A belief in miracles is a necessary consequence of a belief in God. He who does not believe in miracles does not believe in God. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8, 9. Miracles, therefore, are simply God’s natural actions. His smallest acts must be miraculous in the eyes of men, simply because He is God. Since God is infinitely above man, and His ways are as much higher than man’s ways as the heavens are higher than the earth, it follows that no one can deny the existence of miracles at the present day without denying that God lives and directs the affairs of the universe.PTUK August 25, 1892, page 264.1

It is idle to speculate as to whether or not miracles are a setting aside of the laws of nature. What are commonly known as the “laws of nature,” are nothing less than God’s ways of working in the inanimate world. We cease to wonder at them because they are so common that we do not recognize God in them. Familiar as the phenomena of the weather are to us, no man can make it rain. The most learned botanist cannot make a single blade of grass. No matter how deeply scientists may explore the operations of nature, there is still something in every one of them which they cannot explain.PTUK August 25, 1892, page 264.2

The life of Jesus on earth, from His birth to His ascension was a miracle, because it was the life of God. Thousands of people who never heard of Jesus, had tried to live sinless lives, but not one had been able to do so. Philosophers had set forth lofty moral sentiments, but not one had been able to live out his own teachings. But Christ lived a sinless life, in the face of such temptations as all the world together had never known. It was because He lived the life of the infinite God.PTUK August 25, 1892, page 264.3

“God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself.” 2 Corinthians 5:19. All His acts were the acts of the Father, who dwelt in Him. Said He: “Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of Myself; but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works.” John 14:10. So the miracles that Christ did were the natural working of that life of God, which was His life.PTUK August 25, 1892, page 264.4

The life which Christ lived was untainted by sin. Satan exerted all his powerful arts, yet he could not affect that spotless life. Its light always shown with unwavering brilliancy. Because Satan could not produce the least shadow of sin in the life, he could not bring it within his power, that of the grave. No one could take Christ’s life from Him; He voluntarily laid it down. And for the same reason, when He had laid it down, Satan could not prevent Him from taking it up again. Said He: “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down My life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of My Father.” John 10:17, 18. To the same intent are the words of the apostle Peter concerning Christ:-PTUK August 25, 1892, page 264.5

These miracles were wrought for a definite purpose. After having told of many miracles that Jesus did, and His resurrection as the crowning one of the whole series, the apostle John said: “And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His name.” John 20:30, 31.PTUK August 25, 1892, page 264.6

Every miracle of Jesus, therefore, was for the purpose of showing us how we may receive His life, and have the same miracle wrought in us. It is truly said that His miracles of healing were the natural outgrowth of His sympathetic loving nature: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16. Love to man prompted every step in the plan of salvation. Christ did not perform the miracles simply for the purpose of calling attention to Himself, but to show the love and the power of God toward man. The healing of the bodies of men was only an object lesson. They were aids to faith, to enable men to grasp unseen realities; to show them the power of Christ to heal the disease of the soul. Whoever reads the accounts of the miracles of Jesus with this in mind, and not as stories told for our entertainment, will receive of the life which was manifested in the doing of those miracles. Each one illustrates some phase of the work of Christ in supplying man’s spiritual needs.PTUK August 25, 1892, page 264.7

In subsequent numbers of this paper we shall study some of these miracles, to the end that we may receive life through His name. E. J. W.PTUK August 25, 1892, page 264.8

“The Unconquerable Life” The Present Truth 8, 17.

EJW

E. J. Waggoner

“In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness apprehended it not.” John 1:4, 5, R.V. The marginal rendering, “overcome,” gives us the exact meaning of the text, and conveys a message of great comfort to the believer. Let us see what it is.PTUK August 25, 1892, page 264.1

Christ is the light of the world. See John 8:12. But His light is His life, as the text quoted states, he says, “I am the light of the world; he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” The whole world was in the darkness of sin. This darkness was due to lack of knowledge of God; as the apostle Paul says that the Gentiles are “darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them because of the hardening of their heart.” Ephesians 4:18.PTUK August 25, 1892, page 264.2

Satan the ruler of the darkness of this world, had done his utmost to deceive man as to the true character of God. He had made the world believe that God was like a man-cruel, vindictive, and passionate. Even the Jews, the people whom God had chosen to be the bearers of light to the world, had departed from God, and while professedly separate from the heathen, were enveloped in heathen darkness. Then Christ came, and “The people which sat in darkness sought a great light, and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, to them did light spring up.” Matthew 4:16. His name was Emmanuel, God with us. “God was in Christ.” God refuted the falsehoods of Satan, not by loud arguments, but simply by living His life among men, so that all might see it. He demonstrated the power of the life of God, and the possibility of its being manifested in men.PTUK August 25, 1892, page 264.3

