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IN EVERYTHING PhUippiams 4:6 In everything? In sorrow, pain, and loss? When some hard lesson racks the weary mind? When, just before, there looms the threat’ning cross? When nights are long, and morn brings day unkind? In everything! Each sorrow and each pain Is known by One who measures every day; And lessons hard, well mastered, will make plain The faithful Teacher planning all the way. Dost know the cross must come be fore the crown, And seed unburied must abide alone? Dost know the cloud that spreads its sullen frown Harms not the sun, whose power must be shown? Then waiting not for that which shall make clear The tender love in what seems harsh and stern, O soul redeemed, look up! Dismiss thy fear! Now is the time when thanks thou shouldst return! —Author Unknown. THE MINISTRY “You do not have to be anything in particular to be a lawyer; I have been a lawyer, and I know. You do not have to be anything in particular, except a kind-hearted man, perhaps, to be a physician; you do not have to be anything, or to undergo any strong spiritual change, to be a mer chant. The only profession which consists in being something is the ministry of our Lord and Saviour— and it does not consist of anything else. It is manifested in other things, but it does not consist of anything else." —Woodrow Wilson. OUR AUTHORS THIS MONTH Dr. Rockwell D. Hunt is Dean Emeritus of the Graduate School of the University of Southern Califor nia; Rev. Richard Seume is pastor of Berachah Church of Houston, Texas; Rev. J. B. Marchbanks is an evangelist; Dr. Northcote Deck of Sydney, Australia, is a missionary, minister and writer, and Rev. Ernest Kemp is the pastor of the Deame Street Methodist Church of Bright- side, Sheffield, England.
THE K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S Official Publication of The Bible Institute of Los Angeles, Incorporated Louis T. Talbot, D.D. Betty Bruechert William W . Orr, D.D. Editor in Chief Managing Editor Associate Editor Copyright, 1947, The King's Business No part of this magazine may be reproduced without permission. All Rights Reserved. Vol. 38 March, 1947 No. 3 CONTENTS Picture Credits: Cover, Bauer Cottrell, Philadelphia, Pa.; Santa Fe Railway, pp. 6,7; Eva Luoma, p. 8 ; George R. King, pp. 11,13,15. Editorially Speaking.................................... ................................................. 4 The Church of M y Childhood, Rockwell D . Hunt ............................... 5 What Manner of Man! Richard Seume .................................................. 6 The Inner Sight, Walter D . Kallenbach .................................................. 8 Why the Second Coming? J. B. Marchbanks .............. ........................... 9 So Little and So Much, John Oxenham .................................................. 10 The Solitary Saviour, Northcote Deck ...................................................... 11 Houses Without Homes, Edwin Raymond Anderson ............................. 13 Freedom From Slavery, Ernest Kemp ......................................... ............. 15 When Christ Waits, Annie Johnson Flint.... ............................................ 16 Earth’s Treasure Heaps, Paul R. Bauman .............................................. 17 Junior King’s Business, Martha S. Hooker .............................................. 19 The Bible in the News.............................................................. .................. 21 Dr. Talbot’s Question Box............ ............................................................. 22 Christ Versus Alexander, Charles Ross Weede ........................................ 23 The Bible Institute Hour.__:........................................................................ 24 Miscellanea ...................................................................................................... 25 Biola Family Circle......................................................................................... 26 Life Insurance Is the Best Policy, Inez Ware ............... !......................... 29 A Bible Question Qame, Dorothy Shreve Cole ............... „ ...................... 30 Young People’s Topics, Walter L. Wilson .............................................. 32 It’s an Idea, Carlton C. Buck ........................................................................ 33 Sunday School Lessons.................................................................................. 37 Book Reviews, William W . Orr .................................................................. 43 Object Lessons, Elmer L. Wilder ............................................................... 44 S U B S C R IP T IO N IN F O R M A T IO N —“ The King’s Business” is published monthly; $2.00, one yr.; $1.00, six months; 20 cents, single copy. Clubs of three or more at special rates. Write for details. Canadian and foreign subscriptions 25 cents extra. It requires one month for a change of address to become effective. Please send both old and new addresses. R E M IT T A N C E S —Payable in advance, should be made by bank draft, express, or post office money order payable to “ The King’s Business.” Date of expiration will show plainly on outside wrapper or cover of magazine. A D V E R T IS IN G —For information, address the Advertising Manager, 558 South Hope Street, Los Angeles 13, California. M A N U S C R IP T S —“ The King's Business” cannot accept responsibility for loss or damage to manuscripts sent in for consideration. Entered as second-class matter November 7, 1938, at the Post Office at Los Angeles, California, under the Act of March 3, 1879. Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage provided for in the Act of February 28, 1925, embodied in paragraph 4, section 538, P. L. and R., authorized October 1, 1918, and November 13, 1938. A D D R E S S : The King’s Business, 558 So. Hope St., Los Angeles 13, Calif.
