• T H E ¿ T U G ’ S B U S I N E S S
465
August 1926
ubpt tv ¡jy other when we expect the Lord to come; we will be careful to go to no place that we would be ashamed to have the Lord find us if He should come at that moment. These are all practical statements. The question of our conduct and our speech and actions pertains to the practical side o f our daily life, and the Lord's coming in deed and in truth be comes a practical hope when we can apply our every action and speech and thought of our life to the “ blessed _ hope" of His coming. The hope of meeting Christ Jesus in the air will spur us on to a closer walk with God. That servant who says, “ My Lord delayeth His coming,” may begin to eat and drink with the drunken, but not so with the servant who is looking for Him at any time. God pity the professing church members who walk with the world. What shame will be theirs when they stand before the Lord at His coming. THIRD, the “ blessed hope” of the Lord’s coming will cause us to sep arate ourselves from the world (Phil. 3 :20 ): “Our citizenship is in heaven, from whence we look for our Lord Jesus Christ.” With our eyes turned t o w a rd heaven, looking for our Lord to come, we will not be taken up with the things of this world. Are the ap proaching nuptials nothing to her, who is the bride-to-be? Is she taken up with the affairs irrelevant to him? Is she unconcerned concerning the date of her marriage? No, the coming of her bridegroom means a new Joy, a new happiness, the fulfillment of love, the commencement of a beautiful fellowship and union. Oh, shall we who are called by His name be indifferent to the coming of our Heavenly Bridegroom? Shall we be taken up with the affairs of this world? If we are doing what He told us to do, "Watching,” will we be in different concerning the time, the closeness of His coming, “ who is the fairest among ten thousand to our souls” ? “ Pace to face with Christ my Saviour, Pace to face— what will it be? When in rapture I behold Him, Jesus Christ who died for me.” FOURTH, the Lord’s coming is a practical hope in that it compels the one who is looking for His coming to study the Word of God. The one out standing need of this present day is a return to the Bible, the Word of God.
do accept, the Bible as It is written. Believers who are looking for the com ing of our Lord are never found in the camps of the Modernists, Higher Crit ics, Unitarians, or Evolutionists. FIFTH, the Second Coming of our Lord is a practical hope because when He comes He will establish permanent and universal peace. There is some-' thing in the very word “ peace” which strikes upon the ear like the sound of sweetest music. In these days much is being said about peace, and, many sermons and addresses have been de livered, volumes have been written, much money has been spent, to estab lish peace among the nations of the world, and yet we are far from an as sured peace. The world today politic ally, socially, mqrally and religiously is in an upheaval. There is no such thing as political peace in the world. Every country on the globe, every na tion in the world, is torn asunder with strife, envy and political trickery. Our social conditions the world over are disrupted. Instead of peace we have class hatred— and all the peace conferences, books and schemes of men can never heal the social sores of the nations and bring peace. Never before in the history of the world were the morals of the nations in such a chaotic condition. In the religious world the same dis integrating forces are at work. Every evangelical denomination is going through an upheaval, and this is also true of the different sects. When Christ comes, peace shall be estab lished. The thing for which all have been longing and working, but not able to obtain, will then be a reality. The coining of the Prince of Peace to establish peace is the most prac tical hope for a sin-saturated, war- torn world (Jer. 23 :6 ): “ Behold, the days come, salth the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.” This can be none other than Christ, the Son of God, our returned Master (1 Thess. 6:4, 6, 6 ): “ But ye, brethren, are not in dark ness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all children of light and the children o f the day. We are not of the night, nor o f darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep, as do others, but let us watch and be sober.” This striking passage assures us that while the obedient followers of Christ may not always understand all the mysteries of prophecy and provL dence, they will understand enough to
R n . Britton Boos The ignorance concerning the Bible on the part of church members, Chris tians, is appalling. When the truth of the “ blessed hope” grips the heart of man, he will search the Scriptures as never before. So many people in our churches never study the Bible for themselves, simply taking as a matter of fact almost any statement made concerning the Bible. One of the outstanding reasons why so-called Christian Science, N ew Thought, Russellism and all the other later day Anti-Christian propaganda has taken such a hold on the people is because of their ignorance concerning God’s Word. When a Christian is brought to see th e , truth of God’s Word concerning the imminent return of our Lord, that moment a desire takes hold of that heart to read and study the Word of God. This fact has been demonstrated over and over again. Place this wonderful truth before God’s people and it will drive them to their Bibles as nothing else will. Christians who are looking for the re turn of the Lord are students of pro phecy. They are willing to accept, and
“ The King’s Business has been such a help to me that I should not like to discontinue it. Its clear testimony to the inerrancy of God's Word is desperately needed in these perilous times.”— This encour aging comment comes from South Wales.
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