Twenty-Four Short Sermons On The Doctrine Of Universal Salvation

by John Bovee Dods

Christ was with his disciples in the temple, that splendid edifice which was forty and six years in building, and, in their presence and for the last time, addressed the stubborn Jews. He pointed out the many crimes of which they and their fathers had been guilty in shedding the blood of the prophets, and persecuting those who were sent unto them as the messengers of Jehovah. They had also made void the law of God through their traditions. While pointing out these things, and setting them home like a thunderbolt to their hearts, he pronounced them hypocrites, blind guides, devourers of widows' houses, and declared that all the righteous blood shed upon the earth should be required of of that generation. While rehearsing these things to them, Jesus had a perfect view of all their approaching sufferings. Many of them were to be starved to death. He saw by a prophetic eye the indulgent father and fond mother weeping over their infant train, who were begging for bread, but no way to procure it. Eleven hundred thousand he saw in a state of starvation, who were to fall by famine, sword and pestilence. He saw their cruel enemies surround the walls of their city, who would allow no sustenance to be given them, but determined to reduce them by hunger and sword to one common grave. All these things, that were coming upon them, rushed at once upon the mind of the compassionate Redeemer of the world. The affecting scene moved so strongly upon his heavenly feelings, that he dropped the the melancholy subject and burst into a flood of tears. He beheld the city and wept over it—"O Jerusalem! Jerusalem! Thou that killest the prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, but ye would not!" He then left the temple for the last time; but as he was departing from it, his disciples, astonished at his denunciation, and regretting that such a magnificent edifice should be destroyed, exclaimed—"Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!" And he said unto them "there shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down." The disciples immediately asked him saying, "tell us when shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world?" By the end of the world we are to understand the end of the Jewish age. As they asked him the signs portending this terrible destruction, so that they might know when it was nigh at hand, he immediately proceeded to point them out, and warned them to flee to the mountains of Judea for safety.

The signs are as follows—many false Christs should arise, there should be wars and rumors of wars, nation should rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom, and there should be famines, pestilences and earthquakes in diverse places. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you, and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name sake. Then shall there be great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no nor ever shall be. The most prominent sign he gave them, and one that more immediately concerned his disciples, was that they should deliver them up to be afflicted, and they should be brought before kings and governors for his name's sake. "But, (says Jesus) when they persecute you in one city, then flee ye to another."

Christ gave his disciples plainly to understand, that when the Jews began their persecutions against his followers, then the destruction of Jerusalem was nigh at hand. After giving these instructions to his disciples, he laid down his life, and on the third day he arose, triumphing over death and leading captivity captive. His disciples soon after commenced the spread of the gospel of peace, and waived the banners of the cross over kings and subjects, calling upon them to bow to the reign of Jesus Christ, who was King of kings, and Lord of lords. They proclaimed a religion so contrary to the partial notions of the Jews and the traditions of the Elders, that it began at length to meet with violent opposition. The disciples agreeably to the direction of Jesus fled for safety from city to city, till the tumult and opposition became general. Christianity gathered force and popularity so rapidly, that the Romans, it appears, gave permission to the Jews to imprison and take life. The disciples and christians had now no place of safety to flee to, from the gathering storm of persecution and death. Amidst these disastrous scenes, Peter called to mind the warnings and signs his risen Lord had pointed out as a solemn premonition that the destruction of Jerusalem and of their persecutors, was nigh at hand, and in view of the approaching calamity over which Jesus wept, Peter exclaims, "The time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God, and if it begin first at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?" Thus we, see that what is meant by judgment beginning at the house of God, is persecution beginning at the christians, which persecution was a sign to them that the destruction of that nation was nigh at hand. The reader will perceive that what the apostle calls "house of God," he afterwards calls "us," in the same sentence, and must refer to the christians, who are in many scriptures called the house, temple, and building of God. [See Heb. iii:6. Eph. ii:21, 22.] That the persecutions were stated by Christ as a sign of the impending judgment of God upon the Jews, is evident from the words of Paul, 2 Thess. i:5, where he calls them "a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God" upon the unbelieving Jews, the persecutors of the christians.

Second—Who were the righteous, and in what sense they were scarcely saved. The righteous, mentioned in the 18th verse, mean the same persons called "the house of God," and "us," in verse 17th, and has reference to those christians only, who lived previous to the destruction of the temple, and not to any christians that lived subsequent to that event, much less does it refer to all the righteous that have ever existed or shall hereafter exist, as common opinion asserts.

