1916
LESSON TEXT — Acts 22.
GOLDEN TEXT — He is my refuge and my fortress. — Ps. 91:2.
Paul was rescued from the mob by the prompt action of Lysias, and was saved from scourging by revealing his Roman citizenship (21:27-22:29). Every true life, real social service, patriotism and national righteousness rest upon the value of conversion to Christ. The fundamental message of the Christian church must always be regeneration. With this message Billy Sunday is gripping the large cities, and Dr. John R. Mott is reaching the student life of the world.
I. Paul's Account of His Early Life (v. 1-5).
By his use of the Greek tongue he obtained permission to deliver this address, and by his wise use of the Jewish language he gained the attention of the excited crowd. Paul asserted his Jewish origin (Acts 21:39). Tarsus, where he was born, had a university which rivaled those of Athens and Alexandria, and Paul had probably heard its great philosophers. Paul was an educated man; he was brought up in Jerusalem from his early boyhood at the feet of Gamaliel its greatest teacher. Thus his religious training was according to the law of the fathers, and as "touching the righteousness which is of the law," he was blameless (Phil. 3:6). He was zealous for God, doing what he thought he would have him do even, when "persecuted this way," the way of forgiveness, salvation and righteousness. Jesus said, "I am the way." Paul was at this time an instrument in the hands of the rulers, carrying out their plans, but he exceeded them in his zeal for "the traditions of our fathers (Gal. 1:14). He was not at all like these Pharisees whom Christ condemned as "white sepulchers." He was not what we would term today, "a bad man."
II. Paul's Turning Point (vv. 6-21).
Paul seems to pick out three different crises in this rehearsal. (1) His interview with Christ, when he saw Jesus as he really was in his glory, a living risen Savior (1 Cor. 9:1; 15.8). He had positive proof of the resurrection from the dead. This proof convicted him of sin. He had heard Jesus call. He had asked Jesus what he would have him to do. He was ready to obey, and something was given him to do. The light which he met on that journey arrested him in his mad course. The voice gave him his directions. In obedience to the command, "Arise and go," he gained knowledge and skill. (2) He lights upon his interview with Ananias (v. 14) where he received personal help from an experienced Christian. In the darkness and conflict of those three days of loneliness the questions must have been: Could he leave rank, honor, friends? Could he enter the service of the despised one and suffer reproach, danger and death? During this conflict he must have had before him the vision of what God would have him do, and the work for which he chose him (vv. 16-18). His vision and commission constituted a strong motive for right decision. During the vision he came into the light, and confessed his faith by his baptism. As a result of those three days and his interview with Ananias he came to know God's will more fully. The next step was of course (3) his public avowal (See Acts 2:38; Heb. 10:22; Rom. 10:13; 1 Cor. 6:11). The purpose of Paul's whole life and mission was changed.
III. Paul's Dangerous Position (vv. 20-30).
The mob gave him audience until his words about the Gentiles. His declaration that God had commanded him to go upon a mission to the Gentiles was an offense to the Jews, and his words fell like a "spark upon an inflammable mass of fanaticism." They broke out into a frenzy of excitement, and made preparations to stone him. An Oriental mob is hideous beyond degree, howling, yelling, cursing, gnashing their teeth, flinging their arms, casting off their garments (v. 23), throwing dust into the air to relieve their excitement and to express their execration. It was a manifestation of their uncontrollable rage. The opposition of a mob is no proof that the person it curses is wrong.
Immediately preparations stopped. The commander was called, and, learning that Paul was a free-born Roman citizen, he had cause to be afraid that he had gone too far.
To assert Roman citizenship falsely was punishable with death.
The chief captain told Paul that with a great sum he had obtained his Roman citizenship, but Paul's reply was, "But I am Roman born."
Paul was well cared for after this, and, in order to find out why the Jews were so opposed to him, the captain summoned the Sanhedrin to meet the following day, thus unconsciously giving Paul another opportunity to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Paul indeed was ready to be bound, and also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.
He knew how his Lord had been bound (John 18:12), and he rejoiced in the fellowship of his sufferings (Phil. 3:10) yet he claims his right as a citizen for there is no need of morbidly seeking unnecessary disgrace or pain.
Showing posts with label Bible-study. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bible-study. Show all posts
Friday, April 25, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Lesson for October 1
1916
Plot that Failed.
LESSON TEXT — Acts 23.
GOLDEN TEXT — They shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith Jehovah, to deliver thee. — Jer. 1:19.
The stirring events of this lesson occurred in the Castle Antonia and the Sanhedrin hall, near the temple court of Jerusalem; also in Caesarea, the Roman capital of Judea, on the Mediterranean coast, in the year A. D. 57, just at the close of Paul's third missionary journey. The lesson pictures two successive days of strange adventures in which Paul was concerned, a narrow escape and the unexpected providences used in his deliverance. The day was inaugurated by Paul's magic words "I am a Roman citizen," which caused the commander, Lysias, to release him from the threatened scourging, and made him more than ordinarily careful in his treatment of Paul.
I. Before the Elders (vv. 1-12). By referring back to chapter 21, v. 13, we find the charge which really underlay all of Paul's trouble, his preaching, in the name of the Lord Jesus. Paul's defense is interesting. He gives us a rehearsal of his Christian life, laying emphasis upon its blamelessness and the fact that he is not an apostate Jew. The high priest speaks to silence him, but not gently. Although Paul for a moment seems to give way to his justifiable indignation, he quickly reveals his reverence for the rulers of the people. He then divides the Sanhedrin. Read carefully chapter 22:6-7, and compare with verses 17 and 18. The Sanhedrin could not explain this testimony of Paul, and were seeking to put aside the whole question. An interesting discussion would be to consider the insult to Paul. Was his indignation right and rightly expressed? Another question, the matter of Paul's apology. Just for what did he apologize? Is it ever wrong to speak evil of rulers? These were indeed days of stress and storm. Was Paul justified in dividing the Sanhedrin in order to conquer their opposition to him? Again, how God used these incidents in the furtherance of the gospel is a suggestive lesson for us all. It has been hinted that Ananias was not in his priestly garments, and therefore perhaps not readily recognized by Paul. Paul may never have seen him, as he was elected high priest after Paul had left the council. It is interesting to note that it is not said that anyone struck Paul or that Paul did not apologize for his words or deny them to be true, but only for their being spoken to the high priest. Read in this connection what Christ said to the Pharisees (Matt. 23:27). Paul apologized because he had broken the law found in Exodus 22:28. In the trial of Christ one of the officers struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, whereupon Jesus answered him, saying: "If I have spoken evil,. bear witness of the evil, but if well, why smitest thou me?" On the other hand, when Jesus was ill-treated by the common soldiers, he opened not his mouth.
II. The Plot and Deliverance (vv. 12-35). Paul's prospect was not a pleasant one. In his darkness God appeared to his faithful servant to cheer him (v. 11). Perhaps Paul was tempted to think he had made a mistake in coming to Jerusalem over the protests of his friends, but evidently the Lord heartily approved of his testimony there. A dangerous conspiracy was forming against him, but God was, as he always is, beforehand with his comfort and preparation for the crisis. We have often speculated as to what became of the forty men who entered into it (see v. 12) — whether they actually lived up to their oath. If they did, they must have died of starvation. They were determined men, willing to go any length, and fancied they were doing the will of God. There is no more dangerous man than he who fancies that he must be the judge as to who are God's friends and who are his foes, and that he is the appointed executioner of God's judgment. The plot was well laid, and seemed certain of success, but it failed miserably. (See Psalm 2:1-4; 64:1-10; Isaiah 41:10). The wicked, who leave God out of their plans, no matter how cunningly they plot, are doomed to failure (Rom. 8:31). These plotters co-operated with the priest. Ecclesiastics have often descended to the lowest villainy. Men are not murdered today, though their reputations are often blasted by unprincipled and hellishly impelled professed followers of the lowly Nazarene. Paul had friends in this city. His nephew's discovery and revelation, and the Gentile soldier, a colonel, effected his deliverance. In the boy's heart there must have been great admiration for the uncle. It would be well for teachers of boys to have them repeat in their own language this boy's story. Paul was not safe in Jerusalem. The Roman governor recognized the nature of the conspiracy, and the desperate character of the Jewish fanatics. and therefore sent him under a strong guard to Caesarea, which was reached after a journey on horseback, lasting through the night and the following day.
Plot that Failed.
LESSON TEXT — Acts 23.
GOLDEN TEXT — They shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith Jehovah, to deliver thee. — Jer. 1:19.
The stirring events of this lesson occurred in the Castle Antonia and the Sanhedrin hall, near the temple court of Jerusalem; also in Caesarea, the Roman capital of Judea, on the Mediterranean coast, in the year A. D. 57, just at the close of Paul's third missionary journey. The lesson pictures two successive days of strange adventures in which Paul was concerned, a narrow escape and the unexpected providences used in his deliverance. The day was inaugurated by Paul's magic words "I am a Roman citizen," which caused the commander, Lysias, to release him from the threatened scourging, and made him more than ordinarily careful in his treatment of Paul.
I. Before the Elders (vv. 1-12). By referring back to chapter 21, v. 13, we find the charge which really underlay all of Paul's trouble, his preaching, in the name of the Lord Jesus. Paul's defense is interesting. He gives us a rehearsal of his Christian life, laying emphasis upon its blamelessness and the fact that he is not an apostate Jew. The high priest speaks to silence him, but not gently. Although Paul for a moment seems to give way to his justifiable indignation, he quickly reveals his reverence for the rulers of the people. He then divides the Sanhedrin. Read carefully chapter 22:6-7, and compare with verses 17 and 18. The Sanhedrin could not explain this testimony of Paul, and were seeking to put aside the whole question. An interesting discussion would be to consider the insult to Paul. Was his indignation right and rightly expressed? Another question, the matter of Paul's apology. Just for what did he apologize? Is it ever wrong to speak evil of rulers? These were indeed days of stress and storm. Was Paul justified in dividing the Sanhedrin in order to conquer their opposition to him? Again, how God used these incidents in the furtherance of the gospel is a suggestive lesson for us all. It has been hinted that Ananias was not in his priestly garments, and therefore perhaps not readily recognized by Paul. Paul may never have seen him, as he was elected high priest after Paul had left the council. It is interesting to note that it is not said that anyone struck Paul or that Paul did not apologize for his words or deny them to be true, but only for their being spoken to the high priest. Read in this connection what Christ said to the Pharisees (Matt. 23:27). Paul apologized because he had broken the law found in Exodus 22:28. In the trial of Christ one of the officers struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, whereupon Jesus answered him, saying: "If I have spoken evil,. bear witness of the evil, but if well, why smitest thou me?" On the other hand, when Jesus was ill-treated by the common soldiers, he opened not his mouth.
