O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of G.o.d!
how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord or who hath been his counsellor?
or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and unto him, are all things. To him be the glory for ever. Amen.
--_Romans 11:33-36_.
Now unto the King eternal, incorruptible, invisible, the only G.o.d, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
--_I Timothy 1:17_.
{445}{446}
[Ill.u.s.tration]
VIEW OF ANTIOCH, WHERE THE DISCIPLES WERE FIRST CALLED CHRISTIANS.
Copyright by Underwood & Underwood and used by special permission.
There was everything in the situation and circ.u.mstances of this city to make it a place of concourse for all cla.s.ses and kinds of people.
By its harbor of Seleucia it was in communication with all the trade of the Mediterranean; and, through the open country behind the Lebanon, it was conveniently approached by the caravans from Mesopotamia and Arabia. It united the inland advantages of Aleppo with the maritime opportunities of Smyrna. It was almost an Oriental Rome, in which all the forms of the civilized life of the Empire found some representative.
At the rugged bases of the mountain, the ground was leveled for a glorious street, which extended for four miles across the length of the city, and where sheltered crowds could walk through continuous colonnades from the eastern to the western suburb. The whole was surrounded by a wall, which, ascending to the heights and returning to the river, does not deviate very widely in its course from the wall of the Middle Ages, which can still be traced by the fragments of ruined towers. This wall is a.s.signed by a Byzantine writer to Tiberius, but it seems more probable that the Emperor only repaired what Antiochus Epiphanes had built.
[End ill.u.s.tration]
{447}
THE CHRISTIAN WARRIOR
But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief: for ye are all sons of light, and sons of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep, as do the rest, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep, sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, since we are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love: and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. For G.o.d appointed us not unto wrath, but unto the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Wherefore exhort one another, and build each other up, even as also ye do.
--_I Thessalonians 5:4-11_.
Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armour of G.o.d, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the princ.i.p.alities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Wherefore take up the whole armour of G.o.d, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, {448} having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; also taking up the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of G.o.d.
--_Ephesians 6:10-17_.
Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. Let all that ye do be done in love.
--_I Corinthians 16:13_.
Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier on service entangleth himself in the affairs of this life; that he may please him who enrolled him as a soldier.
--_II Timothy 2:3, 4_.
But thou, O man of G.o.d, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, G.o.dliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of the faith, lay hold on the life eternal, whereunto thou wast called, and didst confess the good confession in the sight of many witnesses.
--_Timothy 6:11,12_.
{449}
THE HOPE OF IMMORTALITY
Now if Christ is preached that he hath been raised from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, neither hath Christ been raised: and if Christ hath not been raised, then is our preaching vain, your faith also is vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of G.o.d; because we witnessed of G.o.d that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, neither hath Christ been raised: and if Christ hath not been raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men most pitiable.
But now hath Christ been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of them that are asleep. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; then they that are Christ"s, at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall deliver up the kingdom to G.o.d, even the Father; when he shall have abolished all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be abolished is death. For, "He put all things in {450} subjection under his feet." But when he saith, "All things are put in subjection," it is evident that he is excepted who did subject all things unto him. And when all things have been subjected unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subjected to him that did subject all things unto him, that G.o.d may be all in all.
But some one will say, "How are the dead raised? and with what manner of body do they come?" Thou foolish one, that which thou thyself sowest is not quickened, except it die: and that which thou sowest, thou sowest not the body that shall be, but a bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other kind; but G.o.d giveth it a body even as it pleased him, and to each seed a body of its own. All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another of fishes. There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: it is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: it is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So also it is written, "The first man Adam became a living soul." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. Howbeit that is not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; then {451} that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is of heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of G.o.d; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall come to pa.s.s the saying that is written, "Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?" The sting of death is sin; and the power of sin is the law: but thanks be to G.o.d, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not vain in the Lord.
--_I Corinthians 15:12-58_.
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of G.o.d, and not from ourselves; we are pressed on every side, yet not straitened; perplexed, yet not unto despair; pursued, yet {452} not forsaken; smitten down, yet not destroyed; always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus" sake, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in you. But having the same spirit of faith, according to that which is written, "I believed, and therefore did I speak"; we also believe, and therefore also we speak; knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also with Jesus, and shall present us with you. For all things are for your sakes, that the grace, being multiplied through the many, may cause the thanksgiving to abound unto the glory of G.o.d.
Wherefore we faint not; but though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is for the moment, worketh for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
For we know that if the earthly house of our tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building from G.o.d, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens.
--_II Corinthians 4:7-5:1_.
If then ye were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of G.o.d. Set your mind on the things that are above, {453} not on the things that are upon the earth. For ye died, and your life is hid with Christ in G.o.d. When Christ, who is our life, shall be manifested, then shall ye also with him be manifested in glory.
--_Colossians 3:1-4_.
For our citizenship is in heaven; from whence also we wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, according to the working whereby he is able even to subject all things unto himself.
--_Philippians 3:20, 21_.
Howbeit what things were gain to me, these have I counted loss for Christ. Yea verily, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but refuse, that I may gain Christ, and be found in him, not having a righteousness of mine own, even that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is of G.o.d by faith: that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed unto his death; if by any means I may attain unto the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect: but I press on, if so be that I may apprehend that for which also I was apprehended by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself yet to have apprehended: but one thing I do, forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the {454} things which are before, I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling of G.o.d in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in anything ye are otherwise minded, even this shall G.o.d reveal unto you: only, whereunto we have already attained, by that same rule let us walk.
--_Philippians 3:7-16_.
For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us-ward. For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the revealing of the sons of G.o.d. For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but by reason of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of G.o.d. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
And not only so, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for our adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. For by hope were we saved: but hope that is seen is not hope: for who hopeth for that which he seeth? But if we hope for that which we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
--_Romans 8:18-25_.
What then shall we say to these things? If G.o.d is for us, who is against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with {455} him freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of G.o.d"s elect? It is G.o.d that justifieth; who is he that shall condemn? It is Christ Jesus that died, yea rather, that was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of G.o.d, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Even as it is written,
"For thy sake we are killed all the day long; We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter."
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor princ.i.p.alities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of G.o.d, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
--_Romans 8:31-39_.