THESE past months have brought us some inspiring news of the Lord's special grace as revealed in the experiences of men who have suffered imprisonment for Christ's sake. There was Frank in Iraq, then there was Joseph in Rumania, and now I have been privileged to listen to a cassette recording of a Chinese servant of God who has just been released after 23 years of detainment in prison.

I was greatly moved as I listened to the cassette which included the singing of two English hymns by the elderly Chinese brother. Our Chinese friends are understandably reluctant to countenance any publicity over here in the West, and for this reason I refrain from mentioning the name of this honoured servant of Christ. He was more widely known than Watchman Nee, though I personally did not know him. During those early years of fierce trial, though, his name became familiar to us as we prayed for Brother Nee and others like him, knowing that they were under constant attacks only because of their loyalty to the Lord and His Word. This particular brother was much prayed for by many lovers of his land.

After his recent release from imprisonment, a friend from this country was the first Westerner to have the contact with him which enabled him to bring pictures and the recording back from China. Communications were easy, for the Chinese pastor speaks English fluently. Indeed he was so familiar with it that he knew two English hymns and often sang them to himself during the long years of his lonely captivity. I imagine that it was more possible for him to do this in English than it would have been in his own language. In any case, these are the words which I heard and which he had so often sung in that communist prison:

Now look again at those words and try to realise that they had become the testimony of a man who had just emerged from 23 years in prison. During the whole of that time he never handled a Bible, nor even saw one; he had no letters from the outside world and had no contact whatsoever with another Christian. Is it not wonderful that he was able continually to sing: " Can I doubt His tender mercy?" How sorely he must have been tempted at times to doubt! And, "Jesus doeth all things well." What a triumph of faith! So he sang on: "Heavenly peace, divinest comfort. Gives me grace for every trial. A spring of joy!" What an amazing testimony! And what amazing grace lies behind it!

During all those years no human ear had heard the triumphant testimony. But it had been heard. Heavenly beings had heard it and worshipped the Lamb in the midst of the throne Who was triumphing in the life of His tested servant, just as He Himself had triumphed when He lived and suffered here on earth. The hosts of wicked spirits must have heard it too, and trembled even as they listened. In the early church days the demons said, "Jesus I know and Paul I know ...". Ever since then they have had to take cognisance of the triumphant grace of God in Spirit-filled saints. And if anyone doubts whether this Chinese brother was filled with the Spirit or not, I can only imagine that they have not properly appreciated the spiritual victory involved in a man being able to sing such words under such circumstances.

Some of us may deserve the contemptuous question put to the sons of Sceva: "Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you?" (Acts 19:15) for we make little impact on the kingdom of darkness, but not such a radiant saint as this imprisoned Chinese brother. In him and those like him can surely be discerned the fulfilment [101/102] of Paul's words: "to the intent that now unto the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places might be made known through the church the manifold wisdom of God" (Ephesians 3:10). Our testimony is not only intended for men; it is designed to confront heaven and hell with the miracle of the grace of God in Christ.

The old brother had never heard his own voice, so he was delighted when his songs were played back to him and he heard his own singing. As we listened to the cassette we felt privileged indeed to have some share in his obvious joy. The words were clear, though marked by a foreign accent, and obviously the voice was that of an elderly man. It was quite unaccompanied. The first hymn was, "Safe in the arms of Jesus", and the other the one already quoted, "All the way my Saviour leads me". There was no mistaking its sincerity.

Being interrogated as to whether he felt that God had made any mistake in allowing him to be so shut away from all human help for 23 years, and as to whether he regretted it, he gave emphatic negatives to both questions, even going so far as to say that he would not have missed one day of it. "It was my spiritual university", he said, "that was where I learned my deepest lessons of the Lord". And this from a man who was well known as a Bible teacher long before he was arrested. He went on to say that although all the time his outward man was decaying, it was certainly true that his inward man was being renewed day by day. "Jesus was so real and so near that it was like a long honeymoon" was the way he described it. Re-united now to his wife who has become blind, he is full of praise to God and is a living proof of Christ's utter sufficiency under every circumstance. His one piece of advice to his fellow believers was that they should always stand firm in the Lord. He knows, as only a man in his position can, that a practical walk with God is more important than any amount of mere head-knowledge of divine things. In his typical dry humour he remarked: "A man who has a very large head full of theology and very small feet of practical obedience is top-heavy. He will soon fall over." He went on to emphasise that the only way to have spiritual authority and to be used by God is to live a life of practical obedience to His Word.

Several points seem to me to emerge from the deeply moving message from this saintly brother who in his day was a mighty voice for God in his own land. The first is a fresh call to worship and praise. When the heavenly hosts heard that jubilant testimony they did not get busy calling together committees to plan new operations -- they bowed in worship and wonder before the throne of God and the Lamb. Should we do less? Through the years we have prayed on, sometimes almost despairing as to what could be left of the Church in China, and often lamenting that our missionary work seemed closed down, when all the time the Spirit of God had been mightily at work. I have a Chinese friend who has always insisted that it was not a closed land. "Closed perhaps to missionaries, but not closed to God", he used to say. How right he was! This has been abundantly proved by the testimonies now reaching us of the miracles of God's grace.

The next is prayer. Not for an inrush of missionaries into China, but for the vast numbers of witnessing Christians already there. It is good to know, too, that there are many Chinese copies of the Scriptures available, and that they are quietly passing into the right hands without any need for smuggling operations or deceiving the authorities. We must pray that the many copies of God's Word already to hand may be distributed as quickly and as wisely as possible, and that in addition to Bibles there may be suitable spiritual literature for the upbuilding of God's people. We must concentrate our prayers on spiritual support for Chinese Christians who can return freely to their native land to witness for Christ there. We should also pray much for the very many students who are over in the West for studies and who might come to know Christ before returning to their life and work in their own land.

Pray that God's people may be preserved from sensational and fund-raising appeals. Wrong publicity is most harmful and calculated to produce a backlash against the very people whom it is supposed to help. We have been put to shame by the devoted and sacrificial life of our Chinese brothers and sisters, many of whom have laid down their lives for the sake of the gospel. We should be inspired by further practical proof of the fact that God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. His purpose in so doing, and our purpose in praying must be that there should be glory in the church by Christ Jesus. Let us keep at it. [102/103]

LATER on Jesus said to those same disciples, "Put your sword back into its place, for all who draw the sword will die by the sword" (Matthew 26:52). There must be a good explanation for the Lord's earlier command that His disciples should be sure to be armed, and among other possible reasons for this apparent contradiction I propose to concentrate on the one point that the Christian's warfare is not physical but spiritual. This is very clear from the whole of the subsequent teaching of the New Testament, notably from Paul's statement that "The weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God" (2 Corinthians 10:4). Moreover we nowhere find the apostles -- to whom these words were addressed -- carrying swords as they pursued their ministry, so we presume that when the Lord said: "Put up thy sword", He meant that we should put away from us any idea of fighting against men and address ourselves to active participation in spiritual warfare.

Although we know that the Bible teaching reminds us that we are soldiers of Christ, we forget that we are in a battle. We put down our troubles to other causes. There are times when we get into conflicts because of our own faults or strained relationships -- then it is no use blaming the Devil for what is really our responsibility. On the other hand we must not become obsessed with secondary causes, people and circumstances, when the real issue is that extra element of spiritual evil which is the real enemy. There is a warfare in heaven and from this, circumstances can be created and people affected.

When, in New Testament language, we speak of heaven, do not let us think of that which is remote and far away, somewhere in or beyond the clouds. No, heavenly warfare is in the atmosphere all around us. The Devil is called "the prince of the power of the air" (Ephesians 2:2). Now the air is not all above the clouds, but it is where we are as we breathe it now. The heavenlies are wrapping us round all the time and the spiritual conflict is in this very atmosphere. There is an illustration of this in the Old Testament story, when Elisha prayed: "Lord, I pray thee open his eyes that he may see" (2 Kings 6:17), and the young man had his eyes opened to see how near as well as how real were the unseen armies of God. Because we have a spirit, which is the medium of connection with that which is spiritual, this evil atmosphere is not always outside of us but sometimes seems to make the conflict inward. In one way or another, the spiritual conflict is very real and for it we need the Spirit's sword.

The occasion of this conflict is the destiny of the Church. All departments and realms of really spiritual work seem to provoke the opposition of spiritual forces, but the nearer we get to the great, eternal conception of God's destiny for the Church of Christ, the Church which is His Body, the more pronounced the enemy's antagonism becomes.

