October, 1935
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
381
52:12 which makes it the ‘‘tenth day o f the month.” But notice that two events are mentioned. Nebuzar-adan probably came to Jerusalem on the seventh, and began the burning on the tenth. Golden Text Illustration In an address in Los Angeles, Dr. Har vey Farmer of the North Africa Mission referred to his acquaintance with the first Protestant missionary to Japan. So effec tive was the witness o f this missionary, that members o f the royal family became interested. The Emperor finally declared that if what the missionary said could be proved to be true, he would set about to make Christianity the state religion of Japan. In order to be perfectly sure before he acted, the ruler appointed five o f his leading men to go on a tour o f Europe and America with a view o f learning what they could about Christianity. The trip was nearly completed when these men were invited to Cambridge in England where the saintly Bishop Moule was then located as Principal of Ridley Hall. He invited the distinguished guests to breakfast, and in the course o f the conversation, he asked them this question :-'i“Tell me, gentlemen, what is the report that you will take back to your Emperor?” They replied: “We will tell him much of what we have observed. In a sentence it is : That the Book is all right, but that it doesn’t work.” What a sad commentary on national and personal sin in so-called “ Christian na tions” !—S elected . A Black Man God Cared For J eremiah 39:1-18 Memory Verse: “The Lord is good to all” (Psa. 145:9). Approach: A few weeks ago we were talking together about the prophet Jere miah and the message of warning from the Babylonians, would come in and cap ture the beautiful city of Jerusalem. The people put Jeremiah in a deep dungeon of the prison, where they couldn’t hear what he had to say. But there was a man, a black man from Ethiopia, who was sorry for Jeremiah and begged the king to let him be saved. This man, Ebed-melech, took old cloths and tied them together to form a rope, and he lifted Jeremiah out of the dungeon with it. Lesson Story: Not so very long after this, the things which Jeremiah had prophesied about Jerusalem began to come true. The Babylonians, after a long siege of the city, rushed in and captured it. Then the wicked king Zedekiah and all his men o f war fled, but the enemies fol lowed and captured them. The Babylon ians brought them back to punish them. First, they took the king’s sons and killed them. Next, they took the nobles and killed them. Then they took Zedekiah himself and put out his eyes and bound him with chains and took him captive to Babylon. Do you suppose that Zedekiah ^ V i s i O * G o d w h i c h he brought to the chil dren of Israel. You remember that they hadn’t liked the mes sage because they didn’t want to turn from their wicked ways as Jeremiah told them to d o ; and they wouldn’t believe him when he said that their enemies,’
remembered what Jeremiah had said would happen? But what had happened to Jeremiah and to the black man who had saved him from the dungeon ? God had not forgotten them. The king o f Babylon sent word to his captain o f the guard to take Jeremiah and free him and let him go and live where- ever he wished, and no one was to harm him. God took care o f the black man, too. God sent this message to him through Jeremiah: “For I will surely deliver thee . . . because thou hast put thy trust in me.”
through the thumb, and thus the thumb is cold. If the blood should be completely shut off from the thumb for a certain period o f time, the flesh on the thumb would decay. This rubber band reminds me o f sin. Where allowed to, sin tightens itself around individuals and nations, causing decay and death. It was sin that caused death to enter the human family. Adam and Eve would never have died had it not been for sin. What a happy world this would be without sin and death 1 Nations as well as individuals feel the deadening influences o f sin. The children of Israel felt the effects o f it. From time to time, they had battles with their enemies because of sin. Finally, they were carried away into captivity because they allowed sin to fasten itself upon them. They were sure that they could never be carried away as prisoners, but they were conquered by their enemies, nevertheless. People today think that they are too smart to be cap tured and deadened by sin, but people are being caught every day. Notice how helpless this thumb is toTree itself from the rubber band. No matter how much it wiggles, it cannot get free. These scissors which I hold in my other hand remind me of the power o f God. If the thumb will hold still, the scissors will cut the rubber band and free it. God is longing to cut the power of sin from indi viduals and nations, if they will only per mit Him to do it. The thumb now is free, and soon it be comes as warm as the rest o f the hand. When those who are sin-bound allow God to free them, they are rescued from death and destruction, and are allowed to live a happy, useful life. Lord would teach Ezekiel what his con duct. was to be. The illustration found in the opening verses o f this chapter was given in order to reveal to Ezekiel his per sonal responsibility in the position which the Lord had called him. Ezekiel had been set as a “watchman unto the house of Israel.” The very fact of the prophet’s appointment showed that God was ready and willing for Israel’s repentance, and that He waited only for the nation’s return to Him before He would quickly deliver His people from the hands and the land of their enemies. Warnings from God do not have their source in the mind of the prophet, but the prophet must “hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me” saith the Lord (v. 7). Alas, words o f reproof are always disliked. But for the Lord’s watchman the responsibility remains. He must utter whatever message may be given to him of the Lord. He must not soften it, nor cur tail its meaning. If he does not faithfully discharge his commission, danger threatens his own soul; but if he does speak forth the Lord’s message, whatever may be the outcome, the messenger has delivered his soul. The one who brings the message has nothing to do with the results of the message; his business is to speak the words given to him and there his responsibility ends. We should remember — especially we who are workers in Sunday-schools— that we, too, are messengers for the Lord with a messenger’s responsibility resting upon us.
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R.C»NA
Object Lesson A C old T humb
Objects: A rubber band wrapped around the thumb o f one hand, and a pair of scissors. Lesson: Do you boys and girls notice anything wrong with my hand? “Yes, your thumb is blue.” Not only is my thumb blue, but it is cold as well. You boys on the front seat can feel my thumb and see how cold it is. The rest of my hand feels warm. What do you think causes my thumb to be cold? “That black rubber band.” Yes, you are right. The rubber band keeps the warm blood from flowing freely
NOVEMBER 10, 1935 EZEKIEL TEACHES PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY E zekiel 18:1-32; 33:1-20
Lesson T ext: Ezek. 33:7-16. Golden T ext: “ So then every one o f us shall give account of himself to God” (Rom. 14:12).
Outline and Exposition I.
T he M essenger from G od (7-9). I srael had been carried captive out of her land because of the sinfulness and disobedience of the nation (2 Ki. 17), and Ezekiel was among the captives. The judgment was upon the whole nation, and innocent individuals in the nation suffered with the others. But the Israelites were still God’s people, even though they were undergoing punishment, and by His prophets—Ezekiel among them—God was still pleading with them. Using the figure o f a watchman, the
BLACKBOARD LESSON
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