Episode Transcript
Hello, I'm Dr. Kylie Fisher. Welcome to Heavenly Harmonies.
Psalm, chapter 23, verses 1 to 4, says, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me.
Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me. God's tender care for his people and the way in which he guides them is one of the most comforting themes of Scripture. Today we explore this theme in the joyous hymn, Let All Things Now Living stay with me to discover how its heavenly harmonies can keep you near to the heart of God.
In our journey through the historical foundations of present truth, we have so far seen that those who truly love God continued to serve him, even when this meant the loss of wealth, position, home, even life itself. They were willing to make this great sacrifice because they recognised they could trust their Saviour, Jesus Christ, who had given all for them. We saw that there were isolated groups who maintained their fidelity to God even in the midst of the fiercest persecution that Satan, the serpent and Dragon could inflict upon them.
And our hymn for today brings us to the opening of the Reformation. Let all things now living a song of thanksgiving to God the Creator triumphantly raised who fashioned and made us, protected and stayed us, who guideth us on to the end of our days. His banners are o'er us his light goes before us A pillar of fire shining forth in the night Till shadows have vanished and darkness is banished as forward we travel from light into light his law he enforces the stars in their courses the sun in his orbit obediently shine the hills and the mountains, the rivers and fountains the depths of the ocean proclaim him divine we too should be voicing our love and rejoicing in glad adoration A song let us raise Till all things now living unite in thanksgiving to God in the highest hosanna and praise.
So, such a wonderful hymn, such a joyful hymn. And there are three key themes that I want to highlight about this hymn that remind me of the Reformation. We're going to spend most of our time on the first of these, but I do want to briefly highlight two at the end of our discussion before we listen to it.
And this time we have a different group that we're going to listen to sing this song. We are going to listen to the Lebanon County Youth Chorus That's a little bit later. So these three key themes.
So the first theme that I want to highlight, as we said at the beginning, is God's guidance. And so this sort of comes towards the end of the first verse and says, there God, who guideth us on to the end of our days. His banners are aura and so forth as forward we travel from light into light.
And so we have spoken in our last programme about those who maintain a pure faith even in the midst of terrible, terrible trials. And they sowed the seeds of the Reformation. And so during the Dark Ages, there were groups such as the Waldenses, the Picards, the Cathari, and these were the ones that continued to copy out the Scriptures by hand.
They were not content to just dwell in their isolated places. They went out as missionaries and probably because of that, many of them lost their lives. But they continued to spread God's truth and to preserve God's truth during century after century of darkness.
But at last, the morning star of the Reformation, John Wycliffe, arose in the 14th century. He was followed by Jan Husband and Jerome of Prague a little later. Now, the act of Martin Luther in nailing his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517, is generally considered to be the official start of the Reformation.
And so during these early years, the Bible gradually came to be restored to the people and its great truths were discovered and rediscovered. And so the Reformation, the onward march of truth is to continue to the very close of time. And it's vital for us to understand the truths that were uncovered by those early Reformers, because they have such significance for us today.
They laid the foundation for the Bible truths that we understand today and that are vital to. To present truth. And so that's why this series is called Historical Foundations of Present Truth.
So, yeah, so we are going to look at these truths that were rediscovered by those during the Reformation. But before we start doing that, which is really, you know, from next episode onwards, before we start to look at those really closely, I felt that it was really important for us to take a step back and consider this from a wider perspective and to consider that God is God as the guide of his people. As we've been saying, that's one of the key themes, the key theme that we really want to focus on in our hymn today.
Because, you know, it's a little bit like in medicine, where there's like a triage system and so God is in the business of restoring sin, sick souls, you know, when Jesus came here to earth, he spent more time healing the sick than what he did in preaching the gospel. And what he did, the way that he cared for people, the way that he restored those that were sick to health, showed the truth of his words, that he came not to. Not to steal, not to kill, but he came to save.
And so it's really, really important for us to understand that go God's ways are not always our ways. And so God, as He is restoring sin, sick souls, he has a triage system and he, during these early years, was building the foundation. Now, when you building the foundations of a house or whatever building you might be building, it can look pretty, you know, worthless and, you know, not like very much.
