REFORMED WITNESS
Volume XI, January 2003, Number 1
The Purpose of Christ's Coming
From the book The Unspeakable Gift, The Gift of God's Son: Selected Meditations
by Gerrit Vos
See more articles by this author
Also in this issue: It Was Night - by Gerrit Vos
"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword." - Matthew 10:34
". . .and on earth peace . . . . " - Luke 2:14b
". . .The Prince of Peace." - Isaiah 9:6b
Higher criticism delights to find contradictions in the Bible. Well, the above texts seem to teach such.
On the one hand we have heard the song of the nightingale in the Old Testament Isaiah. He sang beautifully of the coming of Jesus, and he told us even of the various names which He would bear. In Isaiah 9:6 we read, "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His Name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."
Later, much later, we heard the song of the heavenly host at the birth of this Prince of Peace, and here are the words of that glorious song: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."
So both Isaiah and Luke agree: Jesus is the Prince of Peace, and He shall as such bring peace upon the earth.
However, when Jesus began to teach He seemed to tell us the very opposite. Luke's version is especially emphatic: "Suppose ye that I am come to give peace to the earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division."
So higher criticism once more has a hellish delight in pointing to another supposed contradiction in Scripture.
Indeed, there are more texts that seem to stand in opposition to Matthew 10:34 and Luke 12:51 through 53. Read, e.g., Ephesians 2:14 and 15: "For He is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in Himself of twain one new man, so making peace." And Zacharias the priest sang of Him: "To guide our feet into the way of peace!"
Is it not startling that Jesus seems to contradict the Holy Spirit in Isaiah, Zacharias, and the angels in the fields of Ephratha?
We have heard from our youth, yes even from our earliest infancy, that the Bible is true; that the real Writer of the Bible is God, from Genesis to Revelation; that God cannot contradict Himself.
If there is one thing which is cemented in the hearts of the little ones when they come to their first catechism class it is this: The Bible is true! God is true! Jesus is true!
Does it then not shock us when we hear Jesus say: Think ye not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword!
* * * * *
It is my habit to say to persons, to the devil, and to myself when confronted with so-called contradictions in the Bible: God is true!
I cannot believe that there are contradictions in the Bible. The very thought is monstrous.
I readily admit that there are difficult texts in the Bible, and that it is difficult to harmonize one text with another. I will also admit that the branch of study called Textual Criticism is warranted, although I hasten to add that we should be very careful with that branch of study.
But even after we have studied a seeming contradiction in the Bible and have not come upon a satisfying solution, I am ready to confess: O Lord! I cannot understand this or these texts, but I confess that it is because of my stupidity. Thy Name is TRUTH! Amen.
* * * * *
However, in the case of the above texts there is only a seeming contradiction.
Let me show you first that the expression of Jesus in Matthew 10:34 is according to divine planning.
The plan of the Almighty for all of history is exactly as Jesus expressed Himself: He came not to bring peace on earth but the sword, or according to Luke, division!
The Plan of God is war, division, strife, rebellion, blood and tears. The first revelation of that plan is uttered in Paradise, "And I will put enmity between thee (the devil) and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."
This was spoken by God to the devil who stood before Him in the guise of a serpent, and this statement by our God is confirmed soon after in the slaughter of innocent Abel, and the subsequent struggle between the two seeds. On the one hand we see in all history the seed of the devil, and on the other hand we see the seed of the woman, that is the church.
That struggle started at once; it continued every moment of time since; it is with us right here and now; it shall continue unabated until the last moment of history.
Listen to Enoch, the seventh from Adam: ``Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him."
Enoch is only the seventh from Adam, and note the intensity of the warfare which God brought upon the earth, by putting enmity between the devil and the church.
Next note the appellation which the Holy Ghost gave to Noah: the preacher of righteousness! Noah was not the preacher of the gospel of God, but of righteousness.
God did not decree any positive fruit either: the ark had no room for many thousands, while there must have been millions of men upon the earth.
The theme of Noah's preaching must have been: The flood is coming. The flood is coming! And all because of your unrighteousness! God will come to convict all of you! In one hundred and twenty years he had not one convert.
But what a battle!
It was not any different in the days of Nimrod, the mighty hunter before the Lord.
In his days the tower of Babel was an attempt of wicked men to maintain themselves against the Lord and His people.
But time would fail me to tell you of the unrest, the strife and the conflict between God and His anointed on the one hand, and the devil and his seed on the other hand. I would have to tell you of Nineveh, Syria, the Chaldeans; also of men like Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Alexander the Great, Antiochus Epiphanes, and more of their godless ilk.
But in all the ages we see nought but the holy war of God on the earth. Wherever God manifests Himself among men, you find the godless reaction of the devil and his followers. Wherever Jehovah reveals Himself, there you always find war, bloodshed, division and unrest.