MARCH, 1947
PAGE THREE
facetiously that the world would be better off if this were done! The lesson to be learned from this modern photography is that God is great, and man is not, and that man’s pride in himself is ever out of place when he is compared with the mighty works of God. God despises the proud and gives grace to the humble. Therefore, let us bear in mind that the important thing in life is to see ourselves as God does, from the vantage point of Heaven’s battle ments, and to walk softly before Him all the days of our lives. ☆ Green rpHE axiom, ‘W e grow as long as we are green,” has a very real application to the Christian life. While it is usually thought to be un complimentary to be classed as “green,” the truth of the matter is that God desires that we should be so all our lives. We mean that we should be constantly seeking to know more of the Heavenly Father, of His Book, and of the way in which we may live to please Him. When we come to the place where we stop growing, we become atrophied, and retrogression sets in. This is fatal both to happiness and usefulness in the Christian life. Let us ever seek to be “green,” and on the lookout for new treasures and new pleasures from God’s abundance. We need not feel that we can ever exhaust the fountain of God’s truth, which is as inexhaustible as God Himself. Those who ought to know are responsible for the statement that the wisest and godliest men of every generation but approached the fringe of the wisdom of God. ☆ Building a Missionary Church W E believe that it has been reliably demonstrated that the happy, growing church is one which lays great emphasis upon the cause of lo cal and world-wide missions. If the entire duty of Christians today could be epitomized into a brief statement, that statement would contain the ex hortation to carry the blessed story of God’s love “into all the world.” But missionary churches do not “just happen” ; Christians must be taught to be missionary-minded. TH E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
Bible at one sitting cannot be over estimated. There is an erroneous idea held by many people that it takes too much time to read an en tire book at once. The truth of the matter is that the average time nec essary for a thoughtful reading of any book of the New Testament is but thirty minutes. It is a rare per son indeed who in the leisure hours of an evening at home does not spend much more than thirty min utes in the perusal of a magazine or newspaper. It is not generally known that First Timothy can be read in twelve minutes, Philippians in ten, First Thessalonians in nine, and Sec ond Peter in eight. Reading a book at a sitting is a delightful and prof itable experience. It is thrilling to comprehend the entire thought of the Spirit as He spoke through the writer. The Word of God thus lives for one and the spiritual life thrives. Let us all try it. ☆ Sixty Miles Up R ECENTLY a most illuminating series of experiments was made, in which one of the latest type of rockets carried a camera far into the stratosphere. The camera clicked continuously, furnishing pictures never before photographed. These views are very thought provoking. From a height of sixty miles, most of the familiar objects, are entirely lost to view, and only the massive land marks, such as huge mountain ranges, wide flowing rivers and vast areas of desert, are visible. At that height, the mightiest works of man are obscured to the camera’s eye. What a lesson for man is to be found in this! Man is so prone to wrap himself up in his own person and accomplishments that he cannot see the handiwork of God. His in clination is to boast of his ability and inventions, and not to remember that he is a creature of God's hand, and that everything he is, or has, has come as a gift from Him. Yes, and more than that, God holds mam re sponsible to keep in mind that he brought nothing into the world, and can take nothing out. Once we read that if a huge wood en box, a mile square, were construct ed, one could pack into it the entire human race and throw it all into the Grand Canyon. The author added
Praise R ECENTLY we read that the com modity of praise was valuable be cause of its rarity. We regret to state that this is the case in Christian circles. While there always seems to be an abundance of criticism, there is a dearth of expression of apprecia tion, even when it is greatly deserved. To this we feel like saying, “Breth ren, these things ought not so to be.” Those of us who are the undeserved recipients of the marvelous grace of God, and whom through His Word God continually assures of His love, should not be sparing of our praise to those who are willingly and un selfishly doing the work of the Lord. It is a well-known fact that a little praise will ofttimes accomplish won ders. It lightens the heart and re freshes the spirit. It makes one dili gent in pressing the battle. The rea lization that there are those who appreciate one’s efficiency has an in fluence far greater than the driving power of criticism. There is a result ing happy glow in the heart of one who thus gives praise to another. The truth that “it is more blessed to give than to receive” applies very well in this instance. One is reward ed doubly and “twice blessed.” And as if this were not enough to inspire sincere appreciation of each other, we may find in the account of the life and words of our Lord a divine example of praise bestowed. ☆ A Good Plan T HERE are various methods of studying the Word of God, includ ing character, topic, type, chapter, word, and many others, but one of the very best and most profitable means of getting acquainted with the Bible, is simply to read it over and over. This was emphasized by the late Dr. James M. Gray, eminent Bi ble scholar and former head of the Moody Bible Institute. He held that in the study of any book, the first requisite was a view of the book as a whole, and that such a view could be obtained only by reading and re reading it. There is no question but that many people fall to appreciate and understand what they read be cause of the popular “hop, skip, and jump” system of Bible study. The value of reading a book of the PAGE FOUR
