The last few weeks of 1963 are upon us as I write these lines in Washington, D.C. They have been gloomy weeks for all true Americans, and for all friends of America and lovers of justice everywhere. The shame of hate and lawlessness has given the old year a somber ending. In fact, the terrible offense of assassination of high or low will set the year 1963 in a poignant perspective for years to come. Depression of spirit struck a whole nation, and left us all, if we have any sense of God in us, asking what we have done to have such hateful events arise in our midst.
Such offenses reveal the frailty of man, who even in his best moments is beset with evil (Rom. 7:21). Christian men and women are ever conscious of their weaknesses and constantly cry with Paul: "Who is there to rescue me out of this body doomed to death?" If there were no outside help for man in his battle against evil, life would be a hopeless prospect indeed. But there is help, and it is set forth in Paul's answer to his own question: "God alone, through Jesus Christ our Lord! Thanks be to God!" (Rom. 7:24, 25,
Christian teaching does not set forth life as an easy, uninterrupted ascent to perfection and eternal life, but as a rugged progression through baffling defeats and dazzling victories throughout the whole journe). Or, to put things in theological terms and chronological order, we may say that God always has been searching after man, extending His free grace by which alone man may be saved (Eph. 2:4-8).
Man accepts "through faith" God's proffered help. Thus by the exercise of the human will man accepts the divine will to save all who come repentantly to Him in faith. It is not permissible at this point to speak of human works, since all is of grace through faith.Yet Paul speaks in terms of action subsequent to the initial surrender to Christ: "Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life" (1 Tim. 6:12). And his life as portrayed in the book of Acts and in his letters is one long series of advances and setbacks, victories and sufferings; but the net result was a constant advance in godly living and Christlike character. How eager he was for men to know that loyalty to God and victory for Christ's cause were not obtained without suffering: "For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life" (2 Cor. 1:8).
In the same letter he admits to being "troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed" (2 Cor. 4:8, 9).
It was through these endless inhibitions and frustrations that Paul battled on to become in his day the greatest warrior for God. He could be pressed and depressed, but never defeated. He could be baffled, but he fought better than ever in the "armour which God provides" (Eph. 6:11, N.E.B.).* When all the thunderbolts of hell had hurtled upon him, he could shout defiantly: "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith" (2 Tim. 4:7).
The year just gone may have been a trying one for us as individuals, but if we have "kept faith" (N.E.B.) * with God, deep in our heart, we shall rise to higher heights. We may have been baffled, but we shall fight better. We may have tasted seeming defeat, but we shall be more victorious. The year ahead has no terrors if we are united with Christ:
A soul united with Christ . . . becomes every day more like a bright and shining light, and more victorious. He goes on from strength to strength, not from weakness to weakness.—Testimonies to Ministers, p. 441.
We face a defeated foe, for when Jesus died on the cross—the battle had been won. His right hand and His holy arm had gotten Him the victory. As a Conqueror He planted His banner on the eternal heights. Was there not joy among the angels? All heaven triumphed in the Saviour's victory. Satan was defeated, and knew that his kingdom was lost.—The Desire of Ages, p. 758.
When we feel the burdens of battle, we must remember that the real battle already has been won:
To the angels and the unfallen worlds the cry, "It is finished," had a deep significance. It was for them as well as for us that the great work of redemption had been accomplished. They with us share the fruits of Christ's victory.—Ibid.
The inevitable, inescapable end of this long, sordid, shameful story of sin is the final judgment of evil by a righteous God in whose hand victory already lies because of Christ's conquest on the cross.
We should present before the people more often the whole subject of judgment and retribution. The judgment of evil as comprehended in the dual use of the phrase "It is finished"—finished on the cross, finished at the close of Christ's ministry in heaven—is of vital import in the depressed world of men today. The judgment as God's necessary and final retribution on evil and His final awards to the righteous are sadly needed by men today. Others have taught this strongly, as these words of the late Prof. William Caven indicate:
If the doom of each individual is really fixed at death—fixed by Him who knows the history of every life, as He knows all things—why, it may be asked, should there be a day of judgment afterwards? What further end is to be accomplished thereby? This final, public act of judgment is the complete vindication of God's justice both to those who are judged and to the moral universe. The absolute righteousness of God in all His dealings through life, and in the destiny awarded, is now brought home to those who are judged as never before. Those who are condemned feel in their inmost being that the sentence passed upon them is according to their desert; and, though salvation is entirely of grace, those who are adjudged righteous would see that the reward bestowed upon them is, in every case, according to their works.—Quoted in IVILBUR SMITH, Therefore Stand, pp. 458, 459.
Men who believe in this kind of judgment, men who know the power of redeeming grace, may feel baffled and buffeted by the storms of evil that burst over them in this old world; but they rise up, they fight on, and each time they fight better because they are on higher ground.