October, 1933
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
345
A glance around the religious world will only too sadly convince one that we have now come to these times. T he E conomic S ign Many years ago, when prosperity was at its height, and depression, so far as financial and economic matters were concerned, had never been dreamed of, a famous transla tion of the New Testament into modern speech was made by one who might be classified as a modernist. He translates Paul’s second letter to Timothy, which was written in the year A .D. 68, and so remarkable is the lan guage used that the economist could quote it readily for the present depression and economic distress in the world. Listen to his words: “ Mark this, there are hard times coming in the last days; for men will be selfish, fond o f money, boastful, haughty, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, irreverent, callous, relentless, scurrilous, dissolute and sav age ; they will hate goodness, they will be treacherous, reck less and conceited, preferring pleasure to God— for though they keep up a form o f religion, they will have nothing to do with it as a force.” Is there an economist living who could give us a more vivid picture o f the springs from whence our economic streams have been poisoned? It is little wonder that Secretary Cordell Hull, speaking at the London Economic Conference on June 14, said: The whole panic-ridden world is looking to this con ference for leadership. The success or failure o f this con ference will mean the success or failure of statesmanship everywhere, and a failure at this crucial time would long be conspicuous in history. The people of all nations now realize that, despite unbounded opportunities, they are actually worse off and more insecure than they were twelve years ago, and that the necessity for new policies and new leadership is obvious and urgent. James intimates that rich men will be in great distress immediately before the coming o f the Lord : “ Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.” The people who are in the greatest dis tress and who are “ howling” are the rich men. Consider these facts: Every twenty-six minutes, day and night, there is a suicide in the United States, and some body’s father or mother, brother or sister, goes down to the gates o f despair and enters the valley o f the shadows, a suicide. And what is taking place in America is world wide. Ivar Kreuger, the richest man in Sweden, the match king, died by his own hand. Belgium’s wealthiest citizen, the rubber king, leaped out o f his own airplane, crossing the English Channel. Hugo Stinnes, one of Germany’s richest men, a king o f finance, was a suicide. Stevens, builder and proprietor o f the world’s largest hotel, leaped to his death in a tragic hour. America’s breakfast food magnate, and one o f Southern California’s foremost edu cators, also felt the oppression too great and went into eternity through the forbidden door. From every walk o f life, men have passed that way. They have either been stripped o f their treasure, or have left it, but the prophecy remains the same. “ Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.” T he S ign of the J ew History moves in giant cycles, just as we speak of “ cycles o f business expansion and depression.” Again and again believers have thought that they were on the thresh old o f the Lord’s return, only to see the sky brighten and the seas grow calm. However, that which makes pertinent all of the aspects o f world conditions which we have been discussing is the fact that the Jew is once more in the cen ter o f the picture and is evidently moving to his ancient homeland. The Jew is the miracle o f the centuries. His,,scattering among the nations, his preservation, separation, resurrec
tion, and restoration present unanswerable arguments for God’s purpose in regard to the Jew and the end time. In Amos 9 :8 and 9 and in Jeremiah 30:3 and 11, God’s pur pose is plainly indicated. From the beginning o f their na tional existence, to this present hour, Satan has tried to destroy the Jews. Six times have they been brought to the very verge o f annihilation, only to experience national pres- ervation : 1. By the Pharaoh o f Egypt . . B.C. 1775 2. By the Assyrians . . . . . . B.C. 1571 3. By Nebuchadnezzar . . . . . B.C. 588 4. By Haman ........................... . . B.C. 510 5. By Antiochus Epiphanes . . . . A.D. 170 6. By T i t u s ................................ . . A .D . 70 Think o f 3,800 years o f such history. Yet this remark able racé survives it all. The fig tree is the national symbol for Israel among the trees of the Bible, and Jesus told the disciples to learn a parable o f the fig tree: “ When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This race [Gr. genea, the primary definition of which is “ race, stock, kind, family, breed”— Scofield] shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.” Now we see the nation, the “ fig tree,” putting forth her leaves, and surely “ the coming o f the Lord draweth nigh.” T he C hurch W hich is H is B ody Although signs are for Israel, nevertheless there are some indications that would make it clear to us, as mem bers o f the body of Christ, that we are approaching the end o f the age. Three dominant truths, strongly emphasized by the early church, were lost. How few Christians know that for some fifty years after the destruction of Jerusalem, there is a perfect blank in church history, supposing and assuming that “ organized, Christianity” as we see ;t today, is simply a continuation o f what we read in the Acts o f the Apostles! This is far from being the case. “ The years that followed the destruction of Jerusalem are in truth the most obscure in the history o f the church,” so writes Dr. Samuel Green in his handbook o f church history. He goes on to say: When we emerge into the second century we are, to a great extent, in a changed world. Apostolic authority lives no longer in the Christian community; apostolic mir acles have passed. As Dr. Arnold has finely said, “We stop at the last Epistle to St. Timothy with something of the same interest with which one pauses at the last hamlet of a cultivated valley, where there is nothing but moor beyond. It is the end, or all but the end, o f our real knowl edge of primitive Christianity; there we take our last look around; further, the mist hangs thick, and few and distorted are the objects we can discern in the midst o f it.” It was during this gap in church history that three vital and important truths were practically lost to the church, and especially during the “ dark ages.” The first great truth to be lost was what is called “ body truth” or the truth con cerning the mystery o f the one body as revealed to the Apostle Paul. Paul himself in writing to Timothy said, “ All that be in Asia are turned away from me.” The next truth to be lost was that concerning the second coming o f the Lord, and the last was justification by faith. Strange to say, the recovery o f these three great doc trines has been in inverse order to their loss: The first to be recovered was the doctrine o f justification by faith, through Martin Luther; the second was the doctrine of the Lprd’s return; and the last, only o f late years being recovered, is body truth. The recovery o f these great truths is the most signifi cant sign o f all that the hour o f translation is near. “ Be patient therefore, brethren .. . stablish your hearts: for the coming o f the Lord draweth nigh.’”
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