at Dunoon Theological College in Dunoon, Scotland, 1897–1906.
The Complete Works of Oswald Chambers 45
——————— 8 ———————
Foreword to the FIrst edItIon (1917)
This book is comprised of talks given nightly by Reverend Oswald Chambers to the men at the Imperial School of Instruction,3 Zeitoun, Egypt, during the Spring of 1917.
CentraL haLL, WestMInster, London, s.W.
It is with sincere pleasure that I write a few prefatory words to this last message from Reverend Oswald Chambers.
The one who spoke the words is now in the presence of the King, "serving Him day and night in His temple," and our prayer is that this book may serve to quicken in us all "a personal passionate devotion to Jesus Christ." Our Lord Himself was the one Lodestar in the life of my husband, and every recalling of him is an incentive to "follow his ways in Christ."
The Church of Christ has sustained a great loss in the Passing of our dear gifted Friend.
Reverend Oswald Chambers was a scholar, a burning Evangelist, a teacher of the Word of God, who taught in faith and verity.
He was full of the Holy Ghost, and turned many to the Lord. There is pathetic interest in these musings on the great drama of sorrow, which was also a true history.
For himself So shadowed forth in every look and act Our Lord, without Whose name he seldom spoke, One could not live beside him and forget.
Many will read them with tearful eyes as they recall their departed Author.
All, I am sure, will read with profit: may our Friend's lessons be messages of God to us all.
B.C.4 Egypt, 1917
May we live in full consecration as he did, and whether we "fall asleep in Jesus," or remain till the Lord's return, may we be absolutely faithful!
Dinsdale T. Young5
——————— 8 ———————
Foreword to the thIrd edItIon (1924)
These talks were given in the Y.M.C.A. Huts, Zeitoun, Egypt, to the men in the Egyptian Expeditionary Force during the early part of 1917. They were not given with the thought of publication, and the book is compiled from my own verbatim notes.
sages had ever done. This book was the first one to be published and was widely circulated amongst the men in Egypt and Palestine, many of whom had heard the talks given, an edition being also published in England at the same time.
In November, 1917, God's call came to my husband for other service in His presence, and the idea came to me that to publish the talks he had been giving to the men in Egypt (and previously at the Bible Training College, London), would serve some purpose of God's, and the work was started with the prayer that the written messages might bring a knowledge of His truth to many as the spoken mes-
I have a practically inexhaustible supply of notes, and other books will be published from time to time. By his faith, he is speaking to us still. (Hebrews 11:4, Moffatt).
B.C. 200 Woodstock Road, Oxford October 1923
3. The Imperial School of Instruction was established at Zeitoun in September 1916 by the British Command to train troops primarily in infantry weapons and tactics.
4. Biddy Chambers: although Mrs. Chambers was editor, compiler, and often publisher, she never identified herself by name in any of the books.
5. Dinsdale T. Young (1861–1938), noted Methodist minister who influenced Chambers, especially during Oswald's years at Dunoon Theological College in Dunoon, Scotland, 1897–1906.
46 Baffled to Fight Better
——————— 8 ———————
the unseen unIverse
Job 1:1–12
Man is not God but hath God's end to serve, A master to obey, a course to take, Somewhat to cast off, somewhat to become. Grant this, then man must pass from old to new, From vain to real, from mistake to fact, From what once seemed good, to what now
When Jesus Christ came face to face with Satan He dealt with him as representing the attitude man takes up in organising his life apart from any consideration of God. In the Temptation the devil is seen in his undisguised character; only once did Our Lord address the devil as "Satan"—"Then said Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan . . ." (Matthew 4:10). On another occasion Jesus said that self-pity was satanic—"But He turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind Me, Satan . . ." (Matthew 16:23).
proves best.
Robert Browning
(1) The Record of the Natural ( Job 1:1–5)
The Greatest Man in the East
The devil is the adversary of God in the rule of man and Satan is his representative. Because a thing is satanic does not mean that it is abominable and immoral; Our Lord said that "that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God" (Luke 16:15). Satan rules this world under the inspiration of the devil and men are peaceful—"when a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace"—there is no breaking out into sin and wrongdoing. One of the most cunning travesties is to represent Satan as the instigator of external sins. The satanically-managed man is moral, upright, proud and individual; he is absolutely self-governed and has no need of God.
(a) His Goodness ( Job 1:1) (b) His Grandeur ( Job 1:2–4) (c) His Graciousness ( Job 1:5) (2) The Record of the Supernatural ( Job 1:6–12)
The Scenery Behind the Seen
(a) Sons of God ( Job 1:6) (b) Satan and God ( Job 1:7–8) (c) Satanic Sneer about God ( Job 1:9–12)
It is in such a book as Job that many suffering souls will find consolation and sustaining, and this because no attempt is made to explain the why of suffering, but rather an expression is given to suffering which leaves one with the inspiration of an explanation in the final issue. The problem in connection with suffering arises from the fact that there is seemingly no explanation of it.
Satan counterfeits the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit represents the working of God in a human life when it is at one with God through the Redemption; in other words, "Holy Spirit" is the heredity brought into human nature at regeneration. When a man is born from above he has granted to him the disposition of Jesus, Holy Spirit, and if he obeys that disposition he will develop into the new manhood in Christ Jesus. If by deliberate refusal a man is not born again he is liable to find himself developing more and more into the satanic, which will ultimately head up into the devil.
To say that Job was perfected by means of his sufferings is begging the question, for Job was perfect in moral and religious equipment before suffering touched his life. "Hast thou considered My servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and upright man, one that . . . escheweth evil?" ( Job 1:8). Job suffered "according to the will of God"; he never knew the preface to his story.
Verses 6–12 are a record of the supernatural; there is nothing familiar to our minds in them. The Bible deals with what no ordinary mind sees—the scenery behind the things that are seen. We have means of inferring the existence of a supernatural world only when it interferes with us. These verses refer to something that happened in the supernatural world, and it is what happened there that accounts for Job's sufferings; therefore the upset which came into the life of this great and good man is not to be laid to his account.
"Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?" Job 1:9–12 might be paraphrased in this way: Satan is represented as saying to God, "You are infatuated with the idea that man loves You for Your own sake; he never has and never will. Job, for instance, simply loves you because You bless and prosper him, but touch any one of his blessings and he will curse You to Your face and prove that no man on earth loves You for Your own sake."
There is a difference between Satan and the devil which the Bible student should note. According to the Bible, man is responsible for the introduction of Satan: Satan is the result of a communication set up between man and the devil (see Genesis 3:1–5).
It must be remembered what Job's creed was. Job believed that God prospered and blessed the upright man who trusted in Him, and that the man who was not upright was not prospered. Then came calamity after calamity, everything Job believed about God