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YOUR OPPORTUNITY T o do some missionary work by introducing The King’s Business to your friends. Show them the article by Dr. Page on “The Greatest Verse in the Bible.’’ You w ill find it in this issue. If your friend is a young person turn to the “Heart to Heart Talks w ith our Young Readers” by Mrs. Whitwell. These talks deal w ith the vital problems that are met by high school and college students who are continually coming in con tact with subtle teachings that undermine faith in God and in God’s Word. D on ’t forget the children. Introduce them to a study o f the stars w ith Mrs. Meader, by the Cross-word Puzzle method. Th is is a unique way to teach the Gospel to the children. Are you reading the Gospel o f Mark with Mr. Hopkins? The Spiritual truths brought out in his comments w ill be both stimulating and helpful in your study o f the Word. Never was the need greater for strong Evangelical Christian Literature that carries conviction with it. Help us to get The King’s Business into the hands o f your Christian friends. We w ill be glad to send a sample copy to any o f your friends upon request. Ask for the copy containing the message by Dr. Mark Matthews entitled, “The Four Essential Controlling Doctrines o f the Christian Church” or S e n d A S ix M o n t h s ’ T r ia l S u b s c r ip t io n a t 50 c . For sending in five o f these trial subscriptions we w ill mail you free o f charge a book written by the late Dr. R. A. Torrey entitled T h e R e t u r n o f T h e L o rd J e su s (Sold at the Biola Book Room 75c each, postage extra) Get this Book and let Dr. Torrey’s Messages Stay w ith You. Send Your Subscriptions to THE KING’S BUSINESS 536 South Hope Street Los Angeles, Calif.
THE K ING ’S B U S IN E S S Motto: “I, the Lord, do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day." Isaiah 27:3. PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY AND REPRESENTING THE BIBLE INSTITUTE OF LOS ANGELES Volume XX June, 1929 Number 6 Table of Contents Review and Comment—Alva J. McClain..................... ....................259 The Greatest Verse in the Bible—Dr. John C. Page....................... 263 Our Unanswered Prayers—Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman..................... 265 Bible Study—Frank Gehman....................................... ' ................... .268 Struthers of Greenock^-Rev. Alexander Ross, B. D...................... 270 A Cry from the Other Shore—Rev. R. A. Jaffray......................... 271 Woman’s Place in Hymnology—Prof. John Bissell Trowbridge....273 Seed Thoughts from St. Mark—Rev. Wilfred M. Hopkins........... 276 Striking Stories of God’s Workings..................................................279 Heart to Heart with our Young Readers— Florence Nye Whitwell..... ........................................................... .282 The Junior King’s Business—-Sophie Shaw Meader....................... 285 Homiletical Helps for Preachers and Teachers............................. 287 “To the Jew First”—David L. Cooper............................................. 288 International Lesson Commentary—David L. Cooper............. :.....289 Biola Question Box—Rev. W. H. Pike..... ,................... .................293 Notes on Christian Endeavor—Alan S. Pearce................... ..........294 Our Literature Table........................... 297 A Book A Month....................................................... 298 Daily Devotional Readings.......................... 299
1 t L E T Y O U R G I F T TO FOREIGN MISSIONS PAY YOU A LIFE INCOME You can make a generous gift to foreign missions and have a needed income for yourself and others from the money Annuity Gift Plan This plan relieves you of uncertainty and worry caused by changing values of invested funds and assures you a fixed income of t y * % to 9% per year for the rest o fyour life A reserve fund of over $1,500,000 guarantees the prompt payment of ~ annuities to you. you give by the Protect yourself against loss through unwise investments and at the same time helpsend the gospel to all the world. For full information write E rn est F. H all, S ecretary, . o f A n nu ities B oard of F oreign M issions of the Presbyterian Church, U. S.A. 156 Fifth Avenue, New York . D ept
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ADDRESS — BibleInstituteofLosAngeles
POLICY AS DEFINED BY THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE BIBLE INSTI TUTE OF LOS ANGELES (a) To stand for the infallible Word of God and its g reat fundam ental tru th s, (b) To stren g th en the faith of all believers, (c) To s tir young men and women to fit them selves for and engage in definite Christian work, (d) To make the Bible In stitu te of Los Angeles known, (e) To magnify God our F a th e r and the person, work and coming of our Lord Jesus C hrist; and to teach the transform ing power of the Holy Spirit in our present practical life, (f) To emphasize in strong, constructive messages the g re a t foundations of Christian faith. 836-558 S. Hope St., BIBLE INSTITUTE OF LOS ANGELES, Los Angeles, California
536-558 So. Hope St. Los Angeles, Calif.
