FROM the duty of preparation we pass to the means of preparation
provided for us by God; and the first of these to be considered is the
Bible. We are to think of the Bible as a means rather than an end. The
perfection of the Bible lies in its adaptation to human needs. The inspiration
of the Bible is to be sought in its power to inspire human hearts, and
is not of the letter, but of the spirit. The proof of inspiration given
in 2 Tim. iii. 16 is that Holy Scripture is “profitable for instruction
in righteousness,” just as the excellence of a teacher does not consist
in omniscience but in his power to teach, and the excellence of a physician
in his power to cure. The Bible is a practical book written with a practical
object, “for our learning,” and if it fulfils this object, and when rightly
used “makes us wise unto salvation,” it is the book we need, and it is
futile to object that “it is not of such a sort and so promulged as weak
men are apt to fancy should have been the case with a book containing a
Divine Revelation.” (Butler.)
THE EPISTLE. ROMANS xv. 4.
A BOOK OF HOPE.
This is concerned with the Old Testament only, as containing the “things
which were written aforetime.” We are to regard the Old Testament as :—
A. A Book of Hope.
Its very object was to kindle hope, and keep it alive. Its cove-nants’
all pointed to a better covenant; its sacrifices, so inadequate in themselves,
all pointed to a more availing sacrifice that could take away sin; its
prophecies, to a better dispensation surely coming in the dim future. To
Christians this record has an abiding value, as the history of men who
“trusted in God and were not confounded.” These Old Testament Scriptures
were “written for our learning,” and still have a lesson for us.
S. Paul adds that we who have received good hope in Christ must be patient
towards others.
B. A Book of Hope for the Jews.
Christ came to fulfil all the hopes of the Jews, and “to confirm the
promises made unto the fathers,” and to set His seal on all the promises
of the Old Testament. He came as “A Minister of the Circumcision,” i.e.,
with a special mission to the Jews. Their nation was big with Messianic
hope. Christ came to show that this hope was not mistaken, and, as Prophet,
Priest, and King, He fulfilled all that God had promised.
C. A Book of Hope for the Gentiles.
Many promises of God to the Gentiles were scattered through the Old
Testament. Christ came to fulfil these, and “open the Kingdom of Heaven
to all believers.” Nothing is more remark. able than the presence of these
passages so apparently alien to Jewish exclusiveness, yet so necessary
to prepare the way for a wider dispensation under the spreading tree that
was to spring from the root of Jesse.
D. A Book of Hope for Us.
The Old Testament has still a message, and a message of hope. In our
own trials and difficulties we may turn to the example of those who in
darker days still kept faithful to the God of Hope, and were not confounded,
and may draw lessons of patience and comfort. We have in this passage a
most happy Pilgrim’s Progress— first “patience,” then “comfort,” then “hope,”
and lastly, something higher still, “joy and peace in believing.”
THE GOSPEL. S. LUKE xxi. 25.
A MESSAGE OF HOPE.
This contains the New Testament message of Hope, and our great duty
of preparation for the final Advent.
A. The World in Despair.
Without Christ the course of this world will be without hope. All will
be distress, perplexity, fear, and foreboding, and those who have not learned
to love Christ will ever dread His appearing.
B. The Christian Hope.
That which will make others fear will inspire the Christian with eager
hope. He will look up and lift up his head as he sees redemption drawing
nigh. He will look upon the coming storms as the equinoctial gales that
usher in the spring and summertide of God’s Kingdom, and the perfect sunshine
of Christ’s presence.
C. The Certainty of the Christian
Hope.
It is sure as the sure word of Christ. All else shall pass away, but
Christ’s words never, and each generation shall find them true. Science
can only tell us that heaven and earth shall pass away, and that the powers
of heaven shall be shaken. The Bible is a book of calm confidence. It sees
the worst and yet hopes for the best, looking onward to the Kingdom that
cannot be shaken, and full of faith in Him Who is “the same yesterday,
to-day, and for ever.” Hence, from cover to cover, the Bible is a Book
of Hope, and the Book of the God of Hope.
THE COLLECT.
A prayer for the right use of Holy Scripture, especially as a preparation
for the Second Advent.
A. The Nature of the Bible.
It is both human and Divine, human because “written by holy men of old,”
Divine because they wrote as “moved by the Holy Ghost.” Our Church recognises
both elements in the phrase, “‘Who hast caused all Holy Scriptures to be
written.”
The Bible is our lesson-book as “written for our learning.” It is not
out of date, for every age may say it was written for our learning. If
merely human it would lack authority to teach; if merely Divine we could
not attain to its lessons.
B. The Right Use of the Bible.
This is to be a matter for prayer, for He by Whom it was caused to be
written can alone cause it to be read with profit. It is not merely to
be heard when read by others, but to be read by ourselves, and read with
attention—not merely read, but studied and
assimilated.
C. The Blessings of such Spiritual
Study.
These are threefold—Patience which can endure trials, Comfort that can
be happy beneath the rod, Hope that all trial will one day be at an end.
Such spiritual study is to be a great means of preparation for the Second
Advent as giving hope of everlasting life, to be welcomed with eagerness
and retained with perseverance
