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T h e
K i n g ’ s B u s i n e s s
June 1932
T P he purpose of His appearance now in the presence of God is discovered in that brief phrase, “ for us.” His appearance on earth provided a perfect revelation of God to man. His appearance in heaven provides a perfect rep resentation of man to God. Let it never be forgotten that He is there, not for Himself, but “ for us.” We need Him there just as much as we needed Him here. Sin could never be put away except through a satisfactory atonement made in the very nature that had sinned against God. The sin ner who avails himself of this needs to be maintained in the presence of God. This very need is met by Him who represents us before God. Representation involves inter cession. It is written, “ He ever liveth to make intercession for them” that come unto God by him. We are not only guilty, but in ourselves helpless. We have an adversary who is both strong and strategic. Hence, we need an Advocate who is stronger and wiser than he. Such an One is provided for us, for we read in 1 John 2 :1, “ If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” On this basis, we may chal lenge the hosts of darkness, in the words of Romans 8 :34, “ Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh inter cession for us.” The Lord’s ascension was as necessary for us as was His resurrection from the dead. Christ to heaven has gone before In the body here He wore; He who, as our Brother, died Is our Brother glorified. Fear not, ye of little faith, For He hath abolished death. And no longer now we die, W e but follow Christ on high. These great truths received by faith inspire and ener gize the believer. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to take of the things that belong to Christ, and to make them real, so that we walk in the light and joy of these abiding verities. It is no wonder, then, that the great apostle ex horts Christian believers to “ grieve not the holy Spirit o f God.” When He is grieved, faith will not operate. Therefore, we must lay aside every weight and the sin that doth so easily beset us if we would run with patience the race set before us, looking unto Jesus. This “ looking” is not a gazing into vacancy; it is an intelligent beholding of Him who appeared to put away sin, who now appears in the presence of God, and who shall yet appear the sec ond time. A S econd R eal A ppearance This second appearing of our Lord is the event toward which all history moves. It is the divine promise and pur pose upon which the whole process of redemption con verges and culminates. Apart from the return of Christ, the gospel story would be a pathetic tragedy. The last time the world saw Him, He hung upon a cross of wood between two thieves, dying, dead. The world has never seen Him since, nor will He appear again to the world ex cept in judgment. To His believing people, He mani fested Himself for forty days after He had broken the chains of death and the tomb. They alone saw Him, and they alone will see Him again prior to His return to earth for judgment. They who believe on Him shall be caught up to meet Him in the air before His descent to earth. The unregenerate world knows not the risen Christ. Yet, some day, they will see Him, for it is written, “ Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, . . . and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him.”
7 v t E en H e ascended from Olivet, the heavenly messenger !L| said, “ This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” The apostolic testimony abundantly confirms this, the great creedal statements of the church confess it, and the Bible closes with the prayer, “ Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” “ He shall appear the second time.” Nothing can take the place of this appearing. It must not be explained away. It is not the Pentecostal outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It is not the destruction of Jerusalem. It is not death; nor is it the onward march of civilization. It is the appearing of our Lord as an object of sight, just as real as His appearance on earth to put away sin and His present appearance in heaven for us. This is the clear tes timony of Scripture. THE LIGHT BREAKS FORTH [Continued from page 255] in the blood of this sheep, He will take away your defile ment and make you clean. “ When the witch doctor sprinkled your son with this blood, did he feel his sin roll away ?” “ No.” “ Did he see it go ?” “ No.” “ Then how do you know it is gone?” “ Well, when the witch doctor took that bunch of leaves and dipped it in the blood and sprinkled my son, he said, ‘It is all gone,’ and I just believed the witch doctor.” “ And that is just the same with me. That is the way I know my sin is gone. God says, ‘When I see the blood, I will pass over you ; I will remember your sin against you no more for ever,’ and I just believe the word of God. “ You people know what it means for one to become the way of another. I sometimes come out to these bushes and I get lost. So I say to one of you, ‘Can you show me the way to Kinyangui’s village ?■ And you say, ‘Yes, I will show you the way.’^ ^ i “ I follow you. Sometimes you lead me over a very rough path that is full of overhanging branches, and they tear my clothing and my flesh. And you take me over streams that have no bridges. I do not know the way, but I believe that you do, and I follow you. I do not murmur. “ In the same way, the Lord Jesus Christ said to the people of the world, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life.’ Having believed in His blood to take away your defilement and uncleanness, if you will follow Him, it may be that He will lead you over a very rough path, it may be that all the old men of the district will cast you out and they will persecute you, but if you will just follow Him, day by day and week by week and month by month, some day, when you ’roll up in your red blanket, and they take you out to the bushes, perhaps you will not have an elder son to sit beside you, but that won’t bother you at all, for when the people of the village will say, ‘He is dead,’ you won’t be dead at all. It will only have come to pass, that He who is your Way, your Truth, and your Life will have come for you, and that He will have taken you to that village where there is no sickness and no death, and you will live there forever.” That company of raw heathen understands God’s won derful plan of redemption just as well as you understand it. And so light has come. “ For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light o f the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” H m £
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