How can a church be thus instruct ed and inspired? Here are a few sug gestions: Let the pastor himself first be “sold" on the value and challenge of world-wide missions; arrange for as many missionary speakers as possible, representatives of all the fields of the world; maintain a mis sionary library and a museum of mis sionary curios; urge the church members to subscribe to missionary magazines; display missionary post ers and hang in your auditorium a missionary service flag; at the holi day season, let all the church mem bers participate in filling a mission ary box; promote missions in the Sunday school, even among the very young children; place a well-painted missionary thermometer in your au ditorium, showing the extent of your missionary gifts; appoint a mission ary treasurer, and, above all, do not limit the giving of your people to the work of one board. Encourage them to have a part in missionary enter prises the world over. The results from such a program can hardly be estimated. Not only will your own people grow, but the work at home will thrive beyond your fondest expectations. More than that, the will of God for this particu lar age will be fulfilled in the lives of the pastor and members. ☆ King'8 Business Free Fund ■J^ACH month there comes to our desk a number of requests from missionaries and other Christians, telling us of their desire to receive The King’s Business, but stating that for one reason or another, they are unable to pay for their subscriptions. Recently several such letters were re ceived from pensioners, who explain that their modest stipend does not permit their spending money on lit erature, even though they want the magazine very much. Many mission aries find it impossible to stretch their small salaries to cover sub scriptions to Christian magazines; therefore, they have to be deprived of the practical suggestions and in spirational and devotional helps they contain. Then, too, there are many service men and women in the armed forces to whom Christian literature would be most welcome. For some time The King’s Business has maintained a Free Fund, the pur pose of which is to pay for subscrip tions to the worthy ones described above who cannot afford them. Those who are seeking new uses for their tithes will make a real contribution to Christian work by sending their offerings to the King’s Business Free Fund.
T f t t f
By ROCKWELL D. HUNT, Ph. D.
T h e follow ing tribute from the distinguished Dean K m e rltu t of the O raduate School of the U n iv e rsity of Southern California appeared In the Loc Angeles Tim e s of October 20, 1946. Not only will It recall bleaeed memoriae to those who received th e ir firs t spiritual teaching In Ilka humble, hallowed surroundings, but it w ill also bring encouragem ent to those consecrated, but obscure, servants of God who still labor in the achoothoUse churches and Sunday schools of our land.
snugly in mother’s striped shawl and laid upon the desk—there were no pews—to sleep through the ser mon, only to be cruelly awakened during the singing of the final stanza of the closing hymn, Just before the benediction. A D evoted M an The preacher was not a college man; he knew little of the theologi cal seminaries, and had never heard of sociology; no great city church had ever sought his services. But he was a devoted minister of the Gospel; sure of his message; bold to de nounce sin and exhort to duty and righteousness; abundant in sacrifice and in human sympathy. He would drive a dozen miles to participate in a church “sociable" or to bestow comfort (Many a chicken dinner did my mother prepare for him!) To baptize children, marry the young, visit the sick, and bury the dead, he labored in season and out of season. My covered-wagon pioneer mother was one of the most faithful of the faithful band. Compelled to witness young boys being soiled and ruined by the grogshop (appropriately called “dead-fall” ) across the way from the blacksmith shop, she was determined to save her boys from the curse of drink and impurity. H ope W as R evived It seemed an unequal struggle— for the saloon was always open wide. But mother love and holy determina tion found a grateful ally in the little church and its hard-working pastor. Hope was revived, the soul was heart ened, the contest nobly sustained— and faith gave the victory. My mother has long since entered into rest. Of her seven sons but three remain, each striving in his own way to live the life of sobriety and use fulness. And this is my humble trib ute to the little schoolhouse church of my early childhood days—it helped at least one devoted mother in her high purpose to keep faith, stand true, and rear her sons in integrity and honor, in the Christian way. PAGE FIVE
