May, 1934
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
189
INTERNATIONAL LESSON C(mmm^arJ 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
JUNE 3, 1934 JESUS IN THE SHADOW OF THE CROSS M atthew 26 :l-75
29:23). These words of Solomon were proved true in Peter’s experience, as they have often been proved true in our own lives. We are to be distrustful of the natural heart, even in moments of exalted spiritual fervor. II. T he S hadow of the C ross (36-46). As we read these verses, we are on sacred ground in Gethsemane. In a spir itual sense, we come with unshod feet and with bowed hearts, to look upon the su preme manifestation of our Lord’s human ity and His absolute surrender to the will of God. A glimpse of His humanity is seen in His need and desire for human com panionship—He took His disciples with Him. Yet the three who seemed to be nearest to Him could not understand His agony sufficiently to accompany Him into the depths of it. His was a sorrow of heart and a heaviness of spirit too deep for human friends to relieve. He needed and sought the companionship of the Father, who alone could understand. We, too, come at times to crises when no human heart can beat in full sympathy with us in our sorrow, and at such times, we need “fellowship . . . with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.” The lesson provides a picture of the fear fulness of sin. Our Lord felt the pain of the approaching separation between Him self and the Father,'when the Lord should be “made sin for us, who knew no sin,” and the pure sinlessness of the heart of the Lord Jesus cried out against such a separa tion. The mere suggestion of it filled Him with an agony of spirit, as He contemplated the darkness into which His feet were even then taking Him. And His loneliness in this hour of need was emphasized by the sleeping disciples. So little did they un derstand! If sin were to us what it is to our Lord, we, too, would feel as He felt at its approach. The “cup” was not the fear of death. Such an interpretation of the word denies the Lord’s absolute sinlessness of character and conduct. Untouched by sin, He could not die. Not until He was actually upon the cross, and the sin of the world was upon Him (Isa. 53:12), did He become subject to death.- His death could not be accomplished until, by the sacrifice of Him self, He took and put away all sin. This sin-bearing was His mission—the fulfill ment also of the Old Testament types con tained in all the sacrifices and offerings. The “cup” was the outward suffering which the Lord Jesus Christ endured from both God and man. He was not praying that the cross should be avoided, because it was for the cross that He came to earth. The cross was ever before H im ; He never shrank from that (John 12:23-36; Heb. 12:2). But He was praying that nothing might be' allowed to interfere with the full outworking of the Father’s will. What ever was necessary for the sacrificial offer ing of Himself, He desired should be done, irrespective of the bitter consequences to Himself.
Lesson Text: Matt. 26 :31-46. Golden Text: “And he went a little fur ther, and fell on his face, and prayed, say ing, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt” (Matt. 26:39). Outline and Exposition J. T he W arning of C oming F ailure (31-35). I mmediately after Jesus had instituted the sacrament, which would thereafter serve to remind believers of His death and coming again, He began to prepare the disciples for the last scenes of His life upon earth. He graciously told them— what they should have known had they read with understanding the predictions of their prophets—that that very night they would all be ashamed of Him. Zechariah had written: “Smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered” (13:7). The disciples had left all to follow Christ; they had borne the scorn of their fellows; they had manifested their loyalty to the Lord; but the prophet had said that they would be scattered when the Shepherd was smit ten. However much it might have seemed that the Lord’s followers would not be scattered, Jesus knew they would be, because of what was written. They themselves might have known this fact also if they had understood and believed the Word. The disciples did not have to forsake Christ because the Scriptures said they would; but the Scriptures declared that He would be forsaken, because the Writer of the Scriptures knew what the men would do. God knew all that the future would hold, and He had written on the page of prophecy what would occur. But the fact that God had foreknowledge of the events centering in the cross, and had foretold them, did not relieve the men of their responsibility in the matter. ■ The Lord’s followers were so overcome by the declaration of Jesus’ approaching death and of their forsaking Him, that they apparently did not listen when He told them also Of His resurrection and of His meeting with them in Galilee (v. 32). It is surprising that they should have- for gotten His assertion that He would rise from the dead, for He had told them of His resurrection no less than seven times in the closing days of His life on earth. But this fact is no more surprising than that the church should have forgotten, seemingly, the numerous declarations in the Word of God concerning Christ’s re turn to earth. Forgetting the prophecy •concerning the Lord’s resurrection, the dis ciples were thrown into dismay and despair a t the time of the death of the Lord Jesus. Likewise the church, forgetting the pro
mise of His return, is filled with dismay and despair by the apparent victorious march of evil in the present day. In the light of what Jesus had just said, “All ye shall be offended because of me,” the self-confidence of Peter was most seri ous (vs. 33-35). Peter virtually was saying that the word of Jesus was not true. After three years of association with the Lord, Peter certainly should have known that Jesus could read the hearts of men. But the disciple was so sure of his own integ rity and loyalty that he actually could say that Jesus was mistaken! But there is in Peter’s words a revelation of his love for the Lord which we must not overlook. Well would it be if we, like Peter, could say that we loved the Lord so much that we could never be ashamed of Him, and that, regardless of what others might do, we could never forsake Him. But in Peter’s assertion, there was also a denial of the truth of Scripture. Jesus had just said that certain events would take place, because the Scripture had so declared. Peter said that these events would not take place, because he was too loyal to the Lord to allow such a result. But the Scriptures are always true, and the event, when it occurs, only proves the truth of the Word. The Lord taught the disciples that it is better for a man to be lieve, without having proof, than to wait for proof before he will believe. Moreover, there was in Peter’s denial a revelation of his ignorance of himself. We need, as Peter needed, to rest in the con sciousness of the Lord’s keeping of us, not in our holding on to Him. Luke informs us that Satan had desired to have Peter in order to sift him as wheat, and the Lord would allow Satan his opportunity. This testing was not designed to discourage Peter, but to bring him to that self-knowl edge which would ever afterward cause him to be distrustful of himself. Our fail ures are permitted for the same purpose. How little we understand the character of our own hearts, and how little we know their craven quality 1 The natural heart is proud, yet weak; boastful, yet cowardly; confident, yet afraid. “When pride cometh, then cometh shame” (Prov. 11:2). “A man’s pride shall bring him low” (Prov. BLACKBOARD LESSON
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