The Penn's Grove record., 1904-11-04

which we are told that Christ came by
water and blood; not by water alone, but
Dy water and biood-as the r. V. renders
1t, by the water and the blood"
We all know what the blood means. We
are redeemed by the precious blood Of
Christ as of a lamb without blemish and
without spot" But some Of us are much
at sea about the water. The water and
the blood are figurative expressions. But
the figures are typical. And if we under
stand the types, both viii turn our
thoughts to the sacrifice Of Calvary. The
water was the water Of publication" of
Numbers 10. Water that owed its cere-
monial efficacy to the sin offering. But
the sin offering was only for a redeemed
people; a people already redeemed by the
blood of the Paschal Lamb. When the
Lord returns in blessing to Israel, then,
as Ezekiel So teaches us, He will come "by
the water" But this is because His first
coming was not by the water only, but
by the water and the blood. The blood
has already been shed, redemption is ac-
complished.
The two, l repeat, must never be sepa.
rated. And as redemption is altogether
Gods work, so also is the new birth. Like
the Apostles ministry (Gal. l: l, r. W,
1t Is not from men, neither through
man. No ordinance or Sacrament" has
anything to do with it. Men can fix time
ODH pAoSC AL OIuliidHCEs. IOE ordinances
relate to earth; but the new birth is from
above. The Spirit breathes where He
wills.
1t is to this thirty-sixth chapter of Eze-
klel that these words of Christ refer.
Three elements in the new birth are speci-
fed in the prophecy:
~ Il will sprinkle clean water upon
you, and We shall be clean" ". PSI
~ II will give you a new heart"
49, and I will put My Spirit within
THE WATER OF REGENERATION"
In Matt. 1928, the time of its fulfill
ment for the man is designated by the
Lord as "The Regeneration" And in the
only other passage in the New Testament
where that word occurs, it is used IN con-
nectlon with "the water of publication"
and the Ezekiel prophecy. 1 allude Of
course to Titus 3:5: "He saved MS by
the washing of regeneration and renew
ing of the Holy Ghost" The word here
used Is %loutron. 1t is mis-rendered
washing" for it is a noun substantive
and not a verb; and the r. v. gloss (mar-
gin) is misleading, for loutrOn is never
used in the Greek Bible for "the LAYER"
But in the Greek Version of Ecclns. 34:25
it is used for the vessel which held "the
water of publication"
But to return to the Divinely appointed
rite of the Jewish religion, What was the
symbolism of the water? Scripture itself
supplies the answer. The word ~loutron,
like the word regeneration" occurs only
twice in the New Testament. l have al
ready spoken of Titus 3:5; the other pas
sage is Eph. 5:26. Christ gave Himself
for the Church, that He might s~anctify
and cleanse it with the loutron of water
by the Word" In the type the I~sraelite
reached the sacrifice by means Of the wa
ter; in the a~ntitype the believer reaches
the sacrifice by means of the Word. Hence
the language of Scripture, ''the loutron of
water in the Word" The water OF puri-
hcation was, as we have seen, the water of
regeneration; and it is by the Word that
the sinner is born again to God. 1t has
nothing to do with mystic arts or shib-
boleths after the pattern of ancient Pa
ganism. w are born again" (as the in
living and eternally abiding
Word of God"
And to guard against all possibility Of
error or misrepresentation, it is added,
And this is the Word which by the Cos
pei is preached unto you'-preaehed. as
he had already declared, with the Holy
Ghost sent down from Heaven" Not
tho Spirit without the Word, nor the
Wbrd without the Spirit, but the Word
preached in the power of the Split.
In all this the truth Of Christianity is
the counterpart and complement of the
teaching of the Old Testament. How can
sinners, helpless, hopeless, dead as dead
as dry bones scattered on the earth-be
born again to God? "Can these bones
live?" was the question which led the
prophet to cast himself on God. And the
37th chapter of Ezekiel gives the nswer
Preach to them. Call upon them to hear
the Word of the Lord. ". A., This is
it is Prophecy unto the breath"-pray
that the Spirit may breathe upon these
dead. The rest is Gods work altogether.
For "the Spirit breathes when He wills"
Men preach; the Spirit breathes; and
the dry bones live. Thus it is that sinners
are born again.-London Christian.