We meet spiritual antagonism in seeking to win souls for Christ, because it is only in this way that the Church is born. When, however, the full thought of God is brought into view, then the greatest challenge of the forces of evil is registered. This is because it is in the Church and in relation to the Church's destiny that the whole kingdom of Satan is to be met and overthrown. Hence, of course, the tremendous significance of corporate life. Even by small and seemingly insignificant means, moodiness or trifling disagreements, Satan breaks up the flow of fellowship among the saints. It seems strange that the vital power of the Church should be weakened by the moods and temperaments of God's people but so it can be. If the Devil cannot succeed by such simple methods he has many other ploys and complex strategies, all aimed at the destruction of the relatedness of God's people. So spiritual fellowship becomes a real battleground.

Some think that fellowship is a kind of picnic, a religious festival. We praise God for all the [103/104] joys of fellowship, but the matter is more serious than that, and is so important that it can become a matter of real battle. The exercise and preserving of true heart fellowship with all other Christians -- not just with those whom we like but with all -- is a field of constant conflict. Fellowship is not just something that happens. We must fight for it. It is a great factor in the spiritual battle.

One of the main functions of such fellowship is the great corporate activity of united prayer. We need to be reminded from time to time that our seasons of coming together for prayer are more than occasions for bringing to the Lord a list of items. We have, of course, to be definite with the Lord and we have to ask Him for things. The real goal of our praying, however, must be not merely personal blessings but the triumph of the will of God. Daniel gives us an excellent example of such prayer. He was stretched out for three whole weeks, fasting and praying, as he gave himself to prayer for the fulfilment of the great purposes of God. His prayer was based on what he "understood by the books" (Daniel 9:2). He knew what other servants of God had written about the divine purposes and he had those purposes in his heart. Because those purposes were in apparent suspension, because there was a contradiction of them since the Lord's enemies had been given an advantage through the unfaithfulness of the people of God -- this was why Daniel was so drawn out in his praying. We are told that the result was great warfare in heaven. During the twenty-one days of this particular season of prayer, a terrific conflict had been taking place without his being aware of it. The very principalities and powers had been so stirred and roused by this kind of praying that they had withstood the messengers of God. A fight had been going on, and one great angel needed to come to the support of another, as if one angelic being was not enough and needed help to get through. The value of prayer is not decided by asking for things but the nature of the things asked for.

What God needs is a people who have seen His intentions and purpose, seen the destiny of His Son and of the Church which is His Body, and devote themselves to the fulfilment of His will. Such prayer draws us into a spiritual conflict, for which the Lord told us to be sure and have a sword. It is so easy to be discouraged, so easy to be put off or silenced. With our sword in our hand we must stick at it and press the battle through to victory.

For this prayer warfare we are advised to "take up the whole armour of God" (Ephesians 6:11). It is not that we enter a prayer session by some mental process of thinking of the armour. It is no use when you sense that the battle is on that you should try to concentrate your thoughts on the various items of the armour. To do that would be to find yourself too late. You can only begin to stand if you are already girded beforehand. This is not an emergency outfit for special occasions but a manner of life for the Christian warrior.

i. The importance of truth. We begin with the matter of being girded with truth. This means that things must be real in our lives. If there is anything false about our position, anything artificial or unreal about our profession, then we will be ineffective in the spiritual battle. We must be free from errors in doctrine -- that is very important. More than that, though, we must be living in the good of what we believe, not just holding some mental ideas without real heart knowledge of the truth. The spiritual warrior needs to be girded with the truth if he is to triumph.

ii. Practical righteousness. "Having put on the breastplate of righteousness". What matters is what is satisfying to God, for that is His righteousness. The whole question of righteousness is that of God's rights, what He has a right to; and what God has a right to must accord with His own nature. God is always right, He is just and true. He therefore must have that which satisfies Him and He has found this in His Son whose righteousness is imputed to us. The wiles of the Devil are always directed against that, trying to get us off the ground where we stand in the absolute satisfaction of God by faith. The enemy keeps saying, "God is dissatisfied with you, He has this and that against you" so to counter his accusations we must hold fast to the fact that full righteousness is supplied to us through faith in Jesus Christ. It is His righteousness which alone can protect that most vital part. No doubt this also makes a reference to the need for that righteousness to work out in our lives in a practical [104/105] way, for anything unrighteous in our dealings or behaviour will mean that we cannot stand against Satan.

iii. The Good News of peace. "Having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace". We need not become too involved with the reference to our feet, but rather stress the point that God's message is good news of peace. Anybody with that message is a menace to the kingdom of darkness, for the enemy is always endeavouring to oppress us with bad news. We must go to the world with the good news that God offers perfect peace to the troubled heart and mind. Satan never minds us going to people with bad news, or with a face that suggests gloom, but he hates to have Christians spreading the glad news of peace. Paul and Silas went to Philippi with good news, the gospel of peace, and the enemy did his best to take that off their faces and out of their voices (Acts 16:11-34). He did not succeed. They triumphed over him because the very spirit of the good news was in their hearts. It is a tremendous strength against the Devil to be standing in the good of the glad tidings of peace. Christ "made peace through the blood of his cross" (Colossians 1:20). There is now no need for estrangement or depression. God is for you. He has shown that in Christ. Stand and walk in the power of His peace.

iv. The shield of faith. We must take up and make good use of this big -- or overall -- shield of faith. Faith is all-embracing and relates to every possible aspect of the conflict. There can be no triumph in the spiritual life without the full exercise of vital faith.

v. The assurance of salvation. Clear assurance about salvation needs to cover the head as a helmet. How many arguments, debates, fears and uncertainties are ready to impinge upon our minds and paralyse our value to the Lord. The salvation of the Lord is mighty, and we must use it to protect our minds from succumbing to satanic assaults. His strong salvation is the only cover which can do this.

vi. The Word of God. Finally there is "the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God". We know how the Lord Jesus met the enemy in the wilderness with apt quotations from God's Word. He had so soaked Himself in the Old Testament that the right emphasis came to Him at the right moment. We, too, are told to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly" (Colossians 3:16). Do not let any of us think that we are going to triumph in the spiritual warfare if we neglect our Bibles, any more than we can do so if we neglect prayer. Try to do without prayer and the Word and you will be worsted in the fight. You will be a soldier without a sword!

IN the first two psalms in this Book of Praises to the King, Psalms 93 and 94, we were allowed to see the kingship of God over the world. In the next two, Psalms 95 and 96, we saw His kingship over the gods. In Psalms 97 and 98 the spotlight shifted again, and we saw His kingship in the hearts of His people and how such kingship automatically produces the cry of joy. There is only one other place where the spotlight can fall, and so in the final two, Psalms 99 and 100, we see God's kingship as revealed in His own holy nature. As we consider them we will be reminded that our King is both holy and good. What more can be said or needs to be said about Him?

Psalm 99. Holy and Good

All the truth of kingship, which is so plain in Psalm 99, is focused down on to the point of divine holiness. This is a particularly easy psalm to divide because it provides its own divisions; like many hymns it has a chorus, except that here the chorus is not identical on each occasion, but the heart of identity is here: "Let them praise thy great and awesome name: holy is he" (v.3); "Exalt ye the Lord our God. Bow in worship at his footstool: holy is he" (v.5); and "Exalt ye the Lord our God, and bow in worship at his holy hill: for the Lord our God is holy" (v.9). So it is a psalm of kingship, yet the spotlight [105/106] falls not so much on His kingliness as upon His holiness.

The opening three verses stress God's greatness, yet I feel that if I were to call this section of the Psalm, The Greatness of the Holy One, I believe that I would be doing it an injustice, for rather it should be entitled, The Grace of the Holy One.

1. The Grace of the Holy One

First of all, and obviously, He is great. The Lord reigns. He exists in His reigning majesty and so the people tremble. He does not have to do anything. He just is. "He sits enthroned upon, or between, the cherubim". His enthronement is such that the mere fact of His being such a King makes the whole earth move in His presence. As the girl Rahab said to the spies: "All the inhabitants of the land melt away before you ... for the Lord your god is he who is God in heaven above and on earth beneath" (Joshua 2:9-11). The psalmist stresses this point that the awe-inspiring presence of God makes the hearts of men melt.

Then we are told that He is near -- "The Lord is great in Zion" (v.2). His greatness is not afar off but it is a greatness near at hand. In the original the emphasis rests on "in Zion" -- it is in Zion that He is great. He has brought down that awe-inspiring greatness right into His indwelling presence among His people. I am reminded so much of Isaiah 6 that I wonder whether perhaps it was Isaiah himself who was the author of these psalms. He had a vision of the King; he felt the earth shake and tremble, and he suddenly knew in his spirit the reality of the awe-inspiring nearness of the holy God.

