S U N D A Y S C H O O L continued word Christ for the word love or charity. In fact this may be done throughout the chapter. Love Defended, vv. 8-13 Love’s importance is defended by rea son of its enduring quality. Prophecy will eventually be fulfilled, but love will con tinue forever. Tongues have already ceased in their manifestation of apostolic times, but love will always remain. Then knowl edge, in the sense in which we have it today in its imperfect character, will vanish away in the light of Christ’s ap pearing (w . 8-10). The coming of the Lord, the supreme example of love, will bring to perfection the salvation which we already have but which we are unable to appreciate in its fullness. Growth in grace has enabled the faithful child of God to overcome his childish ways. (Have you overcome all of yours yet?) (v. 11). He has progressed to a measured degree in the way of Christian maturity, but still he sees only imperfectly as in a “brass mir ror” (v. 12). He awaits the day when the love of Christ will accomplish its perfect work and the believer will be transformed into His image (v. 13 and 1 John 3:1, 2 ). No wonder divine love was the theme of Paul’s song. Helps for the Children Where Love Is God Is 1 Cor. 13 Memory Verse: [Love] "Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil" (1 Cor. 13:5). One of the longest letters that Paul wrote to his Christian friends is the letter to the church at Corinth. Paul wrote two letters to this church, First and Second Corinthians. In First Corinthians we find the great love chapter of the New Testa ment. These Christians were not sure how to choose right from wrong; they were not sure how God wanted His children to live. Paul wrote to tell them some of the things that would be true in their lives if they truly loved the Lord Jesus and one an other. The kind of love that Paul was talking about is a gift of God, not just being good-natured when we feel like it. Let us read some of the things that are true of real love. Love doesn’t always insist upon having itself first; love doesn’t always have to have its own way. Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous of what others have or of what others can do. Love refuses to get mad at every little thing that happens that it does not like. Love is never happy with things which displease God. Have you been grumpy? Have you pouted whenever you cannot have your own way? Have you refused to play games with other boys and girls unless you could be “it” ? Are you always un happy unless you are first? do you fuss unless your parents buy you everything that your friends have? If the answer to any of these questions is Yes, pray that God will give you His love in your heart so that you and your home and your friends will be happy because your words and actions show the real love of the Lord Jesus.
He ever 1
veth **
i ^uppose that the silence of the ,\ tomb in which Jesus Christ, U the crucified Saviour was laid had never to this hour been broken! No angelic message; no meeting with the risen Christ; no Pentecost; no evidence that His death was more availing for sin than that of any other man! SUP POSE! Suppose that men could make pilgrimages to some sacred tomb and look upon the mummified form in which so great a spirit had lived! What tears of despair we might shed to think that this pur est, noblest and mightiest of all souls had come to an end more terrible than any mortal ever ex perienced! Deeper than the darkness which settled over the crucifixion scene would be the spiritual darkness of men, had the claim of Jesus to be the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world, been met with utter silence from heaven. We little comprehend the depth of meaning in the angel’s words: “He is not here; He is risen!” Not only does it indicate the Father’s acceptance of His sacrifice, and hence the basis of the believer’s justification: not only does it fur nish positive assurance of life be yond—but it gives to the child of God a living intercessor at the throne of God who can guarantee his eternal security. Have we rightly estimated the importance of the resurrection of Christ? It is possible to become lop-sided in relation to the cross. Saving faith rests not alone on the cross, _D EAD SEA SCROLLS (from p. 35) about the genuineness of the manu script.” So began what has now be come quite a literature on this in tensely interesting and important subject. (Those desiring to make a fuller study of the subject see copies of the Biblical Archaeologist from May, 1948 on.) In future articles we hope to deal with the contents of the Scrolls and other phases of the dis covery. INFALLIBLE PROOFS (from p. 19) able to do so, Christianity would have died at the sight of it, for Christianity was founded upon the preaching of the resurrection. Nor did the friends of the Lord possess the
but on the living Christ Himself, who “ ever lives” to finish that which He has started. The atoning work accomplished at Calvary, all- sufficient and eternal as it is—is not ALL of His saving work. His presence at the throne, in view of the sacrifice He has made, brings down upon the true believer the blessings which flow from that sacrifice. Our salvation is not so secured by His death as to make unneces sary His resurrection life at the throne. He died in our stead to bear our. sins, but HE LIVES to be “ our life.” Our salvation was not a thing all completed at a given time. We ARE saved, if we have accepted Him. We are BEING sav ed from the effects of sin. We SHALL BE saved from the very presence of sin at His coming again. The glorious fact for the believ er is that our living Lord can guarantee to finish what He has started (Phil. 1:6) because “ He ever liveth to make intercession for us.” Death can never arrest Him. Man’s work can never be guar anteed as complete. His purposes are all broken off by death. But, because Christ ever liveth there can be no question as to His power to carry out what He has under taken. Do you know this risen Christ as your personal Saviour? If so, let every Lord’s Day, kept in com memoration of His resurrection, re new your joy in the fact that your Saviour lies not in some nameless grave, but that He stands as your representative in the Glory! body, for when the women came with news of an empty tomb, “ their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not” (Luke 24:11). Their attitude was reflected by that of Thomas, who said, “ Except I put my finger into the print of the nails . . . I will not believe.” When the dis ciples were finally persuaded that Christ was risen indeed, it was not because they were inclined so to be lieve, but because they were face to face with indisputable evidence. Not only was the tomb empty, but they walked and talked with their risen Lord. There is the witness of Chrisfs post-resurrection ministry. It was not as if the body had disappeared, never continued on page 49 THE KING'S BUSINESS
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