Covenanter Witness Vol. 55 - Rparchives.org

earth"observation."satisfied."repenteth."am"earthworld."not fully satisfied as yet, but that He will be mustbe as certain as His death on Calvary. And yet, in theface of this glowing prophecy there are those who inhopes?"quire, "What is there to justify such high"What does the past or present furnish to encouragethe belief that all ends of the earth shall see the salvation of God ?" And we cannot blind ourselves to thefact that, judged merely by appearances, the timewould seem to be a long way off. Sin probably neverseemed more potent or more strongly entrenchedthan it is today. The forces of evil never appearedmore numerous nor more aggressive than at thispresent moment. Had we nothing but appearancesupon which to base our hopes, we should be almostconstrained to admit that the advantage appears tolie with the great adversary. Hitherto, the results ofChristian effort have been seemingly, somewhatmeager. Generations have come and gone ; centuriesrolled by until now, after the lapse of almost twothousand years, the world is still, broadly speaking,in an unredeemed state.But the future is not to be measured by the past.We do not believe that what shall be hath alreadybeen. If one persists in keeping his eyes on theground, he cannot expect to see the stars of heavenabove him. And just as the blackness of the nightbrings out the brightness of the firmament, so thevery darkness of the present may serve to cause thefuture to glow more brightly by very contrast. Certainly we should not be of those who think the worldis ever growing worse. Remember that "The kingdom of God cometh not withThingsare not always what they seem to be. There areforces that cannot be measured operating for thekingdom of God. The forces that make for evil maybe judged more easily than those that make forgood. Historic facts may teach us lessons to be remembered. It is true that after the apostolic era thechurch was largely negligent of the Lord's commandgiven at the time of His ascension, that "the uttermost part of the must be reached with thegospel. The apostles proved faithful in the fulfillment of their duties. But after their period of servicehad ended there followed the era of darkness termed"the Dark Ages." The modern mission work of thechurch goes back two centuries. In fact, so late asthe earlier part of the nineteenth century the churchassemblies of ministers even, were actually debatingamong themselves whether or not the people of Indiaand China and Japan and Africa, were really thelegitimate subjects of divine grace.And are we really grasping what, in these twocenturies have been accomplished ? Robert Morrison,the first Protestant missionary to China landed inthat country in 1807. After twenty-odd years ofhardships such as later missionaries in that countrycould not imagine, he was taken to his eternal rest,and his resting place is in Macao, a Portugese colonyforty miles from Hong Kong. His last words heard,by a younger associate, were to the effect that in onehundred years there would be as many as one thousand Christians in China. At the end of that onehundred years, the various Christian missions established in China united to celebrate the progress madeduring that century. At that time the number ofChristians united with the various missions countedup to three hundred thousand members. And now,India has myriads of followers of the Nazarene.November 16, 1955Africa, that dark continent, is stretching out herhands to God. And all this in face of the fact thatthe church has just been waking to the fact that theworld's evangelization is a task worthyof her verybest efforts, and is just beginning to realize herresponsibilities and opportunities.Yes! Jesus shall be satisfied! The chariots ofsalvation are traversing every land. There is thesound of a going in the tops of the mulberry treesthat cannot be mistaken. "Mine eyes have seen theglory of the coming of the Lord." Just before theLord ascended to Heaven, He said to His disciples,"Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghostis come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses untoMe both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of theWhat a stupendous program ! How few, how pitifullyfew there were to carry it out! But how superblythey were equipped !Then there is another scene; not in the past,but in the future ; one that John saw on Patmos, anddescribes beyond our ability to comprehend. He says"I beheld, and lo, a great multitude which no mancould number, of all nations, and kindreds, andtongues, and peoples, stood before the throne, andbefore the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palmsin their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying,"Salvation to our God, which sitteth upon the throne,and unto the Lamb!" An innumerable multitude, anecumenical multitude, a saintly multitude, a triumphant multitude, a Christ-saved multitude! That waswhat John saw. That is what the future holds. Thatis what Jesus, by His soul travail, has made certain."He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall beAnd the prayer of the Saviour shall be answered. "Father, I will that they also whom Thouhast given Me be with Me where I (John .17-24)Thus shall He be satisfied.III. HE SHALL BE SATISFIED WITH THEREWARD OF HIS SOUL TRAVAILApart from His satisfaction in having finishedthe work given Him as the Redeemer of mankind,Jesus was promised a reward commensurate withHis sufferings. It must be true that His redeemedpeople are in themselves a reward, a source of deepest satisfaction. "There is joy in heaven over onesinner thatHow much greater must thatjoy be when they shall fly as a cloud, and as doves totheir windows ! But there is another form of rewardof which the Lord Jesus is the recipient, a reward inthe form of royal honors: "We see Jesus, who wasmade a little lower than the angels, for the sufferingof death crowned with glory and honor" (Heb. 2:9)."He became obedient unto death, even the death ofthe cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exaltedHim, and given Him a name that is above everyname ; that at the name of Jesus every knee shouldbow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, andthings under the earth ; and that every tongue shallconfess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory ofGod the Father" (Phil. 2:9-11).So then, Jesus Christ is a King. In reply to Pilate's question, "Art Thou a King?" Jesus said,"Thou sayest that I am a King. To this end was Iborn, and for this cause came I into the Todeny the fact of His kingship in its widest sense is325