Expositional Lectures

Petitioning The King

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Doctrinal Studies

Lesson: 6-12

Genre: Speech

Track: 076

Dictation Name: RR119A2

Location/Venue:

Year: 1960’s - 1970’s

[Dr. Rushdoony] {?} Gospel of St. Luke. St. Luke 18:35-43.

Luke 18:35-43 And it came to pass, that as he was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the way side begging: (36) And hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant. (37) And they told him, that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. (38) And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. (39) And they which went before rebuked him, that he should hold his peace: but he cried so much the more, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. (40) And Jesus stood, and commanded him to be brought unto him: and when he was come near, he asked him, (41) Saying, What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight. (42) And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee. (43) And immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God: and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God.

We are told by the Gospels that our Lord, as the time came for the Feast of Passover, set His face towards Jerusalem and proceeded to that city in anticipation of His trial, crucifixion and resurrection. As He proceeded on His way He went through Jericho. Now Jericho, being on the way to Jerusalem, has almost a symbolic significance in this context, because Jericho was a city of priests. And yet Jericho was significant for its blindness and it was particularly fitting that this blind man should be there as He was come nigh unto Jericho.

The priests of the day in particular epitomized the blindness of the nation. None were so blind as those who had a commission to teach the Word of God. And certainly this parallels what we see today. Because there is no blindness to equal that of the blindness of those who today are commissioned to be ministers of the Word of God. The clergy. And it is a deliberate lapse. It is their blindness, their immorality, their perversity, which is the most signal and conspicuous evil of our generation.

As He was come nigh unto Jericho a certain blind man sat by the wayside begging. And hearing the multitude pass by he asked what it meant. And they told him that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by.

Now this answer, as far as we are concerned, at first glance seems only to communicate information. What’s all the noise about? The blind beggar asks. And the answer was, Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. Now first of all, the obvious fact here is that a tremendous throng was gathered around by the roadside, waiting to see this man of whom such remarkable things were reported. It was common knowledge that He had raised the dead. That He had performed a variety of miracles. And yet when they are asked, who it is that is passing by, they say, simply, Jesus of Nazareth. Now this is a significant bit of identification. It is totally noncommittal. They’re all there to see Him, they’re all curious. But do they say it is the Son of Man, which was a messianic title, and Jesus consistently identified Himself as the Son of Man, which meant the Son on God.

Did they say it is he who declares himself to be the fulfillment of prophecy? Who repeatedly declares that he comes in fulfillment of all that which Moses and the prophets spake. Again, no. Jesus of Nazareth. Simply the name. A bare identification. Totally noncommittal. And this in itself is revelatory. Sometimes we are told by people that Jesus had the crowds with Him until the last. He had the crowds as curiosity seekers. But the characteristic name that was given to Him was Rabbi, which meant teacher, Master, which was again simply Teacher, someone who is a master of the laws, the teacher of the laws, or Jesus of Nazareth. All noncommittal terms. The crowds were always there, they were never with Him. But the response of this blind beggar, immediately, is remarkable. He cried, saying, Jesus Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And they which went before rebuked him, that he should hold his peace, but he cried so much the more, Thou Son of David have mercy on me. The response of this blind man was a remarkable one. Others called Him Rabbi or Teacher, Master, Jesus of Nazareth, he immediately calls Him Thou Son of David. The term was clearly messianic. One has only to read through the Psalms and through the prophecies. Who is the Son of David? It is the God sent, virgin-born, fulfillment of prophecy, the Messiah who is to usher in the messianic kingdom. This is the Lord.

Significantly. Never before was this title applied to Jesus. Not even the disciples. They hoped this was the case. Obliquely, several times, they indicated that they thought this was the case. But now, from a blind beggar sitting near the city of priests, comes the cry, Thou Son of David. You who are the fulfillment of all prophecy. You who are the messianic King. Have mercy on me. He was rebuked. Why was he rebuked? That he should hold his peace. Now the crowd was always anxious to see miracles, and we know that repeatedly they trotted out every sick person they could, to the point where Jesus had to flee to find rest. Here was a blind man, obviously an opportunity for a miracle to be performed, but they rebuked him and commanded him to hold his peace. In this city of priests, this was the last thing they wanted Jesus Christ to be designated as. Thou Son of David. The fulfillment of all prophecy. And Jesus stood and commanded him to be brought unto Him. And when he was come near, He asked him saying, what wilt thou that I should do unto thee? Jesus stood and commanded. As the King He asked that the man be brought to Him by means of a command. Not a request, but a sign of regal authority. What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? What do you want? A total blanket statement from a King. Now blind Bartimaeus knew to whom he came when he made the request. Have mercy on me, Thou Son of David. You who are very God of very God.

