417 Levites would sing th e F irst Psalm (read it) , and afte r each verse everyone would say, “ P raise ye the Lord.” Then they would pour the w ater out beside the a ltar as an offering to th e Lord. It was a very happy and glad tim e for the people. As Jesus watched them He saw th a t though they seemed so happy, yet they had hungry and th irsty h earts, and so He stood up and said in a loud voice: “ If any man th irst, let him come UNTO ME and d rin k .” J u st as He said to the Woman a t th e Well (7th lesson), “ I would have given you living w ater.” (4 :10 , 11). He knew th a t no one could be really happy if- he is not sure th a t his sins have been forgiven, and th a t he belong; to the, fam ily of God. (Refer to the N inth Lesson, “The Happy F am ily.” ) You remember we found out when we studied th a t lesson, th a t not ALL people in the world are members of the family of God, bu t only those who have been bo rn into God’s family, by tak ing Jesus as th e ir Saviour. Memory Verse— “And Jesus said unto them , I am th e Bread of Life. He th a t cometh to p e shall never hunger; and he th a t believeth on me shall never th irst.” John 6:35. m m STRANGER WITHIN OUR GATES A m inister in the pulpit saw a man in a back pew sitting w ith his h a t on. He beckoned to a deacon who went to the man and asked him if he were aware his h a t was on. “Thank God!” said th e man. “ I thought th a t would do it. I have attended th is church for six months, and you are th e first person who has spoken to me.” Rev. Bob Burdette once got off these lines: “Tell my tru stees when I am dead th a t they need shed no tears.— For I shall then be no more dead th an they have been for years.” 2s? 2 me ABSOLUTELY DEAD
T H E K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S fru its of the harvest and presented them to God in th e Temple; the F east of Tab ernacles, when they bu ilt booths in the streets and on the flat housetops, in memory of the time a fte r they came out of Egypt and lived in ten ts in the wil derness, The feasts were very much like our holidays-—F ou rth of July, when we remember the signing of the Decla ration of Independence; Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc. A fter the feeding of th e Five Thou sand, and the crossing of the lake, Jesus and His disciples went up to Jerusalem to attend th e F east of Tabernacles. (7 :2 .) We can picture to ourselves what Jerusalem looked like w ith th e little booths of branches of olive trees, palm, pine and m yrtle trees, everywhere in the streets, vacant lots and on th e house tops. You know the roofs were all flat, w ith stairways on th e outside. The peo ple used these roofs a g reat deal. For a week the people lived in these booths. At sunrise they would leave them , wear ing th e ir beautiful colored clothing, each of them w ith a palm branch be tween a branch of myrtle and willow in the righ t hand, and in th e left hand, a citron leaf, greeting each other as we do on Christmas and New Year’s Day, when we say “Merry Christmas” and “Happy New Year.” Then the people would divide into groups and one group would go to Mount Moriah for willow branches with which to decorate the brazen a lta r in the temple. Another company would march around and around the temple in mem ory of the time th a t the Jews marched around and around Jericho. (Explain briefly.) A th ird company, w ith the priests at th e head, and singers and players, would go to the brook Cedron, where one of the priests would fill a pitcher w ith w ater and then they would all march back to th e temple, where women would be standing on the steps singing songs. The
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