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The Greater Purpose
by
A T Jones
Part Four
The "Walls" of the City
(All the emphasis has been added by the Protestors)
Section 4
In the story of the restoration of Jerusalem in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, there is another remarkable prophecy.
That restoration, in the Lord's purpose, included the rebuilding of the walls of the city as well as the temple itself. For the word of the angel Gabriel to Daniel was that the "street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times." Daniel 9:25.
As before related, the temple was rebuilt and finished, from beginning to finishing, in troublous times: and it was no less so in the rebuilding of the street and the wall. All the way along the opposition was carried on from its original source in Satan, through open enemies and pretended friends, through conspiracy of treacherous "brethren" with the heathen enemies, and by whatever tricks and means and meanness that such association could employ.
The falling away
After the building of the temple, there was in the people a general letting down of zeal and devotion that resulted indeed in a distinct falling away. This was so persistent that it is not too much to say that had it not been for the successive coming up of others from Babylon, the whole enterprise would have languished practically to defeat.
From the time of the original coming out of Babylon under Zerubbabel and Joshua the son of Josedak to the finishing of the temple was twenty years. From the time of the finishing of the temple to the time of the second coming out, under Ezra, was fifty-nine years. And from the coming out under Ezra to the coming of Nehemiah to Jerusalem was twelve years.
When Ezra came he found that among the people there was such a falling away, that they had actually mingled themselves with the idolatrous nations around, and even with those who from the beginning had been the adversaries of all that they themselves were there for. "They had taken of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy seed had mingled themselves with the people of the lands. Yes the hand of the princes and rulers had been chief in this trespass." Even the sons of Joshua the son of Josedak the high priest had done this.
Ezra wrought a rigid reform and separation from this trespass. But in the twelve years from then till Nehemiah came, the evil had been repeated.
The opposition
No sooner had Nehemiah arrived at Jerusalem than the chiefs of the heathen that occupied the land of Samaria, were all alive to revive the same opposition.
"When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel." Nehemiah 2:10.
The fourth day after his arrival Nehemiah called the priests and nobles and chiefs of the Jews and began the building of the wall. And Satan was no less alive and no less diligent than before in his opposition; and as before had his instruments all prepared for his ready use. For
"When Sanballat, the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn and despised us, and said, "What is this thing that ye do? Will ye rebel against the King?"
"Then answered I them, and said unto them, the God of Heaven, he will prosper us: therefore we his servants will arise and build: but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem." 2:19-20.
The workers were so placed that all of the wall, clear around, was included; and the building of it went on everywhere at once. Thus the work proceeded rapidly.
"But it came to pass that when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth, and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews. And he spoke before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, What do these feeble Jews? Will they fortify themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they make an end in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish which are burned? Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall." 4:1-3.
The wall was soon half way up.
And "it came to pass that when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabians and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the walls of Jerusalem were made up, and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth and conspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem, and to hinder it. Nevertheless we made our prayer to our God and set a watch against them day and night." 4:7-9.
"And our adversaries said, They shall not know, neither see, till we come in the midst of them, and slay them, and cause the work to cease. And it came to pass, that when the Jews that dwelt by them came, they said unto us ten times, From all places whence ye shall turn unto us they will be upon you." 4:11-12.
From that time on, the danger was so imminent that all the people were armed, and were vigilantly watchful.
"They which builded on the wall, and they that bear burdens, with those that laded, everyone with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon. For the builders, everyone had his sword girded by his side, and so builded. And he that sounded the trumpet was by me." 4:17-18.
And of Nehemiah's personal guard, while one half of them "wrought in the work, the other half held both the spears."
"So we labored in the work; and half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared. . . . So neither I, nor my brethren, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard which followed me - none of us put off our clothes, saving that everyone put them off for washing," for fifty-two days till the wall was finished.
The worse opposition
And all this time of all the opposition and danger from the heathen, there were a lot of the Jews themselves who were constantly conspiring with these heathen in their enmity and opposition against Nehemiah and the work in which he was engaged. Some even were in secret correspondence with these enemies; others were treacherous counsellors of Nehemiah; others were pretended prophets bribed by Sanballat and Tobiah to "prophecy" to Nehemiah in their interests.
"In those days the nobles of Judah, sent many letters unto Tobiah, and the letters of Tobiah came unto them. For there were many in Judah sworn unto him, because he was the son-in-law of Shechaniah the son of Arah; and his son Johanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berachiah. Also they reported his good deeds before me, and uttered my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to put me in fear." 6:17-19.
