Addresses Given at the Keswick Convention on the Glory and the Uniqueness of the Christian Message
I needed a book to re-orient me today, and this five-sermon volume did just that. While I’ve heard the name Zwemer before, I honestly couldn’t have told you anything about of his past experiences as missionary to Bahrain, prolific author, and inspiring representative of the Student Volunteer Movement. He doesn’t discuss it much here, but by this point in his life, he was also the Professor of Christian Missions and the History of Religion at Princeton. So, this guy wasn’t a dummy.
At the age of 70, he spoke at this Keswick Convention and published his five addresses. The five messages contained in this volume are as follows:
“The Solitary Throne”
In this message, Zwemer responds to a claim made by the polytheistic Mahatma Gandhi, that he can’t put Jesus Christ on “a solitary throne.” Zwemer writes to Gandhi and to all religions that want to acknowledge Jesus but do not worship Him as Lord: “Unless Jesus Christ is Lord of all He is not Lord at all” (9). This catching first line of the book is the theme of all five sermons, the supremacy of Jesus Christ and our duty to worship Him with our lives.
“His Ministers a Flame”
This second message emphasizes the Bible’s use of fire in relation to our worship of God. Not only was fire used to offer sacrifices of sin and praise, but it’s also something we’re to have constantly burning in our heats, with passion and fervor. Paul told Timothy to “fan into flame” the gift he had, and Zwemer remarks that, while Timothy was blessed with the “tinderbox” of generational faith (both his mother and grandmother followed Christ), the spark came from God Himself. All God’s children have that spark which will never go out, the Holy Spirit, and yet it’s also our own daily responsibility to keep fanning it into flame.
“Photophobia”
Zwemer then takes us back to Jesus’ trial when the soldiers beat Him, covering his eyes and mocking his glory. He uses this as an illustration for what all his critics (and even Christian families) do today, blinding Jesus (or ourselves from Him), blocking out the Light so that in darkness they can mock Him. But just as that spark will never die out, so will the Light never truly be extinguished. Men love darkness rather than light, and the church itself needs to be careful, lest this same photophobia creeps into our doors as well.
“The Glory of the Impossible”
In this message, Zwemer emphasizes the seemingly impossible task of stopping the slow encroachment of the Muslim religion moving throughout Central Asia. Unlike any other religion, Islam tends to destroy all vestiges of Christianity in its path when it claims new territory. And while the task of evangelizing Muslims with the Gospel seems impossible, praise Jesus, He’s the God of the impossible! “There is only one thing that is impossible—it is impossible for God to lie. His promises are sure” (90), and in Psalm 72 He promises: “He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.”
“The Hinterland of the Soul”
In this final sermon, Zwemer challenges his hearers and readers with a call to adventure. He reminds us of many great missionaries and preachers by name, and I especially like this particular praise of those spiritual giants who have gone before us:
All our great hymns are the result of spiritual adventures, the bold ascent up Everest of men like Heber, Faber, Wesley, Newman, Isaac Watts, and George Matheson, or women like Frances Ridley Havergal, who found their way to the City of God, and left a record of their Mountaineering.
(Zwemer, The Solitary Throne, 103)
I found this entire chapter an invigorating and inspiring message, and it’s no wonder that Zwemer had such an impact on the students of his day! In fact, I just posted a screen shot of this page 105 and sent it to some friends with the following message:
This inspiring page from Samuel M. Zwemer (1937) still carries a zing. This long-term minister to Bahrain ended his field work with something like 12 total converts, yet he also influenced hundreds to leave everything and to give themselves to full-time cross-cultural work. Why sit on the sidelines when you can “look beyond the horizon…and make bold adventures for God”?
This book was just what I needed, and I don’t care that it’s dated 85 years old. It was a good pick-me-up, and now I’ve gotta ask again: Why sit on the sidelines when you can “look beyond the horizon…and make bold adventures for God”?
©2022 E.T.