Covenanter Witness Vol. 55 - Rparchives.org

was,"readers.". . . HeAlfredconsist."thrill from scenes of torture and murder.The Remnant That Was Left Behind2 Kings 25:11, 12Nebuchadnezzer first tried to hold arich vassel state. When he failed to subdue them he tried to weaken them bydeporting the strongest of them. Whenthey still would not submit, he carriedoff all but the poorest of the land. Thoseleft were probably the tenant farmers.He set them at taking care of the landfor him. To remove the incentive tomove into the cityand live in grandhouses, he burned the Temple, and allthe fine houses. Sennacherib left an inscription placing the captives at about200,000. Those left behind are estimatedat about 40,000. To provide more farmers, especially in Samaria,new settlerswere sent across from the East, whomingled with the Jewsand adoptedtheir religion with some changes, andformed a new nation, the Samaritans.The treasure carried away is described in some detail. Since the precious metals had already been taken,they had a heavier burden this time inthe semi-precious metals, even carvedwood and stone. There was little leftfrom which to profit, except the soil.The Treatment Accorded to JeremiahNebuchadnezzer, in spite of his cruelty, had a sense of justice. Perhaps heknew of the advice Jeremiah had givenZedekiah, and felt that his influence oneither the captives or those left behindwould be for peace and harmony. So heleft him free to go or stay. Jeremiahchose to stay: Against his advice theremnant fled to Egypt, and carriedJeremiah along, and he died there, probably at the hand of those he tried tohelp.Zedekiah was blind before his eyeswere put out.The temple may be burned, but theTruth will survive the fire.Bondage in Babylon may be betterthan a refuge in Egypt.PRAYER MEETING TOPICJuly 27, 195gRev. John O. Edgar"THE AMENS OF JESUS"("THE GREAT 'I AM' ")John 8:58Our meditation centers around an important doctrine which is known as the"Pre-existence ofChrist."In the 8thchapter of John we find Jesus discoursing with the Jews who were trying tofind some fault in Him. In the discussionJesus said, "Verily, verily, (Amen, amenJuly 6, 1955truly, truly) I say unto you, if a mankeep my saying, he shall never seedeath."(v. 51) The Jews argued thatAbraham and the prophets were dead,and that it wasn't possible that therecould be a greater than Abraham. Jesusthen told them, "Your father Abrahamrejoiced to see ....my day BeforeAbraham was I AM" (56-58).Jesus Claims of Pre-existencePerhaps no more astonishing wordsever fell from the lips of Jesus. He isstating that he was not a contemporaryof Abraham, but actually existed beforehim. There can be no mistake concerning this meaning, for the Greek is veryspecific in the words which are used.Godet writes, "To become is to passfrom nothingness to existence; I AMdesignates a mode of existence which isnot due to such a transition." He doesnot say "I was before Abraham" but,"Before Abraham was, I AM." The expression "I AM" speaks of the timelessnessof Christ, His co-existence with theFather and the Spirit from all eternity.Some of the critics had declared thatJesus was speaking in figurative language and that He is stating that Hewas present in the divine intelligencefrom the beginning. In other words,they were declaring that the presence ofJesus with the Father was impersonal.However, the Greek word for I (ego)is definitely personal, and could not beused to imply an impersonal being.Moreover, Jesus was comparing Himselfto Abraham who is a historical character.In John 17:5 we find another passagein which Christ teaches His pre-existence. "Glorify thou me with thine ownself with the glory which I had withthee before the world was."No doubtthere was a certain amount of glory associated with Christ even in His earthlystate, but when He refers to "glorywhich I had with Thee before the worldence.it can refer only to His pre-existThe Pre-exictence Revealed to MosesWhen God called Moses to lead thechildren of Israel he objected on thegrounds that Pharaoh and the childrenof Israel would challenge his authority.What could he answer them when theyasked the name of the God who hadsent him? God's answer is found inExodus 3:15, "I AM THAT I AM; I AMhath sent me unto you."All the fullness of the godhead isfound in these words. If anyone is competent to make the claim of SupremeDivinity it is Christ. The "I" of Christis the "I" of God. "He that hath seenme hath seen the Father."The Pre-existence Presented in theForm of WisdomIn John 1 :1,2 we read, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word waswith God and the Word was God. Thesame was in the beginningwithGod."When John speaks of the Word he is referring to Jesus Christ. This is madeclear in John 1:14, 15, "The Word wasmade flesh. .writes, "Thisterm Co logos) used by John withoutexplanation, is used as one bearing ameaning which was well known to hisHe further states, "The answer to this will be found by tracing thegradual personification of the Word, orWisdom of God, in the Old Testamentand Jewish writings. We find traces ofthis personification in the Book ofPsalms 33:4-6; 119:89, 105; Isaiah 55:10, 11; Job 28:12-28." John also usedthis term in The Revelation 19:13.Wherever John uses the term "Word"it is synonymous with "Wisdom" in theOld Testament. In either form, theterms are personal and refer to theLord Jesus Christ.One of the most remarkable passagesis the 8th chapter of Proverbs. Miss Eugenia Price in her book "The Burdenis Light (pages 67-69) relates how thispassage came to her at the time of herconversion in a hotel room in New YorkCity. Picking up the Gideon Bible thatwas in her room, she let it fall open toEzekiel and began to read. She wasthrilled by the word pictures and kepton reading. The next morning when herfriend Ellen Riley came to her room,Miss Price told of her discovery of Ezekiel. Tactfully, Miss Riley began toread from Proverbs 8 the passageabout "Wisdom." Miss Price's questionwas, "Who is the T that is spoken of,and who or what is 'Wisdom'?" Then itwas revealed to her that "Wisdom" wasnone other than Christ.The Pre-existence Revealed by PaulIn Philippians 2:5-8 Paul pictures theglory of Christ which He had with theFather before He came to earth in theform of human flesh. Also, in Colossians1:12-17 he writes of Christ and how wehave redemption in His blood. Then hestates, "By him were all things createdis before all things and by Himall things Certainlystatement could be found of this docno clearertrine than is found in these passages.With so large a subject as this we canbut cite a few of the many evidences. Ofthis we may indeed be sure: Christ, asthe second person of the Godhead hasexisted from all eternity. He was present at the creation of the world; Hegave up His glory that He might descend to earth in the form of man; He11