September, 1938
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
304
BLACKBOARD LESSON
Aaron told the people to bring to him their golden ornaments, and from these he fashioned a golden calf (vs. 2-4). Before this golden calf the people gathered shout ing, “These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt” (v. 4 ). Aaron erected an altar before the calf and called the people to worship the Lord (v. 5 ). W e should remember that these people did not entirely forsake their God; they merely put something in between themselves and God. Aaron called them to a feast "to the Lord," a feast to which they brought their offerings and sacrifices (v. 6 ). Actually, Israel was shutting God out, trampling upon His direct command, and becoming like other peoples whose gods were of their own making. God told Moses to get down to the peo ple (vs. 7, 8 ). Because of His own holy nature, He could not allow the worship of His people to be given to any created being. God’s dealings do not issue from caprice. His holiness must destroy every thing contrary to itself. III. T he R ecovery from I dolatry (John 4:19-24) When Jesus brought to light the condi tion that was a black stain upon the woman's life, she attempted to direct the conversation from the subject of her per sonal sinfulness. Therefore, she asked a question concerning the proper place of worship (vs. 19, 2 0 ). Her people, the Samaritans, worshiped in Mount Gerizim, but the Jews worshiped in Jerusalem; and her question was, in effect, "Where is the proper place to worship?” The reply of Jesus reveals that it is not a question of where the worship is carried on, but who is the one w orshiped (vs. 21- 23). God had set His name in Jerusalem, and there He had appeared to His people, but now He has withdrawn from all places and appears only in a Person, the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who would worship the true and living God must worship in spirit and in truth (v. 24). Points and Problems 1. "T hou shalt not m ake unto thee any graven image, or any likeness o[ anything " (E x. 2 0 :4 ). This passage has sometimes been taken by readers as a prohibition of all artistic effort. But this is to miss the point. The key is found in verse 5: "Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them.” The commandment is not a sweeping prohibition of art, but rather it forbids the use of art in the interest of idolatry and false religion. And it is an interesting fact that when art is divorced from true faith in the Word of God it generally runs riot in the direction of false religion and moral degeneration. W e need to learn the lesson that art may be very beautiful from a mere aesthetic stand point, and yet be utterly degrading ’ from a moral and spiritual standpoint. 2. "Visiting the iniquity o f the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation o f them that hate me” (E x. 20: 5 ). This statement has often been con demned by skeptics as being the mark of a cruel and bloodthirsty God. But they over look two things: First, the critics seem to assume that only the fathers were bad and the children were good, that good children
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were punished for their bad fathers. What the passage really teaches is that both the fathers and the children were bad; they both hated God. Thus it is not merely the punishment that extends to the third and fourth generations, but also the sin. And this is perfectly natural, in complete ac cordance with all that we know about hu man nature and society. Nothing is better attested than that a bad generation will pass on its own evil heritage to succeeding gen erations. And it is only the mercy of God that halts the stream of iniquity at the "third and fourth generation.” In the sec ond place, the critics often ignore the sixth verse which contrasts God’s mercy with His wrath: “And showing mercy unto a thousand generations of them that love me, and keep my commandments” (cf. R. V . footnote). The mercy of God is infinitely greater than His wrath and judgment. A cavalry officer with a small number of followers was being pursued by an enemy and large force. He discovered that his saddle girth was becoming loose; he dis mounted, tightened the loose girth, and then rode on. Dr. Cuyler speaks of an applica tion of this same idea in modem life: “One of the most eminent Christian merchants in New York City told me that he never met his family at the breakfast table until on his knees he had had a refreshing interview with God over his Bible; and this, with his family worship afterwards, was not only a tightening of the buckle for himself, but was a gracious means of safeguarding his house hold.” Parents and children in the home can ill afford to start out with a “broken buckle.”—Adapted from T h e Bottles o f H eaven, by Revilo. The Friend W e Cannot See E xodus 20:4-6; J ohn 4:19-24 M em ory V erse: "W e love him, because he first loved us” (1 John 4 :1 9 ). A pproach: Last week, we talked about God and how He has told His people that they are to worship Him and Him alone. He is the only true God. W e cannot wor ship Him if we are worshiping other gods as well. In the commandments which God Golden Text Illustration J ohn 4:24
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gave to Moses, He says something else about worship. Lesson S tory: Do you know that no one has ever seen God, the Father, and that not until we get to heaven will any one see Him? But yet there are people who
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