The Incarnation.—IV. The Second Coming the Consummation of the Incarnation* By REV. A. C. DIXON, D. D. B EFORE I begin the study of the hour, may I say a word about the due proportion of truth ?
tracts the heart in gratitude and love. Sufficient for multiplication : “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone, but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit,” it mul tiplies. And I firmly believe sufficient for civilization. T doubt whether we can imagine a higher type of civilza- tion than that which exists in heaven. The civilization of heaven is the result of the enthronement of the Lamb of God ; and if earth’s civilization shall enthrone in every heart the Lamb of God, we will have heaven reproduced. “Christ, and Him crucified,” accepted by all classes at this day, and lived, would settle every problem that per plexes the public mind. The prob lems of all the nations can be solved in the crucible of the acceptance of “Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” Let the Spirit of Christ master all hearts and every problem is solved. Take the divorce problem, a most important one. If every husband should love his wife well enough to die for her, and every wife should love her husband well enough to die for him, the divorce lawyer would have to go out of business. There would not be another divorce under the sun ! That is what the Cross of Christ means, the sacrificial spirit mastering our souls. Take the war problem. If every man on earth loved every other man well enough to die for him, he cer tainly would not kill him! That is a fair inference. And if the sacrificial spirit of Jesus Christ should master all our statesmen and all our diplo mats, and all the people of the world, you would have no need of appropri ations for the navy for or the army. The war problem would be settled without the court at The Hague.
Men are not saved by looking for ward to the coming King. That is the blessed hope of people already saved. The burden of the preacher’s message should ever be that of the Apostle Paul, “Christ and Him cruci fied.” “God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.’’ I am aware that diligent Bible stu dents have told us that every 25th verse, on an average, in the New Tes tament, refers to the coming of our Lord. Yet it may be said with equal truth that from Genesis through Revelation, almost every verse is per meated by the blood of Christ, from the altar of Abel to the “Lamb as it had been slain,” “in the midst of the throne.” The scarlet thread of Atone ment runs through all the Bible. When Paul said, “I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified,” I am not at all sure he was referring to local conditions only, that for the people of Corinth “Christ, and Him crucified” was the need, but that in other places he would widen his horizon. It is just as true of every city, and all peoples, and all ages as of Corinth. “Christ, and Him crucified” is all- sufficient for salvation, and multipli cation, and civilization, and bye and bye for glorification; for the Lord who shall come will bear the marks of the Cross on His Person. All- sufficient for salvation: “I, if I be lifted up, will draw.” It is the mag netism of Christ on the Cross that at- *A ddress by Rev. A. C. Dixon, D. D., T h u rsd ay , A u g u st 7th, 3 p. m ., a t th e M ont rose B ible C onference.
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