February, 1934
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
52
seed” or “ sand [earthly] seed” (Gen. 22 :17), he hissed his hate against both ! What else could the saints expect save the horrible pagan and papal persecutions that followed through the centuries, continuing to this day? More than fifty mil lion o f the “ star” seed (the church) have suffered martyr dom at the hands o f the seed o f the Serpent. But it is not with the persecution o f the “ star” seed o f the woman that we wish here to deal. Let us follow the line o f the earthly seed, Israel, ever the object of the Serpent’s special hatred because “ salvation is o f the Jews’3 (John 4 :22 ). T h e S e r p e n t C r a w l s o n , a n d I t s T r a i l I s R ed ! A fter the “ child was caught up to God, and to his throne” (Rev. 12:5 ), the Serpent’s trail continues red — red with Judah’s blood. In a . d . 50, on the same ground (Jerusa lem) where the “ dogs” (Psa. 2 2 :16) licked up the blood o f “ the Child,” there the great red dragon licked up the blood o f 30,000 Jews. In a . d . 66, the bloody maw o f the dragon opened again, and the blood of more than 40,000 o f Judah’s sons went down his throat. In a . d . 70, those insatiable jaws opened once more to receive the blood o f more than a million o f “ the seed.” Again, in a . d . 135, those awful lips were stained with the hot blood o f 580,000 Jewish hearts! On through the centuries crawled the old dragon, spill ing both Christian and Jewish blood. But, keeping to the fleshly seed, we mention here only a few o f the redder spots. With the conversion ( ?) o f Constantine in a . d . 312, the Jews once more became a condemned and persecuted race. The shadows about them constantly grew darker. From Britain, all the sons o f Judah were banished in a . d . 1020. In a . d . 1096, an attempt was made to murder all Jews in Europe who would not submit to baptism—and, it was called the “ Holy W a r"! It is said that in a . d . 1189 not a Jewish household in London escaped bloodshed and pil lage. In a . d . 1272, Edward I began his persecutions and finally drove all Jews from England, and for nearly four hundred years, it has been said, no Jewish foot touched upon British soil. Similar waves o f anti-Semitism swept over France. In Germany, in the fourteenth century, the Jews suffered all the agonies of hell and death, at the hands of the seed o f the Serpent, who preached their extermina tion. A t Strasburg, for the crime o f being born o f the same blood that flowed to purchase our redemption, 2,000 sons and daughters o f Israel were dragged upon an im mense scaffold, and the torch was applied! Spain drove the seed o f the woman into the arms o f the “ Iron Maiden,’’ where, while the victims shrieked in agony, the bloody nails were driven slowly into their vitals. In a hundred other horrible ways, Spain fertilized her soil with Jewish blood. “ Red Russia,” plastered with the blood-reddened slime of the “ great red dragon,” trailing through a thousand Jewish pogroms— “ Red Russia,” where the blood of millions upon millions o f Abels cries unceasingly unto God from the ground— gory old Gog, that devouring Fury whose red trail, so clearly traced upon the prophetic charts of Jehovah, leads on even into the fold o f the flock “upon the moun tains o f Israel” (Ezek. 39:17), where his arteries are to spurt until every buzzard and brute shall “ drink blood till . . . . drunken” (Ezek. 39:17-19)— “ Red Russia” has been and still is the strongest o f the modern fortresses o f the persecuting dragon. The fact that apostate Jews themselves sit in the blood-smeared seats o f Russian power only proves the Lord’s words: “ A man’s foes shall be they o f his own household” (Matt. 10:36). H is s in g H is H a t e , t h e S e r p e n t S t i l l C r a w l s ! In the present hour, we hear the muffled sobbing o f the trekker o f the ages, as the dragon continues to dog his footsteps. Behind him he still hears the hiss o f the Ser pent. Before him rise terrifying shirted specters—a red
L o ! Hades found that it had shut its gates upon a Samson! The grave had closed in upon a G od ! The bars of the gates o f Hades snapped, and captivity was led cap tive (Eph. 4 :8 ). The great stone in the mouth of the tomb, though fastened with imperial Caesar’s seal, rolled back. “ The Seed” leaped out and up— “ caught up unto God, and to his throne”— and sat down in majesty at the right hand o f the Most High, “ from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool” (Heb. 10:13). T h e S e r p e n t , L o s in g H is C h ie f P r e y , I n c r e a s e s i n E n m i t y Terrible from the beginning, how the hate o f the Ser pent must have been intensified when the “ man child” who arose triumphantly from Hades to earth, continued His triumph by arising from earth to heaven! Moreover, His ascension was directly through the Serpent’s aerial domain. Was not he, Satan, “ the prince o f the power o f the air” (Eph. 2 :2 ) ? Had he not boasted: “ I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars o f God. . . . I will be like the Most High” (Isa. 14:13, 14) ? And now behold! The despised “ Child” is “ ascended up far above all heavens” (Eph. 4 :1 0 )— “ far above all principal ity, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also that which is to come” (Eph. 1 :21). The Serpent, knowing that God hath committed unto Christ the power and authority to “ put all things under his feet” (Eph. 1 :22), and knowing that his own head was one o f the “ all things,” and that in due time Christ will exercise His power, need we marvel that the wrath o f the Serpent leaped all bounds, and that he turned in jealous rage to vent his spleen, not only upon Israel according to the flesh, but also upon Israel according to the Spirit? “ Star [spiritual] THE SERIES OF ARTICLES ON Dispensational Music BY ROBERT HARKNESS beginning in the JANUARY Issue of T H E S A C R E D M U S I C I A N EDITED BY ROBERT HARKNESS This series of NEW articles will deal with Present-Day music . . . the highest forms of the modern musical classics as well as the lowest JAZZ compositions. . . It will analyze modern music and prove from its chaotic character as well as its insistent minor strain certain indisputable DISPENSATIONAL facts . . . it will illus trate the music of Hinduism, Confucianism, and other religions. It will tell of the Minor trend in the music of NATURE—animate and inanimate. In addition: “ THE SACRED MUSICIAN” will present in each issue severe.! pages of valuable articles and stories on sacred music, BESIDES EIGHT PAGES of NEW sacred music including solos . . duets . . quartets . . chorus numbers . . offertories. B y subscription . . . In U . S. A . $2.00 a year. In Canada $2.50. Other British Countries 1 5 /- a year. A ll other countries $3.00. Single Copies, 25 Cents. MAIL ALL SUBSCRIPTIONS TO T H E S A C R E D M U S I C I A N P. O. B O X 204 SOUTH PA SADENA , CALIFORNIA °fou will enjoy ^
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