D r . W. P. W h it e P r esid en t B ible I n s t it u t e of L os A ngeles
T HE Board of Directors, after much delibera tion, has decided that the interests of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles can best be served by having a permanent President at the head of the administrative staff. After considering a number of outstanding fundamental Christian leaders, the Board takes great pleasure in announcing the appointment to this position of Dr. William P. White. Dr. White was educated at Monmouth College and at Xenia Theological Seminary in the days of the late Dr. Wm. G. Moorehead. The former institution conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. After an experience of thirty years in three pastor ates, twenty years the pastor of the United Presbyterian Church of Albany, Oregon, he became associated with the Moody Bible Institute as its Regional Director on the Pacific Coast. As a Bible conference leader he has been enthusiastically re ceived by gatherings which he has served. For many years he was Pastor Advisor of the Oregon Christian
Endeavor state committee, and spoke from three to six times at each of their eight county conventions; he has also addressed the state convention of the California Christian Endeavor, and. his name ap peared on the program of two World’s Fundamental Conferences. Dr. White has taught the Bible in about three hundred cities and towns, sometimes as a Conference or Convention speaker, but generally carrying a con tinuous program of two addresses a day for ten days or two weeks. This has brought nation-wide fame and popularity among the Lord’s believing people. Dr. White is free from fads, and feeds the “sheep.” He has lately published a splendid book, “Thinking Through the Scriptures,” and is the author of a num ber of practical leaflets on Bible study. We extend him a cordial welcome to the staff of the Bible Institute, and bespeak for him the earnest prayers of God’s people.
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Where Men Win by Losing "Whosoever shall save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the Gospel’s, the same shall save it." HITH these words our Lord turns the wisdom of this world upside down and -proves that so-called “economic laws” do not necessarily work in the spiritual world. Whoever heard it said by any of those who instruct us in such matters that the way to gain our fortune is to lose i t ! Go to any of the great “captains of industry” and ask them for the formula of success, the secret of acquiring wealth. They will all tell you that the initial axiom of the business world is “SAVE.” Save and you will succeed. It is otherwise in the Kingdom of God. Here the “savers” lose and “losers” save. In this blessed sphere men win by losing. Here the highest good for man is described as “Blessedness,” and “it is more blessed, to give than to receive.” There is some solemn instruction in all this for the Church of God. The watchword of the hour among various Protestant bodies has become “conservation”.; we must husband our resources, it is said. And certainly, from certain viewpoints, this is wholesome advice. But the following of such a course in too thoroughgoing a manner may bring disaster upon the church. It has been suggested that of late years too much atten tion has been given to Foreign Missions, to the injury of our more internal interests. If the words of our Lord be trustworthy, as we firmly believe they are, no amount of sacrificial giving, either of life or of substance, to the great work of Foreign Missions, can possibly injure the internal interests of the church. To affirm the contrary is to deny validity to the declaration of Christ, “ Whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the Gospel’s, the same shall save it.” And experience confirms His Word, for it never has been proven that any church has been injured by giving too much for the salvaging of a lost world. On the contrary, it can easily be shown that the pouring out of life and substance for Foreign Missions has always benefited those churches which have followed this course. Interest in Foreign Missions invariably brings new life into the veins of every activity of a church. Local con gregations, counted as good as dead, have become power ful and living through the quickening touch of missionary effort. The great problem in the church is to get the minds of men off themselves. Anything that will accomplish this objective is a good thing for everybody concerned and for every interest of the church. And the appeal of Foreign Missions seems historically to have been the most suc cessful means of getting men to forget themselves. It is beside the point to say that the thousands given to Foreign Missions could better be used at. home upon our own internal interests. The real question is, would we have these thousands available if it were not for the appeal of missions? The writer is not unsympathetic toward the internal interests of the churches, such as education, pub lication, benevolences, etc. But he is firmly convinced that
these very interests profit most when the great commission of the Church is put above all. There is a striking instance of this in the Apostolic Church. The church at Jerusalem would have confined its preaching to the homeland, but fortunately for all concerned one apostle could not forget that he was “ debtor to all men, whether Jew or Greek,” and it is not long before we find Gentile churches actually sending money back for the relief of the “poor saints at Jerusalem”! Raising the budget for “benevolences,” if you please. " Whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the Gospel’s, the same shall find it.” This great principle is sublimely exemplified in the life and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. “Existing in the form o f God,” possessing all the incommunicable glory and attributes of the one true God, “He counted not the being on an equality with God a'thing to be grasped” as a robber would grasp something which was not his own, but “emptied Himself,” forgetful of Himself in view of man’s need to the point of laying aside the glory which He had with the Father, at the same time “taking servant-form” in order that He might finally die for man “even the death of the cross” But this is not the end of the story. “Where fore,” the apostle writes, “God hath highly exalted Him, and gave Him the Name which is above every name, that at the Name o f Jesus every knee should bow.” And so out of loss He gathers gain. It is not otherwise with the Church which is Hi®body. If we forget ourselves, we shall be remembered. If'we lose our lives, we shall save them. If we humble ourselves, we shall be exalted. If we empty ourselves, we shall be filled. If we cast away our bread, it shall be returned again to us. Lately there has been some discussion regarding the future of Protestantism. The question has been raised as to what the years may bring forth, whether growth or de crease, whether life or death. In the midst of all this dis cussion one thing stands out as certain; the most dis astrous thing that can happen will be for Protestantism to become too introspective, too much concerned with saving its own soul. This is the surest road to decay and death to any great movement within the Church. Let us rather forget ourselves, and follow our blessed Lord in pouring out our life for the sake of those who are “without God and without hope in the world.” No church, while giving itself without reserve to the preaching of Christ to a lost world, can perish from the earth. “The Body of Our Humiliation” I N Philippians 3:21 the Apostle Paul declares that Christ at His coming will “fashion anew the body o f our humiliation.”.I t is not “our vile body,” as the Authorized Version translates. Acts 8 :33 uses the same Greek word in speaking of our Lord’s “humiliation.” And Luke 1 :48 uses the same word in referring to the Virgin Mother’s “low estate.” The body of the believer is the body of his humiliation, thè body of his low estate, but never “our vile body.” It is wholly a pagan notion that the human body is something “vile.” The Revised Version never did a better thing than in striking the word “vile” from this