rpHE church was really not a church -*•at all, but a little district school- house, a mile from home. Nor was the town really a town—not even a village — but just a little farming country settlement, which could boast its blacksmith, boot and shoemaker, innkeeper and—apparently most con sequential of all—grocer, postmaster and saloonkeeper all combined in one pompous personage. This was about 70 years ago. At the center was the great 120-foot liberty pole, surmounted by its curi ous red weathercock, with the flag flying on special days, standing as the pride and wonder of us boys, as well as the landmark to the farming settlers for miles roundabout, faith fully locating dear tiny Freeport, sit uated on the east bank of the Sacra mento River, eight miles south of the capital city of California, my native state. P reaching F ortnightly Freeport was one of the four ap pointments on the Methodist circuit. In the little schoolhouse, by the side of the road a full mile north of the flagpole, preaching service was held fortnightly—there was Sunday school every week; and well do I remember the consecrated superintendent. The church membership in those days quite certainly never numbered more than a dozen adults; sermons were sometimes preached to congre gations of six or seven of the faith ful; but more commonly the room was comfortably filled with rural folk, including a good many children. F am ily E xpedition It was customary then for families t o ' go to church together. Many a Sunday morning my father’s capa cious spring wagon, drawn by a span of well-trained horses, carried from 12 to 15 children, gathered up from the neighborhood, bound for the Western Union schoolhouse. One of my childhood’s earliest recollections is that of my chubby, curly-headed baby brother, wrapped
MARCH, 1947
Looking into Grand Canyon from the South Rim. In the center foreground can be seen the famous Battleship Rock. Richard Seume T HE GOSPEL of our Lord Jesus Christ is in danger, not be cause it has ceased to be the power of God unto salvation
Who is he? Paul had not always been his name. Neither was he al ways the kind of man that name implies. When he was a haughty, hasty Hebrew of the Hebrews, when he had religion, he boasted the name of Saul: “a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city.” He was Saul, “the somebody.” Then something happened. Saul was saved! Let us never seek a synonym for that word; it is perfectly at home in the Scriptures, and should be good enough for us. Furthermore, It conveys as no other term could what happened to the Apostle; he was saved from sin and all of its consequences, but more than that, he was saved from himself. The one time somebody, the supposedly great one, Saul, was changed into another, Paul, “the little one.” He delighted to have it so. In every one of his epistles, it is the first word he em ploys. He was happy to be known in the churches as “Paul.” That name told the truth about him; he was insignificant. Witness his own testi mony here and throughout the TH E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
not so. Paul was a man of like pas sions with ourselves; he was of the earth, earthy, with all that that term implies so far as human aspirations and enticements are concerned. In spite of them, he proved himself to be the greatest servant of our Lord Jesus Christ this world has ever seen. Let us ask ourselves the questions: “How? What was his line? What technique did he employ to be such a success?” “Would I describe a preacher, such as Paul, Were he on earth, would hear, approve, and own.— Paul should himself direct me.” Rather than draw from some pas sage well known for its revelation of the Pauline personality, we will ex amine but one verse. Here we dis cover that secret, and yet, not a secret, that made Paul what he was. We invite you to take a look at this man in Romans 1:1. “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God.”
to those who believe, nor because its enemies have tried to prove it noth ing more than another religion, but because of the behavior of its friends. This may appear as bold, un guarded thinking, and yet, as we have observed this fact in the lab oratory of Christian experience, we have found it to be true. The very ones who apparently delight in tell ing the story of Jesus and His love, are enjoying the personal attention that such a message attracts, with the result that the Christian ministry is glutted with spiritual showmen more interested in outdoing each other than in showing “forth the praises of him who hath called [us] out of darkness into his marvellous light.” These things ought not so to be! The life of the Apostle Paul is a worthy model for all who would seek to avoid this very thing. At first, we may be tempted to feel that because he so far surpasses us, we could never make practical the principles which governed his life. Yet, this is
PAGE SIX
but a life devoted and abandoned to the most wonderful thing in the world. What was it—talking about himself and what he had done? A thousand times no! He affirmed that he was what he was through the Gospel of God. To that purpose he gave himself without reserve. He was mastered by a purpose. Yes, with General Booth, the Apostle could say from the heart, "God has had all there is of me.” He was in truth the Lord’s: His slave, His sent one, His separated one! Such was the man ner of that man! What is the word to our hearts? Paul is gone. The responsibility rests upon us who follow in his train. Will we search our own hearts in order to discover the manner of men we are or should be? Let it ever be re membered: Men are God’s method. It is not great talents, great learn ing, great preachers, or anything great that God needs. It is men— men, great in lowliness, great in holiness, great in faith, great in love, great in fidelity, great for God—men who preach by holy sermons in the pulpit and by holy lives out of it. These can mold a generation for God. This is the manner of man!
