531
T h e
K i n g ' s
B u s i n e s s
November 1929
it (cf. chapter 6:7). Our own failures are largely due to a similar lack of belief in the delegated power of our Lord. UNTIL WHEN . . . . SHALL I ENDURE YOU?—How long was His presence to be necessary ere they ceased to be dense and unbelieving? Might He not often ask the same question of us today? Yet how patient He was with them and is with us; how truly did He say of Himself, “I am JEHOVAH, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are^nof-consumed” (Mai. 3:6). BRING HIM TO ME—Truly, a lesson for every Christian worker; the task which he cannot accomplish in his own strength he should take to his Master and Lord ; we are far too apt to try to work spiritual miracles, for His sake, but apart from H im ; failure and discouragement are too often the only results. 20— BEHOLDING HIM—This is a definite statement of personality; mere epilepsy could not behold anything. CON VULSED HIM—The word used means “to rend to pieces” and, metaphorically, “to make a very savage attack” (hence the person who beheld our Lord could not have been the man himself, for it reads “ beholding him, the spirit tag#, etc.”). Again we have the powers of hell wreaking their spite upon the person they are not allowed to destroy; this accpunts for much of the fierce and repeated temptation to which God’s saints are so often ex posed. FALLING TO THE EARTH, etc.—A very picture of debased and devil-ridden humanity; how utterly the image of the divine is spoiled by the indwelling demon! It is also a type of how the Evil One often plunges men into the very deepest depths of iniquity when they first get a glimpse of Christ, lest by any means they should be so attracted to Him that they should be lost to the powers of hell. 21— HOW LONG AGO?—Not asked for the sake of in formation, but (1) to show that no case, of however long standing it may be, is beyond His power of healing and help. (2) To draw the father’s attention from the child to Himself. ( Continued on page 562)
includes all the prophets who should so suffer. [If this is not so, there must apparently have been some prophetic writing which has not come down to u s; at least we can find no other passage that meets the necessities of the case.] 14 — WHEN THEY CAME TO HIS DISCIPLES—i.e., the nine who had been left behind. A GREAT MULTITUDE The multitude was still there, but He was not, and how very dis similar the result; His presence or absence makes all the differ ence, both to the crowd and to the disciples, now as then! SCRIBES, DISPUTING WITH THEM—Alas, down from the holy mount, with its peace and high communion, to the unholy crowd and all its squalor, “from the harmonies of heaven to the harsh discords of earth” 1 Yes, but such should ever be our prog ress here below, for such is the real purpose and value of the exaltation and the vision; we go up into the mountain, not primarily for our own sake, but for the sake of lost and suf fering humanity. 15— THE CROWD BEHOLDING HIM WERE GREAT LY ASTONISHED—Probably some of the glory of the trans figuration lingered about His countenance; they had never before seen Him thus. RUNNING . . . SALUTED—-Note that a similar glory on the face of Moses (cf. Ex. 34:29, 30) repelled the beholders; this attracted them. The glory jof the Law frightens sinful men; the glory of God in Christ allures them; the one is a consuming, the other an illuminating and comforting fire. 16— 17—HE ASKED THEM [i.e., the Scribes] . . . . ONE OF THE MULTITUDE—The scribes apparently hesitated to answer; conscious wickedness is dumb in the presence of the divine glory: moreover, it is one thing to dispute and to cavil with the disciples, and quite another thing to do so with the Christ. I BROUGHT MY SON—It was his only son (cf. Luke 9:38). It is noteworthy that Jairus’ maid was his only daughter and the young man raised at Nain was the only son of his mother; when it seems as if our only earthly hope would perish, or has perished, we need the help of Him who alone is able to deliver. A DUMB SPIRIT—i.e., an evil spirit that made the child un- ciblc to spc 2 The Good Shepherd B y R . M acomish When perilous paths my thoughts pursue, And what is false and what is true Escape my straining sight, When baffling clouds of mystery hide The upward peaks, be Thou my Guide, 0 Shepherd of the Height. When dreary lies the level road, When bare the flats, and sore the load, And every mile seems twain, When duty points the dusty way O f drudgery, be Thou my Stay, 0 Shepherd o f the Plain. When brightly beams the happy sky, When clouds are gone, and hearts are high, And sorrow far away, Lest, dazzled by the glow, I yield To vanities, be Thou my Shield, 0 Shepherd o f the Day. When darkness o’er the; spirit lowers, And fear, or pain, or grief o’erpowers Each dear, familiar light, Sever’d from comrade and from camp, When I despair, be Thou'my Lamp, 0 Shepherd of the Night.
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