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Philippian passage. The ancient Gnostic philosophers taught that the body was something vile, and the apostle is opposing the teaching of these very men by showing that the believer’s body is to be redeemed and at last made perfect. True, just now it is “the body o f our humiliation”; often weak, infirm, broken, diseased, full of aches and pains, bearing the marks of sin. But it is not a vile worth less thing, fit only to be cast aside when we shall enter upon that higher life with Christ. Some indeed affirm that the body is only a hindrance to the soul, and that at death we shall get rid of it forever. Others say that we shall have bodies in the eternal state, but that these bodies are to be wholly new creations, bearing no relation whatever to the first body. But the Scripture teaches otherwise. The believer will take the “body of his humiliation” up into heaven, only it is to be “changed” and “fashioned anew,” There is no contradiction in First Corinthians 15 :37 where the apostle says, “Thou sowest not the body that shall be.” Certainly, the body which goes down into the grave is not the body that shall come forth, in all respects. It is to be changed and fashioned anew. As to appearance and character, it will not be the same body. But as to identity, it will be the same body of our humiliation. The Lord at His coming will “change” our body, but He will not ^change it. He will “fashion anew” our body, but He will not give us a new body. The writer, for one, thanks God that this is so. Most of us have loved ones on the other side. We believe God utterly when He tells us in the Word that “to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.” We know that this is so, and yet, when the hallowed memories come surging in our hearts we find it impossible to think of these loved ones apart from the “body o f their humilia tion.” How blessed, then, it is to know that the Lord Jesus, when He comes fromi heavtn,: will claim these dear bodies, and raise them up, and fashion them anew that they might be conformed to the body of His glory. How can these things be ? the skeptic may ask. Accord ing to what law or principle can a body gone down to the dust be raised up and fashioned anew into a glorious tem ple which is deathless? The answer is—it will not be according to any law or principle that we know. It will be “according . to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself.” This is the method of the Bible. It brings us into the presence of a Christ who is over all, God blessed forever, and asks us to be lieve/ that He is able to raise the dead. It does not offer to explain how the astounding thing shall be done. On this point we are quite as ignorant as were the Christians of eighteen hundred years ago. When the Lord says He will raise our bodies from the dead and conform them to his own glorious Body, we must confess humbly that we do not know how He will do it. But we know Him. And that is sufficient. “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able. . . . ” Knowing More Than Einstein P ROFESSOR EINSTEIN , noted physicist, is hailed as the “MoSes of Science” in recognition of his latest theory. This theory, recently published, is expressed in a series of mathematical formulas covering only six pages, and yet it is said by a famous German professor that “there are only a dozen men in the world who will be able to understand it, and it will take from two to five years for them.to work it out and verify it.”
One of the great aims of science has been to discover a synthesis of things which are apparently unrelated, to find one law that will explain all the other laws of the universe. For a long time the scientists have been trying to bring under one formula the two great basic forces of the world, gravitation and electricity, but they could find no “key” to thé problem. Professor Einstein’s new theory, it is said by those who claim to understand it, solves the problem.. In his mathematical formulae he has set forth a single law from which all other physical laws may be derived. It will require many years, doubtless, to test fully the Einstein theory; but if it should finally be verified, the achievement will constitute a most remarkable one in the field of physics. There is great interest in all this to the thoughtful Christian. The Scriptures teach clearly that behind all the apparently divergent forces of the world there stands one ultimate force, and behind all the laws of science there is one supreme law. It begins to look as if science were on the road to discover this much. Scientists have always assumed this, but had never been able to demonstrate it. But beyond this point science cannot go. Science may find there is one great ultimate law; it might even con ceivably be able to express that law in a mathematical formula, but science can never by its own methods find the Lawgiver—the God of whose will the law of the uni verse is an expression. God cannot be found out by theoretical science, neither can He be expressed by any mathematical formula. And yet He is “not far from every one o f us; for in Him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:27-28). Sci ence should be able to find that there is a God. The very “heavens declare His glory.” But science cannot find God. To-find God and know Him we must come to Jesus Christ. The average Christian probably could not read any part of the Einstein theory with understanding. Yet such a Christian, in the matter of ultimate solutions of the problem of the universe, knows more than Einstein ever knew. In Jesus Christ the Son, we have come to know that God out from whose eternal bosom all the powers and laws of the universe issue and are sustained. “In the beginning‘ God created the heaven and the earth.” But “no man hath seen God at any time,” —tele scope, microscope, test-tubes and mathematical formulae have never found Him. “The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom o f the Father, He hath declared Him” (Gen. 1:1; John 1:18). Smoking for Adolescents R UTH F. WADSWORTH, M.D., writing in Collier's on the subject of the “Adolescent Age,” discusses the “advisability of smoking for the young.” Her views are rather startling. There was a time, this doctor writes, when it was thought that smoking “stunted growth, injured the lungs, and deteriorated the moral character.” But nowadays, the doctor informs the reader, both mother and the children are smoking, and yet “the race continues to maintain its average height, with a gradual reduction in lung trouble and no provable deterioration of the moral tone.” These sweeping conclusions of the doctor are what the logicians would call a case of “hasty generalization.” As every one knows, the wide use of tobacco among mothers and extremely young people, began only a few years ago. And already serious results are seen by some reputable physicians. But what the ultimate results will be.
