The Word of Truth for Today 4
/By Joseph L. Watkins
"Redeeming the time, because days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is." (Eph. 5:16,17)
No man will ever understand what the will of the Lord is for today, until he learns to divide The Word of Truth Rightly and take unto his heart that Word of Truth which is Truth For Today. That small but powerful segment of Christendom known as "the clergy" have for the past nineteen hundred years done all, and are doing all they can to denounce, discard, and destroy the Divine Law of Right Division - for it best serves their first interest to keep the saints in darkness.
However, once the Word of Truth became available to the faithing saints of God, and they began to read and "study" the Bible for themselves with a desire for and a view to knowing "TRUTH" for truths sake, then, and only then, the rightly divided Word of Truth began to come to light. Once "the Spirit of Truth" was given free course in the minds and hearts of free thinking man, truth began to prevail.
Perhaps the single most influential event in the recovery of truth since Acts Times is the invention of the printing press. Yes, once the printing press became a reality, and the Bible as we know it was there for any and all to read and study for himself, the truth could no longer be kept in darkness, nor buried in the disarray and confusion that results in the mixing and homogenizing of all the distinctively different dispensations of truth - Out of God.
Yet even so, the enemies of truth were not totally detracted from their purpose, for history accounts of those early years show that there was more preoccupation with the actual printing and the stylishness of the outward decoration, the fashionable, and even politically correct artful beauty, both of the binding covers and the individual pages - the fleshly minded being such easy prey for the arch enemy of all truth.
The study and the right understanding of "the Divine Truth of the Spirit of Truth" contended within the "words" on the pages of that book was of little interest or concern to most of those who lived by the book. Not until much later do we learn of a precious few faithful and truthing men of God who take up the fight for better translations, for which we are most grateful and will ever be in their debt. In the early half of the 19th century, a few very important Bible language scholars came to the battle for truth. Such men as George V. Wigram and James Strong, among others, during the period of 1822-1894. These men of God waged the war in a manner best suited to their talents and which best enabled the average saint to gain a working knowledge and right understanding of the "WORDS" which the Spirit of Truth had chosen to best express His heart and mind to His own.
It was such men that have been chiefly responsible for the great concordance work of the English, Greek, and Hebrew words that together give us our Bible text. Such a remarkable work has been accomplished until today that any man, whether or not he has a higher education can, if he so desires, learn the true meaning of every word in the Bible. Such invaluable study aids as these men have given us are perfect companions to the Bible itself. And then aided with such tools as these in the last half of the same century, many other great spirit-filled, individually minded Bible scholars emerged on the scene to help in the fight for truth - even that truth which the Spirit of truth has given with this age in view.
Two of the scholars who have been a very strong influence in the recovery of Dispensational Truth are Mr. C. I. Scofield and his very popular study Bible, and Mr. Ethelbert William Bullinger, who was largely responsible for putting together The Companion Bible. This is my personal observation, but one's own opinion which in the study of biblical truth has no place, yet in the discernment of historical record may offer some benefit for those in need of such encouragement.
Indeed it has become quit obvious that the One Lord of all truth has chosen to us the great faithfulness of Mr. Bullinger and his devoted labor of love, The Companion Bible, to give us a good and sure foundation for dispensation thought. Perhaps no other has done more from the human side to preserve, to promote, and to make known "The Divine Law of Right Division". Yes, this great man of God saw it as altogether worthy of its rightful place in investigative biblical research. And he saw it as that one divine "key", that could and would unlock the Word of Truth to all the saints and faithful of God in Christ Jesus.
Now, let us understand the Principle of Right Division, not unlike the Law of Faith, or the Law of The Firstborn, that we observe throughout Scripture, which can and does only work to allow you to see and to understand and more fully appreciate each separate and distinct Word of Truth Out of God.
jlw
