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The Thankfulness of Jesus {Continued from Page 407)
OUR AUTHORS Dr. Wilbur M. Smith is a member of the faculty of Moody Bible Institute. Chicago, Illinois. Dr. J. Oliver Buswell is President of National Bible Institute, New York, New York. Dr. J. C. Macaulay is pastor of Wheaton Bible Church, Wheaton, Illinois. Rev. Dudley Girod is Minister of Christian Education of the Churih of the Open Door, Los Angeles, Cali* lornia. Mrs. Erma Walker and her husband. Rev. William H. Walker, are mis sionaries to El Salvador under the Central American Mission. During their furlough, Mr. Walker is serving as an instructor at Columbia Bible College, Columbia, South Carolina. Mrs. Walker's article, which appears in this issue, may be secured in tract form. Mrs. Charlotte E. Arnold is the wife of a Baptist minister, who is associ ated with Mid-Missions, Inc. Miss Natalie Romans is an organizer and teacher for the Bible Women of Biola. COMING Watch for articles by Dr. Talbot, Dr. Pettingill, Dr. Mason, Dr. De Haan, and other outstanding writers in the Christmas number.
“ Knowledge Through Conscious Ignorance" “The condition for learning in all realms of life is that of consciousness that God's way is best. The infinite, eternal and spiritual things are hidden from the wise and understanding, never yielding themselves to the men who come with intellectual capacity and conviction of their own ability to put every two and two together, and utter their small and final four. On the other hand they always yield themselves to the little children, to the souls who come, from whatever class or condition, in order to learn, willing to learn, ready to learn. ‘I thank Thee, O Father,’ said Christ, ‘that Thou didst hide these things from the wise and understanding, and didst re- • veal them unto babes.’ “The age is as irrational and unreasonable concerning spiritual things as ever it was. If you ' are a John the Baptist—stern, hard, ascetic—you will be criticised. If you are not, if you are a man of social life—warm, tender and gentle—entering into all the interests of all the hours, you will be labeled as lacking spirituality by some school or convention. The age is as unreasonable as it was when Jesus exercised His ministry in the midst. The cities are as impenitent. They are still rush ing on their heedless way, seeming never to hear either the wooing or the warning note of the Son of God. “What is to be our attitude in the midst of all the stress and all the difficulties? Our atti tude ought to be that of exulting in God and resting in Him, and resting wholly and absolutely In His method: rejoicing, first of all, in the fact that the spiritual truth which sets men free can only be revealed to the babe in Christ.” Our Lord’s Thanksgiving in the institution of the Last Supper On that holy night of Passion Week when our Lord, with His gathered disciples, instituted what we call the Lord’s Supper, we find Him twice giving thanks. First we read “and He received the cup, and when He had given thanks He said” etc.; similarly we read “and He took bread and when He had given thanks He brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:17, 19; Matt. 26:27; Mark 14:23; 1 Cor. 11:24). Now it is true that in the Paschal Supper observed by the Jews, there was always a giving of thanks to God. Possibly on that occasion our Lord used some of these phrases in His prayer of thanksgiving, yet I think there must have been records added at this time which no orthodox Jew had previously used. Certainly there was much more in the mind of Christ, as that night He broke bread identifying it with His body, than there ever could have been in the mind of any faithful Israelite up to this time. May we not believe that our Lord that night gave thanks to God that He was chosen to redeem men by the sacrifice He was now about to offer; that now in a way never true before, reconciliation with God was about to be accomplished? Now sins were truly to be washed away; Satan now was to be dealt a mortal blow, and on
that Cross a redemption was to be attained. Men of every age, from every nation, should be drawn to Him> as He was lifted up on Calvary. We do not give thanks in this case for exactly the same reason that Jesus gave thanks, but as He was grate ful to God for being privileged tb emancipate enslaved men, and to bring them to glory, so our hearts should ever overflow with gratitude as we partake of these holy elements. We should praise Him for that marvelous love which sent Christ to earth, for His continual resistance of sin by which He maintained an absolute holiness thereby, and for all the sufferings and the death He endured, only because He loved us and loved us to the end. We love Him because He first loved us, and in this love our hearts should be raising to Him a continuous song of thanks giving. Thus for the reasons for which Jesus gave thanks, we give thanks. We express gratitude for our daily food and for answered prayer, that even the unlearned may know the thanks of God. We rejoice that God so loved us that He gave His only begotten Son, who, by His holy death has attained for us an everlasting glory, and a life with Him forever.
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