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A Truckload of Booze for Siam U NDER the rather strange rule of “diplomatic immun ity,” the foreign diplomats at Washington are per mitted to import liquors for their own (and their Amer ican guests’) consumption. Upon this hangs a remarkable tale. Not long ago the Siamese Legation hired a private truck to haul sixty cases of the stuff from Baltimore to Washington, and the police, not being able to tell the dif ference between Siamese liquor arid other kinds, seized the entire truckload and arrested the unfortunate driver of the truck. Siam has not yet declared war upon the United States for the “insult,” nor has the matter been referred to the League of Nations, but quite an international rumpus has been aroused over the case. The booze has been returned to the Siamese Legation, together with an expression of “regret” for the incident. Hereafter, according to a ruling by the State Department, the foreign diplomat must use his own automobile (which is generally too small), or buy a truck of his own (which is rather expensive), or else hire a truck and drive it him self (which is rather undignified). Doubtless, prohibition agents will now be required, when they arrest a “rum-runner,” to examine his creden tials. If he is found to be a properly accredited “diplomat” from Siam or Liechtenstein, he will be set free and a special police escort will be provided to guard the liquor so as to reach its destination in Washington without dan ger from American “high-j ackers” who are not too care ful about the international amenities. Thus we shall main tain our standing in the “brotherhood of nations.” Truly, the way of the prohibition enforcement officer is hard. The ancient Mosaic Law, written some thirty- five hundred years agoi had a very simple and satisfactory way for solving problems like this one: “One law and one ordinance shall be for you, and for the stranger that so- journeth with you” (Numbers 15:16 R. V.) Will the World Ever Blow Up? R EPUTABLE scientists have estimated variously the energy said to be shut up in a single atom of matter, but all agree that it is enormous. They also have suggested the possibility of getting unlimited power if a way can be found to release this power. This interesting suggestion has badly frightened a few people, who fear that some scientific investigator may stumble upon the secret of releasing atomic power and, being unable to control it, possibly blow up the universe. Now comes Dr. Millikan, who probably knows more about the atom than any other human being, and says that we are safe. No way will ever be discovered to release atomic energy, and consequently the world will not be blown up. Some people will sleep more soundly having this assurance from the noted physicist. But there are some things which not even the learned scientists can do ; they cannot guarantee the world from future catastrophe. “The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the. night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements' shrill melt with fervent heat; the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up” (2 Peter 3 :10). Perhaps this great world cataclysm will be accom plished by the release of atomic power. Who knows? At any rate, we know that God stored the atom with its energy, and He can release it when the proper time comes.
in terms of “stunted growth” for the race, will be known better in fifty years from now. The human organism re sists abuse in a remarkable way. Only years of mistreat ment will break down its resistance. But the “harvest” will come at last, in spite of the glib assurances of “journalistic doctors.” The most serious thing about Dr. Wadsworth’s article is the possible influence of her expressed views on smok ing by “adolescents.” She thinks parents should be “toler ant” in the matter, and discourages the policy of “com plete prohibition.” There is only one absolute rule, she says,—adolescents should not smoke before meals! And earlier in the article she sets the adolescent age as be tween eight and.twelve! Here, then, is some more of our twentieth-century “progress.” A supposedly reputable physician, writing for a supposedly respectable magazine whose circulation reaches almost two million copies every week, gravely teaches that only one rule should be imposed upon child smokers between the ages of eight and twelve, and that rule i s : No smoking before meals! It is sufficiently startling that a doctor should express such views, but the most amazing aspect of the matter is that a nationally read magazine could feel safe in passing on these views to its millions of readers. Magazines are not philanthropic affairs; they do not as a rule print what may injure their subscription lists. The ultimate blame, therefore, rests upon the reading public. The world is not improving in some ways, at least Man and the Brute M ANY readers of this magazine have doubtless seen that little Japanese ornament which is often used as a decorative paper-weight; three monkeys sitting to gether, one with his eyes covered, another with hands over his mouth, and the other with ears stopped. The idea is that these three little monkeys hear no evil, see no evil, and speak no evil. A writer in a leading western newspaper facetiously observes that no human descendants of these particular monkeys have ever been discovered. There is some very profound truth in this observation. The writer of it has hit upon a fundamental difference between man and the animal world. The beast neither hears, sees, nor speaks evil. The very word “evil” indi cates a problem which does not exist for the animal, namely, the problem of morality. No dog ever brought back a stolen bone because his conscience troubled him. No monkey ever repented of his sins. As a matter of fact, no animal is capable of committing “sin,” in the ethical sense of that term. In the physical world, man alone is capable of “moral evil.” It is this awful possibility, for one thing, that puts an unbridgeable chasm between man and the brute. Man can do some things that no animal can do. If you do not believe this statement, go back and read the record of the Loeb and Leopold and Northcott cases. You can teach the parrot to repeat evil words, but you cannot train a parrot to “speak evil.” No animal can deliberately and with predetermined malice poison minds and destroy reputations under the guise of pious inten tion. Only men can do that. “For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and o f things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind : but the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil full o f deadly poison” (James 3:7-8). Here is one difference, at least, between man and the animal.
