elevation to any age which has succeeded it. And if the gifts were
needed then, they certainly are needed now
.
Among the agencies which the apostle in his letters to both the
Corinthians and Ephesians enumerates as “gifts” set in the church, we
find “pastors,” “teachers,” “helps,” and “governments;” and all these
are acknowledged, on every hand, as still continuing in the church.
Why not, then, the others also, including faith, healing, prophecy,
etc.? Who is competent to draw the line, and say what gifts have been
“set out” of the church, when all were, in the beginning, equally “set”
therein?
Revelation 12:17
has been referred to as a prophecy that the gifts
would be restored in the last days. An examination of its testimony
will confirm this view. The text speaks of the remnant of the woman’s
seed. The woman being a symbol of the church, her seed would be
the individual members composing the church at any one time; and
the “remnant” of her seed would be the last generation of Christians,
or those living on the earth at the second coming of Christ. The
text further declares that these “keep the commandments of God, and
have the testimony of Jesus Christ;” and the “testimony of Jesus” is
explained in
chapter 19:10
to be “the spirit of prophecy,” which must
be understood as that which among the gifts is called “the gift of
prophecy.”
1 Corinthians 12:9, 10
.
The setting of the gifts in the church does not imply that every
individual was to have them in exercise. On this point the apostle (
1
Corinthians 12:29
) says, “Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all
teachers?” etc. the implied answer is no; not all are; but the gifts are
divided among the members as it pleases
[28]
God.
1 Corinthians 12:7, 11
. Yet these gifts are said to be “set
in the church,” and if a gift is bestowed upon even one member of
the church, it may be said that that gift is “in the church,” or that the
church “has” it. So the last generation was to have, and it is believed
does now have, the testimony of Jesus, or the gift of prophecy.
Another portion of Scripture evidently written with reference to
the last days, brings the same fact plainly to view.
1 Thessalonians
5
. The apostle opens the chapter with these words: “But of the times
and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write unto you. For
yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a
thief in the night.” In
Verse 4
he adds, “But ye, brethren, are not in