S T U D I E S IN THE NEW T E S T AME N T
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FOR INDIVIDUAL MEDITATION
AND FAMILY WORSHIP
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By R. A. TORREY
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than to have both Moses and Elijah, yes, it was better far than to have Jesus and Moses and Elijah. Jesus is sufficient. Thursday, December 2. Luke 9 :37-43 a. Upon the mountain we saw the Kingdom of God with power. Down in the valley we now see the Kingdom of Satan come with power. But Satan had to yield to the Stronger than he, that is, Jesus. The father of the boy who is in the power of the evil spirit, is heart broken and in despair. He has besought the disciples of Jesus to cast the evil spirit out of his son, and they have failed. Jesus had once given them power and authority over all demons (v. 1 ), but that power had not been maintained by prayer and faith (v. 41; cf. Matt. 17:19- 21; Mfirk 9:29), and they are now im potent; “they could not” give the help the distressed father sought. In his extremity the father turned to the right one, to the I Lord Jesus Himself. He is intensely in earnest, “Master, I. beseech Thee to look upon my son: for he is mine only begot ten,” is his piteous cry. This little touch, “only begotten,” is lost in both the Auth orized and Revised Versions, but it is there in the Greek. The word translated * “only child” in both versions is exactly the same word that is translated “only be gotten” when used of our Lord in John 3 :16. It indicates an only child, just as it is translated here, in both versions, and that shows that when.applied to our Lord Jesus it indicates that He is the only Son of God in the sense in which He is the Son of God, and that the modern doctrine that He is the Son of God only in the sense in which we are all sons of God, is absolutely contrary to the plain teaching of the Scripture. Jesus knew how dear an “only begotten” was to his father. The case was desperate, and from a human
Wednesday, December 1. Luke 9 :31-36.
The one subject 'that occupied the at tention of Moses and Elijah on this oc casion was His death. The atoning death of Jesus is a subject of supreme interest to the heavenly , world (cf. v. 21 ). Al though Peteir- and his companions had fallen asleep as the Lord prayed, they were “fully awake” now (R. V.), and they- saw His glory.” The disciples evidently recog nized Moses and Elijah, whom they had never seen in the flesh, and this ougat to settle the question whether we wjll recog nize in glory those whom we have known on earth.. There was one man in the com pany who acted just like himself on this- momentous occasion. Without thinking or knowing what he said, and when lie should have kept still, he blurted out a silly prop osition to which no attention whatever was paid. His foolish speech was brought to a sudden and solemn close, there “came a cloud,” the-cloud that enshrouded God’s own presence. That cloud first over shadows; them, and then envelops them, and an awful fear takes hold upon them. From that cloud a voice speaks : “This is my Son, my chosen: hear ye Him.” Who can measure the depth of God s joy in that Son, who right there in the moment of His being glorified, turns His back on the glory aiid chooses the cross. God passes by Moses and Elijah, great as they were, and points opt Jesus as His one Son and saysi “Heat H int” No one, not even Moses or Elijah, can be put in comparison with the Lord Jesus. Those who will not obey God’s voice and hear Him, must meet destruction (Acts. 3:23; Heb. 12.25). When the cloud had passed by “Jesus was found alone.” They were to have, not Jesus and Moses, and Elijah, but “Jesus only.” To have Jesus only was better far
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