II. The Plot and Deliverance (vv. 12-35). Paul's prospect was not a pleasant one. In his darkness God appeared to his faithful servant to cheer him (v. 11). Perhaps Paul was tempted to think he had made a mistake in coming to Jerusalem over the protests of his friends, but evidently the Lord heartily approved of his testimony there. A dangerous conspiracy was forming against him, but God was, as he always is, beforehand with his comfort and preparation for the crisis. We have often speculated as to what became of the forty men who entered into it (see v. 12) — whether they actually lived up to their oath. If they did, they must have died of starvation. They were determined men, willing to go any length, and fancied they were doing the will of God. There is no more dangerous man than he who fancies that he must be the judge as to who are God's friends and who are his foes, and that he is the appointed executioner of God's judgment. The plot was well laid, and seemed certain of success, but it failed miserably. (See Psalm 2:1-4; 64:1-10; Isaiah 41:10). The wicked, who leave God out of their plans, no matter how cunningly they plot, are doomed to failure (Rom. 8:31). These plotters co-operated with the priest. Ecclesiastics have often descended to the lowest villainy. Men are not murdered today, though their reputations are often blasted by unprincipled and hellishly impelled professed followers of the lowly Nazarene. Paul had friends in this city. His nephew's discovery and revelation, and the Gentile soldier, a colonel, effected his deliverance. In the boy's heart there must have been great admiration for the uncle. It would be well for teachers of boys to have them repeat in their own language this boy's story. Paul was not safe in Jerusalem. The Roman governor recognized the nature of the conspiracy, and the desperate character of the Jewish fanatics. and therefore sent him under a strong guard to Caesarea, which was reached after a journey on horseback, lasting through the night and the following day.
Three Pictures From God's Album
1916
By Rev. B. B. Sutchiffe.
TEXT — Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent towards Sodom. But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly. — Gen. 13:12, 13.
Someone has said that the Old Testament is God's picture gallery where he has given us in picture form the doctrines and truths he develops in the New Testament. Our text has three of these pictures, in which three classes of persons are described — Abram, Lot and the men of Sodom.
Living for Self.
Taking these in reverse order, we can see how the men of Sodom illustrate a large number of people today. They are those whose underlying principle might be termed living for self alone. They do not care for real religion, but are occupied entirely with the things of time and sense. What they will eat today or what they will wear tomorrow is to them vastly more important than how they will stand before God in the future. Their effort is concerned with this life alone, and they live and work and play as though there were no such thing as eternity and no such person as God. They come to the end like the man who told himself he could retire from business because he had much goods laid up for many years and he could now afford to enjoy the fruits of his toil and eat, drink and be merry. But he had laid up all his goods on the earth; they were not taken from him, but he was taken from them, and it is no wonder the Lord says he was a fool. The class under consideration are not necessarily bad people, for usually they are tolerant of religion, as the people of Sodom did not mind having Lot in their midst. But the religion that Lot had was not very insistent. When it would threaten to interfere with business or with pleasure it must not be heard. It was time then to laugh it out of court as a sort of fable, and when it became personal Lot was to [*]
Living for Self and God.
The second picture is that of Lot, in whom the half-and-half Christian is easily seen. This man illustrates those who seem to have, as the underlying principle of life, the idea of living for self and for God too. They attempt to serve two masters, and, failing to serve either, come to the end with nothing to show for their labor. They trust their own vision and live by sight and not by faith. Lot looked on the well-watered plain and, as far as he could see, it was the very thing he ought to have, the very thing that was best for him. But, as God saw, it was the very thing he ought not to have, the thing that was worst for him. He hazarded everything he had or hoped to have — himself, his family, his property — on what he could see with his own eyes, when he might have chosen what God could see. He trusted himself rather than God and the results were inevitable. He lost what God would have given him and he lost the enjoyment the men of Sodom had; for all the time he was there his righteous soul was vexed. He was neither out and out for self nor out and out for God. He had tried to live for God and self, he had tried to serve two masters and to get both the wealth of Sodom and the wealth of God. But he ended with awful disaster, losing his property, his testimony, his family — all that he had.
Living for God.
The last picture is that in which the "out-and-out" Christian is seen in Abram. The underlying principle of his life seems to be that he had made up his mind to serve God alone. He was far from being a perfect man. He made many mistakes and even committed some sins. But underneath he was living for God. He had learned "thou shalt have no other God before me" and his life was governed by this principle. He recognized that he could serve only one master with any hope of success and he chose to have the Lord as that one Master. What he was and had and hoped to be belonged to that Master to do with as the Master desired. Where he was to be and go depended on that Master's direction. He would not lean to his own understanding nor judge by the sight of his eyes nor walk by his own wisdom. He would gladly take the seeming second best from God, believing that whatever appearances might say, they could not tell the whole truth.
The men of Sodom lived for self alone and lost themselves and all they had; Lot lived for self and God and lost all he had of peace or power or property; Abram lived for God alone and, while he was not a perfect man, there was given to him the peace of God and power for God and possessions from God. "Choose ye this day whom ye will serve."
Note: [*] Unfortuately, missing at least one line of type here. The sense seems to be "when it became personal Lot was to" a) be ignored; or, b) keep his religion to himself.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Commendation of the Unrighteous Steward (Luke 16:1-14)
1900
Hard Problems of Scripture
Apparent Inaccuracies and Inconsistencies Exploited and Explained
Written for The Ram's Horn by R. A. Torrey, Superintendent, Moody Bible Institute
One of the most puzzling passages in the Bible to many is the story of the Unrighteous Steward, in Luke 16, 1-14. A lady told me yesterday that she had about made up her mind not to teach that lesson. She said: "The three points of difficulty are: First, that Jesus should hold this dishonest scoundrel up for our imitation; second, that the Lord should commend the unrighteous steward; and, third, that Jesus should command His disciples to make themselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness." Let us take these three points up in order and look right at them. We will soon see that in each point, if we adhere strictly to what Jesus said all difficulty will disappear and the incident, instead of staggering us, will be found to be profoundly instructive.
Why did Jesus hold this dishonest scoundrel up for the imitation of his disciples? He did not hold him up for imitation. He held him up in the first place as a warning of what would overtake unfaithful stewards, how they would be called to give account of their stewardship and their stewardships be taken from them. Having taught this solemn lesson, one much needed today, Jesus goes on to show how the "sons of this world are for their generation wiser than the sons of light." (R. V.) They are wiser on this point. They use their utmost ingenuity and put forth their utmost effort to make present opportunities count for the hour of future need.
"The Sons of Light" oftentimes do not do that. Indeed, how many present day "sons of light," who profess to believe that eternity is all and time is nothing in comparison, are using their utmost ingenuity and putting forth their utmost efforts to make the opportunity of the present life count for the needs of the great eternity?
Jesus does not point to the steward's dishonesty to stir our emulation. That Jesus plainly rebukes. But Jesus points to his good sense in using the opportunity of the present to provide for the necessity of the future. And, even then, He carefully guards His statement by saying that he "is wiser for his generation." He knows only the life that now is and from that narrow and imperfect standpoint he is wiser than is "the son of light" from his broad and true standpoint of knowing eternity, an eternity for which he is not wise enough to wholly live.
There are other utterances of our Savior where wicked or selfish men are held up by way of contrast to show how much more godly men, or even God Himself may be expected to act in the way suggested. (See e. g. Luke 18. 6, 7: 11. 5-8: Matt. 12, 11, 12.) The first difficulty then in the passage has disappeared. We will pass on to the second.
Why did the Lord commend the unrighteous steward? The Lord Jesus did not commend him. If any one will look up the revised version of verse 8, where it is said, "the lord commended the unjust steward" he will find it reads "his lord (i.e. the steward's lord) commended the unrighteous steward." And he only commended his shrewdness. Jesus, so far from commending him, flatly calls him the "unrighteous steward" and, furthermore, just below warns against unfaithfulness in stewardship (vs. 10, 11.) So the second difficulty has entirely disappeared.
But why does Jesus command His disciples to make to themselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness? This difficulty disappears when we get a correct Biblical definition of the terms used. First of all, what does "mammon of unrighteousness" mean? It means nothing more nor less than "money." Money is called "mammon of unrighteousness" because money is such a constant minister to sin and selfishness (as for example in the case of the scoundrel above mentioned) and because "the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil" (1 Ti. 6. 9, 10, 11, R. V.)
Jesus in passing would lift a warning note against the perils of money. He often packed a whole sermon into a single phrase. What does "of" mean? Exactly what the revised version translates it, "by means of." Then what Jesus bade His disciples do was to make themselves friends by means of money, i.e. to so use the money God entrusted to them that they would make friends for themselves by their use of it, and (as the context shows) to make these friends among God's poor and needy ones who would go to "the eternal habitations" and be ready to give us, their benefactors, a royal welcome when our life has ended and so our money failed.
In other words, Jesus simply puts into a new and striking form His oft repeated teaching, not to keep our money, but to spend it in doing good, and so invest it in heavenly and abiding securities (cf. Matt. 19. 21; 25, 35-40; I Tim. 6, 17-19; Prov. 19, 17.)
That this teaching of Jesus was clearly understood by His hearers is evidenced by verse 14, where it is said, "the Pharisees who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they scoffed at Him" (R. V.) So the third and last difficulty has disappeared and this passage stands out in glorious light, teaching with great force a lesson that our day greatly needs to learn, that money is a stewardship and that he who seeks to enjoy it in the brief present and not rather to expend it so that it will bring us interest for all eternity, is a great fool and even the petty shrewdness of the sons of this world rebukes him.
—The Ram's Horn, Nov. 17, 1900, p. 8.
Hard Problems of Scripture
Apparent Inaccuracies and Inconsistencies Exploited and Explained
Written for The Ram's Horn by R. A. Torrey, Superintendent, Moody Bible Institute
One of the most puzzling passages in the Bible to many is the story of the Unrighteous Steward, in Luke 16, 1-14. A lady told me yesterday that she had about made up her mind not to teach that lesson. She said: "The three points of difficulty are: First, that Jesus should hold this dishonest scoundrel up for our imitation; second, that the Lord should commend the unrighteous steward; and, third, that Jesus should command His disciples to make themselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness." Let us take these three points up in order and look right at them. We will soon see that in each point, if we adhere strictly to what Jesus said all difficulty will disappear and the incident, instead of staggering us, will be found to be profoundly instructive.
Why did Jesus hold this dishonest scoundrel up for the imitation of his disciples? He did not hold him up for imitation. He held him up in the first place as a warning of what would overtake unfaithful stewards, how they would be called to give account of their stewardship and their stewardships be taken from them. Having taught this solemn lesson, one much needed today, Jesus goes on to show how the "sons of this world are for their generation wiser than the sons of light." (R. V.) They are wiser on this point. They use their utmost ingenuity and put forth their utmost effort to make present opportunities count for the hour of future need.
"The Sons of Light" oftentimes do not do that. Indeed, how many present day "sons of light," who profess to believe that eternity is all and time is nothing in comparison, are using their utmost ingenuity and putting forth their utmost efforts to make the opportunity of the present life count for the needs of the great eternity?
Jesus does not point to the steward's dishonesty to stir our emulation. That Jesus plainly rebukes. But Jesus points to his good sense in using the opportunity of the present to provide for the necessity of the future. And, even then, He carefully guards His statement by saying that he "is wiser for his generation." He knows only the life that now is and from that narrow and imperfect standpoint he is wiser than is "the son of light" from his broad and true standpoint of knowing eternity, an eternity for which he is not wise enough to wholly live.
