MATITYAHUW 26

13 Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her.

If a sister is an intelligent, active, useful, noble servant of Christ, her being a sister is no disqualification or barrier; it only precludes her from the act of public speaking and involves subjection to her husband. It does not shut her up to babies, pots and pans, though these will dutifully receive the right share of attention at her hands. She is a partner, a helper, a fellow-heir in all things pertaining to Christ, and the man who would degrade her from this position, is not fit for a place in the body of Christ.

...For both men and women, there is a place in the kingdom of God. Though they neither marry nor are given in marriage, we may depend upon it that God, who never makes mistakes, has a place in the higher state for the companionship arising out of the natural and radical differences between man and women as constituted in this preliminary state.

This is one of the sweet secrets we wait to see disclosed. Meanwhile, they stand related to the same rules of admission. Each must be faithful to Christ in their several spheres. The man must be enlightened, believing, courageous, trustful, prayerful and obedient; and the woman must be no less in her more contracted circle, aiming particularly at those active, multiplied, repeated, and untiring good works in the Lord which obtained for sisters of old the approbation of the Lord and the praise of his apostles.

Thus may both earn for themselves a good degree which will shine forth with glorious lustre in the blessed ages that are to succeed the present evil world.

Sunday Morning 56

15 And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? ((in the absence of the multitude) And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver.

Avarice... was a normal weakness with him... In Bible language, "Satan entered into him." Instead of dismissing the thought with the determination with which he would have flung a deadly serpent from himself, he turned it over: he considered it: he entertained it.

The proposal filled the chief priests with supremest satisfaction. It was "the very thing." It released them from a great dilemma, and relieved them, with splendid promise of gratifying the feelings that burned in their bosoms, against Jesus, without exposing themselves to the violence of the crowd.*

17 Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover?

The passover

(roast lamb, unleavened bread and wine), and the occasion of it -- (the celebration of the anniversary of Israel's departure from Egypt under Moses, on the night of the slaying of the Egyptian first-born).

àWhile Jesus and the disciples were making their arrangements, very different arrangements were being made at the palace of Caiaphas the high priest (a large and stately building in Jerusalem). A general meeting of the priesthood and heads of the people had been convened in this building under that official's auspices, to consult as to the best means of getting Christ into their power. They were burning with unappeasable anger under the wounds inflicted upon their pride and self-love in their collisions with him, and especially by his open denunciation of them before all the people.

They were resolved upon his destruction, but they did not see exactly how to bring it about. They had power to impeach him to the Roman governor Pilate, if they could get hold of him; but there was a great difficulty as to this on account of the friendly feelings entertained for Jesus by the common people. If they made an attempt to arrest him in the presence of the people, there was danger of a resistance that might be formidable to the chief priests themselves.

Yet they knew not how to get at him in the absence of the people, for he was only a visitor to Jerusalem, and his haunts were not known outside the circle of his friends, who were also unknown. It was only among the people that he was to be found, and among them he could not be taken because of the attention they gave him.

There was considerable discussion, but no decisive result beyond a general agreement that there must be no attempt on the feast day, when crowds of people would be thronging the temple courts, and that they must be on the outlook, and trust to tact and craft to get Jesus into their power.

What measures they resolved on with this view, we are not informed, but it is probable they gave it to be understood that there was money to be made by those who might be willing to aid them in their schemes. How far they would have succeeded if there had not been a Judas among the disciples, is very problematical. But their success was appointed, and the instrument was to hand.*

18 And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples.

Jesus, with a full knowledge of all that was going on, and of all that was coming upon him, gave directions to his disciples to make arrangements which were equivalent to getting ready a death trap for him. They were to engage an apartment in the city, and get ready the passover in preparation for their celebration of the same in the evening. The engagement of a place, which, being put off to the last moment, would have been a difficulty in ordinary circumstances in the crowded state of the city, proved a very simple matter in the hands of such a master of the ceremonies. *

19 And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them; and they made ready the passover.

The "master of the house" was probably acquainted with Christ and friendly to him; and he had probably been restrained from letting his place to other passover visitors. When God wants a man or a thing, there will be provision.*

*Nazareth Revisited Ch 51

26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.

