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T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
January, 1933
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essons F R O M T H E B O O K OF L I F E A N D E V E R Y D A Y L I FE B y R oy T almage B rum baugh
That every idle word that men shall speak they shall give account1 thereof: in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou Shalt be condemned” (Matt. 12:36, 37). The book of Jonah is a literary gem. It is brief; it is concise, Some one said, “ Condensation is an art.” The art is here most vividly illustrated. In the Bible, God has packed the events of centuries -into a few sentences. The book o f Jonah is made up of four: ‘ chapters, forty-eight verses, 1,328 words. It may be read in five min utes, or less. It has been called a drama in three acts;), Brief- yet what variety is found herein! Monologue,, dialogue, thrill ing narrative, vivid scenes, prayer, praise, question, answer, mountain-top experience and valley .despondency! What a b o o k !. Read it. It is an autobiography. There are some who say that Jonah did not write it, because it is written in the third person. However, no honest mind will take this criticism se riously. Numerous-other prophets and sec ular writers used the third person, and the authorship of their works is not questioned. Jonah is a test book. What we do with it determines our attitude toward the rest of the Bible and the God of the Bible. Is it a natural or supernatural book? Can God perform miracles, or can He not? I f we cannot believe the story o f Jonah, can we believe the story of Christ?' j HITCH -HIKERS—Along the railroad, coming from the East to the West,, I saw an open- box car full o f men and women. They paid no: fare; they asked no one permission to ride: “hitch-hikers." Along the high ways—bold persons with interrogation on their faces and lifted thumbs amove: “hitch-hikers” ! In the church—absentees, non-givers, the worldly, leeches, Bible neglectors, the lazy: “hitch-hikers” ! THE SEED—The seed is not the Word plus something else. Additions to the Word, like tradition, hide the true meaning and blunt the blade. Neither is the seed an ab breviated Word. A shorter Bible is no Bible at all. A body without a soul is a corpse. Take anything away from the Bible as originally written, and that which remains ■is lifeless. The seed is the Word. Scatter it. WHICH IS THE GREATEST—The world will,say one thing, and the Spirit- filled Chr i st i an another, Christ does not ask, “Who is greatest in the world?” but, “Who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” The standards o f the invisible are quite different from the standards of the visible. Bigness is not necessarily great
ness. New York City is big, but the whole world kneels before little Bethlehem o f Ju daea. The cosmos is big, but the soul ÍS' great. Greatness.: begins with conversion. To be converted, one must become in faith and humility as a little child. Meekness will yet be enthroned. Humility will some day receive the inheritance incorruptible.
JONAH—At the mere mention of the name, conflicting thoughts arise in the mind. All persons take one of three atti
tudes toward Jonah. First, the comic atti- t u d e ; s o m e a r e shaken with laughter at the mere mention of the prophet’s name.
Second, the attitude of reverence and sin cere belief. Third, the attitude between these two, that is, a serio-comic, or a semi- reverential attitude. Jonah-is one of the most abused books in the Bible. A lecturer, or a certain type of preacher, may easily throw a congregation into boisterous laughter by merely sug gesting that.: Jonah was swallowed by a whale. Destructive criticism has used the weapons o f ridicule and the roar of laugh ter against this little book. But whether it be despised or loved, it cannot be ignored. Stamped with the supernatural, this proph ecy excites' world-wide wonder and time- long attention. A professor of biology in a southern col lege was. asked by the president to resign. He had told his class that he did not believe the story o f Jonah and the whale'." Many voices hurled their disapproval at the presi dent who dared to discharge ■ this alleged hero. The biology professor was pictured as a martyr to freedom o f speech. How ever, one newspaper put the matter rightly when it stated that this man was hired by an institution that believed in the inerrancy o f the Bible, and that, so long as he was drawing pay from this institution, he was under obligation to teach: those things which conformed to the tenets of the col- lege. There are some who ridicule Jonah. A minister in Chicago'said, “Any person who believes that- Jonah actually was in the, whale’s interior for three' days is foolish enough to believe the story of Little Red Ridinghood and the W olf.” That is the attitude o f the modernist and the rational ist. The book of Jonah is much discussed, but very little is known about it. An Eng lish writer,' in ridiculing the book, stated that Jonah was thrown up at Nineveh. This statement passed the eyes of the author, the proof reader, and the publisher. What abysmal ignorance! Nineveh is hundreds o f miles inland from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean. Jonah is a controversial book. No one can ignore it. The supernatural element in it Is so strong that it will continue to amaze the world and arouse comment. Do not pun about any part of the Bible. Jesting which is unfit or improper does not become saints (Eph. 5:3, 4). It is foolish to mock at Jonah. Our Lord Jesus Christ prefaced His remarks about the prophet Jonah with the words, “ I say unto you,
WEATHERING THE GALE— One day I was standing by the seashore. How the wind was blowing! I looked up and saw
the sea gulls sustain ed by the s t r o n g wind. T h e y were borne up; not by their own strength, but by the force of
the gale they encountered. Likewise, trials are intended to buoy up the Christian. If we face the storm be- lievingly, the pinions o f faith will sus tain us. COW O RKM AN SH IP® I attended one of the numerous flower shows in Tacoma. I saw the many-colored gladioli with sword-shaped leaves and spikes. I saw the dahlias with their many shades of fed. How beautiful were the pompons with t h e i r . l i ttl e button-like heads! I saw the asters—white, purple, and pink- rayed. What a tribute to coworkmanship: God and the florist! I had to look for the name o f the florist on the labels, but the name o f God was written large on every flower. We are God’s colaborers. Is His name written on the thoughts of our hearts, on the words of our mouths, on the works o f our hands? RELATIVE TERMS—Hot and cold are relative terms. My children think the water o f Puget Sound invigorating. One day I innocently approached the beach. The children said, “ Come in, the water’s fine.” ; I asked, “ Is it cold?” They said, “No. Warm as tpast!” I plunged in. When my body hit the wa ter, I thought I had been hit by an iceberg. Warm for them, but for me— ! ! ! Human models are relatively good or bad. Christ alone is perfectly good. He is the one Absolute Personality. Follow Him. RESTORATION — During the World War, many o f the magnificent architectural triumphs of Europe were badly damaged or demolished. From September 14, 1914, until the end o f the war, the city and ca thedral of Reims were under almost con stant fire. While the scars of the cathedral were still fresh, the French suggested that no attempt at restoration be made; that the ruins of Reims should stand as a “record [Continued on page 22]
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