G. H. Pember Quotes
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But it is interesting to notice that, while the soul is the meeting-point of the elements of our being in this present life, the spirit will be the ruling power in our resurrection state. For the first man Adam was made a living soul, but the last Adam a quickening Spirit;[151] and that which is sown a psychic body is raised a spiritual body.
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Irruption of fallen angels into the world of men. Then a new and startling event burst upon the world, and fearfully accelerated the already rapid progress of evil. “The sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.”[264] These words are often explained to signify nothing more than the intermarriage of the descendants of Cain and Seth; but a careful examination of the passage will elicit a far deeper meaning. When men, we are told, began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, the sons of God saw the daughters of men.[265] Now by “men” in each case the whole human race is evidently signified, the descendants of Cain and Seth alike. Hence the “sons of God” are plainly distinguished from the generation of Adam. The “sons of God” are angelic beings. Again; the expression “sons of God” (Elohim) occurs but four times in other parts of the Old Testament, and is in each of these cases indisputably used of angelic beings. Twice in the beginning of the Book of Job we read of the sons of God presenting themselves before Him at stated times, and Satan also comes with them as being himself a son of God, though a fallen and rebellious one.[266] For the term sons of Elohim, the mighty Creator, seems to be confined to those who were directly created by the Divine hand, and not born of other beings of their own order. Hence, in Luke’s genealogy of our Lord, Adam is called a son of God.[267] And so also Christ is said to give to them that receive Him power to become the sons of God.[268] For these are born again of the Spirit of God as to their inner man even in the present life. And at the resurrection they will be clothed with a spiritual body, a building of God;[269] so that they will then be in every respect equal to the angels, being altogether a new creation.
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The foundations of the world are shaking: but the Lord knoweth them that are His, and He shall deliver them from every evil work, and preserve them unto His heavenly Kingdom.
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However it happened, she at any rate suffered herself to be allured to the fatal spot, and so gave opportunity to the Devil. For we should keep as far as possible from that which is prohibited, nor ever tempt God by unnecessarily approaching it, either through curiosity or any other impelling cause. Had Eve avoided the vicinity of the tree, she could never have cast upon it that look which ruined herself and the world.
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Again; in the tenth chapter of Deuteronomy we have the expression, “For Jehovah your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords.”[318] And numerous are the Scriptural assertions that Jehovah is highly exalted above all gods, to be feared above all gods, and so on. If, then. He executed judgment upon the gods of Egypt, they must have been living beings: if He is contrasted with other gods, they must be real existences.
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For when one has set his heart upon an idea—which is, perhaps, nothing but the creation of his own fancy, as unsubstantial as the castle of a dream—his powers are thenceforth used for the single purpose of making the picture of his imagination stand out as vividly and as like reality as possible.
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Four are the highest in creation: the lion among the beasts, the ox among cattle, the eagle among the fowls, and man above these; but God is the highest of all.
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In Isaiah’s description of the downfall of Babylon, the city so famed for its astrologers, we find mention of Hobhre Shamayim,[344] that is, dividers of the heavens, astrologers who divide the heavens into houses for the convenience of their prognostications. The same persons are then described as Chozim bakkokhabhim, star-gazers, those who study the stars for the purpose of taking horoscopes.
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First, then, the Lord began His final work by casting Adam into a deep sleep. And so did the second Adam lie three days in the sleep of death before the creation of His bride could be commenced. While the first Adam slept, God opened his side and took out the rib wherewith He made the woman. So while the second Adam slept in death upon the cross, a soldier pierced His side, so that there came forth blood and water; and by means of that blood, without the shedding of which there could never have been remission of sins, the Church is now in process of formation. Thou “didst purchase unto God by Thy blood men of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation,”[158] is the cry of the elders when the time has at length come to sing the new song.
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Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.”[245] Now in the Hebrew, not the present, but the future of the verb “to be” is used; and from the future the name Jehovah is derived. But the Hebrew future has a peculiar signification: it is often used to express a permanent state, that which exists and always will exist. Hence the words rendered “I AM THAT I AM” might be more intelligently translated “I EVER SHALL BE THAT WHICH I AM.” And thus “Jehovah” signifies the immutable God, the Same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.
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While we are committing sin we may, perhaps, succeed in putting away all thought of God, and persuade ourselves that, because we have forgotten Him, therefore He neither sees nor regards us. But when He comes forth for judgment this delusion is no longer possible: there is no escape: there may not even be delay: we must, however unprepared, meet Him face to face.
