April, 1935
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
“ 'Risen With Christ” B y HARVEY FARMER* Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
daughters o f the heavenly Father, in whose incarnate Son dwelleth all the fullness o f the Godhead bodily. The muni ficence o f His grace toward us is seen in that He gives us to share His fullness and in Him to be made complete. His life is our life, as the Word declares : “ Christ is our life.” H id d e n i n t h e F o u n t a i n o f L if e He is not only its Infinite Source, and its Inexhaustible Sustenance, but also its Incorruptible Substance. As the Holy Spirit is ungrieved and unhindered by disobedience or distrust, we shall be abiding in closest communion with Him who is the Fountain o f L ife ; and as the channel o f communication is kept continuously at that Infinite Source o f Essential Being, the rivers o f living water will ever prove inexhaustibly sustaining for oùr own spiritual vital ity, and will perennially flow forth from our inmost soul to the meeting o f the need o f thirsty ones everywhere. W e shall have also an abiding consciousness that His indwell ing means He is the Incorruptible Substance of our spirit ual being, and that our lives are hid with Christ in God. How wonderful that H e should love so dearly those whom He has redeemed as to count them such a treasure as to be kept safe within the double rampart o f deity! Dwelling deep in Him, we grow like Him more and more, separated from all that is contrary to His mind and message, so that the Holy Spirit’s presence may be evidenced by His trans forming and triumphant power in our lives— that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory o f the Father, even so we also should walk in newness o f life. Oh, the blessedness o f our union with Him in His risen life, which makes Him such a living, bright Reality, and makes us concerned to walk worthy o f Him unto all pleas ing ! W e shall thus be enabled, by His grace, to pursue our way and to prosecute our work in the power o f His vir tuous and victorious life. He will keep us free from the enticements o f this passing age and ever burdened for the unsaved and their needs. So shall we be to the praise o f His glory who died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
W e l l may we sing unto the Lord with exulting hearts, for He hath triumphed gloriously at the place called no sin, that we might become the righteousness o f God in Him. His vicarious victory over all the powers o f darkness and death was authenticated and sealed by His resurrec tion and ascension. The outcome affords convincing con firmation that He is the eternal Son o f the everlasting Fa ther, and gives irrefutable assurance that His substitution ary sacrifice for sin has satisfied every claim o f God’s jus tice and vindicated every demand o f God’s holiness. But do we fully realize that He who so loved us and loosed us from our sins by His blood is our Resurrection and our Life ? W e who have been born again from above died with Him on the cross, and so also have we literally and logic ally risen with Him. W e therefore share His risen life and may know in daily experience the power of His resurrection. S h a r i n g t h e V e r y L i f e o f t h e R i s e n O n e With these precious truths before us, let us turn to Colossians at the third chapter and read the first four verses. In the preceding passage, the apostle, under the in spiration o f the Holy Spirit, has dealt with the believer’s union with Christ in His death, and now he is dealing with the identification o f the believer with the Lord Jesus in His life. Just as the trusting soul died with Christ and ceased to be what He once was, so, risen with Christ, he has be come what He once was not. Heaven’s own glory crowns our joy in God who has begotten us again to a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and has given us to possess His own uncreated life. This was the magnificent purpose in the heart of God, hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to the saints to whom God would make known what is the riches o f the glory o f this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope o f glory. Only so could we be sons and
Calvary, where He was made sin for us, though He knew
*North Africa Mission.
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