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather honouring the Lord’s Day; and, if they can, resting then as Christians. But if any shall be found to be judaizers, let them be anathema from Christ.” Many who observe the Seventh-Day Sabbath claim that this Canon is an example of a post-apostolic change from Christians keeping Saturday to keeping Sunday. However, the first day of the week is shown to be time of gathering in early writings such as those ascribed to Barnabas, Ignatius, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus – all before the edict of Laodicea in the 4th century.[1] In New Testament times and biblical records, Christians are already found meeting on the first day of the week, the day of the Lord’s resurrection (Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:2; Luke 24:1; John 20:1, 19, 26; I Corinthians 16:2: Revelation 1:10).[2] Christ our firstfruits rose on the first day of the week, the day of the feast of firstfruits, the first day after the Sabbath after Passover. See I Corinthians 15:20, 23 and Leviticus 23:9ff. Jesus Christ was sacrificed as the Passover lamb (I Corinthians 5:7), and was raised up as firstfruits to God.

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[1] For example, Justin Martyr, who lived in the 100s AD, in his First Apology, Chapter 57 wrote, “And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things.” Ignatius of Antioch, circa AD 250, wrote of “no longer observing the Sabbath, but living in the observance of the Lord’s Day, on which also our life has sprung up again by Him and by His death…” Epistle to the Magnesians, Chapter 9. See also Tertullian, An Answer to the Jews, Chapters 2-4.
[2] Though the first day of the week is not specifically mentioned, both Acts 21:4 and 28:14 emphasize tarrying with disciples in a certain place for seven days. The significant Day of Pentecost, or feast of weeks, also occurred on the first day of the week (Leviticus 23:15-21; Deuteronomy 16:9-12; Acts 2:1).

A Word of Consolation for Mourners

Points from a funeral sermon:

Revelation 14:13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.

Introduction.

Ecclesiastes 5:15 As he came forth of his mother’s womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand.

Revelation 14:13 and Ecclesiastes 5:15 stand in sharp contrast. Ecclesiastes 5:15 speaks to those who die in their natural state. Revelation 14:13 speaks to those who die in the Lord.

Blessed: divinely favored; enjoying happiness, pleasure, and contentment; particularly, enjoying the bliss of heaven.

Death is a curse of sin (Rom. 6:23; 1 Cor. 15:56) that has been turned into a blessing by the death of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 15:54).

The truth is sure.

It is stated by “a voice from heaven.” 

It is ratified or confirmed by the “Yea” of the Spirit.

The blessing is for those who “die in the Lord.”

This applies not to all the dead, but only to those who die in the Lord. There is no blessing in death to those who are outside the arms of the Lord. Those die without God and without hope.

A physical or first death, but not the second death. See Revelation 20:14.

The blessing is “rest.”

Those who die in the Lord rest from their labours. Matthew Henry writes, “They rest from all sin, temptation, sorrow, and persecution; for there the wicked cease from troubling, there the weary are at rest.”

The works of those who die in the Lord do follow them. 1 Corinthians 15:58 “…your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” Works do not make their way in to heaven, but they follow them on to heaven. Joseph Benson writes, “their works do not go before, to procure for them admittance into the mansions of joy and glory, but they follow or attend them when admitted.”

This is marked contrast to those tormented in fire and brimstone, “they have no rest day nor night.”

Conclusion.

These truths are founded in “the everlasting gospel” (Rev. 14:6), how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.