And even Eliashib the high priest was in such close alliance with Tobiah the Ammonite, that he had actually fitted up as a dwelling one of the chambers of the temple, and there had snugly ensconced Tobiah as a resident, and one of the grandsons of this "Eliashib the high priest was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite." 13:4-5, 28.
Surely the word of the angel to Daniel was abundantly fulfilled - that the "street shall be built again and the wall even in troublous times." Yet in spite of all these sorts of opposition the work was successfully accomplished. "And it came to pass, that when all our enemies heard thereof, and all the heathen that were about us saw these things, they were much cast down in their own eyes; for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God."
The false temple
As soon as the building of the wall was finished, Nehemiah took up the task of the betterment of conduct among the priests and nobles and people. In many ways the laws - both the moral and the ceremonial - were greatly disregarded. The Jews equally with the heathen were profaning the Sabbath; and there was also this other equally profane thing of the alliances and inter-marriages with the heathen open enemies. As had Ezra before, Nehemiah now took up for correction these mixed alliances and marriages with the heathen in general, and with the heathen enemies in particular: Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite.
"In those days also saw I Jews that had married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab. And their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews' language; but according to the language of each people." "And I understood of the evil that Eliashib did for Tobiah, in preparing him a chamber in the courts of the house of God. And it grieved me sore: therefore I cast forth all the household stuff of Tobiah out of the chamber. Then I commanded, and they cleansed the chamber; and thither brought I again the vessels of the house of God, with the meat offering and the frankincense."
But that grandson of Eliashib the high priest, who was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite would not separate from his heathen wife and his heathen alliance; and so, says Nehemiah, "Therefore I chased him from me. Remember them, Oh my God, because they have defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood, and of the Levites. Thus cleansed I them from all strangers." 13:7-9, 23-24, 28-30.
Sanballat the Horonite, having now as his very own this apostate Jew of the tribe, and even the very family, of the priesthood, conceived the purpose of erecting a rival temple and establishing a rival worship in Samaria, to that in Jerusalem. And he went personally to the King of Persia and obtained from him the royal permission to build his temple and false worship, claimed to be the true, and passed off as the true.
Thus was originated the temple and worship of Samaria [of which Jesus said], "Ye worship ye know not what," in contrast with the truth, "We know what we worship: for Salvation is of the Jews." John 4:22. At the same time also sweeping away all the rivalry of both those temples, in His statement of the infinitely wider truth:
"Woman believe me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father. But the hour cometh and now is when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." John 4:21, 23-24.
In Christian times
And when "The Branch" had come, the Builder of the True and Ultimate "Temple of the Lord," this same Satanic opposition of always was diligently continued and the more desperately as this Temple means the more. And, as in the preceding chapter, we have seen that he continues this desperate opposition unto the very end of the world. And it has been again by means of a false gospel and a false temple and a false worship, that this Satanic enmity and opposition has been made most effective.
In chapter II of this series of studies, it has been made plain by the plain Scriptures that "The Temple of the Lord," "The Tabernacle of David," "House of God," of which Christ "The Branch" is the Builder, is The Church of the Living God; and that this "Temple of the Lord" and "Tabernacle of David" is built by Him through the ministration of the True Gospel "with the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven."
At Pentecost, and in the event of the gift of the Holy Spirit, the open building of this Temple was begun by "The Branch," the True and divinely given Builder. And the building of that Temple, thus mightily begun went mightily on for a period; and then "The Mystery of Iniquity," through a false gospel, and a false and rival temple and a false worship, began the work to supplant The Mystery of God in and of the True Gospel, and thus to frustrate the building of The Temple and the walls of the glorious Jerusalem which is above and free and the mother of us all.
From Jerusalem there was scattered abroad "all" of the spirit-filled Christians, except the Apostles: and these "went everywhere preaching the word" of the True Gospel. In the place of these in Jerusalem, of the new ones who came in there were many more formalists and traditionalists: Pharisees, who would subordinate Christianity to Pharasaism. These were ready instruments for the use of Satan in his opposition to the Builder, and to His building, of the new and true Temple: for with a false gospel they subverted souls.
The false gospelists
From the Church in Jerusalem there went forth some of those to Antioch and preached to the Christians there, "Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved." This to people who were already saved: saved by the faith of Christ the Saviour. Paul and Barnabas were at Antioch preaching The Gospel. They immediately challenged this false gospel that people who are saved must yet "be circumcised and keep the law" - must do something - to be saved!
