85
February, 1944
In ternationa ! Lesson Commentary
Outline and Exposition B. B. S u t c l if f e Points and Problems ■ H omer A. K ent Golden Text-Illustration A lan S. P earce Blackboard Lesson G retchen S ibley ,
..v
MARCH 5,1944 JE SU S U R G E S H IS D IS C IP L E S T O W A T C H M ark 13:1-37
Object Lesson E l m e r L. W il d e r -Children’s Division M ildred M- C ook
future things is nothing new, but is as old as the history of the church. It is little wonder, then, that there should be in our day all sorts of twisting of Scripture in an effort to make it fit man-made speculations. It is a good thing to understand the broad out lines of prophecy without striving -to produce a schedule upon which the' Lord must operate. Jesus warned His disciples against their being deceived either by men or events (vs. 5-8). Many would come claiming to be Christ, and many events would occur which might cause His followers to think they were see ing the final fulfillment of prophecy. This condition has prevailed, even un til our day. Thus the “ beginning of travail” has been apparent for many years, and we should be. careful lest we fa ll into the snare of dogmatizing in matters of this kind. At the same time, it must be remembered that God’s Word w ill be fulfilled literally and completely in His own time and way. Christians must keep ih mind that the event to which our Lord referred in this passage is connected with the coming of Christ to reign, and thàt this is the second phase of His return. This coming has to do with the earth and its peoples. The hope of the church is the rapture of believers (1 Thess. 4:16, 17), an event which is to precede Christ’s coming to reign. The rapture has to do, not with the na tions of earth, primarily, but with the body of Christ and their Lord. Therè are two distinct comings still to take place. Ignorance of these two events has caused much, if not all, of the confusion existing in the interpreta tion of the prophetic Word. II. T he P redicted E xperience of t h e * D isciples (9, 10) Thé disciples were promised that they would meet persecution, opposi tion, and trouble. This condition, which began to befall them almost at once, w ill be intensified after the church has gone from the earth, and
Mark 13:3 And a* h* sat upon the mount of Olives over against the temple. Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, 4 Tell us, when shSlt these things be? and what shall be the sign when, all these things shall be fulfilled? 5 And Jesus answering them began to say, Take heed lest any man deceive you: 6 For many shall came (.n jiry' name, say ing, I am Christ: aim shall deceive many. 7 And when ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet. 8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes In divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows. 9 But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and In the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them. 10 And the gospel must first be pub lished among all nations. 31 Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my wocds shall not pass away. 32' But of that day and that hour Jcnow- eth no man, no, not the angels, which are In heaven, neither the Sion, but the Father. 33 Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is. 34 For the-Son of man Is as a man taking a far Journey, whe^left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. 35 Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at evbn, or at midnight, or at the eockcrowing, or In the morning: 36 Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. 37 And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch. LESSON T E X T : Mk. 13:3-10, 31-37. GOLDEN T E X T : "Watch ye therefore; for ye know not when the master of the house coraeth’’ (Mk. 13:35). DEVOTIONAL READING: 1 Thess. 5:1-11. Outline and Exposition i T he R evelation to the D isciples (3-8) H EARING JESUS predict the de would occur (v6v 3, 4). The Lord Jesus did not .answer them directly, nor did He attempt to satisfy their curiosity. The present-day idle questioning about
Lesson material is based on outlines of International Sunday School Lessons, copyrighted by International Council of Reli gious Education; used by per mission. thè “ day of the Lord” has been ush ered in. The Bible speaks of tribula tion in a general sense and of “the tribixlation”—a period of unprecedent ed trouble. During that time the gospèl w ill be preached to all nations, and then the end of what is called “ the tribula tion” w ill come. If we think that thè gospel must be preached to all nations before the church can be caught away to be with Christ, we deny the immi- nency of the “ blessed hope” (T it 2:13). We are already assured that the gos pel has thus been preached (cf. Col. 1:23, where the meaning is either “every •creature,” or, as the Revised Version indicates, “ all creation” ). There is nothing predicted to Occur before the fulfillment of the “ blessed hope,” the coming of the Lord to the air to catch away His church. III. T he A ttitude for the D isciples (31-37) Repeatedly in this chapter the Lord commanded, “ Take ye heed,” and He concluded His warning against decep- tion with a fourfold injunction to “watch:” The fulfillment of the proph ecy of Christ’s return is, like all other prophecies, sure to be fulfilled exactly as promised (v. 31). While the fact of Christ’s appear ing is certain, the time is known to no man, nor te angels, nor even to the Son of man. When Christ made this declaration concerning Himself, He re ferred of course to His relationship as the Servant of ' Jehovah—a position which He assumed voluntarily when He came to be the Saviour of sinners
struction of the temple, four disciples asked Him privately concerning the time when this event,
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker