March, 1942
THE K I NG ’ S BUSINESS
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Growing out of this teaching con cerning the resurrection of the body comes the exhortation to be “stead fast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.” Too many are engaged in feverish work for the Lord, instead of being calmly busy in the work of the Lord. The latter can say with assurance that they know their work is not in vain. They need not say, “We have reason to hope,” for they know. Whether, they dan see re sults from their labors or not, those results are certain; their work is not in .vain, and will be reyealed when the Lord comes. Points and Problems. 1. "And Jesus answering said unto them" (Mk. 12:241;; The teaehër of this lesson should, of course, read the pre ceding verses 18-23 to show precisely what the question was that our Lord was answering, and also who it was that raised the question. Üsing the Mosiac law which required a man to marry his brother’s widow in case the dead man had left no children, the Sadducees invented the' rather absurd supposition of seven brothers who successively had béen married to the same woman without leaving any seed, and wanted to know whose the woman would be in”the resurrection! Now before considering the Lord’s an swer to this problem, we should under stand exactly what the Sadducees be lieved. They were the “modernists” or “rationalists" of that day, and there fore their tenets consisted for the most part of denials. According to Acts 23 :8, which is â more reliable source of in- forrhation than Josephus or the Tal mud, “The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel: nor spirit." Now it is deeply interesting to note that in our Lord's answer to these Sadducees, He singles out and deals a smashing blow to each one of these three denials. : 2. "For when they shall rise from the dead" (v: 25). Here is the Lord’s answer, to the first of the Sadducean denials—the dead'will rise again. But' He cautions them nof to suppose that the resurrection life will be a mere resumption of the present life, for that would be the pagan doctrine .of resus citation, not resurrection at all in the strict Biblical sense. Bor one thing, in the resurrection life the marriage re lationship in its physical sensé will no longer continue. Our Lord’s words, “They neither marry, nor are given in marriage,” certainly canhot be pressed to mean that all the tender and precious ties of home and family will be abolished over there. We must remember that Christ was answering a very definite Sadduceart objection, and that had to do specifically with the sex relationship of marriage. There will be nothing like that, the Lord affirms, in the future life of'the saved.
day of the week, some of the women came to anoint. His body with sweet spices. When they arrived at His grave, they found the, Stone rolled away and a young man, clothed in white, sitting.near where Jesus had- lain. He said, .“Be not affrighted: ye, seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here” (Mk. 16:6). Before long, they saw Jesus Himself, and how happy they were when they knew that He was alive again! v Easterns the happiest day Of all the year, for it reminds us that our won derful Lord is alive for evermore. It re minds us, too, that He said, “Because I live, ye shall live also” (John 14:19). We do riot need to be afraid to die if we belong to Jesus, for we know- that we shall rise, too. Do you belong to Him? Would you like to? He would like to have'you. Joseph S. Flacks, a devoted Hebrew Christian, prepared a triumphant tes timony to be mailed to his friends at the tlpie of his death, and caused it to be written on postal cards, in readi ness for the time it would be needed. On August'14, 1940, the day the Lord took Mr. Flacks to be with Himself» thé cards required only the addition of the date line before they were posted. The message read: Golden Text Illustration 1 C orinthians 15:57 ' August 14, 1940 TRIUMPHANT t h r o u g h GRACE This is to announcei I moved out of the Old mud house (2 Cor. 5:1). Arrived in Glory-land instant ly, in chargé of the angelle escort (Lk. 16:22). Absent from the body, AT HOME with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:6). I find as' foretold (Psa. 16:11), in His presence FULLNESS of JOY ; . . PLEASURES for ever more! Will look for YOU on THE WAY UP at the redemption of the body (Rom. 8:23). Till then, LOOK UP! J. S. FLACKS. OBJECTS: A piece of gray paper 18 inches Square, and a piece of light gray paper about 9 inches, square. (Round the corners and curve the edges of the large piece to fepresent. a tomb, and the corners and edges of the small piece to represent a stone door for the tomb. Near the center of the large piece draw, with a crayon the outline of a doorway. Nee- Object Lesson . D eath D efeated
3. "But are as the angels which are In heaven" (v. 25). Here is the Lord’s answer to the second denial of the Sàdducees. They said there are no angels. Christ says that in heaven there are angels. And in 'their resur rection life the children of God are to be “as the angels.” This does not mean what some have supposed, namely, that we are to be angels. Nor does it mean that we are to bë like the angels in every respect. Here again, the Lord’s words must be interpreted in the light of the, question He was answering. With respect to the physical relation ship of marriage, we are to be as the angels, who neither marry nor are given in marriage. -4. "God spake unto him [Moses], saying, I am the God of Abraham" tv. 26). Here the Lord answers the third denial of the Sadducees. Théy argued that man had no “spirit,” and that when he died, therefore he ceased to exist. •But Christ, points out that after thé patriarchs had beep dead for many years; God still declares, "I am the God Of Abraham.” And from this He argues that they must still exist after death, for God is not, the God of men who do not exist. But if men. exist after death,: there must be such a thing as “spirit.” Thus the Lord “put the Sadducees to silence” ' (Matt. 22:34), shut them up completely. A Glad. Glad Day M ark 12:26, 27; 16:1-1,1; 1 C orinthians 15:50-58 MEMORY VERSE: “The Lord is risen Indeed” (Lk. 24:34). APPROACH: There is a day that wè all love, a glad, glad day, Do you know what it is? Yes, it is.Easter. Do you know what Easter means? Some children think it means bunnies and colored eggs. Some grown people think
it means a chance to show off their new clothes..' But neither of, these is the true meaning of Easter. Let me tel} you the Easter Story. LESSON STORY: The Lord Jesus, after, walking and
talking with His disciples for about three years, had been taken from them anc| had been nailed to the cruel cross. Some of them had stood there and watched Him die. Their hearts were broken ; their hopes were broken, too, for they thought they had lost Him forever. They did not understand that He h^d laid down His life for them and that He would take it up again, when the time came. Some Of them took Him down from the cross and laid Him in a tomb in a garden. Then they went away, sorrowing. Early in the morning of thè first 5 -Division
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