And there was "no small discussion and disputation with them." And when they could not maintain their false gospel against the True Gospel preached by Paul and Barnabas, they fell back on authority, and asserted that what they preached was held by the apostles and the church that were in Jerusalem whence they had come with the sanction, if not the commission, of those disciples and that church.
When they thus shifted their ground from the merit and strength of what they preached, to the ground of the authority of the church, this put the Apostles and the church at Jerusalem in place of themselves in the question at issue. Therefore it was "determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them (Titus), should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this matter."
The meetings in Jerusalem
When these arrived at Jerusalem "they were received of the church and of the apostles and elders; and they declared all things that God had done with them. But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees, which believed, saying that "it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the Law of Moses."
Then there was a second meeting, in which "the apostles and elders with the whole church" met "to consider this matter." After there had been "much disputing." Peter arose and said,
"Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of The Gospel and believe. And God, who knoweth the hearts, bear them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost even as he did unto us: and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore why tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear. But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they."
"Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them.
"And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren hearken to me: Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name. And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written, After this I will return and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up; that the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called saith the Lord, who doeth all these things. Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world. Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them which from among the Gentiles are turned to God."
"Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; . . . and they wrote letters by them after this manner. The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia: forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, ye must be circumcised and keep the law; to whom we gave no such commandment."
The opposition renewed
This stilled the false gospelists for the moment, but not for long.
They soon rallied their ill confidence and their bad courage, and entered more determinedly upon their campaign of opposition. They pursued Paul everywhere and by every means that they could employ. They insisted that Paul was not an apostle at all; that he had not seen Christ; that he was only a tent-maker plying his trade for a living; that he got his gospel only from men and was sent by men and was preaching only to please men.
In this general campaign they went into Galatia, and there they skillfully plied their opposition that they deceived and confused - "bewitched" - and even turned back from Christ to their false gospel, the Galatian Christians. This was the cause of Paul's writing the letter to the Galatians: which, more than any other Scripture, reveals the secret and principle of this whole matter.
"Paul, an Apostle, not of men neither by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead . . . unto the churches of Galatia. . . . I marvel that ye are so soon removed from Him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: which is not another, but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the Gospel of Christ.
"But though we, or an angel from Heaven, preach any other gospel unto you let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.
"Do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. But I certify you, brethren, that The Gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ."
He himself had been a traditionalist, even a surpassing one:
"For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted The Church of God and wasted it: and profited in the Jews' religion above many of my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.
"But when it pleased God . . . to reveal His son in me, that I might preach Him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood; neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter and abode with him fifteen days. But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother. . . .
"Then fourteen years after I went up again unto Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also (this was the time of Acts 15). And I went up by revelation and communicated unto them that Gospel which I preach among the Gentiles. . . . But neither Titus who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised; and that because of false brethren unawares brought in, which came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage. To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour: that the truth of The Gospel might continue with you." Galatians 1 and 2.
The true gospel
Thus the real question and the whole question, was "the Truth of The Gospel," and whether the truth of the Gospel should continue or whether it should cease? Whether it should be the true Gospel, or a false gospel, that should be preached?
Whether it should be the perfect and eternally established Salvation of souls, or the deceitful subversion of souls? Whether man's Hope should be an anchor, sure and steadfast; or whether it should be only "a spider's web?"
And this the very thought of the Scriptures as to the "walls" of this True Jerusalem "which is the mother of us all:" For thus it is written:
"Do Thy good pleasure unto Zion: build Thou the walls of Jerusalem." Psalm 51:18.
"Thou shalt call thy walls Salvation and Thy gates Praise." Isaiah 60:18.
That is to say, that God in Christ has made His Salvation so complete and so strong and so sure and so enduring that it is the divinely perfect protection and defense of every soul that has it; and that He intends that this Salvation - the Gospel of this Salvation - shall be preached, and so preached, that it may be so received and so preached, that it may be so received and known, that every soul shall perpetually dwell in the quietness and assurance and perfect Peace of God which passeth all understanding and keeps the heart and mind through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7.
"In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah, We have a Strong City: Salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in.
"Thou wilt keep Him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed (anchored) on Thee, because he trusted in Thee. Trust ye in the Lord forever; for in the Lord Jehovah is the Rock of Ages." Isaiah 26:1-4.
This is The Gospel that God in Christ put into the world of sin.
This is The Gospel that He revived in the world with the bountiful refreshing from Heaven at Pentecost.
This is The Gospel that Stephen preached to the hard-hearted and rebellious Sanhedrin, and for which they stoned him to death.
This is The Gospel that Paul received from Christ in Glory and which he preached everywhere.
