MARKS GREAT COMMISSION

THE EVANGEL TO CREATION

"Go ye into all the kosmos, and preach the Gospel to the whole creation. He that believeth and is bap­tized shall be saved; but he that disbelieves shall be condemned."—MARK 16:15, 5, 16.

            The events recorded by Mark, and those recorded by Luke and John, oc­curred on the first day in the resurrec­tion life of Jesus. That was a day full of start­ling surprises for the disciples. The Cross had been to them the disaster of disasters, blighting their hopes, and scattering them like chaff before the wind. With the dawn of the first day of the week there had come to a little company of wait­ing, weeping women the consciousness that Jesus was not dead, but alive. A little later He had appeared personally to Mary of Magdala. Peter and John had together looked at the place where He had lain, and had been convinced of super­natural resurrection by the remarkable way in which the grave-cloths still lay undisturbed, as they had been wrapped about His body. At some hour in the day Christ had found Peter, and had a private interview with him.         In the same day He had joined two disciples on the way to Emmaus, and to them had opened the Scriptures, finally making Himself known to them in the breaking of the bread. These two, immediately after He had passed out of sight, had hastened back to Jerusalem to tell the ten that they had actually been in company with the risen Lord. Before they could recount what had happened to them, the ten had a account to tell them. They had not seen Jesus, but having heard of the in­terview with Peter, declared "The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon." (Luke 24:34) Some of them doubted. They were all on the borderland between the light and darkness, and nothing seemed clearly defined or certain.

            Suddenly, without the opening of a door, or the shooting of a bolt, or the turning of a key, Jesus stood materially manifest in their midst. Mark, Luke, and John tell the account of that appearing. These stories do not contradict each other. They are quite different in many respects, but they are complementary; and all are needed to a full appreciation of what took place in the upper room on that occasion of His first meeting with the ten. Mark, who in all likelihood received his account from Peter, recorded those words which had absolutely impressed Peter.

            Luke, the artist historian, gathering up the testimony of eye-witnesses and putting them in order for his friend Theophilus, recorded the words which he accounted of utmost importance. John recorded words, the deepest and pro­foundest, omitted by the others in all probability because the mystic note was beyond their com­prehension.

            The Gospel according to Mark is that which preeminently reveals Jesus as the Servant of God. It is interesting to remember that the book of the Old Testament which reveals the Servant of God is the prophecy of Isaiah. To that prophecy Mark made reference in the very first sentences of his Gospel, when introducing the herald of Messiah he declared that he came in fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah, which fore­told the sending of a messenger to prepare the way of the Lord.

            In the messages of the ancient prophet there are evidences of his almost overwhelming sense of the polluting effect upon the whole earth of the sin of man. Perhaps this is most pointedly and clearly declared in the twenty-fourth chapter. When we turn to the Gospel of Mark we find that he recorded the words in the commission of Jesus which reveal the fact that the ultimate purpose of His mission was that of the redemp­tion and renewal of the whole creation through the salvation of individual men.

            In our consideration of this aspect of the com­mission we shall again seek to discover the deposit, the debt, and the dynamic.

            First, then, as to the deposit, that particular truth committed to the Church, for the proclama­tion of which she is held responsible. This is only suggested by one inclusive word, which, stand­ing alone, is characterized by indefiniteness. The word "Gospel" is inclusive, but it needs ex­planation if we would understand the nature of the deposit suggested.

            The inclusive context illuminates the indefinite word, until it becomes perfectly clear. We must, however, take time to consider that context patiently, in order to understand what our Lord meant by the term "the Gospel" on this occa­sion. Now if we can read this account with the same naturalness that would characterize our reading of it for the first time, we shall be greatly helped.             This is not easy to do, the reason being that we have constantly recited the commission in separation from its context. Indeed, it may safely be affirmed that very few without careful examination are at all conscious of the fact that while the commission is a separate and distinct

command it nevertheless here constitutes one link in a continuous account; and it is perfectly certain that it can only be accurately interpreted as that is remembered. To treat the commission

without reference to the context makes it neces­sary to attempt to formulate an exposition of

what Jesus meant by the term "the Gospel." To consider the commission as a part of a continuous account is to discover the fact that He meant one thing.

            Let us first, then, examine that account in order to discover the sequence of events. We need go no further back than the ninth verse. Beginning there we discover the sequence. Jesus appeared to Mary of Magdala. She carried the news to the mourning disciples that she had actually seen Him alive, and they disbe­lieved.

            He appeared in another form to two on the way to Emmaus. These also returned and told the account, and still they did not believe.

            Finally, He stood in the upper room, and His first words were those in which He rebuked this unbelief, and then immediately said, "Go ye . . and preach the Gospel . . . he that believeth . . . shall be saved . . . he that disbelieves shall be condemned."

            In order that we may be perfectly clear about this, let us mark the sequence in other words. Mary of Magdala declared she had seen the liv­ing Lord. The disciples did not believe this. Two men who walked to Emmaus declared that they had seen the living Lord. The disciples did not believe it. Jesus upbraided them for this un­belief, and then said, "Go . . . and preach the Gospel . . . he that believeth . . . shall be saved . . . he that disbelieves shall be condemned."

            What then is "the Gospel"? It is the good news that the Lord is risen. It may be affirmed that this is a narrowing of the intention of the great word in this commission; that nothing is said of the teaching of Jesus, the life of Jesus, the Cross of Jesus. As a matter of fact all these are involved in resurrection, and become parts of the Gospel because of the resurrection. If we only have the teaching of Jesus, we have no Gospel. If we only have the account of His per­fect life, we have no Gospel. If we only have the Cross, we have no Gospel. All these become part of the Gospel because of its central truth, which is that of the resurrection. The deposit, then, the essential and central truth referred to in this phase of the commission, is that of the actual resurrection of Jesus from among the dead. The resurrection of Jesus was the demonstration of His perfect victory over all opposing forces; and of the fact that His victory enabled Him to baptize such as believe in Him into union with His life.

            In demonstration of the truth of the latter part of this assertion, let His words immediately fol­lowing be carefully considered. "He that be­lieveth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that disbelieves shall be condemned. And these signs shall follow them that believe, in My Name shall they cast out demons; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall in no wise hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." It is of the utmost impor­tance that we carefully observe that the Lord did not say that these signs should accompany the preacher. The idea is not that those who pro­claim the resurrection shall work these signs as evidences of the truth of resurrection. The actual statement is that "these signs shall follow them that believe." All men believing on Him were, as the result of His resurrection, to be brought into possession of that life whose forces operate in the ways suggested. By this I do not say that the preachers were not able to do the things described, but that the signs were not peculiar gifts bestowed upon men, equipping them for work. They were rather evidences of the new ability granted to such as believe the evangel.

            Let us mark the suggestiveness of all this when taken, as it must be taken, in connection with the term "the Gospel." "The Gospel" is that of the risen Lord. His resurrection means that He has mastered death, and therefore has overcome all the destructive forces operating in creation—such forces as have spoiled and blighted human­ity, and through the spoiling of humanity have blighted and spoiled the whole creation. Whether these forces are supernatural, those who believe in His Name shall be able to cast them out. Whether they are the forces of social dis­order, which began with Babel and its confusion of tongues, those who believe shall have the new articulation, "they shall speak with new tongues," and thus come to new mutual under­standing. Whether they be the forces that are destructive in the material realm; serpents, or poison, or sickness; serpents and poison, the symbols of the destructive forces of nomadic or savage peoples; or sickness, the destructive force resulting from civilization; those who believe enter into the realm of mastery over the former, and receive healing for all the latter.

            The risen Lord is Himself the Master of all destructive forces, and those who, coming into living union with Him through His resurrection receive of His strength, are also to gain victories over these forces.

