THE KI NG' S BUSINESS
106
March, 1934
INTERNATIONAL LESSON Outline and Exposition Blackboard Lesson Children’s Division
Golden Text Illustration B y A lan S. P earce
Object Lesson B y E lmer L. W ilder
B y B essie B. B urch
B y B. B. S utcliffe
B y H elen G ailey
Points and Problems B y A lva J. M c C la in ; Ashland Theological Seminary, Ashland, Ohio
APR IL 1, 1934 THE RISEN CHRIST (Easter Lesson) J oh n 20:1-16
mies would desire. Those enemies had gone to the trouble o f having a guard set around the tomb in order to prevent the possible disappearance o f the body of the Lord Jesus. Who, then, could have removed the body? One would think that the very question would naturally have reminded the disciples o f the Lord’s promise o f His resurrection, but apparently it did not have this result, for they went to their homes.sad and troubled. How much grief the saints might avoid by simply believing the Word I III. T he P resent L ord (11-16). Mary remained at the tomb sorrowing. She stooped to look into the empty tomb, and she saw there two angels, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain (vs. 11, 12). She was sorrowing because the Lord was gone, and without Him, she was comfortless. Do we know Him so well that we should miss Him, if He were gone? Let us ask our selves what actual difference it would make, and how would we feel, if He were still buried in the tomb. Nothing could satisfy Mary’s heart, not even the angels’ message (v. 13). One might think that she would be overawed at the presence o f the heavenly visitants, but she was so preoccupied with her sor row concerning the Lord that even angels could not comfort her. Do we love the Lord so much that we, too, can be satis fied with nothing less than Himself? But this dear woman, like Peter and John, need not have sorrowed, had she re membered the Lord’s word that He would rise from the dead. It seems strange to us that while Christ’s enemies remembered what He had said, His own disciples for got. But before we blame the disciples, let us examine our own hearts. Is there not much sorrow among believers today which would be absent if we remembered and believed the Word spoken unto us? Mary found satisfaction. Turning from the angels, she beheld One whom she thought was the caretaker, and she asked Him if He had taken the body of her Lord, and if so, where He had laid it (vs. 14, IS). Then Jesus spoke to her, calling her by name. Hearing that well-remem bered voice, Mary’s heart was satisfied (v. 16). Likewise, one day all our questions will be answered and all our sorrow will be changed to joy, when; the voice of the risen Lord is heard. “ So shall we ever be with the Lord” ' in the gladness of the resurrection day. Points and Problems Luke tells us that our Lord showed Hjmself alive after His Passion “by many infallible proofs” (Acts 1:3). And just as there are many infallible proofs of His resurrection, so also the resurrection itself, once established, becomes the infallible proof of many other important things. 1. The resurrection o f Christ proves the truth o f Scripture. Christ rose, as Paul writes in 1 Corinthians IS :4, “according to
Golden T ext;. “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God” (Col. 3:1). Outlino and Exposition I. T he O pened T omb (1, 2), ® here were other women with Mary Magdalene on the first Easter morn ing. They came with her to the tomb to mourn because of what they thought was the death of Jesus. On the way, they had been discussing among themselves who should roll the stone from the door o f the tomb; consequently they were greatly sur prised when, arriving at the sepulchre, they found the stone already removed. The stone had been rolled away, not in order to al low the Lord to come forth, but rather to allow the disciples to enter in, that they might believe the reality o f the resurrec- •tion. It should be remembered that in His resurrection body, our Lord was unhin dered by any material obstructions, for that body could pass through solids more easily than our bodies can pass through the air, and it is unto the pattern of this, “his glo rious body,” that the bodies o f the saints will one day be conformed (Phil. 3 :20, 21; Rom. 8:29; 1 John 3:1-3). The resurrection occurred on the "first day o f the week,” signifying something new. The seventh day is the fulfillment of a complete cycle, the first day begins a new cycle. Having found the tomb empty, Mary Magdalene immediately hurried away to find the disciples and to tell them the start ling news of the removal (as she thought) of the body of the Lord. She had no idea that the Lord Jesus was actually risen from among the dead. The disciples like wise shared her view. II. T he A bsent B ody (3-10). On hearing the news that Mary Magda lene brought, Peter and “that other disci ple,” who is generally thought to have been John; began to run toward the tomb. John, being the younger, outran Peter and ar rived first at the tomb; but he did not enter—he merely stooped down and looked in. Impulsive Peter followed him, entered at once Into the tomb, and saw the linen clothes lying there, with the napkin which had been about the Lord’s head wrapped -together in a place by itself. “Then went in also that other disciple, . . . and he saw, and believed. For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead” (vs. 8, 9). That was their trouble—they did not know the Scripture. They should have known it. A t least seven times before the Lord was crucified, He told them that He was to rise again. But being overcome with
sorrow at His death, their minds refused to grasp the truth of His resurrection. Hence, when He died, they were thrown into con sternation and bewilderment; they were afraid and troubled. All o f this anguish might have been avoided had they listened to and believed the spoken, as well as the written, word. Today, many believers are fearful and troubled about the course of world events. They forget that thus it is written, and thus it must be. Present-day saints, like the early disciples, are afflicted with blind eyes which must “see” before they believe. Hopeless and uncertain because of what was, to them, the strange disappearance o f the Lord’s body, Peter and John returned to their home. What questionings must have filled their minds that morning as they considered what they had seen I They knew that they had not removed the Lord’s body, and they knew also that its removal would be the last thing that Christ’s ene- BLACKBOARD LESSON M O L E S — OR, M E A D O W LA R I/ 5 ?
IT YE BE CHRIST _____SEEK THOSE THINGS A I 3 Q V E I f S E T N O T YOUR. A FFEC TIO N ON TH IN G S B ELO W . RISEN W IT H
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