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T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
June 1924
Greeks and Romans who finally destroyed th e temple, razed th e city and drove them into an exile which was world-wide and age-long and from which they have not as yet re turned. F rom th e re tu rn from Babylon until the tim e of Christ th ere is no record of m iracle or Divine intervention. God m ight visit them in grace and mercy hu t th e re was no visible m anifestation of His power as in form er times. Heb. 8:13. When th rough m an’s unfaithfulness a dispen sation has been spoiled, God does not attem p t to fix it up. He takes it away to bring in something better. “Review: Rehoboam to Nehem iah.” So reads th e title of th is lesson. F ou r words; bu t how much lies back of them ! This period, covering about 500 years, was one of the saddest and d ark est of Israel’s history. W ith Rehoboam began th e division DEVOTIONAL of the Kingdom. The no rth ern king- OOMMENT dom had nineteen kings, every one of John A. Hubbard whom was evil. Jeroboam , th e first of these, sta rted the people on, th e down ward road by setting up th e two golden calves as objects of worship. F rom bad to worse they w ent till th e king dom was brought to an end by th e Assyrian captivity. The sou th ern kingdom, Judah, also had nineteen kings, some of whom were good, b u t more th a n h alf were evil. Josiah, th e fifteenth king, was one of th e very best; but afte r his death, the decline of the kingdom was very swift, culm inating in the Babylonian Captivity. I t was during th e period covered by th is review th a t all the g reat prophets appeared and exercised th eir m inistry. As previously noted, the presence of a prophet was always a sign of sp iritu al declension. They were sent to w arn the people and to en tre at them to re tu rn to God (2 Ki. 17-13). Thus th e ir presence was no t only an indication of the wickedness of th e people, bu t also a revelation of th e grace and goodness of God in seeking to win them back to H im self. “But as to Israel he saith, All th e day long did I spread out my hands” (as one who is lovingly en treating ) “ unto a disobedient and gainsaying people” (Rom. 10:21, cf. Isa. 65 :2 ). Through these prophets God also revealed His purposes as to Israel’s future. Jerem iah told of th e resto ration from th e Babylonian captivity, and th e prophecy was literally fulfilled, even to the exact time. Jerem iah, togeth er w ith most of the other prophets, also foretold a restoration, not only of Jud ah , b u t of aU Israel, united as one kingdom, dwelling in th eir own land, under the gracious, righteous reign of th e Prince of Peace. We can confidently count on a literal fulfillment of this, even though it may seem far less likely th an th e resto ration from Babylon. “ It is one thing to reject Jehovah, bu t it is quite another to dethrone Him. The first is possible. The second is impossible.” Since th e tim e of th e Babylonian captivity “ bu t one King of th e Davidic fam ily has been crowned a t Jerusalem , and He was crowned w ith thorns. But the Davidic covenant confirmed to David by th e oath of Jehovah, and renewed to Mary by th e angel Gabriel, is immutable, and the Lord God will yet give to th a t thorncrowned One ‘the throne of his fath e r David, and he shall reign over th e house of Jacob forever’ ” (Scofield). “ If we are faithless, he abideth faith fu l; for he cannot deny him self” . (2 Tim. 2 :1 3 ).
book of the law of Moses, which is the first five books of the Bible, be brought. And Ezra the priest, or m inister brought the book before th e men and women, and all who were old enough to understand. Now listen boys and girls to what happened. They* made a platform and pulpit of wood for Ezra so the people could see and h ear him as he read. He read to the people from morning un til noon, and every body was quiet and listened to every word, and remember these people had no seats, bu t stood all morning listening to God’s Word. When E zra opened th e book, he blessed the Lord, the g reat God. And all th e people answered, Amen, Amen, w ith lifting up th e ir heads, and worshipped th e Lord. You know while these people had been away in a strang e land, they had no temple and no worship, and many of them had forgotten God’s Word, and so they were so happy to hear it read once more, they would stand for half a day and listen. Boys and girls, ju st th in k we 1 have our nice com fortable churches and Sunday Schools, and we own a Bible, all our very own; sometimes we get tired and will not listen to God’s Word fo r even a little while. Ju st th ink of th e difference between E zra’s Bible school and ours. Are we happy and glad to h ear God’s Word? W hat would our country be like if we had no Bible and did not know any th ing about its teachings? Of course we would no t know Jesus, and we could not be saved from our sins. The boys and men grow up like savages, and th e girls in the coun tries where Jesus and the Bible are not known, are sold for a little money or traded for some cattle. The women are ju st slaves. How th ank fu l we should be th a t we live in a land where we have the Bible, and so happy th a t we would never w ant to miss being a t Bible school every Sunday. We should not only learn our memory verse, bu t make it true in ou r lives. “We will not forget thy Word.” Closing P rayer. JUNE 29, 192J REHOBOAM TO NEHEMIAH Review Golden Text: “ Righteousness exalteth a nation; but sin is a reproach to any people.” Proverbs 14:34. Devotional Reading: Micah 4:1-5.
T ^ R E S E N C E R ealized G O D ’ S K R O M 1 S E S F u lfilled * O W E R M a n ifested “ W h e n c o n d itio n s a r e m e t/ — Jo sh . 1 :8
The Babylonian captivity effectually cured the Jews of th e ir inveterate tendency to idolatry. It was a drastic remedy bu t it was successful. They retu rn ed from exile w ith an ineradicable h atred of idol worship and resumed th e ir place as w itnesses to Jehovah as th e LESSON supreme and only God. They have never EXPOSITION forgotten th e lesson. The Christian doc- F . W. F a rr trin e of th e T rinity of God is a stumbling- block to the acceptance of Christianity in many cases for they m isunderstand it as if it were T ri theism . The retu rn from captivity, however, did not set them in the place they had lost. They never regained th eir national independence nor reached th e heigh t of th e ir an cient glory. They w e re .subject in tu rn to the Persians,
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