“인생, 구속의 은총을 만날 때 비로소 알게 된다!”
챔버스가 소천하기 2주전까지 혼신을 다해 설파한 전도서!
「전도서 강해」는 챔버스가 1917년 10월, 1차 세계대전 당시 자신이 군목으로 섬기던 이집트의 자이툰 막사에 모인 장병들에게 전한 메시지이다. 챔버스는 군목으로 자원해서 섬기며 수많은 장병들에게 복음을 전하다가 1917년 11월 급작스레 하나님의 부르심을 받았다. 이 「전도서 강해」는 그가 소천하기 2주전까지 전쟁의 현장에서 죽음의 두려움에 사로잡혀 있는 장병들에게 전한 마지막 설교이자 챔버스가 이 땅에 남긴 마지막 메시지인 셈이다. 이 책은 챔버스 영성의 완결판이라고 해도 지나치지 않을 것이다.
죽음을 앞둔 챔버스가 전도서를 통해 보는 인생은 무엇인가? 죽음을 앞둔 그에게 전도서는 어떤 의미로 다가왔을까? 챔버스는 이 책「전도서 강해」에서 인생은 구속을 떠나서는 살 가치가 없다고 결론 내린다. 그래서 구속의 은총을 누리는 그리스도인에게 인생은 결코 허무하지 않다는 것이다. 챔버스에 따르면 오히려 전도서는 ‘구속함’을 받은 사람이 어떻게 하나님을 영화롭게 할 수 있는지를 보여주는 의미 있는 책이다. 즉 인생은 십자가의 구속을 떠나서는 설명할 수 없다는 것이 그의 결론이다. 물론 십자가의 구속밖에 있는 인생은 허무함이 그 본질이다.
Oswald Chambers (1874 - 1917)
Oswald Chambers was not famous during his lifetime. At the time of his death in 1917 at the age of forty-three, only three books bearing his name had been published. Among a relatively small circle of Christians in Britain and the U.S., Chambers was much appreciated as a teacher of rare insight and expression, but he was not widely known.While there are more than 30 books that bear his name, he only penned one book, Baffled to Fight Better. His wife, Biddy, was a stenographer and could take dictation at a rate of 150 words per minute. During his time teaching at the Bible College and at various sites in Egypt, Biddy kept verbatim records of his lessons. She spent the remaining 30 years of her life compiling her records into the bulk of his published works. His daily devotional: "Utmost For His Highest" has sold millions of copies and is well known in modern evangelicalism today.
Oswald Chambers was born July 24, 1874, in Aberdeen, Scotland. Converted in his teen years under the ministry of Charles Haddon Spurgeon, he studied art and archaeology at the University of Edinburgh before answering a call from God to the Christian ministry. He then studied theology at Dunoon College. From 1906-1910 he conducted an itinerant Bible-teaching ministry in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan.
In 1910, Chambers married Gertrude Hobbs. They had one daughter, Kathleen.
In 1911 he founded and became principal of the Bible Training College in Clapham, London, where he lectured until the school was closed in 1915 because of World War I. In October 1915 he sailed for Zeitoun, Egypt (near Cairo), where he ministered to troops from Australia and New Zealand as a YMCA chaplain. He died there November 15, 1917, following surgery for a ruptured appendix.
Although Oswald Chambers wrote only one book, Baffled to Fight Better, more than thirty titles bear his name. With this one exception, published works were compiled by Mrs. Chambers, a court stenographer, from her verbatim shorthand notes of his messages taken during their seven years of marriage. For half a century following her husband's death she labored to give his words to the world.
My Utmost For His Highest, his best-known book, has been continuously in print in the United States since 1935 and remains in the top ten titles of the religious book bestseller list with millions of copies in print. It has become a Christian classic.
Oswald Chambers was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, on July 24th, 1874, to Clarence and Hannah Chambers, the seventh of seven children. Years earlier, Hannah converted to Christ under the dynamic preaching of Charles Haddon Spurgeon. Both she and Clarence were baptized by Spurgeon; and Clarence was one of the first students to enroll at Spurgeon’s Pastor’s College at the Metropolitan Tabernacle.
After accompanying his father to hear C.H. Spurgeon preach, Oswald surrendered his life to Christ, and was duly baptized by Rev. Briscoe. At Rye Lane Baptist, he faithfully attended Bible classes and prayer meetings. Anxious to apply his newly-acquired knowledge, he engaged in street evangelism and preached at missions.
In 1895 he received an Art’s Master’s Certificate. Thereafter he pursued his education at the University of Edinburgh, where he excelled in rigorous classwork as well as successfully maintaining a balanced devotional life. Attending a gathering of the Christian Union, he heard Hudson Taylor, founder of China Inland Mission, preach winningly on the faithfulness of God, nudging Chambers yet further toward ministry. After much prayer, he surrendered to missionary service.
On October 29th, 1917, Chambers, suffering severe pains in his abdomen, was rushed to a Red Cross hospital in Cairo where an emergency appendectomy was performed. Recovering somewhat, he relapsed from a blood clot, and died on November 15th, 1917.
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