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in which God spoke to the heart of the prophet. God has chosen the weak and insignificant things of the world to con found the mighty. One must get away from the hurry and worry of the mod ern life to hear the voice of God. At the conclusion of the war with Syria, Ahab very foolishly seems to have ceased to fol low the instructions of the prophet of God who had told him how to conduct the campaign, and released Ben-hadad, the Syrian king, and made a covenant with him. Shortly after this Ahab decided that he wanted the vineyard of Naboth; but being denied it, he returnèd home in a sullen spirit. Upon being asked by his wife what the trouble was, he informed her. She immediately took the situation in hand and planned how she might pro cure the vineyard, and carried out the plan. Elijah, being sent by the Lord, met Ahab in Naboth’s vineyard when he was there to take possession of the same, and uttered a prophecy concerning the com plete destruction of Ahab’s house. The law of sowing and reaping obtained here as it does in all instances, because the Lord is a God Who watches over all the affairs of men and recompenses each ac cording to his work. Ahab is an example of a weak, wicked character who was a ready tool in the bands of his wife, who was stout, deter mined wickedness personified. Ahab’s repentance (1 Kgs. 21:29) averted the calamity in his day and time, but the judgment came later (cf. the re- -pentance of the Ninevites). Another prophet concerning whom we studied during the quarter is Amos, whose life fell within the’first half of the eighth century B. C. He lived in Judea, but was called to prophesy in the Northern King dom. He was a very bold and fearless man of God who spoke forth faithfully the Word of the living God as all minis ters should do today. In the first two chapters of his prophecy he took a survey of the surrounding na tions and pronounced judgment upon them because of outstanding national sins of which they were guilty. Today God will punish nations for their wrongdoings as much as in the days of Amos. He denounced the sins of the Chosen People in very clear and unmistakable language. The two outstanding charac teristics of his preaching are his denuncia tion of sin in every phase and his concep tion of absolute righteousness. His proph ecy concludes with a bright picture of Is rael restored to fellowship with God and to her own land. A third prophet of whom we studied is Hosea, who was a contemporary of Amos. The predominant characteristic of his message was that of eternal love and grace. It is true that he in unmistakable language condemned sin and unrighteous ness, but at the same time the element of love overshadowed stern justice. He had to deal with great international problems, for at this time the Assyrian nation was beginning to appear in the eastern horizon and to threaten the smaller kingdoms of western Asia. Being an intellectual court ier at the court he of necessity had to take cognizance of political movements of the day. Another prophet of whom we studied was the great evangelical prophet Isaiah. In many respects Isaiah is the favorite of all the prophets. This fact is probably due to the fact that so many of his ut terances have been preserved to us, which
utterances hold out such glowing hope for Israel and the world at large. He indeed has a great message for all peoples of all times. — o — What We Have Learned This Quarter Memory Verse: “God will bless us.” ' Psa. 67:7. Approach: The fire bell or whistle does not make the fire, but tells us of it. The red flag or light on the highway does not cause danger, but warns of danger. God
FRED S. SHEPARD ’S BLACKBOARD OUTLINE GOD R JiIGNETH—Psa. 97:1. EQUIRETH—Isa. 37:6. EQUITES—ïsa. 37:20. Thy God reigneth.—Isa. 52:7.
always has a mes sage ,for those who will listen. It is al ways a message of w a r n i n g and of p r o m i s e . Some times it c ome s through a child. Lit tle Samuel. The cap tive maid and Naa- man the l e p e r .
who are tuned in to hear it. Let us seek to hear, then gladly obey the voice of God. —Arnold’s Com. Any thinking teacher or parent knows the crying need among children today is obedience to parents and those in author ity. In conducting the review bear this in mind, and emphasize this truth as yqu re view a few of the outstanding characters. With the little folk do not try to cover too much ground, as it will tend to cdn- fuse. Choose one or two characters. As you teach the memory verse, refresh your own memory with the whole Psalm, and note the blessing followed making God’s way known upon earth, and giving God due praise. Prayer. - PH Joseph was greatly perplexed, and as “he thought on these things, the angel o f the Lord appeared unto him in a dream saying . . . . that which is conceived in her is o f the Holy Ghost .” It was also revealed to him that this was the fulfil ment of the prophecy of Isaiah. “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which, being interpreted is, God with us" (Mt. 1:20-23). It was no time to take a journey to Bethlehem, but Augustus ordered the gen eral census to obtain correct statistics of the resources of the empire, and all must go. In carrying out this order, the gov ernor followed the Jewish usage of di vision by tribes. Joseph and Mary be longed to the tribe of David. That is established by their being ordered to go to Bethlehem, the seat of that tribe. To Bethlehem they must go, no matter what the conditions. Luke takes up the story. “While they were there the days were accomplished that she should be delivered" (v. 6 ). A thousand years before, this same town had bestowed upon the house of Israel its royal psalmist and divine hero, Da vid. Here also the good Boaz, kinsman redeemer of Ruth, had abode. Rachel, Naomi, Ruth and Mary furnish us a clus ter of beautiful names connected with Bethlehem in incidents upon which the heart loves to dwell. Here, weary with the long journey far from home, in the midst of strangers, in circumstances devoid of all comforts, in the rude stable attached to an inn, Mary gave birth to the child conceived of the Holy Ghost. The empire of the Son of God, that empire of pure, undying, self- sacrificing love, never to perish, there be-
Sometimes the message comes through a Mary Jones and her Bible. Mary was a little Welch girl who wanted a Bible so . much that she worked for many months to save money, then walked a whole day to get one. This so impressed the people they started ways to get Bibles; and the great Bible Societies are the result. God’s message is still being broadcast to those
D ecem ber 25, 1927 Christmas Lesson Text: Luke 2:1-20
C OD moved the Roman Emperor to issue a decree for the enrollment and taxation of the Roman world in order that Mary, the Virgin mother, might be
in Bethlehem, the city of David, at an ap pointed time. It was there the prophet Mi- cah had declared the Savior s h o u l d be borri. While it was the decree of a ruler that
brought the prophecies to be literally ful filled, yet the first announcement of the Savior’s birth was not given in a royal palace, or to those who sat in the seats of the mighty, but to humble Jewish shep herds guarding their flocks by night. Yet this was not a message to Jesus only, but to the whole world, hence the news of the coming of the Eternal King was given also to the Gentile wise men from the East. God used language that each would best understand. He spoke to the Jewish shepherds by an angel and to the Gentiles by' the stars. The taxing ordered by Caesar Au gustus and executed by Cyrenius, the gov ernor, was an enrollment of the inhab itants and their estates. Luke mentions it not only to mark the time of Christ’s birth, but to prove that He was born in Bethlehem and that His parents were known at that time to be branches of the royal family of David. The home of Joseph and Mary was at Nazareth. The sure word of prophecy had declared that the Messiah should be born at the native place of his royal an cestor, David. Mary, the wife of Jo seph, was at that very time about to be come a mother, although as husband and wife they had not come together (Mt. 1:18).
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