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T H E
K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
August 1924
he said that the best was generally served first, and then when people had about enough, the poorer wine was served. Now boys and girls do you know why this wine Jesus made was so good? It was good to drink in a few moments, and the wine we hear about has to stand a long while until the grape juice ferments and turns to alcohol, and then we know JeSus would not make anything that would hurt people. Our memory verse-is what the mother of Jesus said to the servants. “Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it.?’ That is what we want to remember, to do whatever Jesus says to us in His Word, the Bible. Closing Prayer. .AI&. M JESUS CLEANSES THE TEMPLE Golden Text: “My house shall be called the house of prayer.” Matthew 21:13. Besson Text: John 2:13-22. Devotional Reading: Psalm 15J .(Read Matthew 21:12, 13; Mark 11: 15-17; Luke .19 :45 ,; 46).
should pay a half shekel every year for the up-keep of the Temple, Ex. 30:11^16, and this must be paid in Jewish money, but the law permitted those who lived far away to sell their first fruits and buy their offerings at Jerusalem, Deut. 14:24-26. The family of Annas, the high priest, is said to have had a monopoly of this business which became notorious for dishonesty. Thus a place of worship became a ,.crowded and noisy bazaar. The lowing of oxen, THE HARPY FAMILY OF STUDENTS AND FACULTY •wi (Gathered in Front of From which 119 Splendid Young Men and Women, from the Day and Evening Classes, Graduated Thursday, June 19, 1 Christian Workers, in the Delightful Climate of Southern California, shon ^ , i!.J , T ' this unholy traffic might have laid violent hands upon the Reformer for Sis interference. There are methods of raising money for the cause of Christ today that are reprehensible because commercial. Things are offered for sale for the benefit of the sanctuary, tables are spread to tempt the appetite, entertainments are given to please the eye and ear and while the prices may not be exorbitant and a fair equivalent may be given for the money received, nevertheless the principle is unscriptural and subversive of true benevolence. When a Christian worker spends his time in begging money from all kinds of people for the Lord’s Work, he is wasting time' that ought to be used in pleading with the unsaved and comforting the sorrowing. In such a case tlje desecration is greater1 than that of Herod’s temple. In the temple there was dishonor of time and place but the perversion of opportunity under the Gospel is a greater desecration than that of the Jewish temple under the law. There is but one acceptable and Scriptural way of obtaining money for Christian work and that is for the Lord’s stewards to give of what He has entrusted to them regularly, generously, joyfully, prayer fully and sacrificially and to encourage their fellow believ ers to do the same. This will promote their growth in grace, deepen their spiritual life and keep the Lord’s treas ury filled to overflowing. G O D ’ H O U S E The first cleansing of the temple took place at the first Passover after the Saviour’s baptism. At His last Passover a few days before His death He repeated the act, showing both its constant need and His own unabated zeal. He went to Jerusalem without showing in LESSON some way His Messianic claims. Nowhere EXPOSITION else did He use such words of severity F. W . Farr and condemnation. He made use of the Court of the Gentiles where all nations could meet for social intercourse and worship, as His place for preaching. The money-changers had pre-empted this place with their tables on which they piled their coins for changing foreign into Jewish money so that all might pay the half shekel without inconvenience or delay. Cattle, sheep and doves were also brought in so that Jews who had come from a long distance might purchase them with greater convenience. The law commands that every Jew
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