July 24 Thursday I fear lest by any means, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craft, so your thoughts should be corrupted from simplicity as to the Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:3 JND) The Church of God has an unsleeping foe. In the very earliest moments of its history his attacks began, first by persecution from without, then, and more successfully, by seduction and corruption from within. We may be very thankful that God permitted Satan’s power to be so early manifested in this direction, for as a consequence we have unfolded in the epistles of the New Testament the divinely-given antidote to his devices, and the divine method of dealing with them. It is a remarkable fact that both the apostles Paul and John were taken up by the Spirit of God as vehicles of His testimony to seven assemblies. John writes to the seven assemblies in Revelation 2 and 3; Paul addresses letters to seven assemblies: Rome, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Colosse, Philippi and Thessalonica. It is an even more remarkable fact that in each case five out of the seven assemblies had to be dealt with in correction. The epistles to Smyrna and Philadelphia alone, in Revelation are not marked by reproof and correction. The epistles of Paul to the Romans and Ephesians alone are occupied with exposition of the truth followed by exhortations based upon it. The epistles addressed to the five other churches clearly had correction in view though much truth is unfolded in them. The love of the apostle Paul for the Corinthians, these children of his in the faith, is very beautiful. There was much excuse for their ignorant condition. The ignorance that marks us today is less excusable for the written revelation of God is complete. What is wrong with us? Is it that we have no real interest in the things of God? We certainly have the remedy in our hand in the written Word of God. Let it be studied in dependence upon the Spirit of God, and a cure will be found. F.B.Hole
Posted on: Thu, 24 Jul 2014 10:12:55 +0000
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