Monthly Archives: March 2020
The House of Israel and the House of God
Preaching Christ in the Shadows – Acts 7:1-14
Summary:
Stephen is on trial for his life before the Jewish council (7:1), but rather than defend himself, he preaches Christ from the shadows of their Old Testament. God isn’t called “the God of glory” (7:2) until the Psalms, so Stephen was telling them he was going to read Him back into the story of Abraham. That would get them to thinking about how he would be reading Christ back into their Old Testament as well!
God telling Abraham to leave his home was a shadow picture of Galatians 4:4. Abraham waited till his father was dead (Acts 7:4), and the Lord waited till his father Joseph was dead before starting his ministry (Jo. 2:11,12; 19:27).
Abraham didn’t get his inheritance in the promised land on his first trip to earth (Acts 7:5 cf. Heb. 11:9), but he will in his second trip in the resurrection. That pictures how the Lord didn’t get His inheritance on His first trip to earth (Mt. 8:20) but will inherit all things in His resurrection (Heb. 1:1, 2).
God told Abraham that his seed would have to suffer bondage to Pharaoh (Acts 7:6), a shadow-type of how Christ’s seed will have to suffer bondage to the Antichrist. God judged Pharaoh (7:7) and He will judge Antichrist (Rev. 19:20). Abraham’s seed had to go through that time of trouble because the iniquity of the Amorites wasn’t full (Gen. 15:14-16), and Christ’s seed will have to endure the Tribulation because the iniquity of the Antichrist will not yet be full (Dan. 8:23,24).
Of course, before Abraham’s seed could inherit the promised land they’d need a Savior, and we see one pictured in Abraham’s son Isaac (Acts 7:8). God promised Abraham a son and he got tired of waiting for him and produced his own son named Ishmael. That’s a shadow of how God promised Abraham’s seed a messiah, and they will get tired of waiting for him and will produce a false messiah in the Tribulation.
Joseph’s brethren (Acts 7:9) conspired to kill him (Gen. 37:18) like the Lord’s brethren did (Mt. 21:38; Mark 3:6), and for the same reason (Gen. 37:11; Mt. 27:17). They stripped Joseph (Gen. 37:23), another shadow of the Lord (Mt. 27:28). Of course, Joseph’s brethren got the Ishmaelites to do their dirty work (Gen. 37:22, 28), just like the Lord’s brethren got the Romans to do theirs. God was with Joseph in the pit (Acts 7:9) the way He was with the Lord in the tomb (John 16:28, 32). In all this, Stephen is reminding the Jews that Joseph’s brethren were wrong when they thought they got rid of him, just as they were about Christ when they crucified Him.
God not only delivered Joseph out of the pit, He made him governor of Egypt and the world (Acts 7:10). Just as God delivered Christ out of the “pit” of the tomb (Ps. 40:1, 2) and will someday make Him “governor” of the world (Ps. 22:28).
That’s when the Lord was supposed to be made Israel’s king, but something else had to happen first, the “dearth” of Acts 7:11 that foreshadowed the Tribulation. Joseph’s brethren had no sustenance then, and the Lord’s brethren will have nothing to eat in the Tribulation either without the mark of the beast (Rev. 13:16, 17). The Tribulation would have had to come to purify unbelievers out of Israel before the kingdom even if they’d received their messiah (Zech. 13:7-9).
Joseph’s brethren didn’t recognize him the first time they went to him for food, but did the second time (Acts 7:12, 13). That’s a type of how the Lord’s brethren in Israel didn’t recognize Him the first time He came, but they will the second time He comes (Zech. 12:10). Joseph’s brethren were troubled at his presence (Gen. 45:3) as the Lord’s brethren will be at His second coming (Rev. 1:7).
Joseph’s brethren were made known to Pharaoh (Gen. 45:16-18 cf. Acts 7:13) and they were soon enjoying “the fat of the land,” and someday the Lord’s brethren will be enjoying the fat of the land in the kingdom of heaven on earth.
