“JOURNEY TO CALVARY” Part 5

 

 

13A.  THE SEVEN SAYINGS

God’s altar was on a little mount outside the walls of Jerusalem. It was called “Golgotha” by the Jews, and by the Latins, “Calvary”—“the place of the skull.”

Angels hover there.

Devils flee that holy ground.

The seal of immortality is there.

Holy mysteries cluster around that sacred mount.

For the cross, the pinnacle of divine love, was raised there. Jesus, sinless Son of God, died there.

Dawn slipped silently across that mount one Friday morning. But when Jesus died on that cross— when the drums of death for Him did sound—the sun became dark.

Well might the sun in darkness hide.

And shut his glories in,

When Christ, the mighty Maker, died

For man the creature’s sin.

 

But none of the ransomed ever knew

How deep were the waters crossed;

Or how dark was the night that the Lord passed thro’

‘Ere He found His sheep that was lost.

 

He died for your sins.

He died to reconcile you to God.

He died to deliver you from the yoke of bondage.

He died that you might be justified.

He died to redeem you—“to buy you back.”

He died to give you a deed to Heaven.

He died that you might know Him and live for Him in time and with Him in eternity.

When Martin Luther first realized the truth of the doctrine of justification by faith, he was found kneeling before a cross and sobbing, “For me! For me!” Oh, if you could but grasp the true meaning of Calvary, and the depth of the sufferings the Savior knew in His determined effort to redeem and reconcile sinners to God by the shedding of His own blood—you, too, would fall at the foot of the cross and sob and pour out your heart in gratitude!

Turn back with me for a moment, and see the Savior on Calvary. In the face of scorn, ridicule, hatred and enmity, Jesus speaks from the cross.

His First Saying

“Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots,” Luke 23.34.

Even as the blood is falling, He asks that it might fall on His enemies—that its forgiving power go to work immediately.

Behold Him, with His arms outstretched in welcome, looking out upon the whole, wide world— seeing generations yet unborn—seeing you—and He cries, “Father, forgive—forgive!”

Hear Him saying to a guilty world, “Be ye reconciled unto the Father—come to this open Fount— find full and free forgiveness forever!”

Grace and love like mighty rivers,

Poured incessant from above—

And Heaven’s peace and perfect justice,

Kissed a guilty world with love.

 

O my beloved, the gate is too narrow for you and your load of sin! There is forgiveness at Calvary! John Bunyan tells us how Pilgrim carried a heavy load of sin, but when he came in sight of the cross, the load of sin fell off and went tumbling down the hill!

Oh, hear the petition of the great Intercessor as He pleads for sinners! Adam Clarke says, “In the prayer, Father forgive them—the word of prophecy in Isaiah 53.12 was fulfilled: He made intercession for the transgressors.”

“They know not what they do.” This fragment of Scripture teaches us that even sins of ignorance need forgiveness—and it is available at Calvary.

This first cry was uttered not from the physical pain of Calvary, but from the spiritual pain Jesus knew at the sight of sinners who needed forgiveness.

His Second Saying

“And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise,” Luke 23.43.

Christ came to seek and save the lost. While on Calvary He claimed another trophy for the Father.

The dying thief called Him “Lord.”

He confessed his need by saying, “Remember me.”

He acknowledged the Kingdom of Christ.

He confessed his guilt when he said to the other thief, “We receive the due reward of our deeds.”

He had respect for Deity. To his former companion in crime, he said, “Dost thou not fear God?”

So the dying Christ gave assurance to the dying thief that they would live and meet in Paradise!

No greater proof of mercy is there than the fact that Jesus saved the dying thief!

Oh, yes! My heart cries out that there is yet a greater miracle of mercy: He saved me!

The dying thief rejoiced to see

That fountain in his day:

And there may I, though vile as he,

Wash all my sins away.

 

His Third Saying

“When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son!” John 19.26.

What words of tender love and concern! Since the record is silent on this subject, it is reasonable to

assume that Joseph had long since died—and Mary was a widow.

In the agony of the cross, Jesus remembered Mary. He must have wanted John to take her from that bloody spectacle of horror. “Take her, John, and take care of her.” The Bible says, “And from that hour the disciple took her unto his own home.”

