T HE K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S always m anifest where duty calls. He will no t tu rn a stone into bread to satisfy H is own hunger bu t He will do njiore th an th a t to feed His hung ry peo ple. “Thou openest th in e hand, they are filled w ith good. Thou givest them th e ir m eat in due season. Thou satis- fiest the desire of every living th ing .” SUNDAY, Oct. 26. Psalm 40:1-9. Help From the Lord. The use made of th is Psalm in the New Testam ent distinguishes it as con tain ing and conveying some of th e deep est teaching of Scripture. The efficiency of th e Jew ish sacrifices is denied. They have a certain value and indeed a neces sity, b u t standing alone they may even become hindrances. Heb. 10:4. They serve m erely as th e acknow ledgment of indebtedness. A man may owe an o ther a sum of money and have given his note for th e amount. When the note becomes due, he is unable to pay it, b u t a t least he should be w illing to confess his inability and to renew the note if his creditors perm it. Obviously the m ere renewal of th e note does not give th e creditor g reat or lasting satis faction since he w ants th e cash. This is th e reason why God tak es no pleas u re in b u rn t offerings and sacrifices. Heb. 10:8. He can give preterm ission only on account of th e sacrifice as a creditor may perm it th e debtor to re new his note, bu t he can only give re mission when paym ent is made in full. When Jesus suffered and died in our stead to satisfy an imm anent demand of th e Divine Holiness, He m et every claim of justice and paid th e debt in full. Col. 2:14. P reterm ission is passing over. Remission is pu ttin g away. There was only preterm ission before the cross. There is rem ission afterw ards. Rom. 8:24-25, Luke 24:47, Acts 10:43, Heb. 10:18. A secret of etern ity is dis closed and we h ear th e echo of words coming from th e Holy of Holies in heaven as th e Son of God declares “A body h ast thou prepared me, which may be sacrifice, w ith precious blood which may be shed for sin. Understanding and foreseeing all, I come to do thy w ill.” MONDAY, Oct. 27. Jeremiah 35 :1-11. Keeping the Commandments. Jehoiakim was one of the la st th ree kings of Judah . A lthough his fath er Josiah, was a godly man, he was not, and w ith daring sacrilege he destroyed th e message th a t God sent him. J6r.
969 36:21-23. The Rechabites wfere d e scendants of Abraham and K etu rah per haps ‘th rough Je th ro th e father-in-law of MoSes. They worshiped th e tru e God and were in Jerusalem a t th is tim e for safety. Their home was in Midian, east of th e Jordan. Jerem iah the prophet, brough t them into one of th e rooms of the temple and offered them wine to drink in order to give th e people of Ju d a h an object lesson in obedience. The Lord knew th a t they would stand th e test. There was no hesitancy on th e p a rt of the Rechabites in giving th eir answer. They rem ained tru e to the teaching of th e ir ancestors. Among the obligations which th e ir ancestor Jonadab imposed upon them , was to drink no wine, to build no houses and n eith er to sow seed nor p lan t vineyards, bu t they were to live a nomadic life in tents among th e ir flocks and herds. For nearly 300 years they had obeyed these commands and by abstaining from wine had k ep t themselves clean and strong. They were able to give God’s people a splendid lesson in fidelity and obedience. Jerem iah b rough t a message from God to Jud ah asking if they would give less atten tio n to w hat Jehovah had com manded th a n th e Rechabites had given to th e words of Jonadab. Then the prophet of God gave th e Rechabites a benediction and a promise. The time would never come when they should be extinct and th e ir descendants should always worship Jehovah. Obedience to them was a m a tte r of principle and th erefo re they were sted fast under tem ptation. Such obedience always meets a deserved reward. TUESEDAY, Oct. 28. Jer. 35:12-19. Rewards and Penalties. P en alty is the reaction of Divine holi ness against sin and is the vindication of th e ch aracter of th e Law-giver. It proceeds from justice and answers to the ill-desert of sin. It is not intended to bring about th e reform ation of th e transgressor. It differs in th is respect from chastisem ent which proceeds from love. When reform ation follows pen alty, it is not th e work of penalty bu t the operation of grace tu rn ing into a means of good w hat o therw ise would be evil. Again penalty is not improved as a prevention. Its p rim ary end is not to deter th e tran sg resso r from repeating the same offence or to keep other men from comm itting like offences. This may happen under fam ily, civil and Di-
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