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T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
THE ETERNAL OCTAVE “He rested on the seventh day, . . . . . and God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified It.” Gen. 2:2-3. “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.” Heb. 4:9. “Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall.” Heb. 4:11. . Observe the recurrence of the octave, the sequence of sevens, in the natural law and in the spiritual realm. Every snow crystal, with its six points or prongs, together with its central nucleus, marks the seven. Examine thou sands of snow flakes and no two will be found of exactly the same form, and yet each one presents the ever recurring seven. And so of many flowers, with their six petals and the central connecting nucleus. While the snow crystal or the flower with its six points may suggest at first rather the hexagon or the six pointed star, yet in its entirety, with its nucleus, it presents the number seven. The six petals, or the six points of the snow crystal, are alike, but the seventh, which forms the connection, is different, yet a part of the whole. And notice too, that from one snow crystal, or from one such flower, each a complete seven, to the corresponding feature of the next crystal, or the next flower, is an octave. Job says,-¿-“Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow?” Jesus says,—“Consider the lilies of the field.” And so in the realm of music, there are the seven primary tones, which are used in the formation of the diatonic scale, and then comes the recurrence of the first tone, in a higher pitch, and the octave is complete. And so we might trace the same analogy in the seven prismatic colors, and in other manifestations of nature. Consider the six days of creation, and the seventh or Sabbath day, in which God rested from all the work of creation which He had finished. The sequence of seven is completed with the Sabbath. But no sooner had God an nounced the completion of the work of creation, and the entering in of the Sabbath day of rest, but it- was necessary to begin a new work, not of creation, but of redemption. With the fall of Adam and Eve the work of redemption began. This was the work of the Father and of the Son. And so Jesus says, when speaking of the Jewish Sabbath,—- “The Father worketh hitherto and I work.” Redemption was completed, potentially, at the cross, when Jesus announced,—"It is finished.” The seal of God’s approval of tjie sacrificial atonement of Christ, was evi denced by the resurrection on the third day, the first day of the new week, the Lord’s day. Thus the eighth day, the Lord’s day, the day of resurrection, completes the octave. Returning to our analogy, we observe that the first tone of the scale is the key tone to which all the others are related. So the resurrection is the key to which all Christian ex perience is related. We as Christians observe the Lord’s day, the first day of the new week, as a day of rest, of worship and of service. It is the completion of the octave of days. From this di vine octave there should proceed all the harmonies of the Christian life. With the true resurrection life of Christ (for with Him we are risen) what possibilities of celestial anthems open up to the Christian! At the completion of creation, Job tells us,—“The morn ing stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy.” And still in the future, when redemption shall be completed, not only in potentiality, but in full realiza tion, when man, soul, body and spirit, has been redeemed and restored, then with the completed octave, there shall spring forth that new song of Moses and the Lamb. —T. T. Holloway.
WORK IN THE SHOPS M arion H . R eynolds, Supt.— M eetings H eld in Shops, F acto ries, C ar- B arns a n d Fire-E ngine H ouses in Los A ngeles. Returning to the office one evening a few weeks ago we found a note regarding a telephone call that had come in to us. We were to call a certain number as it was very important that they get in touch with us. Calling we found that one of the men from one of the shops in the city had died and it was his dying request that we conduct his funeral service. Arrangements were made and we laid the dear fellow to rest in one of the beautiful pemeteries here in Los Angeles. Visiting in the home a few days later we heard frofn the wife a testimony that has done our hearts good, and we pass it on to you. The man who had died had been reared a Catholic. Lately, however, he had relinquished his Catholic faith, and when asked by his wife why he didn’t go to the Masses he replied, “We have our church down at the shop. Every week we hear the Gospel message and I have come to see that my only hope for salvation is in Jesus Christ. I ac cepted Him and I know on the authority of God’s Word that I am a child of God.” (John 1:12). This indeed was a strange testimony coming from a man that had been as strong as he in the Catholic faith. However, time alone would show the reality of it. Would it be alright to die by? If so, then it had stood the acid test of death. Lying on the bed of pain, suffering as few men are called upon to suffer in their dying hours, he sang this song, which was sung at the services preceding the burial: “There’s a land that is fairer than day, Closing his eyes to this earth he opened them in Eternity saved by His grace. It had proved to be what he needed in a dying hour. If it was good enough then, it is good enough when we are strong and in good health. This makes me thank God that we have the privilege of doing this work in the shops. If the friends who read this will join'us in prayer for the work, they will be having a very real part in it. & m GOD CARES! DO. WE Forget not that your first and principal business as a disciple of Christ is to give the Gospel to those who have it not.- He who is not a missionary Christian will be a mis sing Christian when the great day comes of bestowing the rewards of service. Therefore ask yourselves daily what the Lord would have you do in connection with the work of carrying the news of salvation to the perishing millions. Search carefully whether he would have you go yourself to the heathen, if you have the youth and fitness required for the work. Or, if you cannot go in person, inquire dili gently what blood mortgage there is upon your property in the interest of Foreign Missions, how much you owe to the heathen because of what you owe to Christ for .redeem ing you with His precious blood. I warn you that it will go hard with you when your Lord comes to reckon with you, if He finds your wealth hoarded up in needless accumula tions instead of being sacredly devoted to giving the Gospel to the lost.—Dr. A. J. Gordon. And by faith we can see it afar; For the Father waits over the way To prepare us a dwelling place there. In the sweet by-and-by, We shall meet on that beautiful shore; In the sweet by-and-by, • We shall meet on that beautiful shore.”
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