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November 1929
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
pared, for the devil and his angels; so this day is prepared for the obnoxious and for those who have no desire for God, but who instead secretly resist Him or openly oppose Him. Moreover, it is prepared for the armies of the earth, who will be gathered against Him. For this cause He will come as a warrior leading the armies of heaven, and will strike a blow unprecedented in the annals of war. He is now a man of peace, but He will then be a man of war and will come against the defiant, the insolent and the rebellious. Once He came riding on a colt, the foal of an ass; then He will come riding on a white horse, the symbol of power, of holiness and of kingly splendor. This season of bloodshed is further symbolized by the winepress trampled in fury by One whose garments are sprinkled red, and whose raiment is stained, not with His own blood, but with the blood of His enemies. John declares that His vesture was “dipped in blood,” that the winepress will be trodden outside the city of Jerusalem, and that blood will run “even unto the horse bridles.” Daniel discloses the incident as a stone, cut out without hands, which smites the image, which is symbolical of the crushing of the kingdoms of this world by Christ. The battle of David and Goliath is also a picture of this act of the Lord in His redemption drama. P rophets O pposed God’s prophets are opposed to the present popular con ception of a hopeful destiny for the world. Some modern idealists today may concede that the earth was once cov ered with a flood, but few will acknowledge that it is “stored up with fire,” against the day of judgment and per dition of ungodly men. They have, on the contrary, marked out another prescribed course, with a hope that it might be swerved from its certain doom. They have sought to change its track by treaties, legislation and reform ; and the most able among them seem to be utterly incapable of realizing that such efforts are as futile as dropping a rubber ball in the path of an ocean liner to turn it aside. For these idle dreamers, Shakespeare offers a bit of timely counsel in the line: Let determined things to destiny hold unbewailed their way. We sympathize with a man’s praiseworthy and un selfish aspirations for the world; but, viewed from the standpoint of prophecy and history (His story), we are obliged to confess his inability to bring to pass even a partial realization of his visions of a millennial day. The most promising plans have often withered away as grass under the noonday sun. In a book published in April, 1921, Will Erwin declares: We will not strike at the root of wars until we organize fifty or sixty sovereign nations and self-governing colonies of the world somewhat as we organize individuals in a tribe or state or nation. . . . This is the specific for the disease of war. The prohibition or positive control of war is desirable: that no good man will deny. The late World War cost $240,000,000 a day, and a billion soldiers. If we could eliminate this business of violent hostilities between nations and peoples, it would pay in dollars and men, if no more; but in the deliberations towards that end, what profit is there if a man gain the whole world and lose God? Plans that run contrary to revelation cannot prosper. The incidental achievements in this direction can at best be no more than a tower of Babel. The revelation according to Isaiah is first, “the year of the
Lord,” or the day of grace, and then “the day o f ven geance of our God.” First there is the liberty of grace, then follows the rod of righteous government. This period will be established, according to Isaiah, “with judg ment and with justice from henceforth even forever.” As joint heirs with Christ, we should take heed and be steadfast in_the midst of a “perverse generation.” “The only righteous in a world perverse,” asserts Milton. We should shine as lights and snatch some “brands from the burning,” redeeming the time, for the days are evil. Malachi declares; “Behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble, and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave neither root nor branch.” S cavengers “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him; and all kindreds o f the earth shall wail because o f him.” The preacher who tramples upon prophetic pearls and believes the Bible quite unreliable, and frequently con tradicted by science, scoffs at Christ’s coming on “the literal clouds of the sky.” With an air of authority he announces that the Messianic expectation has been in herited from Judaism, and that these conceptions of the ancient men have to be translated into modern conceptions. He contends that these words and conceptions are tempo rary and outgrown. Over against these fictitious notions we offer a few vigorous lines from a Boston minister: The conception of successive and progressive fulfillments, cul minating in a complete accomplishment at the end of the age, does no violence to Scripture and explains many prophecies that seem more than once to have partially come to pass. No one can say absolutely that literal fulfillment will be impossible in the future amid conditions unknown today. It is only when we try to fit prophesied events to present history that our difficulties increase. Any interpretation which takes the Bible literally has much in its favor, and any which explains away the literal mean ing awakens distrust. We Have a Common Enemy I S IT not often true, brethren, that we brand ourselves with the disgrace of withdrawal from the ranks of the militant few because of our unwillingness to forego our prejudices and dislikes? The enemy is all around us; he is marshaling his forces for a final onslaught, and pre paring, by all means, to weaken the resistance of the saints, and we are oftentimes more concerned about our petty jealousies than about the unbroken front. Defec tion in the ranks plays worse havoc than the ingenuity of our opponent. How much wiser men are in their own generation than are the children of light! It is recorded of Admiral Nelson, on the morning of Trafalgar, that he was exceedingly concerned about every man doing his duty. Calling for Hardy, his captain on board the Vic tory, he made certain inquiries about Admiral Colling- wood, and, to his astonishment, learned that the Admiral and the Captain were not oh speaking terms. He bade both appear before him. He took them to the deck. Pointing to the combined fleets of the French and Span ish, ready at any moment to commence battle, he placed the hand of the one in the hand of the pther and said, “There is the enemy.” The moral is evident.— A. Borland.
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