Part 2 THE GOD OF BETHEL
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Such is the testimony of an enemy. Could anything be more explicit bearing upon the fact that the first disciples offered divine worship to their God and Savior Jesus Christ? But we have their own testimony. For instance, we find the apostle Paul dedicating his Epistle to the Corinthians, "We are writing to the church of God in Corinth, you who have been called by God to be his own holy people. He made you holy by means of Christ Jesus, just as he did all Christians everywhere—whoever calls upon the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and theirs."
This would appear to set the question at rest, as it embraces the whole body of the early Christian Church. Added to this, we have the memorable and touching instance of the thief on the cross praying to Christ with his last breath, "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom." Superadded to this is the equally conclusive and not less affecting instance of Stephen, the first martyr to the Christian faith, thus addressing his dying prayer to Jesus the Savior: "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." What further testimony do we need? Imitate these illustrious examples of prayer addressed to Christ, and hesitate not to add to your sincere faith in Jesus your Savior the humble tribute of your worship of Him as your God.
What a severe deprivation would it be were we debarred from approaching Christ as our Savior, Friend, and High Priest, presenting our needs, unveiling our sorrows, and confessing our sins? "Lord, to whom shall we go but unto You? Into whose ear should we breathe our sins- upon whose breast should we weep our sorrows- upon whose shoulder should we cast our burdens- and upon whose arm should we lean, as, in weakness and weariness, we come up out of the wilderness, but Yours? Oh, the precious privilege of going, as the bereaved disciples of John did, and telling Jesus all and everything!
Unscriptural is that creed, lifeless that religion, and cruel that teaching, that would rob me of the precious and comforting privilege of offering my sacrifice of prayer and praise to my Savior. The glorified saints worship Him, praise Him, and adore Him in heaven, casting, their crowns at His feet, and exclaiming, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing,"- and who shall debar us this privilege on earth?
The same argument applies to prayer as addressed to the HOLY SPIRIT. A distinct Person in the Godhead– of the same nature and substance with the Father and the Son– He is equally an Object of divine worship, and on this ground we are authorized and justified in praying to Him as GOD. One or two Scripture examples will suffice. That of Ezekiel is remarkable, in which the prophet thus invokes the power and presence of the Holy Spirit: "Then he said to me, "Speak to the winds and say: 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, O breath, from the four winds! Breathe into these dead bodies so that they may live again. So I spoke as he commanded me, and the wind entered the bodies, and they began to breathe. They all came to life and stood up on their feet—a great army of them."
We have another example in the case of the apostles; "Who, when they were come together, prayed for them (Peter and John), that they might receive the Holy Spirit. . . . Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit." Here was an invocation of the Holy Spirit scarcely made before it was manifestly granted. And what was the effusion of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, but an answer to the prayer addressed to Him by the little company of praying disciples, who, assembled in an upper room, "continued with one accord in prayer and supplication"? And while thus "they were all with one accord in one place," their invocation of the Spirit was answered; "And they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance."
Need we multiply, as we might, these Scripture proofs of prayer addressed to God the Eternal Spirit? Hesitate not then, with these examples before you, to honor the Spirit, even as you honor the Father and the Son, by addressing to Him, as a Divine Person in the Godhead, your prayers, and supplications, and praises. Are you in affliction?- pray to the Spirit for comfort. Are you sensible of your spiritual ignorance?- pray to Him for His teaching. Are you discovering more of the hidden evil of your heart?- pray to Him for His sanctifying grace. Are you thirsting for a clearer sense of your salvation?- pray to Him for His assuring, sealing power. Do you long to know more fully your adoption?- pray to Him to breathe "Abba, Father," in your heart. Does your soul travail in prayer for the conversion of those dear to you?- cry earnestly to the Spirit. Do you desire the vineyard of your own soul to be fruitful and fragrant with His grace?- pray to the Spirit; "Awake, north wind! Come, south wind! Blow on my garden and waft its lovely perfume to my lover."
"Eternal Spirit! we confess
And sing the wonders of Your grace;
Your power conveys our blessings down
From God the Father and the Son.
Enlightened by Your heavenly ray,
Our shades and darkness turn to day;
Your inward teachings make us know
Our danger and our refuge too.
The troubled conscience knows Your voice,
Your cheering words awake our joys;
Your words allay the stormy wind,
And calm the surges of the mind."