            What, then, is the picture that rises before the mind as one reads this commission in its neces­sary relation to the context? It is that of the risen Lord as the Renewer of creation, as the One Who, passing through death into the place of resurrection victory, becomes not merely the Savior of the spirits of men, but the Renewer of the whole territory of human life and therefore the One Whose power will be felt in all the crea­tion that lies beneath man which has been polluted and spoiled by his touch. In the twenty-fourth chapter of Isaiah, to which we have already made reference, these words occur, "The earth also is polluted under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant." Let us place by the side of that word of Isaiah the word of Paul, "The whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now."

            If the first phase of the Missionary Manifesto was that of the absolute Lordship of Jesus, which the Church is to affirm and declare the second is that of the risen Jesus Who is Renewer and Re­storer of the whole creation.

            This is the great glad news committed to the Church, and we have been in danger of mini­mizing the meaning of the Gospel. Our outlook has been appallingly narrow, and we have disas­trously failed to see the application of the fact of the resurrection of Christ to the whole creation. Our failure to discover His meaning does not mean His failure to work His purposes out to final fulfillment. He is the risen Lord, and is therefore Master of death. He is also, therefore, Master of all the forces that spoil, and is able to renew everything that has been corrupted.

            What, then, in this respect is our debt? At this point the commission leaves us in no doubt. The words of Jesus are perfectly clear. "Go ye into all the kosmos, and herald the evangel to the whole creation." A natural reading of these words should immediately arrest attention by reason of the inclusive nature of the terms, "the kosmos," and "the whole creation."

            By translating the former "the world" we have been at least in danger of thinking that our Lord's reference was to humanity only. As a matter of fact it is a far more comprehensive term, which He interprets by the second of the phrases referred to, "the whole creation." To take the first term, "the kosmos," and to trace the history of the word, is to be admitted to the larger outlook. The Greek word kosmos origi­nally signified an ornament, or something beau­tiful. It was a word used entirely in the realm of art. In process of time, long before the min­istry of Jesus was exercised or these Gospel stories were written, the word acquired a more spacious meaning, and was used in reference to the whole universe, because the Greek mind came to an understanding of the fact that the universe is beautiful and orderly. Then again, as the Greek mind failed to grasp the truth of the spiritual, the word passed back into a more restricted use, and was applied to the material frame in the midst of which man lives his life. In the days in which John made use of it—and it was peculiarly his word among New Testament writers—it referred to the earth and the heavens enwrapping it, the heaven of the atmosphere and the heaven of the stellar spaces, that system of which our planet is so small a part.

            It will thus be seen that the word stands for much more than the people who lived upon the surface of the earth. It refers to the whole earth in its order, its beauty, and its forces. The declaration of the Old Testament: “The earth is Jehovah's, and the fullness thereof; The world, and they that dwell therein," suggests all that is included in the term "kos­mos."

            Jesus made use of the word in this simple sense as including the earth and the fullness thereof, all its hidden treasures, its boundless re­sources, and its yet undiscovered secrets. He recognized that the whole earth in all its fullness needed His evangel, not merely men and women, but beasts and birds and flowers, in order to the discovery and utilization of the secret resources of the earth. So that the whole may become a thing of glorious beauty, the earth needs the re­demption of the King.

            That we may have added light on this subject let us turn to other passages of Scripture. In the Book of Genesis we have a wonderful picture of creation rising by the will of God, and by His power, scale upon scale, ever higher, until at last by a new and distinct act of God, He, taking the highest thing in the lower creation, by inbreath­ing separated it by infinite distances from every­thing that lies beneath it. He created man, and by the last act in the creative process made him infinitely more than an animal. Having thus created him, He gave him dominion over all the creation beneath him to which he was linked by the earlier processes of his making. That creation was placed under his control in order to its development and perfecting. Man in the image and likeness of God, was placed where he might act in fellowship with God for the discovery of the hidden secrets of the earth, and the bringing of them to ultimate perfection.

            Turning to the Book of Psalms, that wonder­ful literature of Hebrew expectation and hope and confidence, we hear one of the singers of Israel as he first inquires —

"What is man, that Thou art mindful of him?"

and then, as in harmony with the original account of creation, he declares —

"Thou hast put all things under his feet;

All sheep and oxen,

Yea, and the beasts of the field;

The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea,

Whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas."

            We pass to the New Testament, and the writer of the letter to the Hebrews, a logician as well as a poet, declares, after quoting from the singer of Israel, that all the Divine intention is seen real­ized in Christ as representative Man. "Now we see not yet all things subjected to Him. But we behold Him Who hath been made a little lower than the angels, even Jesus." He thus confirmed that while all things are not yet seen under the perfect dominion of man, Jesus is seen, the risen Christ, and the vision of Him is the assurance that the whole creation will yet be redeemed from its groaning and travailing in pain, and realize the fullness of its beauty and glory.

            If that threefold picture or rather that one picture presented in the three parts of our Bible be clearly seen, then the meaning of this com­mission will be correctly understood. Man in the economy of God is king of the kosmos, but he has lost his scepter, has lost the key of the mysteries of the world in which he lives, and cannot govern it as he ought to govern, is un­able to realize the creation that lies beneath him. Therefore the kingdom of man is a devastated kingdom, because he is a discrowned king or in the language of Isaiah, "the earth also is polluted under the inhabitants thereof." (Isa. 24:5) Man's moral disease has permeated the material universe; or as Paul said, "the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now . . . waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God." Man's moral regeneration will permeate the material universe, and issue in its remaking.

            In the upper room on the day of His resur­rection, Jesus stood in the midst of a group of disciples who were so filled with fear that they had gathered within barred doors. He stood there as the Man of God in the midst of crea­tion, Who had regained the scepter, and had mastered death and all the forces destructive of the creation. He was there as Redeemer, Re­generator, Renewer, "the First-born from among the dead," communicating His victorious life to others, and through them to the whole creation.

            To this group of men He spoke words of re­proof for their unbelief, and commanded them that they should go into the kosmos and herald the Gospel of His resurrection to the whole creation. Thus He gave to these men, the first rep­resentatives of the Church, as He also gives to the Church today, the charge to pass out into contact with the kosmos, and to proclaim to the whole creation the triumphant account of His victory.

            Our responsibility to Him is that we obey. Our debt to the world is that we obey. Chaos created the agony of the Cross. Wherever He came into the midst of disorder, He suffered. He, before Whose vision there flamed perpetu­ally the glory of the Divine ideal, felt the anguish of God in the presence of the degra­dation of that ideal. All wounds and weariness, all sin and sorrow, not only of man, but through man in creation, surged upon His heart in waves of anguish. He called His disciples into fellow­ship with Himself in this suffering. That for­ever settles the question of the monastic ideal, as it reveals how completely it is opposed to the method of Jesus. The suffering of the flowers can never be cured if we do not touch them. The agony of the birds can never be ended except as we care for them. The earth can never be lifted from its dullness and deadness, and made to blossom into glorious harvest, except as it is touched by the life of renewed humanity.

            That is the account of the sufferings of Christ. He came into the world, Himself of the eternal Order, full of grace and truth, and in the consciousness of chaos and disorder He suffered. To press that far enough, and to consider it long enough, is to come to the profound and ultimate note in the mystery of atonement. If we indeed have crowned Him, and His life is in us, we shall be "partakers of His sufferings." To present Him as Lord and King among other kings brings persecution.

            Such suffering results in healing, as it makes possible the communication of the virtue of the strong life to the weak, in order to its strength­ening. In our former article we referred to the words of Jesus, "be not afraid of them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul." (Matt. 10:28) That great injunction has many possi­bilities of application. Let us reverently remember that Jesus Himself is the ultimate expo­sition of it; and moreover, that its ultimate value is discovered in this application. He gave His body to bruising and buffeting and death, having no fear of such as killed the body; but by doing so He liberated the forces of His life that by their liberation they might become the re­newing, regenerating forces of men, and through men of the whole creation. The Cross will never have won its final victory until the new heavens and the new earth are established as the result of His redeeming and regenerating work. That is the goal towards which we are to look in all our service.