“Whom God hath raised up having loosed the pains of death; because it was not possible that He should be holden of it.” Acts 2:24. Thus was demonstrated the right of the Lord Jesus Christ to be made a high priest “after the power of an endless life.” Hebrews 7:16.PTUK August 25, 1892, page 264.4

This endless, spotless life Christ gives to all who believe on Him. “As thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given Him. And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” John 17:2, 3. Christ dwells in the hearts of all those who believe on Him. “I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20. See also Ephesians 3:16, 17.PTUK August 25, 1892, page 264.5

Christ, the light of the world, dwelling in the hearts of His followers, constitutes them the light of the world. There light comes not from themselves, but comes from Christ, who dwells in them. Their life is not from themselves, but it is the life of Christ manifest in their mortal flesh. See 2 Corinthians 4:11. This is what it is to live “a Christian life.”PTUK August 25, 1892, page 264.6

This living light comes from God in a never-failing stream. The psalmist exclaims: “For with Thee is the fountain of life; in Thy light shall we see light.” Psalm 36:9. “And He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.” Revelation 22:1. “And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let him that heareth, say, Come. And let him that is athirst, come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” Revelation 22:17.PTUK August 25, 1892, page 265.1

“So the father knew that it was at the same hour, in the which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth; and himself believed, and his whole house. This is again the second miracle that Jesus did, when he was come out of Judaea into Galilee.” John 4:53, 54. This life of Christ we eat and drink by feasting upon His Word, for He added, “It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing; the words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit, and they are life.” Verse 63. Christ dwells in His inspired Word, and through it we get His life. This life is given freely to all who will receive it, as we read above; and again we read that Jesus stood and cried, saying, “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink.” John 7:37.PTUK August 25, 1892, page 265.2

This life is the Christian’s light, and it is that which makes him a light to others. It is his life; and the blessed comfort to him is that no matter how great the darkness to which he has to pass, no darkness has power to put out that light. That light of life is his as long as he exercises faith, and the darkness cannot affect it. But all, therefore, who professed the truth of the Lord, have the confidence that can say,PTUK August 25, 1892, page 265.3

“Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy; when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me.” Micah 7:8. E. J. W.PTUK August 25, 1892, page 265.4

“The Inspired Word” The Present Truth 8, 17.

EJW

E. J. Waggoner

“But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; and that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” 2 Timothy 3:14-17.PTUK August 25, 1892, page 265.1

So much effort has been made by unbelieving men, even in the ministry, to make the Revised Version appear to teach that some scripture is not inspired, that it is necessary first of all to show that a literal rendering of the Bible does not diminish its claims to inspiration. In the Revision we read, “Every Scripture inspired of God is also profitable,” etc. This is even stronger than the other, for instead of making a positive statement that all Scripture is inspired, it mentions it as a fact so well known that it needs no proof, and proceeds to a statement of the result. Without going into grammatical technicalities, it is only necessary to say that the present participle “inspired,” limiting the term “all Scripture,” conveys the simple idea that since all Scripture is inspired it is also profitable. Add to this the fact that the revisers placed in the margin the exact reading of the old version, it is evident that we are fully warranted in quoting 2 Timothy 3:16 as a positive declaration that all Scripture is inspired of God.PTUK August 25, 1892, page 265.2

The word “Scriptures” is a term used to denote the sacred writings commonly known as the Old and the New Testament. It corresponds to the word “Bible.” “Bible” means “book;” when we say, “the Bible,” we really say, “the Book.” Now the number of books in the world is almost beyond computation; yet the Bible is so prominent, and so much above all other books, that it cannot be classed among them, but as distinguished as “the Book,” or the Bible. Everybody knows what book we mean when we so speak. It is the same way with the parallel term, “the Scriptures.”PTUK August 25, 1892, page 265.3

We read of Christ, when He walked with the two disciples to Emmaus, after His resurrection, that “beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” Luke 24:27. Thus we see that the term “the Scriptures” includes the whole of the Old Testament. Therefore 2 Timothy 3:16 affirms that they are inspired. Indeed, when Timothy was a child there was nothing but the Old Testament written. It is especially to the Old Testament that the apostle Paul refers when he says that “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God,” and that it is able to make a man wise unto salvation, and thoroughly furnish him unto all good works.PTUK August 25, 1892, page 265.4

But the fact that the Old Testament is particularly referred to in 2 Timothy 3:16 does not exclude the New Testament writings from the term “the Scriptures.” The apostle Peter refers to the writings of Paul, and says that they contain “some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other Scriptures, unto their own destruction.” 2 Peter 3:16. The popular idea is that the Old Testament is scarcely inspired, and it is thought a great concession to give it a place with the New; but this is directly opposite to the Scriptural idea. There we find that the writings of the New Testament are declared to be worthy of a place by the side of those of the Old. Both are from the same source; both were given by inspiration of God, and are of equal authority. He who regards the Bible as it should be, will make no difference between the Old Testament and the New.PTUK August 25, 1892, page 265.5

