The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1889-04-12
THE REJECTED SON..
LESSON Il, SECOND QUARTER, IN
TERNATlONAL SERIES, APRIL "A,

.
Text Of the Lesson. Mark XII. i-is-Com-
init verses 0-8--Golden Text. John l.
IL Commentary by the Rev. d. M.
stearns.
Compiled from Lesson Helper Quarterly BY per
mission Of H. 8 Hoffman, publisher Phiaae'
l. "And He began to speak unto them by
parallels" This Is one Of many parallels ana
discourses which he spoke In the temple and
on the Mount Of Olives on Wednesday, the
fourth day In Passion week. 1t will greatly
help us in our study of the Bible II we re-
member that God is represented as dealing
chiefly with two classes Of people, the Jews or
nation of Israel, and theschurch or called out
company from Jews And Gentiles, that
through them He may in due time bring
blessing to the whole earth. The greater part
of the Old Testament and the Gospels In the
New Testament tell us Of God and His deal
ings with Israel through priests, kings and
prophets, and finally through His Son; the
calling out of the church and her present re-
lation to the world is told in the Acts Of the
apostles and in the Epistles: while the Rove
lation of Jesus Christ gathers together and
Ghews the consummation of the history OF
Israel and tho church resulting In blessing to
the whole earth.
IA certain man planted vineyard" -
say Mark and Luke while Matthew calls him
"a certain householder" Matt xxi, SS.
From Ps TX Xxx, $40; lisa. v, ~ we, learn that
ssthe vineyard of the Lord Of Hosts is the
house of Israel, and the men Of Judah His
plant"
2. HE sent a servant that He might re-
ceive the fruit" Surely this was reasonable,
after He had bestowed such loving care upon
them The servants were the prophets, as it
is written, 81 sent unto you all my servants,
the prophets" der. Xiv, ~; and the fruit He
expected was Righteousness and obedience and
some gratitude for mercies bestowed
8. 'sThey caught and beat him and sent
him away empty" Micaiah was smitten,
imprisoned, and fed on bread and water Ql
Chron xviii 90, 26; Jeremiah was smitten
and put in the stocks der. Xxx, p, and was
told that he spoke falsely and that God had
not sent him DER. xiii, p.
4. "Again He sent unto them another SER
want" We would think that the i'll treat
ment of one servant would lead the owner OF
the vineyard to punish the husbandmen and
remove them from the care of the vineyard,
but the name of the owner is ''the Lord, the
Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suf-
fering, and abundant in goodness and truth"
u.
long suffering, only to be treated worse than
the former ones; ''they were stoned, they
were sawn asunder, were tempted, were
slain with the sword they wandered about in
sheepskins md goatskins; being destitute, af-
ficted tormented; Of whom the world was
not worthy; they wandered in deserts, and in
mountains, and in dens and caves Of the
earth" Heb. XII, 81, 3S.C
6. "Having yet, therefore, one son, His
well beloved, He sent Him also last unto
them, saying they will reverence my son."
Now He speaks of Himself as the only begot-
ten of the Father, the prophet like unto
Moses, the antitype of all priests and proph-
cts, the true servant of Jehovah lisa xiii, y.
rs. ''This is the heir, come let us kill
him. Instead of reverence and respect for
the only son of their gracious and loving
Lord, this is their language
g. "He will come and destroy the husband
men, and will give the vineyard unto others.
This is their answer to His question, what
shall therefore the lord of the vineyard doa"
Matt. xxi, Az Jesus also adds, Therefore
say unto you, the Kingdom of God shall be
taken from you, and given to nation bring
ing forth the fruits thereof" Matt xxi, 43.)
In order to understand this we must distin-
guish between the covenant with Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob, which still holds good and
shall be fulfilled to Israel notwithstanding
their disobedience (Mic. vii, 20; Jer. XXI, 3D.
81. and the special covenant with Israel at
Horeb, to make them kingdom of priests,
an holy nation, peculiar treasure, if they
would only be obedient and keep Gods cove
nant lex. xix, s, g. This last covenant was
not made with their fathers, but with them
as a nation at Horeb Deut v, 2, 81, and it Is
this which by the rejection of their
messiah is now lost to them and
given to the called out ones from
Jews and Gentiles, the church, which Peter
calls "a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a
peculiar or purchased people"
10. "Have ye not read this ScriptureW No
doubt they had read it, but they had not OBJ
served it, they had not received it, they had
read it blindly, just as we SO often read the
Scriptures, from sense OF duty, without
stopping to think what they mean or what
they say to us individually. If Jesus should
ask us this question concerning very much of
the Old Testament how ashamed many would
be as they replied, mo, Lord, we never read
that: we liked the New Testament better"
1.-THE stone which the builders rejected is
become the head of the corner" This is
found in Ps. cxviii, %, the same one from
which He quoted in our last weeks lesson
when He said, ''Ye shall not see me hence
forth till ye shall say, Blessed is He that
cometh in the name of the Lord" Matt. xiii,
80; Ps. cxviii, 26) It points us forward to
the day of the Lord when He shall return as
both foundation and top stone Of His temple,
the church, bringing His completed body
with Him; when He shall return with all His
saints for vengeance upon his enemies and
redemption for Israel. lisa. xxxiv, 8; xiii,
A. Then shall Israel see that the stone which
they as builders rejected is indeed, after al,
their own Messiah, King Of Kings and Lord
of Lords; they shall mourn because of their
cruel treatment of Him, saying: 10, this is
our God; we have waited for Him and He
will save us; this is the Lord, we have waited
for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His
salvation" Then will He swallow up death
in victory, wipe away tears from off all faces,
= aud take away the rebuke of His people from
off all the earth. lisa. XIV, 8, 81
II. ssThis was the Lords dolngs, and it Is
marvellous in our eyes" God is quietly but
surely working out His eternal purpose which
he purposed in Christ Jesus Eph. /, Oil; i'll,
III. and when it is all complete we shall say
CONCERNING it all, "This is the Lords doing"
and not only shall it be wonderful in the eyes
of the church and in the eyes Of Israel, but
u