T HE K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S am He that liveth and was dead and behold, I am alive forevermore.” He should be as real to us as any other per sonality and we should know by daily experience not only what it means to be reconciled to God by the death of His Son but much more to be saved by His life. This has no reference to His earthly life before the cross. It means the heavenly life at God’s right hand which began with His resurrection and ascension, and has continued ever since through His priestly ministry as the power of an endless life. Heb. 7:16. MONDAY, March 28. Acts 1:1-9. Many Infallible Proofs. The incarnation is accepted on the authority of Scripture as a theological postulate and assumption but the resur rection rests upon irrefragable historic proofs. Christ’s post-resurrection as sertion of identity refutes nihilism, His assertion of corporeity refutes idealism, ■His assertion of spirituality refutes ma terialism. It is certain that Paul be lieved that Jesus actually rose from the dead. He was highly cultured and a man of such intellectual power that he dominates a considerable part of Chris tian thought today. He wrote to the church at Corinth twenty-five years after the death of Jesus. He makes the statement that there were probably five hundred Christians still living who had seen Jesus alive after His resurrection. 1 Cor. 15:6. This state ment might easily have been refuted if it was not true. Delusions are short lived as a rule; and have no power to lift men Godward. After twenty cen turies the resurrection of Christ is the greatest moral dynamic known. _ Eph. 1:19-20. TUESDAY, March 29. John 20:11-18. The Christ of the Forty Days. There are three appearances of Christ in John 20. The appearance to Mary is the coming to an individual as a friend and teacher1. -It reveals a Christ who knows each one of us by
289 name, “Mary,” who must be known spiritually, “Touch me not,” and one who is identified with us. “Father,” “Brethren,” “my,” “your.” Rom. 8:17. The appearance to the disciples in the upper room is the coming to the church as the Comforter. It reveals a Christ with a real body and a physical life, but a body spiritualized and su perior to known laws, and a Christ com ing as a messenger of peace, the Giver of grace and comfort. The appearance to Thomas is the coming to one out side, an unbeliever. It reveals a Christ who is patient and tender to the doubt ing and the sinning, a Christ who is the true answer to all doubts and difficul ties, and one who teaches the blessed ness of faith in God. The testimony of Thomas “My Lord and my God,” is an unanswerable tribute to the Deity of Jesus. WEDNESDAY, March 80. Mark 16:12- 20 .* The Great Commission. This is our Lord’s final message to His church, having the greatest em phasis because it comes from the glori fied state. Unbelief in the promises attached to it is a’s great a sin as dis obedience to its command. The au thenticity of this passage has been eon- firmed by reverent scholarship. The supreme investiture—“All power is given unto me” precedes the great com mission “Go ye and teach all nations.” This is followed by the Divine assur ance “I am with you alway.” Can we claim th6 “all power” and “all days” unless we go to “all nations” and teach “all things” ? Here is no room for human choice and preference. This manifesto is accompanied by majestic credentials which present us with a single alternative. "Them that be lieve” vs. 17. Either this faith must be limited to the early church or these principles have a permanent applica tion. “In.my name” is the potent form ula that converts the incredible and im-
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