32
January 1928
T h e
K i n g ' s
B u s i n e s s
Christ’s Unfinished Work B y A lexander M aclaren Heb. 8 :1: "We have an. high priest, who is set oh the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens.” HAT throned and sovereign Man who, in token of His accomplished work, and in the participa tion of Deity, sits hard by the throne of God, is yet ministering at one and the same time within the veil, and presenting the might of His own sacrifice. Put away the metaphor, and we just come to this, a truth which is far too little dwelt upon in this generation, that the work which Jesus Christ accom plished on the Cross, all-sufficient and eternal as it was, in the range and duration of its efficacy, is not all His work. The past, glorious as it is, needs to be supplemented by the present, no less wonderful and glorious, in which Jesus Christ within the veil, in manners all unknown to us, by His presence there in the power of the sacrifice that He has made, brings down upon men the blessings that flow from that sacrifice. Our salvation is not so secured by the death upon the Cross as to make needless the life before ;the Throne. Jesus who died is the Christ who isl risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who, also maketh intercession for us. In its implication the text suggests to us other ways in which the rest of Christ is full of activity. “I am among you as He that serveth” is true for the heavenly glory of the exalted Lord quite as much as for the lowly humiliation of His life upon earth. And no more really did He stoop to serve when, laying aside His garments, He. girded Himself with the towel, and wiped the disciples’ feet, than He does today when, having resumed the garments of His glorious divinity, and having seated Himself in His place of authority above us, He comes forth, according to the wonderful condescension of His own parable, to serve His servants who have entered into His rest, and those also who still toil. The glorified Christ is a ministering Christ. In us, on us, for us, He works, in all the activities of His exalted repose, as truly and more mightily than He did when here He helped the weaknesses, and healed the sicknesses, and soothed the sorrows, and supplied the wants;; and washed the feet, of a handful of poor men. ¡|il§V- |pl§ m M Christ, th e Heart of th e Scripture T HE trouble with much of the approach to the Bible in our times,” says The Biblical Review, “is that the spirit is obliged to wait too often till the mind has investi gated, analyzed, proved, and demonstrated the reliability of this or that. Entirely aside from questions'of conser vatism or liberalism, faith Seeks to ground itself upon intellectualism, to the exclusion of the spiritual perceptions that come of the soul’s relation to God.” This thought is expressed by this paragraph from The Lutheran : ■ “We claim that what is responsible for this modern drift away from positive Christian faith is unwillingness to bow before the authority of the Word as it stands revealed in Jesus Christ. Men do not get close enough to the heart of the Scriptures to arrive at a certitude that cannot be shaken. They therefore do not speak with the inner conviction that God’s Word must stand though the heavens fall. Doubt will flee before a faith that neither shrinks nor wavers but stands secure in a heaven-born assurance of hope and joy. Stanley was won from his skepticism not by argument but by the faith that shone forth in attracting brightness in the speech and the life of Livingstone. An infidel who came to argue with Fenelon
was made to feel that the latter had something he did not have, and,arising from his seat said, T must leave you; for if I stay much longer with you I shall become a Christian.’ There is such, a thing as being mighty in the Scriptures, for they alone have the truth that can make men mighty in the faith, and it is that faith which overcometh the world. The more that faith takes hold of Christians, the more they reveal it in their speech and life; the more they sit at the feet of Christ and drink in His life-giving word, the less will they be like many of our modern reeds who are so easily shaken by the ever-shifting winds of an uncertain and compromising Christianity.” 4%. ate Christ, th e Only Name A FEW persons were collected round a blind man who had taken his station on, the bridge over a canal in the City Road, London, and was reading from an embossed Bible. Receiving from the passers-by of their carnal things, he was ministering to them spiritual things. A gentleman on his way home from the city was led by curiosity to the outskirts of the crowd. Just then, the poor man, who was reading in the fourth chapter of the Acts, lo.st his place, and, while trying to.find it with his finger, kept repeating the: last clause he had read,—“None other name—none other name—none other name.” Some of the people smiled, at the blind man’s embarrassment; but the gentleman went away deeply musing. He had lately become convinced that he was a sinner, and had been try ing in many ways to obtain peace of mind ; but religious exercises, good resolutions, altered habits, all were inef fectual to relieve his conscience of its load, and enable him to rejoice in God. The words he had heard from the blind man, how ever, rang like solemn music in his soul,—.“None other name.” When he reached his home, and retired to rest, these words, like evening chime from village tower nestling among the trees, were still heard, “None other name— none other name—none other name;” and when he awoke, in more joyful measure, like matin bells saluting the morn, the strain continued, “None other name—mone other name ¡—none other name.” The music entered his soul; and, by the blessing of God, he awoke to a new life. “I see it all,” said he ; “I see it a ll! I have been trying to be saved by my own works, my repentance, my prayers, my reformation. I see my mis?- take! It is Jesus Who alone can save. To Him I will look. Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name, none other name, none other name, under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved.” a te a te Crowning Christ A lady, while ■ on a visit to the Exposition at Paris, died. During her last moments, speech had left her; but she managed to articulate the word “Bring.” Her friends, in ignorance of her meaning, offered her food; but 1 she shook her head, and again repeated the word" “Bring.” They then offered her grapes, which she also declined, and for the third time uttered the word “Bring.” Thinking she desired to see some absent friends, they brought them to her; but again she shook her head; anfi then, by a great effort, she succeeded in completing the sentence,—
“Bring forth the royal diadem, And crown him Lord of a ll;” '
and then passed away to be with Jesus.
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