October 1931
444
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
THE ONLY WAY BACK TO GOD . . . By ROY TALMAGE BRUMBAUGH, Tacoma, Wash.
road-building nation. We call our roads “highways.” They called theirs “ways.” The chief road of the Roman Empire was the Appian Way. All roads led to it, and it led to Rome. When Christ said, “I am the way,” His meaning was clear at once. A way is a road from one place to another. Our Lord is the road from the sinner to the heavenly Father. He is the only way from earth to heaven, from the lost world to the eternal throne. He is the way from the visible world to the kingdom invisible. He leads us from the temporal to the eternal. Paul, in his argument in Romans 1, proves the world guilty and fallen. The barbarian is guilty, the cultured
“Jesus saith unto him, I afn the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). hese words are spirit. Each letter is filled to the brim with life. When they were spoken, the y.oice of deity was heard. The thoughts of the Almighty were clothed with the articulation of man. I A m We are here confronted with the strongest force in
the world, which is personal ity. When Napoleon returned from exile and set foot on the shores of France, one hundred and fifty thousand men sprang to his banner over night. They were drawn to him by the magnetism of his personality. During the Civil War, an army in gray made a surprise attack upon an army in blue. The Union General, hearing the sound of the battle twenty miles away, made that famous ride through the night on a magnificent war charger. He galloped into the midst of the fleeing army in blue and said, “Come on, boys, we are going back.” With the strength of his personality, he turned ig nominious defeat into glorious victbry. Christ is the Personality
Greek and Roman are guilty, the religionist is guilty; all have “come short of the glory of God.” The way from the guilt of sin to the enjoyment of “no condemnation” is in and through Christ Jesus. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” He is the only way from the domin ion of sin to the state of vic tory. He is the way back to divine likeness. Man was made in the image of God. He par tially lost this likeness in the fall, but it is restored in Christ Jesus so that those who walk in the way may say; “Now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” and “thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Christ, the Way I t is a dark, stormy night, and a little child, lost in the streets of the city, is crying in distress. A policeman, gathering from the child’s story enough to locate the home, gives directions after this manner: “Just go down this street half a mile, turn and cross the big iron bridge, then turn to your right and follow the river down a little way, and you will see where you are.” The poor child, only half comprehending, chilled by the wind and bewildered in the storm, is turning about blindly, when an other voice speaks and says in a kindly tone: “Just come with me.” The little hand is clasped in a stronger one, the corner of a warm cloak is thrown over the shoulders of the shivering child, and the way home is made easy. The first one had told the way; this one condescends to be the way.— D. H. S trong .
Supreme of heaven and earth. Christianity includes a creed, but it is more than a creed. It includes a way of life, but it is more than that. Christianity is Christ, and Christ is Christianity. The “I ” of the text is not only that of a unique per sonality, but of a divine Person. “I am” is ah attesta tion of deity. Moses said unto God, “When I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, WJiat is his name ? what shall I say unto them ?” And God said unto Moses, “Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.” It was the same Personality who here said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The Jehovah of the Old Testament is the Jesus of the New. T he W ay “I am the way.” In the days of Christ’s earthly life, the Roman Empire was the great world power. The Cae sars were monarchs of civilization. The Romans were a
Christ is the plain way. Children may find that way, and “wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.” No one has sounded the depth of the text nor scaled the heights of it. No mind has comprehended its length and breadth, yet it is so simple that a child can easily un derstand it. The way is a narrow way. The narrow way is the way to the goal in all realms. This is so with reference to health. Those who would have good health must regulate their diet. They must abstain from excessive eating. They must be moderate in all things. The broad way leads to ill health and premature death, but the narrow way leads to vigorous minds and strong bodies. The same is true of success. Success in scholarship, in business, and in the professions necessitates laborious days. The heights by great men reached and kept
Were not attained by sudden flight, But they, while their companions slept, Were toiling upward in the night.
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