Joy, Peace, Power
THE three key words to the wonders of the fourth chapter of the epistle to the Philippians are joy, peace, power.
The first verse of the chapter really connects itself with the preceding chapters, as the word "therefore" indicates. In view of the wondrous salvation unfolded, the Philippians were "therefore" to "so stand fast in the Lord." But there is also another connection with the joy; the apostle dearly loved these bright Christians, and he looked forward to heaven when they should be his crown. And when the great day came, they should be yet in all intensity, his joy—he would have in them in eternity a link with this past life, and a crown of delight. To them, then, he would say, "Rejoice in the Lord alway; and again I say, Rejoice.”
“The peace of God"—not "peace with God"—peace as the experienced portion of the soul, and the way of obtaining this peace, occupies the sixth to the ninth verses. The holy calm of God Himself, the unruffled peace in which He dwells—this peace "shall keep your hearts and minds" (or thoughts) "through Christ Jesus." And how is this miracle wrought upon earth within the heart? By God garrisoning heart and mind by His peace. Give God our cares, make our requests known to Him, give Him our thanks for His mercies, and, lo! in our hearts His peace shall prevail.
And not only shall the peace of God keep heart and mind, but "the God of peace" Himself, shall be with you. Do we inquire, How shall this divine companionship be attained? The way is as simple as the result is mighty. Think upon the things God loves, do the things the holy life of St. Paul patterned and his teachings pointed to, think and live according to the will and pleasure of God, and He, as the God of peace, shall be our Companion.
Power is the last of the three key words. St. Paul could be full, or he could be hungry; he knew how to abound, and he knew how to be abased; he was master over circumstances, master of himself, master of the very tyrant who had thrown him into the dungeon; he was greater than the world. And how was this? He tells us: "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." Christ was his power.
The joy, the peace, the power, are for us all. And whether joy, peace, or power each is established in the Name of Christ.
The Bible in Macedonia
IN our last issue we said we should give two maps of Macedonia, showing the district as it was in the apostle's days, and as it is in our own times. If the fifteenth to the eighteenth chapters of the book of Acts be read with the map at the top of the opposite page before the eye, a fresh interest will be added to the story of the journey of the apostle to Europe in reference to the call, "Come over into Macedonia and help us." Philippi and Thessalonica are names of cities which, by reason of the apostle's epistles to the young Christian churches there, ever possess a peculiar charm to the Bible reader. He sees what manner of men those early believers were, their love to Christ, their zeal for the promulgation of His Gospel. The Word of the Lord sounded out far and wide from the Thessalonians, and the Philippians shone as lights in the world, holding forth the Word of Life; and their fellowship in the Gospel and its persistency caused the apostle, chained in the dungeon at Rome, to rejoice before God.' The pagan world around those churches was affected by their testimony, while Corinth stands before us as a church abounding in spiritual gifts, if not in grace. Here some of the brightest lights in Europe shone for God; and the writings of the apostle to them have been ever since the guide and direction of the universal Church.
Now, as we look at the map at the bottom of the page, what do we see? Some, at least, of the old familiar names mentioned in the chapters of the Acts: But Macedonia is under the power of the followers of Mohamed, who hate with a fierce hatred all who bear the name of Christian. For centuries the Turk has held sway over those localities where once the name of Christ was so well loved. And if we put our finger upon Corinth, we are confronted with the opposition of professing Christians to the distribution of the epistle to the Corinthians (for example) in the modern language of its people. "It is the great boast of the Greeks,' says the Bible Society in its report," that the Gospel was given to the world through their language; “and yet the Orthodox Church in Greece assumes a hostile attitude to those who distribute the Scriptures in the Greek spoken by the people. Alas? whether Turk, or Orthodox Greek Church, or Roman Church, the religious instructors of the people alike hate the distribution of the Word of God, and, so far as they can prevent it, the Word shall not sound out to men.
It is strange that Moslems and Greek Christians, who are now slaughtering each other under the banners of their respective beliefs, are at one in their enmity to the Word of God. Nevertheless, at least in Greece, the distribution of the Scriptures made good headway last year, while in Bulgaria the existence of religious strife caused a lessening of the copies supplied to the people. What will the record of the next few months be? Will those parts of Europe where the apostle planted the Gospel, and where it so richly flourished, be drenched with blood, and kingdoms shape themselves into form in the familiar Bible districts, where the Turk, with his fierce hatred to true Christianity, now holds his sway? Let us, who rejoice in our open Bibles, lament for the darkness and the spiritual gloom of that part of Europe where the apostle Paul first planted the Gospel.