Brief Thoughts For Busy Teachers International Sunday School Lesson As Taugkt by T. C. Horton at the Bible Institute, Los Angeles, Cal. LESSON I. July 3, 1910. her branches the agents of the evil one (Matt. 13:4; 19-32).
In Matt. 12:43-45, Jesus gave them a Parable which foreshadowed this state —the man out of whom was cast the unclean spirit represents not the indi- vidual of our present dispensation, but Israel. As Jesus said, " s o shall it be with this generation." Israel had been cleansed from her besetting sin, idolatry, by her Babylonian captivity; but now her Messiah King, who had come in the name of His Eather, was rejected, and her house was left deso- late (Matt. 23:38), therefore open to the anti-Christ, who will come in his own name and be received; hence her last state will be worse than her first. The Parable of the Leaven describes how corruption will ultimately per- meate the rebel nation. Eev. 17 and 18. gives us a glimpse of this awful con- dition, which can only be stopped by the tribulation fires. (Mai. 3:1-6, 4:1, Eev. 4th to 19th chapters).) Now, two questions naturally arise in our minds: 1. What will become of Israel, who has rejected her King, and of the prom- ised Kingdom? 2. What reward awaits the faithful remnant that has forsaken all to fol- low Him? The Parable of the Tares answers the first. The following analysis will help to the understanding of .it: The treasure was found by someone (God). The treasure was hidden in a field (the world). The treasure was found by another (Christ). Christ sold all He had to purchase the field (died on the cross). He left the treasure hidden in the field until some future time, when He would come again. The Kingdom can come now only through the cross work of their re- jected King, who has given all He had to purchase them. But, as a nation, their eyes and ears are closed to all this, and will be closed until He comes again; then they will see Him and recognize Him as the one whom they have pierced.
PICTURES OF THE KINGDOM. Matt. 13: 31-33, 1^52. J. E. Pratt. I. Explanation. II. Interpretation. III. Application. I. Explanation. The five parables of today's lesson must be considered in connection with the two (the Sower and the Tares) al- ready studied, in order to get one com- plete picture of the ' ' Kingdom in Mys- t e r y ." Seven suggests perfection. In order to get the correct interpre- tation of all these parables, we must admit: 1. That Jesus, who spoke them, knew what He was talking about. 2. That He would be consistent with Himself. 3. That any interpretation of the five which He did not explain, that would conflict with or contradict the interpretation which He put upon the first two, could not possibly be correct. In other words, we must find an inter- pretation of the five that will har- monize with that which Jesus gave of the first two. It is important, also, to note that in the parables aJready explained, only two seasons of the year were mentioned —seed time and harvest—the interim being left for a future revelation, to be brought out through Paul and re- vealed to us in the Epistles. II. Interpretation. Using the parable of the Sower, which was given for a key (Mark 4:13), we have no trouble in unlocking the others. "We saw that there were three forces operating in the rebellious multitude which caused them to reject their Messiah: 1. Satan, as seen in the Parable of the Tares. 2. The weakness of the flesh, now seen in the Parable of the Mustard Seed. This weakness will yet lead Israel, when she has attained to pinacles of earthly grandeur, to form an alliance with the anti-Christ, and to secrete in
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