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22), and they could not but marvel at His mighty deeds, but they would not receive Him as their Messiah. “Is not this Joseph’s son?” was their question. But our Lord knew just what was in their hearts, and He therefore replied: “ No prophet is accepted in his own country” (vs. 23, 24). The people would have Him prove His claims by more Spectacular deeds, but He simply appealed to Scripture. As it was with their fathers, so it was with them H 25-27). III. T h e R e je c t io n b y N a z a r e t h (28-30). When He reminded the people that the grace of God had gone and would yet go out to Gentiles, they were filled with wrath, and attempted to kill the Lord Jesus then and there (vs. 28, 29). Their pride was hurt, their self-complacency was disturbed, and their rebellion against their God was revealed as they attempted to do then, what the nation as such actually did do, that is, slay the One who had been sent for their deliverance. But such action spelled ruin for the people themselves (v. 30). Jesus left them. It is a solemn thing when the Lord Jesus Christ turns from a people or from an in-; dividual, because, in the very nature of the case, He takes with Him that which all men need, the only possible salvation from Satan and from sin. Jesus passed “through the midst of them” and “went his way.” His action on this, occasion is proof that when the end actually came, and He was led to the cross, He was not led there against His will. He could as easily have avoided the cross at the end as He avoided the murderous intentions of the people of Nazareth in this instance. At the very beginning o f His public ministry, Jesus Christ annnounced His pur pose. That purpose was to fulfill what had been written centuries before by the prophets o f the Old Testament. Thus our Lord put His, stamp of approval upon the Old Testament; and only those who, like the people o f Nazareth, reject and would slay the Lord, will find fault with its writings. Points and Problems 1. “A s his custom was” (Lk. 4:16). With the best commentators, I regard this statement as a reference to our Lord’s lifelong custom of attending the synagogue on the Sabbath, not merely to His stand ing up to read as a recognized teacher. To be found in God’s house on God’s day was nothing unusual in His life. It was a fixed habit.. 2. “There was delivered unto him the book o f the prophet Esaias" (v. 17). The synagogue service included two Scripture lessons; the first from the Law, which was read continuously; the second from the prophets, by free selection. Either the book of Isaiah had been already chosen by the leader, or it was requested by our Lord. At any rate, the choice was no accident, for that particular book contained the exact Messianic prophecy which was to be ful filled that particular day.
BLACKBOARD LESSON
alone rested Israel’s hope of deliverance from bondage, and the One who alone could take away their sins. But the people’s reception of His words proved that they were not ready to acknow ledge Him as their Lord. They could not but recognize the grace of His words (v. BO YD EN PURE H O N E Y White Sage, White Clover, White Orange. Finest in Honey, available at your grocers, (f grocer does not stock BOYDEN HONEY call TRinity 7178 or write B O Y D E N H O N E Y 1001 E. First St. Los Angeles, Calif.
TO R E S T O R E _______ 1- 2 . 4.34 _______TO L IB E R A TE
3. “He found the place” (v. 17). Our Lord knew His Bible. Certainly we can. never know the Word as He knew it. But as teachers we ought to know enough about the Bible to “ find the place” for which we are looking, without keeping our audience waiting while we fumble through the pages. 4. “He closed the book” (v. 20). Read Isaiah 61:1, 2 in your Old Testament and see exactly where in the passage He stop ped reading and closed the book. He stopped at a comma. One famous Greek authority remarks, “Most notable in the quotation is the point at which it stops,’’ but he does not explain why it is “notable.” Having read, “to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,’’ Christ stopped without reading the next clause, “and the day o f vengeance of our God.’’ The acceptable year o f the Lord arrived at our Lord’s first coming. The day of vengeance will be ushered in at His second coming. That is the reason that He stopped where He did. He knew infallibly how to divide aright the Word of Truth. 5. “ Wondered at the gracious words” (v. 22), “ W ere filled with wrath" (v. 28). The same people begin with wonder and end with wrath. They were deeply interested in the prophecy, but lost their tempers when our Lord began to apply the truth to their own lives. The Sword of the Spirit cuts. Golden Text Illustration A French painter has recently made a sensation in Paris by the manner o f his work. He fitted up a cab for a studio, and drove about the streets,“stopping here and there to make sketches of places and things he saw. People did not see him shut up in his cab, looking out upon them through his little window, and taking his pictures o f the hooks and corners and byways oft Parisian life. He thus caught all manner o f scenes and incidents in the city’s hidden ways. He then transferred his sketches to canvas, and put Christ everywhere among them. When the people saw his work, they were startled, for they saw themselves in their everyday life, in all their follies and frivolities, and always Christ in the midst—every kind o f actual life on the canvas, and in the heart o f it all, the Christ. Suppose this painter were to visit our town this,year, and picture us in all the events of our home life, our church life, our civic life—what kind of a picture would he see?— Onward. Jesus Preaches to .His Home Folks L u k e 4 :16-44 Memory Verse: “ I will hear what God the Lord will speak” (Psa. 85 :8). Approach: After the Lord Jesus had spent forty days and nights in the wilder- I' i ness, fasting and praying and getting ready
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