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it. ( 6 ) Because of the great joy and the great continuance o f it (see Esther 1:1-8; Isa. 25:6). "A t supper time” —It was sup per time 2000 years ago. AH was ready, all but the guests, The Kingdom of God was at hand. (1) The Father was ready (John 3:16) (2 ) The Son was ready (Matt. 11:27-29). (3 ) The Spirit was ready (Acts 13:2-4). (4 ) The Church was ready (Acts 8:1-4). (5 ) All were ready (Rev. 22:17). But alas the excuses were ready. The hearts of the invited were in their real estate (v. 18) ; the personal property (v. 19) ; their social relations and pleasures (v. 20). Note: “ Excuse,” not reason. They were unrea sonable—men should see the field before they buy it; prove the yoke before they close the bargains; take their wives with them to the suppers, especially the great supper. Now, after they have seen, proved, I, T h o u g h t s for E a s t e r (Luke 24:1-12). I.- The Fact That Made the Walk To Emmaus Possible. These verses record the most wonderful (save the ' Incarnation), glorious, hopeful, dreadful, best attested and, in that sense, the truest fact in history. The resurrection of Jesus is the sun of Revelation, illuminating, clearing, and con firming all. It is.the keynote' of the' Gospel; the keystone of life’s arch, binding past and future in one continuous, inseparable whole. It is all this and more. Without it the Gospel is a lie (1 Cor. 15:15) ; holy men of God becoming lying sons o f Belial; Jesus was dupe, fraud, or madman; history is a web of falsehood ; our sense and our senses fail u s; human testimony is worthless; Christendom is. usurpation; Christianity vanity; and “ the blessed hope” a chimera. “ Eat, drink and die, what can the rest avail us.” T h a t is, IF WE CANNOT RELY ON THE TESy TIMONY OF SUCH WITNESSES AS TO WHAT LESSON II. —Luke 24 :13-35. G o ld en T e x t : —Rom. 8 :34. R. V.
rejected they will realize too late their folly. 2. The Guests They Gathered. When the rulers refused, Christ turned to “publi cans and sinners” ; when the Jews refused He turned to the Gentiles; and now from: the elite to the slums, from the cold heart of Christendom to the receptive Heart of Africa” (1 Cor. 1:26-29). “ Go out quickly into the lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind . . . into the high ways and hedges, and/compel them to come in, THAT M Y HOUSE M AY BE FILLED." 3. Closer Home. And now the supper still waits. Waits for you to put away ex cuses, business hindrances, social restraints and c o m e . Waiting for you to pity “ the poor, the blind, the maimed, the halt,” and Go. Hedges are broken down; highways and byways are open, " a n d y e t t h e r e is r o o m .” THEIR EYES SAW AND THEIR HANDS HANDLED, ON M AN Y AND VARIOUS OCCASIONS, SINGLY AND IN GROUPS, MUTUALLY CORROBORATIVE, AND CONSIDERING MORAL CHARACTER AND CONSEQUENCES,— THEN WE CANNOT RELY ON OUR SENSES, OR AN Y OTHER’ S, AS TO ANY FACT. Then "they that sleep are perished." The “cemetery” is mis-named, for none sleep if none wake. The burying ground is Ge henna; the grave a charnal house. It is not “ the abode of the dead,” since the dead do not abide; there are no dead, save we should call that that is not as if it were. Funeral obsequies, processions, garlands, are vain and hideous mockery, at which devils, if dev ils there could be, would laugh till hell crack ed, and angels weep till the stars went out. Graves are sometimes broken; from with out but this from . within; Rifled graves draw no pilgrims, this set the world on pil grimage. What do we care for empty tombs! but we’d care not for Christ’s were
—April 12.—T he J ourney to E mmaus .— (E aster L esson .)
It is Jesus Christ that died, yea, rather, that was raised from the dead.
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