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•January 1943
the people. They said Jesus was not yet, fifty years 6f age, and asked how, then, could Abraham have seen His day (v. 57)? This discussion i s s u e d in Jesus’ plainly and definitely teaching once again His equality with God in every essential. Here He declares His pre existence, as being before Abraham. The force of the statement, “ before Abraham was, I am" (v. 58) should be carefully noticed. There could be no. stronger affirmation of His es sential deity than is here made by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. But the people to whom Jesus spoke were maddened by the mere sugges tion of this claim to deity, arid they took up stones to stone the Lord Jesus to i death (v. 59). Their action was commendable, and they should have done exactly what they did, IF Christ was nc>t what He claimed to be. But if He wtos what He claimed to be, thetf they should have bowed before His deity and worshiped Him. To say He was a good man, a great teacher of truth, one who has influenced the World for good, one whose example should be emulated—and yet deny His own claims to essential deity—is to reveal oneself as b e i n g in deeper ignorance and more awful blindness than were those who actually cruci fied our Lord. Points and Problems In keeping with the great purpose of John’s Gospel as set forth in 20:31 —namely, to present Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the Object of sav ing faith, the text of today’s lesson shows Christ affirming His deity in the following ways: 1. By claiming to be the light of the world (John 8:12). As there is only one sun in the heavens to give its blessing to the physical world, so there is but one “sun of righteous ness” (cf. Mai. 4:2) to provide moral and spiritual light to this darkened world. Christ is the exclusive Light. There'is none other. He is the Light, not a Light. Never was the definite article more important. The ministry of the physical sun is to warm, to purify, to produce growth, to give en ergy, to reveal beauty, and to provide direction. All of t h e s e things and more, Christ does for the soul, and He only can do them. 2. By claiming.identity wi t h the Father (vs. 28, 29). The phrase, “I do nothing of myself,” is like many other assertions our Lord made concerning Himself (cf. John 5:19, 30), It meant that Christ did nothing of His inde pendent authority. The reference is to the perfect union between the Son and the Father. The Father and the Son are one and yet there is a clear distinction as is seen by the fact that
one did the sending ahd the other was sent. There is much of mystery in the union of the Father and the Son, but it is one of the mighty evidences of the deity of Christ, £ 3. By claiming to be the author of true freedom (v. 36). By nature all men are in bondage to sin (v. 34). No man has been able to break it. But Christ has set the captives free. He only has made possible freedom from the guilt and consequences of sin by His blood, freedom from the power of sin by His resurrection, and freedom from the presence of sin by His com ing again. Only Deity can do this. 4. By claiming to be the central fig ure of Scripture (y. 56). Not only is He central in the message of the New Testament, but He also was central in the message of the Old Testament. Abraham looked down the vista of the centuries and saw and rejoiced in the day of Christ. It is faulty inter pretation of Scripture which fails to find Christ throughout the Scriptures. 5. By claiming existence be f o r e Abraham (v. 58). The Jews knew well that, this was a claim to deity. Thus they took up stories to stone Him as they did on other occasions when He ■made the saine claim (cf. John 10:31- 39; 11:8). Stronger claim to deity than this Jesus never made. He claimed to be Jehovah, the eternal self-existent One. Golden Text Illustration J ohn 14:9 Two young men were talking about their fathers, and one of them was telling w h a t a wonderful man his father was. P u llin g .from h i s left breast pocket a package, he displayed pictures of his father and mother, gaz ing wistfully at them as he showed them to his companion. “Say, Buddy,” he suddenly exclaimed, “you have not spoken of your father. Do you have any pictures to show me what he is like?” “No, I’m sorry, I haven’t any of my father with me. Oh, hold on! Yes, I.have/ and I’ll give you one.” Putting his hand in his pocket, he pulled out a sovereign and offered it to his won dering companion, remarking, “Here is a picture of my father. Keep it to remember me by.” The P r i n c e of Wales smiled i n t o the face of his father on the coin, then sprang into a waiting car and left his surprised acquaintance. That is the kind of coin we Christians should always have about us, the one that bears tile ex press image of His Person.—Adapted from Five Thousand Best Modern Il lustrations, by Hallock. Back Home in Nazareth J o h n 8:12-59 ; L u k e 2:46-52 MEMORY VERSE: “ Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is
well-pleasing urito the Lord” (Col. 3:20), APPROACH: When the Lord Jesus was twelve years old, He went to Jerusalem with His parents to wor ship God at the great Feast of the
Passover. After the f e a s t was over, Mary a n d Joseph s t a r t e d back to their home at Naz areth. T h e y had traveled a w h o l e day b e f o r e they made a s t r a n g e d i s c o v e r y . They had lost the Lord
Jesus! When they could not find Him among their relatives, they hurried back to Jerusalem, and there they found Him! He was sitting in the temple in the midst of the doctors, or wise men, not orily listening to them and asking them questions, but also surprising them with His understand ing anti answers. 5 *b!VISIOr\ LESSON STORY: Mary could not understand why the Lord Jesus had stayed in the temple. (Read Luke 2:48, 49 to the children.) The Lord Jesus knew that God, His real Father, had wanted Him to stay to talk to the wise men during those days that had just passed, and that He-always should obey Him. However, He now gladly went back home with Mary and Joseph, and the Bible tells us that He was subject, or obedient, to them, and that He grew in every way that a boy should. (Read verse 52.) When the Lord Jesus grew up, >He gave His life for us. (Use Hebrews 5:8, 9 and Philippians 2:8-11 with older children.) Won’t you'1let Him come into your heart now? He will save you and help you to live an obedient and pleasing life, like His when He was a boy. , Object Lesson . A B right L ight for the D ark N ight OBJECT: A capital “L.” (From a piece of white paper cut a cross with upright and cross arm 2 inches wide. Color one side red.- Fold down at the middle of the cross arm, with thé red*inside. This will make the letter “T.” Fold again, bringing thé two edges of the cross arm together, mak ing the letter “L.” ) LESSON: Of what does this letter “L” reriiind you? I will give you a hint. It stands for one of the most important things in the world, some thing without which rio one could live. “Is it ‘Light’ ?” Yes, you are right. As we look at this “L” which stands for “Light,” I am reminded of the words of the Lord Jesus, “I am.the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk » in darkness, but shall have the light
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