Eighth Commandment

The Virgin Birth & Property

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Restitution & Forgiveness

Lesson: The Virgin Birth & Property

Genre: Speech

Track: 83

Dictation Name: RR130AT83

Location/Venue:

Year: 1960’s-1970’s

St. Luke 1:46-56. The Virgin Birth & Property. This is the Magnificat that we shall be studying. Luke 1:46-56. “And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name. And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation. He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away. He hath helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy; as he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever. And Mary abode with her about three months, and returned to her own house.”

One of the persistent problems that has beset mankind from before the Christian Era can be termed Manichaeism. Manichaeism is a very ancient faith, deeply rooted in the history of mankind. Manichaeism is simply this: It believes that there are two basic powers, or gods, in the universe. The god of darkness and the god of light. The god of matter and the god of spirit, and that these two are in war, one against the other.

Some Manichean groups have worshiped the world of matter, others the world of spirit. Some have tried to say it is only spirit or mind that exists, and other Manichean groups have said that it is only matter that exists. Manichaeism undergirds a great many movements in history. It undergirds the whole of the illuminist cults and movements. It is basic to witchcraft and occultism. The various hippy movements that we read about today in the papers, that have become matters of police record, are Manichean in their faith. The sad fact is that Manichaeism has so badly infected the churches as well.

Most evangelicals and fundamentalists are Manichean in that they choose the world of the spirit and they are above the world of matter, and they do not feel that there is any law, that is the world of the spirit has no law for the world of matter. They are antinomian, and the idea of being saved is to leave things that are material and to become spiritual, and this is why the religion of so many evangelical churches is so spiritual, as the saying goes, that it is of no earthly good. It supposedly rises above practical and spiritual matters.

On the other hand, the modernists with their social gospel renounce the spiritual world for the material. They, too, are antinomian. They have no world of God or of the spirit, giving a law for the world of matter. If there is any law for them, it has to come out of the material world; hence, situation ethics. Situation ethics says that the only law that can govern the world of matter is that which comes out of the existential, the material, moment. As a result, it denies biblical law and biblical morality.

Thus, the modernists turn the story of the virgin birth into a myth. The evangelicals turn it into a sweet, other-worldly tale, that really has no relationship to our everyday world. The reality of the virgin birth is anti-Manichean. The virgin birth is totally relevant to time and to eternity, hence, our subject this morning, the Virgin Birth & Property. Now, that’s the title to shock a lot of modernists. How crass we are making Christianity. It’s a title to shock also many evangelicals, because for them, the virgin birth takes you out of this world, and it takes you to heaven on flowery beds of ease, as one hymn writer, caricaturing that kind of faith, described it, but the virgin birth is very definitely related to our real world, and to property.

In the annunciation to the virgin Mary, which is in Luke 1:26-38, the angel declared that Jesus would be given the throne of his father, David, and he shall reign over the House of Jacob forever, of his kingdom there shall be no end. Now, when Mary heard these words from the angel, she did not believe that this throne was merely a spiritual thing and had no relationship to this world. Quite the contrary, she believed that it was the fulfillment of prophesy. What prophesy? In the beginning, God had created man and established him in Eden, and declared unto him that his duty was to exercise dominion and to subdue the earth. Man fell. Man became a sinner and was unable to serve God. In fact, he was anti-God to the core, and so in Jesus Christ, God declared, speaking to Adam and Eve from the beginning and through the prophets, age after age, he would establish a new humanity, a second Adam. Thus Jesus Christ was ordained to come, the prophets declared, as the second Adam, the head of the new race, a new humanity, which would fulfill that which Adam did not fulfill, to exercise dominion and to subdue the earth.

Therefore, the coming of Jesus Christ was to reestablish man in dominion over the earth, to free him from the burden of sin and death, to open up heaven to him and the life to come, and the earth in the world here and now. This is what salvation means. Salvation means man’s dominion is established in terms of this world, so this world is opened up to him, and heaven is opened up to him. Both worlds. Victory here and in the hereafter. In other words, Jesus Christ, as the second Adam, as the true man, very man of very man, and very God of very God, came to establish his sovereignty over the world, to reclaim his property from evil men, and the purpose of his coming, therefore, was to assert his crown rights and to empower his people to go forth and to claim the realms that belong to King Jesus, to claim the entire world, to bring every area of thought, of philosophy, of activity into captivity to Jesus Christ.