Says one early writer, “John’s devotion to his dying Lord—alone of the disciples exposed to the peril of the cross—is thus abundantly rewarded.”

The heart of Mary, pierced by the sword of sorrow, turns away from Calvary.

Gazing on her grief and touched by her tears, Jesus, with tones of tenderness and with language of love, provides for His mother.

His Fourth Saying

“And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Matthew 27.46.

Jesus now passes through the deepest depths of utter abandonment. The human mind cannot fathom the sense of loss Jesus knew when He realized the Father had deserted Him!

This was a cry of loneliness. The satanic storm of sin—our sins—struck the Savior—and God could not look upon sin. The thought of this had caused Jesus to shrink from the cup in Gethsemane.

This was a cry of longing. Oh, for that glory He had shared with the Father before the world was!

It was a cry of loyalty. Note the word of personal relationship—“my.” “My God!” He was trusting in the valley!

Oh, this cry was “the suffering of His soul—and the soul of His suffering.”

Oh, the solitude the Savior knew as He cried out, “Why hast thou forsaken me?” The black clouds of sin moved between Him and the Father—and He knew a vast wilderness of desolation. He was alone.

His Fifth Saying

“After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst,” John 19.28.

“I thirst.”

He who had created the waters of ten thousand streams cries out in thirst.

He who held the oceans in the palm of His hand cries out in thirst.

He, the Living Water, cries out in thirst. How much He loved you!

The suffering Savior was human enough to thirst. This is a short cry with a long meaning. For here He identifies Himself with all my sufferings! He knows and He understands my thorny path! He has traveled this way before me!

Because He suffered so much, my soul can satisfy its thirst in Him. For Jesus is no broken cistern. He is a Fountain ever full and overflowing!

Ah, my beloved in Christ, when you feel your way is difficult and your load is heavy, think of the thirsting Christ on Calvary! Are you guilty of asking God for “green pastures” and “still waters”—do you seek the rose-strewn pathway? Remember that Jesus offers His followers a cross—and the strength to bear it.

Someone has well said, “The cross is not a rocking chair.”

Must I be carried to the skies

On flowery beds of ease,

While others fought to win the prize,

And sailed through bloody seas.

 

His Sixth Saying

“When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished,” John 19.30a.

These were among the last words Jesus spoke from the cross. He who had many pulpits—the Well of Sychar, the Mount, the teaching desk of the Synagogue, and the supper table—now utters some of His noblest truths from Calvary.

This cry, “It is finished,” was one word in the Greek, tetelestai—and it has been called “the

greatest single word ever uttered.”

Last words are often an index to character. Ignatius, the Bishop of Antioch, was condemned to death by the Emperor Trajan with the hope of bringing fear and terror to the Christians at Rome. He died as he had lived, thanking God that He had seen fit to let him suffer.

Secular history says that when Polycarp was brought to the stake, he refused to be nailed to it, as was the custom, saying that the Lord would give him strength to remain in the fire.

The last sayings of the Savior were a portrayal of His entire life. There was that constant attitude of complete commitment to the Father.

Last words often reveal a man’s estimation of values. The Master’s last words revealed a true estimation of eternal values. The entire fabric of His life had been dictated by the Father’s will. He had constantly yielded to the divine directive that He knew would lead to the cross. And now—it was finished! Yes, the redemptive purpose of His mission was finished!

Last words sometimes reflect ultimate hope or despair. The last words of Jesus were filled with hope and expectancy.

And may it be so for you. It is still possible to live a straight life in a crooked world and give a dying testimony to a living faith.

His Seventh Saying

“And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost,” Luke 23.46.

Clarke translates this, “I place, as a precious deposit, My soul in thy hands.”

Says the Bible, “calling with a great voice!” This was not diminuendo—it was crescendo!

Yes, there was the increase of volume of voice. These words did not diminish till they died in a whisper. This was a triumphant cry!

He had drunk the cup!

He had shed His blood!

He had fulfilled His mission!

Now He would walk through that place called hell and proclaim His victory over Satan!

Now He would meet the saved thief and the saints in that intermediate resting place of the soul called Paradise!

Now He would prepare to return to the body the third day to rise again—as He had promised!

For Jesus was dead.

