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T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
February, 1934
INTERNATIONAL LESSON Commentary Outline and Exposition Blackboard Lesson Children’s Division Golden Text Illustration Object Lesson B y B. B. S utcliffe B y B essie B. B urch B y H elen G ailey B y A lan S. P earce B y E lmer L. W ilder Points and Problems B y A lva J. M c C lain , Ashland Theological Seminary, Ashland, Ohio
Son is pleased to reveal Him, the world must remain in total ignorance o f the Father. IV. J esus ’ T estimony to th e W eary O nes (28-30). Looking at the people struggling with the burden of the law and its demands, laboring and striving while the burden daily grew heavier, Jesus cried, “ Come unto me . . . and I will give you rest.” For the weary sinner, convicted o f his sins, trying hard to rid himself of his guilt, and finding no surcease from troub ling conscience, there is abundant rest to be found by simply coming to Jesus. And for the one who has come and has found that rest, there remains still another rest to be experienced day by day. The latter is secured by taking up the Lord’s “yoke” and learning of Him. He is the meek and lowly One. Meekness and low liness of heart are foreign to human na ture; they are to be learned only as one bears the Lord’s yoke and learns of Him. Lest any one should suggest that the Lord Jesus calls to a hard and wearisome pathway, He declares: “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” That yoke does not, like the law, chafe one, nor does it overwhelm and cast one down. It is an easy yoke, because it is His yoke, the one He Himself wears; and when it is as sumed, one finds that He draws the burden and carries the load, while one walks in restful fellowship with Him. The devil speaks o f Christ as a kill-joy; the world says His burden is too heavy to bear; and the flesh wars against a sep arated walk with the Lord. But only as one walks in separation with Him will the journey be a delight. Points and Problems From the standpoint of New Testament eschatology, there is no more important passage in our Lord’s teaching than the first four verses of this lesson. The ques tion has often been asked whether the kingdom announced by our Lord was iden tical with the kingdom predicted by the Old Testament prophets. The passage be fore us supplies the divine answer. Note the situation: John is in prison for re buking the immorality of an earthly ruler —strange situation for the forerunner of the Great King who, according to the prophets, would correct all such injustices! Has this experience caused the Baptist’s faith to waver? Probably it has; for he sends word to Jesus, asking wistfully, “Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?” (v. 3). The answer of pur Lord furnishes the infallible key to the right interpretation o f the Old Testament prophets, and also the relation o f His own message to their prevision of the king dom : “Go and show John again those things which ye do hear and see: The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk,” etc. Such an answer was worth a thousand merely verbal affirmations. To [Continued on page 62]
MARCH 4, 1934 JESUS’ TESTIMONY CONCERNING HIMSELF M atthew 11:2 to 12:50
derstand. The path o f wisdom in such times is to remember that He is always in finite love, perfect wisdom, and that He never makes a mistake. Faith will calmly await the Lord’s time to reveal what it cannot understand. This was John’s re source and this is ours also. II. J esus ’ T estim on y to th e N ation (16-19). Jesus charged the nation with insta bility. He said the people were like care less children playing in the markets, not satisfied with any one thing. When piped to, they would not dance; when mourned, they would not lament. John the Baptist had come to them as an ascetic, wearing camel’s hair clothing and eating locusts and wild honey, and they had said he had a devil. Jesus came to them eating and drinking, and they had said He was a gluttonous Man and a wine- bibber. They would be pleased with noth ing God sent, thus revealing the hardness of their hearts and the settled unbelief of their minds. But however the nation might treat either John or Jesus, wisdom would be seen to be justified in those who hearkened unto John and then turned to the One whom John introduced, even Jesus. III. J esus ’ T estimony to th e F ather (25-27). ■ In spite o f appearances, Jesus expressed His perfect confidence in the Father (vs. 25, 26). John’s faith seemed to be waver ing (vs. 2, 3). The nation had seemingly turned against the Lord (vs. 16-19). All His mighty works in the cities had failed to awaken faith (vs. 20-24). All His works and words seemed to go for noth ing. But all this could not lessen His trust in the Father; He could still say, “ Even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight.” He knew that all things were delivered unto Him (v. 27), even though appear ances suggested that they were not. He made the startling statement that no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and he to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. The knowledge of the Father is impossible to any one apart from the Son ; unless the BLACKBOARD LESSON
Lesson Text: Matt. 11:2-6, 16-19, 25-30. Golden T ex t : “ Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). Outline and Exposition I. J esus ’ T estimony to J oh n (2-6). h en circumstances sorely tested the faith of John the Baptist, to quiet his fears, he sent a message to Jesus (vs. 2, 3). This action was not the result of an eclipse o f faith, although there was an element of doubt in it. While in prison, he heard of the works o f Jesus; but those works did not as yet include the "laying of the ax at the root of the matter, or the sending o f fire from heaven—things that John had prophecied should come. He was being tempted to ask, “ Have I given a false witness to my nation? Have I de ceived my disciples ?” It was quite a natural thing for John to have been disturbed. He looked his difficulty squarely in the face; definitely he named it. And then he put it directly before Jesus: “Art thou he that should come, or do we look for an other?” He refused to go on under cover o f a faith that he felt he was losing. This is the secret of relief from doubt for any one. Remember also that John’s was a i ' most trying experience. He was a man accustomed to the open places; now he was shut up in prison. He was like an eagle taken from its,soaring in the heavens and suddenly shut up in quarters too cramped for its spreading wings. The reply of Jesus was instructive (vs. 4-6). He gave John no more than John already had. “Go and show John again those things which ye do hear and see.” John knew those things, but he was to be told again. They were proofs of the Mes- siahship of Jesus. Hence John was sent back to the Word o f God. The prophets had declared that when Messiah came, such testimony as this would be given: “The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed.” Jesus could have opened the prison gates and set John free, thus satisfying John’s intellect, but He would do more—He would have John’s heart set at rest. Hence He sent John back to the Word itself, offering no ocular proofs. “ If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they hear . . . and be persuaded,” whatever proof might be presented. John believed the prophets; the prophets were being fulfilled in Jesus; hence, Jesus must be what John had de clared Him to be. Thus John’s perplexity would be relieved, his faith strengthened, and his testimony conserved (cf. Isa. 63:9 ; Zech. 2 :8 ; Acts 9 :4 ; 1 Pet. 1:17). John would find blessedness in . simple faith (v. 6). And so will all who are tried. The Lord’s ways many times will appear to be strange and peculiar and hard to un
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