Now it was in terms of that faith, that expectation, that Jesus Christ came, and that the virgin Mary, before his birth, joyfully sang this son, the Magnificat. It’s simply a series of quotations from the prophesies concerning Christ put together in beautiful fashion. The whole point of the Magnificat is this, that the Virgin Mary celebrated the mighty reversal of all things that was to take place with the coming of the Christ Child. She celebrates it as though it had already taken place because the child was in her womb, it was to be born, so the victory was here. God was entering the course of history. There was to be an overturning of the dominion of sin over man and the world, and the people of the Christ were being called into that dominion in him.

Thus, Mary did not believe that there was only to be a spiritual fulfillment, that the salvation that Jesus was to bring was only in terms of heaven. It was in terms of this world and the world hereafter. To say that Mary was thinking only about the other world is to trifle with scripture. If you refer the fulfillment of these things only to heaven, how can you interpret any part of scripture? You can spiritualize away the first chapter of Genesis, the creation of heaven and earth, and you can spiritualize away the virgin birth, and all the miracles. A very real fulfillment was in Mary’s mind. What was she affirming? That the earth is the property of the Messiah, of the Christ, because he is the Messianic king, the head of the new race.

Moreover, she affirmed that this king has the right of eminent domain and can do as he pleases with his property, turn out the ungodly and give it to whomsoever he wills, and so looking down the centuries, she declared joyfully, “He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.” A mighty reversal of all things, and our Lord declared, in the week before his crucifixion and resurrection, his victory over sin and death as he spoke to the high and the mighty around him who ruled and ruled in evil. “Therefore, I say unto you the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruit thereof.”

The purpose of his coming, the Virgin Mary declared, and the purpose of his coming, the Christ declared, was to dispossess the present world leadership and to give his domain to his people. The people of God, therefore, must expect his kingdom and enforce his laws. They must be faithful to the mandate to subdue the earth and to exercise dominion over it. The ungodly can only destroy the waste. They can only lay it waste. Therefore, the people of God must believe that they have been ordained by God to exercise dominion. They must recognize that they have been summoned to conquer in the name of Jesus Christ, to bring everything into captivity to him. The kingdoms of this world must become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. This is the declaration of scripture. Through the Messiah, God will dethrone all his enemies. Total victory is his goal.

Now this is the meaning of the Magnificat, of Mary’s song, and yet how many will teach today that the Magnificat is a declaration of victory, a summons to march out and to conquer in the name of Christ? No, they spiritualize it away. At least, Dr. R.C.H. Lensky{?}, a very notable Lutheran scholar, was more honest than most when he dealt with this in his commentary: “And Mary said hints at no divine inspiration. Neither this nor revelation were needed for the contents of this hymn. Unlike that of Elizabeth, it contains no prophesy and no proof of knowledge that is supernaturally communicated. Elizabeth’s hymn is directed to Mary, and properly so. Mary’s to God, and again, most properly. Elizabeth’s is a continuation of Gabriel’s address to Mary. Mary’s, a continuation and an expression of her brief reply to Gabriel. While Mary’s is most beautiful is praise and form, it is on a lower level than Elizabeth’s.” Then, Dr. Lensky{?} goes on and finally says, at the end of a long passage, “Mary herself furnishes no cause for Mariolatry.” What has he done? At least he has been more honest than those who spiritualize it away. Dr. Lensky{?} could see that this called for a literal fulfillment. So, he denies any inspiration to it.