But now look at that which occupies the centre of this section of the psalm, He is gracious. Where does He set His throne? "He sits enthroned upon the cherubim". This is not the enthroned majesty of God associated with Ezekiel's vision in Ezekiel 1. It is not here, as it is in Genesis 3:24 that His throne is associated with the cherubim with the flaming sword, turning every way to guard the way to the tree of life. No, this is a reference to the cherubim in Zion, the cherubim covering the mercy seat with their wings, concerning whom it was commanded: "toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be" (Exodus 25:20). That is where He reigns enthroned, in the place of mercy. The grace of this great and awesome God is that when He comes down to be among His own people, He takes up His throne in the place where mercy triumphs over wrath.

2. The Law of the Holy One

The second section of the psalm in verses 4 and 5 is occupied with the theme of The Law of the Holy One. There are many translations of verse 4 but the literal translation is: "The king's strength loves justice (or judgment)". All the variations in their different ways say that the strength of this great kingly God is wrapped up in the love and exercise of justice. This links up to what is already stated in the Old Testament; the law is a manifestation of the image of God. Concerning that giving of the Law, Moses reminded Israel that "the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of words, but saw no form" (Deuteronomy 4:12). This means that the Lord chose that He should be known amongst His people, not by any visible representation, but by the law which He spoke to them: "This was the image of a God which they were to cherish. "you shall observe all my statutes and all my ordinances, and do them: I am the LORD" (Leviticus 19:37). This may sound as if God were telling them to accept His authority and do things because He said so, but since the reason given is "I am Yahweh", He is really saying that they should keep the law because it represented among them what He Himself is. At the beginning of that chapter, He said to all the congregation of Israel: "You shall be holy; for I the Lord your God am holy" (Leviticus 19:2). The law is the preceptual image of God, the image of God written down in precepts, so that if anyone follow them he will be like God.

All the great strength of God goes out among His people in concern for a just society. "Thou dost establish equity" (v.4). His pleasure is in a just society. The implementing of holy principles and holy practices, judgment and justice, these are the concerns of a God who desires a people who keep His law. And will you please notice that He insists on this, despite our incapacity. I was struck by the fact that it is Jacob who is mentioned here. As in 94:7, the name of Jacob is used, I believe, to underline the helplessness of the people of God, their inadequacy in their Jacob nature. It is of them that God demands life along the straight-edge of His law. He does not accommodate His principles to the inadequacies of His people, but rather tells them to obey His law and so find that it ministers life to [106/107] them. The New Testament speaks of "the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him" (Acts 5:32). Obedience brings us into an experience of the power of the Spirit.

But will you notice that the law of God is linked to the grace of God? He looks in Jacob for a standard of obedience which is quite beyond Jacob. He demands obedience from a people who constantly fall short. If we read on, though, we find that we are told to "bow in worship at his footstool". Now since God is enthroned between the cherubim, it follows that His feet rest on the mercy seat. How marvellous that it is the verses which call us to an obedience beyond our capacity which point us to a God who deliberately places His feet upon the mercy seat, the place where the blood is sprinkled. It was grace that brought the people out of Egypt by the blood of the lamb to come to Mount Sinai to hear how they were to live to please their Redeemer God. Then no sooner was the law declared to them than the sacrifices were instituted so that the blood of the lamb might accompany them in their pilgrimage.

Truly the Bible is one book! What is visually portrayed in what we call the Old Testament, is plainly stated in the New, namely that "if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another" and the blood goes on cleansing those who commit themselves to the way of obedience. "And these things are written that ye sin not" -- the call to obedience, and sinless obedience at that! "But if any man sin, we have an advocate ... and the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 2:1-2). Praise be to God that grace accompanies law!

3. The Fellowship of the Holy One

In the third section we are continuing to deal with holy Kingship, but this time in relation to individual life. "Moses and Aaron ... Samuel also" (v.6). These great ones are not here mentioned in virtue of the great status God gave them, but in their representative capacity. They are spoken of as "among his priests ... and among them that call upon his name"; we therefore look on them as typical of what it is like to be a member of the people of God -- they are representative believers. Under this heading, then, of Fellowship with the Holy One, we are directed to the individual among God's people who is walking in the fellowship of the Holy One.

Notice what comes first: like Moses and Aaron they have priestly access to God and like Samuel, they call on the Lord's name. So the first characteristic of the people of God is that they are a praying people, and as they pray in God's presence they receive His answers -- "They called upon the Lord, and he answered them". They make prayer and He answers prayer. The primary mark of walking in fellowship with the Holy One is a life of praying and receiving. The original should be rendered, "They keep calling upon the Lord, and He keeps on answering". This is to be the changeless reality of those who enjoy fellowship with God; ceaseless calling and constant answering.

The second characteristic of this fellowship consists of hearing and obeying: "He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud; they kept his testimony and the statute that he gave them" (v.7). Notice the interchange: they and He. "They called ... He answered"; "He spoke" ... they obeyed. This is the beautiful reciprocity and mutuality of the life of fellowship with this royal and holy God. The people of God have an accredited revelation -- "His testimonies". A testimony is that which a reliable witness vouches for. The Word of God is His testimony, it is divine truth vouched for by the greatest and most reliable of all witnesses, God Himself. And so insistent was He that His people should have an accredited revelation that in due course He Himself came down in the Person of the Word. Christ Himself set the hallmark of authority upon the written Word which God had given to His people. It is also a normative revelation, to be the standard and norm of their behaviour. This is shown in the word "statute", which had behind it the idea of what is engraven on a rock and therefore permanent and unchangeable.

The third mark of those who walk in fellowship with God is that they have a life of forgiveness and chastisement: "Thou answeredst them, O Lord our God: thou wast a God that forgavest them and didst take vengeance ..." (v.8). As to forgiveness, we find that behind the word is the truth of a God of sin-bearing. This was typified on the Day of Atonement when Aaron laid his hands of confession upon the live goat and it was said that "the goat shall bear all their iniquities ..." (Leviticus 16:22). Isaiah used the same word: "and bare the sin of many" (Isaiah 53:12). John the Baptist also used it: "Behold the Lamb of God who bears away the sin of the [107/108] world" (John 1:29). This psalm sums it all up: Thou wast a God of sin-bearing. The Bible is one book!

As to vengeance, the idea here is of giving exact payment for wrong done. So it was that when Moses and Aaron disobeyed God in the smiting of the rock, the chastisement of God fell upon them in a way which all knew to be just, and they were excluded from the land. In this sense He was a God who took vengeance. Forgiveness and chastisement. Not one alone nor the other alone, but both together. Forgiveness without chastisement would make us complacent: chastisement without forgiveness would make us despair. Forgiveness without chastisement would spoil us: chastisement without forgiveness would crush us. Together, they are the reminder that while we can trust that we will be forgiven, we must never treat sin lightly. Only so can we enjoy true fellowship with the Holy One.

Psalm 100. The Privilege of Knowing Him

This psalm speaks of the people of God in the presence of God. Here is the sum of all privilege: to be with Him and to know Him. Here we have a world-wide people gathered around the only God. There is a three-fold invitation: "Make a joyful noise" (v.1); "Serve the Lord with gladness" (v.2); "Come before his presence" (v.2). This is followed by a three-fold affirmation: "Know that the Lord is God; it is he that made us; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture" (v.3). The invitations are, shout, serve, come: the reasons are, He is God, He made us, He saves us.

Moving on, we find a further three-fold invitation: "Enter his gates ... Give thanks to him; bless his name" (v.4), followed by another three-fold affirmation: "The Lord is good; his mercy endures for ever; his faithfulness is to all generations" (v.5). Is not that beautiful!

1. The Privilege of Access

As we take up the first call with its accompanying affirmation, we find that it speaks to us of the privilege of access, for the three verbs are used to denote increasing closeness to God. "Shout", "Serve", "Come into his presence" -- we hail Him from afar, we join in worship to Him and then we come right to where He is. The people of God are welcomed into the presence of their God. And they come with joy. This joy of their approach is explained by three facts, all dealing with what He has done for them. He is Jehovah, the God whom we know by name. He created us, and to me that refers to His redeeming work; He made sinners to become His redeemed people. And if that were not enough cause for rejoicing, He is our Shepherd and we are the sheep of His pasture. So we look upward and see Him as God; we look backward and see the work of salvation which He has wrought; and we look around us and rejoicing find His shepherding care.

