June 1924
T H E K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S
339
not harmonize the different passages of Scripture in any o th er way. He said, in the same connection, “In My F a th e r’s house are many mansions”— literally “abiding places.” This is w ithout doubt one of them. It is our abiding place now, and will continue to be. The Saviour is even now engaged in preparing it. I do not suppose th a t the saints will be confined to it or lim ited to its boundaries. All creation may be the range of th e ir free sp iritu al bodies; bu t I do believe th a t it will be h eadquarters to all eternity. In th is connection a very suggestive passage is found in Romans VIII from the 19th verse: “The earnest expecta tion of th e creation w aiteth for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but by reason of him who subjected it, in hope th a t the ereation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. F o r we know th a t th e whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only so, bu t ourselves also, who have the first fru its of the Spirit. Even we ourselves groan w ithin ourselves, w ait ing for our adoption, to wit: th e redemption of our body.” From th is it would seem th a t the redemption of the body and of the earth would be coincident. Redemption Not Yet Complete The Redeemer is, then, still engaged upon th is compre hensive scheme and He will be engaged w ith it un til He may say of its final stage as He said of its earth ly portion, “It is finished.” Then, bu t not till then, redemption will be complete— if, indeed, we may use the word, as we do, of th a t which, will expand in meaning, in glory and in content to all etern ity as it forever approaches the infinite which it can never reach. But if such is1th e g reat redemptive scheme then th ere must be something more to it than we have considered. Yes, very much more. Something of very g reat importance, and in terest, and made an in teg ral p art of it in the Word of God. If the work of the Redeemer concerns only the soul of man, or if it includes also his body, then it m atters little where redemption may be concluded. I t may be ,-in some far d istan t portion of the universe, or in some place which is scarcely a place, which we do not locate— except th a t it is not here, and to which we, in our ignorance, apply the name of “ heaven.” But if the work of the Redeemer concerns also the dwell ing place of man, as the Scriptures certainly teach, then the very logic of the scheme demands th a t He re tu rn to finish th a t which is still unfinished, even as He finished th e pre vious portion when He died upon the cross. And if it was necessary for Him to come in person, in the flesh, in order to atone for our sins, it seems equally necessary th a t He should come again in person, but in glory, to set up the reign of universal peace and righteousness, to see of the travail of His own soul and be satisfied. Yes, the Redeemer must come again. And he certainly will come. This is the faith of the en tire church, though a t times and w ith many believers it has been allowed to lapse. Now, as His first coming in the flesh is known in Scrip tu re as the Hope of Israel, so His second coming in glory is shown in the New Testam ent to be th e hope of the Chris tian Church. Our Blessed Hope I am inclined to believe th a t where our “hope” is men tioned in the Epistles it is th is very hope, though I cannot say th a t I have fully determ ined it. But the au tho r of the Epistle to the Hebrews says (Ch. 6:19, 20) th a t it “ enters into th a t which is w ithin the veil, w hither as a forerunner
Jesus entered for us.” At all events— whatever th e word “ hope” may mean, taken by itself, the coming again of th e Redeemer is our great hope. So P aul w rites to T itu s (2 :1 3 ) th a t we are “looking for th e blessed HOPE and ap pearing of the glory of the g reat God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ.”" I have said it is in teg ral to the scheme, and any conception of th e scheme which does not include it is im perfect and fragm entary. It is interwoven through the whole New Testam ent from Matthew to Revelation. It strengthened the faith and sustained th e courage of the early Christians, and wherever held has proven an “anchor of th e soul.” In many cases it has produced surprising zeal for Christ and abundant labor, ju st because its ad herents have something glorious to look forward to as well as something saving to look back upon. A lthough this is in general term s the universal hope of the church, th ere is room for much difference of opinion w ith regard to details. The study of prophecy is a some what uncertain science, because no prophecy has ever been fully understood until it was fulfilled. If it w ere other wise, if any unfulfilled prophecy could be determ ined in all its m inutae, it would defeat its very purpose; for its pur pose is not so much to enlighten its readers as to ’ demon stra te th e divine foreknowledge and so to glorify God. But all prophecies have been very clear to the devout studen t of Scripture in th eir broad outlines and general features, and full enough to be understood for his sp irit ual needs. ' Complete Redemption Foreshadowed And the broad outlines in th is case are found— not only in the New Testament, but also in the Old— not in equally specific term s, but sometimes in term s th a t are fairly lum inous w ith meaning, when once th e light of the New Testa ment is thrown back upon them. W ithout referring to others, let me call atten tion to what seems to me in this respect the most rem arkable passage in the Old Testament. It is the sixteenth chapter of Leviticus, the provisions for th e observance of the g reat day of atonement. Let me re fresh your memories w ith regard to its consecutive exer cises, and, having done this, observe how they were dupli cated in the actual work of atonem ent by our divine Re deemer. F irst of all, Aaron, the High P riest, must be rendered ceremonially clean. He could not offer th e sacrifice for the atonement of the people until this had been done. The cere mony is distinctly prescribed. The bullock, slain for him self, and the blood sprinkled upon the mercy-seat. The censer w ith the burning coals, taken from the altar, the cloud from which enveloped th e mercy-seat. So also our Great High Priest. F o r although He— very unlike Aaron—^-was free from sin, He m ust be rendered ceremonially fit. So, in His g reat intercessory prayer, he said He “ sanctified” or “ consecrated” Himself. A fter Aaron had been consecrated came th e choice of the two goats. There must be two, because one could not be both sacrificed and also sent away into th e wilderness. The figure, however, was bu t one, though in two parts. Then the lots were cast upon the g o a ts ^ o n e goat for Jehovah, th e other for Azazel— th a t is “ removal.” Note this carefully. One goat for Jehovah— a sacrifice for the sins of Israel. The other goat for the people, to symbolize the removal of th e ir sins— sent into the wilderness, out of sight, out of mind, out of memory. Aaron sacrificed the goat of the sin offering and took his blood w ithin the veil, into th e Holy of Holies to sprinkle it upon the mercy-seat. He went alone; beyond the sight and out of the hearing of the people.
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