A great weariness comes over you when you follow God's footsteps in the Old Testament: the patriarchs, the judges, the kings, the priests, and the prophets. There are the foes without the camps of the seed of the woman, but also the foes within the gates of Zion. At one time David wends his way in sweet company to the house of God, and later this same sweet (?) company would strangle him. Christ complains in David that they gave Him hatred for His love.
* * * * *
But it is not any different in the New Testament.
Wherever the Son of God appears there is strife, hatred, war, unrest.
During His three and one-half years of preaching, He is ever surrounded by a brood of devils. They watched His every word and move.
The hatred found its bathos in the crucifixion.
But even then the devil was not satisfied.
After the Ascension and Pentecost the hatred of the seed of the devil broke out anew. The devil knew that his time was short.
Wherever Paul appeared with Jesus in his heart and mouth, there you found strife, unrest, bloodshed.
Only one of the twelve died in his bed.
Read the gospels and the epistles of the witnesses of Jesus. Even in the organized churches of Jesus there is no rest. You read of divisions, hatred, jealousy, and envy. James, complains, "From whence come wars and fightings among you?"
Will you please read the seven letters to the seven churches in Asia Minor? And continue to read what Jesus prophesied relative to the church of Christ and its reception in the world?
Was it any different after John closes Holy Writ?
Wherever you see Jesus appear on the scene you also find war and unrest, blood and suffering.
Indeed, God's plan for the Seed of the woman is not to bring peace on the earth, but a sword.
* * * * *
But what about Isaiah, the angels at the birth of Jesus, and Paul?
They all herald the coming of Jesus as the Prince of peace!
The angels literally say: on earth peace!
Here is the solution, beloved: Christ did not come to send peace for the wicked on the earth. Christ came to do the exact opposite with respect to them: He came to destroy them!
He came to destroy and to bruise the HEAD of the devil. The HEAD, that is, the intellect, the thought, the counsel, the conception of the wicked. His Own Name of TRUTH, and with the word of His mouth, that is, His truth, He destroys the lie and the makers of the lie, and at the same time, and through the same truth, He sets you free!
So Jesus did indeed come to bring peace on the earth. Both Isaiah and the angels, as well as Paul, are right: His Name is Prince of Peace. He did come to bring peace upon the earth. A correct reading of the song of the angels would read: Peace on earth toward the men of good will, that is, to God's elect church.
How? Paul told us in the above quoted text of Ephesians 2:14,15.
Christ brought peace on the earth by shedding His precious blood for you and me, so making peace.
Christ took our hatred against God on His neck, and paid the price of eternal death, so making peace for us.
Peace now: a little bit of heavenly peace in our heart; a peace that passeth understanding.
And presently? In the sweet by-and-by? A Kingdom of heavenly peace!
It Was Night
From the book The Unspeakable Gift, The Gift of God's Son: Selected Meditations
by Gerrit Vos
"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord."
Yes it was night in the fields of Ephratha in more than one sense.
First, it was night in the natural sense. Nothing peculiar about that, for that had happened countless times. That is according to God's ordinances: night follows day.
But even here we must carefully mark God's works. It was by divine appointment that the heavenly committee of the heavenly hosts visited the earth that night.
Jesus was born when the earth was bathed in darkness, even natural darkness. All things have meaning. How much more when the most important event is taking place, yes, the most important event. Nothing before or after that night can compare with the birth of Baby Jesus. And it must be when the earth is enveloped in darkness.
The same thing is true when Judas went out from the passover table. The Holy Ghost carefully noted: and it was night.
All these things have significance.
Here the natural darkness is symbolic of the state of things for Israel and for the world.
It was also dark spiritually.
Attend to this: there were but two of the Sanhedrin who waited for the consolation of Israel: Nicodemus and Joseph, and the first named was rather stupid relative to spiritual things.
The ministers of Jesus' day were a bad lot. They were human monsters of wickedness. Many of them were Sadducees, a sect of rich and worldly people who did not believe in the spiritual world. Well might Jesus say: Blind leaders of the blind!
Almost all the people of Israel looked for a natural Kingdom of God. Even the apostles of the Christ, after three and a half years of Christ's instruction still believed in a natural Kingdom of God.
Politically it was very dark.
It was only 160 years before that Antiochus Epiphanes slaughtered thousands, and obliterated temple worship, after offering a sow upon the altar in the House of God.
They were now under the heel of the hated Romans.
Yes, it was rather dark in Israel.
It was so terribly dark in Israel that everyone could say, Ichabod! The glory is departed from Israel!
* * * * *
There are the shepherds keeping watch over their flock by night.
Who are they?
Well, beloved reader, they belonged to the few who were still waiting for the consolation of Israel.
They were dear children of God. There were a few such in Israel. To their number belonged Anna, Simeon, Zacharias and Elisabeth, Joseph and Mary.