2. The Privilege of Intimacy

The second half of the psalm speaks of the privilege of intimacy with Him (v.4-5). Once again the verbs are those of increasing closeness. "Enter his gates". Come through the gate into His nearer presence and look up to Him and thank Him. Then comes the closest of all -- "and bless his name". I am sorry if your translation renders it: "Praise his name", since the distinctive word in the Hebrew makes it clear that we are to bless His name. We may well ask how we can bless God. We answer with another question, How does He bless us? Well, He examines our situation and reacts accordingly: He reviews what we are and responds to what He finds. "Therefore", says the psalmist, "bless his name". Ransack the revelation of Himself that He has given and has encapsulated in His name. Explore it from one end to the other, and then let your heart and mind be drawn out in worship and commitment and every other way required by the fathomless nature of this eternal God. So will you bless His name.

What in particular do we find as we ransack His name? According to verse 5, we find out what God is in His very nature. We find that "the Lord is good; His mercy is for ever; and His faithfulness is for all generations". We look at Him as to what He is in Himself and we find that this Holy One is completely and utterly good. We look at Him in His unvarying attitude towards us, and we find that His steadfast love is everlasting. And we look at the ongoing experience of life and discover that His faithfulness, His reliability, just goes on, one generation after another, in the unvarying experience of His people.

We might have wondered if it were right to include this psalm in the Book of the Praises of the King, since there is no reference to kingship in Psalm 100. Although this is true, the psalm brings to fruition the call to worship which is [108/109] contained in Psalm 99. And, like Psalm 99, it makes the spotlight fall, not on the worshippers who come, but upon the God to whom they come. It focuses on the nature and activities of the Lord.

There is another reason why Psalm 100 belongs to the Book of Praises of the King, and that is that it is plainly linked with Psalm 95. There it says: "He is our God. We are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand" (Psalm 95:7). As we noted in our earlier study, that psalm belongs to Israel's closed circle of the people of God, the Exodus people. Between that psalm and Psalm 100 we have found the spreading gospel going out and affecting every land and nation, until a world-wide people become God's spiritual Zion. How significant, then, that this psalm returns to the same theme: "The Lord is God! It is he who made us and not we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture" (100:3). The statement about the Saviour God has broken out of its old confines; it is now the glad experience of the whole earth to contain a world-wide people who acknowledge this God, know His salvation and rest in His shepherding care.

So it is that Psalm 100 begins with the command that all the earth and all the lands shall shout to the Lord. This, surely, is the climax of His Kingship. In this way Psalm 100 brings the whole series to a climax, presenting us with the glorious scene of a world-wide people praising God and blessing His name.

THE psalmist speaks of his God as a "very present help." These words of the Lord Jesus suggest the same truth in an even more personal and intimate way. They have often been used in evangelism to invite troubled sinners to open their hearts to the Saviour, and have been blessed to the salvation of many who have responded in faith. They have also been made use of to stress the need for churches and their members to hand over the government of their affairs to the absolute lordship of Christ. This is a legitimate and helpful application of them. May I suggest, though, that the imagery and parables of the Bible were not so much meant to provide theological material as to illustrate and support divine truths stated elsewhere, and this is a case where we may miss the helpful comfort of Christ's words if we try to limit them to a strict doctrinal interpretation.

If the members of the seven churches argued that this promise was only for non-Christians, they might rightly thank the Lord for the "happy day" when they opened their hearts to the Saviour, and fail to appreciate that this was a meaningful message to them. All of them -- and especially some tried saints in Laodicea -- were being given a timely message from their ever-present Lord. It was as if the risen Saviour cried: "I am nearer than you think, more involved in your affairs than it may seem. Don't mull over your problems alone and eat the bread of affliction in solitude, but call Me in to share things With you. Behold! Wake up and take note of truth you may have lost sight of. I am not remote, even if I seem so, but I am here, at your very door. Far from being indifferent to your circumstances and needs, I am eager to be admitted to your innermost counsels. What you hear is no merely impersonal knocking but My own authentic voice. Listen! Admit Me! Let Me share your problems and do you share My provisions."

May it not be that this verse was not meant only for Laodicea but as the final thrust of Christ's call to all the churches? We should [109/110] realise that -- unlike other New Testament Letters -- these seven were not dispatched singly to their appropriate churches, but were included in one whole book which was addressed to each of the churches. In other words, every church heard its own special message in the setting of the letters addressed also to the other six. Certain phrases which appear in each letter were therefore repeated seven times to each listener. Seven times over they were reminded of the all-knowing Lord and seven times over were urged to listen carefully to His Spirit's message.

I hope that it may be helpful to consider some of the spiritual features which emerge from the general background of these seven letters in Revelation 2 and 3. The fact that these features were repeated seven times over to every listener in the churches stresses how great and important the truths were to them and are to us. They are not minor details of old historical churches but up-to-date matters. Just as it is a present reality that at every circumstance of our lives the Lord Jesus is right at the door, waiting for us to consult Him and seek His help, so these great spiritual truths call for the careful attention of us all. I propose to deal with them under four headings: A Great Privilege, a Great Purpose, a Great Victory and The Great Sufficiency.

1. A Great Privilege

"He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. "

Seven times over we find this common refrain. The very phrase provides a personal link with the Lord Jesus, for on at least five occasions He called for attention by the use of the words: "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear". The connection is a close one, for although in these letters men are called to listen to the Spirit, the speaker in each case is in fact the risen Lord Himself: "These things saith the Son of God ...".

When Jesus made His public utterances, He called for "ears", as any public speaker might do. In these letters, however, He asks for "an ear". The imagery passes from general hearing to a private and even intimate communication. We are asked to give a confidential hearing to the words of our Lord. Can any privilege be greater? For each church it is repeated seven times over. Who will not respond with eager readiness when the King of kings says to him: "A word in your ear, if you please"?

We note then that it is the privilege of every church member to be taken into the confidence of the risen Head of the church. Bible study and preaching are meant to be more than mental exercises; they should provide the opportunity for receiving apt and vital messages from Christ Himself. Those who would minister God's Word should always remember that their task is not just to instruct or entertain but to provide the Spirit's vital speaking into the ear of those who listen. A church is not worthy of the name unless it can truly be described as a place where those who wish to, may hear what the Spirit is now saying to them.

There was, of course, variety in the actual seven messages. Each church had its own history, problems and prospects, and each needed some distinctive and timely help. When the Spirit speaks, whether from the printed page or through the lips of a preacher, He always operates in this way, not merely dealing with generalities but applying eternal truths to present circumstances. And he always does it through the Bible. This last book of the New Testament came as an integral part of the Holy Scriptures, and finally closed their presentation of God's Word to man. So much so that the book begins and ends with a solemn warning against subtracting from or adding to it. If anyone does that, then we should close our ears to what he says, for it is the voice of man and not of Spirit. The Holy Spirit always speaks to us through the Word which He Himself inspired for that very purpose. In point of fact there are many references to the Old Testament in these seven messages, a point which demonstrates the unity of the Scriptures.

The question posed to us, though, is not just whether we give our mental assent to Bible truths, but whether we are sensitive enough and responsive enough to know what the Spirit of Christ wishes us to learn at this present moment in our experience, in our church and in our world. Seven times over we are reminded of the great privilege which is ours, namely to hear for ourselves the authentic voice of Christ. "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him". We can ignore the geographical or historical allusions, provided we use these letters to know what the Lord is saying to us just now and where we are.

2. A Great Purpose

A further feature of this speaking to the churches is that from seven different aspects we [110/111] are reminded of the eternal vocation of the church. These are found in the promises offered to those individuals in each church who are said to have "overcome". Certain theologians have been dogmatic about the fact that all believers will continue in grace to the end. They call this "The Final Perseverance of the Saints". I do not take exception to this truth, though I have no special liking for the phraseology. What is presented as the destiny of believers in these letters is rather different. It is more than their eternal security which is being considered and therefore seems to be relevant only to the victorious Christian -- "he that overcometh". What is in view, however, is not an extra to Christian vocation but the proper high calling of all those who are in Christ.

We have here seven aspects of this destiny; they do not point to special prizes for those who have excelled in holy living, but rather stress what the New Testament writers have already disclosed as the eternal purpose of God for the church. Nevertheless we are nowhere encouraged to take it for granted that all this will be automatically inherited, but are rather exhorted to prove the victorious power of the Spirit in daily living and so make this calling and election sure. There is a possibility of being saved and yet "saved so as through fire" (1 Corinthians 3:15) -- whatever that may mean!

May I repeat what I have already indicated, namely that the seven destinies here described are not differing blessings for different churches, but a composite view of the one eternal purpose of God for the believer. When we come to section 4 -- The Great Sufficiency -- we will have no difficulty in accepting the proposition that the churches were not being addressed by seven different Christs, but that each letter commenced with a different view of the one Christ. Each of the seven was given its own personal revelation of the Speaker. This same consideration applies to His promises. They are seven aspects of God's intention for His redeemed people.

