King's Business - 1944-07

July, 1?44

233

prayed. I saw that horrid word again: “Frustration.” Nothing s e e m e d to make any sense. In my darkness and loneliness, I was sure God’s plans had miscarried. I kept asking: How could God take him, when he had so beauti­ fully resigned himself to the divine will? Why had He denied Jim’s one wish,, when it had been for the salva­ tion of a lost soul? Who, now, could win Father for Christ? Certainly there was no one else so winsome and so zealous as Jim. By Faith to Australia The struggle within me,was desper­ ate and long. But by the time we had laid Jim to rest, and I had prepared to go on to Australia alone, I was beginning to walk by faith, as old Judge Scott had tried to show me. During the few weeks that I was at home in Australia, I saw that a change had qome in my father’s : attitude toward spiritual things. He would sometimes ask us to read Scripture passages from Daily Light, and to sing the old hymns of the church. But he would not let me speak to him alone. Day after day passed, and I'thought of Jim, and of his crushing burden for Dad’s salivation. One night, just before I was due to return to the United States, I made up my mind I must talk to Father. I waited until he had retired, and then I went to his room, and turned on the light, and sat at his bedside for about an hour. He did not resent my coming. I spoke of Jim—to whom Father had refused to write for some six long years—of Jim’s fruitful minis­ try in America, and especially of his great love and concern for Father. My listener was deeply touched; tears trickled down the gray lines of his face. Never before had I seen my father give away to emotion. He seemed to understand the plan of sal­ vation as I outlined it simply for him; in fact, I am not sure but that, even then, he believed. His love of fair deal­ ing shone out again, as it had so often in his lifetime. “Son,” he said brokenly, “I’d have to give it up—this liquor business— And I’ve been in it almost thirty years. I’m too old to start anything else.” When we prayed together, he sobbed as he said, “Lord,'I want to be a Chris­ tian. Make it possible for me to be a Christian.” He would not see that the possibility was already provided. With a heavy heart, I left him. There followed three or four years in which I read, off and on, that “in­ visible writing” that dulled my faith. Then” came a letter from Australia that blotted out the gloomy word, “Frustration,” from my spiritual vi­ sion and set me shouting, “Jesus doeth all things well!”

Heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee; In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.” ; “ O Lord!” They prayed together, and then he added hopefully, “I will come back to you, Mother. You need me so. I- will take better care of you than ever before!” “But. . . if the Lord—” “If the Lord* should call me—I am* . . . ready. . . trusting in Him.” ' Not long after he had uttered those words, my father saw “ earth’s vain shadows flee,” and because he was “trusting in Him” when that moment came, I know he went Home to be with the Lord. The Saviour’s plans had not miscar­ ried. He .had not used Jim, or me, in the way we had supposed He would. But there was joy in heaven over one sinner that repented — and that one was our father, for whom Christ died. (To be continued) • The two records herein cited are not figurative; they are literal, and are to be taken at their face value. .'Our Lord, who created the universe, and who sustains and upholds it is surely able ' to “handle” a few million of its inhabitants. QUE.: Will Christ set- up His kingdom on this earth for a thou­ sand years? The Word of God states that Christ will reign on this earth for a thou­ sand years—the millennium. This period is to be ^preceded by the event of the Rapture, in which born-again believers will be “ caught u p . . . in the clouds, to me^t the Lord in the air” (1 Thess. 4:16, 17). These believers, or “ saints” will have a part later, ftl the activities of the kingdom which Christ will establish. Concerning the kingdom, we learn from Ziechariah 14:4, Psalm 2:6, and Luke 1:32 that Christ will descend to the Mount of Olives, and that His reign will emanate from Jerusalem where He will occupy the “throne. . . of David” which will be given to Him by God, the Father. Believers will “appear with him in glory” (Col. 3:4), and reign With Him (cf. 2 Tim. 2:12; Rev. 5:10). According to Romans 14:11 and Philippians 2:9-11, ‘■‘every knee shall bow” to our Lord, and “every tongue” shall “ confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God.”

Victory Through Christ The letter unfolded a picture to me: of a weary man, extremely ill for two years before he would resign himself to his affliction. Now he was on his way to the hospital. His wife bent over him. They spoke of several indi­ viduals, among them two faithless as­ sociates of Father’s who had once ruined his business and caused him to go into bankruptcy. “You know,” Father said gently as he neared the hospital, “all that ha­ tred and bitterness in my heart—it is gone!” “Is. it, John?" “It is. Could you sing for me?” She knew what he wanted. Two fa­ vorites had been “Lead, Kindly Light,” and “Abide with Me.” There was that last verse: “Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes, Shine through the gloom, and point me to the skies: Questions for answer in this depart­ ment should be sent to the Editorial Department, THE KING'S BUSINESS. 558 So. Hope St., Los Angeles 13, Calif. QUE.: What Scriptural proof can be offered to meet the argu­ ment that God c o u l d not have “ handled” two or three million people; therefore, there were not that many who left Egypt at the Exodus ? This argument is in direct contra­ diction to the account given in God’s Word. In Exodus 12:37 we read that there were “about six hundred thou­ sand on foot that were men” of the Israelites. who left Egypt. That three fourths of these men were married, and had two children, would be a conservative estimate, and one which would bring the number well into the two-million bracket. This total does not include the older members of the company who could not be “on foot,” nor the mixed multitude which joined the Israelites in their exodus. Again in the first and second chapters of Numbers is .the record of the numbering of the Israelites while in the wilderness. The poll was to be taken of the men who were “from twenty years old and upward” who were able to ‘go forth to war” (Num. 1:3). The total amounts . to almost 600,000. Add to this number the aged, the women, the children, and the mixed multitude. The sum is again well over the two-million mark.

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