            Therefore the perpetual principle of missionary endeavor is that of passing into the kosmos, and so into the suffering, and thus into ability to communicate renewing forces. The principle is supremely illustrated occasionally, but is con­stantly manifested in the Christian life.      The highest illustrations are contained in the account of those who, like their Lord and Master, have laid down their lives. Through them the spirit­ual forces have been liberated, and the results in the world have been far greater than can be measured. It is by virtue communicated, the actual expenditure of force through suffering that the Gospel is preached to the whole creation.

            All this work must be done in the right order. The Church must always commence by the proc­lamation of the evangel to men. To go to the material world, either in garden or city and to attempt to reconstruct it in order that it may re­make men is to invert the Divine order, and to fail.    The Church must always begin with man, but she must not forget that the emphasis of this commission is that the ultimate result of man's remaking is that of the renewal of the whole creation. The kosmos will be redeemed when man, who is king of the kosmos, is regene­rate. He will be able to restore it to its order, and lead it to the fulfillment of Divine purpose.

            Many practical illustrations of this might be given. Take one of the simplest. The garden of a truly Christian man ought to be the most beautiful in the whole district. When it is not so, it is because he is not living in the full power of the risen Christ. When the garden of the un­godly man flourishes it is always because he is availing himself of discoveries that have come as the result of the cooperation of renewed men with God. I sometimes think that if I am to judge the Christianity of America or London or Japan by looking at its gardens, it is an extremely poor thing. Let us keep hold of the philosophy of the simple illus­tration. That conception of Christian responsi­bility which aims at the saving of individual men, while it is utterly careless of the groaning of creation, is entirely out of harmony with the meaning of this commission. The home of the Christian man ought to be a microcosm of the Millennial Kingdom; and all the things of God's dear world—and how He loves it, flowers, and birds, and forces—ought to feel the touch of re­deemed humanity, and be lifted into fuller life thereby.

            We pass finally to the subject of the dynamic. This is no more clearly revealed than is the de­posit, but it is as certainly involved. When Jesus said, "He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that disbelieveth shall be condemned," He suggested a response on the part of God to a certain attitude on the part of man. The alternative attitudes are described in the phrases, "he that believeth," "he that dis­believeth." The ultimate results are described in the words "shall be saved" and "shall be condemned." The dynamic phrase is "and is baptized." That refers to the work of God. No man can baptize himself, or be baptized by another. Essential baptism is baptism in the Spirit. Water baptism is symbolic. In the moment in which a man believes, he is baptized by God in the Spirit, and so into the resurrection life of Jesus, and therefore he is saved.        If a man disbelieve, he is not saved, but rather condemned because he does not enter into the regenerate life, seeing that he lacks baptism in the Spirit. The suggestion of these words is that as we herald the evangel of the Cross we do so in cooperation with the risen Lord, so that when men, hearing the evangel, believe, they are immediately bap­tized into living union with the living Christ, and so come into possession of the regenerative forces, which being applied, produce the restora­tion of creation.

            The revelation of these words, then, is that those who fulfill this commission shall be accompanied by the Lord Himself, cooperating with them in the communication of life by the Spirit, to those who believe their message. Men who hear and believe shall receive this power.   The man who believes shall gain victory over spiritual forces; he shall cast out devils; over all social disorder, he shall speak with new tongues; over all destructive forces, poisons, and serpents, and sicknesses. The man who hearing, disbe­lieves, will remain in the grip of devils, in the confusion of Babel, the prey of the destructive forces which work in Nature. The mastery of the forces in Nature that spoil is possible through regenerative men. We must not neglect any force which God has put in the universe, nor count the healing virtues of trees and plants as outside His economy. In the power of His resurrection life man discovers and uses the whole creation by mastery over it, in order that it may minister to him, according to God's first intention.

            In order to fulfillment of such responsibility the first necessity is that of a living experience of the risen Lord. There is no healing virtue in the doctrine of resurrection. The healing virtue flows through the risen Lord. No healing virtue can be communicated by orthodox announcement of the fact of His resurrection. The healing vir­tue can only be communicated by those through whom the life of the risen Lord is flowing.

            Not only must there be this living experience of the risen Lord, there must be obedience to His command. We must go into the kosmos, plac­ing our lives in contact with creation, and pour­ing them out therein, in order that by such sacri­fice creation may be renewed.

            If the first note of the Missionary Manifesto be the proclamation of the Lordship of Christ, the second note is the proclamation of the risen Lord as the Renewer of the whole creation; and the only way in which that proclamation can be made is by passing into the kosmos in order to communicate to it through sacrificial service the forces of our own Christ-renewed life. We have done nothing to heal the groaning of creation when we have discovered the glory of the Gospel. We have done nothing towards the final victory until in fellowship with our Lord we have put the actual forces of our life so at the disposal of the debased and the degraded as to know the experi­ence of suffering, and that weakening by the way, which is of the nature of death. It is when the Church begins to see the suffering of creation with eyes washed by tears, and when she puts herself into such close relation with the wounded world as to share its agony, and as to release her own life blood to heal it, that this commission will be obeyed.

MATTHEWS GREAT COMMISSION

THE AUTHORITY OF THE KING

"Go ye therefore, and disciple the nations, bapti­zing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you all the days, even unto the consummation of the age."---MATTHEW 28:19, 20.

            There is a common method in the pres­entation of the four parts of the Mis­sionary Manifesto by the four evan­gelists. An aspect of truth which the commission emphasizes is stated; the responsibility of the Church concerning that aspect is declared; and the power in which the Church may discharge her responsibility is revealed.

            In our consideration of the Manifesto in its four aspects, we shall observe this method in each case by attempting to discover the deposit, the debt, and the dynamic.

            The words "deposit" and "debt" are closely allied in any consideration of the Church's mis­sionary responsibility. Paul, in writing to the Romans, said: "I am debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish." (Rom. 1:14) We may understand what he meant by the dec­laration by reference to his second letter to Timothy, in which he said: "I know Him Whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that He is able to guard that which I have committed. unto Him against that day." (2 Tim. 1:12) This passage, as it thus stands in the Revised Version, or as it reads in the Authorized, "I know Him Whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day," is more than translation; it is interpretation. The phrase "that which I have committed unto Him," common to both versions, is the equivalent to something more brief in the Greek New Testament, which literally trans­lated reads "my deposit." Such translation would leave the question open as to whether the apostle referred to something he had deposited with Christ, or to something which Christ had deposited with him. I submit that the decision must be made by an examination of the context. In this last letter to Timothy Paul was urging him not to be ashamed of the testimony of the Lord, and in the course of the paragraph referred to the Gospel of which he had been appointed a preacher, apostle, and teacher; and declared that he himself was not ashamed because he knew Him Whom he had believed, and was persuaded that He was able to guard his deposit. The de­posit was evidently the Gospel.

            In the Roman letter, in close connection with his declaration that he was debtor, he made the same declaration, "I am not ashamed of the Gos­pel." His deposit thus created his debt. That deposit was the Gospel which he held in trust for the world. That the responsibility was a grave one he knew full well, and in yet another letter, when speaking of the difficulties of the work of the Christian ministry, he exclaimed, "Who is sufficient for these things?" and, in close association with the question, affirmed, "Our sufficiency is of God." (2 Cor. 3:5)

            Thus, in the Manifesto of Jesus, we shall find the Gospel for the world, which is the Church's deposit; a responsibility, which is the Church's debt; and the revelation of the power in which the debt may be discharged, which is the Church's dynamic.