And Jesus said, what wilt thou that I should do unto thee. No conditions, a most remarkable situation. And blind Bartimaeus said, Lord, that I may receive my sight. This was the reply of faith. The blind man knew before whom he stood. He called Him Son of David and Lord. He walked by faith. And now his request was, that I may receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, receive thy sight. Thy faith hast saved thee. And immediately he received his sight and followed Him, glorifying God. And all the people when they saw it gave praise unto God.

Now the miracles of Scripture are not only miracles, actual, physical occurrences wherein men were remarkable healed, but they are recorded for us as living, actual parables. And of course we know that St. John in his gospel singles out some in particular and declares that these are signs and wonders, that is, these are witnesses, these are revelations. So that they are enacted works. And all the miracles of our Lord are part of His revelation. So that they are speaking works. Enacted works in which the characters were actual historical characters. Now what is the significance of this enacted parable, a witness in the city of priests?

There is an interesting little story that comes from the Medieval Jewish communities of Poland. And according to this story, which has several versions, the angels took pity on the poverty of an extremely poor Jewish peddler. A man who walked the streets of Warsaw peddling his wares in bitter cold. And so they begged as a special favor to the angelic hosts, that this man be brought into heaven and given an opportunity to ask for anything that he wanted. And they said, how unfair it is, this man is so poor, he’s never had anything, let’s give him an opportunity and see what he will ask for and then how he will use the riches he gains. And so according to this story, God went along with the angels and said alright, bring this peddler out of Warsaw. And so suddenly the peddler as he was walking the cold snowbound windy streets of Warsaw, found himself before the throne of God. And all the angels round about him saying, what do you want? Ask for anything, you’re before the throne of the King. And then the beggar, the peddler rather, thought for a minute and he said well, if it isn’t too much, it’s awfully cold on the streets of Warsaw, that I have a cup of coffee and a bun. And that was all he got. He was nothing more than a peddler. And his vision did not go beyond the streets of Warsaw, and what he needed to walk the streets of Warsaw. A hot cup of coffee and a bun, when he could have had so much.

This is, as I said, a parable that actually was enacted with a blind man near Jericho. And today Christians are very much like those people of Jericho and they are very much like that peddler from Warsaw. Their Savior is the King of Kings. His Gospel is the Gospel of the Kingdom. And our Lord never declared that, I preach the Gospel of the Church, or the Gospel of the State, but the Gospel of the Kingdom, the Kingdom of God, or the Kingdom of Heaven. Which is the declaration of His total authority and total sway in every area of the universe. All power, all authority is given to me in Heaven and on Earth. All things in heaven and all things on earth are totally and completely under Jesus Christ. And the Gospel which we must proclaim is the Gospel of the totality of Christ’s Kingship. But first He is our Savior from sin and death. This is the starting point, it is the A B C’s of the Gospel of the Kingdom. But then that His authority is total, over the family, over the Church, over the State and must be proclaimed to these areas. Over all vocations, over education, over science, over agriculture, over all things, the fullness, the totality of the Gospel must be proclaimed. And we must come to Christ, who is our King, as our Lord asks of us as he asked of that blind man near Jericho, what wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? We ask Him not only concerning our salvation from sin and death, but concerning the totality of our life. And at this point the Church has failed its game. And believers have prayed small prayers too often, like the Jewish peddler from Warsaw.

The great hymn of John Newton concerning prayer is especially appropriate to this miracle. ‘Come my soul, thy suit prepare, Jesus loves to answer prayer. Thou art coming to a King, large petitions with thee bring, for His grace and power are such, none can ever ask too much, none can ever ask too much.’ What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? We need ask Christians to be in earnest prayer, for ourselves and our loved ones, for Church, State and School. Praying that the kingdoms of this world might become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. Praying not only for our protection but for the whole future of Christ’s Kingdom. Lest we, like that peddler, be, and this was the conclusion of the old Jewish story, the laughing stock of the angels from that day forward. What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee?

