The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1914, Page 49

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Che Lutheran Pioneer,

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

me © -e

PUBLISHED BY THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN SyNopICAL CONFERENCE oF Nortu AMERICA.

REV. F. J. LANKENAU, EDITOR.

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

Vol. XXXVI.

ST. LOUIS, MO., JULY,

1914.

Jesus, Lover of My Soul!

Jesus Christ, my only Savior,
Heartily Thy name I laud,
Notwithstanding my behavior
Thou hast loved me, Lamb of God.

Thou hast died in woe and sadness,
Freeing me from great distress;
I have hated Thee in madness —
Thou hast loved me ne’ertheless.

And Thy love will never waver,
Never wilt Thou be untrue;
Kindly wilt Thou show me favor
With each day and hour anew.

When life’s sorrow like a story
That is finished will be o’er,
Thou wilt show me, Lord, Thy glory,

Thou wilt love me evermore.
H. Osteruvs.
—— —-—»ee- - -—

The Divine Origin of the Bible.

As we heard in a foregoing article, the Bible
does not only contain, but is God’s Word in all its
parts, both as to substance and form. The divine
authority of the Bible is also clearly shown by the
fact that so many minute prophecies of the Old
‘I'estament have been clearly, yea, literally, fulfilled.
For instance, let us think of the predictions that
pointed to the Messiah, who would appear in the
fullness of time. They came true in the person
and work of Jesus of Nazareth. ‘They need not
be mentioned here, as they are well known. In the
birth, life, suffering, and death of our blessed Re-
deemer they were fulfilled, not roughly, but ac-
curately, even. as to numerous details. °

Consider the following: So many various proph-
ecies, written by different authors, though of the

2

same origin, and at vastly different times, from
hundreds to thousands of years before Christ, were
all fulfilled to the letter in this one Person. The
Lord’s deepest humiliation served this fulfillment ;
hence even His most bitter foes unconsciously
helped to bring it about. But more than this:
These prophecies could not have been invented after
Christ appeared here on earth, but, as all Jews
knew, had actually been written long before, and
carefully preserved by this nation as sacred records.
Surely, no deception nor mere coincidence was
possible here, and it is ridiculous to make such a
claim.

_ Another proof for the divine authorship of the
Bible is found in the miracles, whereby the prophets
and apostles manifested that God had sent them,
and that what they preached and wrote is His
truth. 1 Cor. 10, 2, Paul writes, for example, that
“all the fathers were baptized unto Moses in the
cloud and in the sea.” The pillar of cloud led
them through the wilderness, and also protected
them from their pursuers, the Egyptians; ‘and
when’ Moses, according to God’s command, stretched
forth his hand over the Red Sea, it parted, so that ~
they went through it on dry ground. These two
as well as other signs served to fully assure them
that Moses was their divinely appointed leader and
truly Jehovah’s prophet.

In the New Testament Jesus sent out the apos-
tles that they should fill the world with the Gospel
by preaching and writing the Word. He also en-
dued them with the Spirit, who inspired and di-
vinely qualified them for the performance of their
task. That He had this authority as the Messiah,
and the Son of God, Jesus proved by His miracles.
He said: “The works that I do in my Father’s
name, they bear witness of me,” John 10, 25. The