The following rules, though simple, are worth observing in connection with the meeting for breaking of bread:—

1. Aim at realising the importance of the occasion, the pleasure it gives to God, and the benefits that are to be derived from a faithful observance of it.

2. Divest the mind as much as possible of all that would engross or pre-occupy. Such as business and domestic anxieties. An effort of the will can accomplish much more in this direction than many are prepared to admit.

3. Be punctual. Non-punctuality disturbs and flurries the mind, and renders it unfit for some time to heartily participate in the worship. The attention of others is also interfered with by late comers.

4. Examine yourself; and not others. Do not allow wisdom's instruction to pass unheeded, neither take umbrage at it.

5. So frame your walk, from day to day, that you may have the answer of a good conscience before God.

Bro AT Jannaway

The Christadelphian, Nov 1886

27 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;

'...wine is used with such a variety of significations. It is used to represent the fruit of obedience which God desired at the hands of the house of Israel (Isa. 5:1-4; Matt. 21:33-41). It is used to represent the blessedness which God will dispense from Zion to all nations in Abraham (Isa. 25:6). It is used to represent the blood of Christ shed in righteousness and in sorrow (Matt. 26:28-29). It is used to represent the false principles ministered to all nations by the False Church of the Seven Hills (Rev. 18:3).

Law of Moses Ch 30

29 But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.

Who could literally eat and drink with the Lord in the day of his glory without sharing also of his position, his throne, his immortality, and his joy? To do the one implies the inheriting of the other. Therefore the statement of the one takes the other with it as a matter of meaning. The literal eating and drinking by itself would be a poor affair to make the subject of promise; but as taking with it the sharing of his friendship, the participation of his glory, the enjoyment of his love and fellowship, the inheritance of his throne, and his glorious immortal nature, it becomes a very great and precious promise indeed without abating a jot of its literalness.

Bro Roberts - The cup of blessing

Memorial Service in the Eastern Court

This Prince is to sit and "eat bread" in the in the outer court buildings on the east. But why is suchan extensive palace set apart for his use ? The answer will be found by referring to a promise given by Jesus Christ to the twelve just before he suffered. That promise will also

confirm the conclusion that the crucified one is the Prince.

That promise is a pledge still awaiting redemption. Many others are interested in that pledge. From the day when the twelve assembled in an upper room to eat the passover many many disciples have obeyed the command to eat bread and drink wine (1st Cor. xi. 26)

in memory of their Lord.

They have partaken of the cup and broken bread in remembrance of him, fully believing that they will at the time appointed for his return partake of the same emblems in His presence. That pledge has cheered their heart and strengthened their faith. Their faithful anticipations will be realized, for it is written :

Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. (Apoc. xix. 9.)

Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. (Luke xiv. 15.)

They shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God. (Luke xiii 29.)

It will be readily understood that when Christ and his innumerable brethren (Luke viii. 19-21 ; Apoc. v. 9-11) attend upon this ordinance that a large place will be required for the service. Here it may be premised that the eastern outer court and its buildings are the magnificent sanctuary provided for the fulfilment of the pledge, and where Jesus of Nazareth, according to his own words, will

" gird himself and make his faithful servants sit down to meat and serve them " (Luke XII. 37)—

a consummation little dreamt of by those who heard the prediction.

The Temple of Ezekiel's prophecy 5.2.10.

33 Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended.

This was equivalent to saying he loved him more than the other disciples did. We know he three times denied that he had any connection with him.

Nazareth Revisited Ch 60

39 And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.

He was both a free agent and subject to the Father in every act of his life. His subjection was not mechanical, but the result of the perfect enlightenment of a perfect free will.

The Christadelphian, Feb 1886

52 Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.