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Hell will be something like this. I mean in respect to the feeling of its occupants toward one another. Imagine, if you can, the arrival in that eternal prison-house of some “great” man who, while upon earth, by his teachings caused hundreds of human souls to be sent to the same place in advance of himself. It is not pleasant to think about. We do not know whether there will be “sardonic laughter” in hell, but we do know there will be the “gnash ing of teeth.” For this we have the word of the Lord. Following the Example of Peter P OPE PIUS X, who died in 1914, once appealed to. the example of the Apostle Peter as a precedent for breaking a custom of the Popes. Pius, who was a sociable sort of person, gave orders that a place at his own table be prepared for his personal secretary. The Vatican Court official protested, saying, “The Holy Father always eats alone.” “Is that so?” re plied thé Pope. “Are you quite certain that St. Peter always ate alone ?” The appeal to St. Peter settled the mat ter, and the Pope ate with his secretary, which is to his credit. If the example of Peter may be taken as authority for breaking this particular Papal custom, students of Church History will wonder why some other more important Papal customs are not abolished upon the same authority. For example: Peter was never called “His Holiness.” Peter never regarded himself as the “Rock” upon which the Church is built (1 Peter 2:6-8). Peter never claimed to be the supreme head of the Church upon earth, but regarded himself as an elder among the other elders (1 Peter 5:1), an apostle among the other apostles. Peter was not a celibate, but was the head of a Christian home (Mark 1:30). Peter never claimed temporal sovereignty for either the church or himself (1 Peter 2:13-14). Peter never heaped curses upon his enemies in his official capac ity as an apostle, as some of the Popes have done, but taught just the opposite (1 Peter 2:21-23). If the Papacy had always followed the example of the Apostle Peter, Christian people would not regard it with suspicion and aversion. And the pages of Church History would be more readable. An Encouraging Sign of the Times T HE signs of the times are not all depressing. The fol lowing notice recently appeared in the always inter esting weekly calendar of the First Brethren Church of Long Beach, California : Put this down in your notebook once and for all—the First Brethren Church of Long Beach stands for the clean, wholesome, separated Christian walk and experience. If you see some mem ber of this church sneaking into a modern movie and delighting himself or herself in the obscene suggestions received there in word and picture; or, if you see them come crawling out of a licentious dance hall wherein lovely womanhood is constantly being debased and the right to fondle sold cheap to the common herd; or, if you see them buying a lascivious magazine from one of these news-stands, the stench from which would make a turkey-buzzard vomit; or, if you hear them reeling off a story reeking with putrid filth; or, if you see them flinging around the recognized pasteboards of every gambler, even though in so- called “highly respectable society,”—just remember that The Brethren Church at Fifth and Cherry stands for none of these things, and as members of this church, they are sailing under false colors. Some of these days, they will either repent and confess their sins, or go out from us, of their own accord or otherwise, and join those “beggarly elements of the world” to which they assuredly belong 1
Best of all, He can control this tremendous force and direct it toward constructitve ends. It will be a better world when He gets through with it. We “look for new heavens and a new earth” (2 Peter 3 :13). The main thing is to be ready. ■ —o—— . The “God” of Pantheism P ROFESSOR EINSTEIN , famous for his relativity theory of the universe, has been accused of atheism by a Roman Catholic Cardinal. This charge is indignantly denied by, a Jewish Rabbi, who claims that the great phys icist believes in God. Einstein’s own version of the matter is that he believes in the god of Spinoza, the noted Jewish philosopher. Now theoretically, the Jewish Rabbi is right. But prac tically the Catholic Cardinal has the best of the argument. For the man who believes in the god of Spinoza might just as well say that he believes in no god. Spinoza was perhaps the most thoroughgoing Pantheist that ever lived; to him nothing existed but God. Therefore, technically speaking, Spinoza was no atheist. But mark well, this god of the philosopher was identical with the world. Actu ally then, from the Christian viewpoint, Spinoza was no better than an atheist. The Pantheist has nothing more than the rankest Materialist. Both the Materialist and the Pantheist start with the same world. Neither of them admits the existence of anything outside or above the world. The only difference between them is that the Materialist looks at the world and calls it “matter,” while the Pantheist looks at the same world and calls it “God.” It is merely a matter of calling the same thing by different names. Two little boys were riding tandem on a broomstick. One of them got tired and said, “It ain’t nothing but a stick of wood.” The other boy, being more of an idealist, replied indignantly, “It is too. It’s a horse.” Here you have in embryo the only essential difference between the Ma terialist and the Pantheist. The one has more imagina tion than the other. But both deal with precisely the same object. The whole controversy between the Materialists and the Pantheists is nothing more than a case of “verbal ism.” The God of the Christian is not Einstein’s “god.” We believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. Our God is in the world as its sustaining power, but He is- also beyond and above the world, distinct from the world. — o — A Preview of Hell AFTER a bitter legal battle, Asa Keyes, former district A attorney of Los Angeles,, has been convicted of brib ery and conspiracy to obstruct the ends of justice, and is sentenced to serve a term in San Quentin prison. When the news of Keyes’ conviction and sentence reached the prison, it is reported that the prisoners laughed long and “sardonically.” The explanation of this sardonic laughter is that some two thousand convicts are in San Quentin because they were prosecuted by Mr. Keyes during his long term as district attorney. The warden at San Quentin plans to put Mr. Keyes in a cell separated from all the other prisoners. He will not be allowed to mingle with them, and for exercise he will be taken into a separate ward. All this special care is for the purpose of keeping the other convicts from killing him.