Under this head, we were also to show in what sense these righteous were scarcely saved. It could not mean that their salvation in the future world was scarce or uncertain; for it is certain in the counsels of God, and in all things well ordered and sure. He has given to his Son the heathen for an inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for a possession. And all the Father hath given him shall come unto him, and he will raise them up the last day. He is mighty to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him; and no one will deny that the righteous come unto him. How then can their eternal salvation be denominated scarce? Impossible. How then are the scriptures to be reconciled with our text, when they declare eternal life to be the gift of God—that we are saved by grace—that help is laid upon one mighty to save—that his arm is not shortened that it cannot save; and that the power of God is to be exerted at the resurrection in making them equal unto the angels? The answer is easily given—our text has no reference whatever to the immortal world, to a judgment at the end of time, nor to the final condition of the human family; but simply refers to the narrow escape of the christians from the destruction of Jerusalem, when they fled with their lives in their hands to the mountains of Judea for safety.

In the 24th chapter of Matthew Jesus clearly describes the dreadful scene. He says—"Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains. Let him which is on the house top not come down to take any thing out of his house. And woe unto them that are with children and to them that give suck in those days!" [Why? Because they could not remain in the mountains during the period that the city was besieged by the Romans.] "But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter neither on the Sabbath day." [Why? Because in the winter you would perish with cold—and if your flight from the city be on the Sabbath day, the Jews will stone you to death for traveling more than three miles.] "For there shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened there should no flesh be saved;" [Saved from what? Ans. From death.] "but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened." That is, for the sake of the christians who fled to the mountains, God shortened the days of the siege. Let us hear Dr. Adam Clarke, a Methodist Commentator, on this—"Josephus computes the number of those who perished in the siege at eleven hundred thousand, besides those who were slain in other places; and if the Romans had gone on destroying in this manner, the whole nation of the Jews would in a short time have been entirely extirpated [destroy completely, as if down to the roots]; but for the sake of the elect, the Jews, that they might not be utterly destroyed, and for the christians particularly, the days were shortened. These partly through the fury of the zealots on the one hand, and the hatred of the Romans on the other; and partly through the difficulty of subsisting in the mountains without houses or provisions, would in all probability, have all been destroyed, either by sword or famine, if the days had not been shortened."

Let us hear Clarke explain how these christians were scarcely saved. "But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved." "It is very remarkable that not a single christian perished in the destruction of Jerusalem, though there were many there when Cestius Gallus invested the city; and had he persevered in the siege, he would soon have rendered himself master of it; but when he unexpectedly and unaccountably raised the siege, the christians took that opportunity to escape." Clarke says "unto the end" means "to the destruction of the Jewish polity." Therefore when Peter says, the righteous are scarcely saved, he had reference to the dreadful judgment which was coming upon "the wicked and ungodly" inhabitants of Jerusalem for shedding the blood of the righteous, and from this destruction the christians escaped with their lives in their hands to the mountains of Judea for safety as Jesus had directed them. They but just escape— they were scarcely saved.

The christians also suffered persecution from the Jews; and Peter draws this inference from it—If we, who obey the gospel of God, have to endure so many persecutions from the Jews—if this judgment begins at us, how much sorer punishment will our enemies have to endure, who obey not the gospel of God? And if we the righteous are scarcely saved from this long-predicted destruction, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear? But how did Peter know that it was at hand? Because the persecutions, which Jesus had given them as a "sign" or "token" had then commenced at the house of God. The reader will now perceive that Peter was not speaking of a judgment at the end of time, because the judgment of which he was speaking had then commenced—"The time is come." Neither was he speaking of christians generally, nor of salvation in the future world; but of those christians only who lived previous to the destruction of the Jewish polity, and of their being saved with difficulty by watching the signs and fleeing to the mountains of Judea as Jesus had forewarned them.

Luke records the language of Christ more plainly to be comprehended than that of Matthew. "In your patience possess ye your souls. And when ye shall see Jerusalem encompassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains, and let them which are in the midst of it depart out," &c. We should be led to suppose that, after the walls of the city were surrounded by an army, it would then have been too late for the christians to save themselves. But Christ as a prophet knew that Cestius Gallus would raise the siege, and fall back to make preparations for a more decisive attack, and thus afford the christians an opportunity to escape. It is evident to every candid reader that Luke expresses in chap. 21st, all that Matthew does in chap 24th and 25th. And that Luke does not refer to a judgment at the end of time is certain from the manner in which he concludes, which is as follows: "And take heed lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and the cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares * * * Watch ye, therefore, and pray always that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of man." Here we perceive that not the least allusion is made to a judgment at the end of time; because there would be no propriety in warning his disciples not to be drunk or overcharged with the cares of life at a judgment day thousands of years after their death. The day when the christians were "to stand before the Son of man" was at the destruction of the Jewish polity, and it was to take place in the life time of some of the disciples. Christ says, "there be some standing here that shall not taste of death till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom." The day of Christ was therefore at hand, and the apostles were warned to keep it in view, and watch the signs that were to precede it. Peter was faithful to these warnings, and when he saw the signs, presaging its near approach, he exclaimed—"The time is come," &c. This was the day of tribulation, when the christians were scarcely saved from the dreadful fate that overtook their own countrymen, who remained blind till the things that made for their peace as a nation were hidden from their eyes.

[Concluded in our next.]