Notes on the International Lesson.
By W. N. G.
"BLESSED is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God." The one who said this seems to have grasped a great truth. It was not a mere flight of imagination. The many fanciful ideas of heaven, created by the popular theology of the day, cut off all consolation from any such comprehensive thought. Eating bread in the kingdom of heaven is entirely too "material" for modern sentiment. But in the "Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants," we find this promise, "Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb." Chap. 19:9. Again, in Luke 12:37, referring to the same occasion (his second coming), we read: "Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching; verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them." Also, at the institution of the Lord’s Supper, which was to be kept in remembrance of him until his return, Christ made reference to the grand occasion alluded to in the text quoted above. In giving the cup to his disciples, he said: "I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom." Matt. 26:29; Mark 14:25. THE parable which follows in the lesson is illustrative of the great "marriage supper of the Lamb." The servant being sent "to them that were bidden" shows that they had had previous knowledge of the occasion, and here is a special message informing them the time is near for the great event. This message is evidently to the church especially, but others may yet be brought in under it on the same conditions, although it be the eleventh hour. Hence the necessity of the church being awake to an understanding of the situation. "Watch therefore; for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come." "Blessed is that servant, whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing." Matt. 24:42, 46. THIS parable is also illustrative of the condition of the church when the Lord will come. The masses are all absorbed in the secular pursuits common to the world. It is apparently different from the "dinner" referred to in Matthew 22. That parable, although reaching down to the end, evidently begins with the first advent, showing the treatment Christ received at the hands of the Jews, the destruction of the city of Jerusalem, and the turning of the gospel invitation to the Gentiles. That covers the bidding to the wedding-feast, especially the blessings in store for Israel had they accepted Jesus as the Messiah; while this parable in Luke applies directly to the time just preceding the second advent, and is an announcement to those who had been bidden. THERE is ample testimony in the teachings of Christ and his apostles, in addition to this parable, to show the condition of the professed church when the Lord shall come again. On a certain occasion Jesus was asked this question, "Lord, are there few that be saved?" His answer was, "Strive to enter in at the strait gate; for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able." Luke 13:23, 24. The many spoken of as seeking to enter in are those who profess to be disciples; and, with all the efforts being put forth, by all manner of popular means, including civil law, must of necessity greatly increase the ranks of merely nominal professors. This fact adds significance to the question asked by the Lord,4"When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" IN the parable before us, the man who had bought a piece of ground, and the one who had purchased oxen, and the one who had married a wife, although they had been bidden to the supper, had no time seriously to consider the subject of the time for supper being already at hand. Their real interest is in the same things which attract the attention of the people of the world. Of the masses, the Lord has plainly said that at his coming they will be engaged just as were the people immediately preceding the flood,—that is, they were all absorbed in eating and drinking and marrying wives. Also, like those in the days of Lot, of whom it is said, "They did eat; they drank; they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded," up to the day of their destruction. It is just so to-day, the popular church is too much engaged in business and pleasure to give attention to evident signs that the Lord's coming and wedding-supper are at hand. AND Paul prophesies concerning the great apostasy of the church: "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." 2 Tim. 4:3. That is just what the men in the parable did when informed that supper was ready; they "turned away their ears from the truth." PAUL also tells us that the coming of the Lord will not take place "except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped." 2 Thess. 2:3, 4. This "man of sin" is to arise in the church, and he is to exist in full power when Christ comes, for he is the same "whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming." Verse 8. And this power shall work "with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved." Here again is what the men of the parable in the lesson before us did,—"they received not the love of the truth;" they were interested in worldly affairs, and consequently easily turned aside by pleasing fables, which required no special sacrifice on their part. W. N. G.