THE SUNDAY SCHOOL

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jun 26, 1901

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 26.

THE SUNDAY SCHOOL

INTERNATIONAL SERIES

LESSON 13.—JUNE 30.—REVIEW.

The lessons of the past quarter have been concerning the ministry of Jesus from His resurrection to the consummation and the full enjoyment of the fruit of His labors in the new earth. The subjects are as follow:—

LESSON I.—The Resurrection of Jesus. Luke 24:1-12. Golden Text: “Now is Christ risen from the dead.” 1 Cor. 15:20. The resurrection of the dead is the hope of the Gospel, and the resurrection of Christ is the assurance of this hope. “For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised; and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.” Verses 16-18. The reader may follow the subject further with profit by studying this whole chapter. See also Rom. 8:11; Phil. 4:7-11; 1 Thess. 4:13-18; Revelation 20.

LESSON II.—Jesus Appears to Mary. John 20:11-18. Golden Text: “Behold, I am alive forevermore.” Rev. 1:18. There is no obstacle too great for Christ to overcome, no depth too low for Him to reach after willing subjects for His kingdom. Mary, out of whom He had cast seven devils, sat at His feet to learn of Him, and she was honored by Him as the first to whom He appeared after His resurrection, and the first human messenger of the glad tidings that Christ is risen. “He that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”

LESSON III.—The Walk to Emmaus. Luke 24:13-35. Golden Text: “Did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the Scriptures?” Verse 32. There is no necessity of the true Christian walking thru this world in sadness. Christ is always nearer than we suppose in such cases. He has promised the Comforter to guide us into all truth, which is His own holy Word. Whence did Jesus get the words that so buoyed up the sad-hearted travelers? Let them answer; read again the Golden Text. His words always bring courage to the trusting heart, for “they are Spirit, and they are life.”

LESSON IV.—Jesus Appears to the Apostles. John 20:19-29. Golden Text: “Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” Verse 29. Nothing was farther from the expectation of the apostles than the resurrection of Christ, so “slow of heart” were they to grasp His plain teaching. And at His second advent the masses of professed disciples will be as illy prepared for His sudden appearance as were His disappointed followers then to see Him alive. But those who love His appearing, and believe His Word, will be looking for Him.

LESSON V.—Jesus and Peter. John 21:15-22. Golden Text: “Lovest thou Me?” Verse 17. The proof of love is obedience. Peter was to show his love by feeding the flock. He was to prove his faith by proclaiming the resurrection of Christ, by heralding the Messiahship of the One he had been ashamed to acknowledge. He was yet to prove valiant in presence of those before whom his former cowardice had so dishonored the Master's cause. “If ye love Me, keep My commandments,” is the word of Christ to all. We can not truly represent Him before the world in any other way.

LESSON VI.—The Great Commission. Matt. 28:16-20. Golden Text: “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” Verse 20. The commission is to the church, to “teach all nations” the Gospel. Mark says “every creature.” The responsibility rests upon every one in the church to do his part in teaching every creature to “observe all things whatsoever” that Christ has commanded. To “observe” here means not only to see and hear, but to do.

LESSON VII.—Jesus Ascends into Heaven. Luke 24:44-53. Golden Text: “While He blessed them, He was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.” Verse 51. He had humbled Himself even unto the death of the cross, and now He was exalted to a place on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty on high, and was given a name which is above every name. Phil. 2:5-11. In like manner as His disciples saw Him go up, so He will return. His ascension was visible to mortal eyes, and so will His return be literal and visible. Rev. 1:7.

LESSON VIII.—The Holy Spirit Given. Acts 2:1-11. Golden Text: “When He, the Spirit of truth is come, He will guide you into all truth.” John 16:13. The Holy Spirit is the earnest of the Christian's inheritance. It is the portion which he needs for daily sustenance until the time comes for him to enter into the full inheritance. It is the promise of the Father, and is a portion that is essential for strength and encouragement in this world of temptation and sin. But the Father does not force it upon any one; it is to be had for the asking. “Ask, and ye shall receive.” See 2 Cor. 5:5; Eph. 1:13, 14; Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4, 5; Luke 11:9-13.

LESSON IX.—Jesus Our High Priest in Heaven. Heb. 9:11-14, 24-28. Golden Text: “He ever liveth to make intercession.” Heb. 7:25. A careful study of the Aaronic priesthood will give a better idea of the ministry of Christ in heaven than anything else. That priesthood was a type of Christ's priesthood. The basis of it all is mediatorship between God and man, and the offering of His own pure life as a substitute in behalf of those who confess and forsake their sins. “He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him.” Heb. 7:25.

LESSON X.—Jesus Appears to Paul. Acts 22:6-16. Golden Text: “I was obedient unto the heavenly vision.” Acts 26:19. No man would have dreamed that Saul the persecutor, one who “made havoc of the church,” was a “chosen vessel” of the Lord. But “the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.” 1 Sam. 16:7. Saul was “zealous for God,” but he had not found the Saviour until he was met in his mad career by the “heavenly vision.”

LESSON XI.—Jesus Appears to John. Rev. 1:9-20. Golden Text: “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever.” Heb. 13:8. Prominent in this lesson is the reassurance to the church that she has a living Saviour. There is encouragement in the fact that He was not only raised from the dead, but is “alive forevermore.” He had given this assurance before, but He knew that frail humanity needed reassuring and additional instruction.

LESSON XII.—“A New Heaven and a New Earth.” Rev. 21:1-7, 22-27. Golden Text: “He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son.” Verse 7. The new heaven and the new earth will be the eternal monument of God's great and final victory thru Christ over all enemies. There will be fulfilled the divine promise, “The meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.” Ps. 72:7; Matt. 5:5.