The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-11-16
BROOKLYN TABERNACLE.
tue GREAT QUESTION.

Mark vii, 27-1X, November IL.
'HThou art the Christ, the Son of the
| Living God ''-Matthews xvi. 16.
For a considerable period of His min
! istry our Lord did not declare Himself,
even to His disciples, to be the Messiah.
Undoubtedly He chose the wiser course.
He did, however, wish His disciples to
know and He approached the question
| by asking, 'fWho do men say that I
| amp He got their reply. Then came
| the point of the question: but who
| say We that amp" st. Peter answered,
Thou are the Christ, the Son of the
thou, Simon, son of Jonah. for flesh and
| blood hath not revealed this unto thee.
but My Father which is in Heaven. -
Forthwith Jesus began to explain to the
beloved Twelve the experiences that lay
before Him-and His death and resur-
rection. Doubtless all of the Apostles
were disappointed, but only st. Peter
had the courage to express himself,
saying, BE 1t far from Thee, Lord,
this shall not happen
In this course st. Peter was opposing
the Divine will and Plan, of which the
death of Jesus was the very Center or
Hub. To make the matter very en-
phatic Jesus said to st. Peter, "Get
thee behind Me, adversary, thy words
SAVIOR not of the things of God. but the
things of men" Then He began to
make clear to His followers what had
not been meat in due season. to tell
them clearly before, namely, that who
ever desired to be His disciple must
deny himself, take up his cross and
follow in the footsteps of the Re
deemer. He who will faithfully lose his
life for Jesus sake will save twill
gain the reward of life on the spirit
plane.
''What Shall 1t Profit a Man?"
God has provided future life for
every man through the Redemption ac-
O(Y 1f<11 hid Nv I,,,A
of heart, of character, of life, who will
accept this great blessing through the
Divinely appointed way, will get it,
If they selfishly seek for the whole
world, the selfishness thus developed
will make them unfit for the eternal
life. For what would p man take in
exchange for the loss of his life? Would
he consider wealth or fame or name
for few years N the present time
worthy of exchange at profit, if it were
to cost him eternal glory, eternal life?
Surely not. We are therefore to have
in mind that character building is alb
solutely essential to our attaining
eternal life.
Whoever becomes follower of the
Lord and hopes to gain the prize of
everlasting life and glory on the spirit
plane must come out fully and cour-
ageously and acknowledge Jesus and
His words. To be ashamed of the
Truth, of the Divine Plan, of what
Word, because it is unpopular with
men, is to offend the Lord and to prove
ourselves unworthy of His favor.
The Great Question.
The great question of eighteen CEN
tur1es ago is the great question of to-
day: Who is Jesus? If as some
claim, He was merely a good man, a
most able Teacher, then He was not
the Christ, for the Christ, although the
embodiment of all those qualities was
more, much more. To be the Christ
He must have been the Man Christ
Jesus, who gave Himself a Ransom
price for all, to be testified in due
time q Timothy ii, 5, 81 And that
signifies that He must have been. not
of ordinary birth, but extraordinary,
born from above, because if born in
the ordinary course of nature He
would be like others of Adams sons,
subject to the sentence of death and
hence unable to save either Himself
or others. But if He was the Christ
the Sent of God, who left the glory of
the Father and was made flesh, that
He might taste death for every man"
then we behold Him as the great Re
deemer of the world. whose death was
necessary as Ransom, or correspond
ing price, to secure the release of man.
kind from the death sentence and to
make possible the resurrection of
Adam and his race.
More than this, the word Christ sig
nif1es the Amounted. The Bible de-
clares that the Amounted Lord shall
be the Great King, Prophet and Priest,
whose Kingdom shall last for thous-
and years, and shall destroy sin and