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T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
April 1924
which we make bread. What do we need to make these grains grow? Rain and sunshine. So we can learn the lesson that we of ourselves are very helpless and need God’s help all along the way. Let us bow our heads and thank God for his goodness to us. Prayer. Lesson Story.—Last week we had a story about a foolish king who listened to bad advice and disobeyed God, and be cause of this God’s people were divided with a king ruling over each part. Today we have a wonderful story of one of the great prophets of God, whose name is Elijah. He was a great prophet because he obeyed God, and warned people who were doing wrong. Among those whom Elijah spoke to who were worshipping idols was king Ahab who was ruling over God’s people but he was not obeying God. Three years had passed since Elijah had given God’s mes sage to King Ahab. And in all that time no rain had fallen upon the land of Israel. There was no water in the brooks, all the springs were dry, the ground was parched and the fields gave no harvest. The cattle and the flocks had no grass and many of them starved to death. The people had very little food. When things were at their worst, King Ahab and one of his head servants went out through the land to see if they could find any water, so they could save some of their cattle. While out looking for water the king met Elijah. Now what do you suppose the king said to Elijah? He blamed Elijah for the dry weather and all the trouble that had come upon the people of Israel. Like many people today who are really to blame themselves for what has happened, Ahab laid the blame on some one else. Brave Elijah was not afraid to tell king Ahab that it was he and his house that had brought this terrible famine with all its suffering to the land, because they had turned away from the commandments of God, and worshipped the im ages of Baal. Then he told king Ahab to gather the people and bring them to Mount Carmel, and for him to bring all the prophets of Baal. Now we will see what happened on Mount Carmel that stands by the Great Sea. After a number of days we find the people, the prophets of Baal, and Ahab and Elijah all waiting on Mount Carmel. Elijah stood there, the one prophet of the Lord. On the other side were 450 prophets of Baal. Now Elijah asked the people to give two young oxen, one for Baal’s prophets and one for me. Let the prophets of Baal take one ox, cut it up, and lay it upon the altar upon the wood, but let no fire be placed under it. Elijah did the same with his ox. Then the prophets of Baal stood around their altar and cried aloud, “O Baal hear us.” But there was no answer. (Fin ish the story of the false prophets and their agony. Then turn to Elijah and give in detail his preparation of the ox on the altar, and the drenching with water. Slowly and with feeling repeat Elijah’s prayer. A short prayer but it expresses Elijah’s perfect faith in God). Now of course Elijah’s prayer was answered because he prayed to the true God. And when the people saw it they fell on their faces and cried, “The Lord, he is God! The Lord, he is God!” Let us repeat together our memory verse. The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him. d o sin g Prayer, APRIL 20, 1924 EASTER LESSON, THE RISEN CHRIST Golden Text: “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.” 1 Cor. 15:20. Lesson Text: Mark 16:1-15. Devotional Reading, Psalm 16:5-11.
Reference Material:
Matt. 28:1-10; Luke 24:13-35;.
John 20:1-18; 1 Cor. 15:3-26. There was no human being at the sepulchre to greet the risen Saviour. Surely the eleven apostles would have been there if they had had any faith. Nothing ever pleased Him so much as faith. Nothing ever grieved Him like unbe lief. How He must have longed to find LESSON some faith in His Word concerning His EXPOSITION resurrection! May He not have looked F. W. Farr for someone to show his faith by coming to the Garden to meet Him? If so, he looked and waited in vain. The women came indeed, but they came to complete the work of embalming a dead Sav iour, not to see a risen one. Peter and John came later but only to prove the absurdity of a thing reported by some women. After all have come and gone, but one remains and she waits, not to see a risen Saviour but to find out what they have done with his body. He found affection and remembrance but no faith in His Word. The Holy Spirit was not then given, and without the Spirit the gift and grace of faith are not possessed. The first one to see, believe, and proclaim the glorious evangel was Mary Mag dalene. This honor was almost as great as that of the other Mary who gave him birth. Mary of Magdalene may have had little faith but she loved much. She was the first one of that mighty host who claim salvation on the ground of Rom. 10:9, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” The risen Saviour gives Mary a message to the other disciples whom he now for the first time calls “my brethren.” It is instructive to note the various names and titles applied in Scripture to the followers of the Lord. The order of their occurrence and the reason for their applica tion is significant. Disciples, (Acts 9 :1 ); Believers, (Acts 5 :14 ); Friends, (John 15:15)’; Brethren, (Matt. 33 :8 ); Priests, (1 Pet. 2 :5 ); Saints, (1 Cor. 1 :2 ); Christians, (Acts 11:26). The resurrection, of Christ was wholly supernatural. Re surrection is. of the nature of a re-creation and is as great a miracle as original creation. It must, therefore, be ac cepted by faith as any other supernatural fact without at tempt to explain or understand it. Indeed, the whole Christian life is supernatural and resurrection is but the climax and completion of a process which begins in regen eration. Lazarus, Dorcas and the widow’s son at Nain had a restoration to their former earthly life which made it necessary for each one to go through the gates of death the second time. Christ, on the other hand, was raised not to the life of the flesh but to the life of the spirit which made it impossible for Him ever to die again and made it pos sible for Him to be called the first fruits of them that slept. He was not the first to rise from the dead, but he was the first to arise who never died again, Rom. 6:9, “Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth. no more; death hath no more dominion over him.” The first fruits are the same kind as the harvest. The resurrection state is an immortal state for all believers who have their part in the first resurrection, Luke 20:36, “Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrec tion.” Rev. 20:6, “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.” The body of the risen Christ seems to have had no fixed appearance or permanent form but became as he willed,
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