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T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
April-May, 1933
pose of putting sin away by the sacrifice of Himself (Heb. 9:26), to give His life a ransom for many (Matt. 20:28), and to save sinners (1 Tim. 1:15), He could not come down from the cross. It was love that bound Him to that place of shame, love to God and love to man. Third, there was the mocking of those crucified with Him. It is good to remem ber that while both these thieves began with reviling Him, one of them ended by recogr nizing Him as Saviour and King. That thief is now in the glory, not because he made reparation for the damage he had caused, but simply because he trusted in Christ alone. III. T he C haracter of H is D eath (33-39). First, it was in darkness and distress. No other death in all history has ever caused nature to be moved, but here the sun refused to shine, and darkness, unlike any mere eclipse, covered the earth for the space of three hours. In the midst of the darkness there was heard the voice of Jesus crying that solemn word, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” It spoke of an agony, the fearfulness of which cannot be measured by human imag ination. No one can sink to the depths to which our Lord descended in that dread hour. But He did so in order that no one who puts his trust in Him as personal Sav iour shall ever know the darkness and bit terness of that pit of woe. Those who stood by the cross did not understand it any more than the people of today who speak of the suffering of the cross as though it consisted only in physical pain. Far beyond all phys ical suffering, there was the hiding of the face of God which, to this One who ever basked in the light of that face, was agony unspeakable. Second, it was a voluntary death; He “gave up the ghost.” His life was not torn from Him as from an unwilling victim, but He calmly yielded Himself to the great pur pose for which He had come. He could, if He would, call legions of angels to His aid, but “how then should the scriptures be fulfilled?” The Scriptures had said that when He came, He would take away sin by the sacrifice Of Himself, and here he was engaged, as the Lamb of God, in that supreme work. In utter self-denial and self-abnegation, our Lord bowed His head and voluntarily “gave up the ghost.” Sal vation comes to those who see Him doing this on their behalf. Third, the testimony to His death came from both nature and humanity. The veil of the temple was rent in twain. The veil that kept the people out from God, because of the presence of sin, was rent, thus signi fying that the sin was put away and the approach to God was forever opened. The testimony of humanity is heard in the cen turion’s words, “Truly this was a righteous man.” The cross is God’s answer to man’s sin, and faith is man’s answer to what was accomplished there.
heaven to suffer and to die for the people. For God so loved the people that He sent Jesus, His only Son, to die that they might live. He died for the sins of the people—a n d who ever believes on Him shall have everlast ing life. Jesus was God’s Son and could
willing to do this great and wonderful thing 1 We must love Him for it, too. Jesus says that the way to show that we really love Him is to obey His command ments. G olden T ex t Illu stratio n Side by side in a hospital lay a mother and her six-year-old son, the former a vol untary sufferer for the benefit of the latter. About five months before, the child was severely scalded. His wounds healed, but it was noticed that there was a deformity of his neck, which caused him to hold his head to one side. On consulting a doctor, the mother learned that the deformity would become worse rather than better. “Could nothing be done for the boy?” she enquired anxiously. The surgeon told her that the only rem edy was to cut away the skin that had been contracted by the scalds and replace it with new skin that must be obtained from a liv ing person. The mother promptly offered herself for the purpose, and she and the child slowly recovered from the painful operation. Such instances as these give us faint glimpses of the love of God for us, His rebellious children, whose spiritual de formity could only be taken away by the suffering of the cross. —T he B ottles of H eaven . T he A nxiety o f the D isciples (1-4). In spite of the fact that Jesus had re peatedly told the disciples that He would rise from the dead, they had no idea that the resurrection of the Lord would actually occur. When the women came early on the first day of the week, they came to anoint a dead body and to mourn the absence of One whom they loved. The body of the Lord lay in the tomb during the Sabbath, and it was on the first day of the week, after the Sabbath, that our Lord arose. The day which com memorates our Lord’s resurrection is the first day, the Lord’s Day, and not the sev enth day, or the Sabbath. To worship on Saturday instead of Sunday, or on the Sab bath instead of the Lord’s Day, is to adver tise that we do not worship a living Christ, but One who is dead. Christians have noth ing to do with the Sabbath; it belongs to the Jews to whom it was given. The Lord’s resurrection was the beginning of a new era, and it began on the first day of the week. The hearts of the women were sad, be cause they thought their Lord was dead. Whatever may be said of their deyotion, their attitude speaks of unbelief in His words. Had they really believed His Word that He would rise, they would never have bothered going near the tomb. They would have known it was empty. They would instead have obeyed His command and gone to Galilee where He had said He would meet them. The immediate cause of their anxiety was who should roll away the stone that covered the door of the tomb (vs. 3, 4). The stone was great, and they were not strong enough to move it. But “looking [See article in this issue, "Easter in Jerusalem." — E ditor .] O utline a n d E xposition I.
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do no wrong, but He suffered all the things that a person who had been very wicked would suffer. He did this for the people. How terrible it was! The soldiers took Him away. The people smote Him. They spit upon Him. They mocked Him. They led Him away to crucify Him. And of all the crowds of people, only two were kind to Him. One, a man named Simon, carried the cross for Him. And the other, named Joseph, took His body and buried Him m his own tomb. So Jesus died. He died because He want ed to save the people. He was God’s Son and had_ all power. But He chose to put aside this power. He laid down His life for His friends. Jesus Himself said, “No man taketh my life from me, but I lay it down of myself.” How God loved Him because He was
JUNE 18, 1933 JESUS RISES FROM THE DEAD M ark 16:1-20
Lesson Text: Mark 16:1-11. Golden Text: “He is risen; he is not here” (Mk. 16:6). T h e H oly S epulchre ’ ince earliest times, tradition has placed the site of the crucifixion and burial of Jesus Christ upon the spot now occupied by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. One objection to this site seems to be that Jesus suffered “outside the gate” of the city. The church is almost in the center of the city. However, examination
has revealed t h a t there are remains of an ancient city wall between the temple inclosure a n d th e present situation of the church. From old maps which have been found, it is quite possible that the present Church
of the Holy Sepulchre is outside of the city walls as they existed in Jesus’ time. Whether or not this is the place of the last passion of our Lord, it is a sacred spot which is revered by millions of Christians throughout the world, and we shall do well to visit it this Easter morn. BLACKBOARD LESSON
Jesus D ying fo r Us M ark 15:15-25; J ohn 10:17, 18
Memory Verse: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Approach : So Jesus was left in the hands of His enemies. And they crucified Him. This is what Jesus had known would happen. Lesson Story: He had come down from
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