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THE K I N G ' S BUS I NE S S
by the dawning of the new day. The King Himself preaches to the people the Gospel of the kingdom. He was the light which lighteth every man com ing into the world. (John 1 :9). John bore witness to that Light, but Jesus was the Light. Steadily but surely the Light has penetrated the dark places of the earth. Light can only be mani fested where there is darkness. The darker the night, the more conspicuous the light. Woe unto him who rejects such light. (John 3:19). (2) FINDING FISHERMEN. Simon, Peter and Andrew, James and John, had become disciples of Jesus, leaving John the Baptist. They had not entirely abandoned their occupation, but had spent some time with Jesus in Judea. Now He calls them to a definite service. When the Lord sought those who were to be His intimates during the three and a half years of His min istry, He found them among the humble toilers. They were not men of rank, but men of character. The history of the church is full of illustrious ex amples of such choices: Bunyan, the tinker; Zwingli, the shepherd; Melanc- thon, the smith; Luther, the miner’s son. They were not idlers. God never calls an idle mart They were faithful in following their vocation. Men are chosen for service who are working well in their own sphere. Men who dream of doing great things, but who never have done well the least thing, will be left to their dreams. Moses was tending sheep; Joshua was a soldier doing service under Moses; Gideon was threshing wheat; Elisha was plowing. God wants men who know how to do things, and then do them. Saul of Tarsus, as a perse cutor, was hot with hatred for the Christians and gave his best effort to putting them in prison. When Saul surrendered and became a preacher, he was full of fire for the spread of the Gospel and went about as a flaming
ministry recorded in John’s Gospel; the first disciples; the first miracles; 1 the first cleansing LESSON 1 of the temple; the EXPOSITION first d i s c o u r s e . T. O. Horton (John 4 :6 ). This first Judean minis try occupied about a year and a half. After the first call of the four disciples (John 1), they probably returned to their fishing nets for a season. The King’s Headquarters are now at Caper naum. The King’s motto is “ I must work the works of Him that sent me.” ( 1) DARKNESS AND LIGHT, . “ The people who "sat in darkness saw a great light.” Galilee was the mixing of the na tions—'the. trade route between Meso potamia and the Mediterranean. Large cities, tinctured with Greek culture, using the Greek language, dotted the shores of the lake. Jesus oscillated be tween seasons of solitude with His Father, and His ministry for men. John was in prison and Jesus braved the risk of a like fate in taking up His public service in Galilee. The condi tions existing in Galilee correspond to the prophetic portraiture in Isa. 9:12; 42:9: “ Sitting in darkness and the shadow of death.” It wAs a triple night of ignorance, superstition and vice. The influence of the infernal regions shadowed the land. The grossest darkness was caused by the apostasy of Israel. There is a striking parallel between disaster, destruction and death, and the spiritual calamity which befalls the sons of, men. * Light appears: Like a meteor, flashing the bright shining light of the Gospel, the Messiah appears. Jesus was in strong contrast with John the Baptist, as was Elisha with Elijah. John was terrific in his denunciation of sin, scathing in his arraignment of hypocrites. The message of repentance as voiced by Jesus had another note. The long night of darkness was broken
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