            In Matthew the revelation of Jesus is that of the perfect and all-sufficient King. Consequently, and naturally, when he wrote the account of the resurrection and the events following it, he only referred to those words of Jesus which grew distinctly and emphatically out of His Kingship. All that Matthew had to tell concern­ing the resurrection and the subsequent occurrences is recorded in the last chapter of his Gospel. So far as the actual resurrection is concerned, everything is told in the first ten verses. Immediately following that is a passage which we may treat as a parenthesis, in which he gave an account of the going of the guard into the city, and of the way in which the priests promised to shield them in case of Pilate's anger. In the last few verses we have the account of the meeting in Galilee. It must be remembered that this meet­ing was not on the day of resurrection, but long subsequent thereto, and therefore the commission which Matthew gives was uttered by the Lord subsequently to those recorded by Mark, Luke, and John. According to Matthew, He said to the women on the resurrection morning: "Fear not; go tell My brethren that they depart into Galilee, and there shall they see Me." (Matt. 28:10) He gives no account of further happenings on that first day, and we read: "But the eleven went into Galilee, unto the mountain where Jesus had ap­pointed them." That could not have happened on the same day. There is evidently a gap in the account. The distance between Jerusalem and Galilee was more than fifty miles. Mark, Luke, and John, in each case with particular emphasis and careful indication of time, affirm that on the evening of the day of resurrection He met the disciples in the upper room where they were as­sembled. Moreover, it is evident, from careful comparison of the narratives that on the after­noon of the day of resurrection He walked to Emmaus with two disciples, and appeared subse­quently to the eleven assembled in the upper room. Chronologically, therefore, it is evident that the charge given to the disciples in Galilee must be placed later than the instructions given to them in the upper room, as recorded by Mark, Luke, and John. I nevertheless believe that both the Gospel and the note of the commission according to Matthew are found in their true place in the New Testament, because the first note of the Church's message to the world must always be that of the Lordship of Christ. His brother and Peter called Him the Despot. (2 Pet. 2:1; Jude 4)

            Yet let us not forget that this is only one note. To make this the one inclusive charge of Christ to His disciples is to fail to apprehend the full and spacious meaning of missionary endeavor. They had entrusted to them the symbolic picture of the Threefold Godhead which had been actively working for their salvation, sanctification, and eventual glorification after perfection and were commanded with His complete authority to take this symbolic picture of the Triune Godheads accomplishment and with all the other teachings Christ had taught them and teach these truths to all the nations and like Adam, Christ would be with them until their job was finished.

            In order to the clearest apprehension of the value of the words of Jesus uttered in Galilee, let us particularly notice some of the facts which Matthew records concerning the meeting of the

King with His disciples on that occasion. "The eleven disciples went into Galilee, unto the mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw Him, they worshipped Him; but some doubted. And Jesus came to them and spake unto them." It is interesting to notice the effect that was produced upon these men by the appearance of Jesus. There are suggestions concerning that appearance which it may not be possible finally to explain, but the inference of the declaration, "Jesus came to them," is that when they first saw Him, He was at some dis­tance from them, perhaps standing a little higher on the mountainside. As they looked at Him they worshipped; but some doubted; and the suggestion is that there was something in His appearance which compelled them to this atti­tude of worship. The word "worship" here used means absolute prostration in the presence of supremacy and sovereignty. In different forms it occurs about twelve times in the course of this Gospel, and about twelve times in the course of the Gospel according to John. It is practically absent from those of Mark and Luke. These things are not accidents in the economy of inspired revelation. In the Gospel which presents the King, and in that which demonstrates Deity, that attitude is referred to repeatedly. In those presenting Jesus as Servant and as Man the word is almost entirely absent.

            While this word occurs over and over again in Matthew, here at Galilee it gains a new signif­icance, which is accentuated by the declaration that "some doubted."

            "When they saw Him they worshipped Him." There was evidently something about His ap­pearance which commanded the attitude of wor­ship, which bent these men before Him in submission and adoration. What the peculiar nature of the appearance was, of course it is impossible to declare, but my own conviction is that its effect upon them was due to the fact that He was "declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection of the dead." With reverent reti­cence Matthew gives us no description of the appearance. He affirms that "when they saw Him, they worshipped Him." The declaration "but some doubted" is a valuable evidence of the truth of the account. Were this narrative a human fabrication it is not likely that these words would have been written. The word "doubted" is an uncommon one, only occurring twice in the New Testament, and each occurrence is in this Gospel. Peter walked on the water to go to his Lord, and when he looked at the boisterous waves he was afraid, doubted, wavered. Other words translated "doubt" in the New Testa­ment suggests unbelief. This one indicates wa­vering, wondering, perplexity. In the hearts of some of them there still lurked fear and uncer­tainty. They had seen Him die. They had been gathered about Him in the upper room on more than one occasion. He had appeared to one and another of them, and to the whole com­pany assembled together. They were sure that He had risen. When they saw Him on the slopes of Olivet there was something in His ap­pearance which demanded worship; and yet they could hardly believe their senses—their minds wavered. It is to be remembered that no word of rebuke fell from the lips of Christ. He came nearer to them, and perhaps by that coming, banished forever the fears that had lin­gered in their hearts, making impossible in all the days to come any further doubt. The scene then is before our minds. The risen and glorified Lord stands in the midst of the group of wor­shipping men, some of them wavering in fear born of wonder. To them He uttered the words of His Kingly commission, in which we may discover the deposit of truth for which the Church is responsible, the debt created by the possession of that deposit, and the dynamic in the power of which the Church may discharge the debt created by the possession of the deposit.

            The deposit is named in the claim of Christ: "All authority hath been given unto Me in heaven and on earth." The debt is declared in the command of Christ: "Go ye therefore, and disciple the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost." The dynamic is revealed in the promise of Christ: "Lo, I am with you all the days, even unto the consummation of the age."

            First, then, the deposit of the Church. The one truth emphasized in this phase of the Missionary Manifesto, better known by some as the Great Commission is that of the absolute author­ity of Christ (Despot): His supremacy and sovereignty; the fact that He shares the throne of empire with none. The word here translated "author­ity" does not suggest power in the sense of energy or might. The first intention of the word is that of the power of choice—that is, the right to choose. Its second intention is that of the power of enforcement, that is, the right to insist upon obedience. The third intention is that of the power of government—that is, the right to utter the final verdict and to pass sen­tence. John in his gospel said it also this way in the 13^th chapter: “Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God.” Twice in the Bible is this truth made evident concerning His absolute authority in both heaven and earth and at both times were important doctrinal truths being symbolized and commanded to obey. Important deposits handed to the disciples.

            Human choice must always be made in submis­sion to a higher will, therefore it can never be said that man can have an absolute right and power of choice. Authority in the last analysis is the right to determine, enforce, and pass sen­tence. Therefore be careful what you believe to be true concerning both these deposits.

            In these words Jesus, standing on the resurrec­tion side of His grave, in the simplest language made the most magnificent claim, when He thus declared Himself to be King by Divine right, and there­fore absolute in His Kingship. The word admits of no qualification. The claim admits of no limi­tation. In that moment He claimed authority in the material, mental, and moral realms.

            The application of His claim to this world does by no means exhaust it. He swept the compass with a reach far wider, more spacious, and stu­pendous. Not only on earth, but in heaven is authority given to Him. The one phrase, "in heaven and on earth," includes the whole crea­tion of God where even the angelic realm exists. It is manifest that He is excluded Who created, and Who puts all things under the feet of His King. It is equally manifest that all is included which comes within the scope of that comprehensive word, the creation of God. We may interpret this final claim of Jesus by the prayer He taught His disciples: "Our Father Who art in the heavens. Hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth." (Matt. 6:10) His ministry of teaching having been completed, having accom­plished His exodus and resurrection, at last He claimed authority in heaven and on earth, thus assuming the throne of empire over the whole creation of God, included in the terms of the prayer, and now defined in the words, "in heaven and on earth."

