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GOD'S MULTUM IN PARVO
William Mealand
IF ever a small word reflected grace and power, as
portrayed in Scripture, it is the little word "all." The simplicity of its
meaning, and the grandeur of its fullness are a challenge to faith. It is
indeed God's "multum in parvo." Man makes much of little, but God gives
much in little. Man fills the head, but God the heart. May we not be slow
of heart to believe the grace and truth conveyed in the compass of
simplicity.
Among the many passages in which this word occurs, is the notable
utterance of our Lord, so majestic in its wide, embrace as a foreshadowing
of the splendor that will yet crown sacrificial work. "And I, if I be
lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me." These words are of
great moment and potency, their glory embedded in the thought that Christ
will draw "all men" to Himself. For this He came, for this He died, and
now, as the risen One at God's right hand, He still draws humanity to
Himself. But there is a deeper note of power vested in the little word
"all." It bespeaks the very climax of power, even as it sets forth the
magnitude of grace.
"I will draw all men unto Me." Thus crystallized, the utterance portrays a
magnetic Potentate, drawing to Himself the grand sum total of humanity. It
has been too hastily concluded that only here and now are men drawn to
Him, and we know that not all repose faith in Him. Therefore, if "all men"
are to be drawn to Him, His words await perfect fulfillment. The present
era of grace does not exhaust the possibilities of His power, for, as the
grand Executor of God's will, glorious work awaits the Son in ages yet
unrolled.
In the Roman epistle we see a further enhancement of this magic word. "God
hath shut up all men in distrust, that He might have mercy upon all."
We may not limit such mercy. Its outflow is to be universal. The poet
extols the nature of human mercy in beautiful language:
"The quality of mercy is not strained,
It dropped as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes."
What then shall we say of mercy so Divine, and so
richly free, as to be shown to all? It staggers thought, but there again,
His thoughts are not as ours, neither are His ways. When we grasp the
thought up to the hilt that, "all things are of God," we more clearly
comprehend His sovereign mercy. Remembering, too, that God, as the Saviour
of all men, wills all humanity to be saved by virtue of Christ's
kingly ransom for all, we should exult in redemption so rapturously
complete.
Think of it, "Himself for all!" Shall we, who now enjoy the fruit of His
ransom, deny that He will yet enfold all in happy, responsive allegiance
to Himself? Since Christ is to have the preeminence in all things, it is
only fitting that God should, by Him, reconcile all things to Himself.
And surely, the achievement of creation bespeaks the accomplishment of
reconciliation. Ability is assured, since "He is before all things, and
by Him all things consist." Thus the grand ultimate is attained by the
King of the ages, and God is all in all.
We see then, that He who fashioned and formed, can perfect and complete.
And in such sublimity, that all the marvelous minutiae of His guidance and
government move with stately tread to the desired conclusion. He is the
God of patience, even as He is the God of hope. If the mystery of so lofty
a purpose be ours, the accomplishment is His. In thinking of such vastness
of grace, we must distinguish between the immediate and the ultimate,
between development and completion. The potency of the immediate may be
for the favored few, since faith alone can exult therein, but the
omnipotent grandeur of the ultimate is for all.
Moreover, the exquisite truth of a Divine consummation to the travail of
the ages is the all-sufficient solution to the problems that confront and
perplex the children of men. Christ will inaugurate such operations as
will conclude in universal triumph. Anguish and mystery will flee away, as
faith, hope and love attain the zenith of desire. And the vision is worthy
of Him who gave to His children its fair unfolding. Now is the
fragmentary, then the complete. His way is perfect, His will supreme. Of
course, the great mystery with many is the conflicting now, the winter
of discontent, with all its whirring wheels of woe, its trail of war and
restless toil.
May it be ours to wait patiently for Him, and, in the meanwhile of His
government and grace, rest heart and intellect in His ability to bring to
glad fruition the operations of His majestic will. Then, when the
mystery of that will is seen in the light of full accomplishment, there
will be joyous acquiescence from the lips of all. |