King's Business - 1949-01

THE GATES OF HELL A N D OF THE C H U R C H (Continued from Page 12)

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is thy sting? O Sheol, where is thy victory?” (1 Cor. 15:55), “ And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death and Hell [Sheol or Hades] followed with him” (Rev. 6 :8 ); “ Death, and hell delivered up the dead” (Rev. 20:13); “Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming” (Isa. 14:9); “With hell are we at agreement” (Isa. 28:15); “Who enlargeth his desire as hell [Sheol]” (Hab.' 2 :5 ); “Hell and destruction are never full” (Prov. 27:20). Therefore, hell or Sheol appears to be a monster clamoring for the dead. As in the kingdom of light, we have sera­ phim and cherubim and the strange living creatures of Ezekiel and Revela­ tion, so in the kingdom of darkness there are monsters like death and hell, or Sheol, that seem to have come into existence with the entrance of sin into the universe. They claim .possession of the dead as their right. They even had a claim on Christ through the fact of His substitutionary death on our behalf. Something of this truth is sug­ gested by the remarkable phrase,— “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Moreover, we read nowhere in Scripture that hell or Sheol has ceased to demand the dead as of old but still seeks to prevail against the believers of today as in Old Testament times. But we have the blessed assur­ ance of our conquering Christ that “ the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” ; “ O grave [Sheol], where is thy victory?” “Absent from the body, pres­ ent with the Lord.” . The Apostles’ Creed of the early Church was perfectly scriptural when it stated that “ Christ descended into hell,” for Jesus told His disciples while He was still alive that “ as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Jesus left His body on the Cross, but He Himself descended into the lower parts of the earth, even into Sheol, to make known to the wait­ ing saints in Paradise the fulfillment -of prophecy and the accomplishment of His purpose as the Seed of the woman bruising the serpent’s head. He went to preach to them the things concerning Himself in the Scriptures, as He did again to the two on the road to Emmaus, whose hearts burned within them as He talked with them. Then, when He had finished His message to the saints, as a conqueror, He tore the bars away and opened the gates of hell, leading “ cap­ tivity captive” to a greater and sweeter and better Paradise in the third heaven, where God is. What a wonderful heaven is the por­ tion of all believers now through the death and resurrection of Jesus! This wonderful heritage ought to be known by all the church, so that we may know

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WRITE FOR FREE BOOKLET "The Talking Stick From Gabon"

The ChristianandMissionary ALLIANCE

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