Let us pray. Our Lord and our God, we give thanks unto Thee that our Savior is the Son of David, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And so our Father, in this confidence we come, praying that the judgment of the king may descend upon this generation, that the powers that be may be shaken and cast down. That the kingdoms of this world might become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. Praying O Lord that in Church, State, Schools, science, Family, farming, in every area, the authority of our Lord be established. That His Word prevail and that His righteousness and justice abound. Make us strong in prayer. Teach us to pray great prayers concerning ourselves and our times and our future. And make us ever mindful that we are citizens of no mean country, but the Kingdom of God. Make us mindful of the greatness of our King. In His name we pray, Amen.

Are there any questions now? Yes.

[Audience] …{?}…

[Dr. Rushdoony] Yes. And the question is, having stated previously that we are headed for anarchy, how does it square with these things and with our preparations for the future and so on. Is it neutralism to tell a person a fact of life? For example, they’re sick or they’re dying. Or is it honesty? First of all, how can you begin to remedy any situation or to prepare to better until you face the facts? Can a doctor treat a patient without first making a diagnosis? Therefore, first we must make a diagnosis concerning the times. And the diagnosis is that because of the humanism in our day law and order are being destroyed and we are moving steadily into anarchy. This is an inescapable fact. I learned just this week that there is a book published now by a manufacturers institute for all members, these are manufacturers, on preparation for riots and civil disorder, in other words, this has to now part of the business planning of any manufacturer and business man. Now is it neutralism to face reality? Or is it the first step towards a cure? First, you state, this is coming. This is the reality of the situation. The logic of the situation is going to create this total breakdown. Alright. That’s the first fact. The second, what is the answer? And the answer is Christian reconstruction. There’s going to be nothing more disastrous than the destiny of these people, on the one hand believe that you must never tell people that the situation is as bad as it actually is, and the others who expect that somehow miraculously they’re going to be spared any problems.

We’re never spared problems, we are given by God an answer to them. The Greek idea of salvation is Deus Ex {?} in which you were picked up out of troubles and then taken to some beautiful green field where lovely maidens popped grapes into your mouth and you’re spared from the battles. And of course this is the salvation that you have in the Iliad, where Paris, when he’s about to be killed in battle is picked up and popped into bed with Helen, or into the bedroom, and that’s the next step. And this is the idea of salvation. But the Christian idea is very different. The doctrine that we are given in Scripture is not that we are delivered out of the troubles, but given power to overcome. And are assured of victory in and through battle. So, tell these people that it’s marvelous what good Christian scientists they are.

Yes.

[Audience]…{?}…

[Dr. Rushdoony] Exactly, very well put. And of course Jeremiah was called the Hebrew equivalent of the Neutralizer in his day. Because he told them exactly what was going to happen to them. And so the state council decreed that he had to be silenced. He had to silenced because, after all, when he was stating the facts so openly as to what was going to happen to them, wasn’t he discouraging the people. As a matter of fact, he was telling them the only way out of the situation. That they were headed for certain doom and by refusing to acknowledge that they were, they insured their total collapse, their total disaster.

Yes.

[Audience]…{?}…

[Dr. Rushdoony] Well, first of all, we have a Christian background, but right now we are living on humanistic terms, our law has become humanistic. Our courts are humanistic, and humanism today is rapidly destroying the entire world order. We have to re-establish, reconstruct, everything, because everything is in process of total destruction, on Christian grounds. So it is a matter of reconstruction because in a sense, the fuse is already been lit, and the building is in process of being demolished. So you have to rebuild it again.

[Audience]…{?}…

[Dr. Rushdoony] No, the term Christian reconstruction is a term for the social context. Now, on the personal context, yes, to this extent, in that, now I’m talking about the Bible believing Christians, they have been pietistic, they have withdrawn from the world, and they have limited the Gospel to the doctrine of salvation and then a few thou shalt not’s where drinking and gambling and a few other such things are concerned. So that they have given a totally, well, they’ve surrendered the world to the devil.

