THE K I NG ' S BUS I NESS
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Christ.” When He comes He shall “ fashion anew the body of our humilia tion.” This rendering of the R. V. is much to be preferred to that of the A. V., “ our vile body.” Our present body is not a vile body and God nowhere indicates that it is. Matter is not essentially bad, it is God’s creation and our present material body is the temple of the Holy Ghost (1 Cor. 6: 19). But our present body is a body of “ humiliation,” it belongs to our present state of humiliation and not to our com ing state of glory. Our present body is subject to weakness, weariness, sick ness, death and decay. It is often a hindrance to our highest and holiest aspirations. The Lord Jesus at His coming again shall fashion it “ anew that it may be conformed to the body of His glory,” i. e., that it may have an outward form like unto the body that Jesus had when glorified. The body Jesus now has in thp glory is the per fect expression and revelation of the Divine glory which is His (Phil. 2:6, cf. John 17:5), and He when He comes again shall make our bodies like His own. We have some hints of the glory of that body in the Transfiguration scene (Matt. 17:2; Luke 9:29, R. Y.) and in John’s vision in Patmos (Rev. 1:14-17) and in the blinding glory of our Lord’s presence as Paul of Tarsus saw Him on the Damascus road (Acts 9:3-17; 22:6-11), and we are to be made in physical presence like unto that! Note well what is recorded here of the peculiar mystery and glory of the Gospel, a promise of eternal exist ence and blessednsss for the body of the saint. To the ancient philosopher the body was merely the prison of the spirit (as today it is to the Christian Scientist, mere “ illusion” and “ mortal thought” and hindrance). To the Apos tle Paul, illuminated by the Holy Spirit, the body not only has real existence, but it is a counterpart of the spirit which inhabits it and destined to share with it in profound harmony the com ing heaven. Moule well says, “ Not its essential /nature, but its distorted' con dition in the Fall, makes it now the clog of the renewed spirit; it shall hereafter be its wings. This is to take ' place, as the N. T. consistently reveals, not at death, but at the Return of Christ.” The Lord will work this transformation “ according to the work ing whereby He is able even to subject all things unto Himself.’,’ (more liter ally, “ according to the working of His being able even to subject to Himself
11:15; Heb. 6 :8), i. e., their final state. “ Destruction” is the end of all who pro fess faith, in Christ and His cross but do not live according to their profession. (2) “ Whose god is the belly.” The thought is they live for the gratifica tion of appetite. Appetite was the supreme thing with them (cf. Rom. 16: 18). They have many followers today. (3) “Whose glory is in their shame.” Probably they boasted of their freedom from the law and of their liberty through the efficiency of Christ’s atone ment to live as they pleased, “ turning the grace of our God into lascivious ness.” . (Jude 4), and thus glorying in their shame. In this, too, they have many imitators today. (4) “Who mind earthly things.” The force of the word translated “ mind” is to set the mind, affections and will upon. The one who is truly identified with Christ in His death and resurrection will set his mind upon heavenly things (Col. 3:1, 2) and the one who sets his mind upon earthly things, as, alas, so many do, has destruction for his end and is not truly identified with Christ no matter what he may profess. TUESDAY, Oct. 22nd. Phil. 8:20, 21. Paul now gives the reason why the saints in Philippi should follow him and his companions rather than those described in vs, 18, 19. The reason is a remarkable one and should be close ly studied. This is the way Paul puts it: “ For our citizenship is in heaven.” The believer’s status as a citizen is in the heavens where his head, Christ, is, and where he is seated with Christ (cf. Eph. 2 :6 ). It is there we are regis tered. Its privileges (citizens’ rights) are ours and down here we must so live as to honorably represent that state to which we belong. From that coun try to which we really belong “ we wait for a Saviour.” He came once from that country to this and when He thus came and died He brought salvation in the sense of deliverance from the guilt and dominion of sin. But He is coming again to bring full salvation for the body as well as for the spirit and the soul (cf. Heb. 9:28; 1 John 3:2; 1 Pet. 1:5; 1 Thess. 5:23, R. V .). The word translated “ wait for” (A. I I “ look for” ) means more than that, it means wait with attention, eagerness, longing (cf. Tit. 2:13; 2 Pet. 3:12, R. V .). Is it true that we thus wait for Jesus when He shall come again? Paul gives to this Saviour for whom we wait .His. full name and title, "The Lord Jesus
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