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THE KING’S BUSINESS
15; 6:40; 20:20; 2 Cor. 3:18). But there are many , quite unlike these awakened Greeks, they cannot say, “We would see Jesus.” These Greeks came to Philip seem ingly because he was not so strict a Jew as some other members of the apostolic, company, he was of Bethsaida and had a Greek name. Their request suggested to Jesus the time when the Gentiles would, come to Him, the Jews having rejected Him. But before this was possible the middle wall of partition between Jew and Greek must be removed by His atoning death (Eph. 2:13-16). Their coming fore shadowed His own glorification, glorifica tion through death (vs. 23, 24; ch. 17:1, 5; 10:13, 31, 32). The path to glory is the cross. This was the path Jesus trod and it is the path that every one else must tread if they would bear fruit and receive the glory that comes from God. In order to bear fruit we must die. “ Not a grain of wheat shall bear fruit except it dies. If we are not willing to die we shall abide by ourselves alone. But if we die we shall bear “much fruit.” If we set our hearts- upon our own lives we shall lose them, but if our lives are nothing to us in comparison with Christ (cf. Matt. 16:25), then we shall keep our lives, until life eternal. Any one who wishes to serve Christ must be ready to follow wherever He leads (cf. Matt. 16:24). He went to. Gethsemane and Cal vary and all who follow Him must take the same road. If we follow Him to Geth semane .and Calvary now, we shall follow Him also to glory hereafter: where He is there shall we also be (v. 26; cf. Jno. 17:24; 2 Ti. 2:12; Rev. 3:21). It is worth suf fering jfor and dying for to be with Him (2 Cor? 5:8; Phil. 1:23 ; 2 Cor. 4:17; Rom. 8:18). But not only will we be with Him hereafter if we serve Him now, but, fur thermore, the Father shp.ll honor us. What a wonderful thought that the great God will honor us! The ways in which the Father will honor us are manifold and for the most part beyond our present compre hension (cf. Jno. 14:21-23; 17:22, 23; 1 Jno. 3:2; Col. 3:4, R. V.).
MondayJuly i o . John 12 : 27 - 30 .
Up to the 27th verse our Lord has been occupied with the glorious side of His death, but now for a moment the horror of it sweeps over His soul. His soul was stirred to its depths with agony (cf. Matt. 26:38; Luke 22:44), but though His soul recoiled with horror from the cross, that fact did not cause Him to waver for one moment from His purpose to endure the cross. The agony« of His heart might prompt Him to cry, ‘''Father, save me from this hour,” but He will not yield to that prompting, He will not offer that prayer. Indeed it was for ' the very purpose of enduring this hour that He had come to it (cf. Phil. 2:6-8). What a lesson there is here for us when we draw back from the Gethsemane and the Calvary that lie in our path. Instead of the prayer, “save me,” the one that really ascends from Jesus’ lips is, “Father, glorify thy name.” Jesus seeks not His own deliverance from suffering, but the Father’s glory, though that glory means His own crucifixion. Have we also this same supreme desire for God’s glory that we wish Him to glorify His name, though glorifying His name involves cruci fixion for us? This prayer of Jesus was instantly heard and there comes the audi ble answer, “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” - Tuesday, July 11 . John 12 : 31 - 34 . To the eyes of men it appeared as if the crucifixion of Jesus was a judgment of Him, but in reality it was a judgment of the world. What the world did with Jesus showed what the world was at heart, showed it as no other event in all history has ever shown it. It was a revelation of the deep seated wickedness of the heart of man. It seemed as if in the cross the prince of this World, the Devil, had triumphed and cast Jesus out, but really the crucifix ion of Jesus was the defeat of the devil and his casting out. His lifting up on the cross has been the great magnet which is drawing all men in all ages unto Him;
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