174 idols; abandoned idolatry. They had been heathens, ignorant, idolatrous, su perstitious and debased. They received th e Gospel into honest hearts, were born from above, became new people in Christ Jesus and received th e ir orders from the King. 2. They Worked fo r Him. They are an outstanding example of the possibil ities of service for th e Lord. They had no Bible, no societies, no machinery, no railroads, no steam ships, no tracts, no government to protect them— but in one year they evangelized a country as large as England. P au l rebuked th e Galatians, warned the Colossians, admonished the Corin thians, but commended the Thessa- lonians. He thanked God for them. They had sounded out th e Word of the Lord not only in Macedonia, an d Achaia, but also in every place. They gave th e .Gospel—not inform ation, not education, not social service, not movies, not en tertainm ent. ih e y labored abundantly. W h at a record! 3. They waited fo r th e Lord’s R e tu rn . These workers were real premil- lennialists. It was a prem illennial church, the best church mentioned in the Bible. Love was the root of it. The Lord’s command is, “Do business till I come.” They obeyed. “Till I come” is the incentive to active, definite service. QUESTIONS (1 ) Must th e A ntichrist be revealed before the kingdom is set up? (2 Thess. 2:1-3.) . (2) Who is the nobleman described here? (Mark 13:34, 37.) (3) How will the nobleman retu rn ? (Rev. 1:7.) (4 ) Does God d istribute gifts to His saints? (1 Cor. 12:7-11.) (5) Does th e world love God? (John 15:18-20.) (6) Had the Jews cause for hating Jesus? (John 15:25.) (7) Can any one evade the account-
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S ing day? (Rom. 14:12.) (8 ) Can Christians afford to wait for His judgm ent? (1 Cor. 4 :5 .) ; (9) W hat will your work m anifest when it is tried by fire? (1 Cor. 3:12- 15.) (10) W hat admonition should ap peal to us? (John 9:4.) The parable of th e pounds m ight have been suggested by an experience in the history of the Herodian family. A noble man traveling into a fa r country to re ceive a kingdom, DEVOTIONAL had given to each COMMENT of his servants a By F . W. F a r r m ina to be used in his absence. The citizens hated him and sent a delega tion afte r him to procure his rejection. In spite of this, his kingdom was con firmed and he came back to tak e ven geance on his enemies and to reward his faith fu l servants. One faithless ser v an t instead of using th e am ount given him, had hidden it and gave it back w ith an un ju st and insolent complaint of his lord’s severity. This man had his pound taken away. It was given to th e most deserving of the other ser vants. They were splendidly rewarded while th e rebellious citizens were slain. This many sided parable perm its of many applications. It indicated the Saviour’s near” d eparture from the world. It spoke of th e hatred which should reject him, and of the duty of fidelity in th e use of all th a t he en tru sted to his disciples. It suggested th e certainty of his retu rn and the sol emn accounting a t th a t time th a t would mean th e condemnation of th e slothful and the rich reward of all who served him well. This parable should have helped at least to present the two opposite evils into which some of the early Christians fell. On th e one hand, expecting the imm ediate re tu rn of the Lord, and dis appointed by his delay, some were
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