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T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
April, 1938
He is highly exalted today. His name ab sorbs all other names. Having submitted to the lowest humiliation, He sits now upon the highest throne. V . The Testimony "A voice out of the cloud, which said . . .” “While he yet spake, behold, a bright .cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him” (Matt. 17:5). “ A bright cloud overshadowed them,” a cloud in which the visitors departed. The cloud symbolized mystery. The brightness suggested glory. “ Behold a yoice out of the cloud, which said: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” That voice, the voice of God, the same voice that was heard from the clouds of Sinai and the clouds at Jesus’ baptism, was saying: “ This is my beloved Son.” The voice of the Father seals the deity of Jesus. That voice was a testimony to His sinlessness—to G od’s approval of all He said and of all He did and of all He was to say and to do. While others were calling Jesus a criminal, God was testifying to His sinlessness. While some others were calling Him a bastard, casting slurs upon His virgin birth, God was calling Him “my beloved Son.” While some others, in their enmity and hatred of Jesus, were calling Him a liar and a wine- bibber and a glutton and a deceiver, God was saying: “My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” As you do not find foul odors in flowers, so you find no ruins of bad habits in Christ’s character. As fire is always warm, no Christ’s moral earnestness is always at white heat. As a'toy hammer cannot beat the pyramids down, so the most dreadful misfortune does not loosen a fiber in Him. He is always at His best. He is never be trayed into, an error of judgment. He never hurried a footstep for the sake of popular ity. He never faltered in a purpose because of meeting antagonism. He was so finely strung, so unutterably keyed to truth and to mercy and to justice and to love, that He quickly felt the sorrow, the sympathy, and the indignation which wrong and in justice invariably elicit from all high souls. He was the perfect God-Man! Though the scribes, buried in precedents and legalism, hated Him, still God spake, saying: “ I am well pleased.” Though knotty lawyers, skillful in turning the law against the innocent, hated Him, God spake, saying;: “ I am well pleased.” Though the materialistic Sadducees, denying a divine hope to the travail of the ages, also hated Him, God was ever well pleased with Him. Though the Greek with his wild mythol ogies pitied Him, God was well pleased with Him. Though the kings of His day slighted Him and the rich sometimes flouted Him, still, in it all, God was well pleased with Him. Even though His friends, on certain occasions, thought Him beside Him self (Mk. 3:21), still God is well pleased with Him who has bannered continents with love and has changed the climate of nations.
V I. The Touch
“ And Jesus came and touched; them.” “ And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid. And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid” (Matt. 17:6, 7). Thus He met their emergen cy—with calmness and com fort. He touched them and spoke. What a touch it was! What a voice they heard 1 His touch took away fear. “ Arise, be not afraid.” That touch, comforting them, gave them courage. W e touch peo ple every day. Sometimes a physical touch— a hand laid on
A WOMAN’S SONQr FOR EASTER By HELEN FRAZEE-BOWER “Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken That garden where a woman stood and wept, Because the tomb that gave Him sheltering Had yielded up the Presence that it kept. I am remembering her tears were dried By just a word— the whisper of her name; When Jesus, risen, standing by her side, Gave her the resurrection to proclaim. And I, a woman, want to tell the world That I have seen the Lord and He has said, “ Go find the heart where sin has long been curled And say to it that Jesus Christ WAS dead, But IS alive, and reigns forevermore! To all who seek for God He is the Door.” these things unto her” (John 20:18). At Easter-time I am remembering
V II. The Torment “My son . . . he is lunatic, and sore vexed." “ And when they were
come to the multitude, there came to him a cer tain man, kneeling down to him, and saying, Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatic, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water. And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him. Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you ?
how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me. And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed .out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour” (Matt. 17:14-18). “ And when they were come to the multi tude.” While the communion of saints in heavenly places is uplifting, the disciples of the Lord have their duties in the valleys. In fact, one goes up into the mountain only that he may be better prepared for the work on the plain. Those who permanently remain in the mount of religious exalta tion are not of great benefit to broken, impoverished, lost humanity. They came down from the mountain. They were not to live in that “ high moun tain apart,” or to pine in solitary places. But they could take the mountain down into the valley where the lunatic was tor mented and where the father was tormented in heart and soul because of his tormented [Continued on Page 171]
their shoulder, hand held for a moment in theirs, flash of eye as we pass on street, casual conversation with unknown people in a shop or on train or street car or in garage or church. What do we leave be hind us? What is the quality of our con tact with people? What is the essence of personality we communicate? Is our touch defiling, degrading, depressing, chilly ? Does our touch awaken hatred and distrust? Or does our touch bring people into a spiritual world? Jesus touched eyes— and they saw. Jesus touched ears— and they heard. Jesus touched hands— and they worked. Jesus touched hearts— and they rejoiced. Jesus touched feet— and they served. Jesus touched mouths— and they spoke. May our eyes, our ears, our hands, our feet, our mouths be touched! “ God touched my heart. All men became Those I must love— all in His name.”
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