 

14A.  THE BLOOD OF JESUS

Man’s lawlessness and God’s love met at Calvary. Here the Rose of Sharon blossomed midst the rubbish of hell. The Rose and the rubbish! That is the story of Calvary!

Here Jesus died for us—unworthy though we be.

Here He satisfied the claims of divine justice.

Here He took the place of a sinful race.

Here He was wounded for our transgressions.

Here He was bruised for our iniquities.

Here He paid the debt we owed, but could not pay.

Jesus paid it all,

All to Him I owe;

Sin had left a crimson stain,

He washed it white as snow.

 

And this required the shedding of His blood—for without the shedding of blood, there could be no remission of sins.

We are living in an hour when some would like to do away with the sacred truth of the atoning blood. Bishop Warren was right when he said that the message of too many ministers is, “My friends, you ought to repent more or less, and be converted as it were, or you will be damned to some extent.” And in the words of Jeremiah, “The people love to have it so.” We need never apologize for old-fashioned salvation. Thank God! The blood has never lost its power.

“For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul,” Leviticus 17.11.

There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood

Under the old economy sins could not be remitted without the use of blood. And the night of the first Passover—it was the blood that saved! Yes, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.” It was the blood that brought hope—and it still does!

But now the old covenant is abrogated. Now the Old Testament types and shadows find fulfillment at Calvary! No more the blood of bulls and goats will be slain on Jewish altars. No more will lambs be led to the slaughter. No more must man make his offering on crudely constructed altars and smite his breast and beg God to hear him. For “By one offering he hath perfected forever!” Yes, ‘tis done—the great transaction’s done! The prophecy is fulfilled—redemption is complete—the atonement is accomplished! Yes, there is now open access to the throne of God! There is a Fount where man’s guilt can be buried!

By every drop of blood that fell to the base of that cruel cross on Calvary to form a fount of cleansing, the Bible declares it is so!

Drawn from Immanuel’s Veins

The blood of animals had lost its virtue. Now there was blood more pure—more precious—more perfect—more powerful—the blood of Jesus!

That blood, “drawn from Immanuel’s veins,” is the passport to Paradise—the hope of Heaven!

O sacred stream that flowed from the Prince of Glory who died for me!

O healing stream that poured forth from the Balm of Gilead!

O precious Fountain flowing from Calvary’s mountain!

O Calvary—blessed Calvary!

In my hand no price I bring—

Simply to Thy cross I cling!

And Sinners Plunged Beneath That Flood

I like that word “plunge.” It denotes total abandonment. Yes, plunge in and be made whole!

Oh, blessed blood!

Oh, holy flood!

I stand at Calvary and plead the blood! Let it fall on me! Hallelujah! It cleanses this heart of mine! Nay, not mine—but Thine, Lord—forever Thine!

Oh, Jesus died and Calvary’s tide, deep and wide, has been applied and has satisfied!

The tent-maker of Tarsus—our beloved brother Paul—found it so on the Damascus Road!

Luther found it so!

Wesley, at Aldersgate, found it so!

Spurgeon found it so!

The mighty Moody found it so!

And I—even I—found it so!

Oh, when the blood was shed, the atonement became a reality! The prophets foretold it! Jesus fulfilled it! And now men could come out of sin’s night and into the Light and be made free from sin’s blight with the heart made right and the soul washed white that with all their might they could fight the good fight!

Now the veil had been rent in twain!

Now the serpent’s head was bruised!

Now our pardon was purchased!

Now our death sentence was revoked!

Now the devil was defeated!

Now the slave chains that bound us were broken!

Now man could flee to the fountain for full and free forgiveness—could plunge in and be made whole!

Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power—

Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

I stand amazed at Calvary. Yes, I stand in awe as I behold that fountain of blood drawn from Immanuel’s veins. As I stand there my heart catches a glimpse of the height of His love and the depth of His mercy. I behold that blessed fountain and my heart cries out, “Who or what can separate us from the love of God?” It is a constraining, unchanging, unquenchable, unfailing, abiding, everlasting love!

Lose All Their Guilty Stains

All! Every sin forgiven and forgotten because the blood takes it as far as the East is from the West! The blood cleanses every sin stain!