            Of course, this is but to state the fact in the broadest and most comprehensive way. To those who will give themselves to careful consideration of it, there will come an ever-increasing conscious­ness of the greatness and moral worthiness of the claim. This authority, moreover, is the more remarkable in that Jesus described it as delegated authority from the Father. Ultimately, it is the authority of essential Deity.

            Perhaps we come nearest to an understanding of the special value of these words of Jesus when we consider what they meant to the men who first heard them. To them the claim must have been that of the vindication of the ideals for which He had stood through the years of His public minis­try; the ratification of the purposes which He had declared to them in the process of His patient training of them for the work which they were called to do; and consequently it suggested the initiation of the new era of their new responsibility.

            One recognizes the difficulty of speaking of the ideals of Jesus with anything like conciseness, and yet it is necessary to make the attempt. For the purpose of an article such as this, the master prin­ciples upon which He had insisted both in His speech and manner of life through the years of His public ministry; in the more pronounced discourses which fell from His lips, in all His arguments with His critics, and in the private teach­ing of His disciples; may be stated as the sovereignty of the spiritual, and the necessity for heart purity. Again, out of the mass of His teaching it is difficult to cite a lonely illustration of the fact that He stood for the supremacy of the spiritual. Perhaps one of the simplest is that conveyed in His words: "Be not afraid of them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul." (Matt. 10:28) Here is a distinct recognition of the fact that the essential life of a man is independent of the body. The man of the world would affirm that to kill the body is to kill the life conse­quently the only thing he fears is the death of the body, and indefinitely he strives to deliver his body from death, because he sees nothing beyond its destruction. Some foolish men claim they do not fear death that do not acknowledge His authority over their spirit, soul, and body. Jesus, with a fine disdain for that which is merely physical, in these words in­dicated His conception that the ultimate thing in human life is not the physical but the spiritual. At last, upon the slopes of Olivet, He stood in the glory of a life that vindicates the word spoken before death. He went to the Cross not fearing those who kill the body but could not destroy the life. He knew that although they nailed Him to the tree, they could not hinder Him, or hurt Him in the deepest facts of His being. Now in resurrection life He said: "All authority hath been given unto Me, in heaven and on earth," and a fair application of His words may be, I have vindicated the ideal for which I stood, that namely, of the supremacy of the spiritual.

            He stood, moreover, for the necessity of purity in the inward part, forevermore condemning, not so much the outward action as the inward desire. According to the testimony of her ac­cusers, a woman was taken in the act, and ar­raigned before Him; but He was far more shocked by the un-manifested lust of the men who charged her, than by the account of her sin. In all His teaching He had made it clear that what a man is in his deepest life is what he is in very truth in the sight of heaven, in the balances of eternity, in the conception of God. This Man, Himself a Man of inward purity and heart spotlessness, went to death, and, in virtue of that purity, did what no other had done—He mastered death. Because He was sinless He gained the victory over death. The disciples heard Him say: "All authority hath been given unto Me, in heaven and on earth," and knew in their deepest consciousness that His resurrection was the vindication of His own claim to sinless­ness; and the vindication, therefore, of His ideal of the necessity for heart purity.

            These are the ideals He has committed to His Church, to which she must yield a ready sub­mission within her own borders, and which she is called upon to proclaim with no uncertain sound to all the nations.

            His claim to authority meant also a declaration of the ratification of His purposes. He had told His disciples that He would build His Church; that He would lead it as an army in conflict against evil and its issues, and in victory over all, including the very gates of Hades; that He would erect a moral standard, and make them, His disciples, His interpreters thereof, giving them "the keys of the Kingdom of heaven." (Matt. 16:19)

            Immediately following this declaration of pur­pose, He had spoken to them of the necessity for the Cross, and they, with faith faltering, had seen Him die. In spite of all He had foretold them, they looked upon the Cross as evidence of His failure to accomplish His purposes. From their standpoint of observation it was impossible for one who died to build a Church, and lead an army, and insist upon a moral standard. But now they saw Him in all the glory of resurrec­tion life, and knew that therein He demonstrated His power to build a Church, having passed through death and become the first-born from among the dead. They knew that He had the power to combat sin and overcome it, for He had taken hold of death, which is the ultimate of sin, and in His mastery of death had revealed His ability to deal with sin. He had lived in perfect conformity to His own ethical standard, and when His life resulted in His rejection by men and His being put to death, it had seemed as though the impossibility of obedience was proven; but now, standing in the power of risen life, He claimed authority, and thereby sug­gested that His own victories vindicated His right to be the ethical Teacher of the world. And He was commissioning them with a commission that needed His assistance, literally to be with them until accomplished, to the end. Teaching others all He had taught them. Baptizing those followers in the names of the Three Who had been involved in their very salvation. A monumental task named the Great Commission. To aid in such a great truth they were given the symbol of triune immersion.

            Not only did that claim, emphasized by the res­urrection, vindicate His ideals and ratify His purposes, it declared that the hour had come for the initiation of the mission of seeking and saving the lost.

            That absolute Lordship is the first message which the Church is charged to deliver to the world, and the ultimate proof of it is the resur­rection. I am not prepared to declare that we are wronging the Lord Christ when we emphasize His Lordship upon the basis of the perfection of His example. I do however say that the preach­ing of His example will never subdue sinning men to His Lordship. I do not affirm that it is wholly inaccurate to declare that in the high conceptions of life revealed in His ethical teach­ing is reason for crowning Him. I do however affirm that we may preach His ethic without being able to win victories in the moral realm. The Church's message is not fundamentally that He is Lord by reason of the matchless beauty of His own life, or on account of the lonely splendor of His moral standard. The Church is called to declare that He is Lord by the resurrec­tion of the dead. To deny the historic truth of the resurrection is to blot out every missionary commission in the New Testament. If in answer it be acknowledged that He commissioned His dis­ciples to certain work before His Cross and resur­rection, in reply we have only to examine the earlier commissions. In the earlier days of His ministry, He said among other things: "Go not into any way of the Gentiles, and enter not into any city of the Samaritans."            Beyond the resurrection His charge was no longer local, but universal, the whole creation being included. The first business of the Church is to proclaim to the world the authority of the King Who came to empirical power by the way of resurrection. No other came to power this way.

            If that be the deposit, what then, is the debt? It is clearly indicated as to its widest scope in the words "disciple the nations." The Church's re­sponsibility as indicated by these words is that of the proclamation of the Lordship of Christ, the insistence upon the supremacy of His ethic in every nation, among all peoples. His mes­sengers are charged to proclaim the fact of His Lordship, to announce to men everywhere that He is King. They are to pass through all na­tions proclaiming Him King upon the basis of His resurrection, and all that it involves. This means, therefore, that she is to proclaim and in­sist upon His ethical standards; that His ideal of intellectual greatness is the knowledge of God; that His ideal of emotional function is to love God and our neighbor; that His ideal of voli­tional fulfillment is to seek first the Kingdom of God.

            The Church is not sent to New York, London, or Calcutta, or Peking, to invite men to consider the claims of a Teacher Whom men may compare with others. How foolish and mistaken. She is to announce Him as the crowned Lord, absolute King, the only One Who, having en­tered into conflict with the forces that unmake humanity, and the enemies that hold humanity enthralled, has crushed and defeated them, com­ing into the place of final and glorious victory by the way of resurrection. She is to preach the Absolute Lordship of Christ to the nations, and thus to bring them under the spell of the announce­ment. Her responsibility is that of seeing to it that all the nations hear its proclamation. The Church has never been commissioned to convert the world, but to evangelize it, to create its opportunity of choice, to bring men everywhere face to face with the King, that in His presence man may crown or crucify Him; to preach the doctrine of His supremacy, which doctrine be­comes to those who hear it a savior of life unto life, or of death unto death, according to whether they obey or rebel. That is the first great and grave responsibility of the Church. The church today is not suffering as the first church because it is not preaching and teaching the Lordship and Kingship.

