April, 1935
134
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
The Living Christ
B y M ildred A llen J effrey
Men kneel in Homage to a crypt-^M In solemn wonder stand Upon Golgotha’s ugly hill— Make souvenirs o f sand. Men seek in relic, and in place, Christ of antiquity; They make a shrine a sacred thing, A creed a mystery. M en do this when they have the wealth And time to while away; But I■—who neither one possess— Walk here with Christ today!
Men journey far to Palestine, Where once the Saviour trod The streets of old Jerusalem, And spoke o f Father God. Men purchdse little cards and write: “ This inn is where we stay; Accommodations aren’t so bad — The season’s good, they say.” Men view the place where Christ was born, Weep o’ er Gethsemane, Pluck flowers from a stony field, Catch fish in Galilee.
ments are false in this respect, they cannot be trusted in. other matters, and hence the denial o f 'the physical resur rection of Christ is a denial o f the. integrity o f the Epistles. V alue of the R evelation The value o f the Revelation lies in the fact that it comes “ from Jesus Christ; who is the faithful witness, and the first-begotten of-th® dead” (Rev. 1:5). To John, and through him to all believers since that day, the Lord Him self declares: “ I am he that liveth, and was*dead; and, be hold, I am alive for evermore” (Rev. 1 :18 ). I f on the opening page o f the Revelation, the last book in the Bible, we discover these two statements and can prove that they are false, then the value o f the whole Book is lost. But if Jesus Christ arose from the tomb, as these verses teach, then the full worth o f the book o f Revelation remains, and the Word of God is complete and wholly reliable. C onclusion There have been many attempts to discredit the physical resurrection o f Jesus Christ. In the final analysis, how ever, all such efforts are "attempts to discredit the Bible itself, and they prove the truth o f our Lord’s words con cerning the unbelievers, that “ neither will they be per suaded, though one rose from the dead” (Lk. 16:31). But, on the other hand, if the Bible be true concerning the resur rection o f Jesus Christ, we may be assured that we have in Christ a sufficient Sacrifice for all sin, an acceptable Sub stitute for all sinners, and a prevailing Priest for all saints; and we may go forth to fulfill the word that is written, “ He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again” (2 Cor. 5 :15).
pair, they had trembled at the turn events had taken. Sud denly their gloom was changed to gladness, their hopes rose anew, their jo y returned, assurance marked their demeanor, boldness accompanied their speech and actions, and they went forth to live for their Lord, to serve_ Him, and to die for Him. What caused the change? The reason is found in the many infallible proofs that He had risen in the body from the dead. T o the Gospel writers, the resurrection was a literal fact, and they thus recorded it. I f the resurrection o f Jesus Christ was not physical, then o f course the book of the Acts cannot be held as being true, and it must therefore be eliminated entirely from what is called the Word of God. I ntegrity of the E pistles The Epistles o f the New Testament record the physical resurrection o f Jesus Christ. In opening his argument in the book of Romans, Paul says that Christ is “ declared to be the Son o f God with power . . . by the resurrection from the dead” (Rom. 1 :4 ). Paul also declared that the gospel he preached, the gospel by which alone the hearers were saved, was “ that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15 :l-4 ). The death was literal, the burial was literal, and who shall say that the resurrection was not literal ? There is no gospel, no good news for the sinner, if Christ did not die for our sins; neither is there any good news for the sinner if Christ did not rise from the dead as literally as He died. In the Epistles, the great doctrines concerning the Chris tian life are directly dependent upon the resurrection of Christ. The power upon which the Christian relies to keep him is the same mighty power o f God “ which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead” (Eph. 1:19-23). Our hope concerning Christians who die is founded entirely upon the fact that “ we believe that Jesus died and rose again” (I Thess. 4 :14 ). In the midst o f our difficulties and dangers, we are encouraged to “ re member that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead” (2 Tim. 2 :8 ). In exhorting us to continue in the faith and not be turned away from following it, the writer o f Hebrews declares that the God o f peace is the one who “ brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep” (Heb. 13:20). But all these and similar passages lose their power and appeal if the resurrection o f Christ be not an actual fact. If these state
BEGGARMAN [Continued from page 130]
P oliceman (With a shrug). “ Only an ould beggar- maun, laidy. He’s croaked fur shure! Git me a ambulance, B’y, an’ be quick about i t ! This strreet cawn’t be blocked.” T he C ane (Rolling into the gutter, kicked, trampled, snapping in tw o), “ Alas,—my M-a-s-t-e-r— ! And now— who will go to bring his son who is a thief ------- ?”
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