This is The Gospel of God - the eternal Gospel.
This is The Gospel of "eternal Salvation" - Salvation that is eternal for every soul who receives it.
This is The Gospel.
The crisis
But Satan never wants any souls to have for his protection and defense the mighty wall and bulwark of this Salvation. And so again and more determinedly he set about to make the building of this wall to be as far as possible frustrated: and that "in troublous times."
Against the plain and definitely declared and written conclusion of "the apostles and elders and the whole church" in Jerusalem at the meeting in Acts 15, the false gospelists in their renewed endeavor succeeded in swerving to their cause even the apostle James the Lord's brother. Greatly encouraged and strengthened by the influence and use of this name, they proceeded to further and greater conquest. And most fittingly this effort - and the crisis of the whole controversy with it - occurred at Antioch where their contention had been begun.
Paul and Barnabas were at Antioch as before, preaching The Gospel. To Antioch Peter came, also preaching The Gospel. In the midst of their united building of the walls of Salvation, there came to Antioch again a bunch of the false gospelists. These "came from James:" and by the influence of that name they so effectually plied their wiles and wiliness, that Peter was actually swung their way. By this great accession the other Jewish Christians there were drawn over, and even "Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation."
"But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of The Gospel, I said unto Peter before them all: If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?
"We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Christ, - even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law. For by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
"But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. For if I build up again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. 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.
"I do not frustrate the grace of God. For it righteousness come by the law then Christ is dead in vain."
The mystery
Only the recognition of the hypnotic presence of Satan in that false gospel and with the promoters, can explain its workings there.
Both Peter and James had stood up for, and clearly spoken for, the truth of The Gospel, in the meeting in Jerusalem when the question was directly considered. And the published letter carried the statement of their position. Yet that adverse influence was so strong that it could cause James to swerve and for a time to forget his own publicly spoken words in that meeting, and to disregard the conclusion that had been unanimously set down in that published letter.
Before that meeting in Jerusalem, Peter, in the case of Cornelius, had met this very issue and had decided it perfectly straight; and afterward had met the charge of the false gospelists, and against their charge had so held the truth of The Gospel that they were silent. Acts 10 and 11. In that meeting on this same question in Jerusalem, Peter cited this former fact, and confirmed it by his speech there. And the letter of the conclusion reached in that meeting, was his equally with all the others.
And yet against all of this personal experience and knowledge in the truth of The Gospel, Peter, by that evil influence of the false gospelists, was caused to "withdraw and separate himself" from true Christians. And Peter, who with the perfect calm of Christian boldness had repeatedly faced the murderous Sanhedrin, now withdrew and separated himself from true Christians, "fearing them which were of the circumcision!"
Barnabas, who for eighteen years had steadily preached the truth of The Gospel, and for years had preached it harmoniously with Paul, now was "carried away" with the dissimulation - the two-facedness, the hypocrisy - of the false gospelist crowd! What but Satanic power and the Satanic delusion of traditionalism and formalism passed off for the way of salvation, can explain all of that. And even then, it is a mystery how all of that could be done even by Satanic power.
Yes, it is a mystery, that is the truth: a mystery beyond fathoming.
For that was the beginning of the working of the very "mystery of iniquity" which finally revealed and presented in the world "the man of sin" opposing and exalting himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, and as God sitting in the temple, the rival, false, and pretended temple of God showing himself that he is God. 2 Thessalonians 2:4-7. That speech of Paul's saved the day for the truth of The Gospel, with the apostles and in The Temple of the Lord and Tabernacle of David - The Church of the Living God - of which The Branch is the Builder.
The new false temple
But the false gospelists continued in their false way, making "troublous times" for all who would have and hold only the truth of the Gospel of the Eternal Salvation of God by the faith of Christ alone.
Also on the part of the Christians from the Gentiles there was a losing of "their first love" because of their not giving to the Holy Spirit the supremacy in all things of the individual and of The Church. In their lack and the absence of the Holy Spirit from His own true place, the guidance and control of the churches, and in the churches, was usurped by men and became wholly human with the indulgence of wholly human ambitions under the inspiration of the continual and ever-active Adversary of The Builder and the building of "The Temple of the Lord."
Men, such as Diotrephes, loving "to have the preeminence," spoke "perverse things to draw away disciples after them," and asserted authority to "cast out of the church" all who would not submit to their dictation. Revelation 2:4; Acts 20:17, 29-30; 3 John 9-10. Here also there was set up an imitation or "antitype" or professed "continuance" of the Mosaic order.