            As she fulfills that function, proclaiming the Lordship of Jesus, bringing men under the in­fluence and sway of the love of Christ, com­pelling them to consider His claim, there will be those who will submit themselves and bend the knee, and yield the heart and life to Him. Such she is commanded to baptize "into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost." This baptism is in itself a suggestive symbolism. The first thought it conveys is that of a Triune Godhead Who has actively separated them from the world and its ways, from an eternal death to an eternal life, and Who will take them onward to perfection and separation from all sin to a Kingdom where they will rule and reign with Christ in an eternal Kingdom without end in an eternal body. These Three are made known by Christ as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Water Baptism symbolizes the Three in One. The disciple dunked three times into the one substance water. This is triune immersion which the Matthew passage teaches straight from the Lord’s own mouth using an elliptical Greek phrase.

            Those who submit to the King’s teachings are brought into His Kingdom through death and resurrection, not by water baptism, but by the baptism of the Holy Spirit, of which water baptism is a symbol or sign.

            Those who come under the influence of the proclamation of the Lordship of Jesus, and yield­ing to it, pass through His death and resurrec­tion into living union with Him, are to be taught "to observe all things whatsoever I com­manded you." They are to realize in their own fellowship the actuality of His Kingship, and are to manifest through their corporate life the glory and grace of the Kingdom of God. This new society is formed wherever, as a result of the proclamation of His Lordship, men and women yield thereto; a society of those who not only believe in His Lordship, but bend to it, and exhibit to the world the result of His Kingship in their individual lives and social fellowship.

            If we measure the history of the Christian Church by that great ideal we inevitably see how sorely and grievously she has failed. Few there are that teach the symbolism of baptism correctly. Few speak with their Lord daily as Adam. And few open His book where the commission awaits their reading.

            Finally, a brief word concerning the dynamic. If the Church is to fulfill this great responsibility, she must enter into the full meaning of the final words of the Lord: "Lo, I am with you all the days, even unto the consummation of the age." He wishes to speak with His disciples daily, two thousand years after He left this earth and said He would return; with you daily both in Person and word.

            We must understand the meaning of the phrase “end of the world." Too often we think of it as some catastrophe or destruction of the earth. That is not the meaning of the words of which the Lord made use. The best translation is undoubtedly "consummation of the age." The earth will continue long after the completion of this age. Today man rules but one day there is only One Who rules. The promise is that of the abiding presence of the King through the present age of man’s rule. It is impossible to preach His Lordship prevailingly, except in living fellowship with Himself. We may discuss it and demonstrate it intellect­ually, but the demonstration will lack compelling power, except as the truth is proclaimed in living, personal comradeship with Him. In His phrase "all the days," is inferred mastery of circum­stances, the inference vindicated, as we have seen, by His resurrection. The One Who through de­feat proceeded to absolute victory accompanies His people, as in obedience to His command they go forth to proclaim His Kingship.

            In the words already dealt with, "the consum­mation of the age," His ultimate victory is im­plied. There was no fear of failure in the heart of the King. The age initiated by His first advent will be consummated at His second and through all the toil He abides with His people, leading them in perpetual triumph as they abide in fel­lowship with Him.

            The realization of the promise of His abiding presence is entirely dependent upon the Church's willingness to fulfill her responsibility. She has no right to apply this gracious word to herself except as she fulfills the conditions imposed. If we have no passion in our hearts for the discipling of the nations, we have no warrant for believing that He remains in fellowship with us.       The King abides daily with those who truly believe He is alive and has given an impossible commission that can only be accomplished with His daily presence and the comfort of the Holy Spirit in a world that denies His claims. May He help us find those that are His before the Father tells His Son to go get His bride. (Matt. 24:36)

THE GREAT COMMISSION (1 of 5)

THE FOURFOLD COMMISSION

"And Jesus came to them and spake unto them, saying, All authority hath been given unto Me in heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore, and disciple the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost: teach­ing them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you all the days, even unto the consummation of the age."—MATTHEW 28:18-20

"And He said unto them, Go ye into all the kosmos and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that disbelieveth shall be condemned."—MARK 16:15, 16

"Ye are witnesses of these things. And behold, I send forth the promise of My Father upon you but tarry ye in the city, until ye be clothed with power from on high."—LUKE 24: 48, 49

"Jesus therefore said to them again, Peace be unto you: as the Father hath sent Me, even so send I you. And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: whosesoever sins ye forgive, they are forgiven unto them; whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained." —JOHN 20: 21-23

            Any one reading these passages of Scrip­ture for the first time would certainly be quite as much impressed by their disparities as by their similarities. It is the custom of the Christian Church to speak of the commission of Jesus, as though there were but one, which the four evangelists record in different words. This conception is the result of superficial observation, and the measure in which it dominates our thinking is the measure in which we fail to recognize the spaciousness and inclusiveness of the missionary commission, and fail therefore to understand the real re­sponsibility of the Church. This has therefore been properly named the Great Commission.

            On the other hand, there are those who, rec­ognizing the differences between the records of the evangelists, affirm that they contradict each other.

            In order to avoid these two mistakes—that on the one hand of imagining that we have four re­ports of one commission in different words; and that on the other hand of imagining that the four contradict each other—it is important that we should recognize the true nature of these Gospel narratives. I am growingly convinced that the measure, in which we recognize the humanity of them, is the measure in which we shall be driven to the conclusion that they are infinitely more than human. To come to a study of them with a foregone and mechanical conception of inspira­tion is to miss the music of their harmony, and to fail to discover the ultimate meaning of their message.

            These Gospels are the narratives of four men, of different temperament, and consequently of different outlook. They are the natural, simple, and truthful accounts of things which they either saw and heard themselves, or learned from eye­witnesses. In these accounts, then, we gather the impressions which were made upon these differ­ent men by the Person of Christ, and by His teaching.

            This is equally true of the records of the hap­penings after the resurrection, as of the account of events in the life and ministry of Jesus, which culminated in the Cross. All the evangelists tell the account of the death and resurrection of Jesus.

            Moreover, they all give some account of the events happening subsequently to resurrection. Neither of them gives a detailed account of all that Jesus did or said in the forty days that passed between His resurrection and ascension. They rather de­scribe with perfect naturalness those doings of Jesus, or record with simple accuracy those of His words, which impressed them. They looked upon Him, and listened to Him in the upper room in Jerusalem, on the highways where they walked with Him, on the slopes of Olivet, or on the shores of the lake; or they heard the account of these things from those who did so look and listen to Him. Each man was impressed by things which Jesus did and said according to his natural temperament.

            This is perfectly natural, and is illustrated by the fact that it is always true that having listened to the address of a teacher, or the sermon of a preacher, any company of men, gathering to­gether afterwards to discuss the message, would find that different parts of the address would have impressed each man, largely according to his temperament or need.

            Recognizing this fact, we begin to understand these Gospel narratives. The harmony of result proves the divine overruling and choice of in­struments. The choosing of each of the evangelists for the writing of the account was the choos­ing of the Spirit; and the principle of choice was the necessity for recording and retaining, for the coming centuries, the very things which each man would naturally write.

            Thus to begin on the human level is to be driven to the conclusion of the Divinity of these narratives. When we understand that these are perfectly simple and artless accounts, written by men who had no conception that they were in­spired; and when we review the whole, and discover how part fits to part, and how each revela­tion complements the others, until the four merge into the perfect presentation of a perfect Person, then we see that these men who wrote truthfully, simply, and artlessly, on human levels; were guided, directed, inspired, by one Master-mind for the revelation to all time of great and suf­ficient truth. These are God’s words spoken through these men.

