410
November, 1935
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
AGE
.Plan fo r OUR B y LOUIS S. BAUMAN- Long Beach, Calif.
brow o f His own Beloved! Giant “men of renown” (Gen. 6 :4 ) in the days of Noah, as well as Pharaoh, Haman, Nebuchadnezzar, Alexander, Caesar, and their more modern little tail-danglers, have marshaled again and again their imperialistic legions, and have marched forth to frustrate “ the eternal purpose which he [God] purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord,’’ succeeding only in securing for themselves obituaries that should be forceful reminders to those who follow after— that they who march forth to defeat the purpose o f God in Christ, march forth to their everlasting doom. The head that was crowned in Jerusalem, in derision, with thorns— that head shall be crowned in Jerusalem, amidst the praise of kings and priests, with un fading glory! J ohn th e B aptist A nnounced the K ingdom of H eaven “ A t H and ” and P resented the K ing One day, the hour came to present the King to the Jews, and to announce that the kingdom was ready for the people o f David. The great vancourier, John the Baptist, sprang forth from the wilderness, the thunderbolt that he was, and cried: “ Repent y e: for the kingdom o f heaven is at hand” (Matt. 3 :2 ). The King was there- -‘‘at hand.” And when the King was there— “ at hand,” the kingdom was there— “ at hand.” Israel had but to receive Him in order to enter into her high estate as “ the head, and not the tail” (Deut. 28 :13) o f the nations o f the earth. The great Baptist climaxed his mission by walking down into the waters o f the Jordan and baptizing the Son o f God. The heaven opened, and the seal of the living God was given to the Ruler of the kingdom (Matt. 3:13-17). Thereupon, the greatest of all “ born o f women” (Matt. 11:11) cried : “ He must increase, but I must decrease,” and, “ This my joy therefore is fulfilled” (John 3 :30, 29). He rejoiced in the rising Sun that dimmed his own star. No wonder our Lord declared him to be the greatest o f all “ born o f wo men” ! John’s work was finished. He passed over to join the great spirits in Paradise. T he K ing H imself A nnounced the K ingdom of H eaven “ A t H and ” With the passing o f John the Baptist, “ Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 4 :17 ). The message was the same as John’s. However, He, being the King Himself, presented the credentials of the King. We read: “ Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and tor ments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them. And there followed him great multitudes” (Matt. 4:23-25). Thus did the King present His credentials. For did not the prophets predict that the King would be One who “ him self took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses” (Matt.
God’s Eternal Purpose in Christ Jesus E ternal is the purpose o f the living G od ! “ According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Eph. 3 :11), all things shall come to pass. Not one jot or tittle (Matt. 5 :18) shall fa il! “ The Lord o f hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand . . . This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations. For the Lord o f hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it ? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?” (Isa. 14:24-27). A perfect God, seeing the end from the beginning, need not change His purpose. An omnipotent God cannot be compelled to change His purpose. Failure— certain, pitiful,«) unspeakabje^Jis prewritten upon all the efforts o f men who labor outside the eternal purpose o f God, whether their labor be in the realm of the moral, or the social, or the political, or the economic, or the intellectual, or the physical, or the spiritual. Kingdom upon kingdom has arisen but to fall, because its governors spurned to command in harmony with the eternal purpose o f the living God. Church after church arose but to sicken, decay, wane, and die, because its priests prayed not and its members toiled not in harmony with the purpose that was God’s purpose in Christ Jesus even before the ages began to run their course. J esus C hrist , “ B orn K ing of the J ews ” In the eternal purpose o f God, Jesus Christ was “ born King o f the Jews” (Matt. 2 :2 ). And when He died, the highest authority in all the land wrote out His legal title and flung it, in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek, above His thorn- crowned brow: “ J esus of N azareth the K ing of the J ews .” The chief priests of the Jews protested that title. They said to Pilate: “ Write not, The King o f the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews.” Pilate, God’s unconscious yes-man, replied to that protest: “ What I have written I have written” (John 19:22). That which the Eternal has “ purposed in Christ Jesus” was not changed and cannot be changed even by a Caesar! Pilate had de clared only what prophets long before him had written: “ But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, . . . out o f thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel” (Micah 5 :2). Pilate had written only what the angel o f God had proclaimed to Mary: “ Fear not, Mary: . . . behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name J esus . . . and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne o f his father David: And he shall reign over the house o f Jacob for ever” (Lk. 1:30-33). Pilate had written only that which God had sworn by oath immutable unto David (Psa. 89:27-37), that “ o f the fruit o f his [David’s] loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne” (Acts 2 :30; cf. 2 Sam. 7 :4-17). What folly it is for the overlords o f this world, politi cal or ecclesiastical, to deny to the Christ the crown which Omnipotence has decreed to rest at last securely upon the
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