THE K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S to the glory of this picture, Israel rejected and crucified her King. They unconsciously fulfilled the very prophe cies they ignored or misunderstood. May not the Church be in danger of falling into the opposite error? Fixing our thoughts upon the first advent and, seeing so much prophecy fulfilled in the historic Christ, we should bear in mind that every detail of a victorious king will also be literally fulfilled at the second advent. TUESDAY, April 8th. Isaiah 35:1-10. Christ’s Reign. When man was created he was placed upon the earth as its lord. Gen. 1:28. There is a close relationship and mys terious connection between the earth and man. Man’s body is a part of it. Gen. 3:19. The same chemical con stituents are in the body of man and in the earth beneath his feet. When man fell the earth reflected his lost condition and became unfruitful. Gen. 3:17. Meanwhile the whole Creation groaneth and travaileth in pain waiting for the redemption of the body. When man’s redemption is completed, the earth will again reflect and share his glory. The desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. The assurances of the prophet therefore concerning kingdom conditions are not to be ex plained as mere poetic license or taken as rhetorical hyperbole, but they are to be interpreted literally even from an agricultural standpoint. WEDNESDAY, April 9. John 1:35-42. The Lamb of God. The incarnation was at first more of an obscuration than a revelation. Christ needed some one to indicate and identify Him. The one who did so was John the Baptist. As the Lamb of God Christ was the antitype of the bleeding lamb on Abel’s altar and of every pas chal lamb. The lamb literally was cruci fied by having a spit run through its body from head to tail and another from shoulder to shoulder, thus forming a cross as it was prepared for roasting. There is no virtue in the living lamb. In Rev. 5:6, the cynosure of every eye in heaven, and the centre of celestial adoration, was a lamb as it had been slain. Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins. The Lamb of God must take away the sin of the world. Therefore it behooved Christ to suffer and to give His life as a ransom for many.
366 since no man can come to the Father but by Him. it follows that no one who rejects Christ and denies His Deity can ever reach the Father. To under stand any force of nature, ond must study it at the point of manifestation, Christ is God incarnate and objectified, Christ illustrates the invisible God and demonstrates the unknown God. No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father He hath declared him, (lit erally, made an exegesis of Him). No one has any excuse for being in ignor ance of God. We have an inspired definition of eternal life in John 17:3. If eternal life consists in knowing God, eternal death must be its opposite and consist in not knowing Him. Hell can have no greater torment than to know there is a God, hut at the same time to know that one can never know Him, because the organ of spiritual knowl edge has been destroyed through unbe lief and the rejection of His Son. SUNDAY, April 6. 2 Cor 6:14, 7:1. Sonship With God. God is the creator of all men and as such is sometimes said to sustain to all men the natural relationship of a father. From the standpoint of Scripture, how ever, God is spiritually the Father of only those who believe on Jesus. As many as received Him, to them gave He the right, authority and privilege of becoming the children of God, even to those who believe on His name. John 1:12. All men have the capacity of becoming the sons of God. This capa city becomes actuality by faith in Christ Jesus. By nature we are the children of wrath even as others. Children take after their parents. Jesus called some men the children of the devil because they acted like the devil. John 8:41. When by f^ie new birth we are made partakers of the Divine nature, we think, talk, act, look and live like God and our sonship is manifest to all. MONDAY, April 7. Isaiah 53:1-12. The Saviour Foretold. Isaiah the evangelical prophet draws the picture of the suffering Servant of Jehovah. The fifty-third chapter finds a* literal fulfilment in the earthly life and death of our Lord. The Jews had their eyes fixed upon that other pro phetic picture of a conquering and reign ing Messiah. Jhis portrayal will be fulfilled at the second advent. Because the earthly career did not correspond
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