"I am the God of Bethel." What encouragement does this title of our God hold out to draw near to Him, and "by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, make known our requests"! All that He was to Jacob, He is to us. Like him, are we passing through a night of loneliness and sorrow? Are we flying from a foe, or do we dread some impending trouble? Behold the mystic "ladder"– to Jacob but a vision, to us a divine and glorious reality, on whose rounds we may ascend near, nearer, and still nearer, to heaven, until we find ourselves in wrapped communion with the God that hears and answers prayer. That ladder is Christ Jesus, the "one Mediator between God and man," whose invitation to ascend is contained in His own gracious and assuring words: "Whatever you shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son." "If you shall ask anything in my name, I will do it."
With such a " new and living way" to God, with such steps raising you above trial, above sorrow, above need, above your enemies round about you, uplifting your soul to Him whose ear hears you, whose hand is outstretched to support you, all whose boundless resources are at your command, will you not draw near by the blood of Christ, enter into the holiest, and take hold of the "God of Bethel," nor relax your hold until He bless you?
Oh, the mighty power of prayer with the God of Bethel! "Let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me," says God. Take hold of "Christ, the power of God," and you have taken hold of God's strength; and the "worm Jacob" though you are, you shall prevail with the God of Jacob, even with the God of Bethel. "Do not be afraid, O worm Jacob, O little Israel, for I myself will help you," declares the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. You will be a new threshing instrument with many sharp teeth. You will tear all your enemies apart, making chaff of mountains. You will toss them in the air, and the wind will blow them all away; a whirlwind will scatter them. And the joy of the Lord will fill you to overflowing. You will glory in the Holy One of Israel."
The night of your woe maybe dark and long; and you may "wait for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning," but that night, dark and long though it is, shall not be without its blessed vision of faith. You shall see Jesus! Through Him shall see God your Father, all whose thoughts are thoughts of peace, ordaining and shaping your every step with a wisdom that can make no mistake, with a power that nothing can baffle, with a faithfulness that cannot falter, and with a love that knows no variableness,, neither the shadow of a turning, and your night of weeping shall brighten into a morning of joy!
You are perhaps puzzled as to the scope of prayer. You wonder if its range is so wide as to embrace the needs of the present, as the hope of the life that is to come. But why debate this question for a moment? Has not Christ told you that, whatever you ask in His name He will grant you? Has He not instructed you to ask of your Heavenly Father your "daily bread"? Does He not bid you look down upon the lily of the field, robed with a beauty which Solomon might have envied, and then bid you learn that He who so clothed that lily will clothe you? Does He not bid you, on some lovely morning of spring, upraise your eyes to the bird floating above you in the richest plumage and with the sweetest song, and then learn that He who provides for the sparrow will not allow His children to need.
The scope of prayer, then, clearly embraces supplication for all temporal good. Look at that flower! It toils not, it spins not; and why? because your Heavenly Father clothes it. Look at that bird, leaping from bow to bow, springing from hill to valley, sparkling with beauty, gushing with song, and wild with ecstatic delight! It has not a thought or care of its own; and why? because God thinks and cares for it. Oh, you of little faith! Why do you hesitate to trust all your personal interests, to confide all your worldly affairs, to disclose all your temporal needs and sorrows in prayer to God? He is not too high for your lowest need, nor too great for your smallest care. "If the buzzing of a fly troubles me," says John Newton, "I may take it to God." This is not mere sentiment. It is the practical embodiment of a principle of experimental religion most honoring to God and sanctifying to us- the principle of faith, which acknowledges God in all our ways, sees God in everything, and takes everything, the smallest, to God.
But if prayer in its scope takes in things temporal, much more does it embrace our spiritual and higher interests. Where can we repair with our varied soul-exercises but to Christ? Even His ministers may either not understand, or understanding, may yet grow weary of them. Our spiritual exercises may be beyond their own personal experience, our soul-perplexities may baffle their acutest skill, our spirit's sorrow distance their deepest sympathy. An eminent minister of Christ was on one occasion observed to betray deep emotion while a member of his flock was unfolding to him her spiritual case. "Have I said anything to wound your feelings?" she earnestly inquired. " No," was the humble reply of the man of God, "but I am affected with the thought that you are unfolding a stage of Christian experience to which I have not yet myself attained." This is a possible case.