Yes, these lowly shepherds belonged to spiritual Israel. Lowly and despised they were. Shepherds were at the bottom of the social order, and that answers to the style of God. God chooses the things that are lowly, ignoble, poor, and despised.
Harlots and publicans enter, while the worldly high, noble, and mighty find themselves outside the DOOR.
And it was night.
* * * * *
And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them!
Oh! What a sight that must have been. For this angel brought with him the glory of the Lord, and the light of this glory shone round about these lowly shepherds.
Here I sit behind my typewriter trying to tell you something about that unearthly light that shone in the midst of, the darkness of Ephratha's fields! How can I? I never saw the glory of the Lord. I do not know the first thing about such light.
Here on earth we see the golden rays of the sun, and we say, What a beautiful day! We see the glitter and the sparkle of that light, and the shadows, but what is that compared to the light that shines in heaven?
In heaven there is no sun or moon or star, but it is light there. God is there in all His glory and it is light. Jesus is there and all His glory and He shines and sparkles with the glory of God.
A few of us have seen that glory, and they all became afraid. Some of us, seeing that heavenly light, fell as dead at the feet of the heavenly messengers, such as the apostle John when Jesus appeared to him.
So also here.
The shepherds were not only afraid, but they became sore afraid.
Oh, I can understand that. First of all, they are earthly creatures, and the heavenly light does not fit us at all. We are created to look on the light of day and that fits us. Then we smile and laugh and play. The earthly light makes us comfortable.
But when heaven opens and sheds the light of God round about us we become sore afraid. That is natural.
Second, when the light of God's glory shines round about us we all become thoroughly conscious of our sin. That light is as the Judgment Day. It condemns us and torments us. We want to dig a hole and crawl into it.
I can understand that Peter said, Lord, depart from me: I am a sinful man.
I can understand it when a member of the church wants to open the door of the church and go out into the world. He feels unworthy to be a member of the Body of Christ.
You see, beloved, the light of the glory of God is the light of His eternal virtues. That light brings righteousness and holiness to your vision. It searches you, accuses you, condemns you, and torments you, for you are a miserable sinner, sinning in all you do.
And so these poor shepherds, even though they were children of God, bend down to the earth and want to obliterate themselves.
Yes, it was night, but the light of the glory of God made it a thousand times more beautiful than the day. There in Ephratha's fields it was a little bit of heaven.
* * * * *
But hark! This heavenly messenger is going to speak.
I have often thought on this. How does it sound upon the ear to hear an angel speak? Paul talks about it: "Though I speak with the tongues of. . .angels. . . ."
Yes, there is beautiful speech and song and melody with the children of men, mostly wicked men and women.
The sound of the violin is sweet when played by a master.
But what rot, compared to this heavenly speaker. I can hardly wait to hear the heavenly choirs and music. There are the harps of God.
Well, a little bit of that heavenly beauty came upon the earth when the angel spoke.
First, "Fear not!"
Beloved, that is the beginning of the gospel.
When heaven bids you not to fear, you may make the first step to the glories that abide.
It happens to us when we first come to the realization that there is a God and a Saviour Who seeks us.
Second, "For, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people."
At that time, in that place, to these poor shepherds, after so long a night of darkness, suffering, death, and shame!
What a wondrous message! and it is heaven's God Who speaks. It is the TRUTH! An angel does not lie. He is a faithful witness. God had told him what to say, word for word, and it has been in our Bible for ages. But the bloom and the freshness and the beauty is still there. Every Christmas, what do I say? every day and every hour it charms our hearts.
"Tidings of great joy that shall be to all people."
Yes, it was night, but a light of everlasting salvation was round about, now also in these poor shepherds.
For this joy is for them, and for all the people of God.
* * * * *
"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord."
Four thousand years the church has waited for this day, this hour.
He was promised by Jehovah Himself in the day when Adam and Eve crawled from the underbrush of Paradise, trembling, sore afraid of God, and this promise was repeated by the nightingales of God: the prophets.
They sang their beauteous song in the nights of Israel. In many forms, in diverse manners, but always the same old and ever new story: I am going to come in the fulness of time, and I will save you from sin, and guilt, and death, and hell, and I will make you all beautiful, like the angels of God.
It is all contained in a name: the Saviour, Christ, the Lord!
This Babe which you soon shall see in the stable will do it all, and He shall do it all alone. It is a work of Jehovah.
A Saviour: He will die for you, and obliterate all your sin and guilt by dying the eternal death.
Christ: He shall work for you, the work which you left undone.
The Lord: He shall own you body and soul and spirit, henceforth to live unto God for evermore.
And when this angel of the Lord concluded his beauteous speech, he rose into the air, and the trembling shepherds saw the heavenly host, and they heard their song: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."
In a little while it will be Christmas again, beloved.
Sing, oh, sing of your Redeemer! Amen.
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