life : he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” (John 11:25). Satan said to Corruption, his standard bearer: “ Hold fast that crucified man in Eden’s garden.” But “ up from the grave He arose!” Revelation 1:18: “ I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.” All the pages of history contain no event more wonderfully interesting than the most tremendous and the most momentous fact of history — the resurrection of Jesus. His resurrection is the foundation and pivotal point of Christianity. His resurrection — the greatest evidence of Chris tianity, the greatest exhibition of God’s power, the greatest truth of the gospel, the greatest reality of faith, the greatest assurance of coming glory, the greatest incentive o f holiness — is marked with the fullest credibility. His resurrection — a fact thrillingly touching the human heart — a truth powerfully influencing human character and human destiny — a fact mentioned directly more than one hundred times in the New Testament — is as fully attested as any other historical fact, remote or recent. The resurrection of Jesus — the whole alphabet of human hope, the certificate o f our Lord’s mission from heaven, the heart of the gospel in all ages — completed Christ’s substitutionary work on the cross. It was evidence that God accepted the sin less Substitute. Without Christ’s resurrection, His crucifixion and death would have been in vain. These two fundamental facts cannot be separated. This Christ who broke the bars of the grave asunder, is the
COMING CHRIST Jesus said: “ I will come again” (John 14:3). “ Behold, He cometh” (Revelation 1:7). In the Word of God no subject is more inter esting, fascinating, and important than that of our Lord’s RETURN. We must not minimize what the Bible magnifies. The personal, literal, bodily, visible RETURN of Jesus is the central and con trolling EVENT of the FUTURE. Christ’s own personal return is the supreme EVENT — and it is bound up indissolubly with the things which precede and the things which follow. The CENTER of the Christian hope is in the return of Jesus. The COMING again of Jesus is not a process; it is an EVENT. He comes in the cloudy heavens to call up His people — His own — both the living and the dead — to be with Himself. The Revelation will witness the Lord’s actual return to EARTH, to be upon it as literally as He was here in the FIRST advent. Zechariah 14:4: “And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall re move toward the north, and half of it toward the south.” Then shall He be “king over all the earth.” When Jesus comes to reign literally upon the earth, that will be the watchman’s looked-for day, the husbandman’s harvest day, the builder’s com pletion day, the master’s reckoning day, the ser vant’s payday, the King’s coronation day, the bride’s wedding day. What is our CONCLUSION To take this wonderful Christ, Son of Man without sin and Son o f God with power, out of world matters—out of the world’s trouble and turmoil and tragedies — is like taking heat out of fire — and expecting warmth. It is like taking mel ody out of music — and expecting it to charm the ear. Like taking fact out of history — and ex pecting it to give the truth. Like taking mind out of metaphysics — and expecting such to be correct. Like taking the sap out of the tree — and expecting it to bear fruit. Like taking fiction out of literature — and expecting it to be entertaining. Like taking steam out of a locomotive — and ex pecting it to have power. Like taking blood out of the body — and expecting it to have life and health. Like taking the sun out of the universe — and expecting it to have light.
Dr. Robert G. Lee
is pastor emeritus
of the Bellevue Bap
tist Church, Mem
phis, Tennessee. This
address was given
at the 1966 Com
mencement Exercise
of Biola Schools and
Colleges, La Mira
da, Calif.
28
THE KING'S BUSINESS
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