Faith In The Last Days Contents The Faith In The Last Days A Selection From The Writings of John Thomas, M.D. With an Introduction on His Life and Work by John Carter Contents Preface PART I INTRODUCTION 1. The Truth In The Last Days 2.The Preacher 3. The Truth Discovered 4. The Worker 5. The Expositor 6. The Man PART II A SELECTION FROM THE WRITINGS OF JOHN THOMAS, M.D. I. God's Design In The Creation Of The World . 2. The Dogma Of An Immortal Soul In Man Subversive Of The Truth 3. The Heathen Dogma Of The Immortal Soul Subversive Of The Resurrection Of Jesus 4. The Tree Of Life 5. The Kingdom Of God (i) The New Covenant (ii) Mosaic Constitution Of The Kingdom Imperfect (iii) The Priesthood And The New Covenant (iv) Jews And Gentiles In Relation To The New Covenant 6. Moses And The Prophet Like Unto Him Moses And The Prophet Like Unto Him (con't) 7. Mediatorship 8. Representative Things 9. Day Of Atonement 10. Sacrifice In The Age To Come Sacrifice In The Age To Come (con't) 11. Jesus The Heir To David's Throne 12. Momentous Truths (i) The Hope Of The World And The Gospel, Or The Hope Of Israel . (ii) The One Hope . (iii) The Character Of The Kingdom 13. Aaron And Christ .. 14. The Good Confession. 15. The Apostles Justified By Faith Before "The Faith" Came The Apostles Justified By Faith Before "The Faith" Came (con't) 16. The Goodness Of God The Goodness Of God (con't) 17. Christ's Discourse With Nicodemus 18. The Gospel In Macedonia The Gospel In Macedonia (con't) 19. Baptism Of The Spirit (a) In Apostolic Times (b) In The Resurrection Era 20. The Age To Come, Paradise. "Absent From The Body" (2 Cor. 5 :8) 21. Christian Disciples 22. Beware Of Covetousness 23. Be Not Discouraged .. 24. Preach The Word 25. "Blasphemy" And "Names Of Blasphemy" (a) Blasphemy Scripturally Defined (b) The Blasphemy Of The Churches 26. The Coming Crisis And Its Result (a) Judgment And Hope (b) A Nation Born 27. The Son's Post-Millennial Subjection To The Father 28. A Declaration Of What The Scriptures Teach 29. What We Must Do To Obtain Eternal Life 30. Dr. Thomas Addresses His Readers Contents The Faith In The Last Days A Selection From The Writings of John Thomas, M.D. With an Introduction on his life and work by John Carter Preface THE year 1848 was a landmark in European history. It was also an important year for thousands of people who have rejoiced in an understanding of God's Word. In that year Dr. Thomas visited England to lecture on the purpose of God revealed in the Scriptures, and to set forth the light that Bible prophecy shed on the events then current, events which disturbed and alarmed many people. Dr. Thomas's stay extended throughout the year 1849. The Committee of the Christadelphian Publishing Office thought appropriate recognition of the centenary of this visit to Britain could be made by publishing a selection of the writings of Dr. Thomas which appeared in the magazines he edited. It was also decided to include a short introduction giving a brief outline of the life of Dr. Thomas, and of the revival of the witnessing to Gospel Truth, with an assessment of his work. The undersigned was commissioned to prepare the Introduction and select suitable articles. The order of the articles as printed is not the order in which they were written. Chapters 2, 3 and 4 belong to an early period. The writing of chapter 12, as explained in the Introduction, led Dr. Thomas to recognize that his immersion by Walter Scott was not the One Baptism of Scripture; chapter 28 is the Declaration of what he had found to be Bible Truth after many years of earnest reading of the Scriptures. May, 1949. JOHN CARTER Contents The Faith In The Last Days A Selection From The Writings of John Thomas, M.D. With an Introduction on his life and work by John Carter INTRODUCTION (I) THE TRUTH IN THE LAST DAYS THE purpose of God at the present time is to take out of the Gentiles a people for His name (Acts 15 : 14). The separating process indicated by the "taking out" is achieved by the preaching of the gospel. "Go into all the world", Jesus commanded the apostles before ascending into heaven, "and preach the gospel to every creature; he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved". Thus commissioned and empowered by the Holy Spirit which was poured upon them at Pentecost, the apostles preached Christ and salvation in his name among the Jews. The response was immediate, and the number of believers grew quickly. But persecution arose, testing the sincerity of those who believed, but also, by