There are other utterances of our Savior where wicked or selfish men are held up by way of contrast to show how much more godly men, or even God Himself may be expected to act in the way suggested. (See e. g. Luke 18. 6, 7: 11. 5-8: Matt. 12, 11, 12.) The first difficulty then in the passage has disappeared. We will pass on to the second.
Why did the Lord commend the unrighteous steward? The Lord Jesus did not commend him. If any one will look up the revised version of verse 8, where it is said, "the lord commended the unjust steward" he will find it reads "his lord (i.e. the steward's lord) commended the unrighteous steward." And he only commended his shrewdness. Jesus, so far from commending him, flatly calls him the "unrighteous steward" and, furthermore, just below warns against unfaithfulness in stewardship (vs. 10, 11.) So the second difficulty has entirely disappeared.
But why does Jesus command His disciples to make to themselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness? This difficulty disappears when we get a correct Biblical definition of the terms used. First of all, what does "mammon of unrighteousness" mean? It means nothing more nor less than "money." Money is called "mammon of unrighteousness" because money is such a constant minister to sin and selfishness (as for example in the case of the scoundrel above mentioned) and because "the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil" (1 Ti. 6. 9, 10, 11, R. V.)
Jesus in passing would lift a warning note against the perils of money. He often packed a whole sermon into a single phrase. What does "of" mean? Exactly what the revised version translates it, "by means of." Then what Jesus bade His disciples do was to make themselves friends by means of money, i.e. to so use the money God entrusted to them that they would make friends for themselves by their use of it, and (as the context shows) to make these friends among God's poor and needy ones who would go to "the eternal habitations" and be ready to give us, their benefactors, a royal welcome when our life has ended and so our money failed.
In other words, Jesus simply puts into a new and striking form His oft repeated teaching, not to keep our money, but to spend it in doing good, and so invest it in heavenly and abiding securities (cf. Matt. 19. 21; 25, 35-40; I Tim. 6, 17-19; Prov. 19, 17.)
That this teaching of Jesus was clearly understood by His hearers is evidenced by verse 14, where it is said, "the Pharisees who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they scoffed at Him" (R. V.) So the third and last difficulty has disappeared and this passage stands out in glorious light, teaching with great force a lesson that our day greatly needs to learn, that money is a stewardship and that he who seeks to enjoy it in the brief present and not rather to expend it so that it will bring us interest for all eternity, is a great fool and even the petty shrewdness of the sons of this world rebukes him.
—The Ram's Horn, Nov. 17, 1900, p. 8.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
The Wicked Husbandmen (Mark 12:1-12)
1895
Sunday School Lesson
Golden Text — They will reverence my son. — Mark 12:6.
God has intrusted to each of us a blessed and fruitful vineyard, which we are to culture for Him. He has planted His new life in us. He has given us our life, our soul. He gives us each a portion of all those things He has committed to the church as a whole. He makes us fruitful by His Word and His Spirit. He gives us every means of grace by which to cultivate the vineyard. He gives us defenses. He is our watch-tower. He gives grace for every time of need. He furnishes the armor against temptation. The body is a vineyard that is intrusted to our care, to be well treated as an instrument for doing God's work. A good workman always takes good care of his tools. The mind is still more wonderful, and should be educated, trained, kept pure and bright, that it may bring forth fruit for the Master. The soil, the very self — the citadel, the dwelling place of the moral nature, the fountain of character — is a vineyard that should be kept with all diligence, "for out of it are the issues of life."
The fruits are gratitude, love, obedience, worship, consecration of time, talents and property toward God; and all the fruits of the Spirit toward men; intelligence, generosity, character, growth. Note that, as the cultivator of the vineyard was to enjoy the fruits it bore, and the more fruitful it was, the more industriously he cultivated it for the owner, the more abundant and delightful was his own reward; so it is with those to whom God has intrusted His spiritual vineyard; every fruit God requires is best for themselves.
Sending for the Fruits. — Every special call to love and serve God, every service at the church, every opportunity to do good, every providence of God, every season of revival, the voice of the Holy Spirit, the Sabbath, the Bible, conscience — all are servants whom God sends to us for the fruits that are due Him.
The Fruits Refused. — The behavior of these husbandmen is only a picture of the way impenitent men still treat God's messengers of mercy — the Holy Spirit, the Bible, the influences of religion. What greater meanness in the universe than our rejection of God's messengers while we are actually enjoying the vineyard He gave us?
The unspeakable love of God to us is shown in the sending of His Son (John 3:16). He is the wisdom and power of God for salvation. God has done all that infinite love can do to save us. He comes often to our souls with special influences to lead us to accept Him. Everyone at some time comes to the valley of decision.
If we reject Christ for this world we are lost for this world. Those who reject Christ from their lives and plans, in order that they may keep possession of themselves, their pleasures and hopes, have taken the shortest and surest way to lose them. The righteous shall inherit the earth. If we refuse the source of righteousness we reject our earthly inheritance. How much more is this true of the future! Those who reject Christ cannot be saved. They refuse eternal life; they reject the very principles which make Heaven what it is. They repel the strongest influence that can lead them to a holy life. They throw away their last hope.
Though mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small;
Though with patience He stands waiting, with exactness grinds He all.
Sunday School Lesson
Golden Text — They will reverence my son. — Mark 12:6.
God has intrusted to each of us a blessed and fruitful vineyard, which we are to culture for Him. He has planted His new life in us. He has given us our life, our soul. He gives us each a portion of all those things He has committed to the church as a whole. He makes us fruitful by His Word and His Spirit. He gives us every means of grace by which to cultivate the vineyard. He gives us defenses. He is our watch-tower. He gives grace for every time of need. He furnishes the armor against temptation. The body is a vineyard that is intrusted to our care, to be well treated as an instrument for doing God's work. A good workman always takes good care of his tools. The mind is still more wonderful, and should be educated, trained, kept pure and bright, that it may bring forth fruit for the Master. The soil, the very self — the citadel, the dwelling place of the moral nature, the fountain of character — is a vineyard that should be kept with all diligence, "for out of it are the issues of life."
The fruits are gratitude, love, obedience, worship, consecration of time, talents and property toward God; and all the fruits of the Spirit toward men; intelligence, generosity, character, growth. Note that, as the cultivator of the vineyard was to enjoy the fruits it bore, and the more fruitful it was, the more industriously he cultivated it for the owner, the more abundant and delightful was his own reward; so it is with those to whom God has intrusted His spiritual vineyard; every fruit God requires is best for themselves.
Sending for the Fruits. — Every special call to love and serve God, every service at the church, every opportunity to do good, every providence of God, every season of revival, the voice of the Holy Spirit, the Sabbath, the Bible, conscience — all are servants whom God sends to us for the fruits that are due Him.
The Fruits Refused. — The behavior of these husbandmen is only a picture of the way impenitent men still treat God's messengers of mercy — the Holy Spirit, the Bible, the influences of religion. What greater meanness in the universe than our rejection of God's messengers while we are actually enjoying the vineyard He gave us?
The unspeakable love of God to us is shown in the sending of His Son (John 3:16). He is the wisdom and power of God for salvation. God has done all that infinite love can do to save us. He comes often to our souls with special influences to lead us to accept Him. Everyone at some time comes to the valley of decision.
If we reject Christ for this world we are lost for this world. Those who reject Christ from their lives and plans, in order that they may keep possession of themselves, their pleasures and hopes, have taken the shortest and surest way to lose them. The righteous shall inherit the earth. If we refuse the source of righteousness we reject our earthly inheritance. How much more is this true of the future! Those who reject Christ cannot be saved. They refuse eternal life; they reject the very principles which make Heaven what it is. They repel the strongest influence that can lead them to a holy life. They throw away their last hope.
Though mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small;
Though with patience He stands waiting, with exactness grinds He all.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Sunday School Lesson — Jeremiah 36
1905
I. The Beginning of Judah's Downfall. — To understand Jeremiah's prophecies one must know something of the history of the times in which they were written, and which they vividly reflect. About the twelfth year of Josiah's reign wild tribes of Scythians, from the plains of southern Russia, "streamed through the passes of the Caucasus in countless hordes, ruthlessly destroying cities, fields, men, women and children." — Kent. Zephaniah and Jeremiah were just beginning to prophesy. Said the latter: "Out of the north evil shall break forth upon the land (Jer. 1:14). However, after greatly terrifying the people, "the storm-cloud of Scythian invasion, like other storms, followed the line of the sea, leaving Jerusalem unscathed, and was dissipated on the borders of Egypt." — Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible.
From Egypt itself came the next peril. Pharaoh Necho marched up through Palestine to attack Assyria (B.C. 608). Foolishly and needlessly espousing the Assyrian cause, Josiah met him at Megiddo on the plain of Esdraelon, was defeated and killed. Prof. Kent calls this disaster "unquestionably the most tragic event in Hebrew history." It brought to an end the reformation which Josiah had inaugurated; for though the reform party at once placed upon the throne Josiah's third son, Jehoahaz, evidently because he resembled his father, as soon as the victorious Necho returned from the Euphrates he reversed the arrangement, carried Jehoahaz in chains to Egypt, after a reign of only three months, and left on the throne his elder brother, Eliakim, rightly judging him to be of a character more suited to his purpose. In token of vassalage Eliakim changed his name (in form, but not in significance) to Jehoiakim, "Jehovah raiseth up." He proved to be a tyrant, of whom Jeremiah speaks always in condemnation. His magnificent palace (Jer. 22:13-15) built by forced labor, his murder of the prophet Uriah (Jer. 26:20), and his persecution of Jeremiah, show his character.
The third peril was Babylon. "In 607 Nineveh fell, and Babylon became heir of all the countries washed by the Mediterranean, the realm which had just been added by Necho to his dominions. A conflict between the rivals could not long be deferred. In 605-4 the two armies met near Carchemish, where Nebuchadnezzar inflicted a decisive defeat on Necho, and Judah exchanged the yoke of Egypt for that of Babylon." — Hastings' Bible Dictionary. Jehoiakim was thrown into chains, to be carried back captive to Babylon, but this intention does not seem to have been fulfilled (2 Chron. 36:6). Some captives, however, were taken to Babylon, among them Daniel and his three friends (Dan. 1:6). This was the small beginning of the Great Captivity.
II. Jeremiah the Prophet of Warning. — In these troublous times, the saddest of Hebrew history, arose a great prophet through whom Jehovah uttered his final call to repentance. "Jeremiah was little esteemed in his life, but from being of no account as a prophet he came to be considered the greatest of them all." — Prof. A. B. Davidson.
His name means "whom Jehovah casts" or "appoints." His father, Hilkiah (Jer. 1:1) "was not the high priest of that name, so famous in connection with the reformation of King Josiah." — Expositor's Bible. His father, however, was a priest. His birthplace, where he probably resided during at least a part of his life, was Anathoth in the tribe of Benjamin, now 'Anata, between two and three miles north-northeast of Jerusalem.
