February 1926
T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
74
The “ image’! to which man is to correspond does not refer to man’s constitution as a spirit, for as Badie says in commenting upon Genesis 9:6 and James 3:9 (where man is prohibited from taking human life and the rashness of ungoverned temper), “ If man did not still retain this image of God, there would be no çin either in killing or cursing him. Therefore, this image referred to is something alto gether independent of the fact or development of sin in man’s nature, for it is still possessed, and ought to shield him from violence and anathema.” Further, in commenting upon the image as the essence of man’s being, and the image as a correspondence to God's character, he says, “ what belongs to constitution, fallen man has retained; what belongs to quality and character have gone from him. The latter is a portion of the image as much as the former; the image of an intelligent, holy, and blessed Divine person. And those features of the image which have been lost through the fall, are given back to the disciples of Christ.” How this confirmation is effected is by contact with Christ. “ We all, with unveiled face reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed in the same image” (2 Cor. 3:18 R. V .). This reading of the R. V. does away with the general interpretation, namely, believers contem plating the Lord and thus becoming like Him; it makes the believer a mirror, unveiled, and the Lord looking at us. As the mirror reflects the imagé of the person who is looking into it, so believers reveal the glory of the Lord, when there is no veil between. Him and them. Professor Drummond tells of “ a young girl whose perfect grace of character was the wonder of those who knew her. She wore around her neck a gold locket which no one was allowed to open. One day in a moment of unusual confi dence, one of her companions was allowed to touch its spring and learn its secret. She saw written these words: ‘Whom having not seen, I love.’ ” That was the secret of her beautiful life. She had been changed into the same image! (To be continued)
my mother' had taught me, and told her the old story of God’s love In Christ dying for sinful men. ** ‘Now-j you are getting at It’ said the woman. ‘That’s what I want. That’s the story for me.’ And so 'I got her In,’ and I got In myself.” The only thing that can avail for our salvation is the death,— the vicarious death, the substitutionary death, the atoning death of Christ. Northing else will reach us, nothing else will lift us, and nothing else will satisfy God’s throne nor our conscience. Christ knew this when He said, The Son of man must be lifted up.” Mark the ‘ must, MUST! MUST!! MUST!!! That death was necessary for our life, for out of that death, as Christ says, comes life— "that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” A Conforming Contact “ And have put on the new man, which is being renewed unto the knowledge after the image of Him that created him.” (Col. 3:10 R. V.). There are three things of impor tance to recognize in these words: A contrast, a process and a correspondence. , , The contrast is suggested by the words “ the new man,” which is the opposite of the old man. The old man is the sum total of all we were in the old state of sin and its habits; and the new man is, as Miller says, “ the holy form of human life which results from redemption.” The process is embodied in the “ being renewed unto the knowledge." What is the knowledge and the being renewed unto, but the personal acquaintance with God which is the outcome of the Divine operation upon the believer in Christ? The correspondence is expressed, in the words, “ after the image of Him that created him.” The preposition “ kata” would be better expressed “ according to,” and is so rendered in Col. 1:11, 25, 29: with the accusative, “ kata” signifies “ one thing corresponding to another.” The new born man is to correspond to the Father who has begotten him. m
The M y th ica l Made Memorable
lble evidence is produced to prgve their historicity, these same scholars calmly take all the glory of the dis covery to themselves; and naively in form us that these “ shadowy kings” were real, after all. We are told that the first and second dynasties after the flood, those of Kish and Erech, were vitiated by an “ incredible longevity,” and that before this recent find, the third dynasty, that of Ur, “ like the two that preceded it, has commonly been regarded as mythical.” But that is all changed now. A clay tablet has proved the very real existence of the kings whom the scholars were so sure could not possibly have been real. We cannot help wondering what they will do with the other two dynasties men tioned in this same connection. Al though listed by the same historian who named the dynasty of Ur, they will probably continue to be regarded as mythical until another tablet is dis covered- .The fact is that there are many glorious realities that science persists in “ regarding as mythical.” But that does not prevent us from re joicing in them. “ The things which are not seen are etefttal.” (2 Cor. 4:18).
record that the kings who reigned immediately after the flood were those of Kish— and the years of their reigns would put Methusalem to shame; then came the seqond dynasty, that of Erech, vitiated by the like incredible longevity, and third from the flood is put the dynasty of Ur. This dynasty, like the two that preceded it, has com monly been regarded as mythical. Its rules were assigned no more than normal length of power, but nothing was known of them, and they were merely names in a schematic list; a dead reckoning basis on the king list would put their date somewhere about 4600 B. C., and Sumerian history, properly speaking, could not be car ried back much beyond 3000 B. C. Tell-el-Obeid has produced not only the oldest dated document yet known but a contemporary record proving the real existence of these shadow kings.” Once again the dogmatism of scholar ship is discredited. For years these kings have been “ viewed as mythical” by our wise men, and those who dared to place any credence in the tradition of their existence were laughed out of court. But now, when lncontrovert- V
u . '> ¿ 6 HESE are tough days for the M| EM scientists. They have been dead sure that some Biblical Br a statements were mythical. rWT Sfrl q>hey thought they had the data to prove this and were sure that they knew more than the old writers of God’s Word. But— right along God is disclosing evidence that these “ wise men” do not know everything, and, in fact, are quite likely to make mistakes, as shown by the following item in The Methodist Protestant: The first report of the Joint expedi tion of the British Museum and the University of Pennsylvania, in the work of excavating at ancient Ur of the Chaldees, in Mesopotamia, was recently made public, and contains in teresting and important archaeological information concerning those lands where civilization first dawned. These excavations, it is stated, have not only produced the oldest dated document, but have proved the existence about 4600 B. C. of certain Kings of Sumer and Akkad, whose reigns had hitherto been viewed as mythical. The report says: “ The scribes who, soon after 2000 B. C., drew up a list of the Kings of Sumer an
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