We may in our ministries overstep the boundary of our own personal experience, or we may not be able to reach the more advanced experience of our hearers. But, prayer brings us to the feet of Him who can understand all our religious exercises, can harmonize all our doctrinal difficulties, can guide all our soul-perplexities, and bring us safely through all our spiritual temptations, doubts, and fears. Jesus leads us along no path untraveled by Himself. The flock shall not walk where the Shepherd's footprint is not seen, for in everything "He has left us an example that we should follow His steps." Then give yourself to prayer, and the "God of Bethel," who is a prayer-hearing, a prayer-answering, and a prayer-exceeding God– for He is "able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we are able to ask or think"- will withhold from you no blessing that will be for your good to receive and for His glory to bestow.
Are you living a prayerless life, knowing nothing of communion with the "God of Bethel?" Then, dying so, you die a hopeless death. A prayerless life involves a Christless death. What! never pray? Never pray from a broken heart, never pray with a humble, contrite spirit? Sinner! the time is coming when you will pray, but too late! So prayed the rich man, lifting up his eyes in torment, "Send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame." But it was too late to pray then. Hell is the only place where God turns a deaf ear to prayer. Rise, then, and pray, though it be but in the publican's words, "God be merciful to me a sinner." That prayer, breathed from the heart, and offered in the name of Jesus, will enter the ear of the "God of Bethel," and bring down the saving mercy for which it pleads.
"The time will come, when, humbled low
In sorrow's evil day,
Your voice of anguish shall be taught,
But taught too late, to pray.
When, like the whirlwind over the deep,
Comes desolation's blast,
Prayers then extorted shall be vain,
The hour of mercy past.
The choice you made has fixed your doom,
For this is Heaven's decree
That, with the fruits of what he sowed,
The sinner filled shall be."
In concluding this chapter, let the truth remain deeply and permanently fixed upon the reader's mind that, without prayer we are necessarily without life in, or from, Christ; and in God's eye are dead in sin. It is most true that prayer does not save us. Salvation is only in Christ. By His merits and intercession alone are we saved. Nothing meritoriously and vitally enters into our salvation, but His blood and righteousness. The one cleanses us from our sins; the other justifies us. But the necessity of prayer arises from the fact, that there is no other divinely-appointed channel by which we make known our needs to God, and by which God meets them. True, He knows our needs before we make them known; but He has said: "For this cause will I be inquired of to do it for them." We may, indeed, reach heaven without books, or learning, or talents; but we can never reach heaven without prayer.
"Behold, he prays!" is Heaven's first recognition of the sinner's conversion on earth. A soul without prayer is like a house exposed to the pelting storm without a covering. How can the temptations of Satan be repelled? How can the corruptions of the flesh be resisted? How can the seductions of the world be overcome, but by prayer? Then, above all things, cultivate prayer– closet prayer, family prayer, sanctuary prayer, social prayer. Pray, pray, pray; above all things, PRAY.
Seek the aid of the Holy Spirit, promised to "make intercession for us, according to the will of God." He will teach you how to pray, and what to pray for. And when He has laid a burden on your heart, you may be well assured it is according to the Divine will, and that the God of Bethel will answer your prayer in that particular thing for which you have besought Him. And when your heart is led out to pray, not for worldly wealth and distinction, as did the mother of Zebedee's children, but for an increase of faith, that you may crucify the world, live as a stranger and pilgrim here, love Jesus more, have more zeal for God, more resemblance to Christ, more of the spirit of adoption, a clearer sense of your present acceptance in the Beloved, more love to, and union with, "all saints," you may be assured that you are asking those things which are in accordance with His will; and you may with boldness enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, and draw near to the God of Bethel with a true heart, and in full assurance of faith that your penance shall, like Queen Esther's, find acceptance, and your petition, like hers, be granted, not merely to the half, but to the whole of Christ's kingdom; for, not as the world gives does Jesus give His royal favors to His people.
Let our homes be Bethels, where the "God of Bethel" loves to dwell. Oh, that our children, our servants, ourselves, may be molded into Christian families, pious households, whose altars, domestic and private, are reared in the Name and consecrated to the worship of the God of Bethel, even the God of Jacob, "in whom, and in whose seed, shall all the families of the earth be blessed."
"O God of Bethel! by whose hand
Your people still are fed;
Who through this weary pilgrimage
Have all our fathers led.
"Our fervent prayers we now present
Before Your Throne of grace
God of our fathers! be the God
Of their succeeding race.
"Through each perplexing path of life
Our wandering footsteps guide;
Give us each day our daily bread,
And clothing fit provide.
"Oh, spread Your covering wings around,
Until all our wanderings cease,
And at our Father's loved abode
Our souls arrive in peace."
"Call upon me in the day of trouble. I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me."
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