92
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
February 1930
Meek, as contrasted with the haughty teachers o f the law. Lowly in heart—not like the proud and self-satisfied scribes. Jesus was meek but not weak; He often spoke boldly in condemnation of sin. He was lowly but claimed for Himself the highest attributes of Deity. Ye shall find rest. Christ alone can give perfect rest. The promises of other religious leaders are delusions. How He could give peace was not understood fully until the mean ing of His cross and the resurrection was clear (cf. Rom. 5:1; 8:1). V. 30. My yoke is easy. It is a real yoke. There must be submission to His instruction and guidance. But it is a pleas ant yoke. He satisfies the heart, the rea son and the conscience. My burden is light. The heavy obligations of the law and of traditions of .the elders made an oppressive burden (cf. 1 John 5:3). Al though Christ’s “burden” involves a de mand for even higher spiritual standards than those o f the scribes and Pharisees (cf. Matt. 5:17-20), it is “light.” . * * * L esson Q uestions V. 2. Why had John been put in prison (cf. Matt. 14:3,'4) ? "What news reached him there? Had he received a clear reve lation concerning Jesus before this time (cf. John 1:29, 33, 34)? Whom did he send to Jesus? V. 3. What caused John to question (cf. 1 Kings 19:3, 4 )? Was he to be blamed? What evidence have we that he had not wholly lost faith in Jesus? What question did His disciples ask? What is the meaning o f the expression “he that cometh” ? V. 4. What is the best proof that Christ is “the coming one” ? What had the dis ciples o f John been able to “hear and see,” when they came to Jesus (cf. Luke 7:1-17)? V. 5. What specific things did Jesus claim as His credentials? What was the greatest miracle to which He appealed? To what, besides His power to perform miracles, did He appeal? Is Christianity the only religion that does not neglect and oppress the poor? V. 6. What warning did Jesus give? Was it spoken in gentle or harsh lan guage? For whom was it especially in tended? V. 25. What occasioned this outburst o f praise? To whom did Christ give thanks? What did He call the Father? What does this expression mean? From whom does God hide truth? To whom does He reveal it? What is meant by “babes” ? V. 26. Did Jesus find rest of heart by saying “Yes” (even so) to the Father? Does God’s will always prove to be right (Rom. 8:28)? V. 27. What things have been “deliv ered” to Jesus Christ ? How fully does God know His Son? Does this clearly teach that Christ is God? How completely does Jesus Christ know the Father? Who else may know God? How is that knowledge obtained ? V. 28. Whom does Jesus Christ invite to Himself? What is meant by “all that labor” ? By “heavy laden” ? What is promised to those who come? V. 29. Upon what condition may rest be found? What “yoke” had Jewish teachers put upon the people? What is meant by taking Christ’s yoke ? What else, be sides taking the yoke, are we told to do?
spread themselves out, and then they found that what they had thought were burdens were changed to pinions. So there are many things which God imposes upon us which seem too heavy for us to bear, but if, in the name of Jesus, we take them up, we shall find that they grow fast to us and become pinions.— A. T. Pierson. * * afe Jesus the Friend of All Matt. 11:2-6, 27-30. Memory Verse: “The b l i n d receive their sight and the lame walk” (Matt. 11:5a). Approach. —When you have troubles, boys and girls, you take them right to your mother, do you not? She knows how to bind up the hurt places, and
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How did Christ show Himself meek and lowly? Is there any difference between the rest given (v. 28) and the rest found by taking the yoke (v. 29) ? V. 30. How is Christ’s yoke described? His burden? Is this statement really true? * * * P ractical P oints 1. Doubts will come. Happy is he who goes to Christ to have His doubts re moved (cf. John 20:24-28). 2. “Look we for another?” What a sad question! How wonderful to be able to answer: “You need look no further; the Lord Jesus is the complete and final answer to every cry of the burdened heart” (cf. Heb. 1 :l-4). 3. The best “ Christian evidences” always have been what Jesus Christ is and what He does. He is still the great est o f teachers and wonder workers. 4. The Master always deals gently with discouraged disciples. John was given a warning and perhaps it was a mild rebuke, but it was. couched in the language o f a beatitude. 5. It is easy to stumble over hard circumstances if one fails to “look unto Jesus” (Heb. 12:1-3). 6. The Gospel-hardened will finally be broken. Jesus had long warned the faith less Jewish leaders; now He begins to “upbraid” them (Matt. 11:20) and call Upon the people to forsake them. Judg ment was soon to fall upon them. 7. Jesus did not rejoice over the doom o f the impenitent (cf. Luke 19:41-44) but He did exult when sinners came to Him. 8. All cannot be “wise and intelligent," but all may have the simplicity o f a “babe,” which is necessary for admission to the kingdom. 9. What strange contrasts here—Jesus Christ is the omnipotent Son of God, yet He is more meek and lowly than the scribes and Pharisees. What paradoxes are here also—how can a yoke be easy, how can a burden be light? The Chris tian alone has the answer. 10. The Lord Jesus teaches that it is possible to rejoice triumphantly in the Holy Spirit in the times of deepest dark ness. * * * G olden T ext I llustration Somewhere in Schiller’s poems a beauti ful story is told illustrative of what I wish to tell you. The story says that when God made the birds He made them with gorgeous plumage and sweet voices, but without wings. They knew not how to soar but did know how to sing, and the story runs that God laid wings on the ground and said, “Take these burdens and bear them.” They took them up on their backs, and struggled along with them, folding them over their hearts. Presently the wings grew fast to their breasts, and
knows just what to say when your feel ings are hurt. Your mo t h e r a l w a y s s e e ms to under stand, does she not? But I want to tell you o f One who un derstands b e t t e r than mother, who cares a b o u t your hurts and troubles even more than she
—and that is Jesus. Jesus wants us to come to Him and tell Him all. He un derstands all about us. (Speak of troubles that come to boys and girls that they should take to Jesus. Review story o f John the Baptist.) You will remember that John the Bap tist was a very fearless preacher. He even dared to tell a king of the wrong he was doing, and for this John the Bap tist was put into prison. This prison must have been a terrible place. It was no doubt a dark dungeon hewn out of rock in a lonely castle; the castle, too, was probably fortified by a very strong wall. To John the Baptist, who had been used to the free life of the wilderness, this dark prison must have been even more dreadful. It seems that some of his friends were allowed to visit him, and of course they brought him word o f what Jesus was do ing. They told him o f the miracles that Jesus was performing, how He was mak ing blind people to see and lame people to walk; but poor John the Baptist, shut away in his prison, had strange thoughts. He began to doubt and wonder. Jesus did not seem to be doing the things he had expected Him to do, and so he sent two of his friends to Jesus to ask Him if He were really the Messiah, the One for whom he had been looking. Of course it was best to go right to Jesus with this question, was it not? Jesus knows how to settle all o f our questions. These two disciples of John went to Jesus, with John’s question. They found Jesus performing miracles, but He was not too busy to answer their question. He understood all about John the Bap tist and his suffering in the prison. He did many wonderful things before these friends of John. They heard the Gospel preached to the poor, and saw Jesus open the eyes of the blind, cause the Tame to walk, heal the lepers, and make the deaf to hear. These were the very things that the Old Testament said that the Messiah would do (Isaiah 61:1). So Jesus proved to these friends that He was very GOD, the Messiah whom John had proclaimed.
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