At this point in Joseph’s life, there was nothing left to do except call “all his kindred” (Acts 7:14) to enjoy the fat of the land with them, just as the Lord’s brethren will do with His brethren to enjoy the fat of the land in the kingdom (Mt. 24:31). Stephen’s hearers among the Jews must have seen these types or they wouldn’t have stoned him!
Video of this sermon is available on YouTube: Preaching Christ in the Shadows – Acts 7:1-14
Discretion Is the Better Part of Glamour
You’ve probably heard the old saying, “Discretion is the better part of valor.” This Shakespearean expression is said to mean that good judgment is better than rash bravery, and prudence is preferable to careless courage. That’s good advice, wise counsel that many an aged soldier has passed on to younger soldiers before they went off to war. Sound counsel like that ensures that our soldiers will make the most of their time in the service of our country, and make their lives count in the battle to preserve our freedom.
But as soldiers of the cross, the Apostle Paul tells us that there are some things that aged Christian women should pass on to younger Christian women, things that he wrote about in his epistle to Titus:
“The aged women… may teach the young women… to be discreet, chaste…” (Titus 2:3-5).
The word “discreet” means prudent, or wise when it comes to avoiding mistakes. It can also have the idea of exercising good judgment, and knowing the best way to accomplish a purpose. After Joseph told Pharaoh that seven years of famine were coming, he suggested, “let Pharaoh look out a man discreet and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt” (Gen. 41:33). It was absolutely crucial that Pharaoh find a man wise enough to avoid making mistakes, for it was going to be up to Egypt to keep the known world alive during those seven years of famine! They needed a prudent man who could exercise good judgment, and know how to accomplish the purpose of saving the world.
It is equally crucial for young Christian wives and mothers to be discreet, wise enough to avoid the mistakes that can destroy a marriage and family, and prudent enough to always exercise good judgment, so as to accomplish the purpose of making a home for their husbands and children. King Solomon had a thousand wives, and he wrote,
“As a jewel of gold in a swine’s snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion” (Proverbs 11:22).
That’s what the wisest man in the world said about a pretty wife who was too foolish to learn to be discreet. If you are a young man looking for a wife, you might want to keep that proverb in mind. And if you are a husband who is married to a discreet wife, that’s something for which you should thank God—especially if she is also “chaste,” the next thing that Paul says aged women should teach young women to be. Chastity is purity from extramarital sexual contact, and ignoring it is a mistake that exercises the highest form of bad judgment in marriage, for infidelity is one of the fastest ways to destroy a marriage and family.
Unless you are in what is called an “open marriage,” a union in which couples give one another permission to cheat. The fact that such a term even exists shows how low our society has plummeted in morality. Some very famous people have (or have had) open marriages, but if those people are your role models in life, you need to trade up for some better ones!
Young Christian women who seek to be soldiers of the cross should want to fight to preserve their marriages, for in doing so, they will make the most of their time in the service of the Savior, and make their lives count for Him. And since discretion and chastity are the very first things that Paul says aged Christian women should teach young Christian women, we know that being discreet and chaste are foundational virtues in which wives of all ages should seek to excel.
Women seek to be glamorous by nature, but Christian women should remember that discretion is the better part of glamour, and that there is nothing more attractive to a husband than a faithful wife.
To the Reader:
Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:
"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."
To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.
Two Minutes with the Bible is now available on Alexa devices. Full instructions here.
Be On the Alert for the Unexpected
The Fullness of God and Men – Acts 6:8-15
Summary:
Stephen was filled with “faith” or faithfulness (cf. Rom. 3:3) and miracle working “power” (6:8) because he was filled with the Spirit (Acts 2:4; 6:5) and faith and power were gifts of the Spirit (I Cor. 12:8-10). The Spirit filled and controlled them (Ezek. 36:27) to where they couldn’t sin (I Jo. 3:9), but that didn’t mean He overpowered their personalities.
