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T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
April-May, 1933
II. T he I nstitution of the S upper (22-25). In verses 22 and 23, we see the character of the Lord’s Supper. It was very simple, with no great preparation or gorgeous cere mony. The church has taken this simple service and turned it into something akin to a pagan rite, as though the worshipers were approaching an angry and vengeful God. It was originally a simple breaking of bread by the Lord for the purpose of bringing Himself before the hearts of His followers. The fitting manner of partak ing of the Supper is to be so wholly occu pied with the Lord Himself that the wor shiper is forgotten and only the dying, liv ing, coming Lord is remembered. The meaning of the Supper is revealed in verse 24. It speaks of a new covenant, unlike the old. The old depended upon what they (the people) did, the new upon what He (the Lord) had done, is doing, and will yet do. The worshiper was in the foreground in the old; the Lord occupies that position in the new. The old spoke of vengeance; the new of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:19). The old resulted in sep aration from God; the new in nearness to God (Eph. 2:13). The old reminded the people of perpetual guilt; the new remind-1 ed them of their perfect cleansing (1 John 1:7). The proper observance of the Lord’s Supper is threefold: witnessing to His death, worshiping His person, and waiting for His coming. Ill, T he W arning of F ailure (26-31). In verses 26 and 27, the Lord plainly de clares that all these disciples would be of fended (margin, “caused to stumble”) be cause of Him. He knew that this would certainly be because the Scriptures had stated, “I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.” It was the Lord who would bruise the Shepherd (Isa. 53), and when that was done, the sheep would flee away. But there would be a gathering of the sheep again (v. 28). Had these disciples remembered this word, they would not have had such a long season of doubt and fear and distress as that which followed the death of our Lord. Even after His resurrection, they had so forgotten His words that they had to have an angel re mind them of what the Lord had said. The disciples were so certain of their de votion to and love for the Lord that they were loath to believe they would run from Him when danger threatened. They all de clared their willingness to die with Him, and Peter especially was vehement in say ing he would rather lose his life than deny the Lord. How little any one knows of what will be done under any given circum stances! It is one thing to stand up for the Lord when the noise of battle and the shouts of companions are heard, and an other thing to give no ground when one stands alone. The underlying cause of Peter’s failure was unconscious unbelief in both the words of Jesus and the truth of Scripture. Scripture had stated and Jesus had said that thus it would be, and Peter denied the truthfulness of both. This was the be ginning of his failure. He was certain to be offended, but he might have been spared the actual denial had he believed what Jesus had just said. But the experience through which Peter was to pass would leave him with strengthened faith, and with an understanding sympathy which he would not possess otherwise. Not only unbelief in Jesus but ignorance of himself led to Peter’s terrible oaths and curses when he denied the Lord. The
BLACKBOARD LESSON
Jesus an d P e ter M ark 14:53, 66-72 Memory Verse: “Thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive” (Psa. 86:5). Approach : The time had now come when Jesus was taken by His enemies and was to be put to death. Even His dearest friends, His disciples, were afraid of what was to happen, and left Him. Lesson Story: There was Simon Peter
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who had said to Jesus, that, even if all the rest of Jesus’ friends should leave Him, yet he would stay with Him. But this is what hap pened. When Jesus was taken up to the high priest’s house to be judged, Peter fol lowed Him afar off.
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assumption of strength to stand up under temptation is a species of idolatry from which we are warned to flee, and it was this assumption that blinded Peter in his self-assured presumption (cf. 1 Cor. 10: 12-14). Finally, Peter’s denial may be traced to the natural pride of the human heart which is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked (Jer. 17 :9). This is the sin which gives rise to unbelief, and in unbelief all sins are included and embraced (Prov. 11: 2; 29:23; Heb. 12:1). The only sure guard against what we are by nature is to be found “in Christ,” in which place God’s grace has set us. To deny self and acknowl edge Him in every circumstance is to walk with assured tread and calm confidence through every day’s temptation until the Lord comes. G olden T ex t Illu stratio n In all the history of the world, there is no picture such as that on Golgotha, the patient, upturned face of the Sufferer destined to change the world, the Roman soldiers at the foot of the cross gambling for His scanty garments, the rabble hoot ing, the thieves on either side denouncing Him because the miracle they hoped for did not come; the faithful women, Mary of Magdala, Joanna, wife of Chuza, and Mary, the mother of Jesus, watching pa tiently until death should come, and give His body back to them. Many are the wonderful scenes of hero ism and self-sacrifice painted in history by men willing to die for the truth. But there is nothing to compare with that one great picture, the crucifixion, and the last words of Christ: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” I® —A rthur B risbane . Lesson Text: Mark 15:22-39. Golden Text: “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). G olgotha T here is some difference of opinion as to the exact spot of the crucifixion of Christ. It might well have been upon the little knoll, just outside the pres ent north wall of the city, known as Gor don’s Calvary. At any rate, this is a sacred spot and one upon which we may sit and
He was afraid to go up with Jesus, for he might be captured, too. So he stayed be neath the palace where the servants were warming themselves by the fire. All the time, he was afraid that some one would recognize him as a follower of Jesus. And sure enough, a serving maid came by, look ed at Peter, and said, “And thou also wast with Jesus of Nazareth.” Then Peter was frightened. The maid might tell the sol diers, he thought, and then he would be cap tured, too. So he forgot to be brave and faithful. Instead, he said, “I don’t under stand what you are saying.” Just then, he heard a rooster crow. He must have remembered that Jesus had warned him that before the cock should crow twice he would have said three times that he didn’t know Jesus. You would suppose that when Peter heard the cock crow that first time that he would have been so sorry about what he had done that he would have said to the next person who asked if he were one of Jesus’ followers, “Yes, I am. I’m proud to be His friend.” But Peter didn’t do this. He was still afraid of what might happen. Twice again he said, “I don’t know this Jesus about whom you are speaking.” The cock crew again. Then Peter did remem ber and felt sorry. He went out weeping. Grace in the soul resembles a glimmering taper, exposed to all the storms that blow, yet unextinguished and inextinguishable. —T oplady . pass out through the Damascus gate. Its grim, weather-stained battlements have looked down upon many a procession which has passed through it in the centur ies during which it has been standing. There was none which was fraught with such significant results as that procession in which a Man came carrying a cross up on which He was to be nailed. As we emerge from the city, we walk for a hun dred yards or so to the north, and then turn east on the road which skirts the city and goes on down to Jericho. After about two hundred yards, we see on our left a hill about a hundred feet high, whose southern face is an abrupt cliff. If we look closely, we can see in this rocky cliff the lines of a human skull. Two caves form the eyes, and a fissure in the rock looks for all the world like the mouth. If one has a good imagination, he can shiver at this ghastly sight. This might well be “the place of the skull.” Here, outside the
JUNE 11, 1933 JESUS ON THE CROSS M ark 15:1-47
c ont empl a t e t ha t event which hap pened here nineteen hundred years ago. We start from near the temple en closure. After wend ing our way north ward along one of the wider streets of the Holy City, we
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