In the Scriptures the terms "elder" and "bishop" designate the same persons: the word "elder" signifying primarily "an older person," and "bishop" signifying an "over-seer," a "lookout." And these are distinctly instructed that while they are over-seers they are not to think that they are over-lords or over-rulers. Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 5:1-3 margin.
"One is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren." Matthew 23:6-11.
But in the indulgence of human ambitions and propensities there was asserted and assumed a distinction of dignities amongst these themselves, and of these all above the people. The one who of the elders could have the chief seat, held that he alone was properly bishop: while the others were properly the elders or presbyters: and that as bishop his was a dignity superior to theirs, and accordingly he must be held and addressed as "the bishop" while the others as inferior must be held and addressed only as "elder" or "presbyter." And in turn the elders or presbyters must be held as superior to the deacons.
This made three "orders" of these "dignitaries" - bishops, presbyters, and deacons. And these three together assumed a superiority and asserted an authority that never could belong to them, over the people. The three "orders" as one asserted for themselves the distinction of "the clergy" while the general membership of the churches were only "the laity."
See "The Nicolaitans" for more on this thought.
Then these three "orders" of the "clergy" set up the doctrine and the claim that they in the "Christian Church" were the legitimate successors of the high priest, the priests, and the Levites, of the Mosaic order. With this also there was indulged a splendor of dress and display and function analogous to that of the sanctuary services under the Levitical law, while the air of superiority and the exercise of authority that were indulged were always those of the Roman magistracy instead of that of any Christian ministry.
And since "it is of necessity that a priest have somewhat to offer," the imposture was extended by turning the Lord's Supper into a "sacrifice" which the "priest" offered; and the imposture was completed in the "daily sacrifice of the Mass" by that "priesthood" with its accompanying "altar," "tabernacle," and "sanctuary."
With all of this the step was easy to the arrogance that asserted and demanded that "we should look upon the bishop even as we would upon the Lord Himself;" that "the church is founded upon the bishops, and every act of the church is controlled by these same rulers;" and that "Whence you ought to know that the bishop is the church and the church is the bishop, and if any one is not with the bishop he is not in the church." Thus by these "bishops" and their "clergy" there was built up an hierarchical system that they called "the church" but that was utterly false to every idea of The Church of the Scriptures, of Christ, and of God. In that "church" these over-lords, in their overbearing despotism, issued commands and made demands that were not only unchristian but anti-Christian. Then all dissent was "heresy" and all disobedience was "schism," and the Christians who dissented and disobeyed were cast out of that "church."
Note D’Aubigne's "Important Principle"
However, it is worthy of note that the over-lording ones were compelled to acknowledge that these Christians were not cast out because of any disrespect or disobedience to Christ or to His word, and it has stood for all time, that, "Neither have heresies arisen, nor have schisms originated, from any other source than this - that God's priest is not obeyed . . . whom . . . if the whole fraternity should obey . . . no one would rend the church by a division of the unity of Christ."
The "unity" of this man-made and heathen system called "the church" was then made to be of more importance than either truth or righteousness, or even than Christian character.
No room was allowed for any question as to what any one taught, or what his Christian character, "so long as he teaches out of the pale [area] of unity." In this way the very truth of Christ was made to be "heresy;" and the truest Christians were made to be "heretics" and "schismatics" [offshoots] to be persecuted and destroyed out of the world.
And to this utterly false and wholly human and Satanic construction there was arrogated the divine idea and title of The Church according
to the whole, and therefore The Catholic Church, and The Body of Christ. And when, in the progress of this federated and confederated system, the development had spread over the Roman world and had culminated in one bishop at the great center of the recognized as well as the asserted "head" of this "body," then that man was held to be the Head of the catholic Church, the Head of the Body of Christ, and therefore "vicar of Christ" or "vice-gerent of the Son of God," the Fountain of faith and of the truth and consequently infallible.
But, in such a place as that, and embedded in such enormous claims as those, what could be that man other than truly "that man of sin who as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God?"
Through the ministrations of the truth of The Gospel, preached with the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven, The Man whose name is The Branch is building The Temple of the Lord and "a strong city" whose walls are Salvation and whose gates are Praise - The glorious Church of the Living God.
At the same time, and in the vicious opposition of rivalry and enmity to that Temple, through an utterly false gospel of forms and formalism and traditionalism, Satan has built a false temple - a false church - wherein sits only "the man of sin" to be worshiped: all so false that twice the Lord Jesus pronounces it "the synagogue of Satan," and twice declares of it, "Which thing I hate." Revelation 2:9; 3:9 and Revelation 2:6, 15.
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