            If that be true of the whole Book, it is cer­tainly true of the commission of Jesus. The complete manifesto of missionary enterprise is not contained in any one Gospel. If we would know what the missionary responsibility of the Church really is, it is not enough to read what Matthew has written. We must also read what Mark records, what Luke reports, and what John reveals. We must gather the whole mani­festo from the harmony of these Gospel revela­tions.

            In this introductory article I propose in barest outline to consider the whole commission. In succeeding articles I shall take the separate parts thereof, as reported in the four Gospels, and consider each carefully; finally dealing with the resources and consequent responsibilities thus revealed.

            Before the harmony of the Missionary Com­mission can be appreciated, the harmony of the Gospels in their presentation of the Person of the Christ must be recognized. We have all at some time either purchased a harmony of the Gospels, or attempted to arrange these accounts in chrono­logical order. The result of our purchase, or our labor, has been unsatisfactory. In such labor I personally discovered the impossibility of the task. It is important to remember, moreover, that when a chronological harmony of the Gospels is attempted, the one so attempting is in grave peril of destroying the spiritual harmony. This spiritual harmony consists in the presentation of the Person of the Christ in a fourfold aspect as seen and heard by these four men.

            In the Gospel according to Matthew the King­ship of Jesus is revealed. It is impossible to escape from that impression. It is the Gospel of His authority: authority by all rights—the rights of inherent royalty as revealed in His character; the right of perfect legislation, as indicated in His manifesto; the right of vic­torious administration, which includes conflict, and issues in victory as accomplished through His Cross and Resurrection. Matthew closes his Gospel with a picture of this King, standing in the power of resurrection, and saying with quiet dignity, "All authority hath been given unto Me." Jude and Peter call Him the Despot. Matthew's Gospel is ultimately that of the royalty of Jesus.

            The Gospel according to Mark is the Gospel of the service of Jesus. He is seen therein per­petually stripped of royal apparel, and girded "with the slave's apron"; forevermore at work in remarkable and victorious power. As we watch Him at His work, we see the aims of His activity—the destruction of the destroyer, the casting out of demons, the cancelling of disease.      But His work is constructive also: He makes again those who had been destroyed; He flings out death and gives back life; He cures disease, and thus restores men to ability. Through all these processes He is seen restoring the groaning creation; destroying things that destroy, in order that those destroyed might be restored; in order that man, and all beneath Him, might be healed and helped. It is the Gospel of the Servant of God, mighty in power, working without cessa­tion even to the point of weariness, until He crowns service in actual and absolute sacrifice.          Mark presents the Servant, and closes his Gospel with the statement that the Lord works with those who go into Creation with His evangel of renewal. The perfect humanity of Jesus is portrayed in Luke's Gospel. As Luke, the master-artist, the cultured Greek, proceeds with his work, we see in Jesus the realization of the Divine purpose; a perfect personality. He records the develop­ment of the early years—the birth of the Boy; the mental awakening, and the confirmation at twelve years of age; the spiritual crowning of the Man at thirty years of age. We then see this perfect Man, passing through the three years of public ministry, victorious through testing; submitting to temptation, but mastering it; walk­ing the common way of ordinary human life, yet never failing, never deviating; moving straight forward with calm strength and dignity through all opposing forces to the realization of His own human life. We see finally, not merely the vic­tory of personality but the accomplishment of vocation. This perfect Person, victorious in His own probation, has a mission. "The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost." And before the Gospel ends we see Him accomplishing His Passion, rising from the dead, promising the gift of the Holy Spirit, and ascending to the right hand of the Father. Luke records the command of Jesus that His dis­ciples should be witnesses to His victory in the power of the Spirit.

            Turning to the last Gospel, we are conscious of the clouds and darkness of a great mystery; yet out of it there flashes such light as man had never seen before. The Gospel of John is not a life of Jesus. It is an orderly and sequential setting forth of certain words and works that reveal the deepest mystery of His Being. We see in Him the manifestation of Deity. In His Being, we come to knowledge of the Being of God. In His sayings, we learn the truth of God. In His doings, we discover the activities of God. John records the inspiring words in which Jesus sent His disciples forth for the continuation of that ministry for which He was the Sent of God.

            So these men wrote. Matthew, the tax-gath­erer, living in the midst of things imperial, saw the King and described Him. Mark, the friend of Peter, a fisherman accustomed to the long vigil of the night and the ceaseless toil of the day, wrote of the Man at work. Luke, the Greek physician, individual perfection being the master idea of his mental outlook, saw the fulfillment of that ideal in Jesus. John, the mystic dreamer of the Galilean sea, looking ever on, and looking through to the ultimate, saw the "Word made flesh."

            In the light of that fourfold revelation we discover the harmony of the missionary commis­sion.

            Matthew, who portrayed the royalty of Jesus, was absolutely impressed with Christ's words on the slopes of Olivet. "All authority hath been given unto Me in heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you."

            "Go ye, . . . disciple the nations," is a much broader commission than that indicated by the translation, "As you are going, make disciples of the na­tions." The individual application is recognized in the following words, "baptizing them," that is in the Names of the Three involved, spoken to those who might obey the proclamation of royalty by submission; "teaching them," that is, the bringing of such under His ethical system. "Go . . . disciple . . . teach." Three parts to this commission of the King, the Lawgiver. It rings with the note of authority.

            The commission according to Mark is all too superficially read and considered by Christian people. "Go ye into all the kosmos" does not merely mean, Travel over the surface of the earth and speak to men; the term "kosmos" here in­cludes man and everything beneath him.         The preaching of the Gospel to individual men is the beginning of the work, but the Gospel is to be pro­claimed to the whole creation. He can only reach the kosmos and the whole creation with the evangel through men. In the proportion in which men hear the evangel, and, yielding to it, are re­ made by the healing ministry of the Servant of God, they become instruments through which He is able to reconstruct the order of the whole crea­tion. He is no longer straightened.

            Take the simplest illustration. In the Welsh revival years back, when a profane, degraded, brutalized coal miner who was brought to God, went back the next morning to the mines to begin his day's work, he found him­self unable to induce his horse to work, because he no longer swore or ill-treated the animal, which only understood profane language and only answered brutal blows.

            Through the renewed man the whole creation is affected and redeemed as it passes under the dominion of love. We are to go into the whole creation, the whole kosmos, and to preach the evangel, not merely to men and women, though that is first and fundamental, but through them to the whole creation. This blog enters so far into 50 separate countries with these messages.

            This Servant of God comes into human life, and wherever it is limited and bruised He destroys the destroyer. The work of His people is that of carrying on His work. They must speak with the commanding note of authority; but there must also be that sacrificial service which enters into the life of the world, and comes into contact with the suffering, in order that there may be in­fused into the healing virtues of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

            Luke, the writer of the Gospel of the perfect Manhood of Christ, records His declaration. "Ye are witnesses of these things . . . but tarry ye . . . until ye be clothed with power from on high." Christ was victorious in life and death, and we are to vindicate His victory by re­peating it in our lives, and manifesting to men the fact that the power of His life and the value of His death are at their disposal. We are to be witnesses.

            John heard the mystic words that the others possibly were afraid to chronicle, because they so little understood their meaning. "As the Father hath sent Me, even so send I you. . . . Receive ye the Holy Ghost: whosesoever sins ye forgive, they are forgiven unto them; whose­soever sins ye retain, they are retained." John, who had seen the gleaming glory of Divine light shining through the love-lit eyes of his Master; John, who had heard in the sweet tones of his Master's voice the very music of the infinite and undying Love, now heard Him say, "As the Father hath sent Me, even so send I you." As He came into the world for the manifestation of God, He sends His own into the world for that manifestation. As that manifestation of God included the work whereby sin may be forgiven, we are to go in the power of all He has accomplished and are to exercise this great and holy function of remitting and retaining sins.    This word was spoken, not to the apostles as such, but to Christian men and women. They are all called to reveal the Father to men, and to exercise the right of the remission or retention of sins.

