morrow, i f the Lord tarries, we shall be gone with the rest who have died. Yet in the midst of death we long for life. We lay our loved ones in the grave and one asks us, “ If a man die, shall he live again?” (Job 14:14). The infidel has no answer o f hope. The worldly- wise agnostic replies, “ We do not know.” But God’s living Word reassures us in the sentence that fell from the lips of the Son of God Himself: “ I am the resur rection, and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die” (John 11:25, 26). “ A nd H is N ame shall be called . . . the P rince op P eace ” When Christ was born in Bethlehem, the angels appeared unto the shepherds as they watched their flocks by night and said: “ Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men in whom he is well- pleased” (Luke 2:14, ASV ). It was Christ Himself who said to His own, “ Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27). The peace that Christ gives to the redeemed in cludes “ peace with God,” “ the peace of God,” and “ peace on earth.” “ Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5 : 1 ) ; “ Having made peace through the blood o f his cross . . . he is our peace” (Col. 1:20; Eph. 2 :14 ). The sad truth is, my Christian friend, that many of God’s born-again children do not know what it means to have “ the peace of God” in a restless, troubled world. They are saved by His grace for all eternity, yet they worry and fret and fear what tomorrow may bring. All the while God loves them, and longs for them to rest in His sure promise of grace, sufficient for every trial and for every need. The Apostle Paul bids us: “ Be care ful [anxious] for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace o f God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:6, 7 ). In that coming day, which certainly seems to us to be even at our doors, the Lord Jesus, the Prince o f Peace, will come in glory to establish “ peace on earth” which will be liberal, world-wide and abiding. The day will come when our Lord Jesus “ shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” (Isa. 2 : 4 ) . What Christmas Chimes these are! They peal out “ good tidings o f great joy” which the angels delivered to the shepherds upon the Judean hills that first Christ mas night. They echo in our hearts nearly two thousand years later, bidding us think upon Him who was the virgin’s Child, born o f the Holy Spirit, the eternal Son o f the Father in Heaven. These verses tell us that He was the “ only begotten o f the Father” “ given” to a world lost in sorrow and sin. They point us on to that future day when everyone everywhere will join the prophet in calling Him “Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Pel
will be different. Men everywhere will ask, “Who hath been His Counsellor?” He shall judge in righteousness and equity and “ the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit o f counsel and might, the spirit o f knowledge and of the fear o f the Lord (Isaiah 11:2). “ A nd H is N ame shall be called . . . the M ighty G od ” The Lord Jesus Christ was the Almighty God throughout past eternity. He was “ God with us” in His incarnation. As the God-Man, He moved among men, performing mighty miracles. Then, in His death, it looked to the world as if His claims to deity had been proven false. The world considered Him a failure. But His resurrection, foretold in the Old Testament and by the Man o f Galilee Himself, proved fo r all time and eternity that Jesus of Nazareth was the Almighty One, the One into whose hands had been committed “ all power in heaven and in earth.” For forty days He showed Himself alive to those who loved Him. Then in His ascension He added further proof of His claim to deity. Still it will not be until He takes the reins o f gov ernment into His omnipotent hands that the whole wide world will acknowledge Him as “ The mighty God.” That day will come as surely as did the events predicted in connection with His birth, His death and His resurrec tion. “ The word of God cannot be broken.” “ A nd H is N ame shall be . . . the E verlasting F ather ” The name, “ Everlasting Father,” foretold the com ing of the One who was ever one with the Father, even our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. When He was upon earth, He told men that He did the works of the Father, that He was worthy o f equal honor with the Father, that He was in the Father and that the Father was in Him. The fifth chapter of John’s Gospel makes these claims clear and unmistakable. Our Lord came to fulfill the Father’s will, to speak the words of the Father’s love for lost mankind, to “ declare” or “ manifest” the Father. To Philip’s request that He show the Father to them, the Lord Jesus said: “ Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?” (John 14:9 ). “ No man hath seen God at any time; the only begot ten Son, which is in the bosom o f the Father, he hath declared him” (that is, “ led him forth into full revela tion” ) (John 1 :18 ). “ The everlasting Father”—what a comforting name! The world is ever seeking, yet never finding, that which will abide. Everything about us is fleeting, changing, temporary, apart from the message brought down to earth by the Son o f God, “ whose name shall be called . . . the everlasting Father.” Once when I stood in the British Museum and looked upon helmets of brass, breastplates and swords and all the armour and weapons the knights once wore, I wondered whose eyes had flashed through those hel mets, whose beating hearts those breastplates had once protected. Today we carry in our pockets coins and cur rency bearing pictures of past presidents of our coun try. Where are they now? Today we sit in the pews of our churches; ministers stand behind the pulpits. To
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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