September, 1939
T H E K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S
346
When Jesus Was Baptized M atthew 3 MEMORY VERSE: “This is my be loved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17). APPROACH: Thirty years passed by between the time of our last week’s story and this. In His home in Naz areth, the Lord Jesus was a faithful sdn to Mary and Joseph. Here He grew
of the Old Testament Messianic predic tions, one upon which Christ must have meditated a.great deal: “I saw in the night-visions, and, behold, there came with the clouds of heaven one like unto a son of man, and he came even to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom . . Here we have, in my judgment, the origin of two favorite expressions of Christ: First, the title ‘‘Son of man” which He often applied to Himself) and second, the expression “kingdom of heaven” compounded out of the prophecy of this “son of man” who would come “with the clouds of heaven” and establish “a kingdom” over all peoples and nations. Furthermore, since it is out of Daniel’s prophecy that the idea came, we shall find the surest and safest guide to the nature of the kingdom preached by our Lord by going back to Daniel and considering seri ously what he had to say about it. Unfortunately, instead of doing this, many scatolars persist in ignoring Dan iel and treat the kingdom proclaimed in the Gospels as something totally dif ferent from the kingdom predicted by Daniel. 3. “Prepare ye the way of the Lord” (3:3). There are scattered throughout this country a religious group of peo ple who call themselves “Jehovah’s Wit nesses.” One of their chief tenets is the denial of the true deity of Christ. They affirm that it is proper .to call Him “a god,” but that He is not Jehovah the true God. Now the testimony of John the Baptist utterly destroys this argument, for he quotes from Isaiah a passage which reads in the Hebrew, “Prepare ye the way of Jehovah,” and applies the prophecy to Christ. To John the Baptist, Christ was Jehovah incar nate. Only thbse who bear their witness to this great truth can be truly called “Jehovah’s Witnesses.” Golden Text Illustration M atthew 3:3 Are you willing to be a highway over which Jesus Christ shall come to your town and into the lives of your friends and neighbors ? Right of way costs something. When President Garfield was shot, he was taken to an isolated house where he could have absolute quiet and rest in his fight for life, and a special railway was constructed to facilitate the bringing of doctors, nurses, and loved ones to his bedside. The engineers laid out the line to cross a farmer’s front yard, but he refused to grant the right of way until they explained to him that it was for the President, when he exclaimed; “That is different. Why, if that railroad is for the President, you can run it right through my house.”—Michigan Chris tian Advocate.
“in wisdom and sta ture, and in favor with God and man.” But after t h i r t y years the time had come for Him to show Himself as the Messiah, the Son of God, the S a v i o u r who had c ome to bring the p e o p l e back to God.
Object Lesson W ake U p OBJECT: An alarm clock.
LESSON: Here is an alarm clock. It will tell you when to get up. It rings like this. (Release the alarm.) I wonder whether you ever have stopped to realize that God keeps time. The Bible says, “When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law” (Gal. 4:4, 5). The alarm is ringing again. John the Baptist said, “Repent ye: for the king dom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 3:2). As the alarm rings ‘ again, there is another verse I would like you to hear. “Behold, now is the accepted time; be hold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2). People are inclined to put off the accepting of Christ as their Saviour, just as they put off getting up when the alarm sounds in the morning. The devil tells them that tomorrow will do, and many are lost for eternity be cause they put off accepting Christ. The s o u n d Of the alarm is heard again. “It is high time to awake out of sleep . . . The night is far spent, the day is at hand” (Rom. 13:11, 12). There is a Strange and solemn truth which the alarm clock teaches us. If we do not pay attention to it when we hear it, we soon will cease to hear it. This is the reason that some people no longer hear the voice’of God. Let us respond quickly to God’s call, accepting Christ as Saviour, and thus we shall have the joy of knowing that our sins are all forgiven. c n c e r n in g th e e : a n d in th e ir h a n d s th e y s h a ll b e a r th e e up , le s t a t a n y tim e th o u d a sh th y fo o t a g a in s t a sto n e . 7 J e s u s sa id Unt o h im , I t is w r itte n a g a in , T h o u s h a lt n o t tem p t th e L ord th y God. 8 A g a in , th e d e v il ta k e th . h im u p in to a n e x c e e d in g h ig h m o u n ta in , and sh ow e th h im a ll th e k in g d om s o f th e w o rld , an d th e g lo r y o f th em ; 0 A nd s a ith u n to h im , A ll th e s e th in g s w ill I g iv e th e e , i f th o u w 'i lt fa ll d ow n and w o r sh ip m e. 10 T h en s a ith J e s u s u n to h im , G et th ee h en ce, S a ta n t fo r it is w r itte n , T h ou s h a lt w o r sh ip th e Lo rd th y God , and h im o n ly s h a lt th o u se r v e . 11 T h en th e d e v il le a v e th h im , and , b eh o ld , a n g e ls c am e a n d m in iste r e d u n to h im .
LESSON. STORY: For many, many years there had been no prophets among the people. But with the coming of the Lord Jesus, this had changed. H e r e was a wonderful message, indeed! Who should announce it to the people? John, the cousin of Jesus, was chosen by God to speak to the people. He was to tell t h e m to repent of their sins and be baptized; John knew that the One who could forgive sins was at hand, waiting for people to come to ask forgiveness. One day, while the crowd was gath ered around John, listening to his mes sage, the Lord Jesus Himself appeared and asked to be baptized. Now Jesus did not need to be baptized, for being washed with water was done to show that a person Wished to have his sins washed away. Jesus Christ was the Son of God, and never sinned, but He had come to this world in the form of a man, and He was ready to be just like us in everything, “yet without sin.” The people gathered around. Who was this Man, whom John did not wish to bap tize, because John knew that He had no sin ? The heavens opened, and God told them who it was. “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,” the voice said. And many believed. M a tth ew 4:1 T h en w a a J e s u s le d u p o f th e S p irit In to th e w ild e r n e ss to be tem p te d o f th e d e v il. 2 A nd w h e n h e h ad fa s te d fo r ty d a y s a n d fo r ty n ig h ts , h e w a s a fte rw a r d a h u n g ered . 3 A nd Whe n th e tem p te r cam e to ■h im , h e sa id , I f th o u b e th e So n o f God , com m an d th a t th e s e s to n e s b e m ad e b read . 4 B u t h e a n sw e r e d a n d sa id , It is w r it te n , M an s h a ll n o t liv e b y b read a lo n e , b u t b y e v e r y w o rd th a t p ro cee d e th o u t o f th e m o n th o f God. 5 T h en th e d e v il ta k e th h im up in to th e h o ly c ity , and s e tte th h im on a p in n a c le o f th e tem p le , 6 A nd s a lth u n to h im , I f th o u b e th e Son o f God, c a s t th y s e lf d ow n s fo r it is w r itte n , H e s h a ll u lv e h is a n g e ls c h a r g e
OCTOBER 15, 1939 THE TEMPTATION OF JESUS M atthew 4
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