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(Rom. 6:11). The cross on the hill at Calvary is the be liever’s second Golgotha. When Jesus died, he died: par- adoxical truth, but real! The greater paradox of Christian belief is that though crucified with Christ, the believer lives: the life he now lives in the flesh he lives by the faith of the Son of God who loved him, and gave Himself for him (Gal. 2:20). He is dead to sin, but he is alive unto God, through Christ (Rom. 6:11). He is hot of~the sinful cosmos (John 15:19), but he is most definitely In it (John 17:11). By the faith of the life he how lives in the flesh, he is en treated to overcome the cosmos (1 John 5:4,5): he is bidden neither to love it, nor the things, the lusts, that are in it (1 John 2:15,16). He must not walk according to its course (Eph. 2:2).12 All this and more, much more, constitutes the believer’s third Golgotha: the cross in the field of tares; the hill in the field that is not so green as it is gray and sombre. Happy indeed is that believer who can say: "To me may it never occur to go on boost ing, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which—to me—cosmos stands crucified: and I stand crucified to cosmos" (Gal. 6:14; Greek). if. A discerning reader will observe that much of the content of Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 goes beyond the prince of Babylon and the prince of Tyre, therein named, to the prince of this «world, •Satan: just a,s the “ My God,, my God, why hast thou for« saken me” of Psa. 22:1 goes beyond king David to King Jesus. 2. The word ground cited from these chapters is the Hebrew eretz, just as in Gen. 1:1, “ In the beginning God created the heaven and 'eth ha'aretz (that is, the ’eretz). .' ?.• ?n the other hand, there are scholars equally erudite and spiritual who reject- the idea of a primeval creation (Gen. 1:1) and a subsequent renovation (Gen. l:2b-31) of that cosmos after the earth became void and without’ form” (Gen. 1:2a). Theirs Is a kind of "thelstic evolution” viewpoint, in which God created a void and without form” chaos and from it. by successive fiats, evolved the very good cosmos of Genesis 1:31. 4. The Greek for "in that” is eph’ ho. The Greek preposi tional phrase is explained by some, among them a scholar of fundamentalism, as indicating non-sinful birth, but almost imme diate sinfulness of every one coming into the world that Adam plunged into sin,. The aorist tense of the closing verb sinned, together with passages like Eph. 2:3 and Psa. 51:5, reveal that all mankind sinned when Adam sinned. 5. The Greek text has the form to ponero, which could b» the ;•locative case of either a masculine (person) or a neuter (thing) nominative. But the immediately preceding, and insep arable. verse has the nominative: "the wicked one:” The same must be read here. S. An excellent exposition of 2 Pet. 3:5,6 as the cosmos or creation of Gen. 1:1,2a is Dr. Bartoli’s little volume on The Cre ation, first published by the Sunday. School Times a decade or lortn into a continuing ministry of misrepresentation. 8. The Greek reads: "That the Jesus out from God . . . is." A. neresy of John s day. incipient Gnosticism, taught that vthe was human and "the Christ” divine: that there were God and man, but no God-man. In our passages the Spirit is con- luting this error. . « . L oh. L !OV' here expressed by God is agape, not philos. a second Greek word for love employed in the New Testament. Agape is reasoning and selective attachment: philos is instinc tive exercise of the natural affections. The New Testament fre- S ie -®£ .?flaPa.n God; it never commands us to philein Him (Trench). Propitiation translates hilasmo*, one of two New restamen t Greek terms employed to translate the Hebrew cappo- reth, meaning mercy seat, or cover of the ark of the covenant. S H ” V s th®r?fore coyer, or mercy seat, for the whole world. The Phrase sms of is omitted by the Greek text. Though He died for the whole cosmos, only those are saved from their sins who believe on Him as Saviour. 10. The contexts explain the seemingly contradictory eon- “ 5s6 °L.st?i®™®nt3- Christ speaks the words of salvation to all men. The Father judges the hearers according to their receiv ing or rejecting this message of salvation. ; 1 }}■. W most striking that the Greek word for "cometh 52J°. m Hebrews 10:5 Is eiserchomai. a verb used in the New testament for initial entrance. Not only as the Boy in the Tem ple, and as the Agonizer in Gethsemane. hut as the Babe in the Manger he knew the futility of sacrificial blood other than His own precious blood! 12. The Greek text has ton aiona, "the age,” As an aid to ° ,J1, e r s ding of ton aiona as here employed, we can be glad that one of the Syriac manuscripts knew a text that read leanona, meaning canon, that is, standard of measurement* so ago. t ¿ 1 ' , verb’ exeleluthasin, Is perfect tense: they have gone
Lord, Grant Us Calm Lord, grant us calm, if calm can set forth Thee; j Or tempest, if a tempest set Thee forth; Wind from the east or west or south or north. Or congelation of a silent sea, With stillness of each tremulous aspen tree. I Still let fruit fall, or hang upon the tree; Still let the east and west, the south and north, i Curb in their winds, or plough a thundering sea; I Still let the earth abide to set Thee forth, Or vanish like a smoke to set forth Thee. ( Continued from Page 287 ) Furthermore, while we are "busy here and there," life itself gets away. God has given us but a few years on this earth. "Only one life, ’twill soon be past; Only what’s done for Christ will last.” We are busy—-but about what? Land-grabbing, politics, pleasure-seeking, making a living, a great "much ado about nothing!” Jesus was never in a hurry. He said, "Are there not twelve hours in the day?” There is always time enough to do what God wants done. What takes so much time and wears us out is doing what we we want done. The tragedy of most lives is not that men rob banks, drink, curse and steal; they just putter around, playing "tiddledywinks” with life. As in the days of Noah, they eat and drink, they buy and sell, they plant and build, they are “ busy here and there” until the day is ended. The men who missed the Great Supper were occupied with land, oxen and wives. Now there is nothing bad in these things, but they diverted these men from the call of God. Many people go to hell, not because they are extremely wicked, but simply because they are too busy to be saved. "The wicked shall be cast into hell and all nations that forget God.” They do not revile, blaspheme, or curse God; they simply forget Him. That is what we do when we are "busy here and there.” Everyone means to be saved some day, when he feels like it, when he is good enough, when he can make up his mind. To a great degree, the population of hell w ill be made up of such people. "The road of bye-and- bye leads to the city of Never.” One need only to keep procrastinating, soon the harvest w ill be past, the sum mer ended and still he w ill be unsaved. The devil leads some into infidelity, crime, worldly pleasure. Other hon est, industrious souls who would never fall for that, he ensnares by keeping them so busy tinkering with decent and respectable things, that they are as lost and certain of hell as the worst criminal. The man who missed the Supper because of land, oxen or wife missed it as surely as if he had spent the time getting drunk or robbing a bank. The rich fool of our Lord’s parable was not a com plete fool. He was a successful farmer. He was religious, for he talked to his soul. But his clock was too slow: he said, "Many years” but God said, "This night.” In his relation to God he was a fool. Any man who is too busy to consider the salvation of his soul is the greatest of all fools. Beware lest while you are "busy here and there,” the best gets away from you! "Tomorrow’s sun may never rise to bless thy long- deluded sight; This is the time, O then, be wise. Why not to night T ' ' —. —Christina Georgina Rossetti. AS THY SERVANT WAS BUSY
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