We know that because the 12 told the disciples to pick 7 men filled with wisdom and the Spirit to settle a dispute (Acts 6:1-3). But they were all filled with both, so how could they choose? Well, they were also to pick men “of honest report,” which can mean fair and equitable men. But honesty wasn’t one of the gifts of the Spirit, so we know the Spirit didn’t eclipse their personalities in that taste of the kingdom of heaven on earth—and He won’t eclipse ours either when we get to the kingdom of heaven in heaven. They weren’t a bunch of mindless robots, and we won’t be either!
Why Stephen (6:9) and not Peter? A year has now passed since Acts 2:4 and God is about to cut Israel down for rejecting Christ’s apostles (Luke 13:6-9). Since Stephen’s name means “crown,” he’s about to become an example of how Tribulation Jews will have to be faithful to death to get eternal life (Rev. 2:10). God needed the 12 alive to continue the kingdom program during the “diminishing” of Israel (Rom. 11:12), to write epistles to kingdom saints that will be in the Bible for the Tribulation. So He couldn’t have Peter die.
After the persecution of the Jewish council (Acts 5:40,41) the “disputing” came from average Jews, not the leaders (6:9), as the Lord predicted (Mt. 10:17). The “Libertines” may have been formed to look for liberty from their enemies in Rome (Lu. 1:70) but now the Lord’s disciples were their main enemy. So now they were fighting for the “liberty” found in the law (Ps. 119:133, 145). In the measure they followed the law, they were free from sin. They later charged the 12 with blaspheming the law (6:13) because the 12 were preaching freedom from sin through Christ, just as He did (Jo. 8:32-36). That’s why James called it a “law of liberty” (Jam. 2:12). The Lord wanted to give the Jews complete liberty from their sins by filling them with His Spirit and making them able to keep the law perfectly. The Libertines thought they didn’t need that, because they thought they were keeping the law well enough to be saved on their own.
The Alexandrians (6:9) were probably also strong for the law, like their favorite son (Acts 18:24). “Them of Cilicia” produced Saul (22:3) so they were also zealous for the law, and they too joined the Libertines in championing the law.
But all those zealots of the law couldn’t compete with Stephen’s gift of wisdom (6:10)—and he was just a waiter (6:5). Men won’t be able to resist your wisdom either if you have the truth rightly divided, unlike the Jews who clung to the law here. They couldn’t resist his gracious “spirit” either, the spirit of grace—and you can have that too (Col. 4:6).
They suborned men to lie (6:11) so they could get the kingdom, like Jezebel did (I Ki. 21:1-10), a type of how Israel’s religious leaders got men to lie to kill the Lord (Mt. 21:38) and kill Stephen, the rightful owners of the vineyard of Israel
They “caught” Stephen (6:11), meaning he was running away. If the government persecutes you, you can run, but you must follow David’s example and not resist them (I Sa. 24).
Since they bore false witness about Stephen and then gnashed on him (Acts 7:54), I have to believe he prayed for his enemies in between (cf. Ps. 35:11-16 cf. Mt.5:44).
They claimed Stephen was saying the Lord would destroy the temple (6:14) because they purposely misunderstood when He said He’d destroy the temple of His body and raise it up (Jo. 2:19-21). And Stephen was preaching Christ’s resurrection. We know neither the Lord nor Stephen destroyed the “customs” of the law, for the Lord always observed the “custom” of the feasts (Lu. 2:41,42) and Stephen was there at this next Pentecost a year later.
God replied to these charges by saying, “You want to charge him with speaking against Moses and the law? I’ll make him look like Moses when he got the law!” (6:15 cf. Ex.34:29-34).
Video of this sermon is available on YouTube: The Fullness of God and Men – Acts 6:8-15
Aged Women Teachers
“The aged women likewise, that they be… teachers of good things” (Titus 2:3).
When I was a boy, I remember reading about a mother who taught her daughter to cut off the end of a roast before placing it in the oven, laying the part she cut off in the pan next to the roast. She explained that that’s how her mother had taught her to prepare a roast. When her daughter asked why, her mom wasn’t sure, so the girl called her grandmother to find out. Grandma explained that it was because she never owned a pan long enough for a roast!
Now that sounds like something that aged women don’t need to teach anyone. And life is filled with things like that! Maybe that’s why, after telling “aged women” to be “teachers of good things” (Titus 2:3), the Apostle Paul went on to talk about the kinds of things he wanted them to teach—and to whom he wished they would teach them. Speaking of aged women, he wrote,
“That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands” (Tit. 2:4).
Aged Christian women are to teach younger Christian women. And the first thing Paul says to teach them is to be sober. That word has different meanings in Scripture, but when Paul uses it right after telling aged women to be “not given to much wine” (v. 3), I have to believe he wanted younger women to learn not to give themselves to much wine as well. If you’re not sure why young wives might need to be taught this, it might be because Paul also says that young women should be taught “to love their husbands.” When a woman is married to a man who is hard to love, it’s much easier to give herself to wine than it is to learn to love him.
Aged Christian women should teach younger women to love their husbands by example, of course. Ladies, when you are making the often-difficult decision of whether to love your difficult husband, or drown your sorrows in alcohol instead, keep in mind that whichever path you choose, you are setting an example for younger women—and to society in general. What woman doesn’t want to make the world a better place in which to live? Well, if a young woman is married, the primary way in which she can accomplish this worthy goal is to learn to love her husband.
Another way aged women can teach younger women to love an unlovable husband is by reminding them that loving the unlovable is what the Lord did when He died for us. “Christ died for the ungodly…when we were enemies” (Rom. 5:6,10). Talk about loving the unlovable! If our sinless Savior could love sinners like us, no wife can ever say she can’t love her unlovable husband —and no husband can say he can’t love his unlovable wife, as Paul also commands (Eph. 5:25).
In marriage counseling I have often heard husbands and wives lament, “I just don’t love my spouse anymore.” My response has always been the same. I remind husbands and wives that they can learn to love their spouses. If Paul says that aged women are to teach younger women to love their husbands, that means love can be taught. And if love can be taught, it can be learned.
Many husbands are hard to love, but somewhere on the planet is the best husband on earth. You’d think that it wouldn’t be hard for his wife to love him, but the best husband on earth is still a man with a fallen sin nature that he inherited from Adam. That means he may not have the flaws of many of the other men on earth, but he’s not perfect. If you don’t believe me, just ask his wife!
But let me tell you something about her sin nature. Instead of being grateful that he doesn’t have all the flaws of other men, she’s focusing on the few flaws he does have. It’s just human nature. His flaws might seem small to you, but I guarantee they seem big to her. That’s human nature as well. But the woman with the world’s best husband must also learn to love her husband.
Loving the unlovable is good advice for us all. So if you know how, why not teach some-one else how? And if you haven’t yet learned to “walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us” (Eph. 5:2), why not determine to begin learning how today, by learning more of how Christ loved us.
To the Reader:
Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:
"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."
To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.
Two Minutes with the Bible is now available on Alexa devices. Full instructions here.
Spiritual Wisdom and Knowledge
The Grecian Formula – Acts 6:1-7
Summary:
When the Grecians complained, the apostles had to come up with a formula to address their complaint (6:1). But if this was a foretaste of the kingdom of heaven on earth, does that mean there will be complaints when we get to the kingdom of heaven in heaven?
Yes! That’s why we’ll have to “judge angels” (I Cor. 6:3). Angels are sinless but not perfect. They will have disputes similar to this one in Acts 6 that they’ll need us to settle. Meanwhile, the 12 apostles will be doing the same thing in the kingdom of heaven on earth (Mt. 19:28) among saved Jews who will be sinless but not perfect either. And we’re seeing this pictured here in Acts 6. We’re not seeing a breakdown of the harmony in the church here (Acts 1:14; 2:1,46; 4:32). We’re seeing how the harmony was maintained, and how it will be maintained in the kingdom.
Heaven will be perfect, but not in the way many people think Many Christians think we won’t have to go to work, but Eden was perfect, and Adam had a job (Gen. 2:15).And being a judge is a job, so we’ll have to go to work to judge angels.
