January, 1933
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T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
than 10,000 souls had been converted through his instrumentality. A Story Jesus Told M a r k 4:1-20 Memory Verse: “ Teach me thy way, O Lord” (Psa. 27:11). Approach: Soon after Jesus had chosen the men whom He hoped would be His faithful followers, He told a story about faithful listeners. He told the story to a great crowd of people who were gathered around to hear what He had to say. This is the story: Lesson Story: A man went out to sow
withered away. Other seed fell among weeds, and the weeds grew up and choked the plant, and it died. Other seed fell into good ground, and it grew and yielded fruit.; Jesus’ disciples knew that there must be a special meaning to this story, but they were not sure what the meaning was. So Jesus explained. He said that the seed was the word of God and the people listening were the different kinds of ground. Like the birds in the story, Satan comes and takes the word o f God away from the listening peo ple and keeps them from believing it. Some people are like the rocky ground; when they first hear the gospel story, they believe with j oy, but as soon as they find that it may be hard sometimes to be Christians, they let the word of God die in their hearts. Then there are the people who are too busy doing other things. They haven’t time to be good Christians. But last and best of all are the people who hear the word of God and who never forget it. I am sure that when Jesus was telling this story, He was wishing that all of His disciples would be this kind o f listener. T h e W a r n in g to t h e D isc ip l e s (21-25). The parables of Jesus reveal the true character and the full course o f \yhat is called Christendom throughout the present age. In Christendom, there is an admix ture of the true and the false, the tares and the wheat. Inasmuch as the object of the book of Mark is to show Jesus as the Servant, the parables found In Mark re late principally to service. By this means, the disciples are taught regarding the na ture of their own service. They are to give, and to keep on giving with lavish hand, though there appears to be little or no success crowning their efforts; indeed, they are not to expect full success during the present age. They are to take heed to what they hear, knowing that Satan is adept in the use o f Scripture. . If they hear aright, they will continually be allowed to hear more, for the principle also holds good that to him that hath, more shall be given; but he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath. In other words, one must either be going onward with the Lord, learning more and more from Him, or else going backward, losing what has already been gained. The secret of re taining is obtaining more and more. To summarize, the servant is to be a light, shining abroad; he is,to be constantly hearing the truth, giving the truth, being patient in waiting for results, and con tinually learning. The need o f such warn ing is seen in the Character of Christendom itself, a character which tends to dim the light and restrain from true service. II. T h e P a r a b l e of t h e S eed in t h e G r o u n d (26-29). This parable reveals the manner of the growth of the kingdom during this' present age; it speaks of the true or the real; while the next parable, that of the mustard seed, speaks of the false or the unreal. The growth is mysterious, as that of a seed cast upon the ground. There is life in the seed, but who can see it or tell 'how Outline and Exposition I.
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seed. As he sowed, some o f the seed fell by the wayside and the birds came and ate it up. Other seed fell on r o c k y ground , where there was not much earth for the roots to grow in. The seed grew, but be cause there was ‘ not much root, the sun scorched it, and it
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FEBRUARY 19, 1933 JESUS TEACH ING BY PARABLES— THE GROW TH OF THE KINGDOM M a r k 4:21-34
Golden T ext: “ The. earth shall be full of the knowledge o f the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Isa. 11:9). Oil Lamps O IL LAMPS provided the principal source of illumination in the time of Christ. There is one before me on the table now as I write. It was dug from among the ruins of the ancient city of, Jerusalem, and was used in the time of Christ. It is made of yellow clay which
has been baked in an oven to make it less porous. It is shaped something like a fry ing pay, or skillet, but is much smaller. The bowl of the lamp, which corresponds to the pan of thq skillet,' is about two inches in diameter. The edges
o f the bowl curve inward sharply, leaving a small opening in the top of tbe lamp, of about three-quarters o f an inch. It was through, this opening that the oil was , poured. The portion of the lamp which corresponds to the handle of the skillet is a hollow tube of a little more than a half inch in diameter. It curves upward slightly from the oil reservoir, and was used for holding the cotton wick. The entire lamp is less than four inches long, and not two inches high. Thus it could easily be car ried in the palm o f the hand when one went out into the night. These lamps were made to be put upon . lampstands when in use. The seven- branched candlestick about which we read in the Old Testament was nothing more nor less than a seven-branched lampstand. Lampstands were usually provided in the houses by hewing out niches in the walls. In many of the tombs about Jerusalem, and in Solomon’s quarries, one can see these small triangular niches. The walls above them still remain blackened by the soot from the lamps which burned in them thousands o f years1ago.
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