81
THE KING’S BUSINESS
derstood. They did not even un derstand themselves. They had such an ecstatic, rhapsodical, high Christian experience that they went beyond themselves. It was all tongue, and nothing else. Paul said, “ I have had it, and it is rather a good thing, but the less o f it the better! What you need is prophecy, speaking with tongues something that God has said.” When you are talking wildly, in those ecstatic moments, and the world out side are thinking you are crazy, never get so far that you cannot explain the phenomenon! It will cool you down to get up and tell why you are talking that way! Expound it all. Do not talk about anything you cannot ex pound. I do not dogmatize, but I just throw that out as the result of a Bible study. Peter was stultified. When he talked, he talked very foolishly: He said, “ Let Us make three booths, one for Thee, one for Moses, and one for Elias.” He had just heard the voice, “ Hear Him,” He is above Elijah, He is above Moses, and now in your mystified, stultified condition, Peter, you want to bring Him down on the level of them! Above Confucius, above Buddha, above Mohammed, above Moses, above Elijah, above all men stands Jesus, King of kings and Lord of lords ;-and only the Christian who is mystified, if not stultified, will try to bring Him down to the level even of earth’s greatest men. Notice the unreasonableness and the foolishness of Peter’s request. Elijah and Moses had just come down from heaven. Read Revelation and see how glorious a place it is that the Lord is preparing. Peter says, “ Now we would like you to live in these booths. I want you to come from heaven, and live with us on this mountain. The best we can do for you is a booth! You need not bother about James and John and met We can sleep out on the mountain in the
with the glory of God blazing about us, we become rather benumbed in our spiritual faculties; the very glory seems to- give slumber of soul, and makes us satisfied simply to sleep and be joyfully unconscious o f everything else. When you are asleep,_you are no good. For all practical purposes, a cemetery is just as good as a dormi tory. For my part, I have sometimes said I would rather be pastor of a graveyard than of a church asleep. You could talk to the tombstones, and they would be respectful, and would not talk back; but you begin to talk to a church asleep, and they will begin to talk in their sleep; to walk in their sleep, and to fight in their sleep. Nine- tenths of our church quarrels are the result of spiritual somnambulism. Jesus comes to the disciples, and says, “Wake up; in the midst of this glory, wake up! You need life at the fullest, and not life at the lowest.” Third, it not only stupefied them, hut mystified them , Peter spoke, “ not knowing what he said.” John and James kept quiet. Sensible men! When you have nothing to say, say it ! Keep quiet! We need the enduement of the Holy Spirit for silence some times more than for talk. We are so hungry to talk that we may get offend ed if some one does not invite us to talk! We need the enduement of God’s Holy Spirit to keep quiet when quiet is the proper thing. But Peter talked. He did not know what he was saying. I am greatly, tempted to branch off here a trifle, but I will not have time, for this suggests 1 Cor. 14, speaking with tongues: Not “ other tongues.” The phrase “ other tongues” occurs only in reference to Pentecost, and in a quotation from the prophet in the Epistle (1 Corinthians. 14:21). At Pentecost, when they spake with other tongues everybody under stood. In 1 Corinthians 14, when spoke with tongues, nobody un
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker