The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1903, Page 13

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The Lutheran Pioneer, —

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PusuisHep BY THE EvanceticaL Lurneran SynoDICAL CONFERENCE OF NortH AMERICA.

“He is Risen.”

The Lord is ris’n indeed,

Then justice asks no more;
Mercy and truth are now agreed,
Who stood opposed before.

The Lord is ris’n indeed,
Then is His work performed;
The captive surely now is freed,
And death, our foe, disarmed.
Selected.

> + oa o>

Easter Tidings.

Christ’s resurrection is cause for great re-
joicing. It conclusively proves that all men
have been redeemed.

When God’s justice sternly ordered His
debtors, all sinful creatures, to be cast into
prison, Christ became our surety, and under-
took to satisfy the demands of divine jus-
tice. So He ‘‘was delivered for our offenses,’’
Rom. 4,25. ‘That is the reason Jesus was as-
sailed so fiercely by sin, death, and Satan, and
dragged into the gloomy prison of the tomb.
But He did not remain there. Death was not
able to hold its Prisoner captive! Christ is
risen! Our Surety is released. What does
that imply? ‘‘He was raised again for our
justification,’’ Rom. 4, 25. God’s justice is
satisfied. Our debt is canceled. The whole
account is settled. Every item is balanced.
The largest amount we owed, as well as the
smallest, is fully paid. It is more than paid
up: our debt, however great, is only human,
but the payment Christ made in our favor is
divine. His resurrection attests that. ‘‘He
is declared to be the Son of God with power,
by the resurrection from the dead,” Rom. 1, 4.

To every one who puts his trust in Christ
and accepts Him as his Surety the Lord’s
resurrection grants the assurance: No short
accounts for you to settle! No obligations for
you to meet! No judgment or prison for you
to fear! Here is peace for your soul, peace
which even death shall not destroy, for all be-
lievers shall rise again unto a life of everlasting
peace in heaven! ‘That, too, is warranted by
the Saviour’s resurrection. ‘‘Because I live,
ye shall live also,”’ are His words, John 14, 19.
And His apostle writes: ‘(God hath begotten

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

us again unto a lively hope by the resurrec-
tion of Jesus Christ from the dead,’’ 1 Pet. 1,3.

How is such regeneration effected? Peter
explains: ‘‘Being born again by the Word of
God, which by the Gospel is preached unto
you,’ 1 Pet. 1, 23.25. While the first disciples
of Jesus were permitted to see the risen Lord
and to hear the comforting words: ‘‘Peace be
with you,’’ from His own lips, God did not in-
tend to deal in that way with men always.
The ordinary means of conveying Christ’s
peace to men is the Scripture promise, sealed
by Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. That will
never deceive you. Having fulfilled the prom-
ise of His resurrection, made to the doubting
Jews, when He said: ‘‘Destroy this temple,
and in three days I will raise it up,” John
2, 19, Christ’s resurrection is positive proof of
the fact that every word of the Bible is infal-
libly true.

Rely on that with all your heart. Then God’s
peace shall not fail you. And the more you
rejoice init, the more earnestly will you guard
against forfeiting it by willfully and mali-
ciously contracting new debts. Appreciating
God’s favor, you will find genuine pleasure in
serving Him who died for your sins and rose
again for your justification. A. B—.

—. oo

-““Be Ye Reconciled To God!”

‘Be ye reconciled to God!’ was St. Paul’s
message wherever he went. To Jew and Gen-
tile, to bond and free, to all alike he pro-
claimed it. In Christ’s stead he prayed them
all to be reconciled to God. This is God’s
message still to a world of rebels. He en-
treats us to become His friends, telling us
how willing He is to forget our past enmity
and to remember our iniquities no more. Be
reconciled to me! —this is God’s special en-
treaty to every sinner.

But is not God holy? and are not we uD-
holy? How can there be reconciliation be-
tween the holy God and the sinner? God Him-
self made this possible by putting away sin
through the blood of His Son. His holy Son,
who knew no sin, in whom there was no spot,
no stain, no shadow of iniquity — He was made

Entered at the Post Office at St. Louis, Mo., a5 second-class matter.

sin for us—the Lord laid on Him the iniquity

of us all. He bore the burden of our guilt.
He was made a curse for us. He drank the
cup of God’s wrath, which is the sinner’s por-
tion. The Father dealt with Him as guilty
of our transgressions. He was treated as a
sinner, because He stood as our Sin-bearer,
our Substitute. Thus God’s own Son made
peace, suffering the punishment of sin in our
stead. God the Father accepted what Christ
did for us, and declared Himself perfectly
satisfied by raising Him from the dead and
seating Him st His right hand in glory. Since
Christ bore our sins and suffered and died
in our stead, the simple fact is that God is
reconciled.

All that is now needed is that we be recon-
ciled to Him by accepting the word of recon-
ciliation—the Gospel of Jesus, in which God
offers forgiveness and peace to every sinner
withthe entreaty, Bereconciledtome! St. Paul
says, ‘‘God was in Christ, reconciling the world
unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses
unto them, and hath committed unto us the word
of reconciliation. Now, then, we are ambas-
sadors for Christ, as though God did beseech
you by us; we pray you in Christ’s stead, Be
ye reconciled to God! For He hath made Him
to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we
might be made the righteousness of God in
Him!’’ O, then, be reconciled toGod! ‘‘Be-
lieve on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt

be saved.”’
——__.» oor So _

An Easter Lesson.

St. Paul writes: ‘‘Like as Christ was raised
up from the dead by the glory of the Father, .
even so we also should walk in newness of life,””
Rom. 6,4. The words contain an important
Easter lesson. Christians are risen from spir-
itual death and should live unto Him who died
for them and rose again. They are living
members of a risen Christ. As they were
buried with Him by Baptism, they are also to
rise with Him and live a new life, that is, a
life other than the old sinful life. Christians
who live in Christ will also live for Christ,
knowing that they shall live with Christ in

glory.