It is now well into the nineteen hundred and seventy-second year after the birth of our Lord Jesus, and our Master still tarries. But, according to the prophesies, all things are in readiness for the beginning of the battle that will end with the throne of David once again in Jerusalem just as was promised in 2nd Samuel 7, and in Luke 1:26-33 where the angel told Mary that the Son she would bring forth would be given the throne of His father David, and that He would reign over the house of Jacob forever. What a wonderful time it will be for the righteous when the cry is heard, “Behold the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him”, and even more wonderful will be the gathering together at the marriage supper, when the bride will be united with the Bridegroom in holy matrimony. Men have longed for this time ever since Adam, and now the time is very near.
De we sometimes lose sight of the true significance of the days in which we live, when God will send His Son in the very near future to fulfill those prophecies which remain unfulfilled, concerning the destruction of the wicked, and the salvation of the righteous?
In Matthew 25, in the parable of the ten virgins, when the five foolish virgins who had let their lights go out tried to enter and partake of the marriage supper, the Lord said, “I know you not”, and in Matthew 7, Jesus says: “And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Instead of the rejoicing and joy which the righteous will experience, these people will fulfill the prophecy in Matthew 8:12: “There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” What a contrast between the two! The ultimate in joy and gladness on the one hand, and the ultimate in shame and disgrace on the other hand.
If we really have the faith which is necessary to please God, we should be in our appearance and conduct as unlike the ungodly as possible, for we have been called out from among them and are a peculiar people unto our God. We can not be considered the called-out ones if we are not considerably different from the unbelievers, and in more ways than merely believing the doctrines which we profess to be truth.
The people of the world are becoming more and more alarmed at the condition of the world these past few years. We can hardly pick up a paper these days, or one of the current-event magazines that do not contain articles about the state of affairs the world over, and nearly always the question is raised, “where is all this leading and what must be done to stop it ?”
This question seems to center particularly on the new generation of youth, the “permissive generation” as it is being called. A Bible student can see quickly that the prophecies concerning the condition of things at the return of Christ are surely being fulfilled. The people of the world may not know where this degradation is leading, but the student of the Bible should know and see that it is exactly what has been prophesied. We know that worldly people will be punished for their wickedness, but the same Scriptures teach us that we, the brethren and sisters of Christ, must be very careful, and beware, lest we become so much like them, that no one can scarcely tell the differ-rice, and so reap the reward that the sinners do.
Where will all our good intentions and acts get us if this is to be our fate? We may reach the door, but we want to be certain that we will hear the words, “enter into the joy of the Lord”, and not “depart from me, ye that work iniquity”, and have the door closed upon us.
Let us go back now, and speak a little more about the condition of things in the world, and the stand that we should take to properly serve Christ. In Australia nearly half of the criminal offences are committed by young people under 18 years of age. This is true world wide. This is a clear indication that the current breakdown of law and order is related to the disintegration of family life, and the responsibilities attendant therewith. A former member of the Children’s Court Bench in Perth recently listed these points as being closely linked to the mounting problems facing society:
- Breakdown of moral standards due to the lessening influence of religion.
- Insecurity of family life due to increased desertion, divorce & separation.
- Working wives.
- Lack of discipline in the home, and weakening of the father’s authority.
- Increase of materialism.
- Immoral material presented on TV and in cheap paper backs.
Whether we realize it or not, these things are a very serious threat to the well-being of the ecclesias, and it is our duty as God’s servants to protect our ecclesia from these evils to the best of our ability.
Where do we begin? hi our own home! The ecclesia has been likened to an extension of our home, and it is absolutely true that the health of our ecclesia cannot exceed the health or well-being of our homes.
Paul says in 1st Timothy 3:5, “If a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?” Each one of us contributes something toward the complete body of the ecclesia, therefore our home life is very important to consider. The people we are there are the same kind of people we are in the ecclesia, for we can not reflect something which we do not possess.
It seems that the world can see at least some of the reasons why conditions are getting to be what they are, and it is very important that we, too, see these things d understand what we must do if we to preserve the truth in its purity. Even as each member supplies his or her to make up the complete body of the ecclesia, so does each member of a marriage contract supply his or her part to make it a success. If members are absent from a meeting of the ecclesia they will miss the spiritual nourishment they need.
We must keep the commandments at all times, whether we are at home with our family or busy at our work, or wherever we may be. More important, we must earnestly strive to have the teachings of Christ for the basis upon which our homes are built, never forgetting that the marriage between man and woman is expected to be a divine institution, showing the same affection the one toward the other, as is shown between Christ and his bride, the ecclesia.
