The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1904, Page 11

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

11

Pray for the Missionaries.

St. Paul, the great missionary apostle, writes to
his brethren at Rome: ‘‘Now I beseech you, breth-
ren, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the
love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me
in your prayers to God for me,’’? Rom. 15, 30.
Again he writes to the Colossians: “‘Withal pray-
ing also for us, that God would open unto us a
door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ,
for which I am also in bonds; that I may make it
manifest, as I ought to speak,” Col. 4,3. 4. And
to the Thessalonians he writes, ‘‘Brethren, pray for
us,’? 1 Thess. 5, 25.

Irom these passages we see that the great apostle
heartily desired the prayer of the Christian congre-
gations for himself and for the mission cause in
which he labored. This ought to move us to pray
diligently and earnestly for our missionaries, our
representatives in the mission field. Pray for the
missionaries and for the mission cause in which
they labor!

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The Comfort and Power of God’s Word.

N. Selnecker, the great Lutheran divine, relates
that a pious jurist, or lawyer, in his last sickness,
shortly before his departure, said: ‘“‘Now I see and
realize how useful it is to memorize God’s Word in
youth. In my youth I had to learn by heart the
53d chapter of the Prophet Isaiah. Yor this I would
now not take all the treasures of the world; for
whenever I call to mind that chapter I have more
help and comfort therefrom than from all other
books. They all have no power and no comfort in
comparison with that one chapter of Isaiah. Yea,
I would forget, lose, and put away all books rather
than do without that one chapter.”’

Unwilling Feet.

An old colored widow said to her pastor, who
visited her one Sunday evening: ‘‘This morning
my feet said to me, Do not go to church, you are
too weak, you might fall down by the roadside.
I replied, I will not listen to what you say, but
to what my Lord says. The Lord says, ‘Go, and
I will give you strength!’ Ye feet have often taken
me the wrong road when I was young; ye shall
no longer have your own will! I then went to
church, was comforted by God’s Word, and with
God’s help returned home safe, happy, and con-
tented.’’

Christ Our King.

Already the prophets refer to the promised Mes-
siah as the King of His people. Yes, they put
especial emphasis upon this office of the Saviour.
In the 2d Psalm the Father says of His Son: ‘‘I
have set my King upon my holy hill of Zion.?’
Daniel says that there is given to Him ‘‘dominion,
and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations,
and languages should serve Him.’’ At the time of
the Annunciation the angel said to Mary: “The
Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His
father David: and He shall reign over the house of
Jacob forever; and of His kingdom there shall be
no end.’’

Jesus Christ is, indeed, a iinayss but, of course,
He is not to be compared to an earthly king, for
He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
His dominion is everlasting, and His kingdom shall
never end.

Even in the days of His greatest humility He
could say to Pilate, ‘‘Thou sayest it, lama King!”’

But wherein does the kingly office of Christ con-
sist, or, which is His kingdom? Christ’s kingdom
is threefold: the kingdom of power, the kingdom
of grace, and the kingdom of glory.

The kingdom of power includes the whole world,
and its subjects are all creatures, the visible and
invisible, the angels in heaven, all men upon earth,
and even the devils in hell, in'short, all that is not
God Himself. Thus Christ, as the almighty King
of Creation, rules over all creatures, and all things
are governed by His might. Concerning this king-
dom Christ Himself says, ‘‘All power is given unto
me in heaven and in earth.’? The kings of the earth
are His subjects, and the mighty forces of nature
are controlled by His almighty power. He calms
the waves by the power of His finger uplifted, and
at His command the raging tempest must turn into
a mild and balmy breeze. His voice is able to startle
the shades of the grave, and He can rend the cords
of death. The pillars of the earth are held in their
sockets by the omnipotent right hand of Christ, and
the mighty stars are directed in their course by the
eternal strength of Him who is the Prince of the
kings of this earth. Sitting at the right hand of
God, He has the reins of Providence in His hands,
and Hei is the supreme Umpire in all disputes, the
Sovereign of heaven, hell, and earth.

Christ’s kingdom of grace is the holy Christian
Church here on earth. Its subjects are all believing
Christians, all who accept Him as their Saviour
and Redeemer and trust in His merits alone. It is
to this kingdom of grace that Christ refers when,