255
T h e
K i n g ’ s B u s i n e s s
June 1932
“ Now there is just one thing that prevents Him from allowing the people of this world to come and live in that village. And you people understand all a b o u t that. It is uncleanness. But love always finds a way out. “ When your daugh ter was very sick,, you took her out in the bushes, didn’t you?” “ Yes, we did.” “ And did you send your eldest son to sit near her, to keep a fire burning, lest the hyenas should come and carry her away before life had left her body ?” “ Yes.” “ And after she died,
of the Lord J e s u s Christ and His gospel are not known or felt. any people say to us, as they begin to understand s o m e thing about the dark ness and heathenism of that land, “ But how can you tell the gospel to a people like that in a way that they can under stand ? Aren’t you wast ing your time ?” If you will c o m e with me to a little vil lage on those same ridges, I can show you how the l i g h t has broken in upon the darkness. You will find in that village, five or ten grass-thatched huts, built in a semi-circle on
you did not allow your son to come back and sit in the circle of the men, and you did not even allow his mother to Cook food and take it out to him, did you?” “ No, she would be defiled, and she would defile our vil lage” „ , itTT sn ’ t it strange that you people reason just as God -^reasons, because His village is clean and pure? But love has found a way out. “ When you killed this sheep, your witch doctor took the blood of the sheep and took it to your son aiid sprinkled him with the sheep’s blood, that he might be able to come back to your village, didn’t he ?” ■ ' , “ Yes.” “ Now God has found a way out for every one who wants to enter His village. Which do you people consider the stronger, the blood of a sheep, or the blood of a cow ?” “ We think the blood of a cow is stronger.’* “ Which do you consider stronger, the blood o f a cow or the blood of a man ?” “ Why, the blood of a man.” “ That’s just what God says: The blood o f bulls and goats can never take away the defilement and the sin and the uncleanness of the human heart. He said it must be the blood of a man. Not only that, but He said it must be the blood of a man who is clean and pure and undefiled. And among all the tribes and nations and tongues of earth, He could not find a single man that could meet those require ments. He knew of One, just One, who could, and that was His Son, His best beloved, His only begotten Son. Ah, because He loved you people, and because He loved all the sinners of the world, Hfe was willing to give even His Son. “ So that Son left the ivory palaces in the village of God, and He laid aside His glory which He had from the foun dation of the world, and He came down to this sin-cursed world and lived among men and taught them the words of God. One day some people, because they hated Him, cruci fied Him on a tree, and some of the soldiers came by with a spear and pierced His side, and the blood came out and trickled down. After that, God said to all the people of the world, ‘Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.’ “ Now, if you will believe in His blood as you believe [Continued on page 266]
the side of the ridge. As we enter the village, we will prob ably see five or six old men and women sitting there on their low, three-legged stools, and they are sitting there very deliberately, chatting among themselves. We see a sheepskin stretched out in the middle of the village. It is pegged down with wooden pegs to dry in the African sun. And just because we are looking for some point of contact— for we must not think it is a simple thing to tell the gospel to these African people who are very conserva tive and very self-satisfied—we say, “Well, I see you have been killing a sheep here today.” “ Yes,” they say. “ Why have you killed this sheep ?” They shrug their shoulders and wink at each other, and we know what they are thinking. They are saying to them selves, “ It is no use trying to tell these white people any thing, because they do not understand our affairs.” So the old man of the village says, “We have been killing a sheep because we wanted some meat.” Then we remember that the daughter of that old man was very sick last week when we came, and we ask, “ Is your daughter better ?” He replies, “ Oh, haven’t you heard? My daughter died.” “ Now I understand why you have been killing this sheep today! If I should tell you about a village in a land where there is no sickness, and where there are no tears, and where there is no pain and no death, would you like to go and live in that village ?” nd they all reply, “ If you could tell us about a village like that, we would pack up all of our things and put them on our backs and move into that village tomorrow!” “ Well, I know of a village like that, and I know the path to that village, for I am on the way to it myself. “ Now, God made this village that I tell you about. It is very beautiful. It is made of ivory, for it is said, ‘Out of the ivory palaces he came.’ And it is made of pure gold. You know what ivory is like. You know how the white people come over and shoot the elephants in order to get their tusks and take them back to their country and sell them for fabulous prices. Do you know God loves all the people of the world so well, and He wants them to come and live in that village so much, that He has made houses to accommodate them ?
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