The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-11-23
which we are told that Christ came BY

which we are told that Christ came by
| water and blood; not by water alone, but
by water and blood-as the r. V. renders
| it, "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 blcmish 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 will. turn our
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 a-
complished.
The two, I 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, R. W.,
it is mot from men, neither through
man." No ordinance or sacrament" has
anything to do with it. Men can fix time
and place for ordinances, for ordinances
relate to earth; but the new birth is from
above. The Spirit breathes where He
wills.
It is to this thirty-sixth chapter of Ezc-
kiel that these words Of Christ refer.
Three elements in the new birth are speci-
fed in the prophecy.
ID ri will sprinkle clean water upon
YOU, and We shall be clean" ". 25.)
(2) 81 will give you 4 new heart"
~, e. @ A. J. 7 will put My Spirit within
"THE WATER OF REGENERATION"
In Matt. 1928, the time of it's 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:
nection with "the water of puri6cation..
and the Ezekiel prophecy. I allude of
course to Titus 3:5: "He saved ns by
the washing of regeneration and renew
ing of the Holy Ghost" The word here
used is l%outron. 1t is m~is.rendered
and not q verb; and the R. V. gloss (mar-
gin) is misleading, for %loutron is never
used in the Greek Bible for "the laver."
But in the Greek Version of Ecclus. 34:25
it is used for the vessel which held "she
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 l~outron,
like the word Regeneration" occurs only
twice in the New Testament. I have al
sage is Eph. 5:26. Christ gave Himself
for the Church, "that He might sanctify
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 antique 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-
fcation 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
spired Apostle teachesC "by the Word OF
God"-"the living and eternally abiding
Word of God" .... :.
And to guard against all possibility OF
error or misapprehension, it is added,
"And this is the Word which by the Cos
pei is preached unto you"-preached, as
he had already declared, with the Holy
Ghost sent down from Heaven" Not
the Spirit without the Word, nor the
Word without the Spirit, but the Word
preached in the power of the Spirit.
In a. this the truth of Christianity is
the counterpart and complement of rhc
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
iive?" was the question which led the
prophet to cast himself on God. And the
37th chapter of Ezekiel gives the answer:
Preach to them. Call upon them to hear
the Word of the Lord. ". A. This IS
mans part; or if anything more remains
it is prophecy unto, the b~reath"-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 drv bones live. Thus it is that sinners
are born again.-London Christian.