Andrew Murray

4 July 2010

 Dear Phyllis,

Today is the 4^th of July. They always have a big shin-dig at the US consulate each year where most of the gaijins (foreigners) here go for a free barbeque and fireworks. I haven’t gone for several years, and this year I believe it would be more appropriate to have a day of mourning for the death of our nation than for a celebration for it’s birth. But the Kingdom of Jesus is progressing right on schedule. The day will soon come when the nations of this world become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He shall reign forever (Rev. 11:15). It is most significant that this cry comes right in the middle of the darkest time on earth. The anti-Christ is at his peak and has just killed the two witnesses. (But then they come back to life and are bodily taken up to heaven.) You would expect that cry to come after Armageddon and the anti-Christ is in the pit.  This is before Armageddon and things will get worse. It was at this dark time on Earth that the cry was made in heaven that the kingdoms of this world ARE BECOME the Kingdom of Christ.

 It has been correctly said that history is His-story. And the Bible is His-story. Therefore the Bible is simply history in advance. It is through the events recorded in Revelation that the kingdoms of this world will become the Kingdom of our Lord, but on heavens time clock of eternity they have already become. In that, we too can rejoice even today.

The meeting at Scott’s house really keeps me off balance. A week ago we had the best meeting we had had in a year. After that surge forward I was looking forward to a repeat this past week. But most of the students that were there the previous week had mandatory school activities. Instead of them, there were three first timers who knew nothing about the Gospel. So I had to put my burning message back in the refrigerator and talk about the basics of the Gospel message.

 To talk about being born-again of the Spirit of God and having eternal life sounds to these first timers like science fiction or meeting with aliens from outer space. Only the Spirit of Christ can take His Word and make it real to their understanding.

I am going through Andrew Murray’s, The Holiest of All, for the 4^th time, and much of it is just starting to soak in. Melchizedek has never meant anything to me. Suddenly it has become the central message of the NT. I am amazed at what a distorted view we have of the work of Christ.

Andrew Murray correctly points out that the work of Christ is in two aspects – what He did on earth, and what He is doing in heaven. What He did on earth was to shed His Blood for our redemption; but what He is doing in heaven is shedding abroad His Spirit in our hearts by eternal life. Heb. 7:11 says, “What further need was there that another priest should arise after the order of Melchizedek, and not called after the order of Aaron?” In answering that question Murray contrasts the fundamental difference of their respective ministries. One is dealing with the law, and the other is dealing with life. This is the difference between the two Covenants. The Old Covenant dealt with law and the essence of the New Covenant is LIFE. There is nothing wrong with the law. The problem is that the law can only tell us what to do, but does absolutely nothing to enable us to do it.

A good friend of mine told how, before he was saved, he was going to a liberal church and heard a message on how he was supposed to love his neighbor. Tom agreed with the message. The pastor was right. He was working in an accounting office at the time and he despised the man working at the desk next to him. After hearing that message Tom purposed in his heart that he was going to love that man. Monday morning he went to work with his heart all prepared. From now on he was going to love him. And he did. For fifteen minutes. After that Tom thought he was going to explode with anger and had to go to the water cooler to cool off. So much for loving his neighbor.

Life is something that spontaneously operates within us. Birds fly because of the life that is in them. Fish swim because of the life that is in them. What we do is simply the expression of the life that is in us. There is something in the seed of rice that says this stalk is going to be rice. And there is something in the seed of corn that says that stalk will be corn. It is the life that is in the seed. When a person is born of the Spirit of God there is a totally new life that comes to live in that person’s heart. This is nothing less than the very life of the Spirit of Christ.

Several years ago I was in Phnom Penh in Cambodia. I went into a Christian bookstore to buy a Bible. A lovely young Cambodian girl waited on me and asked what translation I wanted. I didn’t know they had different translations of the Khmer Bible. I looked at her very sternly, and – like a policeman interrogating a criminal – demanded, “Are you a Christian?” She was somewhat frightened and timidly responded, “Yes”.

“How long have you been a Christian?”

“Four years.”

“Has there been a significant change in your life since you have become a Christian?”

“Well, yes.”

“What is different in your life now?” All this was done in the spirit of the harshest interrogation.

“Before I used to hate my father but now the Lord has given me a deep love for him”

At this point my heart melted. I could hardly keep my hands off her from taking her in my arms. I said to this lovely young sister, “Oh you are beautiful! What translation do you like?” She told me, and I replied, “That is the one I want.”

What was the difference between Tom and the girl in the Phnom Penh bookstore? Tom had the law – he should love his neighbor. The girl in the bookstore had the life – the loved of God was shed abroad in her heart by the Holy Spirit, and she had a genuine love for her dad. One was law and the other was life.

 The priesthood of Aaron dealt only with the shedding of blood and redemption. The veil hung in the Tabernacle testifying that the way of access to God was not yet open. The earthly ministry of Christ was the fulfillment of the type of Aaron with the shedding of His Blood for our forgiveness and redemption. But the heavenly Melchizedek ministry of Christ deals with the divine life that He has given us from heaven.

One hundred years ago Andrew Murray lamented that there were multitudes of Christians whose entire Christian life had never progressed past the Aaronic priesthood. They believed that Jesus shed His Blood for them. By His Cross they were saved and they had a new the code of Christian ethics. But they had little experience in knowing the joy of the life that Jesus is now dispensing from heaven and maintaining in the heart of His people. This is the Melchizedek priesthood of Christ. He sheds His Spirit in our hearts and maintains that Spirit within us. That is the law of LIFE. The law dispensed by Aaron can tell us what to do, but the LIFE of Jesus within us spontaneously does it.

John, in his 1^st epistle told us that the reason why he wrote that book was that we might know that we have eternal life. KNOW is the key word of 1^st John. He said there were three infallible indicators by which we could know that we have passed from death into life. The first proof is because we keep His commandments (1^st Jn. 2:3). The 2^nd is because we love the brethren (1^st Jn, 3:14). And the 3^rd proof is by His Spirit that dwells in us (1^st Jn. 3:24; 4:13).

I didn’t know the book of 1^st John when I was first saved but I knew that something radical had happened inside me. Sin fell off like dead leaves from a tree. Suddenly I had a craving to read the Bible and pray. Formerly, the last people I wanted to talk to were Christians, and now I loved Christian fellowship. And then there was that indescribable witness of the Spirit in my heart that I knew that I belonged to Christ (Rom. 8:16).

 One of the highlights Friday night at Scott’s Bible study was when I called on a new believer, OA, and asked her to tell the others how she got saved. She has been saved about six months and just got back from being in the states for three months. Her testimony was in Thai so I didn’t understand it, but she is very clear about salvation. Later I asked her, “OA, do you have eternal life?” She looked at me surprised that I would ask such a question, and firmly replied, “Yes!” The girl sitting next to her has been going to church and is getting close. I asked her, “Geek, do you have eternal life?” She honestly answered, “No”. I don’t know what the three new attenders must have thought.

 This is the massage we are trying to impart to them. Not only that Jesus died to save them but also that He lives to fill them with His Spirit. This is what it is all about. I have known and taught these things for over 50 years, but it is coming with such freshness now it is like I never heard it before. Oh my goodness, what a salvation Jesus has provided for us!

Praise God!

                               bill