cruel nails piercing his hands and feet, crowned with thorns, the spittle o f men running down over His pre cious face — bleeding — dying? What must she have thought as she recalled the words o f Gabriel? One passage o f Scripture must have comforted the heart o f Mary as she stood there. She knew the reality o f the miracle o f His birth, and she remembered the prom ise o f her God: I will not “ suffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me. It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven” (Psa. 89:33-37). God well understood the struggle between faith and doubt that must have existed in the hearts o f that lit tle band that stood on old Olivet’s brow, and watched the Lord depart from this earth without having ful filled the promises made to Israel. We can readily understand why two men were sent all the way from glory, to reassure them as He mounted the cloud chariots and rode away: “ Ye men o f Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven ? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1 :11 ). Unless words have no meaning—- unless the solemn promises of God are to be broken—unless God is un able to perform that which He has promised—Jesus Christ, the Son of Mary, MUST return to this earth, and reigning upon the throne o f Da vid, establish “ on earth peace, good will toward men.” Therefore, how tremendously sig nificant are the events now transpir ing before our very eyes! And most significant o f them all is the resurrec tion o f Israel now taking place in the land o f Abraham. That such a resur rection must take place is as certain as the dawn. “ I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I am also an Israelite, o f the seed o f Abraham, o f the tribe o f Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew” (Rom. 11:1, 2). Again, Jonah is the sign. “ Cast away” ? Yes, pitched overboard into the sea, he was. “ Cast away” ? No, he was not, for God provided a real sub marine to carry him back to land! Even so, the Apostle Paul declared that “ God hath not cast away his peo ple which he foreknew” ; yet, he asked, “ I f the casting away o f them
be the reconciling o f the world, what shall the receiving o f them he, hut life from the dead?” (Rom. 11:15). “ Life from the dead” ! That’s resur rection ! Again, Ezekiel related a strange ex perience through which he passed. He said: “ The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit o f the Lord, and set me down in the midst o f the valley which was full o f bones . . . as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them. Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son o f man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, 0 breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceeding great army” (Ezek. 37:1, 7-10). Such was the vision. Again God was His own interpreter: “ Then he said unto me, Son o f man, these bones are the whole house o f Israel . . . Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; behold, 0 my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out o f your graves, and bring you into the land o f Israel. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, 0 my people, and brought you up out o f your graves, And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord” (Ezek. 37:11-14). Nearly fifty years ago, the writer, as a boy preacher, read this vision. But at that time the Turk was in pos session of the land o f Palestine, and the Mosque o f Omar covered the Tem ple ground; but, I believed the Scrip ture, and said, “ The Turk must g o !” I preached a sermon on the subject: “ The Doomed Turk.” I still possess the notes o f that sermon. I soon dis covered that a lot of folks didn’t be lieve the Scriptures. Those people still exist! “ For four hundred years,” they said, “ the Moslem has occupied the land. Three hundred million Mos lems will rise in a vast Holy War if you try to drive him forth.” Less than a score o f years later, General Allen- by marched into Jerusalem, and de livered that city from the grasp of the Turk without firing a shot. At his T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
Young People working in the fields at Ginegar.
the ordinances that govern the heavens still endure, and since the sun does not rise in the west and set in the east, “ physical Israel” remains a nation before the Lord, no matter what the attitude o f the nations to wards that ancient people may be. Since “ the Scripture cannot be broken,” absolutely nothing the “ nat ural Israelitish nation” has done or can do, will cause the eternal God to break His unconditional covenants. “ No hold - over for a n a t u r a l Israelitish nation” ? And almost be fore the ink used in writing those words was dry, the modern nation of Israel arose from the grave where it had lain for two thousand years! On May 14, 1948, the State of Israeli arose, and is now the 59th member o f the “ United Nations” . But that event, significant as it is, is only the begin ning. Not a part, but the whole o f the city o f David, and the land o f Abra ham, is yet to be possessed! And that day is at hand! And what about the unconditional promise that God sent the angel Ga briel to deliver to the virgin Mary, telling her that her Son must reign on the restored throne o f David? “ Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son o f the High est: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne o f his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and o f his kingdom there shall be no end” (Luke 1 :BO SS). Is that promise to the mother of our Lord going to fail ? Who can know the thoughts that must have been in the heart o f Mary as she stood by the cross, where hung her Son, with the Page Eight
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