p. 398 | The Sabbath-School by J. W. Scoles

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jul 1, 1889

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 25.

The Sabbath-School.

By J. W. Scoles

Notes on the International Lesson.

SAMUEL CALLED OF GOD.

WITH the beginning of the present quarter the lessons change from the New to the Old Testament, and are principally confined to the two books of Samuel. In order to more fully comprehend the subjects which will be presented for our consideration, it will be well for us to briefly notice the condition at this time of the children of Israel, with whom our lessons deal more particularly. It would seem that from the time of Joshua there had been a general decline toward idolatry upon the part of the people. Under the rule of some of the judges, there were periods during which there was a partial recovery of the pure principles of godliness, but upon the whole the spiritual, as well as the national, life of Israel was in a very low condition. Gross immoralities prevailed even in the very ranks of the priesthood, while covetousness and lust were common sins among the people. As they were deficient in war-like skill, the people were gradually being brought into subjection to the fierce tribes that surrounded them.

BUT, as we have frequently found in looking into God's dealings with his people in the past, in times of greatest apparent darkness the Lord has instrumentalities by which to save his people. So it was in this case. Right at the point where national extinction seemed to threaten the people of God because of their having departed from the pure worship of Jehovah, Samuel was raised up to act as a special instrument in the hands of God for laying better foundations upon which the nation should rest, and to introduce such order as should insure a perpetuation of its Government.

THE expression, "no open vision," does not mean that the people did not have a knowledge of the will and word of God, but rather has reference to the direct work and ministration of living prophets. Occasionally people obtain the impression from some source or other that the entire Old Testament dispensation was characterized by a continuous chain of prophets who had direct communication with God, while the New Testament dispensation was to be entirely void of such evidences. A careful study of the word of God, however, will readily convince us of the mistakes of such a theory as this. There were several instances in the history of the Jewish people, when they were left without any such means of communication with God, and for a period of nearly four hundred years previous to the first coming of Christ, living prophets were unknown among the people. This was not because they did not need this means of instruction, but because they had, as in the present case, departed so far from the Lord that he could no longer bestow such signal blessings upon them as to communicate directly with them by means of the living testimony.

IN regard to the manifestation of such spiritual gifts in the New Testament, we find that the opening of this dispensation was characterized by the most wonderful outpouring of the Spirit of God that had ever been witnessed up to that time. Not only so, but we find that the promise of similar blessings was as much a part of the commission as was the command to preach the gospel. Mark 16: 15-18. In harmony with this, we find the wonderful manifestations which were witnessed on the day of Pentecost were explained by Peter to be a part of the promise which should reach as far as the gospel itself. "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." Acts 2: 38, 39. Numbers of instances of the direct work of the Spirit of God in this direction are given throughout the New Testament. And the sacred record closes without a single intimation that such gifts as these should ever cease to be the property of God's people.

God himself placed these things in the church (1 Cor. 12: 28), and we are instructed to covet earnestly the best gifts. Verse 31. Surely if God's people needed his special watchcare and direct interposition in their behalf in the past, then the church needs these things to-day, in her battle with the combined forces of the world, the flesh, and the devil. In this degenerate age, when iniquity abounds, and when the love of so many is waxing cold, surely such things as these are needed if they ever were, and we can but believe, from the direct testimony of the Scriptures, that as great a measure of God's Spirit as characterized his work in the past might be ours to-day were we standing in the purity and simplicity of the faith of the primitive church. It is also hinted by more than one of the New Testament writers, but especially so by the apostle James, that the last days, those just preceding the second coming of Christ, are to witness, in a large measure, at least, the outpouring in a special manner of God's Spirit once more upon the hearts of his accepted children, in the form of the latter rain. James 5: 7, 8, 13-15. If such blessings are for God's people, may he strengthen our faith until we are ready to believe and receive them.

No matter from what source the message comes, when God calls we should always be ready to hear. It is not our part nor our place to question God's instrumentalities. When we become fully satisfied that God calls us, there should be upon our part the same willingness to answer that there was with Samuel. If we walk in the counsel of God, we must continually hold our sympathies at the disposal of truth wherever we find it, and it should ever be the province of the child of God to answer, "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth."

BECAUSE Samuel was a child granted to his mother on account of special supplication, she declared that he should be lent to the Lord as long as he lived. The margin, instead of reading "lent to the Lord," says, "shall be returned to the Lord." How true it is that everything which we possess, whether friends, life, home, or health, comes from God. And when we do "lend to the Lord" we are simply returning what he has given to us. God has the first claim upon us. Our time, our talents, our all, comes originally from him. Shall we not, then, consecrate to the Lord, with a full and willing heart, the things which he has so freely given to us? And let us remember, also, that the best of all these gifts of God was his own Son, the dear Redeemer, whose blood alone can cleanse us from sin.

IF Christian parents would consecrate their children to the Lord from birth, and would continually endeavor to realize that they are God's, and would take the same interest in them, and exercise the same watchfulness over them, as though God had personally intrusted them to their care, how much better it would be for both parents and children. Thousands of homes are being wrecked and made wretched to-day by the disobedience of children to parents. Nor are the children altogether responsible for this state of affairs. It is as much a part of the parent to require obedience as it is the place of the child to render it. "Honor thy father and thy mother" can be and is being violated in scores of instances to-day by parents as much as by children.

GOD always prepares his instruments for the performance of his own work. While the children of Israel wandered farther and farther away from him, given up to the imaginations of their own hearts, God was silently, but nevertheless surely, preparing the way by which those who were not wholly given up to idolatry should be brought back into harmony with himself. It is not at all times given to us to understand the purposes of God; often we cannot comprehend his ways. But although we cannot understand them, they are God's ways nevertheless. And of one thing we may rest assured, that God will do his part of the work faithfully. If we but commit ourselves into his care, all will be well; and although the way at times may be dark, and the pathway dim, let us trust in God, who doeth all things right. "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee; because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord forever; for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength." Isa. 26: 3, 4.