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March 1928
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
forever underneath the true child of God. “H e goeth before you into Galilee; there ye shall see Him, as H e said” ,(v. 7). They had forgotten something. That’s where we fail also. Many an hour of gloom is made darker still because we have failed to keep His promise in mind. Galilee was where Jesus had spent most of His time on earth. It was where He had called all of His apostles. He seeks now to have them led away from the scene o f death, back to the scenes of brighter days. Could they believe that He whose hands and feet had been spiked to -a cross had journeyed to Galilee? What a test 6f faith I Alas, true to human nature, the shock of the Saviour’s shameful death had caus ed them to lose all power o f forming any other conception. The message o f Mary only caused them to weep the more, and to say: “ Poor woman, she has gone crazy!” “ They believed not.” They had to be shown. If the writer o f this account were attempting to put over a fictitious story upon the world, he surely would not have attributed to Christ’s followers such entire forgetfulness of His predictions and such uttter prostration of all faith and hope. This is no tale spun to deceive the world. Mark now briefly notes the appearances of Jesus to His disciples, the giving of the great commission, and His ascension. Let us not lightly pass over His w ords: “H e that believeth not shall be damned" (v. 16). Some are saying: “ God is too good to damn anybody.” He is—and He doesn’t, but many damn themselves. Dam nation is sin and suffering producing and perpetuating each other. Hell is sin pro jected into the hereafter. God moves heaven and earth to prevent it, The gift of His only begotten Son to die for us was His supreme effort to keep men from being damned. What more can He do? For comment on verses 17-18, see Dec. 1927 K ing ’ s B usiness , page 799. Mark’s Gospel closes with the story of the ascension, told in just 14 words (v. 19). How remarkable that so great an occurrence is so little noticed by the writers. It seemed perfectly natural to them that He who had so clearly shown that He came down from heaven, should return to heaven. What else could hap pen to Him who had risen from the grave ? As His resurrection is the pledge of ours, so His ascension is the believer’s proof that we also shall ascend as the members of His spiritual body, when He comes again. “ Thou hast raised our human nature In the clouds to God’s right hand, There we sit in heavenly places, There with Thee in glory stand. Mighty Lord, in Thine ascension, We, by faith, behold our own.” Well might the Lord first appear to women. There is no hint in the New Testament that one ever lifted her voice against Him (v. 1). First in hastening to the fall, first in the expression of grief over the Saviour’s suffering, first at the tomb, first to bear the resurrection tidings—that is woman. The resurrection is mighty good news for a fellow who is in sorrow for sin (v. 7). — o — P ith and P oint .
Many a day'lost in grief might have been bright with hope, had we but remem bered what He said (v. 7). When you’re despondent, take a journey to better scenes and meet the Lord; a wider view helps (v. 7). True faith would have gone to the tomb without spices. Every man has a better right to hear the Gospel once than any man has to hear it twice (v. IS). — o — S uggestive Q uestions . Was the stone rolled away to let Jesus get out of the tomb, or to let the women see in? (Mt. 1:16; cf. Mk. 16:6.) In what condition o f mind were the dis ciples before they received the news of the resurrection? (V . 7; cf. Lk. 24:21.) What was the last we heard of Peter? (V . 7; cf. 14:72.) Instead o f mourning in Jerusalem, why didn’t His disciples set out for Galilee as soon as they saw He was dead? (V . 7; cf. 14:28.) What was the first effect o f the resur rection news upon the disciples? (Vs. 10- 11, 13.) What becomes o f the modern theory that the disciples worked themselves into such a fever o f expectation that He would rise, that the wish was father to the thought ? What happened and what was said when Jesus appeared to two disciples as they walked? (V . 12; cf. Lk. 24:13-35.) Is it strictly true that Christ’s work for us was “finished” on the cross? (V . 19; cf. Heb. 7:25.) G olden T ext I llustration . Because I live, ye shall live also (Jn. 14:19). On the grave of his eldest child, Sir James Simpson, famous physician and the discoverer o f anesthetics, erected a monument pointing like a spire toward heaven. On it were carved the w ords: “Nevertheless I live.” Above the words, a butterfly was carved, suggesting his un| faltering faith that in Jesus Christ, death was only a transition, a development from the limitations of the chrysalis to the freedom o f a life with wings. Dr. Jowett, who told the story, added: “ Sir James was a believer in Christ, and when he came to his own passing, he thought only o f the wonderful awakening, and he fell asleep in the Lord.” Do you live in the assur ance that since H e lives, you can never die?
“ JEWELS” FREE - - Five names and addresses of persons who should be readers o f The King’ s Bus iness.
No command was given to change the rite o f circumcision to that o f baptism. The two were left standing side by side, and early Jewish believers observed both. T o Gentile Christians, however, the fin ished work o f Christ spoke louder than words, so that in due time the old form passed away as no longer appropriate. No command was needed to enact a change to the first day of the week. It was legislated into practice by divine ACTION . The resurrection spoke louder than words. The old Sabbath was the dying Sabbath o f a buried Christ. The first day became the living Sabbath o f the glorious risen Saviour. T he K ing ' s B usiness has al ready called attention to the fact that the words o f verse 2, rendered "first day of the week," are literally “ first o f the Sab baths," and the same in each o f the four Gospel accounts. Here is definite proof that the resurrection day was the new Christian Sabbath. Woman, who had been, according to Genesis, the first precursor o f corruption, hastens first to the Saviour’s tomb and becomes the first witness o f victory over sin and death. Knowing that the body had not been embalmed, but only laid away in linen wrappings, the two Marys and Salome determined to perform the last office of affectionate care. They find the great stone rolled away (v. 4) and, enter ing in, they see “a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white gar ment" (v. 5). God is always sending YOUNG men to roll stones away. “Be not affrighted,” says the angel; “He is risen; H e is not here” (v. 6). The grave was one place where He was NOT. That tells Us that He is Emmanuel, God incarnate. His sacrifice is accepted and we may be saved. The cross is illumi nated by the open tomb. Unless we be lieve in His resurrection, the news o f His death would be the saddest words that could be uttered concerning the best man who ever lived. The cross stands as the monument o f a most terrible defeat until we see that “H e could not be holden of death." “ Go . . . . tell the disciples—and Peter” (v. 7). Why not fell Pilate, Herod, An nas, Caiaphas and the high priests? The faith o f His disciples was in a total eclipse. They were His witnesses and first in His consideration. A special word must go to Peter, who was “down and out,” yet still a child of God. If we are right in thinking that it was Peter who furnished his friend Mark with most o f the material for this Gospel, imagine with what feeling he would have related this incident to Mark. The Good Shepherd had gone out of His way into the wilderness to recover the lost sheep. A child o f God who had committed a sin of the first magnitude, who had given o f fense to the whole church, gets this special message o f love. It shows us the power o f the Gospel o f His death and resurrec tion, and that “the everlasting arms” are
i. oi na wnen me saooatn was past, • Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother o f James, and Salome, bought spices, that they might come and anoint
Him." The disciples and Joseph o f Arima- thaea had been unable to lay the body of Jesus away according to their ideas o f the way in w h i c h it s h o u l d be buried. Neither w e r e t h e women who followed Jestis and ministered
to Him (Lk. 8:1-3) satisfied with the manner o f His burial. Being faithful to the law o f Moses and to the instruction of Jesus (cf. Mt. 21:1 -3), the disciples rested
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