His call to prophesy came when he was a young man (Jer. 1:6), in the thirteenth year of Josiah. (Jer. 1:2), B.C. 626. He was then about twenty years old, and so may have been born about B.C. 646, being of the same age, approximately, as Josiah. He prophesied till B.C. 586, after the Captivity, more than forty years.
His Character. "The most exquisite sensibility of soul was Jeremiah's singular and sovereign distinction above all the other Hebrew prophets. He was far and away the most spiritually minded of all the prophets. He was the supreme prophet of the human heart, and would have nothing from his hearers and readers but their heart. Both by nature and by grace he was the most inclined to pity of all the prophets. Dante comes next to Jeremiah, and we know that Jeremiah was that great exile's favorite prophet." — Condensed from Whyte.
His Writings. — The Lamentations are not attributed to Jeremiah in the Hebrew Bible, but they are so attributed in the Greek translation, the Septuagint. Modern scholars are divided on the question of the authorship. "The balance of internal evidence may be said to preponderate against Jeremiah's authorship; but there is no question that the poems are the work of a contemporary (or contemporaries)." — Driver.
III. Jeremiah's Prophecies Written and Read. — Jer. 36:1-20. For twenty-three years Jeremiah had been trying, by oral teachings, to persuade the nation to repent and turn to God, but the people and their rulers had been deaf to his warnings. As a last resort, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim (B.C. 605), the Lord commanded the prophet to write down the substance of his exhortations, thus to focus them in one mighty blow upon the consciences of king and people. Moreover, for some reason Jeremiah was "shut up," "restrained" (V. 5) from public utterance, being probably forbidden by the authorities to preach; and thus he could reach his audience through the lips of another.
The chosen amanuensis was Baruch, the son of Neriah, a scribe. The occasion was a fast day, appointed probably for the first anniversary of the capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. To a throng gathered in the temple Baruch read the glowing words of Jeremiah, speaking from a balcony.
Among the listeners was Micaiah, grandson of Shaphan, Josiah's famous scribe. He went at once to tell his father, Gemariah, who was at the palace, taking part in a council that may have been discussing the dangers that still threatened the country from Babylon. The princes of the king's council sent at once for Baruch and listened to his reading of Jeremiah's prophecies, which made so deep an impression upon them that they decided to make known the whole matter to the king. First, however, they asked Baruch to hide himself and Jeremiah, lest the king be angry and slay them, as he had killed Urijah.
IV. Jeremiah's Prophecies Destroyed. — Vs. 21-26. It was a critical moment in the history of Judah, and of Jehoiakim. How many sorrows the nation would have been spared, had the king proved himself a Josiah or a Hezekiah!
21. "So the king sent Jehudi." One of his officers. "To fetch the roll." That Jehoiakim might learn its contents at first hand and not from hearsay. "Elishama." He was the king's secretary of state, and the roll had been left in his chamber that it might be safe from the king.
22. "The king sat in the winter-house. "In the ninth month." December, as the Hebrew sacred year began two weeks before the Passover, our Easter. "There was a fire on the hearth burning." Rather, in the firepan. They have no chimneys, and hearths are unknown in the East.
23. "When Jehudi had read three or four leaves." R.V. margin, "columns." "He." R.V., "the king." Jehoiakim seems to have snatched the roll angrily from Jehudi. "Cut it with the penknife." "Literally, scribe's knife." — Wood.
24. "Yet they were not afraid." "Unlike Josiah (2 Kings 22:11), and even Ahab (1 Kings 21:27)." — Pulpit Commentary. "Nor any of his servants."
25. "Nevertheless (R.V., "moreover") "Elnathan," etc. These were some of the princes. "Made intercession." "This word had by no means once that limited meaning of prayer for others which we now ascribe to it." — Cambridge Bible. "But he would not hear them."
26. -"The king commanded . . . to take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet; but the LORD hid them. Perhaps Jeremiah was hidden, by some of God's servants, as John of Gaunt did for Wyclif, and an elector of Saxony for Luther; perhaps the Lord sent him out of the country. To this time are most naturally to be referred Jeremiah's absence from Jerusalem, and the symbol of the linen girdle which he was commanded (Jer. 13) to take to the river Euphrates. He is not heard of for several years.
V. Jeremiah's Prophecies Rewritten and Fulfilled. — Vs. 27-32. "The first result of Jeremiah's enforced seclusion reminds us of Martin Luther's Bible work in the Wartburg. Jeremiah, too, betook himself to Bible work. The first prophetic roll had been destroyed; but, as in the case of Tyndale's New Testament, a new and improved edition issued, as it were, from the flames." — Cheyne.
The New Roll. — 28. "Take thee again another roll," etc. This new roll was a repetition of the first, with the addition (v. 32) of many other prophecies.
The Truth Could Not Be Destroyed. — Jehoiakim had burned only the parchment; he could not burn God's condemnation of him. 29. "The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land." Nebuchadnezzar had already come, and rendered the land tributary; but he had gone away again. The prophecy that had aroused Jehoiakim's wrath was that Nebuchadnezzar would return and destroy the land. This prediction Jeremiah solemnly repeated, and it was fulfilled not long afterward in the reign of Zedekiah.
30. "Jehoiakim . . . shall have none to sit upon the throne of David." His son Jehoiachin, eighteen years old, attempted to do it for three months, but the whole time the land was occupied by Nebuchadnezzar's army, and Jerusalem was in a state of siege (2 Kings 24:8-17). "His dead body shall be cast out." Compare the vivid words of Jer. 22:18, 19.
31. "And upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem." "They would not have been punished for the crime of the king, had not that act only too well typified their own demoralization. Compare Jer. 19:15; 35:17." — Speaker's Commentary.
I. The Beginning of Judah's Downfall. — To understand Jeremiah's prophecies one must know something of the history of the times in which they were written, and which they vividly reflect. About the twelfth year of Josiah's reign wild tribes of Scythians, from the plains of southern Russia, "streamed through the passes of the Caucasus in countless hordes, ruthlessly destroying cities, fields, men, women and children." — Kent. Zephaniah and Jeremiah were just beginning to prophesy. Said the latter: "Out of the north evil shall break forth upon the land (Jer. 1:14). However, after greatly terrifying the people, "the storm-cloud of Scythian invasion, like other storms, followed the line of the sea, leaving Jerusalem unscathed, and was dissipated on the borders of Egypt." — Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible.
From Egypt itself came the next peril. Pharaoh Necho marched up through Palestine to attack Assyria (B.C. 608). Foolishly and needlessly espousing the Assyrian cause, Josiah met him at Megiddo on the plain of Esdraelon, was defeated and killed. Prof. Kent calls this disaster "unquestionably the most tragic event in Hebrew history." It brought to an end the reformation which Josiah had inaugurated; for though the reform party at once placed upon the throne Josiah's third son, Jehoahaz, evidently because he resembled his father, as soon as the victorious Necho returned from the Euphrates he reversed the arrangement, carried Jehoahaz in chains to Egypt, after a reign of only three months, and left on the throne his elder brother, Eliakim, rightly judging him to be of a character more suited to his purpose. In token of vassalage Eliakim changed his name (in form, but not in significance) to Jehoiakim, "Jehovah raiseth up." He proved to be a tyrant, of whom Jeremiah speaks always in condemnation. His magnificent palace (Jer. 22:13-15) built by forced labor, his murder of the prophet Uriah (Jer. 26:20), and his persecution of Jeremiah, show his character.
The third peril was Babylon. "In 607 Nineveh fell, and Babylon became heir of all the countries washed by the Mediterranean, the realm which had just been added by Necho to his dominions. A conflict between the rivals could not long be deferred. In 605-4 the two armies met near Carchemish, where Nebuchadnezzar inflicted a decisive defeat on Necho, and Judah exchanged the yoke of Egypt for that of Babylon." — Hastings' Bible Dictionary. Jehoiakim was thrown into chains, to be carried back captive to Babylon, but this intention does not seem to have been fulfilled (2 Chron. 36:6). Some captives, however, were taken to Babylon, among them Daniel and his three friends (Dan. 1:6). This was the small beginning of the Great Captivity.
II. Jeremiah the Prophet of Warning. — In these troublous times, the saddest of Hebrew history, arose a great prophet through whom Jehovah uttered his final call to repentance. "Jeremiah was little esteemed in his life, but from being of no account as a prophet he came to be considered the greatest of them all." — Prof. A. B. Davidson.
His name means "whom Jehovah casts" or "appoints." His father, Hilkiah (Jer. 1:1) "was not the high priest of that name, so famous in connection with the reformation of King Josiah." — Expositor's Bible. His father, however, was a priest. His birthplace, where he probably resided during at least a part of his life, was Anathoth in the tribe of Benjamin, now 'Anata, between two and three miles north-northeast of Jerusalem.
His call to prophesy came when he was a young man (Jer. 1:6), in the thirteenth year of Josiah. (Jer. 1:2), B.C. 626. He was then about twenty years old, and so may have been born about B.C. 646, being of the same age, approximately, as Josiah. He prophesied till B.C. 586, after the Captivity, more than forty years.
His Character. "The most exquisite sensibility of soul was Jeremiah's singular and sovereign distinction above all the other Hebrew prophets. He was far and away the most spiritually minded of all the prophets. He was the supreme prophet of the human heart, and would have nothing from his hearers and readers but their heart. Both by nature and by grace he was the most inclined to pity of all the prophets. Dante comes next to Jeremiah, and we know that Jeremiah was that great exile's favorite prophet." — Condensed from Whyte.
His Writings. — The Lamentations are not attributed to Jeremiah in the Hebrew Bible, but they are so attributed in the Greek translation, the Septuagint. Modern scholars are divided on the question of the authorship. "The balance of internal evidence may be said to preponderate against Jeremiah's authorship; but there is no question that the poems are the work of a contemporary (or contemporaries)." — Driver.
III. Jeremiah's Prophecies Written and Read. — Jer. 36:1-20. For twenty-three years Jeremiah had been trying, by oral teachings, to persuade the nation to repent and turn to God, but the people and their rulers had been deaf to his warnings. As a last resort, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim (B.C. 605), the Lord commanded the prophet to write down the substance of his exhortations, thus to focus them in one mighty blow upon the consciences of king and people. Moreover, for some reason Jeremiah was "shut up," "restrained" (V. 5) from public utterance, being probably forbidden by the authorities to preach; and thus he could reach his audience through the lips of another.
The chosen amanuensis was Baruch, the son of Neriah, a scribe. The occasion was a fast day, appointed probably for the first anniversary of the capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. To a throng gathered in the temple Baruch read the glowing words of Jeremiah, speaking from a balcony.
Among the listeners was Micaiah, grandson of Shaphan, Josiah's famous scribe. He went at once to tell his father, Gemariah, who was at the palace, taking part in a council that may have been discussing the dangers that still threatened the country from Babylon. The princes of the king's council sent at once for Baruch and listened to his reading of Jeremiah's prophecies, which made so deep an impression upon them that they decided to make known the whole matter to the king. First, however, they asked Baruch to hide himself and Jeremiah, lest the king be angry and slay them, as he had killed Urijah.
