ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION IN PROPHECY.
The Major Prophets are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. The twelve
prophetic books in the Old Testament following the book of Daniel are
called the Minor Prophets. In the writings of both classes we find many
allusions and predictions as to the entire sanctification of believers
in the gospel dispensation and under the reign of Messiah or Christ.
The sixth chapter of Isaiah is usually regarded as his call to the
prophetic office. Whether this be so or not, it records a very
wonderful experience of that grand man, and a remarkable type of the
baptism with the Holy Ghost as described in the book of Acts.
It is quite evident that Isaiah was a converted man before he wrote his
first chapter. In that he laments the sins of the Israelites and the
Jews, all of them God's chosen people, though now divided into the two
kingdoms and these often at variance, shows the utter futility of their
own efforts to regain the favor of God, by observances and sacrifices
and ceremonies, and then tells them how to be converted as plainly as
any gospel minister in our own day would be able to do. He shows them
that the way of salvation is by repentance and faith, and by trusting
to the unmerited mercy of God. Hear him: "Wash you, make you clean; put
away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;
learn to do well; seek judgment; relieve the oppressed; judge the
fatherless; plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together,
saith the Lord; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white
as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."
Here are repentance and amendment of life and pardon, the washing away
of guilt and committed sins, symbolical of the New Testament washing of
regeneration, symbolical also of John's baptism of repentance unto the
remission of sins.
But now in the sixth chapter, and "in the year that king Uzziah died,"
a wondrous vision of the pre-existent Christ, "sitting upon a throne
high and lifted up" and the seraphim crying one to another "Holy, holy,
holy is the Lord of hosts," was vouchsafed to the prophet. And the
first effect of the glorious things which he saw and heard was not to
exalt him and minister to his pride, but to fill him with despair at
his own depravity. He felt just as Peter did at the first miraculous
draught of fishes on the Sea of Galilee, when he exclaimed "Depart from
me for I am a sinful man, O Lord." Ah! beloved, it never fosters
spiritual pride, nor any other kind of pride to get a nearer and
clearer view of Christ than we ever had before. Quite the contrary.
Such a vision turns us towards our inner selves, and enables us to
behold by contrast the darkness and sinfulness and pollution of our own
souls, and in such a view we shall find food for the deepest
humiliation, but nothing to nourish pride.
Accordingly, Isaiah exclaimed in agony of soul "Woe is me! for I am
undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of
a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of
hosts." If we may credit Jewish tradition, it was for the offence of
saying that he had seen the King, the Lord of hosts, that the prophet
was afterwards sawn asunder. But the record of the glorious vision is
still preserved and will, no doubt, be blessed to millions of readers
in the future, as in the past, and until the end of the age.
But the seraph was sent to touch the "unclean lips" of Isaiah--unclean
because of innate depravity, and unclean notwithstanding he had
probably been preaching repentance and amendment of life and
forgiveness for two or three years before this wondrous experience--to
touch them with holy fire. And then he was assured not that his sins of
commission and omission were forgiven--that had been done before--but
that his iniquity was taken away, and his (inbred) sin purged. This was
a second and a definite experience, and strikingly emblematic of the
baptism with the Holy Ghost and fire under the gospel dispensation,
which is also accompanied by "the purifying of the heart by faith," or
entire sanctification.
How wondrous are the prophecies of Isaiah after this experience. He
seems to look down the centuries for seven hundred years and to see the
glorious blessings of the gospel dispensation almost as clearly as if
they were already present. Hear him in the thirty-fifth chapter: "And
an highway shall be there and a way; and it shall be called the way of
holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for
those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein." And in
the fifty-first chapter: "Awake, awake! Put on thy strength, O Zion!
put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; for
henceforth, there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and
the unclean," and in the sixtieth chapter: "Thy sun shall no more go
down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself; for the Lord shall be
thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended."
To Jeremiah the Lord said, "I sanctified thee; and I ordained thee a
prophet unto the nations," which must mean not only that he was set
apart for the office of a prophet, but also that he was cleansed from
inbred sin, as a necessary preparation for the office itself.