Since these are described in some detail, it is doubtless profitable to study them as fully as possible. Parallels and enlargements of them can be found throughout the Word of God. In the present article, however, I propose only to deal with the first and the last, that is, the reference to the paradise of God (2:7) and to the throne of God (3:21). Both of these allusions are clearly referred to in many parts of Scripture; they represent the glorious purpose of God for man, seemingly lost by the Fall but marvellously recovered by redemption.

When God created the world, He had man in view, and when He Himself planted the paradise or park of Eden, His design was to draw the human race into loving and reigning relationship with Himself. Man was destined to be a partner or "partaker" in reigning sonship (Hebrews 3:14), to share His life and His throne. Far from being a crude evolutionary creature, slowly emerging from lower orders, Adam came straight from the hand of his Maker God, a most noble being, clothed with light and appointed to have dominion (Genesis 1:28). He was tested, and he failed to overcome. The sombre story of his failure is described in the Bible, and is also painfully evident in the whole of human history. God's plan for mankind had seemingly proved abortive.

God, however, can never be defeated. He provided a last Adam who triumphed under every test.

The recovery of God's eternal purpose for man was achieved by the redemptive work of Jesus, the Second Man; through Him it is yet to be realised in the church of the firstborn ones who, in Christ, form the one new man.

To Ephesus, the, the Lord Jesus gives the promise of Adam's forfeited destiny: "to him will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God". To Laodicea He offers the complementary prospect: "I will give him to sit down with me in my throne". This is the great purpose of God for redeemed sinners. The other five promises fit into this comprehensive outline of the church's destiny. The seven-fold reminder of the great things which God has prepared for them that love Him should surely inspire us to seek a much closer walk with our God. The Christ Who is at the door of the individual is also said to be at the door of the fulfilment of all things. We have no time to waste: "That which ye have, hold fast till I come" (2:25). [111/112]

We must open the door anew to our Lord, so that He can come in to nourish our souls with this holy and glorious prospect. Can we have been, like the church in Ephesus, so occupied with our orthodoxy and our Christian activities that we have been deaf to that gracious knocking? Can we have become so captivated by earthly success and possessions that, like the Laodiceans, we have not responded to His loving desire to share His spiritual riches with us? Well, He is still knocking. The opportunity of hearing more clearly what He longs to communicate to us is ours for the taking. If the Lord repeats a matter seven times over, then it must be very important.

3. A Great Victory

"He that overcometh ...". Seven times over we have a reference to this matter of overcoming. The immediate and correct inference is that the churches are involved in a conflict. There is a good fight to be fought, wherever you live and worship. Diverse as the churches may be, none of them can escape the challenge of powerful enemies and the downdrag of their own proneness to failure. Perhaps the most perfect church (in Smyrna) was in the fiercest fight of all.

The immediate question which all too often is posed, concerns the destiny of those who do not overcome. Speculation arises about their future, even though they are saved. Do they attain to God's full purpose? Do they forfeit the riches of the inheritance? This is not a question which I am competent to answer, nor is it one which ought to concern us. The Lord does not ask us to contemplate failure: He calls us to know victory. And in this last letter to Laodicea He reveals that close association with Him will ensure that victory.

He tells us that He also had to fight the good fight -- "as I also overcame". His place with the Father on the throne is not due only to His divine status, but to His triumphant faith. No step of His holy walk was unchallenged; no temptation which comes to us did not first assault Him. The Father relied on Him to overcome every obstacle and defeat every foe, and He did so. And now He calls us to follow in His steps. We, too, are not to rely only on our standing as potential heirs, but to live our faith in daily obedience. The Lord would never suggest our overcoming as He overcame, if it were not possible for even the weakest believer. He would not call for victory, unless His own grace could make that victory possible. Seven times, therefore, He told the churches that He expected each member to be an overcomer. The constant repetition of the phrase, "he that overcometh", impresses us with the greatness of the victory which can be ours.

The Spirit never suggested that membership of any special church made overcoming easier. He never admitted an excuse from believers who might be located in one of the unsatisfactory churches. On the contrary, His last great prospect of a place in His throne was extended to saints in that church which was most repugnant to Him -- in Laodicea. The Lord's repeated call should remind us that Satan cannot defeat us, the world cannot defeat us and the carnal church cannot defeat us. Only lack of faith can do that, for "faith is the victory that overcomes the world" (1 John 5:4). And how can faith be sustained and increased? Surely by heeding that knocking of His and opening the door to closer fellowship with Him. He alone is our sufficiency.

4. The Great Sufficiency

"These are the words of the First and the Last" (2:8); "These are the words of him who ... holds the key" (3:7); "These are the words of the Amen" (3:14). Here are three of the seven introductions to the letters. Each of the seven gives an inspiring glimpse of the all-sufficient Lord. The whole vision had already been given to John (1:13-18); it becomes ever larger and ever clearer as we move on in our reading, for the whole book is described as being the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Meanwhile, however, the truth must be divided up into seven different aspects, each one especially appropriate to the church which is being addressed. Such a description of the Lord forms the first of the features which are common to all seven letters. I have left this subject of the seven-fold presentation of Christ to my final section, but in fact it forms the opening introduction to each letter. First of all, before the churches heard of their present circumstances or future prospects, they were confronted with some significant features of the person and work of the Lord. We need to look at Him before ever we begin to look at ourselves or our circumstances; indeed we need to look at everything in the light of what He is and says.

God does not only work towards an end; He [112/113] also works from a beginning of fullness. Just as for us the Sabbath is the first day of the week, just as Pentecostal fullness characterised the beginning of the church's life and just as "first love" is the best love from which there should never be any departing, so Christ must be to us the First as well as the Last. We need to look afresh at Him before we begin to search our own hearts or consider our own needs.

Each church received and read all seven letters, so each had the advantage of the full seven-fold presentation of Christ. At the same time, though, each assembly had its attention drawn to some special attribute of the Saviour, which attribute was selected by Him personally and calculated to answer to the special circumstances and history.

There is an interpretation of these seven letters which makes them apply one after the other to various consecutive periods of the church's history, beginning with the sub-apostolic age of Ephesus and concluding with our own last days of Laodicean luke-warmness. This is attractive but not very convincing, not least because throughout the history of the church universal, anyone of the seven conditions could be found in different places at any time. There are certainly saints today who are passing through the same traumatic trials which beset those at Smyrna, and I hope that if the strictures on Laodicea do apply to some of our Western churches, there are many more in the world who measure up to the happier experiences of those in Philadelphia. Is it not better, therefore, to think of the seven churches as giving a full-orbed view of the whole church here on earth? And if so is it not a fact that while we all need a fresh vision of Christ, different circumstances call for different emphases on His person and work?

This is not to suppose that the Spirit wishes to limit our conceptions of the Lord. Far from it! The rest of the book is also "for the churches" (22:16). Immediately after the open door of 3:20 we find another door which stands wide open: "there was before me a door standing open in heaven" (4:1). If there is a logical connection between the two, it would seem to be that if we are prepared to open our door to the Lord, He is ready to open heaven's door to us. However much we may already know of Him, there is still very much more to be known. When John responded to the invitation to ascend and pass through that open door, he found that he was led from one breathtaking revelation of the Lord Jesus to another. The rest of the book shows us that all the seven churches -- and indeed all the churches then and now -- have a Lord whose glory is supreme and whose greatness is infinite.

The very realisation of Christ's fullness may make us reluctant to return and focus down on any one of the partial and individual cases of His Self-revelation to the various churches. Perhaps we will find it better just to reiterate that the Spirit will prepare us for each stage of our spiritual development and need by drawing attention to some feature of Christ which is timely and meaningful just then. It is helpful to notice that whenever the Spirit speaks to a church, His first and foremost stress is on the Person of Christ. This is in accord with the words of Jesus: "He will testify about me" (John 15:26); "He will bring glory to me by taking what is mine and making it known to you" (John 16:14). Let us not miss the special blessing offered to those who have an ear to hear what the Spirit is saying!

The wonder of Christ is that He is the answer to every need, whether of sinner or saint. He who stands knocking at the door is the One -- and the only One -- who can turn our defeat into victory. This seven-fold reminder of His nearness and sufficiency urges us to be sure and keep the door wide open to Him. As He says, His offer is open to "any man", in any church, at any time.

(There has been so much appreciation of the series "Chapter by Chapter Through Romans" that we are now glad to publish articles translated from Poul Madsen's Commentary on 2 Corinthians. The book itself is only obtainable in Danish.)

