March, 1938
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
90
Around the King's Table
By PAUL W . ROOD
Chicago, made us think of Paul in his pro found and yet simple expositions of the Word of God. The Lord has given our brother an unusual insight into the Word of God and has imparted to him unique power in teaching and preaching the Truth of God. J. Oliver Buswell, Jr., President of Wheaton College, Wheaton, 111., brought remarkable morning discussions of “Modern Problems in the Light of Scripture.” All of thè conference leaders gave us strong messages, but space does not permit a reference to every speaker and address. Suffice it to say that every speaker had a vital message and delivered it in power. Missionary work and soul-winning received constant emphasis. The evangelization of the Jews, Greeks, and American Indians was brought before us through various rep resentatives of work among these groups. Child evangelism was stressed, also. Plans for reaching a city and a whole state with the gospel were presented by Henry E. Burke and Carl C. Harwood. One hour was devoted to a discussion of practical, spiritual methods of tract distribution. Evangelist Tom Olson, who has distributed personally over a million tracts in the forty-eight states of the Union as well as in foreign countries and who is engaged in the ministry of writing and circulating tracts, gave the message. A ll in all, the conference was a course in theology as well as a course in practically every phase of evangelism. The work of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, was represented in various ways. One of the outstanding features of the con ference was the Institute Bible Women’s Hour. Mrs. Lyman Stewart, the director of the group, presided and asked several of these workers to discuss different aspects of their service in hospitals and among high- school and college girls, business women, and mothers. It was a thrilling hour. This band of women have obeyed the injunction that came to a group of women after the resurrection— “ Go quickly, and tell.” They are telling the story of our blessed Lord who died for our sins and rose for our justification. The Alumni Hour when Martin Luther Long presided brought to our attention the various activities in which our graduates are engaged and revealed how effectively our alumni are functioning for Christ. Elmer L. W ilder who held us spellbound by his demonstration of how to use object lessons, and Mrs. Berlyn H. Stokely who stirred us with her searching message on “ Evangelizing the Navajos,” are both graduates of Biola. Mr. and Mrs. Stokely represented the Navajo Indian Evangelization Movement in their ad dresses.
chapter. The second division, “ things which are,” comprises chapters 2 and 3. The third division, “things which shall be hereafter,” extends from chapter 4 to the end of the book. In the fourth place, there is a special promise to those who read, hear, and teach those things that are written in the Apoca lypse. “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand” (Rev. 1:3). There is blessing in reading any book of the Bible, but there is a special promise of blessing for the one who studies and obeys the last book of the Bible. In the fifth place, the study of this book will have a sanctifying influence upon the life and ministry o f the student. No one can ponder prayerfully the warnings and the promises of the Apocalypse without be ing weaned away from the things of this world and drawn into closer fellowship with God. This book quickens the Chris tian into spiritual alertness and activity. Surely this practical fruit of the study of the Apocalypse is in itself sufficient reason for devoting most earnest attention to “the Revelation of Jesus Christ.” A Dynamic Conference With “ For Such a Time as This” as its central theme, the third annual Torrey Memorial Bible Conference, held at the Bible Institute of Los Angeles from Janu ary 23 to 30, brought rich blessing to hun dreds of friends in attendance. The entire student body was able to be present at all the morning sessions. As most of the In stitute students are employed part time, they could not attend all of the week-day afternoon and evening sessions. Friends from various parts of the country who winter in Southern California were faith ful in attendance, and some came to Los Angeles from distant places especially for the conference. In fact, it seemed that nearly half of the daily congregations had come from outside Los Angeles. The program was characterized by breadth and variety. Almost every phase of Christian truth and activity was pre sented in the course of the week. Mark A. Matthews, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Seattle, Wash., reminded us of one of the prophets in his keen analysis of present-day conditions and in his vehement denunciation of contemporary evils. He was constantly urging us to be on the firing line for God, and it was always appro priate to sing “ Onward Christian Soldiers” after one of his messages. H. A. Ironside, pastor of the Moody Memorial Church of
“ The Revelation o f Jesus Christ” Do we as Christians long to know and to proclaim “ the whole counsel of God” ? If we do, we shall need to give prayerful attention to the closing message of the Bible, the Book of Revelation. There are five good reasons that every one of us should be a student of the prophetic word and especially of the Revelation. First of all, this book is intended for us because it is a part of the Bible. All of the Word of God is for us, even though all of it is not about us. The very title of the book, “ Apocalypse,” which means “ the un veiling,” suggests that the person and the program of Christ are unveiled before our eyes. The Apocalypse contains information that gives us an adequate philosophy of his tory. It helps us to be optimists, because in reading this book we learn that Christ one day will stand forth as being complete ly victorious in the battle that is now being waged between truth and error, between light and darkness, between righteousness and unrighteousness. In the second place, the Book of Revela tion can be understood. Familiarity with the Old Testament will make it possible for us to understand the last book o f the Bible. In the Book of Revelation there are no less than 240 quotations from the Old Testament. There are more quotations from the Old Testament in the Apocalypse than there are in the four Gospels and the Book of Acts taken together. Tw o principles will help us greatly in the understanding of this book. One is that the simple explanation is the most likely to be the ¡correct one. The Bible is not written primarily for scholars. In fact, the New Testament Greek is not the classical Greek that was used in that ancient day, but the language used by the common people. Any one who tells you that only scholars can understand the Bible is lead ing you astray. The first requisite for un derstanding the Word of God is a spiritual insight given by the Holy Spirit. Scholar ship is valuable, but spiritual insight is much more essential. The other important principle to remember is that everything in the Apocalypse as well as in the Bible as a whole should be taken literally unless the context clearly reveals that figurative lan guage is involved. A third reason that the Book of Revela tion can be studied is that the outline of this book is stated clearly in the nineteenth verse of the first chapter. This verse is the key to the Book of Revelation: “Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter.” The first division, “ things which thou hast seen,” is found in the first
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