THE APOSTLE PETER’S EXHORTATION.
“Wherefore,
gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be
brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient
children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in
your ignorance; but as he who hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in
all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy.”-1
Pet. 1:13-16.
TO APPRECIATE the
exhortations of the apostles, we need to become acquainted with their several
characters; to note their circumstances; to mark their zeal and faithfulness;
and to remember that every word of exhortation addressed to the Church has the
substantial backing of their worthy examples. They endured hardness as good
soldiers, and suffered much for the privilege of declaring the truth. In their
writings are blended a high degree of the power of logic, eloquence and pathos,
combined with an inspiring enthusiasm which must awaken in every student of
their teachings a measure, at least, of the same sacred flame.
Though written so long ago, the above words of exhortation lose none of
their force to us. They were penned for the instruction of the whole Church,
down to the end of the age. The introductory, “Wherefore,” refers us to the
glorious hope of our high calling, and of the necessarily severe measures
required to fit us for our exalted inheritance, as mentioned in the preceding
verses. Peter would have us appreciate what it is to be called with such a
high calling-to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not
away, reserved in heaven for those who are kept by the power of God through
faith. (Verse 4.) He would have us know that, if faithful, we are to be made
even “partakers of the divine nature,” and that we are to be joint-heirs with
Jesus Christ, of all things.-2 Pet. 1:4.
As the spirit of God draws our hearts into closer fellowship and sympathy
with the divine mind, the value of these “exceeding great and precious
promises” is more and more fully realized, until there glows in our hearts the
same holy enthusiasm that so filled the hearts of the apostles. And only when
our hearts are thus warmed and our minds thus awakened, are we prepared to
understand the Apostle’s “Wherefore,” upon the inspiring comprehension of which
depends our ability to heed the earnest exhortation which follows.
If our hearts are not duly inspired with this hope -if we have begun to
esteem it lightly, or to forget it, or to think of it as an idle tale-to heed
the counsel of Peter, here given, will be impossible. If,
therefore, we realize that a spiritual lethargy has to any extent been creeping
over us, imperceptibly benumbing our spiritual senses, so that the truth is
losing its inspiring power upon us, our first duty is to betake ourselves to
prayer and to communion with God and his Word, that its sanctifying power may
be realized.
“Wherefore,” then, you that discern
the prize of your high calling, and who are endeavoring to press along the line
toward the mark, “gird up the loins of your mind”-as in the illustration;
strengthen and fortify your purposes and efforts; renew your determination;
redouble your diligence; cast aside the weights of unnecessary worldly cares;
increase your zeal; and, as the Apostle Paul also urges, run with patience the
race set before you. Run, not like one who is merely beating the air, but like
one who has a purpose in view, and who, in desperate earnest, is determined
to make his calling and election sure.- Heb. 12:1; 1 Cor. 9:26.
Having thus “girded up the loins of your mind”
for a long, steady and determined effort, he further counsels,-“Be sober:” do
not allow yourself to become excited and, under the spur of excitement, to
exhaust all your spiritual vitality in a very short time, and then to suffer a
relapse into coldness or discouragement; but thoughtfully to consider and
prepare for a long and patient endurance of all the discipline and trial of
faith and patience necessary to prove an overcomer and worthy of the blessed
reward promised “to him that overcometh.” The race before us is not one to be
run by fits and starts, but by “patient continuance in well doing.”
Soberly, thoughtfully, we are to weigh and endeavor to realize the import of
the exceeding great and precious promises and to gather from them their
invigorating inspiration; earnestly we must apply our minds and hearts to the
instruction of the inspired Word of God, availing ourselves also of such
helps-of “pastors and teachers” and their literary productions-which prove
harmonious with, and helpful to, the study of the Scriptures; diligently and
patiently we must submit ourselves to all the transforming influences of divine
grace and truth; and then, loyally and faithfully, we must devote our consecrated
talents, however few or many, to the great work of preaching this gospel of the
Kingdom to all who will hear.
