September 1928
575
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
Most Significant Occurrence Since the War W E have referred in an earlier issue to the divorce of Islam and Turkey. The changes that have come in Mohammedan lands in rapid succession in recent months cannot but challenge Christian leaders,, who for so long have been practically helpless to reach these peoples with the Gospel because of the political affiliations.,' Veils have been tonvffrom the faces of the women; the fedora has been substituted f ori fee fez; the harem has been abolished and now Turkey ÆasÇremoved Allah from its constitutions. All references to religion have been eliminated. In the opinion of one of the greatest experts on East ern questions in official Washington," we read in the N ew York Herald Tribune, it -is an act of greater world wide significance than any since the war. One of the results, to quote this expert, is that the theory that nothing in the East ever changes, is damaged beyond repair, and we may now believe that some far-reaching modernizing influence may yet come out o f the Orient, notably from the Philippines and India. By removing the last vestige of religion in her secular life— something hitherto inconceiv able to Moslems o r Orientals generàllyfl-Turkey, says this authority, has modernized herself, in every way and has put herself on a basis of. equality with the Occident. With State religion gone, the right of Christians to worship according to their own doctrine's and forms can not be denied. This should not bej taken to mean, how ever, that all Mohammedan influences have been removed and that the bars are completely down for the, Christian missionaries.- The Christian (London) points out that'“many who might have become (nominally) Mohammedans will now, no doubt, lapse into atheisrp, thereby joining that general drift toward godlessness which now afflicts almost every country. Meanwhile, the antagonism of organized Islam toward the religion of the LORD JESUS has been demon strated once' again, by outbursts in Palestine. During the meetings o f the International Missionary Conference at Jerusalem, the local Mohammedan press-has fulminated against the presence of the Christian delegates, alleging that the conference was a government weapon of attack upon Arab nationalism, through thé discrediting of the religious influence of Islam. On the whole, there can be little doubt that Christian missionaries will feel spurred to renewed endeavors by the ferment now operating throughout the Mohammedan world. The great obstacle in the past has been the solid Moslem satisfaction with its established religious system. Though the foreshadowed break-up may let in doctrines even worse than those of Mohammedanism, at the same time it is bound to let in, also, a good deal of spiritual light.” The End of Faith "Receiving the end o f your faith, the salvation o f your souls" (1 Peter 1:9). The meaning of ,“ end” here says Dr. F. E. Marsh, is more than completion, it leads to an issue. In the great cities o f America there are Union Depots or Terminals, but in those Terminals, while one line terminates, an other one commences. For instance, the Dearborn Depot, in Chicago, is the terminal for the Erie railroad, which runs from New York to Chicago; but it is also the starting point o f the Santa Fe railroad, which runs from Chicago to the Pacific Coast. Thus faith is the connecting-link which gives us a present salvation from what we deserve
as sinners, as Noah’s faith did when it saved him from the flood into the Ark (Heb. 11 : 7 ) ; and faith is also a joining grace which links us on to the future, as Abraham found when it enabled him to look for that city' whose Builder and Maker is God (Heb. 11:8-10). . The “ salvation” to which Peter referred takes us on to the future inheritance o f which he had previously spoken (1 Peter 1 :3-6) ; that is, the salvation to the glory. A German writer illustrates the greatness of our sal vation after this manner. A believer, after the most exemplary life, died. The gate o f heaven was opened, and he was welcomed as: an heir of glory. One o.f the.glo rious ones was commissioned to be his conductor and teacher. First he took him to a point where he could see the most fearful representation o f sin in its fruits of misery. The objects of horror made him shudder. Then his guide bade him look farther and farther down in the dismal vault, and he saw the most hideous and terrible of beings, the fruit o f sin. “ That,” said his guide, “ is what in ages of eternity you would have been had you gone on in sin.” His guide next took him to a point from which coud be seen the glories of the redeemed. He saw rank after rank of angels, seraphim and cherubim, dwelling in ineffable glory. He bade him look beyond these; and in the far distance he beheld a being trariscendently more radiant and glorious, around whom floated the soft music -o f unspeakable sweetness and joy." “ That,”- said the guide, “ is yourself many ages hence. Behold the glory and bliss to which the salvation of Jesus will bringBvou !||' Practical Bearing of the Resurrection 1. The Resurrection and nature. All the world around us is a witness o f the resurrection. Every radiant dawn, every returning spring, every bursting bud, every vernal blossom, is just a parable o f the resurrection. All nature dies and lives again, and our Lord has crystallized this beautiful Christian philosophy into His exquisite figure about the corn o f wheat, which must die ere it can bring forth fruit, and dying, it multiplied a hundred fo ld .;■ 2. The Resurrection and, the types o f the Bible. All the typology o f the Old Testament witnesses to the resur rection: the flood in Noah’s age, the sacrifice of Isaac arid his figurative resurrection from the dead, the crossing of the Red Sea.by Israel as on.the dry ground, the death of the first generation and the entering in o f the -second generation into Canaan, and the singular .use all through, the Old Testament festivals o f the eighth day as the great day o f typical significance, because it was the beginning of the second week, the resurrection week. All these were pointers, indicating that glorious fact that was consum mated in Joseph’s opened tomb. 3. The Resurrection and the ordinances o f the Gospel. Baptism is just a figure of. the resurrection. Dean Gol- born has said, speaking of the words o f Paul in Corinth ians— “ He died and was buried and rose from the dead on the third day”— that these are just the spiritual expo sition o f the figures set forth in baptism. The Christian . Sabbath is a memorial of the resurrection, and they who would revive the seventh day and depose the first would take us back two thousand years into the bondage o f Juda ism, and take out of the Sabbath its sweetest, brightest and most triumphant joy. It is tbe commemoration, not of a finished creation, fo r that finished creation has been wrecked by sin, but of a new creation begun and to be consummated in a glory more, splendid than A d a m ever dreamed of.— Dr. A . B. Simpson.
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