EVEN AT 20,000 FEET we had been enveloped in clouds, and as the plane descended we realized we were passing through unusual turbulence while at the same time we were surrounded by a pall of blackness. We could sense that our descent was rapid, and at times the force of the storm caused the plane to toss like a leaf.
On and on, and down and down, we went. Almost every passenger had his eyes glued to the windows; some were ill, many were acutely apprehensive.
After what seemed an age there was a momentary rift in the clouds, and below we could see land. Then all was dark again and we continued on our course. But we had seen the earth, and before long we broke out of the low-lying clouds and landed safely at our intended airport, very relieved and very thankful.
There were certain fixed elements in this experience: accurate instruments, an experienced crew, the land beneath and the airport, which had not moved.
In the realm of the spirit there are fixed elements that mean comfort and assurance for the believer. Like Isaiah we live in a deeply disturbed world. We find the prophet saying: “Ah, the thunder of many peoples, they thunder like the thundering of the sea! Ah, the roar of nations, they roar like the roaring of mighty waters! The nations roar like the roaring of many waters, but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away, chased like chaff on the mountains before the wind and whirling dust before the storm” (Isa. 17:12, 13).
There is no peace in looking to man. There is no hope in the things man makes. There is grave danger in rejoicing in his ability to effect change. There is certain disaster in forgetting God. Again we read: “You have forgotten the God of your salvation, and have not remembered the Rock of your refuge” (Isa. 17:10a).
It is said that the changes that have taken place in the past sixty years are greater than those between the time of Noah and the sailing of the Mayflower. Change occurs in many areas of life; many things must change. But let us never forget that some things are unchangeable.
One of the grave philosophical errors of our time is the affirmation that all things are relative, that nothing is fixed. From this false premise many harmful deductions follow.
It is often pointed out that to say there are no absolutes is to make an absolute statement. There are many absolutes, and on them rests man’s hope for time and eternity. That we live in a time of accelerating change makes it all the more necessary for man to place his faith in those absolutes.
God’s truth is not relative; it is unchanging from age to age. The psalmist says, “Long have I known from thy testimonies that thou hast founded them for ever” (Ps. 119:152).
Jesus, the Christ of the Scriptures, is an absolute. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews expresses this vital truth in these words: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever” (Heb. 13:8). It is significant that this warning follows: “Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings” (v. 9a). Those who now reject the finality of the biblical revelation of Christ simply add to the confusion of our times.
The person and work of the Holy Spirit, his deity and his power within the hearts of men, are absolutes. To read some theologians today, one would think there was no such person as the One sent into the world to bear witness to the truth. The fact is that God is working right now, independently of worldly power or might, by the blessed ministry of the third person of the Trinity.
The moral laws of God are absolutes. He must be our only object of worship. No image shall be made for the purpose of worship. God’s name is holy, not to be taken in vain. One day in seven is necessary for man’s spiritual and physical rest. Parents are to be honored. Murder is always wrong; so is adultery; so is stealing. And God condemns the false witness and the covetous heart.
Deny the absolutes of God’s moral law and anything can happen. The new morality and situation ethics are the natural outcome of rejecting God’s absolutes. In such a rejection, how great the chaos man creates for himself!
As the panic of a drowning man changes to confidence when he finds a rock on which to stand, so one caught in the swirling changes and uncertainties of a world in rebellion against God finds hope and peace when he rests his all on Christ, the sure Foundation.
We are truly living in a time such as that predicted by Daniel: “Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase” (Dan. 12:4b). Knowledge without wisdom, however, makes man a prisoner of his own innate sinfulness. The vast changes that have taken place and will continue to take place in the world stagger the imagination, but none of them can change the human heart. Man continues to commit the very same sins he committed thousands of years ago. Amid all the change, the absolute of evil in the heart of man continues.
It was in answer to this “absolute” of man’s sinfulness that God sent his Son with the “absolute” of regeneration for all who will believe in the efficacy of the Cross.
The restlessness of today’s youth is a confession of frustration and emptiness. Many young people are idealistic, but they do not know the One who can translate human idealism into divine transformation. Millions of parents have failed because they have put things first in their lives, only to find that things crumble to ashes with the using, leaving a haunting emptiness.
The psalmist had discovered the secret of faith in the One who is absolute: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult.… ‘Be still, and know that I am God. I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth!’ The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge” (Ps. 46:1–3, 10, 11).
For man, living in a changing and a deeply troubled world, God has a word of certainty and a hope that is absolute. Only too often the yearnings of the human soul are inarticulate. They must be stirred by the Spirit, speaking in and through God’s written Word. What comfort in words like these: “God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose.… We have this promise as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner shrine behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf” (Heb. 6:17, 19, 20).
Men need this word of assurance. They need to realize that their hope is in God, not man, and that while they see change and decay on every hand, there is One who never changes.
This is the glory and the hope of the Gospel!
L. NELSON BELL
