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T h e K i n g ’ s B u s i n e s s
August 1932
could he take them, and from the high mountain top he viewed it, and there he died. So the children o f Israel mourned for their leader. A fter he was gone, they real ized more than ever what a fine leader he had been to them. I’m sure that they wished they had been better followers, and that they had had the same faith in God that Moses had had. So Moses died on the mount, and the children o f Israel entered the promised land. Golden Text Illustration A boy whose sister was dying had heard that, if he could secure but a single leaf from the tree o f life that grew in the gar den o f God, the illness could be healed. He set out to find the garden, and implored the angel sentinel to let him have one leaf. The angel asked the boy if he could prom ise that his sister would never be sick any more if his request were granted, and that she would never be unhappy, nor do wrong, nor be cold or hungry, nor be treated harshly. The boy said he could not promise. Then the angel opened the gate a little way, bidding the child to look into the garden for a moment, to have one glimpse o f its beauty. “Then, if you still wish it,” said the angel, “ I will myself ask the King for a leaf from the tree o f life to heal your sister.” The child looked in ; and after seeing all the wondrous beauty and blessedness with in the gates, he said softly to the angel, “ I will not ask this leaf now. There is no place in all this world so beautiful as that. There is no friend so kind as the Angel of Death. I wish he would take me, too.” Great Missionary Sayings T he world has many religions ; it has but one gospel.—G eorge O wens . The world is my parish.—J ohn W esley . I see no business in life but the work o f Christ.—H enry M artyn . The work o f winning the world to Christ is the most honorable and blessed service in which any human being can be engaged. —C. F. S chwartz . Nothing earthly will make me give up my work in despair.—D avid L ivingstone . Christianity is a religion that expects us to do things.—J apanese S ayings . Tell the king that I purchased the road to Uganda with my life.—J ames H an . The medical missionary is a missionary and a half.—R obert M offat . Every church should support two pas tors—one for the thousands at home; the other for the millions abroad.—J acob C hamberlain . Win China for Christ, and the most powerful stronghold o f Satan on earth will have fallen.—M r . W ong . The word “ discouragement” it not to be .found in the vocabulary of the kingdom o f heaven.—M elinda R ankin . W e are the children o f the converts o f foreign missionaries ; and fairness means I must do to others as once men did to me. —M altbie D. B abcock . The prospects are as bright as the prom ises o f God.—A. J udson . W e want men who love God supremely and souls next. W e want men willing not only to do, but also to suffer the will o f G od; men of faith who can afford to de spise the world and look forward to the surpassing glory in store—J. H udson T aylor .
BLACKBOARD LESSON
that Moses stood in a high place as the representative of God. What one man may do in an ordinary position may not be done by another in a higher position. The office which Moses held greatly enhanced the evil o f his sin. The Lord reminded him of that, and Moses learned a lesson, the value of which cannot be overesti mated ; that is, to agree with God in all He does. Accordingly, Moses quietly and humbly took his journey up the mountain side, looking death in the face with the calmness o f one who sees beyond the im mediate future, and with the knowledge o f one who recognizes that death does not. finish the story o f his life. We, too, may learn this lesson. The few short years spent upon earth are but the opening chap ter of the story o f one’s life, the chapter in which we scarcely become acquainted with the simple things concerning our selves, but they are the beginning o f a story which has no end. W e go on and on and on, ever growing in the knowledge o f the One whose person is infinite. III. T he P eculiar D eath of M oses (34:5-8). Moses’ death looks like a lonely event, inasmuch as he was unaccompanied and unattended in the last hours. He went alone up the mountain side. But to one whose eyes are touched by the hand of faith, the death o f Moses was anything but lonely. The Lord Himself was there, and Moses was fully satisfied in that presence. There can be no doubt but that Moses saw more o f the glory o f the Lord in that journey to his death than he had ever beheld before. He had once asked to see that glory, and now he saw what he had wished to see, the person of his Lord. There is an old legend which says that Moses lay down to rest and “ the Lord kissed him to sleep,” and so he died. His body rests in an unknown grave (v. 6). No man knows where that grave lies. But the Lord knows, and evidently Satan knew where it was (Jude 11). Moses’ body was tenderly and quietly laid to rest by the hand of the Lord Himself, and it waits that coming day when, from that unknown grave, there shall rise the man Moses to unite his voice with all the voices of the redeemed in the song he him self sang long ago in honor o f the One \ who laid his body to rest. W e have the comfort of knowing that as with Moses so with every one o f God’s people, the Lord knows just where he or she is buried. And we also know that, at the proper time, each one will rise with a new body which shall never know the touch o f decay or o f death. Moses came to his death “with unabated strength” (v. 7 ). But in spite o f the fact that natural strength was in full vigor, no one can stay when once the Lord’s time has arrived. Moses’ death was followed by the un feigned sorrow o f the people (v. 8 ). They loved him as he had loved them. The usual time for mourning was seven days, but the mourning for Moses covered thirty days. When his work was completed, Moses went silently and unattended into the still ness o f the mountain top, and there, unseen and alone, was taken by the tender hand o f God from all the heartaches, failures, tears and problems, into the blessedness which has been his since that eventful hour. The secret o f the life o f Moses as we have learned it in the lessons of this quarter may be summed up in the three fold manner o f his life: his abandonment
to the Lord, his action for the Lord, and his attitude toward the Lord. His abandon ment was complete, his action in accord with the Lord’s word, and his attitude was one of self-denial. These are the secrets which, adopted into our lives, will bring us to our end with glad rejoicing, and without shame before our Lord at His coming. Lesson Questions 32:45-47. What is meant by the ex pression, “ all these words” ? On what sub ject did Moses speak in his last public ut terance to Israel? What did he command the children o f Israel to do regarding the W ord of God? Discuss the phrase “ it is your life,” as it applied to Israel and as it applies to all Christians. Vs. 48-52. When did Moses’ death oc- c ; i Why was he not permitted to enter 1 ,.t «nised land? Could he, as the repre sen*a‘ .ve o f the law, ever lead the people when grace alone could open the way? What compensation did God grant to Moses before he died? 34:5-8. Is it true that, like Moses, every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ dies “ac cording to the word o f the Lord” ? Do you think Moses’ last journey was lonely or glorious? How were his last days crowned? Moses Goes to Live with God D euteronomy 34:1, 4-8 Memory Verse: “ In my Father’s house are many mansions” (John 14:2). Approach: After forty years o f wan dering in the wilderness, the children of Israel were about to enter the promised land. All o f these years Moses had been afraid in the wilderness, they were afraid to enter the promised land. Moses must have grown very tired o f his work, but he stayed with his people until he died. Moses had been a good leader, but he had made mistakes, too. Before they had left Egypt, he had made the mistake of killing a man. While they were in the wil derness, he made mistakes. Once he let the people believe that it was he and not God who had caused water to flow for them to drink. And for this sin, God did not allow him to lead the children o f Israel into the promised land. Only to the edge o f it
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