corned them at Bethlehem. 2. The Star's office. There could be no better use for a star, from the Sun to Slrlus, than to motive. (2) His particularity ("diligently"). He would calculate the age of the child from the time the star appeared, which was over a year past (Luke 2:16). 2. Hia in- structions to them. (1) "Search . . . find guide men to Christ, and if we do so we shall' "shine as stars forever and ever" (Dan. 12:2). 3. The Star supernatural. It may have been a natural phenomenon that attracted their attention at the first, but it must have been a supernatural "star" that "stood over where the young child was; the visible torch of an invisible bearer. And whatever natural means attracts a soul to Christ, He is never found but through a supernatural power. Any "light of the world" (Matt. 5:14) may point us to Him, but the Word is the Star by which we find Him, and the invisible Spirit lifts it up on our night. 4. The star's welcome. "They rejoiced with exceeding great joy." As when a seaman without his reckoning under "a black sky recognizes a familiar star through a rift in the night, and finds him- self at his longed-for haven with joyful gratitude, so with the magi, and with all who find the Lord Jesus. 5, The Babe found. "They saw the young child." What a wonder it was! The stars of heaven beckoning; all Jerusalem troubled; Herod the king shaking with dread; pilgrims from the far-off east, surmounting mountains, crossing vast deserts, with months of • toil and peril; and all for a bit'of a babe in the lap .of the little mother. But it was the Babe of Destiny. All the stars were His, and declared His glory; and heralded His coming; and signed His abode; and all the world; and all the kings; and all the king- doms have been troubled because of Him, and shall be; and all the wise of earth— East, West, North and South—have been lightened and "rejoiced with exceeding Joy." 6. The King honored. (1) "Opened their treasures." .As the Queen of Sheba (1 Kgs. 10:2), so these princes of the East gave earnest of the future fulfillment of Psa. 72:10; Isa. 49:7. Have you opened up your treasures to Him ? What does He prize most? "A broken and a contrite heart" (Psa. 51:17, 18). (2) "Presented .gifts." "Gold," symbollic of wealth at His disposal; "frankincense," symbolic of worship—in- cense—due to Him; "myrrh," symbolic of the bitterness (?), the sorrows, of the King, the Redeemer of His people, and of their sorrows laid on Him. VII. THE BABE'S GUARDIAN. 1. The Keeper of Israel. "Being warned of God in a dream," the wise-men passed Herod by. The whole political and physical universe would have gone to wreck before that • child could have suffered harm. 2. But every child is just as safe, and not a hair falls without the Father. The time came when He that was "born King of the Jews," was hung on a cross and died "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews," but now He sits on the throne of His Father God, waiting till His enemies be made His footstool, when He shall take the throne of His father David and reign as King of the Jews and King of kings in Jerusalem, where the wise-men sought, and all peoples shall find Him. LESSON VI. February 11. THE BOY JESUS. Luke 2:40-52. I. JESUS RESCUED. 1 The Babes tof Bethlehem, "the first Christian martyrs," twenty (?) in number, were slain for Christ's sake, but He es- caped. 2. God manifest In the flesh. What a mystery, the Author of life exposed to
death; a dependent infant in charge of di- vine Providence, "Self limited omnipotence That deigned, weak even as man is weak, To lean on God." 2. The Faithful Father. But God cares for all who are cast on Him, and all babe? are safe In Jesus in His care. All the Herods in earth or hell are powerless to harm them. 3. "Safe in the arms of Jesus." The babe Jesus was saved in life, the babes were saved in. death, "in the Lord." Little suf- ferers they suffered in being suffered to come unto' Him. H e' lived that' He might die for them, who died that they might live. 4. Herod, like his : "father the devil," was "a murderer from the beginning" '(Jno. 8:44); he had put to death m a ny of his own house, including Marianmne, his beloved wife, and his last order, 'on his death bed, was for the execution of two of his sons. The emperor sakl that he would as soon be Herod's hog as his son; such a man would not scruple at a holocaust of babies. Herod was the embodiment of. him, the serpent, who has always sought to murder the heirs of glory. Remember Abel and his offering; Joseph and the pit; Moses and his basket. Herod came through Esau, who would have killed the heir of promise (Gen. 27:41). So it is: "Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever upon the throne; Yet that scaffold sways the- future And behind the dim unknown Standeth God within the shadow, Keeping watch above His t own." II. JESUS' DEVELOPMENT. 1. The . natural Influences. (1) He grew, a. Physically. We can but think of the body of Jesus as perfect in health, in form, in beauty. The ideal man, the ideal char- acter, must have had an ideal physique. He was a Beautiful Boy. b. In character. "Strong In spirit," His inherent moral vir- tues, become more and more manifest, as, "like His bodily members, they were in- creased by use. He grew to manhood, and to manliness in that sense in which it is the reflex of godliness. The innocency, purity, simplicity, trustfulness, and unselfishness of childhood in all other children do not wax strong with weight, and height, and years. These wax in flesh and wane in spirit. Why is it? (Rom. 7:23); c. Intellectually. "Filled with wisdom." As the body of Jesus grew, like other men's, by eating, etc., so His mind grew by information ¿nd culture and use. He must have attended school as other boys, his fellows. Jewish boys were taught in the synagogue schools to; read and write; ta speak several languages; and especially the law and the prophets. They attended the religious assemblies and heard the Word taught. They joined in the religious fes- tivals which became full of meaning to them. They were taught a trade, that ¡of Jesus was carpentry (Mark 6:3). At home they were reared among religious influences. Everything about them testified of their faith. The reading of the Word, the sancti- ty of the Sabbath, the ceremonies of the Passover, the yearly festivals which took their parents, and' neighbors, and, early, also themselves, to Jerusalem, the city of the Great King. Their mothers taught them the wonderful and true Stories of Scripture, so interesting to all children, old and young, and so profitable, too, if told them in faith with instruction in their meaning and application to their lives: stories of Abra- ham, Isaac, and Jacob; or Joseph and Moses and David and Daniel, and the prophets. Together with the glorious hopes and the holy calling of Israel. This was what made
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