            It is as we discover the distinctions between these records that we also discover the harmony of the commission. Each is related to the Per­son of Christ, and each emphasizes one ultimate value thereof. The King sends us to proclaim His royalty. The Servant calls us to co-operation in His sacrificial service. The Perfect Man calls us to demonstrate the possibility of perfection through His victory won in our lives. God manifest sends us forth to exhibit "the excellencies of Him" Who has called us "out of darkness into His marvelous light."

            We may now approach the subject from an­other standpoint that of the harmony of these commissions as related to the needs of the world.

            The need of humanity today is fourfold. Its first necessity is that of authority. That is true in many directions. I now make one applica­tion only. Humanity preeminently needs to hear the voice of authority on the matter of moral standards. To turn away from the religion of the Lord Christ and to study the philosophies of men is to discover a great disagreement on the question of sin. There is no final authority on this subject. Therefore the utmost need of the world is the enunciation of an ethic which is binding and authoritative, and which therefore gives a clear revelation of what sin is.

            The first note of the Christian commission is the proclamation to the world of the authority of Jesus. The Lordship of Christ should be the first note of preaching, whether at home or abroad. We wrongly imagine that our first duty is to declare His love, and the fact that He is able to save. It may be an old-fashioned doc­trine, but it is one to which we need to return, that man never enters into the experience of conversion until he has come to conviction of need. That conviction of need, which is convic­tion of sin, can only be produced by an authori­tative moral standard. That standard is pro­vided in the ethic of Jesus, proclaimed in His teaching, and exemplified in His life.

            If the first note of the world's need is that of authority, the next is that of the universal consciousness of sorrow and pain. These two matters are not related in the thinking of man today as they should be. Man wants to know what is right and what is wrong, and cannot find his final standard. He cannot determine that from a depraved condition himself or from the depraved condition of those who claim to know right and wrong. He is also conscious of sorrow, of pain; and that pain is felt through all the life that lies beneath him in creation. He fails too often to recognize that the pain results from the violation of law, through lack of sub­mission to a final authority. When the nature-poet found a dead robin on his garden path, he said—

"Our human touch had on him passed,
And with our touch, our agony";

And the whole truth is expressed in the pulsating, throbbing words of the great apostle, "the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now." Humanity needs healing in order for the healing of creation.

            The second note of the great evangel is that of the carrying to the whole creation the message of healing and renewal. The world's agony is the world's need. That need is to be met by the Disciples of Christ, as they enter the creation which groans and travails in pain, in sacrificial service, through which the destructive forces are to be destroyed and new life communicated. They are to go.

            The third note in the world's need is its con­sciousness of inability to realize the highest, to do the noblest, and to be the best. In the presence of that inability men think differently, and act in various ways. Some deny the ideal, because they are unable to realize it. This need stripped of all false arguments and philosophies may be expressed in the language of Paul, "To me who would do good, evil is present." I am a thoroughly depraved creature.

            The third note in the commission is, "Ye shall be My witnesses." The disciples of Jesus are to go through the world demonstrating Christ's ability in their victorious lives. They are to be His witnesses, the men and women who are able. Paul also said, "I can do all things in Him that strengtheneth me." Those submitted to His royalty, who know the healing power He be­stows, in whom the forces that destroy are des­troyed, are to be witnesses to Him, in the home, in the city, in shop and office and factory, and to the uttermost part of the earth. Wherever they go they are to be credentials, evidences, demonstrations, proofs, samples of Christ, an­swering the world's wail of inability with their perpetual song of ability.

            The final note of the world's need is expressed in the universal unrest, that surging undercur­rent of unexplained dissatisfaction which char­acterizes humanity everywhere. Probe it, solve it, and it will be discovered that it is all the out­come of the fact that humanity is out of harmony with God. One cannot turn in any direction without being made conscious of unrest and fear and suspicion; instability in government and all forms have been tried, wicked­ness in diplomacy, the breaking of treaties; all the things of unrest are parts of the same lack of God. The sins of men result from the sin of man wherein he turned from God. For the forgive­ness of sins men need reconciliation to God.

            The last note of the commission is, "As the Father hath sent Me, even so send I you"; with its necessary sequence, "whosesoever sins ye for­give, they are forgiven unto them; whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained." In the mystic power of her fellowship with Christ, the Church is sent to reveal the Father, to work to­gether with the Father in order that the world may find its rest where it alone can be found, in restored fellowship with Him by the putting away of sins. And this is accomplished under the teaching of the Spirit using the words of Christ bringing meaning to all He spoke.

            Finally, let us note the harmony of results fol­lowing obedience to the whole commission.

The immediate result of the proclamation of the royalty of Jesus is conviction of sin.

            The immediate result of the proclamation of His evangel to the creation, in the power of sacri­ficial service, is that of a conviction of the possi­bility of righteousness. That possibility is demonstrated by the healing of humanity's wounds, the ending of sorrow, the putting away of pain and the communication of power. The knowledge of God Who is so big He is revealed as Three Persons Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Let them be known through baptism into each of their names.

            The immediate result of witnessing to the power of Christ among the nations is that of the conviction of judgment, because the prince of this world hath been judged. A Christian man, living the strong, pure Christian life, is an evi­dence of the fact that the forces of evil are mastered, and that all who obey the Evangel may be victorious over them.

            The immediate result of conveying to the world the great revelation of the Father and the mes­sage of the forgiveness of sins, is that of the creation of a belief which becomes the basis of that repentance which is the rock foundation on which character is built and human life developed.

            This, then, is the full manifesto of the King concerning the responsibility of His Church.

She is sent to the waiting world to proclaim His royalty.

            She is called to serve with Him in suffering by going, in order that she may communicate healing to the whole creation.

            She is to prove her Master's power to realize in men the highest and the noblest, by the trans­figured lives of her members.

            She is to reveal the Father through the guidance of the Spirit, in the mystery of that Passion, whereby sin is remitted when men yield to His claim, or retained when they persist in rebellion against Him.

            These are the values for which the world is waiting. The authority of the King must be the first note in all the Church's preaching. She must never lower the standards of His ethical requirement, nor remains passive when others do so. Moreover, she must keep pressing on through all cities and countries and continents proclaiming His will by going. By its own inherent truth His teaching will appeal to the hearts and consciences of men when it is preached. In His words the world will find the final laws of conduct, and in Himself the final standard of character.

            But the Church must also strip herself of her purple, and array herself in the garments of service, girding herself with humility as with a slave's apron. Passing into the midst of crea­tion's sigh and sob and sorrow, its wounds and weariness, she must touch it with new life, heal­ing by contact. She is to bring to that world-agony, which results from the fact that the world has lost its center of authority, the answering agony of sacrificial service by which, and by which alone, it can be healed. She shall wear her royalty robes later when she reigns with Him.

            The Church is to scatter through all the nations the living witnesses. The groaning creation is "Waiting for the revealing of the sons of God." That word, though prophetic, has an immediate and present application. Wher­ever those come, in whom Christ has won His victory, by their lives they preach in power the gospel of His ability.

            Finally, the Church is to go with the great message of the forgiveness of sins. The man who is brought face to face with the royalty of Jesus will put his hand upon his lip and cry, "Unclean Unclean!" He will thus become con­scious of all the sorrow and pain resulting from his sin. He will then know as never before the agony of inability to do that which he would. To such the Church must declare the possibility of the forgiveness of sins by the unveiling of the Father through the guidance of the Spirit.

            This is the Church's deposit. If she rejoice in all that she possesses of authority, of service, of witness, and of revelation; and fail to communi­cate to others, she is untrue to the intention of her Lord, and is in grave peril herself of losing all.