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T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
October, 1933
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THE CLOUDS,
oi i THE RETU RN
B y CHARLES G. TRUMBULL* ■ Philadelphia,-T’a.
[The world around, Dr. Trumbull is known and loved as the able editor of one o f the oldest, sanest, and most fear less Christian periodicals published to day. He is a great son o f a noble father, and the S unday S chool T imes is, and always has been, a credit to them both and an honor to their Lord. Recently, a series o f speaking engagements brought Dr. Trumbull to the Pacific Coast—to Portland, Mt.Hermon, Tacoma, Los An geles, San Diego, and other centers. It was while in Los Angeles, speaking on Sunday afternoon, August 27, in the Church o f the Open Door, that the ac companying address was given. As this stenographic report is read, it is not dif ficult for one to feel himself a part of the congregation o f several thousand people who listened, and who rejoiced. —E ditor .] Mrs. Trumbull and I had been driving south during the past week from Mount'Hermon, and as we were driving from Santa Barbara on Wednesday afternoon, we ran into a bit o f a storm, a most unusual thing for Southern Cali fornia in August. We saw heavy clouds ahead, and won dered whether we were going to run into them. We did, and the rain pelted down on us in the open car in which we were driving. Then we saw glimpses o f beautiful blue sky and then a rainbow. I am sure some o f you shared the ex perience with us. First, we had just a glimpse o f a beauti ful rainbow; then it grew longer and longer; and finally the arc, which at first was very small, swept the entire sky from one horizon to the other— one of the most beautiful rainbows we had ever seen. We just had to stop our car by the roadside and have a bit o f a praise and prayer ser vice together. Mrs. Trumbull said to me that this was one o f our red-letter days, and we must remember the date—what date was it ? I answered that it was August 23, and then it came to me that this was my mother’s heavenly birthday, the day she had been taken Home to be with the Lord, many years ago when I was a junior at college. I told my wife what a precious anniversary it was to m e; and then, to my surprise, she said she had been thinking of my mother, whom she had never seen, that very afternoon, but had said nothing to me about it. Neither-of us knew the other was thinking o f this loved on e; then came this glorious rainbow which made us think very specially o f the Lord. The dark rain clouds—while some were still there— began to give way to the most glorious fleecy white clouds, and through it all the rainbow was shining. Rarely in my life have I seen such glorious clouds or so beautiful a bow in the heavens as we saw that afternoon. Another car was driving our way, filled with children and young people; they stopped by the roadside to look at the heavens, as we did. As we watched the clouds, I thought, “ The Lord is coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” He will bring our loved ones with Him when He comes— Mrs. * Editor, the Sunday School Times. C has . G. T rumbull a s t w e e k the Lord gave me a very gracious and per sonal experience that I want to share with you, as we take up together the subject o f our Lord’s return.
Trumbull’s parents as well, as mine, and a mighty host of others. What a wonderful Old Home/Day and reunion that will be! W e wondered if the clouds o f His coming will look anything like those clouds we saw that afternoon. O t h e r C l o u d s I have been thinking of other kinds of clouds that a great many o f my dear friends have been passing through during the past few years. I wonder if any o f you know anything about clouds o f “ depression,” clouds o f discour agement, that have been settling down over the entire world — clouds o f uncertainty and of darkness. Let us never for get, dear friends, that as Dr. Scofield used to say, “ The clouds are the dust o f His feet.” The Bible has a great deal to say about clouds. The rainbow that we saw last Wednesday afternoon reminded us o f what God said in the ninth chapter o f Genesis, just after the flood, to Noah,: “ This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token o f a covenant be tween me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud : And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature o f all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature o f all flesh that is upon the earth.” Another very beautiful rainbow I saw a dozen years
Clouds, as they appeared from the Ventura Boulevard, twenty miles north of Hollywood, on the day to which the author refers.
ago in China. We were in northern China, and after a storm, a glorious rainbow appeared above the Yellow Sea, the waters o f which are very blue. The Chinese cook, a devoted and elderly Christian, came out on the front porch with us, and as we looked at the rainbow together he said, with the light o f the Lord Jesus shining in his fa ce : “ God says, ‘No more flood.’ ” He knew the truth as we know it. And I want to remind you, if any o f us have known any thing o f dark clouds in the past few years, or months, or even days—-God is in the clouds, the Lord is coming again in the clouds, and even now the rainbow is there in the cloud, in God’s plan and purpose and promise.. T h e S e c r e t o f t h e M ir a c l e o f J o y I have not time to speak of the miracle of joy that
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