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T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
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July 1926
The Christian who resorts to this “ spiritualising” process with the teach ing concerning the Lord’s Coming can thus, find no fault with the Jew who follows the same course with the teaching which concerns the redemp tive work of Christ. 'Both have shut themselves up to a partial view of Revelation— each has a half Bible. It is the truth of Christ’s second coming rhich affords the key to the entire sanctuary of Truth, and in the light of l U I « 1 1 1 «, m l m n l i n i v W l t l A and Christian come to possess a com plete, instead of a fragmentary, Bible. It is most interesting to note that it was this precise issue which came up for discussion and decision at the first Church Council, of which we have the account in Acts 15. The Judaiz- ing party was insistent in maintaining that the keeping of the Law was essen tial to admission to' the Christian Church; in other words, that Gentiles to become believers must first become Jews. The calling of a Council to de cide this matter is a pivotal event in Christian history. The first witness heard was the Apostle Peter, who pointed to the fact that under his ministry Geutiles quite •as well as Jews had received the Holy Ghost, God thus witnessing to their ac ceptance on the ground of faith alone. Then Barnabas and Paul arose and thrilled the Council with their recital of miraculous gifts and blessings with which God had sealed their ministry to the Gentiles. That a great transition point had been reached in God’s dealing with men was now evident to all present. After a pause and great quiet, James, the most influential, dignified, and apparently most conservative of all, arose. Doubt less the interest was breathless, but none could have been fully prepared for his momentous declaration. Beginning with the testimony of Peter, he outlined in terms of unmis takable clearness, the dispensalional order in these words: "Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles to take out of them a peo ple for his name.” Slowly the mind of this eminent saint of God had been traversing the whole sphere of pro phetic testimony and, apparently, like a flash, the scope and order of events had dawned upon him. Thus he pro ceeds to the tremendous conclusion: “ And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written. After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set It up: That the
Some Practical Aspects of the Blessed Hope HUGH R. MONRO Treasurer ol the National Bible Institute.3few York City; and Vice-President the Niagara Lithograph Company. In this exceedingly helpful address (delivered at the Montrose Bible Conference, Montrose, Pennsylvania), Mr. Monro offers some suggestions of timely importance concerning the value of a proper understanding of the doctrine of the of ligent Hebrew concerning the subject of his salvation. The natural course would be to point to passages in the Hebrew Scripture such as Psa. 22, 23, 68, and Isa. 7, 62, 53, which fore shadow the suffering and death of Christ as a sacrifice for sin. But, nat urally, the Hebrew views these pas sages in his own peculiar way. He.will object to the slavish literalness of the Christian interpretation and insist that the language is highly figurative and symbolizes either certain indi vidual experiences of the prophet or the sorrows of the Jewish nation. He thus resorts to the well-known “ spir itualizing” process. Let us suppose that the conversation proceeds to the point where our He brew friend turns the table on his questioner and begins to quote Scrip ture himself. He will naturally point to those great Messianic prophecies such as Psa. 2, 24, 72, 110; Isa. 9, 11, 40, etc.— passages which tell of a c o n -; quering King reigning in righteous ness and occupying the throne of David. What then will our post-mil lennial teacher say? Will he object that the Jew is a slavish “ literalist” and that these passages are to be in terpreted in a figurative or spiritual sense? Probably. But by what pro cess of interpretation shall the first of the lines of prophecy indicated be takenras strictly literal and the second in a figurative sense? This is a dilem ma which no line of argument or special pleading will surmount. Of course the sole solution is in accepting the truth of the Blessed Hope. Both lines of prophecy are to be received with absolute literalness, and there is no shadow of conflict when properly understood. Christ comes first, in weakness, as the lowly babe of Bethlehem; "despised and re jected of m^n, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” He comes the second time as the Anointed One, the Messiah of Israel, with the reins of power in His hands and the nations the footstool of His feet. |HE mystical phases of the truth of our Lord’s return have been so constantly dwelt upon that many ap pear to lose sight of those aspects which relate in a very practical way to our present life and walk. There is nevertheless a very practical side to this teaching, and while other speakers on this Conference program are dwell ing upon the great prophetic outlook, I want to employ the hour allotted to me with a discussion of the neglected emphasis to which I have referred. It is well to remember that there are these two aspects to every great theme of Scripture; first, the doctrinal and philosophical treatment; second, its application to life and conduct. Romans 8, for example, is a profound discussion of the great doctrine of Sanctification, while the same truth is reduced to its simplest practical terms in Romans 12. The same is true of the Scripture treatment of the great theme we are now considering, of which the prophetic outline is given in Luke 21: 25-33, while the practical application to the present walk is given in such Scripture as 1 These. 5. Thus it is of great importance that we should understand, and have con tinually before us, not alone the pro phetic and doctrinal divisions of Scrip ture, but also the relation of these truths to the experiences of daily life. From this standpoint, therefore, I wish to ofTer several suggestions con cerning this truth-which I consider of timely importance and value. 1. It is the key to an intelligent understanding of the Scriptures. It may be said with all possible emphasis that no Christian may lay claim to an intelligent grasp of the teaching of Scripture who ignores this truth; indeed, apart from it, great areas of the most vital teaching must remain entirely unexplored. It is not alone the key, but the organising principle, of Scripture testimony. Suppose, for example, one who is unfamiliar with or ignores this truth should attempt to deal with an intel
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