Covenanter Witness Vol. 54 - Rparchives.org

wings."
selves"
selves"
righteousness"
sin,"
count"
eat."
verily,"
where have the two sides of God's right
eousness been more vividly described
than in Malachi. Unspeakable tender
ness is promised to those who love Him,
and the strictest severity for those who
finally rebel. Some people find fault yet
today, with "the severity of the last
word of the O. T.; and in so doing align
themselves perfectly with these Jews
who followed the form of the words but
missed the spirit and meaning
(com
pare Christ's "last" words Matt. 7:23).
God's Messenger is describing God's
righteousness and he promises an even
more vivid example of that in "the sun
of righteousness,"
but for the present
(v. 4) he urges them to remember the
law of Moses for it was the bridge that
could carry them safely across the in
tervening 400 years till Christ came
(compare Gal. 3:24); and he also prom
ised them an Elijah who .wouldhelp
them to learn the faith and reverence of
their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Ja
cob. The words of 4:4 might have come
from Christ himself, and it's only by
forgetting why Malachi came to speak
this message, that we can begin to com
plain about the warning of curse found
here.
This prophecy was particularly ful
filled when Christ came. John the Bap
tist was the Elijah or forerunner whose
purpose and message and life so closely
resembles that of Malachi. In Christ,
men for the first time saw God's Right
eousness face to face.
He was "The
word Made Flesh" and lived Moses'
commandments perfectly. One
symbol
of Christ's ability to heal spiritually
was His ability to heal physically. He
literally "rose with healing in his
But the prophecy was by no
means exhausted there and the phrase
"sun of
refers to more
than the person of Christ; this book is
to prepare us for the final "Day of the
Lord,"
the last judgment. The Jews in
sisted on hypocrisy, "lying to them
and "pretending to the world";
and it caused them to crucify Christ.
It will cause us to do the same thing
(see John 1:47). Our whole nation has
just returned from captivity to warjitters,
we're still threatened, and many
have learned to fear God's punishment,
Lord."
but comparatively few "fear the
Very often today people "kid them
into an unconsciousness of their
own sins. They kill their consciences
by thinking often of ther good deeds and
quickly forgettnig the sins they do ad
mit. "Oh that's not such a bad
still a common expression.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. It is almost instinctive to associate
goodness and physical prosperity. Suf
fering
348
and sin are repulsive and pros-
is
perity and goodness are desirable. These
Israelites pleased Satan as much as Job
displeased him but discuss the bene
fits of suffering. Is it fear of punish
ment, desire for reward, or love for God
that causes you to live as you do
2. Discuss Malachi's charge (vs. 13-
15) and his specific instances of proof
as they apply to us today.
3. List some current instances of in
sensibility to sin Remember the mis
application of such titles as "Christian"
"gentleman," "noble," etc. Discuss the
danger of not labeling sin as "sin" (cf.
Mai. 2:17).
4. "Keeping a prophet and loss ac
(bargaining) with God is a com
mon sin. One of the best deterrents is
to begin by remembering God's love of
choice (see Witness for Jan. 19). An
other is to do a topical study
"Book of Remembrance."
on God's
5. Compare the conclusion to this
book (4:4) with conclusions to Prov.
31:30; and Eccl. 12:13; and Job.
6. If God were to appear today, to run
a clear sharp line between all good and
evil (motives as well as deeds), would
it be to your advantage or disadvan
tage On which side of that line would
your worshiping and tithing and your
attitude toward your wife and your fel
lowman, fall
PRAYER MEETING TOPIC
June 22
Rev. John O. Edgar
THE AMENS OF JESUS: THE BREAD
Psalms
OF LD7E
John 6:32, 33
146:1, 2, 5, 6, page 353
78:13, 14, 18, 19, page 188
104:9-12, page 250
34:1, 2, 5, 6, page 79
References: Exodus 16:11-21; John 6:
48-58; Matt. 4:3, 4; Deut. 8:2, 3.
A few weeks ago our topic was, "Op
portunity Brings Responsibility." It con
cerned a rebuke Jesus administered to
the Galileans after the feeding
of the
five-thousand. There were some who
had followed Him for the loaves and
fishes and had not used their opportun
ities for spiritual discernment. Our
study tonight has the same background
and we find Jesus elaborating concern
ing the bread which came down from
heaven. John 6:32, 33.
The Galileans were challenging Jesus
to give them further evidence that He
was the Son of God. They said, "Our
fathers did eat manna in the desert;
as it is written, He gave them bread
from heaven to
Jesus answered
them using the emphatic words "verily,
"My Father giveth you the true
bread from heaven." Those who ate
the manna were sustained in a physical
way, but it could not keep them from
dying. But those who ate the Bread of
Life (Christ) would live forever.
So often in Scripture we find physical
things being
used as a type or symbol
of things which are spiritual, and all
too often men have failed to grasp the
significance. This was certainly true of
those who saw only the physical side
of the miracle of the loaves and fishes.
PHYSICAL BREAD
God is ever concerned about the physi
cal needs of men. He created the earth
that it might be productive and provide
sufficient food for man. One of the
greatest miracles we can behold is that
of seed being placed in the earth, dying,
living again, and producing one-hundred
fold that which was planted. God pro
vided the manna for His people when
they were in the wilderness. When
Jesus saw the hungry multitude He
multiplied the loaves and fishes to meet
the need.
Our Heavenly
Father is still con
cerned about mankind's need for food.
Millions in the world are hungry. In
India and China there is almost contin
uous famine for millions. Russia is prob
ably facing a food shortage. The recent
"shake-up"
in government was due at
least in part to the fact that the com
munal farms are not producing suffici
ent food. Even in the more prosperous
countries of the world there are people
who do not have enough to eat because
they cannot afford to buy food.
In our nation there is a surplus of
food. Thousands of bushels of corn and
wheat are stored in government gran
aries, and are in danger of spoiling be
fore use can be found for them. During
the past decade thousands of tons of
foodstuffs have been shipped to needy
people around the world.
Many economists believe that with the
rapid increase in world population, we
are approaching the time when there
will be mass starvation. But we believe
that the earth is still far from reaching
its peak of food production. Soil con
servation, irrigation, and scientific farm
ing might easily double the world's pro
duction of food. But this is not the
world's greatest problem. The real prob
lem, as Jesus revealed to the Galileans,
enough to
was a spiritual one. Having
eat is important, but it is not as im
portant as having the Living Bread,
Christ Jesus.
SPIRITUAL BREAD
One of the popular philosophies of the
present day is, that if everyone in the
world had enough
to eat we would
no longer have war, crime, or disease.
THE COVENANTER WITNESS