We will think of ourselves in an other profitable way—as Paul did, as one “called to be an apostle.” There is a deeper meaning in that word apostle than Just the thought of a “sent one.” Many of us glibly pass on to our hearers this “signifi cant light shed by the original,” and then go about the tasks of ministry as if we were running the show. Is this fire kindling (Isa. 50:11) be coming to those under orders? By no means. “Who is among you . that feareth the Lord,.that obeyeth the voice of his servant. .. let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God.” Oh, the blessedness of the sent ones who learn to stay themselves upon Him. We have been mastered by a position. Finally, with the Apostle, we will discover that we are “separated unto the gospel of God.” That word sepa rated should interest us. It is the same as our English aphorism, which, according to the best diction ary definitions, amounts to this: “a single sentence with a single thought.” That was Paul’s life in deed! “This one thing I do,” he cried repeatedly. His was not a pur poseless, jangled, confused existence,
epistles. In every place, he identifies himself as the “chief” of sinners (1 Tim. 1:15); “the least of the apostles” (1 Cor. 15:9); and “less than the least of all the saints” (Eph. 3:8). He refuses to think highly of himself or to let others so regard him. The poet Myers expressed it well: “Christ! I am Christ’s! and let that name suffice you; Ay, and for me He greatly hath sufficed; So, with no winning words I would entice you; Paul has no honor and no friend but Christ.” What a lesson for our hearts! What a challenge to self-examination! We have all been tempted to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think. This is quite natural in an age of immensity and intemationality. Almost without thinking, we find ourselves evaluating ourselves in similar terms. The “itch for bigness” is everywhere. We are all trying to be somebodies. Unless a servant of Christ is sufficiently “degreed” he does not rate. As a matter of fact, the usual entrance requirement to much of our evangelical ministry is prefaced with these words: “Who are YOU?” As if every instructed believer should not know! Again, if a man is not conducting the largest meetings with the most impressive results, he must consider himself less blessed of God. So on it continues, ad nauseatum. We ask with Samuel of old, “What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears?” Can it be that Isaiah had us in mind when he described certain shepherds as "greedy dogs which can never have enough . .. shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quartet” ? God grant that there be a return to lowliness! May we have an honest re-birth of God-given contrition. If we are not bold enough to sing aloud, then let us speak in secret: “The quickest way up is down, The quickest way up is down; You may climb up high and try and try, But the quickest way up is down.” When that is our conviction, we will be prepared to follow Paul and de clare ourselves as bondslaves of Jesus Christ, too. So long as we cling to the cherished idea that we are important, the thought of being slaves of Jesus Christ will only cramp our style. But when we see ourselves in the light Of all that God has writ ten concerning us, it will be a joy to witness, “I am a slave of Jesus Christ.” That will mean that our life and labor have been mastered by a Person. Instead of exploiting our selves, we will be directing attention
to The Man! MARCH, 1947
Nevada Falls and Liberty Cap, Yosemite National Park, California.
PAGE SEVEN
/fee wvuten, S t a t ic By Walter D. Kallenbacn
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Dr. Kdllenbach, the blind evangelist, who was killed recently in an automobile accident, was used of God to win thousands of souls among the blind and the seeing.
I cannot see the children going by, But I can hear their laughter as they pass; I cannot see the sunset in the sky, But I can feel the swaying of the grass. I cannot see the moonlight on the sea. But I can hear the waves beat on the shore; I feast upon all nature's melody, And thank my God, and do not ask for more.
I cannot view the bloom upon the rose, But, oh, the scent is very dear to me. And I can feel the cooling breeze that blows Thro’ pearUtipped peaks of hills I cannot see. I cannot see the wild birds on the wing, But I can hear the swallows in the eaves; I hear the song that nature has to sing, The gentle music of the rustling leaves.
Used by permission of the Watchman-Examiner.
Why the Second Coming? An earnest and heart-warming defense of the "Blessed Hope.” Reverend J . B. Marchbanks
T HE QUESTION is often asked, sometimes by Christians: "Why emphasize the Second Coming of Christ? After all, does It matter so much?” We shall answer that question by the infallible Word of God itself. References to the fact of Christ’s Second Coming are found everywhere on the pages of the Word of God. The first Messianic prophecy of the Bible speaks of it. In the early dawn of human history, when the first man and woman yielded to the lie of Satan, and disobeyed God, the Lord God gave unto them the promise of the coming Redeemer. That promise is found in Genesis 3:15, where God spoke to Satan through the serpent: “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." This is the first promise of the coming of Christ. He came the first time, and on the Cross of Calvary He bruised the head of Satan with a deathblow. Satan is now defeated. Yet as a usurper, he continues as the god of this world, and his complete dethronement will be accomplished at the Second Coming of Christ. The Second Coming of Christ is mentioned about 300 times in the New Testament, approximately one verse in each twenty-five. In the face of this, is it not amaz ing that men who stand in the pulpits of our churches ignore this subject, and in many instances say: "We don’t know enough about it” ? There are many details of which we must profess ignorance, but there are too many plain and unmistakable statements for any Chris tian to claim lack of knowledge. There are scores of Scriptures a» plain as Acts 1:11, where the angelic mes sengers are reported as saying to the upward-looking disciples: "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” Of course, when we speak of the Second Coming of Christ, we use that term in the general sense. Those who study the Word know that there are two distinct phases of the Second Coming: the Rapture, the coming of Christ in the air for His people; and the Revelation, when He comes to earth with His saints, to set up His Kingdom. We would mention, first, the redemption of our bodies. Christians are still in the same kind of unre deemed, cursed bodies, in which sinners dwell. But we wait for something better: “And not only they [the crea tion], but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Rom. 8:23). For this event we are "waiting,” and it shall not take place until the Lord comes. "For our conversation [citizenship] is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working where by he is able even to subdue all things unto himself” (Phil. 3:20,21). Those who minimize the importance of the Second Coming seem to think that when the believer dies, he enters at once into his perfected state. To be sure, it is better, "to be absent from the body, and to be present MARCH, 1947
