69
February 1928
B u s i n e s s
T h e
K i n g ' s
The “ I AM” COMPARING Christianity with all other systems o f religion, the most peculiar thing about it is that it is the only religion founded upon the personality of its Founder. Other religions require devotion to
point o f time, but “ I EX IST .” It means not simply that He came into existence before Abraham did, but that His existence was without date. He existed before creation,, and eternally. Jesus Christ is none other than the “ I AM ” of ancient Israel manifest in the flesh for the redemption of the world. He speaks as One on whom time has no effect and for Whom it has no meaning. He says: “ I AM the Bread o f life” (Jno. 6 :4 8 ); “ I AM the Door o f the Sheep” (1 0 :7 ); “ I AM the Light o f the world” ( 8 :1 2 ); “ I AM the .Good Shepherd” (10 :1 1 ); “ I AM the resurrection” ( 1 1 :2 5 ); “ I AM the Way, the Truth and the L ife” (14 : 6 ) ; “ I AM the True Vine” (1 5 :5). There is no escaping the conclusion that there was' real identity in the essential nature of Jehovah and Jesus. Whatever Jehovah meant in the words “ I AM that I am,”
their systems and acceptance of their sacred writings. Their founders claim to be philosophers and teachers of divine truth. Christ comes claiming to BE the Truth, the “ Word made flesh,” and declares: “ I f ye believe not that I AM HE ye shall die in your sins.” ' It has been said that Christianity is not a system of
the same was meant by Jesus in the saying: “ Before Abraham was I AM .” Thus the Jews un1 derstood it, for immediately they took up stones to cast at Him as being guilty o f the highest blas phemy-appropriating to Him self the incommunicable name of God. ' Those who would deny this claim of Jesus Christ must either prove •that He did not claim it or believe that He was guilty of a colossal fraud and an almost inconceivable intoxication of van ity and arrogance. But His meek and lowly life, His marvelous words, His unselfish service to men, His influence upon His times and all subsequent history, forbid such conclusions. There is but one alternative. He must be the Eternal Word in Whom the Godhead took to itself o u r perishable humanity, thus indissolubly uniting it with deity and making of Christ the incar nate “ I AM .” So let us under stand it, and take up the song: “ All hail the power of Jesus’ Name; Let angels prostrate fall. Bring forth the royal diadem A n d .crown Him Lord of all.”
morals but the worship o f a Per son. That does not minimize the morals, for one cannot have Christ without a most rigid sys tem of morals, but no man can hope to live His teachings with out Christ H IMSELF . The Grecian philosophy was “ Know thyself.” The essence of Christianity is to know Jesus Christ, “ WHOM to know is life eternal.” , The uniqueness o f His per sonality is summed up in our Lord’s own words: “ Before Abraham was, I AM ” (Jno. 8 : 58). This carries us hack to God’s answer to Moses, when Moses asked what he should tell the Israelites should they ask him the true name of Jehovah. The reply was: “ I am that I am. Thus shalt thou say unto the chil dren o f Israel: I AM sent me unto you” (Ex. 3 :14). The word “ I AM ” in Hebrew is equivalent in meaning to “ Je hovah.” It differs very slightly in form. The name which Moses was commissioned to use was, therefore, both new and old. It must have dawned upon him that it was an assertion o f the self- existence, the eternity and immu
F aul ts... and, . ..Foibles F ROM the pen of Mrs. Jessie Sage Robert son, who from an invalid’s chamber sends out freely a beautiful little paper called “My Watch,” comes a paragraph which is worth meditating upon in these trying days: “ Let us not focus all of our attention upon the faults and foibles o f certain of God’s ser vants, but rather seek out the evidences of the work of the Holy Spirit through them in spite of their mistakes, because o f their sincerity of heart as God sees them. Supposing ydu and I spent most of our time mulling over David’s great sins as an adulterer and potential' murderer in the case o f Bathsheba and Uriah, or over his many other faults and failings, do you think that we could get the blessing out of his precious Psalms that we do? O f course we couldn’t. And so it is today, if we see only the faults and failings of God’s servants, we need hot wonder that we receive no bless ing through them. Let us search, and search diligently for what God is doing through even the most faulty o f His servants. And if, for any reason whatsoever, “Ichabod” must in the end be written over their ministry, God grant that it should be a cause for real grief and not an occasion for rejoicing.”'
tability of Deity. Only God can say “ I AM ” His creatures are not except as they receive life from Him. His years are not spent as are ours, like a tale that is told. There, is neither beginning nor end in His existence. “ I AM ” is the sole definition that God vouchsafes of Himself, yet Jesus Christ appropriates these very words to Himself. “ Before Abraham was, I AM .” He plainly means that Abraham had come into existence at a given
Character Manufactured in the Laboratory ACCORD ING to reports in the public press, Dr. Edwin J l V S. Slosson startled a group of scientists at a conven tion at Springfield, Ohio, a few weeks ago by prédicting that character would some day be manufactured in the chemical laboratory. The basis for this prediction is that
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