June 1924
T H E K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S
340
w ritten which no one knoweth bu t he th a t receiveth it,” and here is Moses, the law and the high priests’ b reast plate. The fou rth is in these words (T h y a tira), “He th a t over cometh * * * I will give him th e morning sta r”— the beautiful designation of the Saviour and description of his coming. The fifth is in these words (S ard is), “He th a t overcometh shall thus be arrayed in white garm ents,” etc., a reference to the coming of the Holy Spirit and his renewing grace. Two more promises remain. The five quoted refer to the past. Now for th e future. The sixth (to Philadelphia) relates to th a t new earth of which I have spoken, “He th a t overcometh I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God and he shall go out thence no more, and I will w rite upon him the name of my God, and th e name of th e city of my God, the New Jerusalem , which cometh down out of heaven from my God, and mine own new nam e.” The Glorious Climax But th is is not all, glorious as it is. The survey of re demption is not complete though it has passed over all the ground from Eden to Sinai, to Calvary, to Pentecost, and to the rehab ilitated earth . The climax is yet to come, th ere is one more promise (to Laodicea). “He th a t overcometh I will give to him to sit down w ith me in my throne, as I also overcame and sat down w ith My F ath e r in His th rone.” This is th e superb, transcendent ending of the history— the etern al reign of the saints of God. “There shall be no curse any more, and the th rone of God and of the Lamb shall be therein, and His servants shall serve H im ; and they shall see His face and His name shall be on th e ir foreheads. And th ere shall he n igh t no more and they need no light of lamp, n either ligh t of sun, for th e Lord God shall give them ligh t and they shall reign forever and ever.” B rethren, we are not sailing into a fog-bank—-th e fa rth er shore is in sight. We may not be able as yet to make out all th e featu res of the vista, but the bold headlands stand out in b rillan t relief against the background of eternity. This is complete redemption and in view of it is it not divinely apt, divinely logical and divinely glorious th a t the book in which it is unfolded— stage by stage, chapter by chapter— should close w ith these meaningful, memorable words: “He who testifieth these things saith I come quickly. Amen. Come, Lord Jesu s.” OVERCOMERS Text: Rom. 12:21. “ Be not overcome of evil, b u t over come evil w ith good.” Some promises in Revelation to the overcomers: Rev. 2:11, “Shall not be h u rt of the second d eath .” Rev. 2:17, “ I will give to eat of the hidden manna, and a white stone, and a new nam e.” Rev. 3:5, “Shall be clothed in white raim ent, and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life; bu t I will confess his name before my F ath e r and before his angels.” Rev 5:12, “I will make him a pillar in th e temple of my God; he shall go no more out and I will w rite upon him my new nam e.” Rev. 5:21, “ I will g ra n t to sit w ith me in my throne, even as I also overcame and am set down w ith my F ath e r in His th ron e.” Rev. 21:7, “ He th a t overcometh shall in h erit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be my Son.”—L. H. P.
The sacrifice had been made in th eir presence, bu t the blood was yet to be sprinkled w ithin the veil, in the ligh t of th e Shekinah, in the presence of God alone. Meanwhile th e other goat was kept waiting w ithout. It could not be sent away until Aaron retu rn ed— indicating th a t th e sacrifice of the first goat had been accepted by Jehovah and th a t th e atonement had been actually made. So the people were kept waiting, too— hoping and w ait ing, and th e ir hope, you observe, “ entered,” as ours does, “ into th a t which was w ithin the veil.” Would Aaron appear again? If he did they would know th a t th eir sin was surely covered. If he did not re tu rn they would know th a t he had died for his presumption be yond the curtain. Can we imagine th e tense anxiety of those waiting peo ple? Everything was a t stake— th e ir very souls, eternity. How th e ir h earts must have beat w ithin them! How they held th eir breath and strained th e ir eyes, while every little m inute seemed an hour. But Aaron comes! he comes, and unspeakable relief gives place to unbearable anxiety as he lays both his hands upon the remaining goat and sends it away to re tu rn no more. The solemn ceremonies of th e g reat day of atonement are thu s concluded and the work which they represented is complete. We tu rn now to th e Epistle to th e Hebrews, w ritten, as you well know, to unfold th e mysteries of the Old Covenant and to show to God’s ancient people the deeper meaning of the ceremonial law. This has been done through a number of chapters until we come to the closing verses of the ninth. Beginning w ith the 23rd verse and continuing through th e 28th, th e author deals w ith th e exercises of th e g reat day of atonement. “Once,” he says, “ h ath Christ been manifested to pu t away sin by th e sacrifice of H imself.” But now, “Christ” he says, entered not into a holy place made w ith hands, like in p attern to the true, bu t into heaven itself now to appear before the face of God for us.” Then the closing declara tion: “So Christ, having been once offered to bear th e sins of many, shall appear a second time, ap art from sin, to them th a t w ait for Him, unto salvation.” Jesu s Christ—P rie st and Sacrifice Christ Himself was both priest and sacrifice. Like Aaron of old, He has taken the blood— His own blood, w ithin the veil, and we, like th e ancient Israelites waiting for Aaron, aw ait His retu rn . Some day it will occur, bu t un til then re demption is incomplete. In closing, let me direct your atten tion to a rem arkable featu re of th e little letters to th e seven churches of Asia, which the Redeemer in glory sent to them by the hand of the Apostle John. Each le tte r closes w ith a prom ise , “to him th a t over- cometh.” But each promise is introduced w ith a reference to a g reat event in the history of redemption. Consecut ively they are a tran scrip t of th a t history in epitome. They follow it from its beginning to its close. The first, to Ephesus, is in these words, “To him th a t overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in th e Paradise of God.” There is a clear and distinct reference to our original state of innocence in Eden. The second to Smyrna is in these words, “ He th a t over cometh shall not be h u rt of the second d eath”— a reference to the fall of man,—the first death. The th ird (to Pergamum ) is in these words, “To him th a t overcometh, to him will I give of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone and upon the stone a new name
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