Peace and pardon, power and life it brings,

Till the soul in holy rapture sings,

To this fountain let the sin-sick go,

Jesus’ blood can wash as white as snow!

There are those today who tell us that the blood has no place in Christian religion. But there is no true Christian religion without the blood. Those who belittle the blood are more atheistic than theistic.

For the Bible says, “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us,” Hebrews 9.12.

So let us not become alarmed about the statements the unredeemed make about the Redeemer. The blood is not ours to question. It is God’s demand. That settles it.

Oh, the blood is the only sufficient remedy for sin. Several years ago, J. F. Brewer said, “It takes a drastic remedy for a grievous disease. Man’s malady is sin, and that is not so light a matter as some voices would have us believe. The sin condition is of such weight that the penalty for it is the loss of life. Somehow, somewhere, sometime that penalty is to be paid with the death of someone.”

“Human ailments are relieved variously with smelling-salts, pills, capsules, or even surgery. And smelling-salts are not recommended for the relief of cancer. Neither does God offer to man a cheap patent cure for an affliction that requires a giving of a life, the shedding of blood. When will we learn that all life—natural and spiritual—is made possible by death?”

To these moderns who are ashamed of Calvary, we say with Paul that we, too, glory in the cross!

In the cross of Christ I glory

Towering o’er the wrecks of time;

All the light of sacred story

Gathers round its head sublime.

To those who are ashamed of the blood, the Bible answers, “Without the shedding of the blood there is no remission of sins.”

To those who are ashamed of Jesus, let us declare the humble determination of our hearts to exalt Him!

Dear dying Lamb, thy precious blood

Shall never lose its power;

Till all the ransomed church of God

Be saved to sin no more.

O thou blood-stained cross! We have journeyed to Calvary, and we behold thee.

And we see Jesus, limp and lifeless, hanging upon thee.

His blood is shed.

For He is dead.

Oh, let my faltering tongue gasp His name—Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!

 

15A.  FORTH FROM THE TOMB

On the cross Jesus paid the penalty for our sins. “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him,” II Corinthians 5.21.

On the cross Jesus died in our place. “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed,” Isaiah 53.5.

“Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed,” I Peter 2.24.

On the cross Jesus offered Himself as a voluntary sacrifice. “No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father,” John 10.18.

On the cross Jesus paid the price for our redemption. “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s,” I Corinthians 6.20.

On the cross Jesus opened the door of reconciliation for us.

“And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled.”

“In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight,” Colossians 1.21-22.

On the cross He shed His blood to save us. “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him,” Romans 5.9.

Fearful Friday

As eventide approached, there came a wealthy man of Arimathea whose name was Joseph. The Bible says he was a disciple of Jesus. He visited Governor Pilate and requested the body of the Master. And Pilate commanded the body to be delivered unto him.

Then Joseph wrapped the body in clean linen cloth and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out of solid rock. He rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulcher—and departed. How crushed was his heart as he walked away from the buried Christ. He felt this was the last token of love and respect

he could perform.

What a fearful Friday that was. The despairing, defeated, dejected disciples felt all of their hopes had been buried in that tomb. The enemies of Jesus placed a guard about the sepulcher and sealed the stone. And the hearts of the disciples, that once were singing, were now sobbing as they fled away, feeling this was the end.

On that first day His mother wept and said, “My son is dead.”

On that first day His friends, filled with misunderstanding, went away and said, “He is dead.”

On that first day, with hearts that had been shattered, perhaps Simon Peter and Andrew went back to their fishing. My mind races back across the centuries, and I stand on the shore and watch other fishermen drawing near. I hear them call across the water, “Simon Peter and Andrew, why are you fishing? Where is the Master?” They never looked up from the water, but I can hear them say, “We don’t understand it, but the Master is dead.”

And on that first day, with hearts that had been torn and made to bleed, I see James and John mending their nets. Friends passed by and asked why they were mending them—“Tell us, men, what happened to the Master?” They never looked up from their work, but I can hear them answer, “We don’t understand it, but the Master is dead.”

On that first day—fearful Friday—the sun continued to hide its face.

The birds refused to sing.

The flowers turned their faces to the earth.

And all nature seemed to say, “He is dead—Jesus is dead.”