We all know the Scriptures that deal with the institution of marriage, how the wives are commanded to submit themselves unto their husbands, as unto the Lord, and the husbands are to faithfully feed, clothe, protect and supply the spiritual background for a home devoted to the truth.
In verse 25 of Ephesians 5, we read: “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it.”
For a husband and wife to walk as Christ walked, several things are necessary. First, each partner must desire more than anything to serve the Lord God in heaven by keeping His commandments. Second, each partner must understand exactly what his or her place in the partnership is, to be in keeping with Scriptural teachings. Third, when things go wrong at times, which they inevitably will, as long as we are mortals, each partner will earnestly try to do more than his or her share to get matters back to the pleasant, loving atmosphere which Christ expects us to keep in our home. At times like this, one of the best Scriptures is the one that says, “A soft answer turneth away wrath” (Proverbs 15:1). And of course, we must be forgiving.
I am sure we all want to serve the Lord by keeping His commandments. If there is any problem concerning this, it must be one of two things: we either do not understand the commandments and how they are to control our lives and homes, or we are unable to keep them. Now, whichever it may be, help is available, through prayer and a diligent study of the Scriptures. We must desire to keep the commandments and understand how they fit into our own personal lives. This is the key to happy marriages and homes, and a happy, healthy, loving ecclesia.
We have mentioned that the husband is to the wife the same as Christ is to the church. On the other hand though, it is not the place of a wife to decide she is not going to respect her husband’s position as head of the home because she thinks he doesn’t deserve it. We read in 1st Corinthians 11 that even as man is the image and glory of God, the woman is the glory of the man, and then there is Ephesians 5:33 which says that the husband is to love his wife even as himself and the wife is to reverence her husband.
Now, as already pointed out, at least some of those in the world can see the importance of a good home life for the proper bringing up of our children, and that the lack of this has a lot to do with conditions today. It is only natural that the same things that cause the homes of the world to be mostly ungodly places, with the partners splitting up, getting divorces, and remarrying two or three or more times, can easily creep into our own homes if we allow them to.
Let us examine the cause of this condition. The cause is that the husband or the wife (sometimes both) are not fulfilling their part of the marriage contract in a Christlike way, and this is brought about by the modern way of life. For one thing, man no longer has the status as head of the household in most countries throughout the world. The reason for this change is probably a complex one, but it really goes back to the one reason we just mentioned, that neither partner is fulfilling his or her part in the home, according to the commandments of Christ.
Man used to be the literal provider and protector of his home. He worked all day with his hands, brought home the bacon at night, tacked a few shakes on the roof when it leaked, ran off the hungry bears and wolves that came after the livestock, and maybe even scared away some Indians.
But today the wife doesn’t need a husband for these things. Neither does she need to stay at home doing the washing by hand, baking the bread, churning the butter, keeping the fire going etc. for these things are all done for many of us by modern machines, and of course this gives us much free time to do other things that our forefathers never had time to do. But what do we do with this time? With all the material things it is possible to possess these days ,it is very easy for us to desire much more than is necessary for us to possess. The husband still works, but his authority and status as head of the household has nearly ceased to exist. The housework having been completed in short order by the use of the many time saving devices, the wife can take the family’s second car and go shopping. She doesn’t even need money to get all she can carry home, for all she has to do is “charge it”.
The husband’s spare time is often taken up by many things that take him away from his family, things such as sports, hobbies and pleasures of many sorts, but if his first concern is the well-being of his family, he will want to be with them all of the time he can. This is a problem in the world today, and can be in our homes as well.
We have very briefly touched on one or two of the reasons why there is so much trouble in the home these days, with its effect on life in the ecclesia, but we would like to add that if we bring ourselves to realize what the divine institution of marriage is supposed to be, there will be much more harmony in the home first of all, and in the ecclesia as a result. If, however, we try to straighten out our partners first, instead of ourselves, there will never be any success. We must start with ourselves.
Another thought, marriage can never work if the partners are too demanding, expecting to receive without giving. It is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35). God expects us to be meek and humble with all people, and this must begin and be practiced at home with our marriage partner. For the wife to usurp authority over the husband is not in keeping with the commandments of Christ, and for the husband to ruthlessly display a tyrannical attitude is just as un-Christlike. It is most important that we understand the position of the wife in the home, because when we come to the ecclesia to worship God, we all represent the bride, and if we do not understand her position in the marriage, neither will we have the right attitude toward Christ, our husband, when we gather there.
We need to come to the ecclesia to put ourselves in meek, humble submission to Christ and to the instruction contained in the Scriptures.
It is only by this means that we can draw this family of our ecclesia closer together, and have the love and harmony in our midst that God expects us to have.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One