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The Greatest Verse in The Bible B y D r . J o h n C . P age O f the Bible Institute o f Los Angeles
HE greatest verse in the Bible to one person may not be the greatest verse to another. There are different points of view, different types of mind, different methods of approach, and varied spir itual experiences. John 3 :16 is supreme in its greatness and glory to many and indeed to most. To me, however, there is no one Bible verse quite equal in spiritual suggestion and wealth of meaning to 1 Cor. 1 :30— “O f him are ye in Christ Jesus, who was made unto us wisdom from God, even righteousness, and sanctifica tion, and redemption” (R. V. and Margin). This verse certainly has a claim to greatness, for it denotes the sov ereignty of God, the sufficiency of Christ, and the security of the Christian believer. I . T h e S ov er eign ty of G od This is seen in the two phrases “o f him” and “from God.” After all worldly wisdom, nobility and might are set aside as utterly inadequate for the saving of a soul from sin and death; when all false foundations are re moved, all human pride and religious pretense brought to nought, that no flesh should glory in His presence ; when there is nothing human left to stand upon, then God in' sovereign grace lays a foundation for us “as stable as His steadfast throne, forevermore the same,” Here it is that “o f him are ye in Christ Jesus.” This means that if you are occupying the place designated.by the phrase “in Christ Jesus” it is because God puts you there. No man could do it. It is “o f Him.” At this point someone may interpose and say, “Did I not believe the Gospel?” Yes,, buf whose Gospel is it ? According to Rom. 1 :1, it is God’s Gospel, good news from God concerning His Son. He thought it out and wrought it out and then throug'h the channel of our faith made us to be the recipients of all that He had done. So then the very position occupied by sovereign grace and indicated by the phrase “in Christ Jesus” grows out of a Gospel message proceeding from that same grace. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. But this is not all. The same sovereign grace that sends the Gospel message and then proceeds to put believers of that message “in Christ Jesus,” goes a step farther. In the wisdom- of God, Christ is ,made unto us righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Nothing less than this can meet our need as sinners, and nothing more than this can ever be required. There are only three tenses; the past, the present, and the future. If our spiritual needs can be met in these three directions there will be nothing lacking. That is precisely what has been done. God, in His wisdom, meets our threefold need ; He makes Christ to be unto us righteousness for the past, sanctification for the present, and redemption for the future. Christ crucified meets all the requirements of righteousness. When received by faith as the sinner’s substitute and Saviour, He becomes the Lord our righteousness and we become the righteousness of God in Him. In His risen life, Christ is made unto us sanctification. We are united to Him in death and resur rection. By virtue of this spiritual union He becomes not only our righteousness, but our life. To use the words of 2 Peter 1 :4: “We through faith become partakers o f the divine nature.” For the future, Christ is made unto us
redemption,—that is, “the redemption of our bodies,” so that in looking forward we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. All this is forevermore lodged in Christ and He for evermore is made all this unto every soul united to Him by faith. This is just as true at the beginning of the Chris tian life as it is at later stages of growth and development. Our salvation is never less than this, for nothing less would meet the requirements of the case. So we sing of
Grace fathomless as the sea, Grace flowing from Calvary, Grace enough for eternity, Grace enough for me.
The infinite God in sovereign grace does exceeding abun dantly above all we ask or think in making Christ to be unto us righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. II. T h e S u f f ic ie n c y of C h r is t He is made unto us righteousness. The word “right eousness” occurs nearly one hundred "times in the New Testament. It is used to denote four kinds of righteous ness, viz., God’s own righteousness, self-righteousness, the righteousness of faith, and the righteousness of Chris tian character, which, in New Testament terms, is called the obedience of faith and is the fruit of the Holy Spirit’s indwelling.1 God’s own righteousness is that quality or characteris tic which inheres in the divine Being. It is that which Abraham referred to when he said, “Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?” This conception of God permeates and dominates the revelation of Himself in Scripture. Such expressions as “Thou art righteous,” “Just.and right is He,” “The Lord is righteous in all His ways,” are of frequent occurrence. This righteousness is the foundation of the moral universe. Both conscience and law are wit nesses of it. In the law, the commandments, and the pre cepts of God, a perfect and unchangeable standard of righteousness has been given and will be vindicated. If its precepts are broken, its penalties must be met. The second aspect of righteousness is self-righteous ness, and is frequently referred to in Scripture as “the righteousness o f the law.” It is that righteousness which many try to obtain through the endeavor to keep God’s perfect and unchanging law. Simply stated, it is the effort to be religious in order to merit the divine favor. Under the lash of the law, conscience pulls and tugs in the at tempt to climb the hill of righteousness. Resolutions, prayers, penance, gifts, legacies to charitable work, rites, ceremonies, sacraments, Lenten regulations, man-made rules and requirements are all resorted to and in some cases adhered to in order to work out a righteousness of one’s own, on the basis of which a sinner hopes to attain eternal salvation. This kind of righteousness is highly esteemed among men, but is not valid with God. And why ? Because, while we look at each other, God looks through us. And what does He see? If, in the white light of His holiness, the lid were lifted from any human life, and all its secrets laid bare, what would be disclosed? A teapot dome worse than the one recently exposed in our courts
