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T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
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word. It is a most destructive explosive, the minister of desolation. This is the word that Paul uses for “power” in speaking of the gospel as the power of God (Rom. 1:16). In the narrow channel of New York harbor there used to be an obstructing rock beneath the waters that was called “Hell Gate” because it was a menace to peaceful commerce and the passage of the sea. How was it removed? Why, huge quantities of dynamite were buried in the heart of the rock, and blew it up as dust. Thus is it with the dynamite of the resurrection. It can destroy carnality, worldliness, and sin. All that is alien to our risen life in Christ has to yield. Identification with the risen, throne life of Jesus means the destruction of all evil forces, and the liberation of power for service. "Dynamo," on the other hand, is the posi tive word. Here is something constructive, for a dynamo is the agent of progress. It imparts power of action, driving force, basal strength. Passing through a factory we are impressed with the huge dynamos which by the turn of a switch whirl hun dreds of machines into unceasing activity. Thus it is with the power of our crucified, risen Lord. It is constructive as well as destructive—a dynamo as well as dynamite. The dynamo the resurrection supplies is a new heart—not new ideas or new ideals. W e may possess these and yet have no motive power. The resurrection did not usher in a new movement but created a new body. It did not create a new organi zation but a vital organism. The practical import of our meditation is not far to seek. If our feet are entangled in the meshes of sin and if life is fettered with perplexities, fear, despair, and remorse, what else can we do but cry: "Give Thy power, O Lord! Plant Thy dynamo within my heart, and in the power of a blessed, resurrected life, cause me to run in the way of Thy commandments and with a joyful alacrity to obey Thy will.” The call comes, “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light,” and as we willingly respond, we live again. Rising from our grave of sin, we become partakers of the life of Him who died and rose again that He might become Lord both of the dead and of the living. [Readers whose hearts have been stirred to new love [or the living Lord through the reading o[ the [oregoing article by Dr. Lock- yer, a member o f the Extension Department o f the Moody Bible Institute, will wish to read his book, When God Died, mentioned on page 126 o f this issue .—E ditor .] CH INA D EPA R TM EN T O F TH E B IBLE IN S T IT U T E OF LOS ANGELES Its buildings untouched by the fire that destroyed seventy-five per cent of Chang sha, capital of Hunan Province, the Hunan Bible Institute, the China Department of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, is serv ing as a haven for missionaries and Chinese Christians who have lost their homes. Charles A. Roberts wrote from the Insti tute in December: "W e are a bit of a motley crowd at the Institute these days, with a number of [Continued on page 126]
Three Articles On DANIEL’S PROPHECY OF THE SEVENTY WEEKS B y A L VA J . M c C L A I N This series will begin in the April KING’S BUSINESS with a message on “The First Sixty-Nine Weeks and the Coming of the Messianic Prince.”
W H A T M U ST W E PREACH? [Continued from page 91 ] reason that Easter should be full of joy for the believer. "By dying, death He slew.” Easter declares the glorious aboli tion of death. Dr. Talmage graphically puts it thus: “Death is a conqueror. His palace is the sepulcher, his flowers the faded garlands on the grave, his music the cry of desolated homes, his chalice the human skull; his pleasure and springing fountains are the falling tears of a broken-hearted world. But Easter bids us remember that the hateful conqueror has been conquered, that the old mon ster fell into an eternal hell on the res urrection mom. For with trumpet sound we declare, ‘O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?’ ” Beloved, what a life is ours! In virtue of our Lord’s victory a resurrection unto life eternal will be ours. Bodies, now chained within the narrow limits of the coffin, are to sweep through the boundless spaces of the universe. Some glad day we are to get all back. Sown in dishonor, we shall yet be raised in glory. If we know Jesus as Saviour and Lord, then death is but the opening of a door into the palace of the King. Our grave, when we reach it, will be but the dressing room where we clothe ourselves in our immortal attire for glory. Yes, it is only through Christ that we have the promise and pledge of resurrection. Resurrection is the blessed hope of the church, the consummation of the gospel age, the climax of God’s great purposes of glorification, the long-awaited movement of all when death will be swallowed up in a victory supreme and eternal. May the Lord of Peace, who brought again our Lord Jesus from the dead, inspire our hearts anew with the assurance of personal resurrection! In his Colossian letter Paul reveals the mystery concerning the indwelling of the risen Lord, “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (1:27). At regeneration He enters as the Promise and Power of sanctification, and as the Guarantee of our resurrection and glorification. It is not said that He will bring us resurrection, but that He is the resurrection and the life. And it is this same indwelling life that will swallow up death. As in our bodies we bear even now the hidden seeds of death, in like manner there also dwells within each born-again soul the hidden life of the risen Christ. The pledge, therefore, of our coming resurrection is the life of God’s risen Son within (Rom. 8:11). Christ's Resurrection— The Source of Joy The secret of abounding joy, so charac teristic of'the disciples in the early church,
was the fact that Christ was alive forever more. “Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord” (John 20:20). When weeping Mary realized that her Master was alive, and that He was at hand, love re vealed itself in a single word. Inexplicable joy sometimes baptizes us into silence. The deepest joy of the heart finds utterance in words that are few. “Jesus saith . . . Mary. She . . . saith i . . Master” (John 20:16). And what a thrill of resurrection joy and glory is at the back of the expression, Master”! What a feeling of holy rapture Mary must have experienced as she heard her name pronounced by the lips of her risen Lord! Thus it will be with us some glad, golden day when suddenly the radiant faces of those we have loved long since and lost awhile are seen again, and sweet, familiar voices speak welcome in our ears. Christ's Resurrection— The Promise of Blissful Reunion After the resurrection, Christ proved Himself to be the very same Jesus. Little acts like the breaking of bread revealed Him as the same dear Friend. And what ecstasy must have been the portion of the disciples as for forty days they fellowshiped with the risen Lord! Resurrection, o f course, gave them a more wonderful, glorious Christ. Now, He was theirs forever. And Christ’s empty grave tells us that we, too, will get our dead back again. Bodies laid away in the darkness and night of the grave will one day swarm up the steps of light! Bodies crumbling to dust will one day be changed and made to share the Throne! Bodies at present the prey of corruption will be transformed and made to live through the ages of deathlessness! Think of it! W e are to be caught up from the graveyards of earth. And who can picture such a stupendous and super natural experience as is wrapped up in the raising of the dead and the changing of the living? As the resurrection brought Christ and His own together in an indissoluble union, so at His coming we are to be caught up together that we might remain together forever. Christ's Resurrection— The Secret of Perpetual Power The Acts of the Apostles is a perfect commentary on the power of Christ’s resur rection, for in the power of their risen Lord the apostles and other early Christians went forth to conquer. If they could turn the world upside down, it was because of the supplied energy of One who had turned the grave inside out. J. H. Jowett tells that there are two energetic words that can be fitted into the word “power,’' namely, “dynamite" and dynamo.” "Dynamite" is the negative
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