p. 346 | The Commentary by J.

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jun 10, 1886

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 22.

The Commentary.

By J.

NOTES ON THE INTERNATIONAL LESSON.

Jesus and Abraham.

"If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed." Jesus "became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him." Heb. 5:9. Are we his disciples? If we continue in his word we are; if we bring forth much fruit we are. John 15:8. A disciple is a learner. A disciple of Christ is one who learns of Christ. And this is the Saviour's command, "Take my yoke upon you and learn of me." In him is a field of study that can never be exhausted, "For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." Col. 2:9. Would we learn meekness, we must learn it of Christ. Would we learn gentleness, we must learn it of Christ. Would we learn righteousness, we must learn it of Christ. Would we learn holiness, we must learn it of Christ. Would we learn charity, we must learn it of Christ. Would we learn anything at all but that which is earthly, we must learn it of Christ; for "of God he is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption; that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." If thus we study the divine Saviour, and learn of him and continue in his word, then are we his disciples indeed. He that heareth the sayings of Christ and doeth them is the man who has built his house upon the rock; while he that heareth these sayings and doeth them not has built his house on the sand. Alas! how many there are even to-day as of old to whom the words of Christ come, "Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" Luke 6:46.

If thus we learn of Christ, we shall know the truth, for he is the Truth. He came to "bear witness unto the truth." The word of God is truth, and Christ is the word of God personified. We shall know the truth and the truth shall make us free; for "he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God." The people who enter in through the gates of the eternal city, are those who have kept the truth. "In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in." Isa. 26:1, 2. Jesus tells us what is meant by the truth in this place; he says: "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." Rev. 22:14. And David says: "Thy righteousness is an everlasting

righteousness, and thy law is the truth." Ps. 119:142. But it is only through Christ that we can keep the truth, the commandments of God. And he, Christ the Truth, must make us free from our disobedience to the truth,—the law of God,—before we can do the truth.

"WHOSOEVER committeth sin is the servant of sin." Sin is the master and the sinner is the servant. The wages that the servant receives is death; "for the wages of sin is death." Sin is a cruel master, and pays a cruel price for the service that is rendered. He holds his servants in cruel bondage, with mighty strength, for the strength of sin is the law of God. "But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." The wages of sin is death, but Christ died for all. God "made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin." "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." He came to set at liberty them that are bound under the bondage of sin. He has conquered and condemned sin; he has broken the power of death. "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." And he longs to make free all the servants of sin. "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God," "and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour." "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit; for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." Rom. 8:1, 2.

"If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham." This is the Lord's testimony of Abraham: "Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws." "Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness." Abraham believed God, and obeyed God; and these men, while asserting with all their power that they were the children of Abraham, were denying all the evidences that God could bring before them, and in their rebellion were only waiting for a chance to kill the One whom God had sent, the promised seed of Abraham, in whom all the world should be blessed. If they had believed on Christ, they would have been indeed the children of Abraham, and would have been blessed with faithful Abraham. For "if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." If they had been indeed the children of Abraham, they would have rejoiced to see the day when Jesus stood in the world, for Abraham rejoiced to see that day, and he saw it and was glad. Abraham rejoiced to see it even afar off, and by faith; while they would not see it before their eyes and present to their senses.

In seeking to kill Christ, they were but doing the deeds of their father the devil, for "he that committeth sin is of the devil," and the devil was a murderer from the beginning. Jesus thus laid bare their wicked hearts, and the more they resisted the truth the more he exposed their hypocrisy, until their baseness became so glaring before all that the only thing they could do to hide it was to kill him who so persistently and so unscathingly exposed it. A similar instance of their wickedness was shown in the case of Lazarus. After Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead, many by seeing Lazarus believed on Jesus, so to prevent this the chief priests proposed to kill Lazarus. John 12:10, 11. And it was all brought about by their resistance to the truth in the first place. If they had received his word at the beginning; if they had diligently weighed his profession, and fairly examined his works with honesty of purpose to know the truth, they would have seen in him that which he really was.

But because his appearance did not suit them, because he did not come as they thought the Messiah ought to come, they set their minds against him at once. And though he besought them not to judge according to appearances, but to judge righteous judgment, and though they believed not him, to believe the works yet it was all to no purpose. They had decided that they would not believe he was the Christ, and nothing should alter that decision. We should never condemn any doctrine, nor any profession, simply because it does not meet our opinion. Our opinion may be wrong, and if the doctrine be the truth, we wrong ourselves by rejecting it. "Prove all things, hold fast that which is good." Bring everything to the test of the word of God; if it will not bear that test, it is wrong, and then cast it away as such. If it will bear the test of the word of God, then we dare not reject it, for it is the truth of God, and it is by knowing and continuing in the truth that we become Christ's disciples indeed. Be careful with the truth. Exalt it and it shall promote thee. Those that hate it love death.

AGAIN Jesus put them in a strait by the question, "Which of you convinceth me of sin?" Convince here signifies to convict. Which of you convicts me of sin? Here he throws the question open in the fairest possible way, and it still remains so. Let the world be summoned, and who of all its inhabitants can convict Jesus Christ of sin? Who can point to a single word or deed of wrong report? He has stood thus challenging the world for more than eighteen centuries; but as with the Jews at the first, so has it ever been, no man can say "I." And upon this comes, as the logical consequence, the question that he asked of them: "If I say the truth, why do you not believe me?" If he cannot be convicted of sin, his whole course was that of truth. Why then do you not believe him? Do you not want to believe the truth? This challenge of Christ places upon every person the alternative of either believing that he is the Christ, or of refusing to believe the truth.

"BEFORE Abraham was, I am." Yea, before all things he is; for he is the beginning and the ending, "which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty." Rev. 1:8.