THE SABBATH SCHOOL

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jan 8, 1902

THE SABBATH SCHOOL

INTERNATIONAL SERIES

NOTE.—In the preparation of these lessons all Scripture references, and the pages of “Christ’s Object Lessons,” should be thoroughly studied first, then the questions. The questions are not the lessons. They are only for the purpose of finding out what we have observed while studying. More of the preciousness of these lessons will be obtained if the lesson is studied each day throughout the week. In the parables of Jesus there is salvation from sin for every type of sinner—from the Pharisee to the prodigal. The notes are wholly selected from such portions of “Christ’s Object Lessons” as apply to each lesson.

LESSON 3.—JANUARY 18.—THE PARABLE OF THE GREAT SUPPER.

(Continued.)*

Aid.—“Christ’s Object Lessons,” pp. 219–237.

Lesson Scripture, Luke 14:21–24, R.V.

21 “And the servant came, and told his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor and maimed and blind and lame. 22 And the servant said, Lord, what thou didst command is done, and yet there is room. 23 And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and constrain them to come in, that my house may be filled. 24 For I say unto you, that none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.”

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS.

1. How did the servant deal with these excuses?

2. What effect did they have upon the master of the house?

3. Where did he tell the servant to go next?

4. What classes of persons were to be brought in?

5. What report did the servant then make?

6. Where did his lord then send him?

7. How urgent was the invitation?

8. What result was expected?

9. What declaration was made concerning the guests first invited?

NOTES.

1. THOSE who refused the last call, “Come; for all things are now ready,” were left to their own choice, but the feast was not thus deprived of its guests. Those whose outward circumstances caused them to be despised by the world, and those hidden from the observation of men, were most urgently invited, and they responded to the call. Thus it often happens that the very blessings bestowed upon men as a means of drawing them to the Lord are turned by them into a hindrance to spiritual life, while the absence of temporal comforts leads to a greater readiness to receive the “unspeakable gift.” The rejection of the Gospel call by those first invited, and the turning to others with the same invitation, foreshadowed the giving of the Gospel to the Gentiles, and is the distinct call to us to send the last message “to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.”

2. The whole Bible is an invitation to come to the Lord for salvation. This was the Lord’s call to Noah (Gen. 7:1); it was His invitation through Isaiah (Isa. 55:1); Jesus Himself repeated it (Matt. 11:28); and among the closing words of the Bible the call is thrice repeated (Rev. 22:17). On the other hand, the whole message of the Bible is concerning the coming of Christ to and for His people. The symbolic service foreshadowed it, the prophets foretold it, John the Baptist gave the message of His first coming (Luke 1:76), and His work finds its full completion in the last message before the second coming. And so the call to-day, “Come; for all things are now ready,” is a call to prepare for the second coming of Christ and the marriage supper of the Lamb. By the winning power of love this message is to go forth to the world in this generation, to compel men to receive the gift of God’s grace, to “eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood,” that they may live forever. Through the neighborly ministry of the medical missionary work this message is to go to the suffering and the needy, and so, through the right use of all of God’s appointed agencies, all classes are to be reached, and the day of the Lord is to be hastened. Read Isa. 26:20, 21, and Rev. 22:20, for a combination of the Lord’s call and our response.