Thus, we have a scholar here who says, “Yes, the Bible is the inspired word of God, but when we come to the Magnificat, it is not inspired. Mary was just verbalizing and rejoicing.” This is the only way they can get away from the force{?} of it. What can we say to such a thing? These people want defeat. In other words, join the church, become a Christian, and adjust yourself in nothing but tribulation and defeat, and the end result is going to be heaven, but here, it’s nothing but a veil of tears and sorrow. Now, certainly we are told that there is much tribulation in this world, and our Lord said, “In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world,” and in due time my victory will be manifest from pole to pole. We have not been called to defeat, but to victory, and every Christmas carol is a testimony today against the church, because every Christmas song sings of victory. “Joy to the world the Lord is come,” and what does it mean? That no more shall thorns and thistles conquer the world. That is, evil. The earth itself shall be cleansed. “God rest ye merry gentlemen, let nothing you dismay.” Why? Christ our savior was born, and the whole of the Christmas story is one of victory, of joy, because the Lord has come, the king has come to claim his property, the earth, and we as his people are to go forth and conquer.

The communists today are a small minority in the United States. There’s certainly not more then one percent. Those who claim to be evangelical Christians are very sizable percentage, twenty, thirty percent, the largest single minority in the United States, and add to that all the other churches that are not evangelical, and you have sixty, seventy, eighty percent of the population. Impotent, because of the Manichaeism that infests them. A modernist Manichean to the core, renouncing the world of the spirit for the world of matter and situation ethics, the evangelicals antinomian against law, just believing in the world of the spirit, you’re going to be saved and raptured out of this world to heaven, and that’s the sum total of it, so don’t bother yourself with things of this world. Be spiritual, but the joy of Christmas is not of escape, but of victory. “Be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.” Now, go forth and apply that victory, for this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Let us pray.

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, we thank thee for the victory that is ours in Jesus Christ. Make us therefore obedient unto him that we may go forth {?}, claiming church, state, school, science, vocations, all things for Jesus Christ, subduing the earth and exercising dominion over it, that man may dwell in peace with man, that the kingdoms of this world may indeed become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. Make us bold in the confidence of this season, in the joy of our Lord. Make us ever mindful, our Father, that we are more than conquerors in Christ who called us, that if thou art for us, who can be against us? Our God, we thank thee in Jesus name. Amen.

Are there any questions now, first of all, with respect to our lesson? Yes?

[Audience] Is the {?}

[Rushdoony] No. This is a very interesting point because there is a verse that is used in St. John with respect to eccumenicism and the assertion of one worldism. In this verse, our Lord says, Other sheep have I which are not of this fold,” and he declares that them also he is calling that there may be one fold, one shepherd, it reads. Actually, it should read one flock, one shepherd. Now, what’s the difference here? The translators, by and large, have been ignorant of the meaning of the words, because they’re not sheep men. You can have a fold of sheep which is a part of a larger flock. If we are all to be one fold, then we are all to be in one church and in one world government, but if we are many folds in one flock, then our Lord is saying there are to be many groups, many peoples, many nations, but not in one fold, in one flock. In other words, our unity is in Christ, not in our organizations. Today, all attempts at unity are to make men one in organization, not in Christ, and the two are radically different. Does that help answer your question? Yes?

[Audience] {?}

[Rushdoony] When Adam was created, he was created wholly good. He would not have died had he not sinned. Sin and death came in as a result of the Fall. Yes?

[Audience] {?}

[Rushdoony] Yes. One of the problems today is that conservation is in the hands of the conservationists, and the conservationists are agencies of the federal government. Some of the worst areas in the United States are in federal forests. Why? Well, first of all, the minute the federal government takes over an area supposedly to conserve it, it becomes a politically-controlled area. Now, supposing it is land, and I don’t want to be specific here, because I don’t want to cite names, I don’t want to go to court of it, but I am citing reality. Supposing an area is bought out from some ranchers or lumber men, is made into a national preserve for conservation purposes. Actually, after that area, after that, can be more overgrazed than it ever was before. How? Simply this, the federal government now, supposedly to keep down grass and brush, can give grazing permits for the national forests, and there are grazing permits available in the national forests. So, to be on a commission which regulates these national forests is a tremendous political {?}.

