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LESSON I.—SUNDAY, APRIL 2, 1893

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Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 20, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 20.

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LESSON I.—SUNDAY, APRIL 2, 1893.

By Editor

THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST.

[NOTE.—The questions which follow are merely suggestive for the student on the leading points of the lesson; it is presumed that the thorough student will think of many more as he studies the subject. References, where verses alone are given, always refer to the lesson scripture printed above. All other references are given in book, chapter, and verse. The text printed is that of the Revised Version, not because it is especially preferred, but because it is not found in every family, as is the common version.]

Lesson Scripture, Matt. 28:1-10.

  1. Now late on the Sabbath day, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher.
  2. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled away the stone, and sat upon it.
  3. His appearance was as lightning, and his raiment white as snow;
  4. And for fear of him the watchers did quake, and became as dead men.
  5. And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye; for I know that ye seek Jesus, which hath been crucified.
  6. He is not here; for he is risen, even as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
  7. And go quickly, and tell his disciples, He is risen from the dead; and lo, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him; lo, I have told you.
  8. And they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring his disciples word.
  9. And behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and took hold of his feet, and worshiped him.
  10. Then saith Jesus unto them, Fear not; go tell my brethren that they depart into Galilee, and there shall they see me.
Golden Text.—"Now hath Christ been raised from the dead, the first fruits of them that are asleep." 1 Cor. 15:20.
  1. Who came first to the sepulcher to see Jesus? Verse 1. Compare with Mark 16:1 and Luke 24:1.
  2. On what day did they come? Verse 1.
  3. What is that day called which preceded this first day? Verse 1. Note 1.
  4. What had occurred before the women reached the sepulcher? Verse 2, first part.
  5. Through what agency was the tomb opened? Verse 2, second part. Note 2.
  6. What description is given of this angel, and of the effect of his appearance upon the watchers? Verse 3.
  7. What words of cheer did the angel speak to the women? Verses 5, 6.
  8. What message did he give them? Verse 7. Note 3.
  9. Where did they go? and with what emotions? Verse 8.
  10. Who met them on the way? Verse 9, first part.
  11. How did he greet them?
  12. How did they receive him? Verse 9, last part.
  13. What message did Jesus give them? Verse 10.
  14. What was the resurrection? Golden text. Ans.—A rising from the dead.
  15. What is the cause of death?
"Then the lust, when it hath conceived, beareth sin; and the sin, when it is full grown, bringeth forth death." James 1:15. 16. Of what power, then, was the resurrection of Christ a demonstration? "Whom God raised up, having loosed the pangs of death; because it was not possible that he should be holden of it." Acts 2:24. Note 4. 17. For what was Christ raised from the dead? "Who was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justification." Rom. 4:25. Note 5.
  1. What, then, does the resurrection mean to us? Note 5.
  2. What is its memorial?
"Or are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with him by the likeness of his death, we shall be also by the likeness of his resurrection." Rom. 6:3-5. Note 6.
  1. How is this power to be shown to the world? Note 6.
  2. Is a day, then, a proper memorial of the resurrection?
  3. What precious assurance comes to us in view of the resurrection?
"And I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever more, and I have the keys of death and of hades." Rev. 1:18. "Yet a little while, and the world beholdeth Me no more, but ye behold Me; because I live, ye shall live also." John 14:19.

NOTES.

1. Now late on the Sabbath day.—It is better for the student and teacher not to dwell on the difference in expression between the above from the Revised Version and that of the Common Version, "In the end of the Sabbath." Mark says, "When the Sabbath was past." It is well, however, in this time of Sabbath discussion, to note the fact so clearly expressed by all three of the synoptic gospels, that the day before the first day of the week is called by Inspiration "the Sabbath." The great fact of the lesson is the resurrection; let the student grasp the meaning of that.
2. An angel.—One of God's ministers. One angel smote in one night 185,000 Assyrians. 2 Kings 19:35. It was an angel which shut the lion's jaws and preserved Daniel. It was an angel which opened the prison doors, loosed the shackles which bound Peter, and made him go free. And the promise is that "the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them." When the mere presence of one messenger of God, clad in the glory of heaven, struck down the strong Roman guard, what will it be to the wicked when Jesus will come with all the holy angels with him? To the righteous they will be, as was this angel to the women, messengers of cheer. The angels are ministering servants of God for his people. Heb. 1:14. To the wicked it will be a "consuming fire."
3. Go quickly and tell.—God gives us no blessings for selfish purposes. Not one gift has he bestowed but that he designs it shall be a blessing to others through the one to whom it is committed in trust. Do you want some blessing of the Lord; it always means greater responsibility in reference to others. Go and tell are the words of the gospel. This is the command of God; it is also the impulse of the Spirit of Christ received in the heart. See Luke 8:39; John 4:28, 29; 1:41, 45. Jesus gives the same message. Matt. 28:10.
4. Not possible that He should be holden of it.—Why?—Because he had no sin. He became sin for us, and died for every soul; but in his own character he had no sin; he was righteous and only righteous, and righteousness is life. (See Prov. 12:28; Rom. 5:18; 8:10.) In him was life (John 1:4; 5:26); and he had power to lay it down and power to take it again (John 10:18). Being the perfect righteousness of God, the grave could not hold him. The resurrection of Christ was therefore a demonstration of his power over sin, and the end of sin, or death.
5. Raised for our justification.—We are bought by the death of Christ, but we have not a dead Saviour. That redemption is effectual because Christ lives again; therefore we are "saved by his life." "He ever liveth to make intercession for us." Heb. 7:25. "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." Rom. 8:2. As beforestated, the resurrection of Christ is a demonstration of his power over sin and death. His life is therefore the power of righteousness. And he must ever live to impart and impute that righteousness to all that believe. See Rom. 3:22. And the life that the Christian lives is not his life, but Christ lives in him by faith. See Gal. 2:20. The resurrection, therefore, means to us "the power of an endless life," not for one day in a week or year, but every day of every week and year. It is for this Paul prays in Eph. 1:19, 20, that the saints might know, among other great blessings, "what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places." That he might take this power Paul counted all earthly things but loss. See Phil. 3:7-10. He emptied himself, as did his Lord (Phil. 2:5-9), and Christ filled him with his own righteousness and life.
6. Might walk in newness of life.—The ordinance of baptism sets forth in form Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. This is just what is set forth as the great facts of the gospel in 1 Cor. 15:3, 4. By Christ's death he redeemed us from sin; his burial was a proof of his death; by his resurrection he triumphed over the power of sin and death. Baptism is the ceremony by which we put on Christ before the world. Gal. 3:27. We say to the world in that burial that we are dead to sin and that we rise to walk in newness of life. In other words, baptism is the marriage ceremony between the believer and Christ. But just the same as to the faithful wife joined to a true and loving husband, the marriage ceremony is but the first day of a life of constantly growing joy, strength, and union, of which her daily devotion is an evidence, so to the Christian the act of baptism but marks the beginning of a life which is ever increasing in the knowledge of Christ, of which daily devotion to the service of God is an evidence. It is an ordinance which is brief in its administration, but which marks to the world the beginning of "the power of an endless life." The world has a right to judge whether Christ is risen or not by the lives of his followers. But when men lost the true significance of baptism, they substituted for its memorial, first a yearly day, and next a weekly day, neither of which, dear student, meets the requirement of God.