THE KING’S BUSINESS
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unseen world of evil. Satan, though once glorious, and still mighty, is doomed, “fallen as lightning from heaven” (R. V.). Tremendous is the authority Jesus gives His ambassadors, even “authority over all the power of the enemy;” “nothing shall in any wise h u r t t h e true ambassador of Christ may receive what seems to be hurt, hut the hurt is not real, but only apparent. But there is something even better than this for the disciple of the Lord Jesus to re joice in, viz., his “name is written in heaven.” As Jesus spoke theSe words the joy of the Holy Spirit filled His heart (R. V.). The'heart filled with the Holy- Spirit always bursts forth into praise (cf. Eph. 5:18, 19, 20). And Jesus began to _ thank the Father. He thanked Him that deep and glorious mysteries of the king dom and of eternity were hidden from those g filled with their wisdom (philosophers and theologians), and revealed unto, babes, the humble, those emptied of .their own wis dom, and therefore willing tQ receive God’s. 'All things had been handed over by. the Father to Jesus. No one knew Jesus save the Father, and no one truly knew the Father but Jesus Himself, and “he to. whomsoever the Son willeth to re veal Him” (R. V.). But Jesus is willing to reveal the-Father to each one of us (1 John 5 :20), but we must have a humble, teachable mind that makes such revela tion possible. To the humble men that gathered about Him, Jesus had revealed things that prophets and kings had not been permitted to see, and today He re veals to the humblest of His disciples things that are beyond the understanding of the greatest philosophers (1 Cor. 2:14). Sunday, December 12. Luke 10:25-28. As the lawyer "wanted to know what to “do," Jesus directed him to the law. That is the place to point a man if he wants to “do " When, he sees he cannot “do," and can only receive, point him to the Gospel. Jesus did not tell the lawyer to “believe,” for he .was not ripe for that yet. The law must shut a man’s mouth about “doing” before he is ready for the Gospel (Rom.
3:19, 20; cf. Rom. 3:23-26). The lawyer had rightly read the law and summarized it finely , (cf. Matt. 22:37-40), but he had not kept it. Jesus pointed out to the law yer the real difficulty in a word, “This do, and thou shalt live.” A h ! there was the rub; he had read and taught, but had not done. It is quite possible to have right views and a wrong practice. Many fancy orthodoxy of opinion will answer for righteousness of life, but it will not. Jesus said that the lawyer would obtain life by keeping the law, and so he would if he had kept it, but he had not. In order-to gain life by law keeping, our keep.ing must be absolutely- flawless. The moment the law is broken in the minutest point, from that time oh we miss the blessing (Gal. 3:10). No one has ever kept it the way it demands to be kept, so life 'must be sought in some other way than by law keep ing (Gal. 2:16; Rom. 3:23). Monday, December 13. Luke 10:29-32. The lawyer felt the force of Christ’s blow smd sought to dodge it by asking, “Who is my neighbor?” His aim was to “justify himself.” Tt is when we cease justifying ourselves that God justifies its (Luke 18:9-14).. The force of the lawyer’s question in just this connection was, “Who is the neighbor whom I must love?” True love does not ask “Whom must I love?” but “Whom can I love?” The point of the story in which Jesus replies is,. “Don’t ask whom must I treat as neighbor, but where is there a man to whom I can prove myself a neighbor?” There are many Jericho roads in our day, and many who have been “stripped,” “beaten” and left “half, dead.” The drinker’s death is" one of the Jericho roads. The priest came along first. “By chance,” we read in both versions, but “by chance” does not -accurately render the Greek words used. It was rather “by co incidence,” that is as part of God’s plan. Of all men the priest should have been most likely to help, but he did not help. “When he saw him, he passed by on the other side.” It looks heartless, and it was heart less, but there were plenty of excuses—it
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