And it's just all scaffolding, you know, and there's just a big hole in the ground and it's not very nice. It doesn't really show much of what the building is finally going to be like. I mean, you can maybe sort of see a bit, the dimensions of it, but, yeah, you just, you know, the foundation is not the finished product.
And so it's really, really important, as we do look back at that early time in the Reformation, that we don't judge those of past times by, you know, what we know now. It's really important for us to recognise that God is in charge of restoring these truths to his church. He is the one in charge of building this structure of truth and the characters of his people.
And so, yeah, it's really important for us to appreciate that as we, as we think back on those times. So while the truths of the Reformation were uncovered through diligent, persevering study on the part of men and women who came to love and prize the truth, these truths were not discovered only through human wisdom. And so in the different countries of Europe, men were moved by the spirit of God to search for truth.
As for hid treasures, it was through the Holy Spirit that they rediscovered these truths. You know, Bible truths are not understood in quite the same way that we, you know, can come to other truths. Exactly.
So, going to mention again, this book, the Great Controversy is a fantastic book and you can read much, much more about the Reformation in this book, and I would encourage you to do that. It's just so inspirational to read about those living during that time and, you know, what they gave up for Christ. But I want to read a quote that relates to what talking about today.
And so this is in the chapter in the Great Controversy called the Swiss Reformer. It's about Zwingli and it says there on page, I think it's about page 174. I've got slightly different pages in this book.
The doctrine preached by Zwingli was not received from Luther. It was the doctrine of Christ. And so Zwingli said, if Luther preaches Christ, he does what I am doing.
Those whom he has brought to Christ are more numerous than those whom I have led. But this matters not. I will bear no other name than that of Christ, whose soldier I am and who alone is my chief.
Never has one single word been written by me to Luther, nor by Luther to me. And why? That it might be shown how much the Spirit of God is in unison with itself, since both of us, without any collusion, teach the doctrine of Christ with such uniformity. So, yeah, the uniformity of the message.
Well, different people, you know, understood truths. Different people this time in history understood, you know, came to different understanding of the truth. Some could understand one truth more readily than another.
But it was amazing. It is amazing when you think about just how uniformly they came to realise the sufficiency of Scripture, the importance of prayer. We'll be talking about these things more in future weeks.
So, yeah, but the unison, you know, the union of their doctrine was evidence that this was not gained just through human wisdom, but it was through the working of the Spirit of God. So as we look at the history of the Reformation, it's vital for us to trace the hand of God at work. And in the rediscovery of the truths of Scripture during the Reformation, we see the same tender care for God's people that God has shown throughout the ages of Earth's history.
You know, the experience of ancient, literal Israel, the nation chosen by God to preserve his holy word and especially his law, and to share the light of the Gospel with all nations. Parallels in many ways, the experience of modern spiritual Israel. So anciently, Israel went into Egypt, they there became slaves, and they were finally set free by God to go to the Promised land.
And their journey from Egypt to Canaan represents the journey of God's people out of the slavery in which they were held by Satan the dragon during the 1260 years of persecution of the Middle Ages to the heavenly Canaan, the antitypical Promised Land. And these lessons, as we said last week, they're especially vital for us to learn they happened. It says in First Corinthians 10, verse 11, for types.
And they're written for our admonition on whom the ends of the world are come. We certainly see that the end of the world is fast hastening today. Now let's notice Exodus chapter 13 and verse 17.
So Exodus, of course, tells of the Exodus of Israel from the land of Egypt. And so Exodus chapter 13 and verse 17 has such an important insight for us to remember as we think about the history of the Reformation. It says there it came to pass when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philip, though that was near.
For God said, let's per. Eventually the people repent when they see war and they return to Egypt. Verse 18 says, But God led the people about through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea.
And so we see here that instead of leading, instead of God leading his people straight to Canaan, straight to the promised land, God led them through a wilderness because he had really important lessons to teach them. So in leading spiritual Israel, his church, out of the slavery of sin, God had many lessons to teach them. He didn't overpower their minds with the light of heavenly truth too suddenly, lest they turn away altogether.
