Wycliffe College - Cap and Gown Yearbook (Toronto, Ontario Canada)

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A Matter of Time Michael Li, M. Div. II Very often you will hear this kind of re- mark concerning a grave sickness of a person. All hope of his recovery has been abandoned. lt is only a matter of time. Only a matter of time! It is always only a matter of time . We are born to die. Some people think it melancholy to re- member that fact and positively morbid to mention it. They may regard death as the worst thing that could happen and fear to look it square in the face. The fear of death is composite. Some people fear the prospect of pain. Some people with much on their con- science fear the prospect of judgment. Some fear most the pain of parting with their dear ones and with all that is sweet in this world. With others, it is sheer fear of the unknown. It is normal for a person away from God to have fear. The abnormal ones are those who are lost and couldn't care less. lf there is a hell to avoid, there will be a heaven to gain. We should be careful to avoid the one and gain the other. If we are unprepared for eternity we should be scared to death. People often corne to God because they have fear of death. Fear is not a bad thing. lt is nature's built-in mechanism for our safety. For instance, fear of fire keeps you from getting burnt. Fear of height may keep you from being careless when in high places. Fear of an accident makes you drive carefully. Faith in God is a cure for the fears that are negative and paralyze us. An interesting feature of New Testament teaching on death is that the emphasis is on life. Death, the negation of life, is the devil's proper sphere. But Christ came to put an end to death. lt was through death that He defeat- ed Satan fHebrews 2:14l. lt was through death that He put away our sin. ln that he died, he died unto sin once flflomans 6:1Ol. He died that men may live. The extent of the victory over death that Christ won is indicated by His resurrection Christ being raised from the dead dieth no morepdeath hath no more dominion over him' fRomans 6:91. His victory over death is com- plete. And His victory is made available to His people. The believer has already passed out of death and into life fJohn 5:24l. Jesus said, lf a man keep my saying, he shall never see death Uohn 8:51l. The believer will in due course pass through the gateway we call death. The death of a Christian means going home . Bishop Westcott once said, Death is not an interruption of being, but a change in the mode of being. ln the perfect joy of heaven, we will wonder why we clung so tightly to earth. t Then shall I end my sad complaints, And weary sinful days, And join with the trimphant saints That sing Jehovah's praise. lVly knowledge of that life is small, The eye of faith is dim, But 'tis enough that Christ knows all, And l shall be with Him. flilichard Baxter H615-1691l

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Me Hope of the Jews: The Prophet like llnfo Moses ln the NT John the Baptist was question- ed whether he was the prophet Un. 1.21j. At the feeding of the Five Thousand the people exclaimed of Jesus that he was surely the prophet that cometh into the world Un. 6.14 comp. 7.4OJ. And in the early Christ- ian preaching the prophet was identified as Jesus fActs 3.22j. Who then was the prophet the Jewish people were expecting? What traits identified him as Jesus? If you turn to nearly any modern com- mentary on Deut. 18.15-19 you will see the words of lVloses: the LORD . . .will raise up unto thee a prophet . . . like unto me inter- preted as a line of prophets in Israel's history. Why is it that modern commentators see a line of prophets where the ancient Jews saw a single prophet? Let us examine the modern view. The context of Dt. 18.15 discusses the ancient practice of seeking supernatural guid- ance through sorcery, divination, necromancy, etc. fDt. 18.10-111: what we today call the occult. lsrael too desired divine guidance. But God informed them it was not to come through those means but through His provision of divinely appointed prophets. But instead of saying a line of prophets He merely said prophet as signifying that line. Now, there are four major flaws in this argument. But basic to them all is that such an interpretation fails to take the written words at face value and does not understand them as they were spoken. The words are interpreted from the perspective of Israel's history. In other words Israel's prophetic order is read back into them. First, divine guidance was provided for Israel in the Urim and Thummim: fapparentlyt two flat stones which were cast as lots fof Prov. 16.331, and recorded either two negative Urim or two positive Thummim. One negative and one positive meant that the LORD gave no answer fl Sam. 28.6j. Secondly, prophets are not recorded as part of Israelite life until many years after lVloses's death. Until Samuel, a few centuries later, only two people are named prophets: one a woman, Deborah fJud. 4.41 and the other an unnamed man lJud. 6.8L This goes to show that the apparent importance of the prophetic order seen in connection with Dt. 18.15 is not at all the impression sub- sequent Hebrew history conveys. Thirdly, if a line of prophets had been meant, the plural could easily have been em- ployed. It has been argued that the prophet in Dt. 18.15 is spoken of in the same manner as the king in Dt. 17.14. There we read, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations. The king, it is argued, really represents a line of kings. But if one examines this context it be- comes apparent that an-once-and-for-all choos- ing ofa single king is here intended. lt looks forward to a crisis in lsrael's history when she will have to decide which man to choose. The fourth point is that Dt. 34.10 echoes Dt. 18 in stating that there hath not arisen a prophet since in Israel like unto lVloses. The Israelites recognized that the prophet of Dt. 18 had not as yet arisen. What then were the prophet's character- istics? He was to be like unto lVloses. Moses wasthe great Lawgiver and Teacher fDt. 4.14l, the father of a new nation, the people's inter- cessor fDt. 9.25-265 who even U1 died because of them QDt. 4.21-22 comp1.37D. Prznters and Stationers since 1880 177 FRONT STREET EAST TORONTO 229 CANADA 363 7061 Cllezooerr NEWSOME AND GILBERT. LIMITED