In the thirty-sixth chapter of Ezekiel we have some striking passages
on the theme before us. These were, no doubt, addressed primarily to
the outward Israel, but they may very justly be appropriated by the
Israel of God, the Church of Christ, since as Augustine says, "The New
Testament lies hidden in the Old, and the Old is revealed in the New."
In the twenty-fifth verse we have the promise of pardon or
justification with cleansing from the pollution of their past sins:
"Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean, from
all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you."
Committed sin implies both guilt and pollution. And the pollution that
is thus acquired by the practice of sinning is removed in regeneration.
Thus the new convert is brought back again to the state of the little
child. "Except ye be converted," said the blessed Saviour, "and become
as little children, ye cannot enter into the kingdom of God." The
little child has neither the guilt nor the pollution of committed sin;
whilst he does have within him the inherited or inbred sin of his
nature.
Now in the promise quoted above, allusion is made to the clean water
made from the ashes of a red heifer and sprinkled, under the Mosaic
law, upon those who had incurred ceremonial uncleanness. The thing
signified, however, is the precious blood of Christ which cleanseth
from all sin, or possibly the cleansing operation of the Holy Spirit,
typified by water, may here be meant. At any rate the twenty-fifth
verse points to nothing less than a full and free justification.
But the prophet continues: "A new heart also will I give you and a new
spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out
of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh." Here we have
described certainly the experience of regeneration, if indeed not the
still fuller experience of entire sanctification. But let us admit that
it means only the new heart which is given to the penitent sinner at
his new birth. Regeneration implies the impartation of a new life by
the Divine energy of the Holy Ghost. And this new life is comparable to
the "heart of flesh," not, of course, a carnal heart, but a heart
tender and teachable, and impressible to heavenly influences, such a
heart as we always find in the new-born babe in Christ.
But listen still further: "And I will put My Spirit within you, and
cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments and do
them." In this verse we have a pre-figuring of the Holy Ghost baptism,
by which the heart is cleansed from all sin and sanctified wholly, and
also of the subsequent "walking in the Spirit," to which Paul alludes
in one of his epistles. Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, who
was also seized with prophetic fire at the birth of his son, exclaims,
"That He would grant unto us that we, being delivered out of the hand
of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and
righteousness before Him, all the days of our life." Surely the gospel
of Christ has something better for its recipients than a constant daily
sinning and repenting, which is too often the experience of Christian
people. The twenty-seventh verse, therefore, signifies holiness of
heart and life through the power of the indwelling Spirit.
How blessed it is thus to be assured that what we cannot do by our own
strength, the Holy Spirit will cause us to do. This doctrine of
spiritual causation is indeed glorious. Like the mainspring of the
watch which supplies the power within, by which the hands are moved
without, and thus the fleeting minutes and hours are correctly
measured, so the Holy Spirit within supplies the energy by which the
sanctified believer is enabled or caused to adorn the doctrine of
Christ, his Saviour, in all things, and to bring forth the fruit of the
Spirit in all righteousness and goodness and truth.
In the minor prophets, we find numerous allusions to the subject of
holiness, though their language is often highly figurative. In Hosea
2:16, after reproving Israel for her unfaithfulness in the past, the
Almighty, through His prophet, employs the following language, viz:
"And it shall be at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call Me
Ishi, and shalt call Me no more Baali," and again in the nineteenth
verse, "I will betroth thee unto Me forever; yea I will betroth thee in
righteousness and in judgment and in loving kindness and in mercies; I
will even betroth thee unto Me in faithfulness; and thou shalt know the
Lord." Now the word Ishi means my husband; while the word Baali means
my Lord, and the language, therefore, points to an experience or a
relation of marriage. The bride is exalted immeasurably above the
servant. While the position of the servant points to a legal
justification and a service for wages and reward, that of the bride
must signify entire sanctification, and the closest possible union with
the Heavenly Bridegroom. Again, the word betrothed points legitimately
to a marriage which is always justly expected to follow if both parties
are faithful to the engagement. Beloved, let us get so near to Christ
that we shall not address Him as my Lord, in the spirit of a servant,
but as my husband, in the spirit of a loving and faithful wife. At your
conversion, you are, as it were, betrothed to Him, or in ordinary
language engaged to Him. At your entire sanctification, your engagement
is consummated by the marriage union. Engagement must precede marriage,
it is true, but, as a rule, engagements should not be long. Do not
needlessly defer your nuptials, but rather hasten to the embraces of
Everlasting Love. Like Rebecca, appreciate your high and holy calling,
and like her say promptly and decidedly, "I will go."
