942 h e re ? ” The question smote th e m an’s conscience and resu lted in his conver sion. A little hoy h eard a d runk ard swear ing a t his horses and asked, “ Is th a t the way you p ray ?” It was th e means of th e conversion of the d runkard. v. 14. Jo h n was p u t in prison. The silencing of C hristian m inisters shall not he the suppressing of Christ’s Gos pel. If some he laid aside others shall be r a i s e d up, COMMENTS FROM perhaps m ightier MANY SOURCES th a n t h e y , to K. U. B rooks , c a r r y on the s a m e w o r k.— Henry. You can sh u t up th e worker h u t you cannot sh u t up th e work. John i s "incarcerated and th e Lord sends a g reat ligh t over th e lands and bids the kings of earth sh u t it up in th e ir dun geons. There are silent h u t strang e m inisters evermore proceeding w ith in finite effect to work ou t th e decree and purpose of G od .-^P arker. W h at have we done for our Lord? We d are not go ou t for it is raining. We tak e of fense because of trifles. We leave th e work because of some little pique not w orthy of a moment’s consideration. Would God we had a little more hero ism in th e church.— People’s Bible. v. 15. Time is fulfilled, th e k ing dom is a t hand. This could mean only one thing. The tim e for th e g rea t work of redemption th a t had been planned before th e foundation of th e world, the tim e for God’s righteousness to be mani fested and for H is salvation to go forth. (1 P et. 1 :20 ; Is. 5 1 :5 ). To th e ac complishment of th a t g reat purpose Jesus was wholly comm itted and con secrated a t H is first coming. This makes it impossible th a t th e establish ing of th e earth ly kingdom could have been referred to. No word or act of His or of His fo rerunn er ever gave the sligh test foundation for th e though t
T HE K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S th a t the m illennial kingdom was then a t hand. John had heralded th e pres en t age, the age of grace and tru th , the day of salvation, th e acceptable year of th e Lord'. He had pointed to Christ as th e Lamb of God. The kingdom which was th en annouhced as a t hand is the tim e now p resen t du ring which those who by grace (believing th e Gospel) are made p arta k ers of the unspeakable blessings of th e new covenant.-—Mauro. God keeps tim e and His tim e is punc tu ally fulfilled though it ta rry p ast our tim e.—Henry. v. 16. Casting nets. No one of th e twelve was chosen when idle. Service, no t idleness, qualifies one best to meet an im po rtan t crisis.:—Rice. The Bible does not record th a t God ever called a lazy man into H is se rv ic e .^H u n te r. v. 17. Come ye a fte r me. The de mands of our Lord may be try ing to our faith b u t they are never un reas onable.— Chadwick. To learn C h rist’s art, to be made helpful in draw ing souls to Him, following Jesu s and catching men, th is was enough to draw His first m inisters. I t was less lucrative th an th a t of catching fish and less honorable, for they suffered th e loss of all things and were regarded as th e filth of the earth .— Expos. Bible. The grace which called them gave them power to forsake earth ly things and to come afte r Him .— Gaebelein. I will m ake you. The day came when Jesu s’ prom ise to P ete r was so wonderfully fulfilled th a t P eter caught more men a t a single hau l th an he did fish on th a t day. (Acts 2 :4 -41 ). Any one who does follow Jesus will be a fisher of men. Therefore, any one who is no t a fisher of men is not a fol lower of Jesus.— Torrey. ^G1 du ty lies in “Come ye afte r me.” He does not need to use argum ents. F rom th e very first th is meek and lowly man assumes a tone which on o ther lips we would call arrog an t. He knows th a t He has th e rig h t to command, ' and strangely enough th e world adm its th e righ t.
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