do so, the women brought sweet spices and prepared them. At- last the day came that they might visit the tomb with their spices. It was early in the morning and the women left the city and hurried toward the tomb—very early, before the sun had risen. As they hur ried along, they said one to another, “Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?” But when they entered the garden and looked toward the tomb, behold, the stone had been rolled away. Mary, seeing this, ran back to the city to tell the disciples, but the other women looked into the tomb, and there they saw an angel, sit ting at the right of the place where our Saviour had lain, and they were afraid. “ Fear not ye:” the angel said, “ for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was cru cified. He is not here: for he is risen,.as he said, Come see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead.” Trembling with fear, the women quickly left the sepulchre. In the meantime, Mary returned to the garden and alone stood outside the tomb, weeping. Then stooping down and looking within the tomb, through her tears, she saw two angels clothed in white, “ sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.” “ Why weepest thou,” they asked. And Mary said, “ Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.” Then as she turned from the tomb to the garden again, she saw Some One and heard Him speak. “ Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou?” Some One said. Mary, thinking that she was talking to the gardener, replied: “ Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.” It was in the quiet of the early morn ing. The birds were awaking with their glad songs. The air was filled with the fragrance of the garden flowers. And then a voice—a voice Mary knew and loved so well—said, “Mary.” Falling at His feet with her arms out stretched, she cried, “ Master.” Then the Lord Jesus spoke words of comfort to her and told her to go and tell others who loved Him, “ I ascend unto my Father, and to your Father; and to my God, and your God.” And Mary knew then what the Lord Jesus had meant when He said, “ Be cause I live, ye shall live also.” She told the disciples, and all those who loved the Lord Jesus in that day came to know the sweet story. One day, some one told the story to me, and now I have told it to you. At this Easter time, we know, as perhaps we have not known before, the meaning of His words, “ Because I live, ye shall live also.” *Beloved Bible T e a c h e r of the Mothers’ class in the Church of the Open Door and for many years a mem ber of the faculty of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles.
umor KING BUSINESS M AR THA S. HOOKER THE RESURRECTION S TOR Y As Told By Anna L. Dennis* S PRINGTIME is blossom time and every lovely blossom reminds us of thè first garden planted by the Lord the Lord Jesus let them take Him and cause Him to suffer that night. And the next day, He died on the cross for you and me.
our God. Not only was this garden planted with flowers and plants and trees for beauty but to provide food and to speak to people with listening hearts. If we would hear the story of a springtime blossom, we must listen for a long time, for the flowers grow into the fruit; the fruit is taken from the trees; then the leaves drop to the ground and the tree sleeps all through the long winter. At last wake-up time comes, when God calls. The fruit trees and flowers, birds and butterflies, and everything tell us the same sweet story at wake-up time, “ Because I live, ye shall live also.” And although this beautiful story has been told ever since the Lord God planted the first garden, still people have not heard, because they have not had listening hearts. So our Heavenly Father sent the Lord Jesus to tell this story to us. He was al ways doing things to show us His great love, but there was one thing He came to do. It must be done at the right time and in the right place and in the right way. At last the time came. It was spring time—it was wake-up time; the flowers and trees were blooming; the barley was just beginning to form into heads; the birds were singing their sweetest songs. Yes, it was wake-up time. And it was the right place—it was in Jerusalem. It was Passover time. The city •was filled with visitors, and the green hillsides about the city were dot ted with tents. The Lord Jesus and His friends ate their last supper together in the com pany room built on the roof of a home in Jerusalem. When the supper was over, they went across the roof, down the steps, out into the crowded streets of the city, gay because of Passover time—-past the quiet temple they went, across the little brook, Kidron, and on to the garden without the city gate. Then the Lord Jesus left His friends and went on far ther into the shadows to talk to His Father. Soon torches could be seen bobbing out of the city gate and down the hill. Yes, it was Judas leading the Roman soldiers on to find the Lord Jesus. Now, because it was the right place and the right time and the right way,
Near the close of the day, Joseph and Nicodemus, two rich men who loved the Lord Jesus, were allowed, to care for His body. With many pounds of sweet spices folded into long strips of pure
The Heart of the Lily
The heart of the lily is golden and fair And tells every one of the kind Father’s care; Its petals are white, and their purity show The cleansing from sin every sinner may know. And just as the lily blooms sweetly today, So we, like the flowers, may go on our way And show to the world that the Christ in our hearts A sweetness and strength and great beauty imparts. —Selected. white linen, they hurriedly but lovingly wrapped the body .round and round even as Mary had wrapped the Holy Babe as He lay in Bethlehem’s manger. The body, having thus been prepared for burial, was placed in a new tomb in Joseph’s garden. The women who loved the Lord Jesus could only stand and look on. We know they must have longed to help, but they could not. Finally the great stone was rolled against the outside door of the tomb and in the quiet of the evening, the little group went back into the city. The next day was the great feast day of the year. It was a happy, glad day for every one in Jerusalem except for those who loved the Lord Jesus. For them, it was a long, lonely, sad day. When the time came that they might
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
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