There was a time when one man who had virtually no ranching properties was one of the biggest stockmen in the state of California, because he, through his buddies, who were on the commission, was able to get grazing permits that no small rancher could in national forests. Some of the best preserved areas, as far as conservation are concerned, are private areas. Thus, if you examine the Weyerhaeuser forests in the Northwest, you’ll find that they are marvels of conservation. There are more forests in Maine today, the state of Maine, than when the white man first landed, and it is virtually all in the hands of private companies. The federal government is trying to take it over in the name of conservation, and these companies are fighting the federal government, and are winning out. Forests are better now than when the white men landed here. There is controlled cutting, and the trees are growing better. Everything is in excellent condition. Why do you want to take it over? Conservation is a basic aspect of biblical law. Conservation cannot be furthered by sinful man. Sinful man destroys everything round him, and as a result, conservation requires, first of all, a Christian man and a Christian community, one that feels that the earth is a stewardship from God. The answer is not statism.

Since World War 2, conservationism has declined, even in private hands. Why? Because we’ve seen a greater apostasy since World War 2. Having grown up in a farming community, I know what’s happened to farming since World War 2. It has declined as far as its management of the earth is concerned.

[Audience] {?}

[Rushdoony] Yes. In Oregon and Washington, the only areas where you have mismanagement of forest land are areas, and they are disappearing, where small lumbermen have operated. In other words, where a small mill owner will {?} somebody’s land and go in and just strip it because he doesn’t own it, he isn’t operating except in terms of a quick profit. Most of these people, and they were predominantly in Oregon, have been forced out of business in recent years. They can’t make a profit, even with that type of approach for the simple reason that the big operators, the big lumber concerns, the ones that the government attacks the most, are making money today not on their lumber but on the byproducts. In other words, by utilizing the whole tree, the sawdust, the bark, the leaves, the strippings and processing it, and making all kinds of things, they’re showing a profit, and they’ve become highly competitive by making this total use, whereas a small producer who did nothing but cut for lumber cannot compete with them any longer, and it’s been a good thing that he’s been forced out. The Weyerhauser family, incidentally, which has pioneered in conservation has been, I don’t know the present generation, but they have been up until now at least, a very outstanding Christian family with a strong sense of stewardship.

Any other questions? Yes?

[Audience] {?}

[Rushdoony] Matthew 12, verse what?

[Audience] {?}

[Rushdoony] Matthew 12:31-32. “Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.” The meaning of this passage is this: Our Lord said that those who spoke against him could be forgiven, because they could be speaking against him thinking they were defending the word of God, or the righteousness of God, or the cause of God, as St. Paul for example. Not that there was not evil and sin in his heart. There was, until he was converted, but it was a misguided zeal. But, what is the sin against the Holy Ghost that cannot be forgiven? The essence of it is this: It is reversing the whole moral scale, calling evil good and good evil. That cannot be forgiven. For when a man has gone that far, then he has so totally reversed things that he is past redemption. Thus, anyone who makes it a basic premise that the great evil is marriage and fidelity, as one psychiatrist in Sweden has done. He’s written a book about it, and his thesis is, and he’s expounded it at length, that every kind of perversion represents something that is healthy and good, and he goes into quite a catalog. There’s no exception. Incest, necrophilia, eurolegia{?}, copophelia, all of these things he regards as altogether proper. He feels that we should subsidize these persecuted minorities, and make up to them for all that we have done, whereas the most detestable kind of evil, the only kind of evil, is the Christian standard of marriage and {?}

Now, he has called evil good and good evil in a systematic and thorough way, and I have just barely skimmed the surface of what Dr. {?} has done. Now, such a man has so totally reversed everything that he has committed to sin against the Holy Ghost. The Holy Spirit makes a witness in the heart of every man concerning that which is right and wrong, so that all men are without excuse when they have overturned the moral scale so radically. They have sinned against the Holy Ghost and it shall not be forgiven them. It is blasphemy. Does that help explain it? Yes?

[Audience] {?}

[Rushdoony] It is the unforgiveable sin, yes.

[Audience] {?} cardinal sin{?}

[Rushdoony] No, cardinal sin is a little different. Cardinal means a major sin, and the term cardinal sin is a loose one. It can be used for murder. It can be used for adultery, a number of things which can be forgiven, but the unforgiveable sin in this.

Any other questions? Well, if not, our time is up and I want to wish you all a very, very merry Christmas, and if you are traveling anywhere, drive carefully. Thank you. Good-bye.

End of tape