So reconstruction means for them that they’ve got to re-establish the true Gospel, the fullness of it.

Yes.

[Audience]…{?}…

[Dr. Rushdoony] Wasn’t it far more frivolous to ask for a cup of coffee and a bun, when he was in the presence of a King who was ready to grant him his wishes. You see, the frivolousness of it was to treat God with such utter contempt. A cup of coffee and a bun. Now, the story is of course, an apocryphal sort of thing, but there is a good point there. This was the limit of all that he expected from God. And it reminds of something, a true story, incidentally, of a man who live in a frontier situation where there was virtually little help except what the family could provide. And various epidemics were coming around periodically. And when the first epidemic came around with their first baby, he prayed earnestly that the Lord would deliver the child although it was extremely sick with a high fever and children were dying all around. The baby survived miraculously. And other babies who were not as ill passed away in the immediate neighborhood. Then about three or four years later their second child came down again, and I’ve forgotten what epidemic this was, this occurred about 80, 90 years ago, possibly a 100 now. And again he prayed earnestly and the second child was miraculously healed. Then two or three years later their third child was born and they had another epidemic and so this time he felt it was too much to ask of God to pray their child when other children all over were dying. So he said, Lord, I don’t feel that I can ask, and the child died. I think that was extremely wicked. Extremely wicked.

And it is wicked to go before a King and to have so little to ask of Him when He has asked you to ask.

Yes.

[Audience]…{?}…

[Dr. Rushdoony] That’s partially the case. First I would say in our praying, we don’t show enough gratitude to God. This is a lost dimension in prayer. Second, I don’t think we ask enough for ourselves. Third, I don’t think we ask enough concerning our times and the world and the conditions around us. In other words, in every area our prayers are too limited and too perfunctory. After all, the Lord’s prayer does begin, in confirmation of what you said, Thy kingdom come. This must be a party of our prayer. Thy kingdom come. So, our prayers are far to small, to limited. We do need to have more boldness in prayer and more gratitude in prayer. Boldness concerning what we ask for ourselves, and what we ask concerning the kingdom of God.

Now, our time is growing short, but several people asked during the last couple of days when they called, that I do comment on what is going on with regard to the monetary situation, and this so called paper gold idea. It’s tied with what we’ve been discussing right now. We don’t know all the details of this paper gold idea, although the term in itself is ridiculous, there’s no such thing as a paper gold. Now, all that this so called agreement, which is a long ways from agreement yet, it has to go to the member nations for ratification, does, is to create an additional ten billion dollars available from the IMF as a special drawing right for any member nation. This will be against available gold, in other words, it will be alone against gold.

So it’s alone, it’s not new money. Now we are both told in the reports that it is a loan and yet it isn’t a loan. This is meaningless, so it’s hard to say. It may be that there is no immediate repayment but there’s special interest payments, of this I don’t know. But it’s a lot of double talk as it comes out. It is, nonetheless, a kind of international paper money supposedly, {?} international paper money, created against some gold which the IMF supposedly will get from member nations. So there’s a lot suppositions here, alright. Now, how is this to be used? There is no indication that it is to be used as an international money between nations. In other words, the Belgians, the Italians, the Swedes, the Germans, will still have the right to demand gold against our paper dollars. So who’s going to get this? How are they going to use it? There’s only one answer as far as I can tell. When the people of the world try to claim money against any government, they demand gold and silver, say, from a foreign country in payment for goods, they will be given this worthless paper. So it will be, apparently, a kind of money to be used by the United States or Britain or whoever can get it, if and when they can get it, simply to pay off the peoples. In other words, the governments are in effect saying, gold is the only money we recognize, but we’re going to give the people a snow job. We’re going to tell them there’s a new kind of money, an international money. And we’ll pay them off with that. Now this is total falsification. This is a con-job from start to finish. And all you can say for it is that it is apparently successful. Why? Because every time they come out with announcements about this, the price of silver drops and the price of gold drops, so that the people are ready to believe it. But it will only work for a time. Let us imagine, for example, that one of us, you, let’s say, are on a plane headed for New York.

