Scripture: "My witnesses unto the uttermost parts of the earth."— ACTS i. 8.
Here we have the fifth mark of Christ's Church—the whole world. What words are these for the man who in his absolute impotence had been crucified by His enemies, speaking of the ends of the earth as His dominion. What folly on the part of those who speak of Christ as being nothing but a man. How could it have entered the mind of any writer to venture the prophecy that a Jew who had been crucified, whose whole life had been proved by that cross to be an utter failure, and whose disciples had at the last utterly forsaken Him—that by them He should conquer the world ? No human mind could have formed such a conception. It is the thought of God; He alone could plan and execute such a purpose.
The word that Jesus spoke to His disciples: "Ye shall re¬ceive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you," gives them the assurance that the Holy Spirit would maintain in them Christ's divine power. As Christ did His works only because the Father worked in Him, so Christ assured His disciples that He Himself from the throne of Heaven would work all their works in them. They might ask what they would and it should be done unto them. In the strength of that promise the Church of Christ can make the ends of the earth its one aim.
Oh, that Christian people might understand that the extension of God's Kingdom can only be effected by the united continued prayer of men and women who give their hearts wholly to wait upon Christ in the assurance that what they desire He will do for them.
Oh, that God would grant that His children proved their faith in Christ by making His aim their aim, and yielding them¬selves to be His witnesses in united, persevering prayer, waiting upon Him in the full assurance that He will most surely and most gloriously give all that they can ask.
My reader, do become one of those intercessors who really believe that in answer to your prayer the crucified Jesus will do far more than you can ask or think.