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grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of your selves, it is the g ift o f God.” At Calvary’s Cross Christ was made sin for us that we might be made the righteous ness of God in Him. A Christian believer can stand by faith at the Cross and say with Martin Luther, “Lord Jesus, thou art my righteousness, I am thy sin. Wbat thou wast not thou didst become, that I may be made what I was not.” In the moral government of God the problem of evil had to be dealt with. The cross is the place where God dealt with it. He went into the question of our sins there. They could not be condoned, they could only be con demned. And the condemnation fell upon Him who is our substitute Saviour. His death was a judgment death, sub stitutionary and vicarious. It was in our place and for our sins. This is the meaning of those five words, "Christ died for our sins.” Until a sinner sees this He will see nothing in Christ eternally worth while. "He was num bered with the transgressors,” and "He is the propitiation for our sins.” All the virtue and value of His atoning work is made over to us "through faith in His blood.” This leads to the last aspect of righteousness, the right eousness of Christian character, or the obedience of faith. In the New Testament, this is regarded as the result of salvation, not the cause of it. It is the fruit of the new life in the soul. Not only is something done for us through the death of our Lord, but something is done in us by the power of His resurrection. A new life is imparted in which the Holy Spirit comes to dwell as the heavenly Guest. According to Ephesians 5 :9 the fruit of the Spirit, the re sult of His indwelling, is in all righteousness, goodness, and truth. These become the dominant qualities of the Christian life. In this way the moral side of a sinner’s salvation is cared for as well as the judicial. Not only is a perfect righteousness imputed to the Christian believer but a divine life is imparted to him. This brings us to the next part of our subject, namely, —Christ made unto us sanctification. Believing in Christ is belonging to Christ. When a sinner comes to Christ that sinner is incorporated into Christ. A spiritual union is effected by, means of which the virtue and value of Christ’s redemptive work is made over to the believer. The death of Christ is not only a propitiation for sin but a mighty separating power. Between the unconverted past of a believer’s experience, and ‘the regenerated present, there is a cross which means death, a tomb which implies the end of things, and a resurrection which denotes a new beginning. In this way believers are separated unto God. Separation, or being set apart for God, is the primary meaning and root idea of sanctification. Christ is made unto us sanctification in that by death and resurrection in which we were united to Him, He severed us, cut us off from the old creation and separated us unto God as mem bers of a new creation. "He died, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.” "We have been sanctified by the offering o f the body of Jesus Christ once for all." This is the position of every Christian believer, every regenerated soul. He is made unto us sanctification even as He is made unto us righteousness. Thus every believer united to Christ in death and resurrection and now in Christ, forevermore is, in his posi tion before God, sanctified. Scripture is unmistakably clear in this. It is a matter of pure grace on the part of God, who does "exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.” At this point someone will say “Yes, but what about the inward condition of that believer?” In answer ing this question we would not take back or modify any thing that has been said. The Word of God plainly asserts
of justice and the publicity of the newspapers. "Let God be true," says the apostle, "even though every man be a liar.” God is true in what He has said about man. Through His prophet He has testified saying, "The heart is deceitful above all things and it is exceedingly cor rupt.” Again, through His Son He has testified saying, "Out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts.” The ignoring or repudiation of the divine testimony concerning man has made possible the false interpretations of .Unitarianism and evolution with their monotonous negations of all that is vitally Christian. Under the blight of this false teaching thousands have fallen an easy prey. Timely and apt are the words of the late Bishop Moule: “There has never been in Church History a great error or a great deviation from Scripture but that an inadequate sense of the sinfulness of sin has to do with it.” The present deviation from the Scriptures is traceable to this very cause. So prevalent have false teachings become that millions now seem to be immune to the truth of redeem ing grace. Either "there is no fear of God before their eyes” or else, "being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end o f the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth.” The activities of those who would attain salvation by character, or establish righteousness by religious rites ,and idealistic rules, are described in the Bible as "dead works.” The question is asked in Hebrews 9:14: "Shall not the blood o f Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” Dead works con stitute the burden of effort to atone for one’s own sin, doing the best one can to atone for the worst that has happened. This is the religion of most of our current fiction.- It springs from a spiritual disease known as legal ism which attacks every soul at some time or other. From this deadly snare there is only one way of deliverance and that is to believe the Word of God concerning Christ, "who His cnvn self bare our sins in His own body on the tree,” and there put them away by the sacrifice of Him self. Faith in the blood of Christ shed for the remission of sins, cleanses the conscience from any further dead works and sets the believer joyously free to serve the living God. This service is rendered not under the lash of flhe law, but under the constraint of the love of Christ and the liberating power of the truth received by faith and realized in experience. The conscientious Jew, Saul of Tarsus, like other men, sought for the righteousness that many mistakenly assume to be derived from one’s effort to keep the law of God. His motto was “Salvation by character” as an attain ment, but he discovered his tragic mistake and then wrote the words in Phil. 3 :9: "Not having mine own righteous ness, which is o f the law, but that which is through the faith o f Christ, the righteousness which is o f God by faith.” This brings us to the third kind of righteousness men tioned in the New Testament, viz., the righteousness of faith. Sometimes it is called the righteousness of the Gos pel, and again, the righteousness of God. All of these terms are significant. It is the righteousness of God be cause God provides it. It is the righteousness of the Gospel because the Gospel reveals it, and it is the righteousness of faith, because faith receives it. It is a "by faith” right eousness rather than a "by works” righteousness. The former gives God all the glory; the latter takes all the glory to itself. It is clearly written in Scripture that "by
