cost. The disciples were p»or wit nesses between Easter and Pente cost. They were hidden behind closed doors for fear and Peter led them in a return to fishing. Christians who are living on the wrong side of Pen tecost usually live in fear and not a few revert to their old ways. Peter had been called to bigger business than fishing: “ Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” Too many of us are doing trivial things when we could do tremendous things for God. Dr. Graham Scroggie said: “ The trouble and tragedy is that the church has been content to live between Easter and Pentecost, on the right side of justification but on the wrong side of sanctification; on the right side of pardon but on the wrong side of power.” The disciples of John mentioned in Acts 19 who had not so much as heard whether there was any Holy Ghost are not the only ones of that variety. If the Holy Spirit ceased His operations today some Chris tians and churches would never know the difference. That is why some carry on with the strange fire in stead of supernatural fire, painted fire instead of Pentecostal fire. That is why we resort to stunts and shows and entertainment and high pressure promotion. Pentecost was its own publicity. A Christian is a believer trusting Christ as Saviour, resting in the fin ished work of Calvary. He is a dis ciple following a risen Lord. He is a witness filled with the Spirit. He is on the right side of Calvary, of Eas ter and of Pentecost. On the day of Pentecost there were 120 Christians who had an experience of all three. There was a preacher who preached all three: “Him . . . ye have cruci fied” . . . there was Calvary; “Whom God hath raised up” , . . there was the resurrection; “He hath shed forth this” . . . there was Pentecost (Acts 2:23, 24, 33). No wonder the congregation cried, “What shall we do?” Is not this the pattern for true revival? Let a handful of men and women living on the right side of Calvary, Easter and Pentecost, pro claim all three and men will first ask “ What meaneth this?” and presently they will inquire, “What shall we do?”
watching a play. We are transported out of this world but presently the curtain comes down and we come to and find we are back in the midst of things as they are. Trying to re capture the Galilean experience is a discouraging business. A PERSONAL SALVATION, NOT REMOTE CONTROL We need to get on this side of Cal vary. Something was done there that enables us to share His life today. It is not inspiration or imitation but identification. “ Christ liveth in me” is different from my trying to live like Jesus. He came not to take my part but my place and He did that for both sinner and saint. He died for us. He lives in us. We are not operated by remote control from Galilee. No man is a Christian until he accepts the finished work of the Cross and rests his soul upon it. We are not saved by what happened in Galilee, but by what took place on Golgotha. We are on this side of Cal vary. There is also such a thing as liv ing on the wrong side of Easter. I know that Easter is not a Bible word but we use it for convenience. Thomas was on the right side of the resurrection chronologically but on the wrong side experientially when he demanded visible signs before he would believe. He knew that Jesus was dead. He did not believe that He was alive again. The world today knows that Christ died . . . that is a fact of history. But the world does not believe that He rose again. The Emmaus disciples had heard a report of the resurrection but they had not seen the Lord. He was a re port, not a reality, and that is the trouble with a lot of us today. What is factual has not become actual. One cannot live on the memory of a dead Christ. Christianity does not honor a corpse; it hails a conqueror. We do not seek the living among the dead. The angel at the tomb said to the women, “Tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you.” He is not behind us in a grave, He is ahead of us.
A ONCE-A-WEEK RELIGION There are Christians who believe doctrinally that our Lord arose, but in experience they live on the wrong side of Easter as though He were still in the grave. They pay Him for mal tribute on Sunday but on Mon day they live as though He were a corpse in Galilee. They honor Him on Easter and live the rest of the year as though He were a fairy tale. But we share the resurrection with Him. That is the significance of bap tism. “ Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in new ness of life” (Rom. 6 :4 ). We are dead to sin but alive unto God. How many church members ever under stand that? Too many are on the wrong side of Calvary and have not been saved from the penalty of sin. Too many others are on the wrong side of Easter and have not been de livered from the power of sin. Some have gone to church for years but have never dreamed that they died and rose with Christ and that, just as He never went back to the grave, so they should not return to sin and the world but be living witnesses to the power of His resurrection. With regard to our departed loved ones we often live on the wrong side of Easter, sorrowing as those who have no hope. To be with Christ is far better. They are not “ lost” if we know where they are. We do not look for them in a grave for we seek not the living among the dead. “Death can hide but not divide; Thou art but on Christ’s other side. Thou art with Christ and Christ with me; United still in Christ are we!” Let us live on the right side of Easter! We need not visit His tomb with the spices of formal respect. We need to be out on the highways, not weeping, but witnessing, for He is not dead but risen. LIVING BETWEEN EASTER AND PENTECOST Finally, consider the tragedy of living on the wrong side of Pente
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APRIL, 1965
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