July 1931
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
305
Let Jesus Christ Himself be the witness here. There was a day, His earthly ministry half over, when He said to His disciples: “Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.” That was as far as the natural man could go in his estimate of Jesus. And that is as far as Harry Emerson Fosdick goes. Jesus to him is a prophet, nothing beyond, nothing more, transcendent, great, but a prophet only. Then said Jesus, “But whom say ye that I am?” And Simon Peter answered and said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Now here comes the “crashing miracle.” Here the supernatural invades the natural, for Jesus answered and said unto him, “Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Fa ther which is in heaven” (Matt. 16:13-17). T here never was any one so faithful or considerate or far-seeing as Jesus. He had great commendation to give a woman, because she came “beforehand” with her ministry. It was His own manner to anticipate events. He was always thinking ahead of the disciples. When He sent His disciples to prepare the passover, there was found an upper room furnished and prepared. He had thought it all out. His plans were not made only for that day. He was always in advance of time. When the dis ciples came back from fishing, Jesus was on the seashore with a fire of coals and fish laid thereon. He thinks of the morning duties before you are astir; He is there before you. He is waiting long before you are awake. His an ticipations are all along the way of life before you. After the resurrection, the disciples were bewildered, q HARLES A. R oberts - came to the Hunan Bible Insti tute nine years ago, at a time of extreme need. I believe that he came in definite answer to earnest prayer. His coming seemed nothing short of a miracle. I believed then, and have always believed, that God brought him here. Mr. Roberts came to China when very young, and he acquired a knowledge of the Chinese language which few missionaries attain. His ease in reading and his fluency in speaking Chinese are above the average. When called to this work, he was already in China and had had several years of successful experience in mission work. While at home during the troubles of 1927, Mr. Rob erts was given special training in office methods, by the accountants of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, and was then appointed and sent to China to take charge of the accounting and business departments of the Hunan Bible Institute. On September 12, 1930, I wrote as follows: “By God’s blessing and help, Mr. Roberts has done a heroic and suc cessful bit of work in keeping the soldiers out of our buildings since the occupation of the first few days of the present outbreak. ■When we realize that, less than a
That is your need, Dr. Fosdick, and we say is with all respect. You need the crashing miracle of spiritual illu mination. To know Jesus as “the Christ, the Son of the living God,” is not the fruit of human teaching, but di vine. “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor. 2:14). “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). The peril of worshiping Jesus? Yes, if He is only “Jesus,” Dr. Fosdick’s Jesus. But what if He be the Jesus of the New Testament? What will be our peril if we neglect then to worship Him? What if He be the Christ, the Son of the living God? It is that thought that gave the title to this article, the audacity of unbelief. And yet, in such a case that word is weak—audacity. and the way looked black. But the angel said, “Behold, he goeth before you into Galilee.” He is always ahead, thinking ahead, preparing ahead.............. As Mary Sles- sor said, “I had never been able to do anything but for this, He always went in front.” Take this text with you into the future, take it into today’s experience, “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. . . . I go to prepare a place for you.” He is out in the world do ing it. He will be there before you. He will bring you to your appointed place, and you will find your appointed resources. You will discover His insight, His oversight, and His foresight. You may not always see Him, but you can walk by faith in the dark if you know that He sees you, and you can sing as you journey, even through the night. quarter of a mile from here, three fine residences of an other mission are occupied by soldiers, our hearts go out in gratitude and praise to God for what He has done for us, and in deep appreciation of the faithful and successful efforts made by Mr. Roberts and the loyal Chinese col leagues who stood by him in this great struggle.” In the compound resting on our north boundary are the ruins of buildings of the Hunan Union Theological Seminary. One-fourth mile further north are the seri ously damaged residences of the foreign Y. M. C. A. sec retaries; and about one-fourth mile south of us are the badly damaged residences of the Norwegian Lutheran missionaries. Right here in the center of all this wanton destruction are our beautiful buildings, practically un harmed! How did it come about? Who did it? We know that God did i t ! None but God could have preserved these buildings in such awful days! But God works through men, and the man through whom. God worked to preserve this plant was Charles A. Roberts. Furthermore, the absolutely phenominal growth of the subscription list of our bi-monthly magazine Evangelism is due to God’s blessing . upon the splendid work of Marcus Ch’eng and Charles A. Roberts,
OUR LORD’S OVERSIGHT . . . By JOHN MacBEATH
APPRECIATION OF CHARLES A. ROBERTS . . By f r a n k a . k e l l e r
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker