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T h e
January 1928
B u s i n e s s
K i n g ' s
not so grounded are easily led astray by the liberal inter pretations of the day. •’ •I . ' •- JpHi . a» ga» The Savior’s Sigh ;*“And looking up to heaven, He sighed" '-'(.Mk. 7 :34). T HIS was what Jesus did as H e was about to heal a man who was deaf and also had an impediment in his speech. Why should He sigh ? He knew that in another moment the man would be going away, rejoicing. ; Was it not because, in all common sights, our Lord saw more than.idur common eyes can see? The exact relation of all things was before His vision at all times. When ever He saw a symptom, He knew at once the cause back of it. At the roots of all sickness and death, He saw the fact of sin. “He looked up to heaven and sighed.” In the groan of every afflicted body, He heard the cry of all creation for redemption from sin. It was the necessity of the Cross that was ever before Him. He knew that soon He was to take up the whole issue, and perhaps premonitions of Gethsemane and Golgotha were upon Him. This sigh reminds us hoW perfectly our: Savior was; ihan. 'Should we only behold Him stilling tempests, curing: lepers and raising the dead, we should be overcome with the thought of His supernatural majesty. But there comes a sigh, such as only a human breast could heave. In His eyes we see tears, such as only eyes like our own cOuld shed, and instantly it brings Him to our side. Our Christ was and is Himself man and can be touched with all the feeling of our infirmities. He is the
It was He who accepted the designation of “Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world” (Jn. 1 :29; cf. Isa. 53:5, 6 ), and who instituted a supper to remind believers of His redeeming work until He should come again (1 Cor. 11:24-26). What Paul and others say is in full accord with Christ’s own doctrine of His cross; With 175 references to our Lord’s death in the New Testament, there can be no difficulty in discovering what' He taught and what was uniformly believed in the early church. Heb. 2:14 shows that His incarnation was for the very purpose of His death. It was not a mere incident of His human life, but the supreme purpose for which He became man. 1 John 4:10 and Rom, 3:25 refer to His death as a “propitiation,” a means of “turning away wrath.” The Scripture teaches that God is holy and must hate sin. His wrath against ‘sin must strike somewhere, either upon the sinner himself or a lawful substitute (cf. Isa. 53:6, 8 , R. V.). The death of Christ had its first cause in the demands of God’s holiness. 2 Cor. 5 :21 declares that He was “made sin for uafti The Sinless One was actually made sin. God dealt with Him, not as though He were a sinner like others, blit as- though He were sin itself, for as our Substitute He be came absolutely identified with our sins. Those who accept His atoning work, therefore, become absolutely identified with His perfect righteousness in the sight of God. Nothing is so vital to the Christian as a-clear Scrip tural conception of the Cross of Christ. Those who are
The Garden of Years B y the late E rnest W. S hurtleff ' I entered the beautiful Garden of Years In the springtime of long ago, Through heaven the breezes, like charioteers, Drove in pageants of cloud white as snow. The sunlight fell soft as the moonlight at eve, And the night was as fair as the day, And I thought there was nothing on earth that could grieve, But that all the sweet world must be gay.
I found, in the beautiful Garden of Years, I, too, had a cross I must bear; But whenever I looked for God’s smile through, my tears I found my life’s rainbow was there. And one day I chanced the Wise Gardener to meet, Who taught me what love should have known— That he who from sorrow leads others’ worn feet Shall find paths of peace for his own. And now grander still is the Garden of Years Than in that old springtime sublime, Whose memories fall like a curfew that cheers From the far away towers of Time; For blessed is he who life’s sorrow abates, Forgiving as he is forgiven; For him shall life’s angel, through death, ope’- the gates Of that Garden Eternal called Heaven.
I was only a child in the Garden of Years, And my hopes were in bloom with the rose, And the music of life rang in chimes-in my ears From the dawn of each day to its close; So I played with the butterflies, caroled with birds, And dreamed of the stars while I slept. The language of life was my mother’s kind words, And into God’s bosom I crept. But I learned, as I grew in the Garden of Years, A lesson of mournful surprise— I learned with the hopes of the world there were fears, And I found there were sorrowful eyes ; I found the heart weary in many a breast, And I saw that to many a home Where love had invited some radiant guest The Angel of Sorrow had come.
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