2 CORINTHIANS is the most personal and perhaps the most controversial of all Paul's letters. Nowhere else does he tell us so much about himself, which confirms his remark in 6:11: "Our mouth is open to you, Corinthians; our heart is wide". [113/114]

The letter does not contain a systematic setting forth of doctrine, as is the case in the Letter to the Romans, but nevertheless it contains sections which as to doctrine are fully on a par with that Roman epistle. It is striking that during a period of seemingly overwhelming trial, the apostle was not overwhelmed. Instead of that he regarded everything -- most of all his own situation -- in the light of eternity, and so was able to utilise people's sarcasms and personal attacks as a basis for enlarging on the essential truth of the gospel. The doctrinal sections carry so much more weight because they are obviously not mere paper-work but born out of the writer's experience of union with his Lord and Master in His cross and resurrection.

Since in this letter Paul plans to explain thoroughly what are the characteristics of a true apostle, he begins with the introduction: "Paul, an apostle by the will of God." This would seem to indicate that whereas in the first epistle he opened by saying that he was called by God to be an apostle (1 Corinthians 1:1), so emphasising the call itself (on the Damascus road), he is now dealing with the carrying out of that call in his apostleship. Both of these, the call and the work which was the result of the call, were due entirely to the will of God. He took the initiative, not only by sovereignly calling Paul, whom He had chosen from his birth, but also by leading him in all his work. The will of God was the basis of all the apostle's service from first to last.

The greeting is much briefer than that of the first letter, but in both places emphasis is placed on the fact that it is the church of God . At the same time it is obvious from the New Testament, and not least from this letter, that this does not mean that it is immune from dangers both from without and from within. Each church does indeed belong to God, but it bears responsibility under Him for its survival as His church.

We should notice that the apostle's thoughts about this church are categorical. The church in Corinth is the church of God. In his thought it is not part of the church of God or an expression of it, but it is simply "the church of God". It lacks nothing in comparison with the universal church; the only difference between them being that it has fewer members. The apostle seems to indicate that wherever the saints of the Lord gather to call upon the name of our Lord Jesus, worshipping and serving Him, they constitute the church of God in that place.

Verses 3 to 11 are devoted to praise and thanks to God. Most of the apostle's letters begin with thanksgiving, but here there is a deeper note than in any other letter. This is because Paul has been through an overwhelming trial which exceeded his strength and which gave him an experience which could best be compared with a resurrection from the dead.

From the first, the apostle sought to draw the attention of the Corinthians upwards to God, as if to draw them -- and us -- into participation in his own praise. He therefore describes God as "the Father of mercies". It is important for us to understand this word "mercy" in a Biblical and not merely human sense. The mercy of God must not be understood sentimentally, as if God yields to man's wishes and relinquishes His first will in deference to human weakness. When God shows mercy to a person or a nation, His compassion forwards His plan of salvation in the experience of those to whom He is merciful. He acts positively and brings to pass His will when He shows mercy. He does not let us off but He brings us through. That is how it worked out in Paul's case.

He also calls God, "the God of all comfort". This word must also be understood Biblically, for God's comfort is His active intervention in order to effect His saving purpose. In Isaiah, the comfort of God consists in His restoring of His people who, without that comfort, would have perished. So with the apostle; without the comfort of God he would have succumbed and perished in his overwhelming affliction.

The apostle's deep experiences of affliction and comfort enabled him to comfort others. As he enlarges on this, he emphasises that his ability to comfort others was not because he was a great personality but because he himself had first proved God's help in a situation where all human hope was lost. He applies to his afflictions the strange description of "the sufferings of Christ", so lifting the whole idea of suffering far above what is accidental and meaningless. Such sufferings, like those which Christ Himself endured, are purposed by God, even when they are [114/115] inflicted by the powers of darkness and through blinded and cruel people. They are afflictions for Christ's sake because the sufferer is one with Him in them.

Paul says that his sufferings "abounded", but he assures us also that he also received comfort which abounded. In Danish the expression in each case is "in rich measure" and it is exactly the same as is used to describe the grace which is made to "abound" to every believer (9:8). It is as though he said, "Grace abounding involves abounding sufferings, but it also brings abounding comfort". For the believer God appoints everything in rich measure. It is typical of him that before he enlarges upon the afflictions which caused him to be "utterly unbearably crushed" (v.8), he is careful to assure us that he is in the good of abounding comfort through grace.

What is more, Paul asserts that such sufferings and such comfort are part of our ministry of helpfulness to others. Until Christ comes again, suffering and comfort, death and resurrection, characterise God's dealings with His people. An apostle is the embodiment of such a process, but the rest of the saints cannot evade it. The Corinthians are reminded that they have a share both in the afflictions and the comfort, and that is to be true of us all, and we, in our turn, fulfil our ministry in this way. Paul's sufferings, as well as the comfort he experienced, were a source of inspiration to the Corinthians, enabling them also to hold on in their life of faith and witness. Who dares to say what would have happened to them, if he had not held on in spiritual triumph!

With this in mind, the apostle proceeds to give them some insight into what he had been through (vv.8-9). His desire that they should not be ignorant came from the realisation that the whole matter was of great significance, this principle of being delivered from all self-confidence in order to have a purity of faith in God alone. In Asia he was utterly unbearably crushed. We do not know what the trouble was except that there was no human hope that he could be saved. He himself had come to the conclusion that he was about to die; he had received and accepted the sentence of death. When a person comes to such a pass, every natural hope expires. This was precisely what happened to Paul, and he emphasises that he had this experience in order to make him give up any remnant of self-confidence there might be in him or any expectation of help from men, and rely only on God who raises (present tense) the dead. As C. K. Barrett says: "Resurrection is not one possibility among others; where resurrection takes place it is God and God alone who is in action." To raise up and give life to the dead is as good as creating something out of nothing. It is God's prerogative, lying entirely beyond the province of any contributory factor.

Paul stresses that he did not so rely on God in vain: "He delivered us ...". Every human hope had been extinguished and every natural possibility of surviving excluded, but God intervened and raised him up again. This assured the apostle that God would continue to deliver His own in the same way. This does not necessarily mean that He will deliver them from death or martyrdom every time, but it does mean that in every circumstance He will deliver them from all evil and preserve them for His heavenly kingdom (2 Timothy 4:18).

Such severe tests of faith call for prayer co-operation from fellow believers: "You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us in answer to many prayers" (vv.10-11). The critical deadly peril in which the apostle had been, carried with it the risk that, as his self-confidence was broken, instead of confidence in God he might give way to unbelieving despair. His trial was really a trial of faith. The decisive factor in any such trial is not the outward course of what happens (whether he lives or dies) but whether faith stands the test or breaks down in offended unbelief. As therefore Paul declares that he has set his hope on God that he will know further deliverances, he appeals for prayer help from his Corinthian brothers. If he were to maintain such an active faith, he needed the help of their intercessions. In this way they would be together in the fight of faith and consequently share together the joy of praising and thanking God, which is the end product of every experience of testing and divine deliverance. Such praise would be rendered for the "blessing" granted to him. The blessing (Gk. charisma) which Paul sought, included both the sufferings of Christ and the comfort of Christ, which had already been granted to him in abundance and which he looked forward to as he moved forward in the will of God.

IT seems clear from the time indications in 6:3 and 9:1 that the prayer described in chapter 9 preceded and provoked the events here described in chapter 6. However since chapter 6 continues to give an account of affairs in the Babylonian capital's public business, it would be vain to expect to find in it any use of the thrice-holy personal name of Israel's covenant God. The earlier chapter (9) describes Daniel's private heart exercise; it makes use of the Hebrew language again and takes us into the heavenly atmosphere of God's audience chamber.

For this reason we are not surprised to be introduced to the supreme and highly personal name of JEHOVAH, which appears no less than seven times in the course of Daniel's intercessory prayer. The correct name is YAHWEH, the great I AM (Exodus 6:2). In the Bible it is usually rendered in full capitals -- LORD -- while transcriptions, influenced by Hebrew vowel pointings, have accustomed us to the more familiar rendering, Jehovah. This is the form which I propose to use now. While Yahweh is more correct, Jehovah is more readily identified by most of us.

Chapter 9 opens with the information that Daniel's study of his Bible revealed the fact that the time was very near for Israel's return from captivity. Through the ministry of Jeremiah, Jehovah had pledged His word that there would be an end to Jerusalem's desolations, and had indicated when that would be (9:2). This drove Daniel to earnest prayer. To natural logic it must seem foolish to pray intensely for an event which had been already decreed by God. To the spiritual mind, however, this is a most reasonable thing to do. It is He who has chosen to link His operation with the requests of His servants, and true prayer must be based on His Word. As a true intercessor, Daniel sought to co-operate with God by his prayers, not trying to induce God to make new plans, but rather to fulfil what He has promised, asking "according to His will" (1 John 5:14). The person who prays does not allow himself to be confused by questions as to why an omnipotent God should seek prayer as a basis for His working, but he knows that it is so. It was just because Daniel read and believed Jeremiah's prophecies that he got to grips with the matter in humble but earnest prayer.

It is most important to read chapter 9 before coming to the open window of chapter 6. The whole prayer is most moving. Daniel prayed not as an important personage, not even as a consecrated saint, but as an undeserving sinner. He had begun in that way when he urged his companions to seek God on the basis of mercy (2:18), and he was now careful not to depart from that ground himself, though many years of faithful service and bold witness had elapsed since those first simple prayers. "To the Lord our God belong mercies", "we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies" (vv.9 & 18); this was how Daniel prayed, urging that for His own name's sake God should do this seemingly impossible work of restoring Israel. "O Lord hear; O Lord forgive; O Lord hearken and do; defer not; for thine own sake, O my God, because thy city and thy people are called by thy name" (v.19). We notice in this prayer that there are not only seven mentions of the great name, Jehovah, but also many appeals to God as Sovereign Lord, a title which is found nowhere else in the book after 1:2. Unless our God is absolute Lord of all, what is the use of our asking Him to do impossible things? Because Daniel did know Him as Sovereign Lord, he prayed. His prayer, as recorded in chapter 9, is one of the outstanding prayers of the Bible. It produced startling results, as this kind of prayer is bound to do. God intervened with a message to His praying servant, and He did so at the most significant hour of the evening oblation (v.21). New Testament readers know that this was the hour of Calvary's shout of victory, and remember that the cross provides a basis for all our prayers.

Daniel was given assurances that Jerusalem would be rebuilt, though with the added [116/117] information that it would be "even in troublous times" (v.25). Many years later, when Nehemiah read this Scripture, he might well have added his own commentary, "Yes, and you can say that again." He had to live and work through those times and knew only too well how troublous they were. What a thrill for him, though, as the work of restoration went on, to know that what he was engaged in was the fruit of another man's prevailing prayer. Prayer has a kind of chain-reaction. Daniel was supported by Jeremiah's prayers. Ezra and Nehemiah were encouraged by reason of Daniel's prayers. So it goes on. When the final day of fulfilment comes for God's eternal city and His redeemed people, it will be acknowledged that an important part has been played by the prayers of believers (Revelation 8:3). We know, of course, that all human prayers are only made acceptable by the incense of the holy ministry of intercession of our Ascended Lord Jesus. It is in His name that we pray: "Thy kingdom come".

That final day of fulfilment was referred to by God in His answer to Daniel. That answer went far beyond the immediate miracle of the restoration of ruined Jerusalem, pointing on to the end of the age when vision and prophecy will be fully consummated (v.24). It is not without significance that in doing so, God mentioned that there will be wars right up to that end (v.26). No doubt that applies to international affairs -- as we see in our day -- but it refers most especially to the praying people of God. The soldiers of the cross will have no respite from conflict until Jesus returns. Those who pray in the Spirit will inevitably find themselves engaged in a grim warfare. Daniel certainly did, as we will see if we move back to Chapter 6. So far as Chapter 9 is concerned, it is not my intention here to comment on the fulfilled or still unfulfilled prophecies of the "seventy weeks" referred to, but rather to enquire what was the immediate effect of Daniel's prayer. Following the time pattern, we return to Chapter 6, and there we find what devilish opposition was aroused by this one man's prayers. We have no reason to believe that much time elapsed between the two chapters and are impressed with the close link between the prayer chamber of Chapter 9 and the lion's den of Chapter 6. One contrite sinner prayer and a whole storm of satanic opposition broke over him.

Chapter 6 opens with the information that Daniel had made such a favourable impression during the first year of the reign of Darius, that the emperor devised a power structure in the kingdom which was to give Daniel the highest post. As we may well imagine in such a court, the other officials were envious of him, so there arose one of those political plots with which we are familiar today and Daniel's enemies combined to discredit him. The attack was made possible because there had been a deterioration in the kingdom, as illustrated by the metals forming the image of Chapter 2. No longer was there a head of gold. If Nebuchadnezzar had signed such a decree and then regretted it, he would have had no scruples about rescinding it and might possibly have proceeded to liquidate the men who had drafted it. Not so with Darius! He was ruler of the silver kingdom in which the laws of the Medes and Persians were so binding that even the monarch who signed them became their slave. Darius was duped by flattery, as many better men than he have been during history; when it was too late he found, to his great distress, that he was forced to administer his own decree. The whole thing was a trick.

But although human elements of jealousy and ambition were the more obvious factors in this confrontation situation, these were only the outworking of spiritual activities -- as such evils often are. It was Satan who was jealous and ambitious. And Daniel had become a threat to his evil plans. The hidden truth behind the obvious was that Hell was being badly shaken by this one man's prayers. God's will was moving triumphantly forward, and all because three times a day Daniel was on his knees. So the command came from Satan's headquarters that at all costs this prayer must be stopped. No doubt the satraps and presidents thought they were very cunning, but what are evil men but the foolish instruments of diabolical craft and spite against God?

In any case, an attempt was to be made to destroy Daniel by denouncing him to the king. It was easy enough for Satan to foment jealousy among political colleagues, but it was not so easy -- in fact it was impossible -- to discover any offence or shortcoming in Daniel's public life which could be used to provide some sort of basis for their calumnies. They searched hard, but they could discover no grounds for complaint [117/118] anywhere: "They could find none occasion nor fault; foreasmuch as he was faithful, neither was any error or fault found in him" (v.4).

This is how it should always be. Daniel served in an alien and a very corrupt court, but he was just as faithful there as if he had been in the forefront of holy temple service in Jerusalem. God's man is never excused from loyal devotion by reason of the unworthiness of his masters: he must do everything as to God Himself. "Whatsoever you do, work heartily, as unto the Lord and not unto men; knowing that from the Lord you shall receive the recompense of the inheritance: you serve the Lord Christ" (Colossians 3:23-24). Although Daniel lived in Old Testament times he lived by New Testament standards. How much stronger would be the testimony of the Church in our day if God's people carried this principle into their daily work. We notice, of course, that this did not prevent Daniel from being attacked, but we must observe that it did mean that God was on his side when he was under attack.

His opponents came to the conclusion that the only way of destroying Daniel was to entrap him by a subterfuge connected with his well-known faith in God. They therefore persuaded Darius to accept the foolish decree which he regretted as soon as he had signed it. It was too late, however, for him to rescind it. He spent the whole day in a vain effort to alter its application to his favoured servant, but he was a prisoner to his own law. It was a bad day for him and there was no remedy. The night was even worse, for his trusted servant had been thrown to the lions. God did not help Darius. He did not seem to be able to help Daniel. With hindsight we approve of Daniel's quiet faith, but we must remember that he no more knew about his immediate future than we know about ours when troubles confront us.

In a few phrases we are told about Daniel's reaction to the crisis which so troubled the emperor. In full knowledge of the inevitable consequences, he entered his room which was open to public view and there knelt as he was accustomed to do. He had the window opened towards Jerusalem before him, and he continued his normal custom of facing that window as he prayed to God. For him there was no crisis -- it was just another day with God. He could have gone into another room; he could have closed the window; he could have prayed without kneeling. It was his own private house and he was a man of such standing that no-one could have intruded to spy upon him if he had made any attempt to hide his activities. He could have stopped praying for the time being -- it was only for a month! These are the kind of temptations which come to any Christian, but had Daniel yielded to any of them, he would have been spared the lion's den but he would have lost his power with God and provided Satan with a victory. If we suspend praying for a month, the probability is that we will never take it up again. Those who absent themselves voluntarily from the Prayer Meeting for four weeks will probably find it very hard to resume their place among the Lord's intercessors.

It may well be that Daniel hardly thought of such behaviour. He does not even seem to have offered any special request for self-preservation but rather to have gone quietly on his way with God. When he knew that the writing was signed, he prayed and gave thanks before his God, "as he did aforetime" (v.10). His reaction was simply to give thanks to Jehovah and to pray on, with a holy contempt for his enemies: "In nothing affrighted by the adversaries; which is for them an evident token of perdition, but of your salvation, and that from God; because to you it hath been granted not only to believe on him, but also to suffer in his behalf" (Philippians 1:28-29). Once again we marvel at such New Testament behaviour from an Old Testament saint.

