eror of the World

"In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have
overcome the world."--JOHN xvi. 33.

It was the road between Jerusalem and the Gate of the Garden. Behind,
lay the city bathed in slumber; before, the Mount of Olives with its
terraced gardens; above, the Passover moon, pouring down floods of
silver light that dropped to the ground through the waving branches of
the trees. The Lord was on His way to betrayal and death, along that
path flecked by checkered moonlight.

The farewell talk had been prolonged until the disciples had grasped
something of the Master's meaning. With many a comforting assurance it
had borne them forward to the magnificent but simple declaration, "_I
came forth from the Father, and am come into the world; again, I leave
the world, and go to the Father_" (ver. 28). At that announcement
light seems to have broken in upon their hearts, and they said unto
Him, "_Lo, now speakest Thou plainly, . . . by this we believe that
Thou camest forth from God._" Jesus replied, not as translators render
it, "_Do ye now believe_"; but as it should be rendered, "_At last ye
believe_"; and He proceeded to formulate three paradoxes:

First, That within an hour or so He would be alone, yet not alone.

Secondly, That they would have tribulation, and yet be in peace.

Thirdly, That though He was going to His death, He was certainly a
conqueror, and had overcome the world, whose princes were about to
crucify Him.

That word _overcome_ appears to have been used only this once by our
Lord; but it made a lasting impression on the Apostle John, who
constantly makes use of it in his Epistle. We meet with it _six_ times
in his brief first Epistle, and _sixteen_ times in the Book of
Revelation. Who can forget the sevenfold promise spoken by the risen
Lord to those who overcome; or the sublime affirmation concerning the
martyrs, that they overcame by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of
their testimony?

I. CHRIST AND HIS DISCIPLES HAVE A COMMON FOE--"The world."--And what
is the world? _It is well to take the inspired definition given in 1
John ii. 16_. After enumerating her three daughters--the lust of the
flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--the apostle goes on
to say: "All that is in the world is not of the Father," _i.e._, does
not originate or proceed from Him, but has its source in the world
itself. We might reverse this proposition and say: