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T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
The first pair of words deals with two persons of the God-head,—God, the Father; and God, the Son. The second pair of words expresses the attitude of the Father toward the world,—Ho “loved;” and He “gave.” The third pair reveals the objects of His love,—“world” and “whosoever.” ' The fourth pair shows what the attitude of man ought to be when the love and gift of God come to his knowledge, —“believe” and “have.” The final pair of words indicates different human des tinies which result from accepting or rejecting God’s love,— “everlasting life” and "perish.” The Gospel of John is the “Gospel of believing.” The word “believe” is found more than forty times. Believing is receiving. Wherever the word “believe” occurs, the word “receive” can be substituted without changing the meaning of the passage materially, as in Ch. 1:12. The “even” establishes the equivalency of the two words. they were such, nor were they, for the most part, in answer to prayers of faith; they were proofs, outward and visible to all, of the presence of the kingdom of God. He was the Redeemer and His whole work was redemptive—a pre figuration of what should be when redemption was com pleted. He did not simply proclaim a coming kingdom but showed it to be now present in that devils were cast out and the sick healed. This supremacy over evil, manifested, as was necessarily the case, in external forms, was to all who knew the relation of sin to death, of moral to physical disorder, the sure proof that he was the healer of the soul as well as the body; that He cam'e to destroy the works of the devil, to teach the truth, and to show forth the righteousness of God.—Samuel J. Andrews. Mark 1:29-34 The Holy Spirit comments on this phase of the work of Jesus, using Peter as the spokesman, in the house of Cor nelius, (Acts 10:38), “Jesus. . . . went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil.” Luke 8:1-3 (See comments on lesson for August 5th.) Luke 10:1 The Lord—sent them two by two (cf. Deut. 19:15.)— The Holy Spirit speaking through Paul (2 Cor. 13:1) says: “In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established ” And another and greater reason for send ing them out two by two was in order that they might test out the promises He had made to His disciples recorded in Matthew 18:18-20. “Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” That these promises are true is proven by the report of the seventy when they had returned from their trip saying, “ Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through Thy name” (Luke 10:17.)—Selected. John 3:16, 17 In these verses we have the heart of the gospel of Jesus Christ.- John 3:16 is the most precious verse of the Bible. Concerning it Luther wrote: “It were well worthy to be written in letters of gold, if it could be, in the heart; justly would it be the daily lesson and meditation of every Chris tian, that so it might visit his thoughts in his prayers, strengthening his faith and quickening his heart to call upon God; for it is a word which has power to make mourn ers joyful, to make dead men alive, if the heart only steadr fastly believes in it.”—Selected. V. 35. Jesus went about— preaching the Gospel of the King- dom and healing every sickness— His miracles in Galilee were not wrought as credentials, though COMMENTS from the COMMENTAJRIES H. G. Dean
November 18, 1923 Our Lord Jesus a Missionary
Golden Text: “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:16. Lesson Text: Matt. 9:35-38; Luke 8:1-3; John 3:16, 17. Devotional Reading—Psa. 40:1-10. Introduction: “God had an only Son and He was a foreign missionary.” History explains Caesar’s incomparable leadership by stat ing that he said “Venite” (come) to his soldiers instead of “Ite” (go). Jesus, as the great Captain of our salvation, never asked a soldier to go where He EXPOSITION did not lead the way. The secret of Dr. F. W. Farr all missionary endeavor is a Christ- like passion for souls. The Shepherd Instinct: (Matt 9:35-38) When Jesus saw the multitudes, He yearned over them with a heart that was overflowing with pity and love. This intense emotion must have given Him corroborative evi dence of His Messianic call and office. Many of the old prophets may have felt some faint stirring of this desire. The fact that Jesus felt it constantly and in such intensity seemed to indicate that He was the long-promised Shep herd of Israel. A certain candidate for the foreign field testified before the Board that the cries of perishing heathen sounded so loudly in his ears that he could not sleep, and night after night he would rise at one and two o’clock in the morning and engage in work at his carpenter’s bench simiply to re lieve the tension of his mind. Prayer was the only remedy and relief. While the New Testament abounds with ex hortations to prayer, we are seldom told what to pray for. Our prayers are left to the direction and dictation of our needs. When any particular subject of prayer is given we may be assured of its importance. Here we are told to pray for workers in the harvest field. When we think of the disproportion between the workers in the home and foreign field, when we consider the thousands of pastorless churches in our own land, we are sure that the church has been derelict in obeying this Divine command. The min istry is a vocation, not a profession. God hears when His people pray. Substitute Missionaries: (Luke 8:1-3) Certain consecrated women out of their abundant re sources, ministered unto the Master and his twelve Apostles with generous and timely aid. They composed the first Ladies’ Aid Society on record. The preservation of their names testifies to the Divine approval of their sacrificial ministry. The obligation to preach the Gospel to every creature rests upon the entire church. No believer is exempt. In view of the explicit command of the Great Commission, and the appalling need of heathen lands, the average Christian should plead a definite call to stay at home to justify his absence from the foreign field. There are thousands of Christians who are so situated that it is impossible for them to become missionaries, but who might with prayerful economy and arrangement, sup port a missionary upon the field. Carey said “I will go down into the dark pit of heathenism if you will hold the ropes.” Prayer for missionaries and giving of our sub stance, for their support is “holding the ropes.” The Scope of Salvation World-wide: (John 3; 16, 17) This is the most familiar and oft-quoted passage in the Bible. There are ten leading words in this verse that may be studied in five pairs to bring out the meaning.
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