IV. Jeremiah's Prophecies Destroyed. — Vs. 21-26. It was a critical moment in the history of Judah, and of Jehoiakim. How many sorrows the nation would have been spared, had the king proved himself a Josiah or a Hezekiah!
21. "So the king sent Jehudi." One of his officers. "To fetch the roll." That Jehoiakim might learn its contents at first hand and not from hearsay. "Elishama." He was the king's secretary of state, and the roll had been left in his chamber that it might be safe from the king.
22. "The king sat in the winter-house. "In the ninth month." December, as the Hebrew sacred year began two weeks before the Passover, our Easter. "There was a fire on the hearth burning." Rather, in the firepan. They have no chimneys, and hearths are unknown in the East.
23. "When Jehudi had read three or four leaves." R.V. margin, "columns." "He." R.V., "the king." Jehoiakim seems to have snatched the roll angrily from Jehudi. "Cut it with the penknife." "Literally, scribe's knife." — Wood.
24. "Yet they were not afraid." "Unlike Josiah (2 Kings 22:11), and even Ahab (1 Kings 21:27)." — Pulpit Commentary. "Nor any of his servants."
25. "Nevertheless (R.V., "moreover") "Elnathan," etc. These were some of the princes. "Made intercession." "This word had by no means once that limited meaning of prayer for others which we now ascribe to it." — Cambridge Bible. "But he would not hear them."
26. -"The king commanded . . . to take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet; but the LORD hid them. Perhaps Jeremiah was hidden, by some of God's servants, as John of Gaunt did for Wyclif, and an elector of Saxony for Luther; perhaps the Lord sent him out of the country. To this time are most naturally to be referred Jeremiah's absence from Jerusalem, and the symbol of the linen girdle which he was commanded (Jer. 13) to take to the river Euphrates. He is not heard of for several years.
V. Jeremiah's Prophecies Rewritten and Fulfilled. — Vs. 27-32. "The first result of Jeremiah's enforced seclusion reminds us of Martin Luther's Bible work in the Wartburg. Jeremiah, too, betook himself to Bible work. The first prophetic roll had been destroyed; but, as in the case of Tyndale's New Testament, a new and improved edition issued, as it were, from the flames." — Cheyne.
The New Roll. — 28. "Take thee again another roll," etc. This new roll was a repetition of the first, with the addition (v. 32) of many other prophecies.
The Truth Could Not Be Destroyed. — Jehoiakim had burned only the parchment; he could not burn God's condemnation of him. 29. "The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land." Nebuchadnezzar had already come, and rendered the land tributary; but he had gone away again. The prophecy that had aroused Jehoiakim's wrath was that Nebuchadnezzar would return and destroy the land. This prediction Jeremiah solemnly repeated, and it was fulfilled not long afterward in the reign of Zedekiah.
30. "Jehoiakim . . . shall have none to sit upon the throne of David." His son Jehoiachin, eighteen years old, attempted to do it for three months, but the whole time the land was occupied by Nebuchadnezzar's army, and Jerusalem was in a state of siege (2 Kings 24:8-17). "His dead body shall be cast out." Compare the vivid words of Jer. 22:18, 19.
31. "And upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem." "They would not have been punished for the crime of the king, had not that act only too well typified their own demoralization. Compare Jer. 19:15; 35:17." — Speaker's Commentary.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Josiah's Devotion to God
1911
Sunday School Lesson
LESSON TEXT — 2 Chronicles 34:1-13
TIME — Josiah began to reign B. C. 638. He reigned 31 years.
PLACE—Judah and Jerusalem. But his reforms extended over a considerable part of the territory of the Northern Kingdom which had become extinct in 722-718, 80 years before Josiah came to the throne.
Josiah was the grandson of Manasseh. He was born at Jerusalem, B. C. 646. His father was Amon, who reigned but two years, when he was murdered by his courtiers in his own palace. The people rose against the conspirators and made his eight-year-old son king in his place. Josiah's mother was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah. They belonged in Boscath, a town near Lachish in southwestern Judah, in the plains toward the Mediterranean sea. While King Amon was an idolater, and his court was corrupt, it is possible that Josiah's mother kept the true faith.
He began to reign when he was eight years old. Like his grandfather, Manasseh, he must for several years have been guided, and his kingdom controlled by his mother or by prime ministers. The worshipers of Jehovah must have been in control at the palace, the wise and religious teachers of the true God and the true religion. So that for the first sixteen years of his life the young Josiah must have been under good influences, while he also would know of his father's tragic death, and his grandfather's sins, sufferings, and repentance. And his ancestor, David, was ever before him as his ideal, his hero, his saint.
About the time when Josiah was twenty years old, and in the twelfth year of his reign, when he had begun his reforms, there came an invading host from the far east like a cyclone, an overwhelming scourge. Jeremiah foretells them in vivid pictures. But Herodotus tells us who they were, the Scythians "from the regions over Caucasus, vast nameless hordes of men who sweeping past Assyria, unchecked, poured upon Palestine. We can realize the event from our knowledge of the Mongol and Tartar invasions which in later centuries pursued the same path southwards. Living in the saddle, with no infantry nor chariots to delay them, these Centaurs swept on with a speed of invasion hitherto unknown. In 630 they had crossed the Caucasus, by 626 they were on the borders of Egypt.
The prophet, Jeremiah, describes in picturesque terms this invasion. "The lion is come up from his thicket;" "The destroyer of nations is on his way;" "Behold he cometh as clouds, and his chariot shall be as the whirlwind;" "Their quiver is an open sepulcher, they are all mighty men;" "They are cruel and have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea; and they ride upon horses, set in array as men of war against thee."
It is easy to see how this terrible invader, coming so near, just as Josiah was beginning his reforms, must have interfered with his plans.
Josiah began his reformation in his twelfth year, but the invasion of the Scythians soon after this beginning interfered with the work. The savage and cruel host came close to Judah's borders. Scattered bands may have entered the kingdom. Terror reigned. Defenses must be strengthened. Outsiders rushed to Jerusalem and the fortified cities. How far the reformations had progressed we do not know. But the chronicler having recorded the beginning simply goes on with the story, as is frequently done by historians.
The restoration of the Temple was entrusted to a committee of three — Shapan, the secretary of state; and Maaseiah, the governor of the city, the mayor of Jerusalem; and Joah the recorder, the keeper of the records, the historian. The temple built by Solomon, was completed 330 years before. It was repaired by Joash 240 years before Josiah began his restoration. The ravages of time, with neglect and abuse during the sway of idolatry must have rendered it sadly in need of repair. It was during these repairs that the Book of Law was found.
The work interrupted by the Scythian hordes is now resumed with greatly increased intensity and enthusiasm, through the new consecration of king and people, due to the finding of the Book of the Law.
The first condition of salvation for individuals or nations is the putting away of sin at any cost. The second is the building up of the good. He that confesseth and forsaketh shall find mercy.
One of the greatest revivals of religion ever known was begun in meetings where the pastor called upon his church members on a fast day to confess and forsake their sins. "How many of you," he asked, "have neglected your family prayers?" Several arose and one was called upon to pray. "How many of you have been speaking evil of others?" Several arose. One led in prayer for all. And so through the list.
There has been a remarkable revival in the territory made famous in the Japanese-Russian war. The movement began in Llaoyang, spread at once to Mukden, and, soon after, to Haicheng, Fakumen, Newchwang, and numberless towns and villages and hamlets of less fame. A mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit came to the Christians. Immediately after the opening of the meetings, and his power became manifested at once in heart-breaking confession of sin; then in outbursts of prayer, both petition and intercession, in great Joy, and, finally, in thank-offerings to God of money and of service. It was a case of complete surrender to God.
Sunday School Lesson
LESSON TEXT — 2 Chronicles 34:1-13
TIME — Josiah began to reign B. C. 638. He reigned 31 years.
PLACE—Judah and Jerusalem. But his reforms extended over a considerable part of the territory of the Northern Kingdom which had become extinct in 722-718, 80 years before Josiah came to the throne.
Josiah was the grandson of Manasseh. He was born at Jerusalem, B. C. 646. His father was Amon, who reigned but two years, when he was murdered by his courtiers in his own palace. The people rose against the conspirators and made his eight-year-old son king in his place. Josiah's mother was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah. They belonged in Boscath, a town near Lachish in southwestern Judah, in the plains toward the Mediterranean sea. While King Amon was an idolater, and his court was corrupt, it is possible that Josiah's mother kept the true faith.
He began to reign when he was eight years old. Like his grandfather, Manasseh, he must for several years have been guided, and his kingdom controlled by his mother or by prime ministers. The worshipers of Jehovah must have been in control at the palace, the wise and religious teachers of the true God and the true religion. So that for the first sixteen years of his life the young Josiah must have been under good influences, while he also would know of his father's tragic death, and his grandfather's sins, sufferings, and repentance. And his ancestor, David, was ever before him as his ideal, his hero, his saint.
About the time when Josiah was twenty years old, and in the twelfth year of his reign, when he had begun his reforms, there came an invading host from the far east like a cyclone, an overwhelming scourge. Jeremiah foretells them in vivid pictures. But Herodotus tells us who they were, the Scythians "from the regions over Caucasus, vast nameless hordes of men who sweeping past Assyria, unchecked, poured upon Palestine. We can realize the event from our knowledge of the Mongol and Tartar invasions which in later centuries pursued the same path southwards. Living in the saddle, with no infantry nor chariots to delay them, these Centaurs swept on with a speed of invasion hitherto unknown. In 630 they had crossed the Caucasus, by 626 they were on the borders of Egypt.
The prophet, Jeremiah, describes in picturesque terms this invasion. "The lion is come up from his thicket;" "The destroyer of nations is on his way;" "Behold he cometh as clouds, and his chariot shall be as the whirlwind;" "Their quiver is an open sepulcher, they are all mighty men;" "They are cruel and have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea; and they ride upon horses, set in array as men of war against thee."
It is easy to see how this terrible invader, coming so near, just as Josiah was beginning his reforms, must have interfered with his plans.
Josiah began his reformation in his twelfth year, but the invasion of the Scythians soon after this beginning interfered with the work. The savage and cruel host came close to Judah's borders. Scattered bands may have entered the kingdom. Terror reigned. Defenses must be strengthened. Outsiders rushed to Jerusalem and the fortified cities. How far the reformations had progressed we do not know. But the chronicler having recorded the beginning simply goes on with the story, as is frequently done by historians.
The restoration of the Temple was entrusted to a committee of three — Shapan, the secretary of state; and Maaseiah, the governor of the city, the mayor of Jerusalem; and Joah the recorder, the keeper of the records, the historian. The temple built by Solomon, was completed 330 years before. It was repaired by Joash 240 years before Josiah began his restoration. The ravages of time, with neglect and abuse during the sway of idolatry must have rendered it sadly in need of repair. It was during these repairs that the Book of Law was found.
The work interrupted by the Scythian hordes is now resumed with greatly increased intensity and enthusiasm, through the new consecration of king and people, due to the finding of the Book of the Law.
The first condition of salvation for individuals or nations is the putting away of sin at any cost. The second is the building up of the good. He that confesseth and forsaketh shall find mercy.
One of the greatest revivals of religion ever known was begun in meetings where the pastor called upon his church members on a fast day to confess and forsake their sins. "How many of you," he asked, "have neglected your family prayers?" Several arose and one was called upon to pray. "How many of you have been speaking evil of others?" Several arose. One led in prayer for all. And so through the list.
There has been a remarkable revival in the territory made famous in the Japanese-Russian war. The movement began in Llaoyang, spread at once to Mukden, and, soon after, to Haicheng, Fakumen, Newchwang, and numberless towns and villages and hamlets of less fame. A mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit came to the Christians. Immediately after the opening of the meetings, and his power became manifested at once in heart-breaking confession of sin; then in outbursts of prayer, both petition and intercession, in great Joy, and, finally, in thank-offerings to God of money and of service. It was a case of complete surrender to God.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
"I Am the Resurrection and the Life"
1905
April 9 — Sunday School Lesson
GOLDEN TEXT. — Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life. — John 11:25.
Introduction. So far as we can arrange the story of Christ's life from the various Gospels, the events are as follows:
The Feast of Tabernacles, October 11-18, A. D. 29, where took place the events recorded in John 7 to 10:21, ending with the parable of the good shepherd (John 10:21).
Interval of About Two Months between John 10:21 and 22, recorded in Luke 9:51-10:42. Jesus went from the Feast of Tabernacles to Galilee, and soon after left there, proceeding eastward to Perea, and thence down the Jordan on the eastern side.
The Feast of Dedication, December 20-27, A. D. 29. Jesus goes up to this feast (John 10:22,23), is a guest of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus at Bethany (Luke 10:38-42), Mary choosing the good part which shall not be taken from her. During the day Jesus discoursed in Solomon's porch of the Temple (John 10:22-39).
Returns to Perea. Beyond Jordan (John 10:40-42). December, A. D. 29. Here he spends January (A. D. 30) and part of February, speaking the Parables and Discourses recorded in Luke 14:1-17:10. Here we find him at the beginning of to-day's lesson.
I. "Twin Scenes — Lazarus Sick at Bethany. Jesus Busy at Bethabara."
We may, perhaps, make this supreme miracle of Jesus more real and vivid by picturing before our minds the contrasted but related scenes at Bethany and Bethabara.
1. At Bethany on the Mount of Olives, two miles from Jerusalem, lived a family of three members, Martha and Mary and Lazarus, who was, probably, the youngest of the three. Lazarus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Eleazar. The village is now known as El-Azarieh, or Lazarieh, from the Lazarus of to-day's lesson.
Not more than five or six weeks before this, at the Feast of Dedication, Jesus was their guest, and Mary sat at his feet to learn, while Martha was busy with her household duties for his entertainment (Luke 10:38-42).
After Jesus left, Lazarus was taken sick, "it may be by one of the sudden, sharp, and frequently fatal fevers of Palestine," such as that from which Jesus delivered Peter's wife's mother, and it is implied that the assault had assumed an alarming form.
2. At Bethabara, a day's journey beyond Jordan, twenty-five to thirty miles distant, near the scene where Jesus had begun his ministry now so near its end, where he was baptized, and had gained his first disciples. Little time remained and every moment of it was precious for his work. So here he was teaching, preaching, working miracles, giving his last counsels, training his disciples.
II. "Twin Scenes — A Messenger on the Way to Jesus. Lazarus Dying at Bethany."
1. The Messenger. The first thought of the sisters, when all common means failed, was to send a message to Jesus that "He whom thou lovest is sick." No request was made. The message was itself a prayer. They knew that Jesus would do the best thing possible. When we or our loved ones are sick, we should go to Jesus with our trouble; not to the neglect of means, for whatever helps and cures is the gift of God's love, but for guidance, and help, and blessing.
2. Lazarus Dies at Bethany. Soon after the messenger had gone, Lazarus died, and, as usual, on account of the climate, was buried on the same day in the family tomb outside of the village, and a large stone was rolled against the entrance.
III. "Twin Scenes — The Mourning at Bethany. Jesus Remains Two Days Longer at Bethabara."
1. At Bethany. Jesus could have reached Bethany in two days after the messenger left. The two days' delay beyond this time must have been full of anxiety and trial of faith and love, on account of the mysterious delay.
2. At Bethabara (vs. 3-16). After the messenger had reached Jesus, he waited two days before he started for Bethany. We must remember (1) that Jesus had been driven away from Jerusalem, and it was running into the jaws of death to go back there; (2) that Jesus loved the Bethany family and greatly desired to help them. Jesus states that the reason for the sickness was "for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby." Therefore he abode two days longer in the place where be was.
The Mysterious Delay. (1) It may have been necessary in order to complete some work in which he was engaged; and it was to the glory of God and his Son that he should place duty before all considerations of personal feeling. The brightest stars in the crown of some of the greatest characters, stars which shine down the ages when almost all else is forgotten, are the deeds of duty and patriotism at the cost of help for one nearest and dearest. (2) "This delay was necessary to the consummation of the miracle of the resurrection of Lazarus in such form as to forever prohibit the impression that death had not really taken place." — Abbott. (3) It was needed to develop and increase the faith and love of the Bethany family and his disciples, and give them a vision of the future life and their Savior's power, such as can be seen only from the mountain-top of sorrow. (4) It would lead many to believe on Jesus, and thus glorify the Son (v. 45). (5) Jesus himself was soon to lie three days in the grave; if, therefore, he was able to raise up Lazarus after four days' burial, they would have stronger faith in the resurrection of Jesus from his three days' burial. (6) It has been to the glory of the Son of God, in that it has shown to all generations that Jesus is the resurrection and the life.
IV. "Twin Scenes (vs. 17-37) — The Meeting of Jesus with Martha. The Meeting with Mary."
1. Bethany. The Meeting with Martha. The house at Bethany was full of sympathizing friends. Word came quietly to Martha that Jesus was near the town, and she immediately went out to meet him. She greeted him with the words, "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." There were two sorrows, that her brother had died and that Jesus delayed his coming. Yet the words imply faith and hope, not complaint.
2. The Meeting with Mary. Martha returns to the house and secretly says to Mary, "The Master is come and calleth for thee." This loving message is sent to each one of us, in many ways. Let us open our ears and hearts to it as Mary did. She went to Jesus, (v. 32) "fell down at his feet," and spoke the same words as those with which her sister had greeted Jesus. The thought must have been continually in their minds, and often repeated to one another, "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died."
33. "When Jesus therefore saw her weeping." Like the maidens in Tennyson's "Princess," "She must weep or she will die." "He groaned in the spirit." Groaned, not in outward expression, but in his inmost soul. "And was troubled." The word means to agitate, to disquiet, as the waters of the sea in a storm. "His whole frame shuddered. A storm of wrath seemed to sweep over him."
35. "Jesus wept." Shed tears, wept silently, an entirely different word from the "weep" and "weeping" of the mourners in vs. 31,33. It is well that this short sentence should be in a verse by itself, the shortest verse in the Bible, but one of the most blessed.
36. "Then (therefore) said (imperfect, kept saying) * * * Behold how he loved him!" The word for "love" is the more passionate word used in v. 3 by the sisters, not the higher word used of Jesus in v. 5 by the Evangelist, laying emphasis on friendship.
37. "Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind." This was the last, most widely known, and most marvelous miracle which had been wrought in Jerusalem only two or three months before. The inference was natural and just.
V. Lazarus Restored to Life. — Vs. 38-45.
38. "Cometh to the grave. R.V., 'tomb.' It was a cave. And a stone lay upon it." 39. "He hath been dead four days," and, therefore, Martha inferred naturally that decay had begun. It is not stated as a fact.
40. "Said I not unto thee." He had, doubtless, repeated to Martha what he had said to his disciples (v. 4). "If thou wouldest believe." Trust in the goodness, and power, and promises of Jesus, not in any definite work to be accomplished. Such must be our faith. But her faith was necessary to the blessing. "See the glory of God." They would see a work of God which would manifest his power and love to men, which would exalt his Son as the Messiah, and bring divine blessings to the family, to his disciples, and to the world.
41. "Jesus lifted up his eyes." A natural, simple, but expressive act of worship. "And said, Father, I thank thee." Is not the address recorded in these verses simply a thanksgiving spoken in respect of a previously offered private prayer?
42. "And I knew that thou hearest me always." He was never denied, for he always prayed in the right spirit, with the right motives, and in perfect sympathy with the will of his Father. "Because of the people which stand by I said it." So that they would know that his power was from God, and recognize his relation to God.
43. "He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth." As one would speak loud to awaken a sleeper. It was loud in order that all the people who had come to the tomb might realize whence the power came.
44. "And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave-clothes." "It was the Jewish custom to wrap the dead comparatively loosely in a winding sheet or shroud, which would have impeded, through not prevented, arising and walking." — Abbott. "Loose him, and let him go."
The Consequences. 45. "Many * * * believed on him." (1) Lazarus henceforth was a perpetual sermon on the loving power of Christ. (2) The rulers from that day forth planned to put him to death. (3) Jesus left Jerusalem for a time and was concealed in the wilderness with his disciples.
April 9 — Sunday School Lesson
GOLDEN TEXT. — Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life. — John 11:25.
Introduction. So far as we can arrange the story of Christ's life from the various Gospels, the events are as follows:
The Feast of Tabernacles, October 11-18, A. D. 29, where took place the events recorded in John 7 to 10:21, ending with the parable of the good shepherd (John 10:21).
Interval of About Two Months between John 10:21 and 22, recorded in Luke 9:51-10:42. Jesus went from the Feast of Tabernacles to Galilee, and soon after left there, proceeding eastward to Perea, and thence down the Jordan on the eastern side.
The Feast of Dedication, December 20-27, A. D. 29. Jesus goes up to this feast (John 10:22,23), is a guest of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus at Bethany (Luke 10:38-42), Mary choosing the good part which shall not be taken from her. During the day Jesus discoursed in Solomon's porch of the Temple (John 10:22-39).
Returns to Perea. Beyond Jordan (John 10:40-42). December, A. D. 29. Here he spends January (A. D. 30) and part of February, speaking the Parables and Discourses recorded in Luke 14:1-17:10. Here we find him at the beginning of to-day's lesson.
I. "Twin Scenes — Lazarus Sick at Bethany. Jesus Busy at Bethabara."
We may, perhaps, make this supreme miracle of Jesus more real and vivid by picturing before our minds the contrasted but related scenes at Bethany and Bethabara.
1. At Bethany on the Mount of Olives, two miles from Jerusalem, lived a family of three members, Martha and Mary and Lazarus, who was, probably, the youngest of the three. Lazarus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Eleazar. The village is now known as El-Azarieh, or Lazarieh, from the Lazarus of to-day's lesson.
Not more than five or six weeks before this, at the Feast of Dedication, Jesus was their guest, and Mary sat at his feet to learn, while Martha was busy with her household duties for his entertainment (Luke 10:38-42).