People of other nations that spoke Greek were called Greeks (Mark 7:26). People of the Jewish nation who spoke Greek, who grew up in other lands, were called “Grecians.” The “daily ministration” that was neglecting the Grecian widows was the distribution to the needs of the saints (Acts 2:44,45). It couldn’t have been on purpose, for neglecting widows would have been a sin (Ex. 22:22), and these saints couldn’t sin (I Jo. 3:9). They were sinless, just not perfect.
The apostles didn’t think helping with this was beneath them, but passed on helping (6:2) because, in order to look into this neglect, they would have had to do some neglecting of their own. They’d have had to neglect their spiritual gift of teaching (Rom. 12:7 cf. I Tim. 4:14).
Instead, they helped by delegating authority (6:3), as Moses did when the Jews were multiplied in his day, as they were here at Pentecost (Deut. 1:10-17).
When they deferred to give themselves to teaching instead (6:4), that suggests men needed to be taught the Word there in the kingdom of heaven on earth, and that suggests that men will need it in the kingdom of heaven in heaven. That answers the question I’m often asked, if we’ll know the Bible perfectly the instant we enter heaven. No! The Bible is an eternal Book, and we’ll delight in studying it for all eternity. Imagine how boring eternity would be otherwise!
We’ll talk more about Stephen and Philip (6:5) in Acts 7,8. And these other men aren’t mentioned elsewhere, so there is nothing we can know about them. Although “Nicolas” might have been the father of the cult in Revelation 2:6,14,15 that was associated with fornication. Church history says Nicolas started taking that business of living with all things common (Acts 2:44; 4:32) too far, saying men shouldn’t say their wives were their own (Acts 4:32), leading to fornication
They ordained these men by laying hands on them (6:6) to give them the gift of ministry (Rom. 12:6) to help them operate “the daily ministration.”
But while we know nothing about these men, we know they were all Grecians, as their Greek names indicate! You wouldn’t pick a fox to guard the henhouse that he’s most likely to rob, but these disciples picked Grecian leaders who were most likely to side with Grecian widows in this dispute!
That’s grace! The Jews could have said, “It’s a Jewish church, we’re picking Jewish judges, and if you don’t like it, you can leave.” Of course, unsaved men would say, “That’s not fair, you need to pick 3 Hebrews, 3 Grecians, and 1 proselyte,” thinking no one could propose a better solution. But God did! Grace is always a better solution, for grace always goes above and beyond the call (Eph. 3:20). Do you?
If you could settle all your disputes as graciously, you might see the same results these saints saw: priests who a short while ago opposed them (Acts 4:1-3) believed (6:7).
“The faith” you had to be “obedient” to in the Jewish nation was Acts 2:38, but the faith to be obedient to among “all nations” was Paul’s gospel (Rom.1:5; 16:25,26). It still is!
Video of this sermon is available on YouTube: The Grecian Formula – Acts 6:1-7
The Noble Bereans
“These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the Word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so” (Acts 17:11).
Why did God call the Bereans noble? Why did He place them among the spiritual aristocracy of Paul’s day? Wherein lay their true greatness?
I have asked many people this and the answer has generally been the same, “Because they searched the Scriptures.”
This is true, but it is not the whole truth. The Scriptures give us a twofold reason.
1. “They received the Word with all readiness of mind.”
2. “They searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”
Let us put first things first.
THEY WERE OPEN-MINDED
They were broad as well as narrow. They were progressive as well as conservative. If they listened to Paul’s strange words with open eyes and open mouths, they at least listened with open minds too. This is the first lesson we must learn from the noble Bereans.
To really appreciate the spiritual greatness of these people, we must remember that they were Jews who met in a synagogue each Sabbath day. This was apparently the very first time that they had heard the gospel of grace proclaimed. It must all have seemed very strange and impossible to them but they were big enough to listen attentively and respectfully. They did not immediately shake their heads in refusal of the message and deem it unworthy of investigation.
It was not so at Thessalonica. There Paul reasoned out of the Scriptures for three Sabbath days with men who were not willing to listen. The result was that “some” of them believed in comparison to “many” at Berea. And while only “some” of the Thessalonian Jews believed, we read that “a great multitude” of the Gentiles believed. The Gentiles had put God’s chosen people to shame.
