January, 1937
THE K I NG ' S BUS I NESS
8
The Perspective of Th is Particular By R. E. NEIGHBOUR Elyria, Ohio
Illustrations by Ransom >D. Marvin
T HERE are usually two outstanding appeals of any New Year’s Day. There is, first of all, the retro spective— the review of the past year which is about to enter into the “ yellow leaf” ; and secondly, there is the perspective— the hopes and anticipations which the new year presents. It is as if one had been playing a great organ, approach ing a somewhat somber and disappointing finale; then suddenly, he ceases, and after but a pause, with a new vigor and with a startling emphasis, he strikes another and a new chord, a chord vibrant with a questioning expectancy. The average individual who gazes along the vista of a new year is motivated by selfish ambitions. He thinks of a new year as another opportunity for enriching himself. Putting the failures and the achievements of the past year behind him, he thinks of “ making good” in a new oppor tunity. Some people think of January first as being the time to start anew. They think that a new book, with clean white pages, awaits a new record about to be writ ten, a new life about to be lived. Others think of Decem ber thirty-first as the time when their past, especially its sins and failures, is automatically ushered into oblivion, never to be remembered again. The new year to them is a kind of new heart, all cleansed, and somehow panoplied to live a new life. W e write to urge for a different method of facing this particular new year, 1937. There are abundant reasons for obtaining a different kind of perspective . It is in con templation of the ever-increasing imminency of the Lord’s return that we speak of the present new year. W e do not say the Lord will come for His saints this year. W e do say that the world and the church alike are anticipating some great change, and that that event may be the rapture of believers (1 Thess. 4 :19 ). T h e W orld ’ s P erspective The world is facing a perspective that presents dark
them and wonder when the nations will be trembling^ in the throes of war— a war that will turn the world upside down, and make her Edens a howling wilderness. This new year dawns with nations arming themselves with every new death-dealing, fire-devouring, famine- deluging device that tends to make the earth desolate. While frantically striving for peace, the nations are actu ally preparing for such a war as the world has never known. Human language fails to describe the day of dark ness and gloom which, somberlike, threatens the world. The W ord of God describes the “ last day” armies in their maddened fury in Joel 2:4-11. The world is hastening toward its own greatest, self-engendered catastrophe: a war that will blacken the pages of human progress, a war that will write “ Ichabod”— “ the glory is departed”— on all of man’s twentieth-century achievements. W e do not say that these things will occur in the year which is now dawning; but we do believe that in 1937 the world will make tremendous strides toward their ful fillment. W e make this assertion by virtue of the feverish steps toward war which have been taken in the years just past, and in view of the fact that there is a wide and almost universal dread of some fateful climax in world events. T he P erspective of t h e C h u r c h The church is facing a perspective full of glory. Toward a great goal the saints are hastening, and their hope may know fruition in 1937. The perspective of the believer includes the rapture of the saints.
Watchman, what of the night? When shines the morning star? How long until the light Shall break across the bar? The watchman said,
“The night draws on apace, but soon will dawn the day; Thy God is pledged to thee to drive the shades away: Lift up thy head.”
As we consider the possibility of our up-going during the year 1937, we find that this very ex pectancy stirs the hearts of multi plied thousands of saints through out the world. Last New Year’s Day many hearts were up-looking; today many additional faces are turned heavenward. This new year may usher the saints into a grand and glorious new era. Therefore, Until the day break, and the shadows flee, Let me ever watching be: Watching till the night is past, Watching while the shadows last; Watching till the break of day, Till the shadows flee away. Let others do as they may; for our part we are determined to live
forebodings. There is no need to deny the present unrest revealing itself throughout the world. On every hand there is a restless looking ahead toward those things which are about to come upon the earth. As men look, their hearts are failing them for fear. They are dreading some vague but fitful world-shock. They lift their eyes upward and wonder when the powers of the heavens may be shaken; they look far around [To many groups of Christians at home and on foreign fields, Dr. Neigh bour’s nvork as Bible teacher and con ference speaker has brought comfort and inspiration. His devotional poems, several of vohich are embodied in this article, are a further phase of his min istry .—E ditor .]
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