SI
February, 1934
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
Once again she brought forth, and cried, “ God hath appointed [“ set” ] me another seed,” and she called his name Seth (Heb., Sheth, “ setting,” or “ slip” ) . “ God hath set me another slip” —and around that “ slip” God planted a hedge through which “ the great red dragon” could not pass. “ God hath appointed . . . another seed” ! Thus, the ap pointed “ seed” was narrowed to the line o f Seth. And
thy servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. . . . They are thy people and thine inheritance” (Deut. 9:26-29). Verily, the prayer o f a righteous man, calling upon God to remember His covenants, availeth much! Need we continue to tell o f the marvelous deliverances o f “ the seed” from the maw of the dragon when Balak sought to curse them, and the many inhabitants of Canaan sought to destroy them?
upon that righteous line all the forces o f the powers o f darkness immediately centered their at tack. Satan, his angels, Neph- ilim (Gen. 6 :4 ), demons, and unregenerate men pounced upon “ the seed” to devour until but one righteous man, Noah, was left—probably the only man left on the face o f the earth whose blood stream was not polluted by intercourse with the fallen “ sons o f God” (Gen. 6 :1, 2 ). A careful reading o f 2 Peter 2 :4-7, and Jude 6, 7 strongly inclines us to the belief that in the days o f Noah, the “ great fed dragon” made a supreme attempt to so pollute the blood stream o f “ the woman” that it would be impos sible for “ that holy thing . . . which . . . shall be called the Son o f God” (Lk. 1 :35) to be born o f her. As it was, God cleansed the polluted earth with the waters o f the flood, keeping alive once more “ the seed” through Noah. T h e B a t t l e C o n t in u e s Several centuries passed. The children o f Noah departed
T h e N a r r o w in g L i n e f o r “ T h e S e e d R o y a l ” With the passing o f the years, God narrowed the line of “ the seed royal” to a single man, David: “ I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels . . . and I will establish the throne o f his king dom forever. I will be his fa ther, and he shall be my son” (2 Sam. 7 :12-14). Quickly, the red dragon opened his bloody jaws once again, and Athaliah, daughter o f the serpentress, Jezebel, “ arose and destroyed all the seed royal” (2 Ki. 11:1), except one tiny little “ slip”— Joash, whose nurse snatched him away at the last moment, and secreted him in a bedcham ber. Marvelous, indeed, how often “ the seed o f the woman,” the hope o f the ages, has been reduced to but a single tiny “ slip” ! But, one little “ slip” and God are enough! Nor need we tell the story of Haman’s dastardly attempt to annihilate all “ the seed” in the
far from God. Again Jehovah narrowed the line of “ the seed” to one man of faith—Abraham. And this line de scended through Isaac only. Then twins were born and the dragon drove his venomous fangs into the older, even as in the case o f Cain. Immediately, Jehovah again nar rowed the line to Jacob. Unto Jacob twelve sons were born. The old dragon forthwith corralled “ Jacob, and all his seed” (Gen. 46 :6 ) in his Egyptian den, and struck! The whip o f the taskmaster drove them forth to impos sible tasks. But Israel endured. Thereupon, “ the king o f Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives . . . . When ye do the office o f a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the birth-stool; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him” (Ex . 1 :15, 16, R. V .) But the midwives feared God more than Pharaoh. Then “ Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river” (Ex . 1 :22). Again, Omnipotence inter vened and not only saved “ the seed,” but “ drew out of the water” a little “ slip” that grew into the mighty rod that crushed the power o f the Serpent’s mightiest empire. Under the protection of-that rod, “the slips” were returned to the land o f promise, planted once again in their native soil, but not until the great red dragon had made one last supreme effort to wholly destroy them on the banks of the Red Sea. Need we relate how the dragon trailed them for forty years through the wilderness, time and time again almost devouring them, by beguiling them into sin and rebellion until the wrath o f God Himself arose against them ? But a saving mediator was found in Moses: “ O Lord God, de stroy not thy people and thine inheritance. . . . Remember
days of Esther, and o f the marvelous deliverance Jehovah again wrought; nor o f Nebuchadnezzar, who discovered to his dismay that “ the seed o f God” could not be burned; nor o f Antiochus Epiphanes, who, 167 years before Christ, discovered that his sword, though it let rivers o f blood, was unequal to the task o f destroying “ the seed.” T h e S e e d o f t h e S eed Then, wonder o f wonders— one day the Seed o f the seed Himself— just a little “ slip” planted in a manger—4 appeared. And “ for this purpose the Son o f God was manifested, that he might destroy the works o f the devil” (1 John 3 :8 ). The dragon knew it well! Imagine the sulphureous snorts o f the old dragon as the angels sang above that lowly manger! With a growl-Ha roar that must have quivered the gates o f heaven and o f hell, the great red dragon leaped for his p rey: “ In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourn ing, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not” (Matt. 2 :18 ). But, Rachel, dry your tears! The “ slip” reposes safely upon its mother’s breast— in Egypt! When “ the Seed” had grown, time and time again its destruction was sought, until one dark day a shout went up from the pit, that quaked the earth— “ the Seed” was being destroyed upon a tree! A t last the great red dragon, after four thousand years of relentless hounding, has the Child helpless in his jaws. “ I T IS F IN ISHED !” The bowels o f the earth closed over His body o f flesh, while down in the nether world the gates o f Hades closed upon His spirit. Is not this the end?
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