May 1929
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FRED S. SHEPARD ’S BLACKBOARD OUTL INE E xperience of P raciousness XPRESSIONOF IJRATITUDE O taste and see that the Lord is good. >,—Psa. 34:8. According to verse 7 God revealed His •ways and His doings to Moses and Israel. This statement gathers up the entire reve lation which was given at Mount Sinai and during all the wilderness wanderings, together with the mighty miraculous acts of God at the time of the exodus and the journey toward Canaan, into the compass of this verse. God did not reveal Himself thus to other nations (Psa. 147:19, 20). In verse 8 appears the oft-repeated statement concerning God’s abundant mercy and slowness, to anger which was first made known to Moses when he stood in the cleft of the rock (Ex. 34). Upon this characteristic of God hangs the hope and salvation of the world. In verse 9 the psalmist again empha sizes God’s slowness to wrath by giving the same truth in a negative form (cf. Psa. 30:5). In verses 10-14, continuing the thoughts presented in the preceding verses, he shows how merciful God is in refusing to deal with His children upon the basis of their actions and failures. In order to give some faint conception of the greatness of God’s forgiving grace, he uses the illus tration of the distance the heavens are from the earth. According to modern as tronomical discoveries, the distance of the stars and constellations from the earth is inconceivable by mortal mind; so is the abounding grace of God. In verse 12, the writer, in order to express the idea of forgiveness, states that God has removed sins from His penitent child as far as the east is from the west. Micah uses still a different figure, declaring that God “will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea’’ (Mic. 7:19). The pity and love of many a saintly, godly father is indeed wonderful, but the lovingkindness and pity of God far exceeds that of all human fathers combined, inasmuch as He is an Infinite Being and His attributes are in finite. Frequently we become “peeved” at the shortcomings and failures of our chil dren, overlooking the fact that they are weak and human. God never overlooks that fact, but He “remembers that we aré dust." III. His Continued Faithfulness, notwith standing Man’s Frailties. Vs. 15-18, “As for man, his days are as grass.” Man is only a traveler, passing this way but once. His life is uncertain. In the midst of prosperity “his summons” may come to him, to which he must respond. His life is not only compared to the per ishable grass and vegetation but to the transitory nature of the clouds or vapor. Christians are pilgrims in this world and should act accordingly, yet many of God’s people live as if they thought that this world is their eternal home. The Apostle Peter addressed the Christians in the dispersion (1 Pet.) as “pilgrims and behalf of the distressed and by bringing judgments upon the oppressors. History verifies this statement.
sojourners” and contrasted them with people of the world, whom he considered as “earth dwellers.” In contrast with man’s frailties is the unchanging lovingkindness of God toward those who fear Him, and their children’s children. God revealed Himself as a cov enant-keeping God and confirmed that revelation repeatedly in history. IV. His Universal Kingdom. Vs. 19-22. The entire universe is the product of God’s creative activity (Gen. 1:1; Jno. 1:l-3). Somewhere in the universe, the heaven of heavens, is God’s throne (cf. Psa. 115:16; Psa. 11:4). Though there is a local place in the universe where God’s throne is, He, being a Spirit, is every where (Psa. 139). God likewise has a real government, the administrators of which are the angels who are “m ig h t y in strength,” and who fulfill His word, be ing obedient unto His voice. Having called upon his own soul to bless and worship God, the psalmist now calls upon every created, intelligent being in the entire realm of God’s universe to render worship and praise to Him. The time will come, when the Lord’s “first born” comes again into the world, that all of the angels of God will worship Him (Heb. 1:6). A scene similar to this is seen in the fifth chapter of Revelation when all the redeemed, together with the angelic host, shall praise the Sayiour for His might and power, majesty and glory, in one mighty chorus. P roph ets an d K ings of J u d a h ’s Decline Golden Text: “I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lov ingkindness have I drawn thee” (Jer. 31:3). TVURING this quarter we have studied incidents in the history of Judah from the days of Isaiah to the exile—approxi mately 140 years, 740-606 B. C. T h e outstanding downward plunge are Hezekiah and Jo- siah. The departure from God had gained such momentum that the frantic efforts made by these great men of God were of little avail. Isaiah’s ministry fell within the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. Throughout his life the political situation in western Asia was very grave, and dis aster threatened the little Judaean state. The great Assyrian monarchs, such as Shalmaneser, Sennacherib, Tiglath-Pile- ser, Sargon, and others were carrying out an expansive program to incorporate all western Asia and Egypt into their em pire. Judah, together with the smaller states on the eastern Mediterranean shore, lay in the path of these Assyrian mon archs in their world conquests. Isaiah was the great statesman prophet at the court of the kings of Judah—a great court preacher. He endeavored to :— o — June 30, 1929 Review prophets of this pe riod are Isaiah, Mi cah, J e r e m i a h , Ezekiel, and Daniel. The two kings who made great efforts to stem the tide of wickedness and the
point his nation to God and attempted to hinder foreign alliances, but his at tempts were met by great rebuffs. He has been called the great evangelis tic prophet who spoke the wonderful messages concerning the Messiah-Re- deemer, which appear in Isa. 40-66. Micah was his contemporary, but his influence and power were limited, it seem ed, to the rural districts of Judah, whereas Isaiah performed his work in the cap ital. Evidently Hezekiah was very greatly influenced by Isaiah and his preaching. He endeavored to purge the nation from idolatry and to cause all Israel who hun gered and thirsted after God—even those of the. Northern Kingdom.—to return1to loyalty and fidelity to God. His influence was sufficiently great that many of the northern tribes moved down into the little kingdom of Judah and engaged in the worship a t ' the temple. In the third lesson of the quarter the great evangelistic prophecy in the Book of Comfort was studied (Isa. 40:1-11). In that prophecy Isaiah looked forward to the time beyond the period of distress called “the time of Jacob’s trouble.” He predicted that Israel should be punished double for her sins and that after God had purged out the evil from Israel the Golden Age of the nation shall come—the glorious millennial age when King Mes siah shall reign from sea to sea. In this prophecy, likewise, he saw the herald of King Messiah who announces the appear ance of Israel’s long-expected King—the God-Man, Jesus Christ, the Messiah. In this^ same message of comfort the prophet assured Israel of its glorious fu ture by affirming that the Word of God endures forever. Therefore, Israel may justly look forward to this Golden Age in the future. In the fourth lesson of the quarter the greatest Servant passage of Isaiah was discussed—Isa. 52:13-53:12. It was learn ed in this study that the expression “ser vant of Jehovah” does refer in some con texts to the nation and in others to the faithful remnant of the nation, whereas in certain other passages it refers to the Messiah. A close study of the context of Isa. 53 yields the profound conviction that the one referred to in this chapter is none other than the Messiah of Israel, the God- Man, Jesus Christ, who suffers willingly and voluntarily for the sins of the world. This passage is the highest mountain peak of the prophetic Word. No passage in the entire revelation of God will yield greater blessings than this wonderful passage. In the fifth lesson of the quarter the discovery of the Law by Hilkiah the priest was studied. According to the record the temple had been in disuse ap proximately 57 years—during the long reign of Manasseh and Amon his son. When Josiah, the young king, came into power and into his own, he brought about great reformations and restored the tem ple worship. In cleansing the temple and preparing it for the re-establishment of the worship, a copy of the book of the Law of Moses was found. From all .the data available it is quite certain that this book of the Law contained that which is found in our Pentateuch. While this po sition has been called in question by ra tionalistic critics, a close, conscientious, and unbiased study of the facts produces
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