After Jesus left, Lazarus was taken sick, "it may be by one of the sudden, sharp, and frequently fatal fevers of Palestine," such as that from which Jesus delivered Peter's wife's mother, and it is implied that the assault had assumed an alarming form.
2. At Bethabara, a day's journey beyond Jordan, twenty-five to thirty miles distant, near the scene where Jesus had begun his ministry now so near its end, where he was baptized, and had gained his first disciples. Little time remained and every moment of it was precious for his work. So here he was teaching, preaching, working miracles, giving his last counsels, training his disciples.
II. "Twin Scenes — A Messenger on the Way to Jesus. Lazarus Dying at Bethany."
1. The Messenger. The first thought of the sisters, when all common means failed, was to send a message to Jesus that "He whom thou lovest is sick." No request was made. The message was itself a prayer. They knew that Jesus would do the best thing possible. When we or our loved ones are sick, we should go to Jesus with our trouble; not to the neglect of means, for whatever helps and cures is the gift of God's love, but for guidance, and help, and blessing.
2. Lazarus Dies at Bethany. Soon after the messenger had gone, Lazarus died, and, as usual, on account of the climate, was buried on the same day in the family tomb outside of the village, and a large stone was rolled against the entrance.
III. "Twin Scenes — The Mourning at Bethany. Jesus Remains Two Days Longer at Bethabara."
1. At Bethany. Jesus could have reached Bethany in two days after the messenger left. The two days' delay beyond this time must have been full of anxiety and trial of faith and love, on account of the mysterious delay.
2. At Bethabara (vs. 3-16). After the messenger had reached Jesus, he waited two days before he started for Bethany. We must remember (1) that Jesus had been driven away from Jerusalem, and it was running into the jaws of death to go back there; (2) that Jesus loved the Bethany family and greatly desired to help them. Jesus states that the reason for the sickness was "for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby." Therefore he abode two days longer in the place where be was.
The Mysterious Delay. (1) It may have been necessary in order to complete some work in which he was engaged; and it was to the glory of God and his Son that he should place duty before all considerations of personal feeling. The brightest stars in the crown of some of the greatest characters, stars which shine down the ages when almost all else is forgotten, are the deeds of duty and patriotism at the cost of help for one nearest and dearest. (2) "This delay was necessary to the consummation of the miracle of the resurrection of Lazarus in such form as to forever prohibit the impression that death had not really taken place." — Abbott. (3) It was needed to develop and increase the faith and love of the Bethany family and his disciples, and give them a vision of the future life and their Savior's power, such as can be seen only from the mountain-top of sorrow. (4) It would lead many to believe on Jesus, and thus glorify the Son (v. 45). (5) Jesus himself was soon to lie three days in the grave; if, therefore, he was able to raise up Lazarus after four days' burial, they would have stronger faith in the resurrection of Jesus from his three days' burial. (6) It has been to the glory of the Son of God, in that it has shown to all generations that Jesus is the resurrection and the life.
IV. "Twin Scenes (vs. 17-37) — The Meeting of Jesus with Martha. The Meeting with Mary."
1. Bethany. The Meeting with Martha. The house at Bethany was full of sympathizing friends. Word came quietly to Martha that Jesus was near the town, and she immediately went out to meet him. She greeted him with the words, "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." There were two sorrows, that her brother had died and that Jesus delayed his coming. Yet the words imply faith and hope, not complaint.
2. The Meeting with Mary. Martha returns to the house and secretly says to Mary, "The Master is come and calleth for thee." This loving message is sent to each one of us, in many ways. Let us open our ears and hearts to it as Mary did. She went to Jesus, (v. 32) "fell down at his feet," and spoke the same words as those with which her sister had greeted Jesus. The thought must have been continually in their minds, and often repeated to one another, "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died."
33. "When Jesus therefore saw her weeping." Like the maidens in Tennyson's "Princess," "She must weep or she will die." "He groaned in the spirit." Groaned, not in outward expression, but in his inmost soul. "And was troubled." The word means to agitate, to disquiet, as the waters of the sea in a storm. "His whole frame shuddered. A storm of wrath seemed to sweep over him."
35. "Jesus wept." Shed tears, wept silently, an entirely different word from the "weep" and "weeping" of the mourners in vs. 31,33. It is well that this short sentence should be in a verse by itself, the shortest verse in the Bible, but one of the most blessed.
36. "Then (therefore) said (imperfect, kept saying) * * * Behold how he loved him!" The word for "love" is the more passionate word used in v. 3 by the sisters, not the higher word used of Jesus in v. 5 by the Evangelist, laying emphasis on friendship.
37. "Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind." This was the last, most widely known, and most marvelous miracle which had been wrought in Jerusalem only two or three months before. The inference was natural and just.
V. Lazarus Restored to Life. — Vs. 38-45.
38. "Cometh to the grave. R.V., 'tomb.' It was a cave. And a stone lay upon it." 39. "He hath been dead four days," and, therefore, Martha inferred naturally that decay had begun. It is not stated as a fact.
40. "Said I not unto thee." He had, doubtless, repeated to Martha what he had said to his disciples (v. 4). "If thou wouldest believe." Trust in the goodness, and power, and promises of Jesus, not in any definite work to be accomplished. Such must be our faith. But her faith was necessary to the blessing. "See the glory of God." They would see a work of God which would manifest his power and love to men, which would exalt his Son as the Messiah, and bring divine blessings to the family, to his disciples, and to the world.
41. "Jesus lifted up his eyes." A natural, simple, but expressive act of worship. "And said, Father, I thank thee." Is not the address recorded in these verses simply a thanksgiving spoken in respect of a previously offered private prayer?
42. "And I knew that thou hearest me always." He was never denied, for he always prayed in the right spirit, with the right motives, and in perfect sympathy with the will of his Father. "Because of the people which stand by I said it." So that they would know that his power was from God, and recognize his relation to God.
43. "He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth." As one would speak loud to awaken a sleeper. It was loud in order that all the people who had come to the tomb might realize whence the power came.
44. "And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave-clothes." "It was the Jewish custom to wrap the dead comparatively loosely in a winding sheet or shroud, which would have impeded, through not prevented, arising and walking." — Abbott. "Loose him, and let him go."
The Consequences. 45. "Many * * * believed on him." (1) Lazarus henceforth was a perpetual sermon on the loving power of Christ. (2) The rulers from that day forth planned to put him to death. (3) Jesus left Jerusalem for a time and was concealed in the wilderness with his disciples.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Freedom for Service, Freedom from Besetting Sins
1902
CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR
Topic For the Week Beginning Aug. 24 — Comment by Rev. S. H. Doyle.
Topic. — Freedom for service. — 2 Tim. 2:4; Gal. 5:1; Heb. 12:1-2.
God saves us not altogether for the sake of saving us, but also that our lives may be consecrated to Him. We are saved to serve. In the twelfth chapter of Romans Paul says, "I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." That this consecration and this service may be performed to the fullest extent it is absolutely necessary that we should be free and untrammeled in our service. That freedom for service is necessary Paul suggests to Timothy by the illustration of the soldier. "No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of life that he may please Him that hath chosen him to be a soldier." No soldier can be entangled with other affairs in life. He must give himself up entirely to the service; he must be free from worldly cares and avocations or it will be absolutely impossible for him to produce the best results as a soldier. The same thing is true of the Christian soldier. To be a good soldier of Jesus Christ we must have freedom for service.
1. We must be free from affairs of this life. There is nothing that so much interferes with active Christian service as unnecessary association with the things of this world. A spirit of worldliness crushes out a spirit of consecration and service. An unwise indulgence even in the harmless things of life seriously interferes with the faithful performance of our obligations and our duties to God. Unnecessary worries about the cares and the business pursuits of life deprive us of the power to serve God as we ought to serve Him. While in the world we are not to be of the world to the extent that our relations with the world interfere with the performance of our duties to God.
2. We should be free from false conceptions of the law. "Stand fast, therefore, in the liberties wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." The yoke of bondage here referred to was the bondage of the law. It was the conception of the ancient people of God that they were to be saved by the observance of the law. The result was that they became slaves to the law. It usurped the place in their lives that Christ should have had, and it was impossible under these conditions for them to render the cheerful and whole hearted service to God that was His due. The lives of many Christian people have been made miserable and they have been made incompetent for service by a false attitude toward the law. The early religious experiences of Martin Luther were of such a character. He was taught to look upon God as a severe judge ready to punish and to destroy him for the breaking of His law. He had no idea of God as a kind and loving Father or a realization of the fact that Christ had kept the law for him and had paid the penalty for it on the cross. The result was that his life was miserable and he was unfitted for the best and truest service. It was only "when the scales fell" from his eyes and he lived in the liberty wherewith Christ made him free that he was enabled to perform great service to God. Christians are not above the law; they are not immune from the penalties of the law, and yet in Christ they possess a freedom from it that should inspire them to better lives and should give them greater liberty for effective and whole hearted service.
3. Freedom from besetting sins. "Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith." All sins have not the same attractive power for all people. What tempts one man may have no temptation for another. In each one of our lives are besetting sins or sins that easily entwine themselves about us. The apostle here likens the form of such sins to the flowing robe of the Grecian athlete. We can easily understand how the runner would be hindered in the race if he had about him the loose, flowing garment of the Greek. It would wrap itself so closely about him as to hinder his every movement. Such is the result of besetting sins in the life of service. If they are allowed to have power and influence with us, they hinder us and destroy our powers for effective service. That we may be free to serve it is therefore important that we should lay aside all cares and all besetting sins and that we should look to Christ for the power to overcome besetting sins and to continue in the life of faithfulness and of patient service.
CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR
Topic For the Week Beginning Aug. 24 — Comment by Rev. S. H. Doyle.
Topic. — Freedom for service. — 2 Tim. 2:4; Gal. 5:1; Heb. 12:1-2.
God saves us not altogether for the sake of saving us, but also that our lives may be consecrated to Him. We are saved to serve. In the twelfth chapter of Romans Paul says, "I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." That this consecration and this service may be performed to the fullest extent it is absolutely necessary that we should be free and untrammeled in our service. That freedom for service is necessary Paul suggests to Timothy by the illustration of the soldier. "No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of life that he may please Him that hath chosen him to be a soldier." No soldier can be entangled with other affairs in life. He must give himself up entirely to the service; he must be free from worldly cares and avocations or it will be absolutely impossible for him to produce the best results as a soldier. The same thing is true of the Christian soldier. To be a good soldier of Jesus Christ we must have freedom for service.
1. We must be free from affairs of this life. There is nothing that so much interferes with active Christian service as unnecessary association with the things of this world. A spirit of worldliness crushes out a spirit of consecration and service. An unwise indulgence even in the harmless things of life seriously interferes with the faithful performance of our obligations and our duties to God. Unnecessary worries about the cares and the business pursuits of life deprive us of the power to serve God as we ought to serve Him. While in the world we are not to be of the world to the extent that our relations with the world interfere with the performance of our duties to God.
