165
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
T h e
April 1932
lite
eginning
By ROY TALMAGE BRUMBAUGH Tacoma, Wash.-"“
GOD ’S SIGN
make a strong church without the darkness of opposition. He does not remove the "trouble; He beautifies it. He illumines all hindrances. He crowns testing experiences with the spectral colors of divine grace. I once saw a rainbow before a storm. Dazzling colors arched the sky, and then the rain began to fall. We have seen rainbows after the storm. Lunar rainbows have thrilled seeing souls. Even night cannot conceal the beauti ful colors of the rainbow. So it is that God not only goes before trouble and comes after trouble, but He is with us by day and by night, and at every hour of both. Moment by moment, we are kept by His love. O rder The colors of the rainbow speak of divine order. Plato said, “ God geometrizes.” Reverent scientists have called God “ the Great Mathematician.” He stands out as the Au thor of creation and also as the Author of revelation. Three numbers stand out in nature as well as in the Bible: seven, three, and one. There are seven colors in the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. The word “ covenant” is mentioned seven times in the context. Seven is the number of spiritual completeness. Number three speaks of the Godhead. God is a tri unity : Father, Son, and Spirit. Man is a triunity: spirit, soul, and body. Energy is a triad: light, heat, and elec tricity. Matter is divided into liquids, solids, and gases. Thought is invisible, written, and spoken. It takes three things to make a rainbow: cloud, rain, and sun. The rain bow is due to refraction, reflection, and dispersion of light. So it is that the Sun of Righteousness shines through the Word of God upon the sinner, and he is gloriously and eternally saved. Salvation is complete in justification, sanctification, and glorification. The three primary colors are red, yellow, and blue—three in one, one in three. P ure rays speak of unity. When the colors of the spec trum pass through a prism, they blend into a pure ray of light. This light colors all nature. The color of any ob ject is determined by its power to absorb. One object ab sorbs red and blue, and the color is yellow. Another object absorbs yellow and blue, and the color is red. Still another absorbs red, and the color is green. God is One. God is Light. He is the Father of lights. In Him is “ no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” He colors all life. The color of our life is determined by our power to absorb. There are some lives that are blue. The outlook is always pessimistic. Other lives are colored [Continued on page 167]
G od said , “ I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token [sign] of a covenant between me and the earth” (G e iu ^ i^ r -K ia tu r e becomes a symbol of the super natural. Are our eyes open to behold wondrous things out o f the common scenery of earth and sky ? Do we see spir itual significance and moral teaching in nature ? T he stars were pointed out to Abraham as a symbol of his family register. His earthly posterity was to be in numbers as the sand of the sea. Christ took ordinary bread and said, “ This is [represents] my body which is given for you.” He took the blood of the grape and said, “ This is [represents] my blood . . . which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” As we look at the flowers about us and the foliage of the Pacific Northwest, we need to know that God through these things is saying, “ If God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith ?” Therefore, why worry ? Water baptism speaks of the work of the Holy Spirit in the inner man. The wind is suggestive of the Holy Spirit.. He cannot be seen, but the effect of His work is- ever visible to spiritual discernment. The water in rivers and creeks suggests time, which is like an ever-rolling stream that bears all its sons away. We are therefore to number our days that we may get us a heart o f wisdom. The Olympics and Mount Tahoma tell us that “ as the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people henceforth even for ever.” We are to lift up our eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh our help. “ Before the mountains were brought forth, . . . even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.” The clouds are the dust of His feet. Nature pictures moral and spirit ual significance. The rainbow speaks of a new relationship: “ And I will look upon it.” God said that He Himself would look upon the bow. The eyes of the believer and the eyes of God meet in the bow. So it is that God and man, the Saviour and the sinner, meet in the God-man, Jesus Christ. P eace f|pHE bow speaks also of peace amid trouble. God said, “ The bow shall be in the cloud.” The bow does not remove the cloud, but it beautifies and illumines the cloud. No rainbow is seen in the Sahara, because there is only sunshine there. Where there are no clouds, there are no gorgeous sunsets. So it is that God cannot make a good Christian without the clouds o f trouble. Neither can He
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