ID Dailj) Devotional Home Readings S i Connectedwith International Sunday! School Lessons III Bj> FREDERIC W . FARR, D. D. Ü| MONDAY, May I. Isaiah 2:1-14. The Gathering of the Nations
age. It has been estimated that thirty- five times the present population of the world has fallen in battle since, the dawn of history. The recent w.orld war cost' forty-three million lives and three hun dred and forty-eight billion dollars. A government official has said that ninety- three cents out of every dollar of the Federal Government is spent for the sake of war. past or future. In spite of every effort and plea for disarmament, the ’ nations continue their military equipment on a stupendous scale. Super dreadnoughts of a type costing forty millions of dollars are under way. Isaiah declares that when the Prince of peace oomes the nations shall learn war no more. In view of this record of blood that stains man’s course upon this plan et, it is hard to see how a Christian who reads and loves his Bible and who has the Spirit of His Master can be any thing but a pacifist and a pre-millen- nialist. THURSDAY, May 4. Jas. 3:11-18 Purity and Peace Dreadful as war is, there is something worse. Purity must precede peace. The great calamities of war are to be pre ferred to injustice or oppression. The sentiment that “ no political change that ever happened is worth a drop of human blood” is negatived by reason and by his tory. We enjoy many priceless privi leges today that our fathers bought with blood and we could better afford to pay the price again than to part with them. The evils of war can hardly be exaggerated. They are manifold and frightful to contemplate but they are sometimes to be preferred to the evils of tyranny and moral degradation. The punishment of. crime involves suffering and evil but to allow it to go unpun ished involves much greater. Who would argue from the horrors of the prison and the scaffold that crime should go unpunished? This throws, some light upon the question why God permits war. FRIDAY, May 5. Matt. 10:34-39. The Object and Effect of the Gospel The ultimate object of the Gospel is peace, the immediate effect is war. A red-hot iron thrust into a vessel of water
Isaiah presents the Messiah in a two_- fold character. He portrays a suffering servant of Jehovah and a reigning triumphant conqueror. This was a mystery to the prophets who could not reconcile the suffering with the glory nor harmonize the weakness with the power in a single person. Some of the rabbis have even suggested that there must be two Messiahs, one for each of these contrasted pictures. The true so lution however lies in the two advents of the same person. The first advent led to the cross in suffering. The sec ond advent leads to the crown in glory. The national promises to Israel will be fulfilled in the second advent and the chosen people restored to Divine favor will become a blessing to all the nations of the earth. Rom. 11:12. Thus God’s promise to Abraham shall be fulfilled. “ In Ihee shall all nations of the earth be blessed.” TUESDAY, May 2. Isaiah 11:1-9 World Peace Promised Peace on earth will never be brought about by arbitration, diplomacy or dis armament but only by the coming of the Prince of peace. There will always be war until Christ is exalted and crowned but the Word of God declares that first He will be rejected and that the nations will rage and imagine vain things. At His second coming He will break them in pieces as a potter’s vessel is broken. Psalm 2:9. The nations are warned through their rulers, “ Be wise now therefore, O ye kings, be instructed ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little.” The phrase “ Kiss the Son” means acknowledging and hon oring Him. If “ perishing” results when His wrath is kindled but a little, what shall happen when His wrath bursts into full blaze? This precedes the world peace promised by the prophet. WEDNESDAY, May 3. Isaiah 9:1-7 The Coming of the Prince of Peace The Saviour declared that wars should prevail throughout the present
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