2. We should be free from false conceptions of the law. "Stand fast, therefore, in the liberties wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." The yoke of bondage here referred to was the bondage of the law. It was the conception of the ancient people of God that they were to be saved by the observance of the law. The result was that they became slaves to the law. It usurped the place in their lives that Christ should have had, and it was impossible under these conditions for them to render the cheerful and whole hearted service to God that was His due. The lives of many Christian people have been made miserable and they have been made incompetent for service by a false attitude toward the law. The early religious experiences of Martin Luther were of such a character. He was taught to look upon God as a severe judge ready to punish and to destroy him for the breaking of His law. He had no idea of God as a kind and loving Father or a realization of the fact that Christ had kept the law for him and had paid the penalty for it on the cross. The result was that his life was miserable and he was unfitted for the best and truest service. It was only "when the scales fell" from his eyes and he lived in the liberty wherewith Christ made him free that he was enabled to perform great service to God. Christians are not above the law; they are not immune from the penalties of the law, and yet in Christ they possess a freedom from it that should inspire them to better lives and should give them greater liberty for effective and whole hearted service.
3. Freedom from besetting sins. "Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith." All sins have not the same attractive power for all people. What tempts one man may have no temptation for another. In each one of our lives are besetting sins or sins that easily entwine themselves about us. The apostle here likens the form of such sins to the flowing robe of the Grecian athlete. We can easily understand how the runner would be hindered in the race if he had about him the loose, flowing garment of the Greek. It would wrap itself so closely about him as to hinder his every movement. Such is the result of besetting sins in the life of service. If they are allowed to have power and influence with us, they hinder us and destroy our powers for effective service. That we may be free to serve it is therefore important that we should lay aside all cares and all besetting sins and that we should look to Christ for the power to overcome besetting sins and to continue in the life of faithfulness and of patient service.
Saturday, May 5, 2007
The Suffering Savior — Isaiah's Servant Songs
1929
The Suffering Savior
TEXT: ISAIAH 53:1-12
BY WM. E. GILROY, D. D.
The problem of suffering is one of the deepest problems of life. Sooner or later it affects every individual, but it also becomes emphasized in the community and national life and in the experience of humanity as a whole.
Why do the righteous suffer? Why are communities thru some catastrophe swept away, often without warning? Why do nations rise and fall, with what seems like historic disaster taking place upon a large scale?
These were the questions that were early faced by the religious leaders in Israel and that became particularly emphasized at the time out of which the prophecies that we are studying arose. The Kingdom of Israel had been destroyed and the Kingdom of Judah had suffered temporary overthrow with the exile of its people to Babylon. Where were the promises that were cherished by Israel, that in the seed of Abraham all the nations of the earth should be blessed. How could these promises be fulfilled with the children of Abraham dispersed and scattered and their national life disrupted and broken?
A WRONG SOLUTION
The first solution proposed for this problem was that suffering is simply the result of conduct, that the good prosper while those who have done wrong bear the brunt of their own wrong doing. But such a philosophy of life could not long survive the tests of reality. Thoughtful men saw that this explanation did not accord with the real facts. The sacred writer saw the wicked flourishing and "spreading himself like a green bay tree," while, on the other hand, he saw people of earnest and saintly character suffering acutely. It was this problem that was faced in the book of Job.
Even, however, when a better view of the matter had arisen in personal experiences, there was still a tendency to explain all larger events and provinces, and national experiences of welfare and of calamity, upon this basis. It is, in fact, a philosophy from which it seems difficult for the world to get far away. When some community is seriously stricken by catastrophe today, there is a tendency for many people to regard it as "a judgment of God."
Jesus protested against this view of things in his reference to those upon whom the Tower of Siloam fell. He refused to believe that those who were killed in that disaster were sinners above all others in Israel and were on that account singled out for punishment.
Possibly one of the reasons why this philosophy that relates sufferings to punishments and penalties is so persistent is found in the fact that in a crude, rough way there is some truth in that philosophy. Sin does bring results of pain and penalty to individuals and to nations. But the mistake is in trying to make a philosophy that is partially true an explanation of all the facts.
The prophets, whose writings we are studying, were faced with this situation, that at a time when Israel was in exile and suffering there was probably a more earnest and genuine interest in religion than there had been for years. Out of all this situation they developed the idea which was later strongly fulfilled in the life and work of Jesus, that there is such a thing as people suffering for others and that the good who suffer are often in that suffering fulfilling the highest purposes of God.
Here is this noble and moving picture in the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah of a suffering servant whose life seems the reverse of all that man might wish his life to be. He is despised and rejected by his fellow men. He is a man of sorrows, contemned even by those whom he is seeking to serve. Yet all this suffering is borne for others. His life, in spite of its woes, is tuned to unselfishness and service, and in his very sufferings he is fulfilling the mission of a savior of his fellow men.
VARIOUS INTERPRETATIONS
Some scholars claim that this suffering servant, here described, typifies the people of Israel in their experiences of trial and bitterness fulfilling under God's purpose the mission that they had long supposed that they were to fulfill thru ease, prosperity, and comfort. Others see in this suffering servant the personification not of the whole of Israel, but of the faithful remnant of the people, while still others have seen in this suffering servant an individual, an early prototype of Jesus of Nazareth.
We who view the prophecies from the vantage ground of the New Testament and the story of the earthly life of Jesus can see that in him these conceptions found their true fulfillment. It was in the spirit of this suffering servant that he came and lived and died. It is in him that we see the good suffering with and for the guilty, and that we behold the regenerative power of the cross.
—The Lima News, Lima, Ohio, April 27, 1929, p. 4.
My review (2007): This is a really good article. Very clear and concise, steps through the subject in a thoughtful, reasonable way. The author had a great style.
The Suffering Savior
TEXT: ISAIAH 53:1-12
BY WM. E. GILROY, D. D.
The problem of suffering is one of the deepest problems of life. Sooner or later it affects every individual, but it also becomes emphasized in the community and national life and in the experience of humanity as a whole.
Why do the righteous suffer? Why are communities thru some catastrophe swept away, often without warning? Why do nations rise and fall, with what seems like historic disaster taking place upon a large scale?
These were the questions that were early faced by the religious leaders in Israel and that became particularly emphasized at the time out of which the prophecies that we are studying arose. The Kingdom of Israel had been destroyed and the Kingdom of Judah had suffered temporary overthrow with the exile of its people to Babylon. Where were the promises that were cherished by Israel, that in the seed of Abraham all the nations of the earth should be blessed. How could these promises be fulfilled with the children of Abraham dispersed and scattered and their national life disrupted and broken?
A WRONG SOLUTION
The first solution proposed for this problem was that suffering is simply the result of conduct, that the good prosper while those who have done wrong bear the brunt of their own wrong doing. But such a philosophy of life could not long survive the tests of reality. Thoughtful men saw that this explanation did not accord with the real facts. The sacred writer saw the wicked flourishing and "spreading himself like a green bay tree," while, on the other hand, he saw people of earnest and saintly character suffering acutely. It was this problem that was faced in the book of Job.
Even, however, when a better view of the matter had arisen in personal experiences, there was still a tendency to explain all larger events and provinces, and national experiences of welfare and of calamity, upon this basis. It is, in fact, a philosophy from which it seems difficult for the world to get far away. When some community is seriously stricken by catastrophe today, there is a tendency for many people to regard it as "a judgment of God."
Jesus protested against this view of things in his reference to those upon whom the Tower of Siloam fell. He refused to believe that those who were killed in that disaster were sinners above all others in Israel and were on that account singled out for punishment.
Possibly one of the reasons why this philosophy that relates sufferings to punishments and penalties is so persistent is found in the fact that in a crude, rough way there is some truth in that philosophy. Sin does bring results of pain and penalty to individuals and to nations. But the mistake is in trying to make a philosophy that is partially true an explanation of all the facts.
The prophets, whose writings we are studying, were faced with this situation, that at a time when Israel was in exile and suffering there was probably a more earnest and genuine interest in religion than there had been for years. Out of all this situation they developed the idea which was later strongly fulfilled in the life and work of Jesus, that there is such a thing as people suffering for others and that the good who suffer are often in that suffering fulfilling the highest purposes of God.
Here is this noble and moving picture in the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah of a suffering servant whose life seems the reverse of all that man might wish his life to be. He is despised and rejected by his fellow men. He is a man of sorrows, contemned even by those whom he is seeking to serve. Yet all this suffering is borne for others. His life, in spite of its woes, is tuned to unselfishness and service, and in his very sufferings he is fulfilling the mission of a savior of his fellow men.
VARIOUS INTERPRETATIONS
Some scholars claim that this suffering servant, here described, typifies the people of Israel in their experiences of trial and bitterness fulfilling under God's purpose the mission that they had long supposed that they were to fulfill thru ease, prosperity, and comfort. Others see in this suffering servant the personification not of the whole of Israel, but of the faithful remnant of the people, while still others have seen in this suffering servant an individual, an early prototype of Jesus of Nazareth.
We who view the prophecies from the vantage ground of the New Testament and the story of the earthly life of Jesus can see that in him these conceptions found their true fulfillment. It was in the spirit of this suffering servant that he came and lived and died. It is in him that we see the good suffering with and for the guilty, and that we behold the regenerative power of the cross.
—The Lima News, Lima, Ohio, April 27, 1929, p. 4.
My review (2007): This is a really good article. Very clear and concise, steps through the subject in a thoughtful, reasonable way. The author had a great style.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
'Scrap Iron' Bible Class is Organized
1924
MERIDIAN, Miss., Nov. 4 — A Sunday school class to be known as "The Scrap Iron" class was organized here recently by Dr. L. B. Christie, pastor of the First Baptist church, the meetings of which will be held at the James F. Webb Funeral Home, directly in front of the church. At the initial meeting there were present 32 persons, including two Jews, six Catholics, several Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Christians and one negro, Ellis Washington, Webb's porter. The membership of the class will be limited to those who do not attend Sunday school or church services elsewhere.
In his inaugural talk, Dr. Christie, the teacher, emphasized the fact that there be no church creed taught, nor would the men hear anything at the meetings at which they could take offense. The Sunday school orchestra furnished the music for the meeting and will do so each Sunday.
—Port Arthur News, Port Arthur, Texas, November 4, 1924, page 6.
Comment: Isn't that awful, singling out Ellis like that? But at least they won't hear anything at the meetings "at which they could take offense."
MERIDIAN, Miss., Nov. 4 — A Sunday school class to be known as "The Scrap Iron" class was organized here recently by Dr. L. B. Christie, pastor of the First Baptist church, the meetings of which will be held at the James F. Webb Funeral Home, directly in front of the church. At the initial meeting there were present 32 persons, including two Jews, six Catholics, several Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Christians and one negro, Ellis Washington, Webb's porter. The membership of the class will be limited to those who do not attend Sunday school or church services elsewhere.
In his inaugural talk, Dr. Christie, the teacher, emphasized the fact that there be no church creed taught, nor would the men hear anything at the meetings at which they could take offense. The Sunday school orchestra furnished the music for the meeting and will do so each Sunday.
—Port Arthur News, Port Arthur, Texas, November 4, 1924, page 6.
Comment: Isn't that awful, singling out Ellis like that? But at least they won't hear anything at the meetings "at which they could take offense."
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