THE K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
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dividuals according to righteousness and truth. They also reveal that it is the Son of God who acts in this capacity of judge. John 5:22. We are com manded in the Sermon on the Mount not to judge, the reason being given, “that ye be not judged.” It is impossible to pronounce a judgment on any person or institution without elevating our own moral measure. Men see what it is and we are judged in turn. There are many prevalent errors concerning a future day of judgment, that have no Scriptural foundation. One is that the day of judg ment is a protracted process now in progress. Every day is a judgment day. According to this idea the history of the world is the judgment of the world. Another opinion is that there will be one final future judgment at which all the people who have ever lived from Adam to the end of the world, both good and bad, will be brought before the judgment throne, when their eternal destiny will be assigned. Some even suppose that it is by an arbitrary and sovereign decree of redemption or repro bation that some are admitted to heaven and others sent to hell. A certain man once had a dream of the judgment day that may reflect to some extent its true character. He dreamed that a long pro cession of men passed before the opened books, and that each man looked upon the page and then opened his bosom and looked into his own heart. He then of his own accord went to his proper place, while the Judge sat in silence upon His throne. However that, may be, it is certain that conscience will confirm the verdict and that the moral sense of each individual will coincide with the ultimate decree. SUNDAY, Sept. 14. Rev. 21:21-27. No Temple Therein. Why is it that the descriptions of heaven in the Bible are so largely nega tive in their character? We are told repeatedly, “It is not this” and “It is not that.” Why are we not told what it really is? Because we should be dazzled and blinded by its exceeding glory. The gradual and negative ap proach is an accommodation to our finite mind and feeble vision. We gain a far better conception of its grandeur and glory where so much is left to infer ence and imagination. Why is there no temple in heaven? A temple is a place of worship. There have always been temples on earth. Is there no worship in heaven? The assurance of no temple
Since death has ceased to be a penalty for the child of God, it is not to be feared. Indeed it is a real and positive * gain. Phil. 1:21. It is even to be preferred to a life of fruitful and abounding service on the earth. Phil. 1:23. We may, therefore, claim the literal fulfilment of John 8:51. If the angel of death knocks at our door we shall close our eyes one moment in this world and open them the next moment in the other. FRIDAY, Sept. 12. John 11:17-27. The Resurrection Life. Some one has said in commenting on the raising of Lazarus from the dead that if Jesus had merely said “Come forth" without calling Lazarus by name, the entire number of those buried in the cemetery there would have arisen in obedience to His command. Be that as it may, the hour is coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice and shall come forth. John 5:28. While the Bible describes the spiritual Impartation of new life to the soul in regeneration as a spiritual resurrection, it also teaches the resurrection of the body from the grave. The body is the only part of man that goes into the grave at death. The spirit refurns to God who gave it. -JBccle. 12:7. If there is any resurrection at all, it must therefore he of the body. The righteous have a resurrection unto life. The body shall be like the body of Christ, fitted and adjusted to the use of the sancti fied spirit, glorious and immortal. The wicked shall have a resurrection unto condemnation a thousand years after the resurrection of the righteous. Anal ogy would seem to teach that here also the outward form will correspond to the inward state and the resurrection body of a wicked man will be as hideous, de formed and corrupt as the soul that occupies it. This condition is suggested by the prayer expressed in 3 John 2, “that thou mayest prosper even as thy soul prospereth.” This is a benediction or a malediction according to the con dition of the soul. It seldom or never exists today but at the resurrection both of the just and of the unjust, it shall be fully realised. SATURDAY, September 13. Matt. 25: 31-46 The Judgment. The Scriptures represent God as the moral governor of the universe. They declare that He judges nations and in
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