THE KING’S BUSINESS
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3. Why They Were Duped (9:14; Eph. 6:11, 18; James 1:5). 4. Israel’s Honorable Conduct (9 :19, 20). The wrong was done, they should not add perfidy. “One gleam of comfort, how ever, we are permitted to gather from the old story of the Gibeonites. Inexcusable as was their neglect to seek His counsel, God graciously brought out of the evil somewhat of blessing. These deceivers of His people should henceforth be their hewers of wood and drawers of water;—some compensa tion should be found for what they had lost . . . the Lord can surely put the mistakes of His people among the all things that work together for good to them that love Him.” IV. T he S tory of the B attle of G ibeon (ch. 10:1-27). The sun, the moon and the elements are against the enemies of God and His Church, the stars are against Sisera (Judges 5:20), and for the people of the covenant. To teach this alone was worthy of the stu pendous signs of that day. “Praise ye Him, sun and moon:, praise Him all ye stars of light” (Ps. 148:2, 8). The ma terial sun waits on spiritual sons.
trieved. If judgment began at the house of the Lord, where should the wicked and ungodly be found? II. T he S tory of E bal and G erizim . 1. Consecrating the Land. The way to the interior being now open Joshua set up •the altar, offered the propitiatory blood and so took the land in the name of the God of all grace, carefully following the in structions of Moses (Exod. 20:25), thus confessing that they overcame “by the blood of the Lamb.” 2. Inscribing the Law of the Land. Once in the heart of the country the Law was engraved on its granite, but unhappily not yet on the heart of Israel (Jer. 31:33). Read Deuteronomy 27:9-26. Imagine the scene. Where else in history anything like it? The moral law, the avowed constitution of a nation ! The blessings, the curses, the amens (or so-ibe-its)—now the historic ful fillment ! III. T he S tory of the G ibeonites . 1. The Crafty Diplomacy of Gibeon (ch. 9:4). 2. Israel Trapped in a Forbidden Treaty (9:15; Exod. 34:12; 2 Cor. 6:14). Our Lord is the Word for He has told out God (v. 18). He lay like all words unuttered in the bosom (v. 18), and then uttered Himself. He only manifests God, His will, wisdom, power, grace and glory— whether in creation, providence, or re demption. “The Word” (Grk. "Logos”) is that Divine person whose function it is to reveal the invisible. John says, “In the beginning,” looking back to Genesis 1 :1, the beginning before the beginning, out of which things that begin began. “The Word,” being at the beginning, thus had no beginning (Ps. 90:2*; Prov. 8:23-30; Eph. .1:4; 1 John 1:1; John 8:58). “The Word was God,” says John. In verse 14 he says,
LESSON XII.—December 21.— C hristmas L esson .— John 1:1-18. G olden T ext : And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. — -John 1:14. T H E WORD WAS MADE F L E SH . I. T he W ord . “The Word became flesh,” but in verse 1 that He “was,” not “that He became” God. II. T he W ord M ade the W orld .
It was the Logos who made every atom and combination of atoms, “all things” (v. 3); and every finite spirit (Col. 1:16; Eph. 6:12). It was His “fingers” the Psalmist sings about (Ps. 8:3, 4). It was through “the Word” that the heavens “declare” and “utter” the glory of God (Ps. 19:1, 2). III. T he W orld M ade for the W ord . "Logos” (“word”) means, also, both cause and reason. “The Word” is not only the Cause of all things, but the Reason for them (Col. 1:16; Heb. 2:10), He is the Adam under whom all things are put (Geri. 1:28; Ps. 8:4-9; Hek 2:6-9)
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