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INTERNAT IONAL LESSON Commentary Outline and Exposition Blackboard Lesson Childrens Division Object Lesson Golden T ext Illustration By B. B. S utcliffb By G retchen S ibley By G race W . K ellogg By E lmer L. W ilder By A lan S. P earce Points and Problems B y A lva J. M c C lain , President of Grace Theological Seminary, Winona Lake, Ind.
n x T he L ord ’ s R ejec tion (28-30) All the people bore witness to His gracious words, but they denied His claims by asking the question, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” (v. 22). They could not deny His grace, but they would not accept His person. Grace and truth had come to them in Him; but rejecting th^ truth, they lost the grace. Their pride rebelled at the truth which they knew, and hence they lost the grace they might have had from Him. Finally, they at tempted to kill Him who spoke the pre cious words to them. This was the spirit that at last did slay Him on the cross of Calvary. It should be noted carefully that the people’s rejection of the Lord wgs because of their denial of His truth. To have the benefit of His grace, one must surrender to His truth. When they attempted to kill Him, He passed through their midst and went His way, never to return to them. Thus it is with many today; they are ready enough to receive His grace, if they can reject His claims. He is the only Saviour, but people persist in trying to be self-saviours. He is the Lord, but people persist in rejecting that claim, attempting to be self-sufficient Either attitude causes one to forget the grace that otherwise might be possessed by all. Points rnd Problems L “He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up” (Lk. 4:16). In cer tain respects, tl:;re is no more difficult place for the ; reacher to begin than in the place whc.e he grew up. Yet our Lord seems to h-ve chosen deliberately just such a plaça to announce His Mes sianic mission r.nd ministry. The hard places are not to be shunned, we may learn here. 2. “As his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day” (v. 16). Here again our Lord is revealed as the perfect servant of God, attend ing regularly and habitually the serv ices in the place of worship and instruc tion. Some professing Christians argue that they have reached the point where regular church attendance is no. longer necessary for the maintenance of their spiritual growth and fellowship with God. Such people have “progressed” beyond the Lord of Glory Himself. 3. “ Stood up for to read” (v. 16) . . . “ Closed the book . . . and sat down” (v. 20) ■ . > “Began to say unto them” (v. 21) . In these selected phrases, we have an interesting picture of ancient custom
NOVEMBER 3, 1940 JESUS DECLARES HIS MISSION L uke 4 and 5
forms a parenthesis in Israel’s history. When Jesus reached that comma, He closed the Book, for as far as Israel was concerned, there remained nothing more to be said at that time. “The day of vengeance” (Rev. 5:5) is still in the fu ture, as is the fulfillment of the promise “to comfort all that mourn” (Rev. 21:1). After the reading, He “sat down,” indicating that He was about to speak. Then He declared, “This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears,” thus claiming Himself to be the promised Saviour, Deliverer, and Lord, to whom attention should be given and obedience rendered. So gracious were His words that they aroused the wonder of the people, but because He was so familiar to them they would not accept His claims. n . T he L ord ’ s T eaching (23-27) The Lord declared: "No prophet is accepted in his own country.” Men would say to Him, in effect, “If thou art Messiah, prove it; do something for Thyself.” But He would not work mir acles for them; instead He would ap peal to their Scriptures, and He warned the people by reminding them that when Israel turned away from her God and His grace, that grace went out to the Gentiles. He referred to the incident of Elijah’s being commissioned to go to a widow of the Gentiles, and of Elisha’s being sent for the blessing of another Gentile, Naaman. Both of these were outside of Israel, and the thought that Gentiles should have blessing while Israel went without was distasteful to those to whom He spoke. But it was true then and is true now that the favor of God is not for those who merely make a profession, but for all who are simple and childlike enough to take from His hands what He desires to give. ' B LACKBOARD LESSON TORTH-E-SOn OF (TWO IS COfn£ TO SEtK flnPTOSflUE TUm U J-HICFl UL>fl5 LOST* ¿owe" LUCRE\ "HE-UJEnT HIS LUfly * JOTfSeXS TORSOOK k .j LU.*:5o/RLL, flo p FQL-f
Luke 4:16 And lie came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. 17 And there was dellrered unto him the booh of the prophet Esalas. And when he had opened the booh, he found the place where It was written, 18 The Spirit of the Lord Is upon me, be- lause he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. 20 And he closed the book, and he gave It again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the syna gogue were fastened on him. 21 And he began to say unto them, This day Is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears. 22 And all bare him witness, and won dered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son? 23 And he said unto them, Ye «will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country. 24 And he said, Yerily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country. 2o But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel In the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; 26 But unto none of them was Ellas sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. 27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian. 28 And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, 29 And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. 80 But he, passing through the midst of them, went his way. LESSON TEXT: Lk. 4:16-30. GOLDEN TEXT: “ For the Son of man Is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Lk. 19:10). DEVOTIONAL BEADING: Isaiah 61:1-3. Outline and Exposition I. T he L ord ’ s C laim (16-22) A FTER his temptation in the wil- / \ demess, the Lord Jesus returned / \ to His home town of Nazareth, and as His custom was, He went to the synagogue. Whenever a distinguished person appeared in a synagogue, that person was invited to read the Scripture and speak to the people. This invitation was given to Jesus and He accepted i t The day’s reading was Isaiah 61. But Jesus read only a portion of the passage and stopped at the comma between “the acceptable yean of the Lord,” and “ the day of vengeance of our God.” Between these two portions of the sentence lies the period of the church age which
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