Now that we have before us a plain statement of what is included in the declaration that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, we may consider the fact of inspiration itself. Not that we can understand it, or set forth any theory of inspiration, but that we may form some conception of its greatness. We consider the works of God in creation, not that we may understand the mystery of creation, but that we may glorify God, whose greatness it proclaims. So we consider the inspiration of the Bible, in order that we may rightly appreciate the infinite power of the Word of God.PTUK August 25, 1892, page 265.6

“Inspiration” means literally, “breathing.” A full inspiration is a full breath. This is so common an expression that the reader does not have to know Latin or Greek in order to appreciate the statement that the term, “inspired of God,” in 2 Timothy 3:16 means simply “God-breathed.” The fact is, then, that all of the Scripture is the direct breathing of the Almighty. We are not required to explain how this can be, since it was all written or spoken by men, inasmuch as it does not rest with us to explain or understand how the omnipotent God works. No man can by searching find out God, and know the Almighty to perfection. We may, however, at some later time, note a few parallel cases, showing the fact that God does work directly through the agency of men, and even through the unwilling agency of evil men. What we are now concerned with is to show that the Scriptures declare themselves to be emphatically God’s own word.PTUK August 25, 1892, page 265.7

Let us read 2 Peter 1:20: “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” The Revision has it: “For no prophecy ever came by the will of man; but men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Ghost.” With this let us read a still stronger statement in 1 Peter 1:11. In order to get the full force of the verse, we will read the tenth verse also:-PTUK August 25, 1892, page 265.8

“Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you; searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.”PTUK August 25, 1892, page 265.9

Take the two statements from Peter, and put them together, and we find that the Spirit of Christ-The Holy Spirit-was in the men who wrote the Bible, and that it used their voices or hands to express its own words and thoughts. How this could be, and the men still retain their individuality, and write and speak from the fulness of their own hearts, we shall not attempt to explain. Illustrations will, however, be given later.PTUK August 25, 1892, page 266.1

Additional proof of the statement that the Holy Spirit itself is the real author of the Scriptures, the men being only its agents, is found in the following texts:PTUK August 25, 1892, page 266.2

“And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples and said (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty), Men and brethren, this Scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas.” Acts 1:15, 16.PTUK August 25, 1892, page 266.3

“But those things which God before had showed by the mouth of all His prophets, that Christ should suffer He hath so fulfilled.” Acts 3:18.PTUK August 25, 1892, page 266.4

“And when they [the disciples] heard that [namely, the report of Peter and John] they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, Thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is; who by the mouth of Thy servant David hast said, Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things?” Acts 4:24, 25.PTUK August 25, 1892, page 266.5

Speaking of the interview that Paul had with the Jews in Rome, the evangelist says: “And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers, saying, Go unto this people and say, Hearing, ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing, ye shall see, and shall not perceive.” Acts 28:25, 26.PTUK August 25, 1892, page 266.6

Again, Peter said to the people who gathered to look upon the lame man that was healed: “And He [God] shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you; whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.” Acts 3:20, 21. See a similar statement in Luke 1:70. Also 2 Samuel 23:1, 2.PTUK August 25, 1892, page 266.7

But there are still plainer evidences that the Scriptures are God’s word alone, and not man’s. In the book of Jeremiah (chap. 31:33) we read: “But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; after those days, saith the Lord, I will put My law in their inward parts, and write them in their hearts.” In the book of Hebrews this same language is quoted, thus: “Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us; for after that He had said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them.” Hebrews 10:15, 16.PTUK August 25, 1892, page 266.8

Although these words occur in the prophecy of Jeremiah, they are not his words. The Spirit of Christ was in that holy man testifying, so that when the writer to the Hebrews quoted the words, he credited them directly to the Holy Ghost, omitting all reference to Jeremiah. In this no injustice was done Jeremiah; he himself would have acknowledged that the words were the Lord’s, and not his own.PTUK August 25, 1892, page 266.9

In like manner we find in the first chapter of Hebrews several verses quoted from the Psalms, yet the writer of the Psalms is not once mentioned, but God is declared to be the speaker. See verses 7-12.PTUK August 25, 1892, page 266.10

But this is all that the limits of this article allow. Let the texts herein quoted be pondered carefully, and in the next paper we shall, God willing, read some other Scriptures showing further that the Scriptures are wholly inspired by God, and that by whatever agency they come to us, they proceed from the Holy Spirit, and are as much the Word of God as though uttered by Him with an audible voice.PTUK August 25, 1892, page 266.11

E. J. W.PTUK August 25, 1892, page 266.12

August 11, 1892

September 22, 1892