Sad Saturday

On the second day, I see a young man strolling in the semi-darkness. I listened as he talked to himself: “I was once a leper.” Said he, “I used to beg for alms. I rang my leper bell and cried, ‘Unclean’ —for the law said that if any man came within ten paces of me, and I had not warned him, he could kill me.”

“But I remember the day I saw someone coming toward me, and I cried out, ‘Unclean,’ but He kept coming. I rang my leper bell and cried, ‘I am unclean!’ But He came to me and wasn’t afraid of me. He said, ‘Son, would you be made clean?’ I blurted, ‘It is Jesus of Nazareth! Oh, yes, I would be made clean.’ And He placed His hand on me and said, ‘Be thou cleansed.’ And every trace of leprosy left me!”

“I can’t understand it. They tell me that Jesus is dead.”

On that second day—that sad Saturday—Bartimaeus, who had been blind so long, walked near the market place. I seem to stand there and listen with my heart. I hear him tell of waiting at the gate and begging. Everyone knew “Blind Bartimaeus.”

I hear him tell of hearing about Jesus—and he says, “One day I heard a great commotion. I asked someone, ‘What’s the commotion?’ And he answered, ‘Bartimaeus, that is the Master.’ I begged him to tell the Master that I must get close to Him, but he said that the crowd was too big and there were too many others who needed His healing power.”

“But when I heard the crowd coming near me I cried aloud, ‘O thou son of David, have mercy on me!’ And He did!”

“They led me through the crowd until I stood before Him. He touched me—and I saw that Face of compassion! And I can still see!”

“I don’t understand it. They tell me that Jesus is dead.”

And so passed the second day.

Sacred Sunday

But on the third morning, just as He had declared He would do—and just as the prophets had foretold He would do, suddenly the angels came from clouds of glory and stood before the tomb! And they bowed their heads as Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, stood up and walked forth from the tomb in triumph! Oh, I hear Him declare, “I am he that was dead and am alive forevermore! He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live again! Because I live, you shall live also! Weep not, I have the keys of death—he that believeth in me shall receive a crown of life everlasting!”

And suddenly the sun burst forth with glorious brilliance such as man had never seen!

The birds began to sing!

The flowers lifted their faces toward the heavens!

The trees of the fields clapped their hands!

The morning stars sang together!

And the angels rejoiced as Heaven and earth cried out, “He is not dead! He lives! He lives! He lives!”

Forth from the tomb that day came the One who had bruised the serpent’s head!

Forth from the tomb that day came Moses’ Burning Bush—the great I AM THAT I AM!

Forth from the tomb that day came Daniel’s Stone cut out of the mountain!

Forth from the tomb that day came Ezekiel’s Wheel in the middle of a wheel!

Forth from the tomb that day came Solomon’s Rose of Sharon—the Lily of the Valley—the bright and morning Star!

Forth from the tomb that day came Isaiah’s Wonderful—Counsellor—Mighty God—Prince of Peace—Everlasting Father!

Forth from the tomb that day came Job’s Redeemer! Forth from the tomb that day came David’s Lord and Shepherd!

Forth from the tomb that day came Zechariah’s Branch—Tender Plant—Root out of dry ground!

Forth from the tomb that day came Jeremiah’s Balm of Gilead!

Forth from the tomb that day came the Perfect Offering of Leviticus—the Star and Scepter of Numbers—and the Rock of Deuteronomy.

Yes, forth from the tomb that day came Matthew’s Governor and Mark’s Messiah and Luke’s Kinsman and Redeemer, linked parenthetically with man!

Forth from the tomb that day came John’s Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world!

Forth from the tomb that day came Paul’s Second Adam and Timothy’s Potentate and Simon Peter’s Lord God.

Forth from the tomb that day came John the Revelator’s Alpha and Omega—the First and the Last—the Beginning and the End—the One who always was and always shall be—Jesus Christ, the living Son of the living God!

He is alive forevermore! Yes, He is Everlasting to Everlasting!

God Is Not Dead

This is the hour when dying men need to hear the message of the living Christ. Before the risen Christ ascended to the Father, He left us the challenge to go forth and do great things for Him. Oh, how this old world needs a new vision of Calvary and Christ!

Behold our planet. The anatomy of world conflict is revealed by savage rapacity and bloodshed. Men are struggling for identity as a new order is being born. Its birth pangs can be heard on every side, and the old order dies hard.

