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T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
than a man? So, He said: “It is law ful to do good on the Sabbath day’’ (v. 12, R. V.). His grace was manifested by reveal ing the. falsity of their position instead of 'judging them then and there, and also He would “do good” for the man. He then gave the command, “Stretch forth thine hand.” The man chose to obey Him, rather than the criticizing Pharisees, and “he stretched it forth.” Immediately; the withered hand be came whole "as the other.” ’ n . M anifesting H atred (14, 15) Angered by the public affront, the Pharisees blazed forth their hatred,; and they went out and held council against Jesus. The Pharisees were punctilious observers of minute points of the law, yet they could take council to murder Jesus, and excuse the mur der-because they said He had broken the law by healing on the Sabbath day. Their murderous intent was known to Jesus and, as it was not yet time for Him to be slain, He withdrew from them. He would give them yet more time to repent and turn to God, thus manifesting His grace. . As He withdrew, “great multitudes followed him.” ‘To them He was mere ly a great prophet, with power to heal their physical ailments, and for this reason they- followed Him. But once more grace shone out; though He knew they followed merely for the “loaves and the fishes,” He would not withhold blessing from them. While healing all their afflictions, He was continuing to give them further oppor tunity to know and receive Him for wjiat He was, Messiah and Lord. HI. FtiEFH-UNG P rophecy (16-21) He charged those whom He healed not to make Him known. He already had given full proof of who and what He was, and any further testimony to the rejectors would be as casting p:e:artl s b e f o r e swine; hence, He "charged them that they should not make him known.” T his; w a s done in fulfillment' of Isaiah’s prophecy that Jesus would come as. the Servant of Jehovah—the Son of God who voluntarily assumed human form in order to become our Saviour — the One who would bring light to the Gentiles (cf. Isa. 42:1-8). The Holy Spirit would be given to that Servant when He came, and that Serv ant would do His work by the Spirit’s power. The work would not be done by His crying aloud, or by any spec tacular manifestations, but by the un noticed power of the Holy Spirit. ' The future awaits the complete ful fillment of the prophecy, when “in His name shall the Gentiles trust.” Noth ing can hinder the progress of His pro gram. The final victory will come, and
Golden Text Illustration J o h n 2:25....
BLACKBOARD LESSON
A story is told of the casting of a great bell in Peking, China. It is the bell on which midnight is Sounded, and it was cast a century and a half ago. At that time, two attempts at casting were made, and they both ended in failure. Whereat the emperor sent for Kuan-Yin, the official in charge of the task, and told him he would be killed if he failed again. Ko-ai, the official’s beautiful daugh ter, consulted an astrologer who told her that unless a virgin’s blood were mingled with the metal, the third cast ing would fail. She obtained permis sion to be present when the attempt was made, and just as the whjte-hot metal was rushing from the furnace into the great mold, the devoted girl sprang forward with a cry, “For my father!” Leaping into the fiery stream, she added her lifeblood to its composi tion, and won her father’s safety. This is a legend, but we know a far more lovely and heroic truth. The great bell of humanity was out of tune. Its music was all discordant. Then our S a v i o u r threw Himself from the heights of heaven at Calvary. His lifeblood entered into a world’s alloy, and ever since, the lives of those who have trusted Him for salvati6n have been growing sweeter and more at tuned-to the heavenly music.—Adap ted from, Five Thousand Best Modern Illustrations, by Hallock. A Man with a Crippled Hand M a t t h e w 12:9-21 MEMORY VERSE: “By love serve one another” (Gal. 5:13). AIM: To show that Jesus wants to give salvation and help to everyone. APPROACH: Our lesson today is to show us that the Lord Jesus has great
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the Gentiles, to say nothing of His own people Israel, will put their trust in Him. And then, as Isaiah goes on to predict, there will be a new world wherein dwelleth righteousness, and the name of the Lord God will be ex alted throughout the earth. Points-and Problems 1. "What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep?" (Matt, 12:11). The word “haye” speaks of ownership. Jesus is speaking of a man who owns a sheep and discovers that his sheep has fallen into a pit. There is no question but that he will rescue it, no matter whether it is the Sabbath. The day makes no difference under Such conditions. Our Lord then Says in effect: “I, too, have a sheep— this' poor unfortunate man with the withered hand — he is in desperate need.. The compassion of My heart de mands that I lift him out of his pit of helplessness.” B y ' this incident, our Lord, teaches us that the supreme work of the Sabbath and of every-day is that of reaching men for Christ. , 2. "Then saith he to the man. Stretch forth thine hand" (v. 13). How could a paralytic stretch forth his hand? Jesus’ command was a chal lenge- to the impossible. But when the man responded to the Word of Christ, the impossible became possible. It is no different today. Men are helpless in their sinful condition, but whenever they will hear the Word of Christ and respond to it, the healing virtue comes. This is the encouragement that be longs to every servant of the Lord as he handles the Word of life. 3. "But when Jesus knew it, he with drew himself from thence" (v. 15). What a beautiful picture of the grace of our Lord is presented here! His enemies were counseling for His death. Jesus might have brought swift judg ment upon them had He chosen to do so. But instead, He Withdrew from them that He might not smite them for their sin. This is a picture, show ing Christ’s withholding of judgment during His ministry of grace. There i i also a dispensational suggestion here, for upon Christ’s rejection by the Jews (v. 14), He turned unto the Gentiles (v. 18).
love for everyone. His love m a k e s Him want to help us. LESSON STORY: One Sabbath day, Jesus went to the house of God, and t h e r e He s aw, among the o t h e r people, a poor man w h o s e hand was
crippled. Right away, the Lord Jesus felt sorry for him. Because Jesus was the Son of God, He had power to heal the man, so He said to him, “Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored” (v. 13). The Lord had made him well because He loved him. The man had been helped because he had listened to Jesus and obeyed Him. Jesus loved the other people who were there that day, too, and He felt sorry for them. These’ people had noth ing tije matter with1their bodies, as
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