semane. The truth portrayed is a living truth, concerning which we may ask, “ Lord, speak to me.” The hours just before the Cross crowded fast upon each other. From the Passover Feast to the Garden was but a moment; from the agony o f the Garden to the betrayal was but a moment; from the betrayal to the Hall o f Pilate was but a moment; from the Hall o f Pilate to the hill called Calvary was but a moment, yet all Eternity hinges upon the events there portrayed. In those fast-fleeing hours, one brief detail serves admirably to illustrate to us the tragedy o f misguided zeal. With the Lord Jesus Christ at the hour o f His betrayal was that disciple known above all fo r his zeal and impetuous spirit. True to his character, this zeal displayed itself. “ And while he yet spake, behold a multitude, and he that was called Judas, one o f the twelve, went before them, and drew near unto Jesus to kiss him. But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son o f man with a kiss? When they which were about him saw what would follow, they said unto him, Lord, shall we smite with the sword ? And one o f them smote the servant o f the high priest, and cut off his right ear. And Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far. And he touched his ear, and healed him” (Luke 22:47-51). In the twinkling o f an eye the deed was done, and the ear o f the servant was severed. In committing this deed, Peter was zealous for the life o f his Lord, willing to risk anything within his power to preserve it. The danger was present, the sword at hand, and in that moment the deed was done. Immediately the se ca n t was without his right ear. Peter did his job well, but in so doing he hazarded the lives o f all present who were in any way identified with the Lord Jesus Christ. Though the servant suffered the loss o f his ear, the Lord Jesus Christ and His companions lost far more in the possibility o f the wholesale and indiscriminate use o f arms. Peter meant well, but his zeal almost causfed irreparable disaster. Now we are ready to make a present-day application o f l this scene. We cannot join the Lord Jesus Christ in /the Garden o f Gethsemane, but we are joined to H im 'in the task o f presenting to others the message o f salvation. We are convinced by the reality o f the presence o f the Lord in our own lives, that the message with which we are entrusted is the only one under Heaven that will meet the need o f this lost, dying generation. To our age we r are responsible, and to the gospel we are bound.- We now face the problem squarely. What is the procedure for presenting the message today ? Suddenly, armed with the, gospel o f eternal life', we become blundering swordsmen and dissipate the message in useless argument. We allow our zeal to carry us to „ the point o f doing what Peter did. We “ cut off the ear” , o f the one to whom we are speaking, by wielding not the Sword o f the Spirit, but the useless sword of fruitiest . debate. We destroy by this one action the one medium furnished by God whereby they might hear the Word of eternal life: the listening ear. In so doing we allow our zeal to argue to bring about the situation where the one who was very near to believing faith will now be forced to defend himself, and thus be once again far from personal faith because o f the strife which the arguing engendered. Further, as in the Garden, the lives o f the whole company of believers were endangered, so the pos sibility o f the one whom we have alienated by argument, ever again pausing to hear the gospel from another, is now greatly lessened. The effective witness o f another child o f God may be blunted by our having argued in our misguided zeal. There is consolation, however, and again it is found in the story o f the servant’s ear. In spite o f Peter’s having (Continued on Page H ) THE K I N f i ' S BHSI KI PSS
The Lesson of the Servant’s Ear By Robert W . Ross* T O WITNESS or to argue! In every age of opportu nity for God, the problem of misdirected zeal has been present. It was so in the days o f the prophets, in the time o f the Lord’s own ministry, in the period o f reformation, and it is true in our own day o f opportunity. There is constantly recurring the matter o f the power o f the ambitions and abilities o f the individual unleashed upon a lost and dying world in contrast to the truth o f God embodied in the scriptural statement, “ Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.” Should we put our time and talents to work under our own program with a partial success, or yield them to God, allowing Him to both use and direct us? To have a burn ing zeal is not the point, but rather that this burning zeal be used to its highest potential in the winning o f men and women for the Lord Jesus Christ. An outstanding example of misguided zeal is the incident o f Peter and the servant’s ear, in the Garden o f Geth- * Assistant Professor o f History, Bible Institute of Los Angeles.
In our zecd
for the gospel are we to witness and win, or argue and lose souls for whom Christ died?
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