It is wrong to use the sword, and if we do so we shall lose our reward. Let us not be misled into disobedience by the argument that the employment of force is needful for the government of our evil world. God knew, when He laid down the law, what was needed, and made arrangements accordingly. The divinely-appointed sword-bearers for the management of the world are aliens—men who know little or nought of God's will and glorious purpose.

These sword-bearers are styled, in Rom. 13:1, "the powers that be," and include, of course, the instruments of their might—the world's armies, navies, and police. The appointment of the sword-bearers is not direct, far from it, a fact which gives ample scope for the unbeliever, or Bible rejecter, to deny that it is of God.

These powers are ordained providentially, even as Nebuchadnezzar was encharged with the punishment of Israel (Jer. 25:9), and the Medes with the overthrow of Babylon (Isa. 13:17). What a motley collection have the sword-bearers been...But without their work what an intolerable place this world would have been for the children of God.

Our duty towards these powers is to obey them, except when their laws clash with God's explicit commands to us. We are to do so for "conscience sake," because God decrees it (Rom. 13:5; 1 Pet. 2:13, 14). When we have confidence in God's arrangement for the order and control of this world what a peace of mind is reached!

How the arrangement speaks to us also of God's greatness in His power to manipulate the minds of men! How it illustrates Dan. 4:17, 25. How it speaks to us, too, of our Father's kindness in securing for His children a tolerable place of sojourn pending the establishment of His kingdom.

Bro AT Jannaway

The Christadelphian, Nov 1905

Rifle Corps Membership and Electioneering

àIs it right to break bread with a brother who is a member of a volunteer corps and a partaker with them in all their worldly pursuits; or with a brother who canvasses for votes for a Member of Parliament?—H.D.

Answer.—Paul commands withdrawal from every brother obeying not the word he wrote, by 2 Thess. His word in that epistle includes an exhortation to the Thessalonians, and, therefore, to all believers, to all time till the Lord changes it, that they

"stand fast and hold to traditions which they had been taught, whether by word or by Paul's epistle."—(2:15.)

Hence the duty of withdrawal applies to every case involving the deliberate and unrepentant disobedience of any of the apostolic precepts.

Is a voluntary partnership with the world in the study of the art of war consistent with obedience to these precepts, which are indeed and in truth, the precepts of Christ? (for he said, "He that heareth you heareth me.") No one having knowledge of what those precepts are will answer in the affirmative. Those precepts require of us to

"keep ourselves unspotted from the world" (Jas. 1:27):

to be not conformed to it, but transformed in the renewing in our minds (Rom. 12:2), to mind not earthly things (Col. 3:2), to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.—(Eph. 5:11). The world, we are told, lieth in wickedness (1 John 5:19), and that we cannot be friends of God and friends of the world too.—(James 4:4.)

How can a man obey these precepts and be a member of a volunteer corps? How can he obey the command which forbids us to take the sword?—(Matt. 26:52; Rev. 13:10.) It is impossible. The conclusion follows that a professor in such a position has put himself beyond the pale of the fellowship of his brethren.

As to electioneering, it is only a shade less bad. It is the same business in another form. A brother may without compromise, supply paper, or printing, or locomotion to parties engaged in it, on the principle laid down last month, in answer to the bookselling difficulty; (as he may supply clothing, food, implements, &c., at a price, to soldiers): but to sell himself he has no power, and if faithful, less inclination.

He must keep himself virgin to the Lord,

"denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts, live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearance of our Great God and Saviour Jesus Christ."

J. L. E. will please accept the foregoing remarks in answer to his enquiry on the subject of fellowship with drunkards.

The Christadelphian, Apr 1872

62 And the high priest arose, and said unto him, Answerest thou nothing? what is it which these witness against thee?

Those who had the matter in charge called several who had been manufactured beforehand, official false witnesses -- men ready to say anything required by authority. One said one thing; another, another; but their statements were so incoherent, so improbable, and so inconsistent with each other, that the council could not for very shame profess to act on them.

Nazareth Revisited Ch 56