The Present bearing of Scripture

The last words of our Lord before He was taken up into heaven were, “Ye shall receive power, after the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judiea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

If it be replied that some of these commissions at the end of the different gospels have a dispensational bearing-, and are not applicable to us, the answer is “Not so!” A dispensational bearing they unquestionably have, but not so as to exclude a present application also; and if we miss the present bearing of Scripture, we shall be great losers.

A study of the quotations from the Old Testament in the New will prove that very few quotations are made to shew their exact dispensational fulfilment, but almost always it is a present application which is pressed. Moreover, whatever may be said as to the dispensational character of the commission in Matthew’s Gospel, there can be no question that the words of the Lord in Luke bear altogether on this day (Lk 24:47).

The great mission that the Lord gave to His disciples may be stated in His own words, thus: “As Thou hast sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world” (John 17:18); and “As My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you” (John 20:21). To be in the world as He was in it, and to make Him known, is therefore their mission throughout the length and breadth of it; and the Holy Ghost was sent down from heaven to be in them the power for this most blessed service.

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