scattering them abroad, enlarging the spheres of their labours. The preaching in the first generation was supported by a divine witness in the bestowal of Spirit gifts. These varied in form and consequently in purpose, but Paul taught that those gifts were most important which enabled the brethren who received them to build up the ecclesia by doctrine and exhortation. During this period the books of the New Testament were written and given to the ecclesias, so that when the spirit gifts were withdrawn the New Testament was completed, and with the Old Testament, formed the authoritative revelation of God's purpose. The preaching of the apostles, though guided by the Spirit, nevertheless largely consisted of reasoning out of the scriptures. They appealed to the Old Testament for the evidence of God's purpose as summarized in the phrase "the gospel of the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ". The New Testament was a complement to the Old Testament, and together they formed the source of any knowledge available of God's will. From the end of the first century the saving truth of God's purpose continued to be set forth by the diligent application of men and women to God's word written, and by their earnest contention for the faith once for all given to the, saints. If we had no information we might think that those who knew God's purpose revealed in His word would so value it that it. would be preserved without corruption. But such a view ignores all the history of man's response to God's revelation. The Old Testament is a divine record of repeated human failure, and of degeneration. Again and again God made fresh beginnings-at the Flood, in the call of Abraham, and repeatedly in Israel's history-but always decline followed. We might therefore expect that history would repeat itself in the present dispensation. This expectation becomes a certainty when we look at the predictions of the apostles concerning the course of events after their death. The apostles were urgent in pressing upon believers their duty to maintain sound doctrine. Warning was given of declension when fables would be substituted for truth, and when men would believe a lie. By a law of life this was inevitable ; men turn from truth, and the lie becomes a power that blinds them concerning its true nature. Paul puts it plainly : because they received not the love of the truth God would send them a strong delusion that they should believe a lie. The context of this prophecy in the epistles to the Thessalonians is more particular than other references in setting forth the way the apostasy would develop. The day of Christ would not come until there had been a falling away, and "a man of sin" revealed who would claim divine honours. But this "man of sin" was hindered in his development in apostolic days and for some time afterwards. "He that hindereth will hinder until he be taken out of the way." That which hindered was the rule of pagan Caesars; and when they passed and Christianity became the State religion in the days of Constantine, by common consent of historians, if it could be said that paganism had become Christianized, Christianity had also become paganized. The history of the "man of sin" is revealed in two books in the Bible which are distinguished by the form in which prophecy is given. Both record chronological prophecy Daniel in the Old and the Apocalypse in the New Testament. The simplest form of chronological prophecy is in the image seen by Nebuchadnezzar in his dream. The same theme is revealed in greater detail, and therefore with more complexity, in the vision of the four beasts seen by Daniel. The fourth beast -the Roman-covers the Christian era : and the details of its horns foretell the uprise of many kingdoms when the Roman Empire was broken up. One of the horns was conspicuous among the other horns. Its character, its arrogance, its blasphemy, its duration are all revealed. It would be a persecutor of God's saints for 1,260 years, a record covering the last half of the appointed times of the Gentiles. The loss of power would come at the time of the end; and the establishment of God's kingdom is associated in the prophecy with its fall. So closely connected do these events appear that the expectation of the Lord's return at the time when its predicted duration would close appeared a reasonable conclusion. The little horn was identified with the Papacy, and this lost its power at the expected time, but the idea that the Lord would return at that time proved to be premature.