In the book of Joel we find the prophecy which Peter quoted on the day
of Pentecost, and assured the multitude of Jews, out of every nation
under heaven, that what they beheld on that day was the fulfillment of
the same. "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out My
Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. And
also upon the servants and upon the handmaidens in those days will I
pour out My Spirit."
Now, these words are clearly a foreshadowing of the baptism with the
Holy Ghost and fire, designed for all of God's children without
distinction of nation or sex, and intended, first, to purify their
hearts by faith (see Acts 15:9) and, secondly, to endue them with power
for whatever line of service God may call them to. And we may add that
this text, as well as many others, shows that in these gospel days
women as well as men may be, as we find in the facts of our daily
experience that they are both called and qualified for the work of the
ministry, as well as other labors in the vineyard of the Lord. But both
men and women need the Holy Ghost baptism which consumes inbred sin,
as an indispensable qualification for the highest efficiency and most
marked success in the work to which they may individually be called.
Every Christian may and should do something for the Lord, but none can
do all for Him which he makes it his privilege and his duty to do,
without the grace of entire sanctification and the fulness of the
Spirit.
In the prayer of Habakkuk we have some sentences which point
unmistakably to the experience of perfect trust in God and perfect love
for Him. "Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit
be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields
shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and
there shall be no herd in the stalls; yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I
will joy in the God of my salvation." Compare this with John Wesley's
description of a holy man after Paul. One who is enabled to rejoice
evermore, to pray without ceasing, and in everything to give thanks.
Does not Habakkuk answer beautifully to this description?
The prophecy of Zechariah contains a number of visions, which are, no
doubt, full of instruction to those who have eyes to see. We can only
mention one or two of these. In the third chapter, verses one to seven,
we are introduced to Joshua, the high priest, representing the Jewish
people, and typifying Christ Jesus with His eternal and unchangeable
priesthood after the order of Melchizedek. But the Angel Jehovah also
represents Jesus in His capacity of Judge. And Satan, the adversary, is
present as the accuser of the brethren, resisting them in the person of
their representative, the high priest.
And surely it would seem, at first, as if there was ground for his
accusations, for Joshua, the high priest, is clothed in filthy
garments, and these can signify nothing else than sins, aye, the sins
of His people imputed to Him as their representative and priest, and
not their actual sins only but their inbred sin also, for, "The Lord
hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all," and "He hath made Him to be
sin for us who knew no sin." "His visage was so marred more than any
man, and His form more than the sons of men." "He hath no form nor
comeliness, and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we
should desire Him."
"Many were astonished at thee," says Isaiah. "Behold the man," said
Pilate, as he brought forth Jesus scourged, tortured, bleeding, but
uncomplaining, and the only answer was "Crucify Him!" Thus, beloved,
was He clothed in very truth with the filthy garments not of His own
vileness but of ours.
But Joshua was "a brand plucked from the burning," and, therefore, in
Him all His people have found pardon. And now comes the order "Take
away the filthy garments from him, and unto him he said, Behold, I have
caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with
change of raiment." Surely, beloved, we here have nothing less than
entire sanctification, not in ourselves but in Him, and not only simply
imputatively and representatively, but actually and experimentally.
Praise the Lord.
The prophet Malachi assures us that "He shall sit as a refiner and
purifier of silver; and He shall purify the sons of Levi" (that is, the
"royal priesthood" which constitutes the true church) "and purge them
as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in
righteousness." Surely no one will deny that there is holiness in
prophecy.