T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
B7
February, IMI
York manufacturer’s folks knew how to pack goods—they did. Didn’t require any instructions from South America! So the goods were sent splendidly packed in the New York style, safe enough to go to the moon. Some weeks later that New York manufacturer got a letter advising that because he bad failed to pack as directed, all the goods had been de stroyed, and he must bear the loss. It seems the goods had to be sent many miles over almost inaccessible moun tains on the backs of mules. These mules sometimes lose their footing and roll down the mountain. The goods have to be packed for this contingency. This the manufacturer had neglected to do. The goods were lost. His packing de partment was entirely too smart! God knows the rough and dangerous paths of life. He knows how you should be packed. Do as He tells you, and save the loss.—Sunday School Times. , A Man Who Climbed a Tree L uke 19:1-10 MEMORY VERSE: "Create in me a clean heart, O God” (Psa. 51:10). APPROACH: Probably ever since there have been trees, and ever since there have been boys and girls to climb them, there have been true stories about persons scrambling up i n t o t h e branches; so there is nothing unusual about a person’s being found in a tree. best rriend he ever had. LESSON STORY: The man’s name was Zaccheus, and he was a publican, that is, a collector of taxes. Some times, in those days, tax collectors would ask more money than was right, and in that way they robbed the peo ple. Of course, doing that, they couldn’t have many friends, and God couldn’t bless their wicked deeds. Zaccheus heard that the Lord Jesus was passing through his part of the country, and he wanted to see Him. But there was a great crowd, and Zaccheus was so short that he couldn’t see above other people’s heads. H e . ran ahead and climbed a tree. So far as we know, Zaccheus and the Lord jesus had never talked together before this day, but as soon as Jesus saw him in the tree, He called him by name and told him to come down quickly, because He wanted to eat dinner at Zaccheus’ house. Here was Zaccheus, face to face with the Saviour, the Son of God! And the Lord But today’s' lesson is unusual, because it tells about a tree- climber who was*a grown man—a very little man' with a very long n ame , and he had more enemies than he had friends. It was by climbing a tree that he met the
Jesus, did come to his house that very day. Zaccheus was so surprised that he thought right away about all the wicked things he had done in taking money that didn’t belong to him, and he said he would pay back every bit of it, and four times as much. Of course Zaccheus couldn’t be saved just by be ing good—nobody can be—for God says, “By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8): But when Zacclieus was willing to do what was right, it showed he had really opened his heart to the Lord Jesus who came “to seek and to save that which was lost.” The Lord Jesus knows your name, too, and all about your life. Have you opened your heart to Him ? K.’ O.U
Points and Problems 1. “He beheld the city, and wept over it” (v. 41). If we have eyes to see, we shall see many things beneath the sur face of these words. On the one hand, we shall see here One who is not only God but also truly human. Do not let the mere human philosophers try to tell you that the infinite God cannot be swayed by emotions like as of men. And do not let the mere human theologians tell you that this is only the human nature of Christ which is weeping. This Person who rides up to Jerusalem is the true God, and He is no play-actor on the stage of history. The tears are real; and they are the tears of God. On the other hand, we may learn here that human freedom is genuine. You cannot imagine the Son of God weeping over this rebellious city if there is no reality to human responsibility and freedom. In Matthew’s account, we hear clearly this very truth from the lips of the Lord, “How often would I have gathered thy children together . . . and ye would not!” (23:37). It is not that the freedom of man is more powerful than the sov ereignty of God, but that a sovereign God has determined that man shall be given the perilous right to determine his own destiny. 2. “If thou hadst known . . . in this thy day” (v. 42). The expression, “this thy day,” is no mere general statement, signifying only the present opportunity. On the contrary, it refers to a literal day. In Daniel 9:24-27 it had been pro phesied that “from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, Unto the Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks, and three score and two weeks." These 69 weeks of prophetic years (360 days long) equal exactly 173,880 days, and it has been demonstrated that it was on the very last one of these days that our Lord rode into Jerusalem to present Himself officially as the Messianic King. [Dr. McClain has developed this subject carefully and clearly in his series of articles entitled “Daniel’s Próphecy of the Seventy Weeks,” appearing'from April to August, 1939, in THE KING’S BUSINESS. The May issue is the one which dealt most specifically with this day of the triumphal entry.—EDITOR.] That was no ordinary day. In the deep est sense of the word, it was Israel’s day, the day of their King, the day toward which the hopes of centuries had looked. But the nation was blinded with sin, and the opportunity was lost, “because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation” (v. 44). ' Golden Text Illustration L uke 6:46 A business in South America ordered a shipment of goods from a manufac turer in New York. They gave particu lar and explicit directions as to how they must be packed. But that New
Object Lesson S oap and R ope
; OBJECTS: A bar-of white soap, a pièce Of rope, a’ basin of water, and a pair of scissors. (Dye the rope black.) LESSON: You are -wondering how a bar . of-soap and a piece of rope can be used to teach a lesson today. The soap is clean and pure, and reminds us of Christ. Because He was pure, He could die on the; cross to cleanse us from sin. Soap cleanses from dirt, aftd Christ cleanses from sin. If the pure soap stands for Christ, this blaek rope must stand for the devil, Satan. Ropes are often used to bind. If I were to tie James’s hands to his side here, he would not be able to cleanse his .hands, no matter how dirty they might be, nor how much he might want to be cleansed. We will let this pair of scissors remind us of faith in the power of God. The i^ope is easily cut, allowing James to wash his hands. In looking at this soap and rope, I am reminded of, the time that the Lord Jesus Christ, wept over Jerusalem. He wanted to cleanse the people of that city, hut they were bound by Satan. ■ Christ went into the temple and taught daily, but the chief priests and scribes rejected His authority and tried to de stroy Him. There were some of the people, however, that heard His word and were freed from the power of Satan, among 'whom were Zaccheus, Nicode- mus, the Samaritan woman, and others. You, too, can be freed from Satan and cleansed by Christ, just as James was freed and cleansed, if you accept Christ as vour very own Saviour.
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