King's Business - 1918-05

THE KING 'S' BUSINESS

376

13 the four living, creatures and the four and twenty elders are represented as fall­ ing down before the Lamb and offering worship to Him just as worship is offered to Him that sitteth upon the throne, i.e., God the Father. In Heb. 1 :6 we are told in so many words, “AND AGAIN , WHEN HE BRINGETH IN- THE FIRST BE­ GOTTEN INTO THE WORLD , HE SAITH , AND LET ALL THE ANGELS OF GOD WORSHIP HIM." One night in the inquiry room in Chicago I stepped u p 'to an intelligent looking man at the back o f the room and said to him, “Are you a Christian ?” He replied, “ I do not suppose you would consider me a Chris­ tian.” I said, “Why not?” He said, “ I am a Unitarian.” I said, “What you mean then is that you do not think that Jesus Christ is a person that should be wor­ shipped.” He replied, ‘“That is exactly what I think,” and added, “the Bible nowhere says we ought to worship Him.v I said, “Who told you that?” He replied, “ My pastor,” mentioning a prominent Uni­ tarian minister in the City o f Boston. I said, “Let me show you something,” and I opened my Bible to Heb. 1 :6 and read, “ a n d A g a i n , w h e n h e b r i n g e t h IN THE FIRST BEGOTTEN INTO THE WORLD , HE SAITH , AND LET ALL THE ANGELS OF GOD WORSH IP HIM,” and he said, “ Does it say that?” I handed him the Bible and said, “ Read it for yourself,” and he read it and said, “ I did not know that was in the Bible.” I said, “Well it is there, isn’t it?” “Yes it is there.” Language could not make it plainer. The Bible clearly teaches, that Jesus the Son o f God is to be worshipped as God by angels and men, even as God the1Father is worshipped. VII. Incidental Proofs of the Deity of Jesus Christ. The six lines o f proof o f the Deity of Jesus Christ which I have given you leave no possibility . o f doubting

Lord Jesus does not hesitate to couple Him­ self with the Father in such a way as to say “rw e” i.e., God the Father and I will come and make our abode with him. In John 14:1 He said, “LET NOT YOUR HEART BE TROUBLED : BELIEVE IN GOD, BELIEVE ALSO IN ME.” If Jesus Christ was not God this is shocking blasphemy. There is absolutely no middle ground between admitting the Deity of Jesus Christ and charging Christ with the most daring and appalling blasphemy of which any man in all history was ever guilty. *VI. Divine Worship to be Given to Jesus Christ. There is a sixth line o f proof o f the absolute Deity o f our Lord Jesus. Those already given, have been decisive, each one o f the five have been decisive, but-this, if possible, is the most decisive o f them all, and that is that we are taught in so many words that Jesus Christ should he worshipped as God, both by angels and men. In numerous places in the gospels we see Jesus Christ accepting without hesita­ tion a worship which good men and angels declined with fear, and which He Himself taught, should be rendered only to God (Matt. 28:9; Luke 24:52;' Mark 14:33; cf. Acts 10:25, 26; Rev. 22:8, 9, R. V .; Matt. 4:9, 10). A curious and very misleading comment is made in the margin of the American Standard Revision upon the meaning o f the word translated “worship” in these passages, and that is that “the Greek word translated worship denotes an ■act of reverence, whether paid to a. creature, or to the Creator.” Now this is true, but it is utterly misleading; for while this word is used to denote “an act o f reverence paid to a creature” by idolators, our Lord Jesus Himself distinctly says, using exactly the same Greek word, “ THOU SHALT WOR­ SHIP THE LORD TH Y GOD, AND HIM ONLY SHALT THOU SERVE," and on the other hand He says in John 5 :23 that “ALL MEN SHOULD HONOR THE SON EVEN AS THEY HONOR THE FATHER.” And in Rev. 5 :8, 9, 12,

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