Thessalonian bigotry not only kept them in spiritual darkness, but moved them to bitter opposition to the truth itself. After persecuting the apostles in their own city they even followed them to Berea to stir up the people against them. This was the natural result of their blind refusal of the apostle’s message. And why should they have acted so? Could they not have given Paul a hearing? Did they not have Bibles too?
Perhaps we need this lesson. Bigotry among God’s people today will have the same effect as it had in that day. Let us never close our minds, to keep error out, for in doing so we will shut out new light as well, and close old errors in. Rather let us receive the words of men and subject them immediately to the Word of God.
And this brings us to the second element of Berean greatness.
THEY BELIEVED GOD’S WORD ALONE
They were not gullible or credulous. They did not just believe whatever they were told. They “received” Paul’s word, but they did not immediately believe it. They listened to him; they gave him an interested hearing, but did not immediately agree with him. First they had to search the Scriptures to see “whether those things were so.” Paul’s word was subjected to God’s Word. The word of man was tested by the Word of God. [Note: At this point in the article, many years later, Pastor Stam added these hand-written words in the margin: “Now all that Paul preached was not to be found in the Old Testament, for Paul had received a further revelation from the Lord. But it all fit right in with the Scriptures they had. None of it was contrary to the Old Testament.”] How God must have rejoiced over this Bible-loving, Bible-honoring group! They, and not the popular leaders of the day, were the truly great ones in Israel.
Picture the scene: A husband comes home saying he has heard strange things in the synagogue from the lips of a visiting rabbi. Reaching for the sacred Scriptures, he begins an intensive search. The rest of that Sabbath day finds him buried in thought over the writings of the prophets. And not only that day, for he continues the search day after day. He hurries home from his daily work. He puts aside the less important things. Untiringly he searches on until he is sure he has the Truth of God.
And he is only one of many. This was the general attitude in Berea toward Paul’s message. “They searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” They were not willing to take his word for granted. They sifted his message carefully and put it to an intense investigation in the light of the Word of God.
Result? “Therefore many of them believed.”
And we may be sure that these Bereans were strong in the faith, for they had an intelligent understanding of the subject. They not only had the “full assurance of faith” (Heb. 10:22), but the “full assurance of understanding” (Col. 2:2).
How we need to learn this lesson! Thousands of believers today are satisfied with their preachers, so satisfied that they never even check up on what they say. If a minister of the Word is fundamentally sound and has a passion for souls, they feel he is a pretty safe man to follow. But, beloved, we cannot safely follow the teachings of any man. No matter how greatly we may love and respect our spiritual leaders, it is our duty to examine their teachings in the light of the Word of God. Yet how few Christians practice this! How few, after hearing man’s word, go home and diligently search the Scriptures to see whether these things are so!
How much new light, how much fresh, encouraging truth might have been found in the last decade or two if we had all been Bereans! After the wonderful truth of the Lord’s premillennial return was recovered a few decades ago, it seemed that the Bereans began to die off. It seemed that believers were satisfied to stop their searching of the Word, as though they had found all the truth. And, depend upon it, when the Berean spirit dies, the Church loses it’s vitality. But again, praise God, there seems to be an awakening among some, both of Bible searching and true evangelism.
The virtues of the Bereans may at first seem contradictory. They were broad and yet narrow. They were progressive and yet conservative. But these virtues do go together. These are the characteristics of the spiritually great. And, another strange paradox: those who reject new light, refusing even to consider it, are the very ones who accept old errors without even considering them in the light of Scripture. Those who are so suspicious of other preachers are often so credulous of their own.
Beloved, are you a Berean? Do you stand among the nobles of the Church of Christ today? Are you spiritually big enough to give men a hearing, and yet exacting enough to accept only what is in harmony with God’s Holy Word?
Pastor Cornelius R. Stam (1908-2003) was the founder of Berean Bible Society and president for 46 years (1940-1986). He authored over 30 Bible study books, including the classic work, Things That Differ.
