THE K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S in the Bible. Jesus is the only one who ever crossed its portal and came back to tell us what lies beyond. We may assume some things from His silence. Certain cherished beliefs about heaven may be true simply because He did not contradict them. “If it were not so I would have told you.” We understand Him to say in John 14:2, “In my Father’s house are many apartments.” A house is a dwelling place. The uni verse is the place of God’s abode. He inhabiteth eternity. Ps. 139:7-10. Earth may be one apartment and heaven an other. When a child of God falls asleep in Christ, he does not leave his Father’s house, he simply passes from one apart ment into another. A mother may be busy throughout the morning hours with her household cares, providing for the children’s needs and preparing for the mid-day meal. After dinner has been served, wearied with the toil, she goes up-stairs to her quiet chamber to lie down and rest awhile. The children continue their play in the nursery or out of doors, secure and happy in the thought that mother is close at hand. Many a gentle mother, weary under the heavy burden, has left her little brood and folded her tired hands upon her breast. She is only taking a siesta in the chamber of peace. What if death is “the other room”! Although the par tition is impenetrable and we may not know what is passing on the farther side, there is at least a certain comfort in the thought that the wall is very thin, and the precious loved one is not very far away. WEDNESDAY Sept. 10. 2 Cor. 5:1-10. At Home With the Lord. What a wonderful instinct is that of the homing pigeon! The bird may be tossed into the air from the deck of a ship far out at sea and after a few fluttering circles, darts like an arrow shot from a bow straight to the place it calls home. The heart of the Chris tian turns instinctively to God and heaven from any stage of his pilgrim life on earth. In a certain campaign the military bands of music were for bidden to play “Home, sweet home.” It made the soldiers homesick and left them in no mood for fighting. No such prohibition is laid upon the soldiers of the cross in the army of the Lord. The thought of the heavenly home incites a greater valor and inspires more ardu ous devotion. Home! What a cher
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ished and beloved word! Suggestive of filial endearment, fraternal fellowship ■and parental joy! What a wealth of meaning, of all that earth contains of holy happy intercourse, of sweet and tender recollection, of highest and pur est joy, is crowded into that one short word! The straw-thatched cottage of a peasant may be an ideal home. The stately mansion of a millionaire may be nothing but a restaurant and a dormi tory. There is a story that Satan once offered a prize to the unhappiest man outside of hell. A man stepped forward and claimed it. “On what grounds?” was asked. “I am a man without a home,” said he, and they gave him the prize. Home stands for shelter, rest and communion. “Lord, thou hast been our home in all generations.” Psalm 90:1. “So doth thy hospitable greatness lie Outside us like a boundless sea; We cannot lose ourselves where all is home, Nor drift away from Thee.” THURSDAY, Sept. 11, 1 Cor. 15:50-58. Victory Over Death. The world is an absolute monarchy and death is on the throne. Three times in Romans 5 death is said to reign. Death has passed upon all men because all have sinned and death is the result of sin. It is therefore appointed unto men once to die. The system of redemp tion however, which God has provided through Christ saves both from sin and death. The two are intimately related as cause and effect and one can not be saved from one without the other. The ultimate and complete victory over death is through resurrection and trans lation at the second coming of the Lord. 1 Cor. 15:54. For the Christian in the present age, the penal consequence of death has been removed because Christ endured death as the penalty of sin. It becomes, therefore, to the believer the gateway by which he enters the immedi ate presence and into full communion with his Lord. When death becomes the experience of the Christian, it re ceives a new name and is called sleep. “Christ did not send but came Himself to save, The ransom price He did not lend but gave; Christ died, the shepherd for the sheep, We only fall asleep.”
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