with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8), but the very statement, “absent from the body,” indicates that this is not the final, perfect condition. Our Lord is in Heaven in a literal body of flesh and bones, and “every one that is perfect shall be as his master” (Luke 6:40). But only when He comes, shall we be like Him bodily. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not' yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall ap pear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). The Old Testament saints, from Adam down, while in the presence of the Lord, and in a state of perfect spir itual bliss, are still waiting for their redeemed bodies, until Christ returns. Then all of the dead in Christ will be raised. The living believers, the one generation which will not pass through death, will be transformed. "Be hold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed” (1 Cor. 15:51). The saints will not receive their rewards until the Lord comes. We who have believed in Christ will never be judged for our sins, for they were laid upon Him at Calvary. However, we shall be judged for our works as Christians, and shall receive rewards or suffer loss, as the case may be. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:10). The details of this judgment are given in First Corinthians 3:12-15. Two kinds of works are mentioned, one symbolized by gold, silver, and precious stones; the other by wood, hay, and stubble. We read: "Every man’s work shall be made manifest . . . of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide . . . he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved.” May God enable us to walk in the light of that coming event. But the rewards will not be given until the coming of the Lord. "Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God” (1 Cor. 4:5). Moses, 3500 years ago, exchanged the pleasures of sin and the treasures in Egypt for the affliction of the people of God and the reproach of Christ, “for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward” (Heb. 11:25, 26), but today he is stUl waiting for that reward in the presence of God. So are all the saints of the Old Testa ment, and the New. Paul looked forward to the Second Coming and the judgment seat of Christ, and said: “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of right eousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but to all them also that love his appearing” (2 Tim. 4:8). Beloved, let us labor on in faith and love, for the reward is sure. Glory will come for the Church when the Lord comes again. The Church had its beginning on the Day of Pentecost. Ten days before, on the day of His ascen sion, the Lord had promised: "Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence” (Acts 1:5). This was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost. “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have PAGE NINE
away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled” (Luke 21:24). He also spoke of their present blindness: “If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes” (Luke 19:42). But neither this scattering nor this blindness is permanent. “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away un godliness from Jacob” (Rom. 11:25, 26). We are told that all Israel shall be saved when the fullness of the Gentiles is come in. Now God’s present purpose is to take out from the Gentiles a people for His name (Acts 15:14). This is the Church, His Body and Bride. But after the outcalling of the Church: “After this I will return, and will build again the taber nacle of David [the kingdom of Israel], which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up” (Acts 15:16). The Lord will return, and at His Second Coming, He will build again the tabernacle of David. Nationally and spiritually, Israel shall be re stored. But we repeat, all this awaits His Coming: “And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives . . . and they [Israel] shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son . . . In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the in habitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness" (Zech. 14:4; 12:10; 13:1). The Gentile nations will be evangelized at the Second Coming of Christ. As a result of Israel’s conversion, the nations of the world will be saved, and never until then. It is not the purpose of God now to convert the world, though to be sure, God wants “all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4). But before there shall be a converted world, judgment from God will have to fall: “For when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness” (Isa. 26:9). This will take place at the Second Coming of Christ: “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 residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things” (Acts 15:16,17). Then “All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name” (Psa. 86:9). When Christ comes again, creation itself shall be de livered from the curse of sin. We are familiar with the record of how God pronounced a curse upon all creation as the result of Adam’s sin in the Garden of Eden: “Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field” (Gen. 3:17, 18). But Christ bore this curse on the Cross. Before He was crucified, the Roman sol diers mocked Him: “And they clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about his head” (Mark 15:17). Unwittingly they had borne witness that the Lord was about to bear the curse of His ruined crea tion. “Because the creature [creation] itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious- liberty of the children of God” (Rom. 8:21). Then “ the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose . . . And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water” (Isa. 35:1, 7). Animal creation will be restored to its original state: “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the failing together; and a little child shall lead them” (Continued on Page H ) TH E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
