The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1888-10-11
SUNDAY SCHOOL.
.ruE LESSON FOR OCTOBER IL.
.. Crossing the Jordon." Joshua Ill
b-f7-Goldep Text 43, 2
Lesson Commentary.

him by promising obedience aud by praying
the Lord to be with nm q, n-ls. linen
Jericho, their reception and protection by
Rabab, their promise of deliverance to her
and ali belonging or related TO her and the
true token of the scarlet line to be bound In
her window Three days tthe resurrection
period) have passed and now they are about
10 cross the Jordan and enter the land; but
Gre doing so they are instructed that the ark
of the covenant borne by the priests, the
Jeyites is to 20 In advance OF the host two
thousand cubits, and they are not TO come
near unto it, that they may know the way
by which they must go and the reason is
given in these words: "Ye have not passed
this way heretofore" How like tins is to
any new step or undertaking we are about to
take and not only SO, Is it not true of every
day of our life that we have not passed this
way heretofore and therefore must stead
fnstly look upon Him who when He putteth
forth His sheep goeth before themi
g. "Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow
the Lord will do wonders among you" III
we were more separate from sin and unbe-
lief we would sec more OF the wonderful
works OF Col. In one place Jesus could not
do many mighty works because OF thor un-
belief. and there is no doubt but the unbelief
and wOridluess OF Christians to day hinders
His doing wonders among u.s. IL we cannot
rid others of these hndrances, we can at least
nut away from our own hearts and lives all
that grieves Him: and IL wo will only let Him
tanctify us TO Himself and His service We
shall as individuals see and know more of
the wonders of His love and grace
q. "Take up the ark OF the covenant and
pass over before the people" To the people
he had sad: "Sanctify yourselves and now
these are his orders to the priests, who were
always supposed to be sanctifed, inasmuch
as they were set apart for the special service
of the sanctuary All true believers are
priests unto Go Rev l.. 5; ", 1O) and should
ever consider themselves set apart to His
service. The Ark OF the Covenant was the
symbol of the presence OF the Lord for the
incorruptible wood, covered within and
without with pure god, speaks TO us of the
pure humanity and the divinity of Christ;
the propitiatory or mercy seat tells us of
Christ, our propitiation; the tables OF the
law in the ark remind us OF the saying con-
cernng Christ: Thy law Is within my
heart. and tho Lord dwelt above tho mercy
seat between the cherubim, from whence He
made known His VIII. When, therefore, we
see the priests bearing the ark OF the cove
nant, we are reminded that We rs priests are
Christ bearers. aud are SO % put on and b 'ar
about everywhere the Lord Jesus that there
shall be seen IN US not the self life, but His
meekness and love and gentleness and
patience.
sight of all Israeli God always honors
those who honor HIM. and yet the honor is
all His own and shows forth His glory, for
this is the great end of our existence, to
gloriiy God. When the apostles, filled with
Jesus the pc pie wondered, and took knowl
edge of them tlat they had been with Jesus.
The confidence OF Potiphar in Joseph was
because he saw that the Lord was with
Joseph, and this magnifying of Joshua was
that all Israel might know that tho same
Lord who was with Moses was now with
Joshua. IL we sincerely desire above all else
that Christ may be magniiied in us, He will
surely do 1t ana use us for His glory.
g. "Stand still in Jordan With their
brink of Jordan and see the wonders of the
Lord. They were to march right into the
river ere the waters would divide; we are to
90 right forward even though it seem ini.
possible and He will at the right time open
the way, not an hour or a day too soon, but
sometimes as it seems only when we have
gone to the last extremity and cannot take
another step.
=. Hear the words of the Lord your
God" What privilege and what an honor
to be permitted to speak or to hear the
words of tie Lord. As ministers or evangel-
lists or teachers we should remember that it
is our privilege first to hear the words of the
Lord for our own souls and then to speak
from our hearts in the power OF the spirit
the words of the Lord TO others. The com
mand to Ezekiel is the command TO us,
.'Speak with My words unto them" (Ez
ILL.,, ~
10. The living God is among you" Jere.
miah calls Him ''the true God the living
God and an everlasting king der. ", lOl
Darius calls Him "the living God and
steadfast forever DAN VII. 2GO Jesus
Himself, appearing 20 John in Patmos, says,
81 am the First aud the Last aud the Living
One alive forevermore. (Rev. l., II, X. "
II we lived near 10 God as Jeremiah or
Daniel or John, our lives would testify that
the God whom we serve is n living God, n
life-gving God, ever present and workng
in and through US. Eli iah told the prophets
OF Baal to cry aond perhaps their God was
asleep or on journey. When churches do
the strange things that many do in our days,
IL would be well to nsk II their God is asleep
or Indifferent, or needing TO be prOpitiated,
or grown poor, or some such que stion touch.
Ing the case in hand.
"He will without fail drive out from he
lore you the Canaanites. 1t is implied here
that He will do this through them as His
servants and soldiers, they being obedient to
Him and He fighting with them and in them
against their enemies. Now we find they
were not obedient,a and consequently Jebustes
and tanaanteS and others were not com
peteiy driven out but became thorns and
snares to them. Judges i, ii, iinl Ii is
written that Jesus shall save His people from
their SINS but how few will acklowledg 20
that He saves them from their sins, for
they know too we'll that they are not
spved from the very common and be-
setting sins of anger, impatience, fretiulness
and the like; aud why noti Simply because
insteai OF yielding themselves to Him to be
cleansed and kept they like Israel, make a
iedBue WIN tne enemy instead OF taxing u
most determined stand against all and every
form of sin.
II. 1.-The ark of the covenant of the Lord
OF all the earth" This is the first time that
We find this title in full; it reminds us Of the
words OF Melchizedek, "the most high God,
possessor OF heaven and earthn Gen. xiv.
lD; and the expression in the prophets "the
Lord of the whole earth" lisa. liv., 3: Mich.
~. IL; Iech iv., IA; vi, % and the thought
that our Redeemer is the Lord of all the earth
". l8 should make US very joyful in Him.
and ready to trust Him under all circum
stances, obey Him at all times and love Him
with the whole heart, extolling Him in every
possible way.
l2. Take twelve men out OF the tribes OF
israel" The reason for choosing these
twelve is found in the next chapter: They
were to take twelve stones from the midst OF
Jordan, where the priests feet stood who
bore the ark, and set them up for n memorial
on the other side of Jordan, so that they
could In days TO come point their children 4
those stones and tell them how their Fathers
mud come over Jordan on dry land; Joshuf
also set up twelve stones in the midst o
Jordan where the priests had stood Taes,
Two memorials testified TO the mighty nanC
hat al POO, \