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THE K I N G ’S BUS I NES S
PREACH THE RESURRECTION y T f f has been said that probably ’Ig h a s more than three-fourths of S O A , the preaching th a t ohe hears I l f l S in the ordinary pulpits of Christendom is about the (glMpa earthly life, ministry, example *and teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ as recorded in the Gospels, and that a comparatively small amount of testimony is really given about the risen Lord and thé Man who is now living at God’s right hand.- And yet, if we read with care the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles of the New Testament, we 'will find th a t it is not the earthly Christ, but the risen Christ that is the object of their worship and contempla tion and the subject of their constant testimony. We are not united by faith to the Christ that was born in Bethle hem, but the Christ that was raised from the dead. The Man of Nazareth is dead. The risen Son of God who came forth that Easter morning with His glorious “AÜ hail!” is alive forevermore. It is He that is our living Head. Speaking to His disciples, in the sixth chapter of-John, of that mystical life which Hé was to impart to His disciples, He used this significant language: “What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where He was before? It is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing; the words, that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” That is to say, it is not My earthly body and My material blood that you are to eat and drink, it is not My present form th a t you are to handle and My articulate voice that you are to hear; these are temporary and lim ited. It is not until I ascend up to My F ather’s right hand and meet My dis ciples' through th e “Spirit that quick eneth,” that I can really becçme their “Living Head.” Hence Easter is the supreme anniversary of all the year, and the true era of all our spiritual chron ology.—A. B. Simpson.
unto salvation unto every one th a t be- lieveth.” I am sorry for those who do not aiccept the miracles of our Lord, or who believe that the day of miracles is past. It may be for them, but not for the Biola Evangelistic Bands. Heartily yours in our coming Lord, ROB’T. W. PORTEOUS. China Inland Mission, Yuanehow, Kiangsi, China as as CHRIST LIVES Today, over a large portion of Chris tendom, the symbol of the Crucifix ap pears as the most prominent object. But the Crucifix is not a Christian sym bol a t all. It was in the Cross th a t St. Paul gloried. The difference between the two things is immense. The Cruci fix is a Cross upon which is impaled a living man. The Cross is a Crucifix empty—stripped of . its living burden. It cannot be denied that the idea of the dying Christ fills the vision of vast multitudes of professing Christians. Beyond the Crucifix their faith never passes. The thought of Jesus Christ alive-—has never gripped them. To- them it is as if the dying of the Lord were the only thing in the Gospel. But the Gospel consists of the two things. “I preached unto you the Gospel . . . that Christ died for our sins . . . and that He rose” (1 Cor. 15), We can never think little of the Cross, with its mystery of Divine redemption, but we may think too little of Jesus Christ as alive and reigning from His Glory. The Cross could- have no real Evangelical meaning but for the Resurrection, which was God’s vindication of His Son and His seal set to His redemptive work. If Christ died for our sins, He was raised for our justification. The Cross is over—-He. died “once for all.” But the life th a t He lives is “for ever more.”—-Life of Faith.
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