You know, too much light all at once can blind. We see this in the experience of the Apostle Paul. You might remember Acts, chapter nine.
Paul was walking along the road and all of a sudden this bright light sh. Now, this is a literal experience. And so please do not take this, the fact that I'm using it as an illustration of something else too far.
I'm not trying to say, you know, the God was at fault in the situation that happened with Paul, but I'm just trying to illustrate. Paul saw a really super, super bright light, he fell to the ground, and, you know, God spoke to Paul or Saul. He was at the time, and.
But then when Saul sort of like opened his. Opened his eyes, he was actually blind. And so too much light all at once can be blinding.
And so that's why God did not sort of just suddenly overpower his people during the time of the Reformation with spiritual truth. I mean, they'd been in the darkness of error and superstition and apostasy for many, many years. And if God had just sort of suddenly overpowered them with all this spiritual truth, it would have been too much for them to bear.
And so it's really, really vital for us to understand that as we think about this time, Hosea, chapter 6, verse 3 says, his that is, God's going forth is prepared as the morning. Now, if you are not an early riser, I would encourage you to at least once go out and watch sunrise. It's so beautiful.
And when you're out in that beautiful, fresh, cool air, it's. Oh, it's just absolutely wonderful, a wonderful time of the day. But, you know, when you watch a sunrise, you know, the like, everything is just all dark.
Well, it's the stars and maybe there's the moon, if it's a full moon, you know, there is fair bit of light. But then gradually, gradually the sky starts to lighten and there's more and more light, and then there's the brilliant light of sunrise. And then this, you know, the light grows brighter and brighter until you reach the perfect day.
And so that's the way that God reveals truth to us. God allows the light of heavenly truth to break upon our minds slowly as we're able to endure it. So let's look at a few more Bible texts about this.
Let's have a look at Proverbs chapter 4 and verse 18. This is a wonderful text that this really describes the rediscovery of truth through the Reformation. It says, Proverbs chapter 4, verse 18.
This is, as I say, a fantastic summary of the Reformation. The path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. And yes, so that's just a wonderful description, wonderful summary of the progress of the Reformation.
Let's also have a look at John, chapter 16 and verse 12. John, chapter 16 and verse 12. Jesus himself is speaking in this verse.
And he said to his disciples who had been with him in person for three years, he said, I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now. And so even Jesus could not tell his beloved disciples all the things that he wanted to, because they were their hearts, were not prepared to receive that spiritual truth. You know, In John chapter 21, Jesus was telling Peter some things about his future.
And Jesus actually, in John 21:18, he actually prophesied the way in which Peter would die, that Peter would actually be crucified. And so, as Jesus was telling Peter these things, says in verse 20, Peter, turning about, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved, that was John following, which also leaned on his breast at supper and said, lord, which is he that betrayeth thee? So Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, lord, what will this man do? Peter asked this question, but notice Jesus reply, Jesus said to him, if I will, that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me. You know, Peter asked this question, but Jesus didn't answer it.
Sometimes we want to know things, but it's actually not for our good to know them. Sometimes, you know, God does not reveal all truth to us. God is infinite.
He's infinite. In wisdom and understanding. And that's the part of.
But that's something that we just have to trust. And we see from Calvary and from all of God's dealings with humanity over 6,000 years of sin, we can see that we can trust God. We don't have to be afraid.
He loves us and he will always do the best for us. Let's notice a few other examples. Let's notice the response of John.
He was the beloved disciple who leaned on the breast of Jesus during the communion service. But notice what happened in Revelation chapter 1 when John saw Jesus glorified. Revelation chapter 1, verse 17 says that when John saw Jesus, gives an amazing description of Jesus.
It says, when I, that is John, saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And now this was the one who had been closest to Christ during the life of Christ on earth. And when he saw the glorified Christ, he fell at his feet as one that was dead.
I think as well of Isaiah. Isaiah, chapter 6. Isaiah saw the Lord seated on his throne high and lifted up and he cried out, woe is me, for I am undone.
