June 20, 1948 JEWISH HOPES FOR THE MESSIAH Ezek. 34:23-28; Dan. 7:13, 14; Zech. 9:9, 10; 12:10; 13:1
(Matt. 21:1-5). But the time comes on apace when He will manifest both His Kingship and His Saviourhood. He will appear “having salvation,” which He has always had and has now. Man has but to receive Jesus and His salvation is ex perienced. Zechariah saw Messiah as the Pierced One 12:10; 13:1 The Jews hate the cross of Christ to day. But when He comes in His glory, the inhabitants of Jerusalem are going to look upon Him whom they pierced long ago and realize for the first time that He is their Saviour. Repentance will overwhelm them. Then they will see Calvary in its true light and the same blessed fountain which has washed away the sins of unnamed multitudes through the centuries will be their means of soul cleansing as well. Helps for the Children A Promise From God Ezekiel 34:22-24; Zechariah 9 :9 ; John 19:14 Memory Verse: “Jehovah is good; his loving kindness endureth forever” (Psa. 100:5 R .V .). God’s people, the Jews, were discour aged. Often they wondered why God did not deliver them from their enemies and permit them all to return to their own land. Through God’s servant, Ezekiel, the Jews were shown that God was working out a better plan for them. His plan would be fulfilled as they sought to do His will and to obey Him in all things. God would send a Leader to help them to find His way. God com pared His children to a flock of sheep. He said, “ Therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey . . . And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David . . . And I the Lord will be their God.” For many years God had promised the Jews that their Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, would come to redeem them. Each Jewish mother hoped that her first-born son might be the Messiah. Many of God’s prophets, hundreds of years before God’s Son was born, told of various things that He would say and do when He came to the earth. Zecha riah said to the Jews, “ Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salva tion; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.” When the Lord Jesus was in human form, He said, “ I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.” For both the Jews and the Gen tiles, the Lord Jesus is the only Saviour, 'the one Door into heaven. God cared for His people by sending the Good Shepherd to die upon the cross for their sins. Is this Shepherd your Shepherd? T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
Pointers on the Lesson The term Messiah means the Anointed One. It is a Hebrew, word the Greek equivalent of which is Christ. The Jews of Old Testament times had long looked for their Great Deliverer who would es tablish their kingdom permanently. They longed for God’s power to be so mani fested that their land would exert a world-wide influence. Not all Israelites had the same conception of the Messiah’s character, but all looked for His coming. When at last He did appear, the vast majority of Jewry did not recognize Him. The unbelieving Jews still look for Him. They shall see Him at His Second Coming when they will recognize Him as the very one whom they rejected. The several passages selected for this week’s study are all from the prophets, who saw Christ both as the Messiah of glory and of humiliation. Israel needed both a Saviour and a King, as do we. Ezekiel saw Messiah as the Shepherd 34:23-29 God declares in His Word, “ I will set up one shepherd . . . even my servant David” (23). Literally, it is “ a shep herd, one,” which means the only one of his kind, the incomparable one. He is revealed in the New Testament in such passages as John 10:14. But in his vis ions, Ezekiel sees the yet future day when all false shepherds shall be judged (v. 10) and Judah and Israel shall be under the leadership and blessing of THE SHEPHERD. In that day, along with the spiritual and political bless ings, there will also be physical benefits. Even nature itself will be rejuvenated, and “there shall be showers of bless ing” (w . 26, 27). Thus shall be fulfilled the words of Romans 8:20-22. At long last, peace and safety will be the portion of the most restless and unsettled people in the world (v. 28). Daniel saw Messiah as the Son of Man 7:13, 14 This title, so often associated with our Lord’s Second Advent (cf. Matt. 24:27; 25:31), is used here by the prophet Dan iel to describe the world-wide dominion that one day will be the Messiah’s. In the preceding verses of chapter 7, the course of Gentile dominion is traced. In spite of all its vaunted pomp and glory, that dominion will give way to the ever lasting dominion of KING MESSIAH (v. 14). The expression Son of Man re calls to us the humiliation of Christ. We shall never be allowed to forget that it was by the way of the CROSS that the Lord Jesus Christ obtained the CROWN. Zechariah saw Messiah as King and Saviour 9:9, 10 When He came the first time, the Jews rejected Jesus as King and Saviour. But He was “born King of the Jews” (Matt. 2:2) and He offered Himself to His peo ple as the verses before us prophesied
Theythrewtheirheads inthe river
When the late Dr. Robert Jaffray en tered Borneo, Dutch officials told him . . .“ You are wasting your time. Your gospel will not change the Dyaks . . . It takes an army to control them!’ For Borneo’s “ wild man” is a head hunter . . . Piles of shrunken, smoky heads are his badge of manhood . . . So it has been for centuries. But miracles followed the gospel . . . Soon happy bands of Dyaks gath ered on the banks of Borneo’s many rivers . . . They sang hymns as they threw hundreds of human heads into the water. The gospel had done what an army could not do . . . 12,000 were baptized in ten years. Write for free booklet, “ Dawn Among the Dyaks” The miracle story of present-day missions among the Head Hunters. The ChristianandMissionary ALLIANCE Dept. K2 • 260 WEST 44TH STREET • NEW YORK 18 In Canada: 145 EV EL YN AVENU E, TORONTO 9
Pray for the King’s Business
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