Such a sober view of the situation fortifies the mind against
discouragement, and enables us, as the Apostle suggests, to “hope to the end for
the grace to be brought unto us at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Such a
sober view keeps Reason on the throne of our minds. And Reason says, The
divine call to joint-heirship with Christ clearly implies eligibility to the
exalted office; the divine promise clearly insures divine grace to enable us to
fulfil the conditions; the divine provision for my justification, by faith in
the precious blood of Christ, releases me from the condemnation to death; and
the righteousness of Christ, imputed to me by faith, fully supplements all my
weaknesses, so that before God I stand approved in him. Sober Reason also says,
The directions given in the Scriptures to those who would run the race are
clear and explicit, and make plain every step of the way to those who are truly
and fully consecrated to the Lord. The examples of the Lord and the Apostles
shine on the pathway with a moral luster and glory that cannot lead us astray.
If we walk in their footprints we will assuredly reach the same goal.
Therefore in this sober view of our high calling and its privileges, and
the abundant resources of divine grace, let us not be discouraged or overcome
in any way, but let us hope to the end for the grace (favor) that is to be
brought unto us at the revelation of Jesus Christ-at his second advent. The
Church has enjoyed much of the divine favor all through the age of her
probation and trial; but the grace to be revealed at the revelation of Jesus
Christ-when he comes to reign in power and great glory-is her exaltation with
him to sit with him in his throne. This glorious consummation, the Church all
through the age must steadily keep in view: but how glorious is the privilege
of those of its members living in this end of the age, when already, even
before our change into his glorious likeness-in a moment, in the twinkling of
an eye-we begin to enter the joys of our Lord.
Those who are still sober and faithful, and who have not cast away their
confidence, have been led into the secret of the Master’s presence; and they have
been made to sit down to meat, and the Master himself has come forth and served
them. Yes, our hearts have been made to burn within us while he has opened up
the Scriptures and made us understand, from the testimony of the law and the
prophets and the apostles, that the time is fulfilled-that the end of the age
is now here, and that the Lord of the harvest is present to direct and
supervise the great work of reaping the fruit of precious seed long ago sown in
tears, and now to be gathered with joy and singing; while he has opened up to
us the treasures of divine wisdom and grace displayed in the plan of the ages,
which God purposed before the foundation of the world, which he has been
gradually working out in the ages past, and which is now nearing its glorious
consummation.
Oh, what feasting, what rejoicing there has been around the table of the
Lord, as one after another the treasures of divine grace have been opened to
us, revealing the glories of the new heavens and the new earth, and the blessedness
of all the obedient subjects of him who sitteth on the throne to reign in
righteousness; how all tears shall be wiped from off all faces, and how the
reproach of God’s people is to be taken away! Well indeed did Daniel prophesy,
saying, “Oh, the blessedness of him that waiteth and cometh to the thousand,
three hundred, thirty and five days!”-the days of the Lord’s second presence,
when all that is written to be accomplished by his glorious reign shall begin
to come to pass.
Seeing, then, that such are our privileges and hopes, “what manner of
persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and god-likeness?” (2 Pet.
3:11.) Being purified by this hope, ought we not, as the Apostle exhorts, to
fashion ourselves, not according to the former lusts (desires and ambitions,
which we had) in our ignorance, but as he who has called us is holy, should not
we also be holy in all manner of conversation-in all our words and ways? Since
it is written, “Be ye holy; for I [the Lord] am holy (1 Pet. 1:15,16), should
not we who are called to be partakers of his own nature and glory be holy also?
Some Christians have the erroneous idea that God
does all the fashioning, and that his children are to be merely passive in his
hand; but Peter does not so express it. He exhorts us to fashion ourselves
according to the divine instructions. There is a work to be done in us and
about us, and those who are not up and doing, but who passively sit and wait
for the Lord to work miracles in their behalf, are greatly deceived and are
giving the enemy great advantage over them which he will certainly use to bind
them hand and foot and cast them into outer darkness, unless they bestir
themselves to work out their salvation with fear and trembling, while
God, cooperating with their earnest efforts, works in them, to will and to do
his good pleasure. (Phil. 2:12,13.) “Watch and pray,” beloved, lest any of
these snares of the enemy entrap you and beguile you of your reward.