Why was the window opened toward Jerusalem? The temple was no longer there -- it was all in ruins. It was not that he prayed to Jerusalem, he prayed to Jehovah his God, but he did pray about Jerusalem. This was the clear and definite objective of his praying. His was not a general prayer -- "God bless me and my friends" -- but a focused appeal to his covenant God on behalf of the people and city of His divine purpose. It was a matter of faith that the windows should be opened in that direction. The distance was so great that he could not see anything, and in fact there was nothing to be seen but shameful ruins, but he had the eye of faith. Without it there is not much point in praying.

In the matter of "thanksgiving" (v.10), we seem to detect a new element in Daniel's praying, [118/119] for although the prayer of Chapter 9 is extensive and very moving, it is limited to confessions and appeals. Why should he start giving thanks now, and what was there to be thankful about? Well, in the first place he could give thanks for answered prayer. He was no longer battling in prayer over Jerusalem. He had done that, and he had won through and received a full assurance from God that his prayer had been heard and would be answered. His clear course, therefore, was to do what we are told to do, "to watch in the same with thanksgiving" (Colossians 4:2). So he was able to thank the faithful Jehovah that his prayer for the restoration of Jerusalem had been favourably received. He knew that nothing and nobody could prevent that prayer being answered. Even if he himself were devoured by lions, God would see to it that Jerusalem was restored. How much better to die with thanksgiving that one's prayers live on, than to live on oneself and allow one's prayer life to die!

In addition, however, Daniel was able to praise Jehovah because he knew himself to be so enveloped in covenant mercy that nothing could happen to him outside of the will of God. Daniel was an old man. His life already had had most satisfying fulfilment. If the issue of the captivity was now decided and his part in it completed, a rest remained for him (12:13) and he could go to it with a song. How better can a man die? If, on the other hand, God wanted him to see and even have a part in that deliverance from captivity, then no power could stop that happening -- lions or no lions. Darius might well spend a sleepless and cheerless night of worry. Poor man, he did not know Jehovah! He was outside of the covenant, so he was bound to worry. Daniel, however, did know Jehovah and found that such knowledge gave him peace of heart, even as he faced the grimmest of prospects. We know that he had read Jeremiah but no doubt he had read Isaiah's prophecies too, and was familiar with the words: "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee ... Trust ye in Jehovah for ever ..." (Isaiah 26:3-4).

His behaviour in the prayer chamber gave no hint of emergency but rather the opposite -- "as he did aforetime". The servants of God can so easily give way to unrest if they imagine that everything depends upon them. It is possible to persuade ourselves that we are thinking only of the Lord's interests, while in fact there lurks somewhere in our sub-conscious mind the feeling that the purpose of God can only be realised if we have a part in it. Old people are more prone than others to this kind of anxiety. Daniel was an old man, yet he was free from all fretfulness. He believed that Jehovah was pledged to recover and restore His people. In a sense it did not matter what happened to him, for he had done his part in prayer. He had no special wish to die, especially in such a violent way, but he knew that even if he were eaten by hungry lions, that would make no difference at all to the outcome. Prayer had been made. The answer had been promised. Daniel could therefore accept any personal calamity with complete calm. So he kept on praising. In any case he knew that the lion's den would not be the end for him, since "at the end of the days" he would stand in his lot (12:13).

His was a directed prayer: he prayed before the opened windows. Had he prayed with the four walls of Babylon as his outlook, there would have been nothing but gloom, for the empire was as strong as ever. Had he prayed towards a mirror he would have found plenty to worry about, as we all find when our prayers become introspective and centred on ourselves. No, his prayer was outgoing towards the purpose of the heart of His God. He could not see Jerusalem, but his windows were opened in that direction because his faith gave substance to his hope. On this day of crisis in the kingdom, therefore, and in the face of the inevitability of the cruel decree, Daniel quietly carried on with his ministry of praise and prayer.

The third prayer, the evening one, was his last -- or so it seemed. The plotters had pressed their case and the king found himself obliged to honour his own signature. When the sun went down, he had found no way out of his predicament and so had no other alternative than to hand Daniel over to the lions. It is striking to observe his genuine affection for Daniel, but rather pathetic to hear his feeble suggestion that perhaps Daniel's God could do a bit better than he: "Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee" (v.16). Although he spoke the words, the idea gave him no comfort, and he spent a miserable night nursing his doubts. Dawn came at last, as it always does, [119/120] and he seized the very first opportunity of morning light to hurry down to the animals' lair, enquiring with what is called "a lamentable voice", if by any chance Daniel had survived. He certainly had! The signed decree had proved futile, for faith had once more given the victory.

How quickly the tables were turned! Daniel was restored to liberty unharmed, while his accusers were themselves cast to the lions. God is not mocked! When Pharaoh drowned the Hebrew babies, he himself died by drowning. When Haman built a gallows for Mordecai, he himself was hanged on those same gallows. The city of God was burned by the Babylonian invaders, and it is prophesied that Babylon herself will be destroyed by fire (Revelation 17:16). So Daniel's accusers were thrown to the lions through whom they had plotted to destroy him. To our ideas it may seem unspiritual to record this feature of the story, but at least it shows that these were no phoney lions. Daniel's survival was a miracle.

It does not need much imagination to suggest that the first thing which Daniel did when he arrived home was to go into that special room whose windows were opened towards Jerusalem and kneel afresh to pray and give thanks before his God "as he did aforetime". No doubt he did not look as neat as usual -- he had slept rough. No doubt that there was special thanksgiving this time -- he had proved God in a new way. But prayer went on. In fact it had never stopped, for Daniel's last prayer of the previous evening was followed by this first prayer of a new day. For all we know, there was probably some extra prayer and praise as he rested there among the lions. Daniel was "more than conqueror". Satan cannot prevent prayer. He cannot hinder God from answering prayer. But we, alas, can so easily stop praying. That is precisely what Daniel did not do.

In the previous chapters we have been encouraged by some of the wonderful titles and names of God -- The King of Heaven, The Most High God, etc. In a sense this Self-revealed name of Jehovah is the greatest of them all. It stands in a class by itself. This personal name would never have been known if He Himself had not disclosed it. We are privileged to have an even greater understanding of Him, for we have come to know the "I AM" in the Person of the Lord Jesus Himself. We can and we must pray in His name. Our New Testament shows us that He has a people and is building a city which is to be for His eternal satisfaction and glory. That is the "Jerusalem" towards which the Christian prayer-chamber windows are opened, and that should be the inclusive objective of all our lesser and more detailed prayers. It may be that our praying in the Spirit will provoke fierce opposition, as it did in Daniel's day. He ignored the opposition, and got on with the job. Should we not follow his example?

IN the first article of this series I pointed out that the parenthetical section in double brackets could be altogether omitted without in any way affecting the smooth sequence of the main statement. I also made the point, though, that the brief sentence of parenthesis had a spiritual significance and provided some extra helpfulness. In the case of our present Scripture, this latter point is far from obvious. Clearly the parenthesis could be omitted. Why, then, did Paul insert it and -- what is more important -- why did the inspiring Spirit include it in Holy Writ?

SO far as the apostle is concerned, we may well conclude that he had a swift flash-back from the ultimate glories of which he was writing to the beginning of it so far as the Thessalonians were concerned. As he explained to them the amazing prospect of Christ's glory in the Church, he could rightly praise God that the Thessalonians would be included in that glory as a direct result of his own faithful testimony among them. This would make him feel humbly grateful.

HE could praise God for His sovereign overruling, for humanly speaking the apostolic group only went to Thessalonica because they were thrown out of Philippi. He could marvel at the miracle of first faith, as every person does whom God allows to have a part in the conversion of another. It appears from Luke's account that the stay in Thessalonica was quite a brief one (Acts 17:2), so Paul would doubtless rejoice that in such a short time there could begin in men's hearts a good work which God would carry on into completion until the day of Jesus Christ. For Paul, then, the parenthesis might represent a moment of grateful recollection.

BUT what did it mean for the Thessalonians? And what does it mean for us who now read? Perhaps the apostle felt that there could be spiritual value in the Thessalonians looking back to their beginning. In Acts 17 three things are suggested in their case. Firstly, their conversion turned their world upside down (v.6). Secondly, it clearly introduced the new factor of the supreme Kingship of Jesus Christ (v.7). Finally, it gave them the new status and responsibilities of being brethren to one another and to all of God's people (v.10). It was, then, no small matter for them to have begun to believe.

THE same, surely, is true in our case. The first step of faith which we took committed us to a life of faith which God plans to consummate when His Son will come "to be glorified in his saints, and to be marvelled at in all them that believed in that day" (2 Thessalonians 1:10). Like the parenthesis, we fit right into the middle of that sentence, for we too have believed.