been all made to drink into one Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:13). Since then, each sinner who has believed the Gospel has been added by the Holy Spirit to that Body. Some day that Body, which is also the Bride of Christ (Eph. 5: 22-33), will be completed. Then “the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:16,17). As His Bride, we shall share His glory. Already He has said to the Father: “And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one” (John 17:22). When the Body is complete, and in His presence, He shall present us to Himself as His spotless Bride: “Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:25-27). Then all the voices of Heaven shall proclaim: “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready” (Rev. 19:7). Glorious hour! May it come soon! Not only will fullest glory come for the Church, but for the Old Testament saints as well. John the Baptist was a typical Old Testament saint, having passed from this scene before the Church began. He said: “He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled” (John 3:29). The above mentioned things: (1) the redemption of our bodies, (2) rewards to believers, and (3) glory for the Church, will take place at the Rapture, when the Lord will come for His saints. - But the greatest joy of that hour will not be having our redeemed bodies, or our rewards, or our glory, but looking upon the blessed face of Him who loved us and gave Himself for us. Forever, we shall praise and adore Him, “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Now let us notice what shall occur at the Revelation, when the Lord will dome with His saints. Israel, as a nation, will be restored to their land and into covenant relation with God. Because Israel rejected Christ at His first coming, they were scattered among all nations, and spiritually blinded. Our Lord said: “And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led
So L ittle and S o M u ch In that I have so greatly (ailed Thee, Lord, Have grace! And in Thy outer courts deny me not A place! So little of fair work for Thee have I To show; So much of what I might have done, I did not do. Ye t Thou hast seen in me at times the will For good. Although so oft I did not do all that I would. Thou knowest me through and through, and yet Thou canst. Forgive. Only in hope of Thy redeeming grace I live. —JOHN OXENHAM (Used by permission)
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0 a ^ tVl “And Jesus was left alone” John 8:9. Christ had divested Himself of His glory, He had laid aside His riches, when He came to earth, but His purity He could not lay aside. But having a body prepared for Him, His very humanity craved human sym pathy and fellowship, and this was largely denied Him. “God setteth the solitary in families,” wrote the Psalmist, but the Saviour’s natural family had failed Him, and His adopted family did not really come into “ the fellowship of His suffer ings” till after He had gone back to Heaven, with the result that He was called to tread “the winepress alone” (Isa. 63:3). As a child, we have only one glimpse of Him: in Jerusalem when His mother discovered Him “in the midst of the doctors” (Luke 2:46). Then the curtain drops, and nothing is revealed of the eighteen hidden years that followed in Nazareth. What did He do and say during those unrecorded years? How did He feel? At least we know how He lived: “I do always those things that please him.” We know, too, how He toiled for a living: “Is not this the car penter?” (Mark 6:3). How much that sentence reveals and implies! He did not preach during those silent years of preparation in Nazareth, else the people would have remembered it, and not merely referred to Him as “the carpenter.” No mighty works were done those years, either, for the “beginning of miracles” was at Cana. No, of public witness evidently there was none in Nazareth, for “his hour was not yet come." Did He find sympathy in Nazareth with His mission, or fellowship in His solitude? Apparently the common people never realized that in their midst lived One so “high and holy,” nor did they share in His sorrow over sin. His very friends (Mark 3:21) considered Him “beside him self” when later on He began to p r e a c h . Evidently they had no glimpse of His glory. His "brethren” too, did not believe in Him when His ministry began (John 7:5). We must suppose that in earlier years they, too, must have failed Him in real Northcote Deck, M. B., T HE word monos (alone) is used eight times in the Gospels in connection with the Saviour. It truly expresses one aspect of the cost to Him of His being made sin for us, when He became incarnate, that He might accomplish our sal vation. One hesitates to speak of His being “lonely,” for the word hardly seems reverent enough to apply to Him. But since eight times we are told that He was alone, it will be profitable to consider what that implied and what was involved in it. We shall employ John 8:9 as our initial passage, as it so stresses the moral isolation of the sinless Son of God, on His shining wjay to CH .M ., F .R .G .S . the cross. That day in Jerusalem, surrounded by a critical crowd of sinners, His searching words so con victed them of sin that they were lit erally driven, one by one, from His holy presence, until “Jesus was left alone” with the woman. I think that scene gives the clue, and supplies the underlying reason why He so often was alone, isolated by His innate purity and holiness. From eternity He had dwelt "in the light which no man can approach unto.” And in His earthly life this continually compelled that moral solitude, which must have been His experience through the years, and which must have been hard for Him. MARCH, 1947 PAGE ELEVEN often like a bow and arrow in the hand of an archer. God is aiming at something which the saint cannot see. He stretches and strains, and every now and then the saint cries, ‘I cannot stand any more!’ God does not heed, He goes on stretching till His purpose is in sight, then He lets fly!” Those words describe very well some of the trials of faith of the be liever. It is a real help to realize what process is going on. We cannot see Him clearly; we cannot quite un derstand what He is doing, but we know Him. Only by such a trial of faith is deepest fellowship developed. “That they might be with him.” As He said later: “Ye are they which have continued with me in my temp tations.” They were there in body but how far off they were in real sym pathy and understanding! When, “offended” at the truth “many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him,” (John 6:66), Jesus cried: “Will ye also go away?” Then though Peter made a sincere and im portant declaration, “Thou art that Christ,” yet when the Savior spoke of His inevitable cross, Peter, only willing for the crown, protested: “Be it far from thee, Lord!” So, refusing to discuss His death, Peter failed Jesus in His need. Later at the trans figuration, sent by God to revive their fainting faith, Moses and Eli jah spoke with Him concerning that very “departure” He was to make on the cross, and so supplied the dis ciples’ lack of understanding. But why prolong the recital of the disciples' failure and the Saviour’s isolation? Only after Pentecost and the gift of the Spirit did the dis ciples and believers really begin to enter into “the fellowship of his sufferings.” Was there any sorrow like His sorrow? Can we not make amends today? He has promised to enable us to abide in Him. Thus by the Spirit’s aid we may walk in un broken communion and fellowship with the Saviour. Then, day "by day, He may “see of the travail of his soul and . . . be satisfied.” “And . . . sent them forth to p r e a c h.” Believers “were called Christians first in Antioch.” The peo ple knew they were actually dis ciples and converts,of Barnabas and Saul, yet those were not the names by which they were designated. Be cause of their evident likeness to their Saviour, they were called Chris tians. The change was wrought by Him and not by men. Today lives must authenticate lips. Because they do not, many sermons are in vain. “From church and creed the light goes out, The saintly life survives; The blessed Master none can doubt, Revealed by saintly lives.” TH E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S sympathy and understanding. Even then Psalm 69:8 was being fulfilled, “I am become a stranger unto my brethren . . . an alien unto my moth er’s children.” There remains then Mary His mother. Could He -make a real con fidante of her? We know that at His miraculous birth "Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19). As to Jesus’ experience with the doctors, when He was twelve, Mary “kept all these sayings in her heart.” (Luke 2:51). More we are not told. The scene at Cana does imply Mary’s perfect con fidence in her Son and His power. May we infer from it that she was His confidante? Had He been able to unburden His heart to her as to His person and mission, and His com ing death as a sinbearer? Did He find in her that solace for His soli tude, that human sympathy which later on He sought? It scarcely seems so even with Mary, for as Psalm 69:20 states: “I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.” So for about thirty years Jesus lived in Nazareth, the solitary Saviour, cut off from human sympathy and un derstanding, unrecognized, unknown. It has been well expressed: “The come and go of busy feet, With sound of hammer down the narrow street; • A little two-roomed house with scarce a breath Of air; in busy crowded Naz areth, Yes, here for love of thee, through silent years, Oh, pause and see, if thou art wise, The King of kings dwelt in dis guise.” There indeed, day after day, the Lord had been living the Sermon on the Mount years before He preached a word of it. Yet strange to say, that perfect sinless life lived as an example, changed no other lives. The cross was necessary for that. Later, when His ministry had be gun, Jesus paid’a visit to Nazareth, where alone in all the world a per fect life had been lived; and with what result? We read that in His home town of Nazareth: “He did not many mighty works . . . because of their unbelief.” Pathetic verdict! Thank God He has changed His home town, and now dwells in the heart of every believer! Yet, alas, though His abode is different, only too often the home conditions are the same. There is unbelief in the heart, hence no mighty work, to His eternal sor row, and our eternal loss. “Lord, In crease our faith"! Then came His public ministry, and the time when, kindly and de liberately, He had to divest Himself PAGE TWELVE of His earthly relations. For now these natural ties had to be super seded by supernatural ties, and brethren after the flesh had to be replaced by brethren in the Spirit. So, to the seeking mother and brethren, He decreed: “Whosoever shall do the will of my Father . . . the same is my brother, and sister, and mother” (Matt. 12:50). So, He turned from His natural family to His adopted family. Twelve of them He called to be His disciples, and the function and purpose of these newly adopted relatives is carefully and for all time set forth in Mark 3:14: “He ordained twelve, that [1] they should be with him, and that [2] he might send them forth to preach.” Those words set forth the order of importance of their pur pose and call. Their office was to be twofold: They were to share His joys and sorrows with Himself, and they were to share His salvation with the world. “That they should be with him.” Earliest man “heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day." Even then He was seeking fellowship with His creature man. He has been seeking it ever since. So the disciples were called “ that they might be with him.” We too are called “unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Cor. 1:9). For the high est function and possibility of man must ever be the fellowship of God. Service, however exalted, is after all but a by-product of Christian life. The main, the highest function, is fellowship. Of course we need preparation for this experience, even as believers. When the prodigal came home, the father did not invite him to sit at the feast in rags. It would not have been fitting, nor was it necessary. The loving father could, and did, fall on his neck and kiss him, in spite of all his rags. They did not prevent reconciliation, but they did prevent communion. Likewise, there is a fel lowship with God 'which cannot be enjoyed by any believer without suitable preparation and apparel; the robe of Christ’s righteousness must be donned. As with the prodi gal, this is supplied free, on the terms that we do “put . . . on the Lord Jesus Christ,” day by day. This preparation for fellowship is often long and costly. Many lessons had to be learned by the disciples in their school of prayer. Many must be learned by us, yet how well worth the learning! Many indeed are the “strange ways” and acts of God. Time, too, is needed, and there is often bewilderment at delays. Yet there must be patience and trust in the dark. It has been written: “A saint’s life in the hand of God is
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