101
March, 1933
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
F R OM THE B O O K O F L I FE AND EVERYDAY LI FE B y R oy T almage B rumbaugh
shark to safety and to food. However, it deserts the shark when the shark is at tacked. Our Lord is the Pilot of every believing soul. He leads us to the place of safety and to spiritual food ; but He does not for sake us when we are attacked. LIGHT—I was standing one night by the shore of Puget Sound. There was darkness at the right hand and the left. The skies were overcast; not a star was to be seen. The wind was blowing. What a night I Sud denly I saw a bright shining, far out on the surface o f the water. The moon had broken through an aperture in the clouds. The light above lit up the waters below. And so, looking ahead, in the darkest days, you and I may see the bright shining of revival, or o f rapture. The heavens shall be rent. The people who sit in dark ness shall see that great light, and above the clouds, the great calm and the glory. FOG—Where the warm waters o f the Gulf Stream meet the cold waters of the North, there is much fog. Where evangel ical fervor meets the coldness o f unbelief, the result is fog and lukewarmness, Has not God said, “Because thou ar t . . . neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out o f my mouth” ? W e need to be “ fervent in spirit;: serving the Lord.” ;; There should be nothing be tween us and God, not even a fog. pel, or a giant with no gospel. PRAYER—“The harvest truly is plen teous, but the labourers are few ; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest” (Matt. 9:37, 38). The disciples prayed, and lo ! Christ called them, gave mem power, and then sent them forth. Sincere prayer will send us forth equipped for service. TRUTH—Christ is the living Truth. The Bible is the written Truth. The Holy Spirit reveals the Truth. The devil is the enemy o f Truth. Truth and error grow to gether. Children of God and children o f the devil kneel at the same altar. Wheat and tares will be separated at the end of the age. Until that time, the two will look somewhat alike. However, mature wheat will never be mistaken for tares. Neither will mature tares be mistaken for wheat. It behooves us to strive for spiritual ma turity now. Tares _ripen for the burning, and wheat for shining. That is the truth! “IGNORANT” is the charge repeatedly hurled at those who believe the whole gos pel. Many of the greatest minds of all ages have humbly received the entire Bible. At any rate, we prefer a little man with a big gospel to a big man with a little gos
tell Jonah to go and teach philosophy in Nineveh. He did not tell him to educate Nineveh, nor to compromise, but to cry out against it. Don’t whisper, don’t speak softly, don’t put on the soft pedal, but “ Cry!” “ Cry out I” “ Cry out against the wickedness of the city.” The iniquities of Nineveh are found up on the streets of every city of the present civilization. The fate of the cities of the past cry warning to the cities of this gen eration. As Christian inhabitants of the cities, we need to cry against sin, witness ing for God. The gospel is the power which transforms lives. It is the only active force which will succeed against prevail ing iniquities. Nineveh was ripe for judgment: “Their wickedness is come up before me.” It was either revival or retribution; turn or burnl “But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tar- shish.” Take notice: obedience and dis obedience lay in opposite directions. Nin eveh was six hundred miles to the east and Tarshish two thousand miles to the west. To disobey is to go in a direction contrary to the command of God. Those who dis obey turn their backs on God. It is better to hearken unto Him than to any one else. We need to trust Him,; but if obedience fol lows not, faith is in wain. • Disobedience is an act of the will. “Jonah rose up to flee.” •His mind was made up. He deliberately resolved to disobey God. He presumptuously willed to go contrary to the will of Jehovah. All disobedience is the child of self-will. Jonah resigned his prophetic office. He demitted the ministry. He stepped out of the highest calling to that of a runaway. This is what happens when a man called to preach the gospel does something else. Calls come from many directions, but no minister called to preach the Word should allow anything to interfere with the proc lamation o f the Good News. Reformers, perhaps, have their place, but a minister of the gospel who steps from the pulpit into the field of reform steps down; he has re signed the higher office. BERMUDA—The Bermuda Islands are the most northern coral islands in the world. It is said that coral forms at the
JONAH—“The word o f the Lord came unto Jonah.” God called the prophet. How did the call come? Did it come by vision?
by theophany ? by trance? by dream? Did God speak aud ibly? Did Jonah’s physical ear hear ? We know not. God
spake unto the fathers by the prophets in various ways. He spake unto Isaiah in a vision. He spake unto Abraham face to face. It does not make any difference as to the manner; the reality o f the message and the substance thereof are all important. God commanded Jonah: “ AriseI” This message came as a bolt out of the blue. So calls come. Furthermore, God selects His messengers, but there is no merit in the messenger. God passes by one man and se lects another. Why? Only God knows. Jonah may have been contemplating eter nal things when the call came. At any rate, he recognized the voice as the voice of Jehovah. “Arise, g o !” “ Strike while the iron is hot.” “Make hay while the sun shines.” All o f us have so little time in which to work 1 Our little day is hastening to a close. “ Fast falls the eventide.” The night cometh when no man can work. Now is the time to lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust doth not corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. Hurry I “Go to Nineveh, that great city.” Nine veh was great in size, in numbers, in pomp, in pretentions, and in masonry. The city was sixty miles in circumference—three day’s journey. There were 120,000 children in the city. The population was perhaps be tween 500,000 and 800,000. Nineveh was great in power, being the capital of the great kingdom o f Assyria. It was also great in sin. Nahum calls it “a bloody city.” He said, “ There is none end o f their corpses.” Violence was found everywhere. No man’s life was safe. The Ninevites were proud of their cruelties to prisoners of war. Corpses were piled heap upon heap. This city was founded by Nimrod, the great hunter against the Lord, who set himself up as God. We are not surprised, therefore, that idolatry abounded in the city. The city was "fu ll o f lies and robbery.” Deceit thrived. Thieves prevailed. No man’s property was safe. Nineveh was also the mistress of witch crafts. Clairvoyancy, necromancy, and spiritism found native air here. Ignorance and superstition go together. Rebellion and communion with evil spirits go hand in hand. The city was evil. It was without Bible, without God, without any merit; yet God wanted the inhabitants to repent. So He sent Jonah to cry against it, He did not
rate of one inch in ten years. Does this not declare the truth that “one day is with the Lord as a thou sand years, and a
thousand years as one day” ? I went swimming at Bermuda. The water was clear, and the beach was white. Fish could be seen swimming in the warm water. I noticed a many-colored fish striped like a zebra. I was told that it was a pilot fish. Sailors imagine that this fish pilots the
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