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that Christ Jesus is made unto us sanctification. This truth is to be believed and yielded to in order to be experienced and enjoyed. Then that same Word of God calls us to “grow in grace,” to “increase in love,” and to be con stantly transformed into the likeness of Christ. This is progressive or practical sanctification. It is that for which our Lord prayed in the words, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy Word is truth.” Through the reading of the Bible—the Word of God—and the increased knowledge of the truth revealed there, spiritual progress is made and the life imparted to us in the new birth grows and develops continually. This distinguishes progressive sanctification from positional sanctification. Whichever aspect is con sidered, the truth remains that Christ is made unto us sanctification. By union with Him in death and resurrec tion we are positionally sanctified; and by the knowledge of His truth incorporated into the life, we are progressive ly sanctified. Thus the purpose of God that we should be conformed to the image of His Son, is continually realized. Its ultimate and complete fulfillment is yet future. “It doth not yet appear what we shall he, but we know that when He shall appear we shall he like Him.” The third aspect of the sufficiency of Christ presents itself at this point. He is made unto us not only righteous ness and sanctification, but redemption also. This points to the future. It is the redemption referred to in Romans 8 :23 in the words, “waiting for the adoption, even the re demption o f our bodies,” To the Christian believers long ago Paul wrote, “Ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for His Son from heaven.” In waiting for the coming of our Lord we wait also for “the redemption o f our bodies.” The two events synchronize. In the meantime the constructive and de structive forces operate in our bodies. Even if Christ be
in you, says the great apostle in Romans 8:10, the body is under the power of death because of sin. We shall need our doctors and dentists and nurses as long as we dwell in the earthly house of this bodily frame. But we shall not always dwell therein. Our names are enrolled in the Lamb’s Book of Life, and our citizenship is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change the bodies of our humiliation and fashion them according to the body of His glory. Does anyone inquire how? If so, the answer follows imme diately in the Words — “According to the power whereby He is able to subdue all things unto Himself.” Christ is the guarantee of all this, for He is made unto us not only righteousness and sanctification, but redemption also. III. T h e S e c u r it y o f T h e C h r is t ia n B e l iev er This is clearly implied in that brief phrase, “in Christ Jesus.” A more secure place could not be provided or de sired. We have our safety deposit vaults to make secure our earthly possessions, and our strong boxes and hiding places, in which to store jewels and money. These are not always burglar proof. For the child of God, however, a place of absolute security is provided. To him the Spirit says, “Your life is hid with Christ in God.” And again, “Whether we wake or whether we sleep we are the Lord’s.” As we contemplate in this one verse of Scripture what Christ is to the Christian believer by the gracious provi sion of God our Father, we are constrained to say with Charles Wesley— O for a thousand tongues to sing My great Redeemer’s praise, The glories of my God and King, The triumphs of His grace. great number of exhibitions. One day I heard a man lec turing on the World’s Fair movements. He went on to say that in 1876, in the city of Philadelphia, at the greatest exhibition which, up to that time, had been known, there was no display of electricity, because men had not then appreciated the power of electricity. He stated that in the last exhibition at St. Louis there was a most wonderful display of this marvelous power, which has come to be a necessity in these days. And yet there was just as much electricity in 1876 as there is today, but men had not then appreciated it. If you are living a powerless life, the dif ficulty is with yourself. And if you regard iniquity in your heart, the Lord will not hear you. God is just as willing to give as ever. We do not need to be importunate in our praying to persuade God to hear, but it would seem to me that we should rather be impor tunate to be ourselves in the right attitude, for God could not trust us all with blessing. You have asked God for many a thing which, if He had given it to you instantly, would have been your spiritual undoing. God is willing. The difficulty must be in my life or in your life.
Our Unanswered Prayers B y t h e la te D r . J. W il b u r C h a p m a n
Y text is in James, chapter 4, verse 3: “Ye ask, and receive not, because ........... ” You may finish it in one way, or you may finish it another. You do not receive an answer to your prayer because if you should receive an answer you would spend it on your own
evil purposes. God never answers when that is the purpose of our hearts. You ask, and receive not, because there has been a sin in your heart. “I f I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” But I might go on finishing that text for you. If you turn over the pages of the New Testament you will find that Jesus was always speaking about prayer. He presented it as a duty. He said, “Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.” Jesus was always speaking about prayer, and yet He practiced it more than He preached about it. Therefore, He is the best example of prayer. And if you would know why your prayers are not answered, square your life with that of Jesus: compare your manner of living with His teaching, and doubtless the reason for unanswered prayer will be given to you quickly. | P rayer S t il l H as P ow er Prayer has just as much power as ever. It only waits for your claiming and mine. In America we have had a
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