A nonstop flight. And word comes over the phone that there has been an international meeting which has established the fact that for everybody that wants it, there’s instant money, instant champagne, instant girls, anything you want, available in Paris. So that the crew and the passengers except for you, all get together and say, well we’re going to head for Paris. And you say, but we can’t, we only have enough fuel to take us about 500 miles beyond New York, so we’re going to end up in the ocean. But they say, oh but we have agreed, we have decided on instant gas. So it’s settled. Everybody’s agreed, so why shouldn’t it work? Now, this is exactly what they are doing. And everybody has agreed it’s going to work, so people, because they don’t believe there’s such a thing as law, are convinced it will work. But you happen to be the passenger who knows that instant gas won’t work, and they haven’t abolished the law of gravity by a majority vote, you see. So whether they go along in confidence that 500 hundred miles, sure they’re going to get there to instant champagne, instant money and instant girls, you know that all their confidence isn’t going to help them, they’re going to end up at the bottom of the Atlantic. Well, we’re coasting along on this belief right now that instant money and instant champagne and all the rest will work. The various governments know they’re pulling a con-job to a degree, and yet they’re hopeful on this, they don’t believe there’s a God, they don’t believe there’s a law, so they believe that public confidence may somehow pull this off. This is total Christian science, you see. And you and are the people who aren’t the Christian Scientists in the {?}, and we say, oh but you are sick. And even though you won’t admit it, you’re going to die. And they feel that’s horrible. But we know better.

Yes.

[Audience]…{?}….

[Dr. Rushdoony] Exactly. You put your finger on it. They have retained, and this was at the previous weeks meeting in Washington, the right to draw gold as governments. All they’re doing now with the supplemental rights or special drawing rights, is to say, you can pay off the people, our citizens and anybody else’s citizens with this if you want. So you see, they’re keeping their hand on gold.

Yes.

[Audience]…{?}…

[Dr. Rushdoony] Yes, except it isn’t. It is to give the idea to the people that there is a international money coming, a paper gold. Except that, who’s going to accept it? The governments are going to demand gold. And supposing you’re a businessman and you find, after all you’re getting nothing but worthless paper, are you going to do business with a country that will give you worthless paper? So you’re going to say, I’m not interest in selling to you. I want real money. So you see, it is a part of the snow-job to persuade people that international money is about to come and there will be an international world order, and yet there’s nothing more obvious then that the UN today is dying on its feet. Today they’re having to twist Goldberg’s arm to stay at the UN. He doesn’t want to there, he wants to be where the action is, and the UN is a joke today, internationally. Now how can you have an international money when you don’t have an international order? When the UN, with the limited authority it had, is already perishing?

Yes.

[Audience]…{?}…

[Dr. Rushdoony] Yes, but the facts of life are such that while they may drive it down temporarily, and there are reasons to believe that a good deal of the market is rigged, the reality is the gold is moving into private hands. Of the forty billion in known gold, mined and refined gold. Sixteen billion for sure is in private hands. This is at the official estimates, now, a realistic estimate would probably put it much higher, so you could say, half the known gold that is passed through the hands of the various central treasuries, is already gone into private hands.

So, there’s no indication that this will flow back. The people who have gotten it are the ones who are aware of the absurdity of this whole thing. And the likelihood is the flow will only increase, it will abate temporarily as people wait to see how these settlements work, but it seems to me extremely unlikely that they can drive the price down, they may drive it only higher by all of this.

[Audience]…{?}…

[Dr. Rushdoony] Yes, I would like to see that sometime. I would agree I’m being extremely conservative, but I’m taking the government figures and the point is that even on the basis of the government figures, the situation is very bad and it is progressively getting worse.

Our time is just about up, I’ll take these two questions.

[Audience]…{?}…

[Dr. Rushdoony] They are big and small but primarily small. It’s the little people of the world basically.

Yes.

[Audience]…{?}…

[Dr. Rushdoony] Yes. And after all, ten billion is nothing. Remember, we create that much paper money in a year, a lot more than that, through the Federal Reserve. So what is ten billion on the international level? It’s nothing. This is not worth anything except as a means of selling people on the idea that there is an answer so relax and forget it. And it isn’t going to work more than temporarily, because very soon the plane will loose altitude, and it will head towards the Atlantic, and even these people who are dreaming of instant champagne and instant girls are going to see that the water is getting very close. And then they will loose confidence.

Well our time is up, and we are dismissed.