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For not the revelation of God, but the expounders of that revelation, are responsible for the diversities of Christendom: the fault rests with the fallen and corrupt nature of man, which so affects him that he cannot clearly discern truth even when it is set before his eyes.
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We next read;—“The rib which the Lord God had taken from man made He a woman.” But the last words are by no means an adequate rendering of the original, which should be translated “builded He into a woman.” And there is a remarkable coincidence in the use of such a term, and the frequent application of the words “build “ and “edify” to the Church in the New Testament.
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Bewildered by their altered condition they immediately tried to supply the lost covering artificially, even as their descendants have ever since been doing. For every living creature, whether of earth, air, or sea, has its own proper covering, not put on from without, but developed naturally from within; man alone is destitute and compelled to have recourse to artificial aids, because through sin he has lost his natural power of shedding forth a most glorious raiment of light. And hence we may see why our Lord preferred the robe of the humble lily to all the magnificence of Solomon.[183] For the splendid array of the Israelitish king was foreign, and put on from without; whereas the beauty of the lily is developed from within, and is the simple result of its natural growth.
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But as it is to the dust that we go down at death, so it is from the dust that we arise at the resurrection.
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The idea, therefore, to be conveyed is, that the Church resembles an army, the soldiers of which have already received orders to prepare for marching, have already been bidden to fall into rank, and to stand with girded loins and attentive ears ready to move simultaneously the instant the word of command is uttered by its great Leader.
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Truly, with such facts as these before us, we might well faint for fear did we not know that there is a mightier Power above all the hosts of the Prince of Darkness, One Who regards us with feelings of wondrous love, Who is not only able, but yearning, to shield us from the destroyer now, and Who purposes shortly to deliver us altogether from the anxiety, the terror, and the danger, of his assaults. For although the Lord has not yet formally deposed the rebel, and arranged a new government, He does not leave the world entirely to Satan’s mercy. Angels of God penetrate the realms of air, encamp round about them that fear Him, and protect them from the malignant foes to whom they would otherwise fall an easy prey.[72] Nor are their numbers insufficient: the servant of Elisha beheld the mountain full of horses and chariots of fire round about his master.
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The Jewish idea of the word as applied to Heathen deities may be seen in the Septuagint version of the ninety-sixth Psalm, where it is rendered by Baif.i6via. Hence the fifth verse is made to mean, “For all the gods of the nations are demons; but the Lord made the heavens.
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At the coming of Christ the sons of God will be manifested by the restoration of the lost covering. Nor is it difficult to prove that the recovery of a visible glory will be the instant result of the restoration of spirit soul and body to perfect order and harmony, the sign of our manifestation as the sons of God. But it will then shine with far more intense brilliancy than it did in Adam: for, as we have before seen, the body of unfallen man was not a spiritual body. The spirit did indeed exercise a mighty and vigorous influence, but the soul was the ruling power, even as it continues to be: for the first man became a living soul.[177] But when the resurrection, or the change consequent upon our Lord’s return, takes place, our bodies will become spiritual:[178] the God-consciousness will be supreme in us, holding both soul and body in absolute control, and shedding forth the full power of its glory without let or hindrance.
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“Who, then, are the seed of the serpent? They are those who manifest that spirit of independent pride by which their father the Devil fell: those who will not acknowledge their own hopeless condition, and submit to be saved by the merits of the Son of God; but will either themselves do what is to be done, or else proudly deny the necessity of any doing at all, and clamour against God—if they have any belief in His existence—because He does not at once gratify all their wishes without any reference to His broken law.
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At death, therefore, we shall enter into the garden: but only at the return of Christ and the resurrection can we obtain access to the tree of life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God,[208] and which seems to correspond to the actual place of the presence.
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Some suppose these parks to have been reminiscences of a tradition of Eden: at any rate a place of the sort was called a paradise. And so, by adopting the word, Christ appears to indicate that at death we pass, as it were, into the wondrous garden that surrounds the Father’s house, but not into the house itself.
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So, then, even the dust is a resting-place of hope for the people of God.
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Thus the closing scenes of this present age will be a reproduction of the days of Noah: the same intense worldliness, and at last positive inability to care for the things of God, which was displayed by the antediluvians, will also be characteristic of our world when Christ begins the judgments that will quickly culminate in the glory of His appearing.