And I think too of Daniel, the beloved of heaven, as he sought to understand spiritual truth. Daniel, chapter eight. Daniel had been given this amazing vision and he was trying to, you know, he looking at the Bible, trying to understand what did this vision mean.
And then Gabriel the angel Gabriel came to explain the vision to Daniel. And Gabriel went through and explained quite a lot of the vision. But notice what happens in verses 26 and 27 of Daniel, chapter 8.
Gabriel says in verse 26, the vision of the evening and the morning which is told is true. Wherefore shut thou up for the vision, for it shall be for many days now. Notice what happened to Daniel when Gabriel told him that basically this earth's history was going to be for a long time, that God's people were going to be persecuted for a long time.
Notice what happened to Daniel. It says, I, Daniel fainted and was sick. Certain days afterward I rose up and did the king's business.
I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it. Now, Daniel was the beloved of heaven. And yet when he was shown some spiritual truth, he passed out.
He couldn't take anymore. And it was not until several years later that Gabriel could actually return to finish explaining to Daniel what he'd started to explain in Daniel chapter eight. He returns in Daniel chapter nine.
And then Daniel's able to bear it. So this shows that, you know, we can't. God understands our frame.
He remembers that we are dust and he deals with us in that way. And so, yeah, as we're thinking back over the Reformation, let's remember these things. Now I just want to bring out super quickly, just before we listen to our hymn, I just want to bring out two more themes that are highlighted in this hymn.
So the second verse of this hymn says his law he enforces. Now God, we know, is the creator of the world. And you know, when God created things, he didn't just, you know, leave them randomly and in chaos, he created laws that sustain these things.
And so the time of the Reformation, paralleling the time of the Reformation, there was a rebirth of scientific interest. There was observation of the world around us. And many of those who made great scientific discoveries and also many inventions, they saw the laws of nature as the laws of God.
And so we have people like Kepler, who discovered the three laws of planetary motion. We have Blaise Pascal, who discovered Pascal's law and co invented the theory of probability. We have Robert Boyle, founder of modern chemistry.
We have Robert Hooke, we have John Ray, the founder of English natural history. We have Leeuwenhoek, the first one to see little microbes. We have Christian Huygens invented the wave theory of light.
And these people, you know, they saw the laws of nature as the laws of God. The final theme that I want to bring to your attention is right at the end of the song, it says, till all things now living unite in thanksgiving to God in the highest hosanna and praise. And so finally the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of God.
He shall reign forever and ever. It's the hope of the second Coming once again at the end of this hymn. So let's now listen to this hymn.
Let all things now living. Let all things now living A song of has given to the Creator Trial friendly race who passion and make us protected and stay us who still guides us unto the end of our days. His banners are o'er us, his light goes before us A pillar of heart shining forth in thy light.
Two shadows have vanished and darkness is vanishes Forward we travel from light into light his body and forces the stars in their forces. The sun in it's horizon we shine the hills and the mountains, the rivers and mountains the deep shall be ocean broken we choose to be for sea shall our rejoices with glad adoration of song. Let us praise to all things now living, you rising thanksgiving to God in the highest.
Job 23:10 says but he knoweth the way that I take when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. We may not always understand the way in which God is leading us, but we can trust his heart that is full of tenderness. His hand was nailed to the cross for us.
Let's thank God for his wondrous love. Dear God, we're so grateful for your tender regard for us. Thank you dear Lord, that you know our frame.
You remember that we are dust and you guide us in the way that we would choose if we could see the end from the beginning. So please help us always to remember that. Please help us to keep looking to you and praising you and trusting you in your leading and guidance.
I pray in Jesus name. Amen. So thank you so much for joining me today on Heavenly Harmonies.
Remember, you can find past episodes on our website 3abnaustralia.org au you can just click the Listen button, select Heavenly Harmonies from the list of programmes. And remember, we would love to hear from you.
Email us at radioabn australia.org AU that's radioab inaustralia.org AU I would love for you to join me again next time when we continue our saga through the historical foundations of present truth.
But until then, may your soul be filled with heavenly harmonies that will hold you near to the heart of God.