But the world must be reminded that to move away from Calvary is to travel a dead-end street.

Oh, if men would but realize that Calvary road would lighten the load—free you from the burden of sin and give you the peace you are seeking.

Oh, that you could understand that the darkest road with Christ is better than the brightest road without Him.

Oh, that you would find strength in the words of Clement of Alexandria who said, “Christ turns all our sunsets into dawns!”

But in this fearful hour when the nations are flexing their missiles and rattling their rockets—there are those who have the satanic audacity to tell us that God is dead. These modern skeptics, who know not the redemptive power of Christ, would invite others to walk a spiritual gangplank. With cruel cunning they spread such mental meanderings that would lead mankind into hopeless despair—telling him that peace of heart is only a city in the state of the mind.

Many years ago George Matthews, the preacher-poet of Scotland, wrote, “Son of man, nothing is so impossible as that Thou shouldst be dead. I can imagine the hills to dissolve in vapor—and the rivers to empty themselves in sheer exhaustion, but I feel no limit in Thee!”

“Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God,” Psalm 90.2.

To try to annihilate the Eternal is more foolish than attempting to pluck the sun from the sky. “What fools these mortals be!” The Bible declares, “The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God.” And the twenty-first century translation could read, “The fool hath said in his heart, God is dead.”

In the Orient there are trees more than one hundreds years old living in flower pots! This is a reminder of some modern dwarfed souls with their peripheral concept of God and their shallow spiritual discernment. “He is dead,” some cry.

These twenty-first century would-be crucifiers have attempted to crown the Holy One with theological thorns and drape Him in a robe of philosophical jargon and wrap Him in a shroud of mental meanderings and seal Him in a tomb of false conclusions!

For one to hint—even through strained philosophical terminology—that God is dead simply “proves that the devil is alive.”

They throw their little rocks of controversy, but they can never destroy the Rock of Ages! Just as the anvil will outlast the hammer, so will the Rock of our salvation laugh to scorn the puny, petty attempts of confused men to rob Him of His is throne! Yea, they who take excursions into spiritual and somnolent lethargy should not attempt to destroy the faith of the faithful.

Oh, my soul is at stake! I run not to defend the Lord as though God needed first aid. I simply rise to say that a commentary on the spiritual decay of these last days is seen in the words of those who would have us believe that the devil is sitting on the tombstone of God. As that great preacher, Dr. R. G. Lee, once said, “There are those who would set me adrift on the sea of life in a paper boat and let me sink!”

This is the day for minorities—so why not let God’s minority rise and be counted? The Master has said, “Fear not, little flock, for it is his good pleasure to give unto you the kingdom.”

Oh, let us “snatch men as brands from the burning!” Let us remind men that the cities of earth will fall and fail—but the City of God will stand forever!

O my beloved in Christ, we have been to Calvary. No one can be the same after a journey to Calvary.

So let us rise and go forth—the risen Christ is calling us.

Let us lift high the cross.

Let us proclaim our Christ—dead, buried, risen and coming again!

The late Bishop Milton Wright, father of Orville and Wilbur of aviation fame, told of accompanying one of his sons to Paris, where the boy was to demonstrate the new “flying machine.” When the plane lifted from the ground and became airborne and disappeared in a distant cloud, the spectators stood in awe. Then the silence was broken as someone said, “We will never see that boy again.” Bishop Wright said he turned to those near him and remarked, “Gentlemen, that is my boy in that machine, and he is coming back. Just keep looking where you saw him last.” Then a speck appeared on the horizon. The anxious crowd watched as it grew larger, and someone shouted, “He is coming back!”

Bishop Wright said: “In these late days I hear people asking if our Lord is coming back. I want to say that He is my Lord and He is coming again; just keep looking where they saw Him last.”

Oh, the King of Calvary—the conquering King—the King of kings and Lord of lords—the Prince of Peace—the Royal Redeemer is coming back again!

On the bosom of yonder cloud he shall come in triumph with heavenly escort!

Angels await that day.

Heaven throbs with expectancy.

The universe awaits its Creator!

Earth hovers in space—and trembles before His face.

And, my beloved, we shall reign with Him forever!

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!