The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1889-10-18
THANKSGIVING OF DAVID.
LESSON III, FOURTH QUARTER, IN
TERNATloNAL SERIES, OCT. 20.

TERNATIONAL SERIES, OCT. 20.
Text of the Lesson, II Sam. vii, 1S-29-Com-
NIT Verses rs. 29-Golden Text, Thess.
v, 18-Commentary by the Rev. d. M.
Stearns.
Compiled from Lesson Helper Quarterly by per-
mission of H. s. Hoffman, publisher, Phiadel-
phia.l
IS. "Then went King David in, and sat be-
fore the Lord" The word "then" takes us
back to the first verses Of this chapter, where
we read that the Lord having given David
rest round about fron, all his enemies, his
thoughts turn to the Ark of God dwelling
within curtains, while lie dwells in house
of cedar, and the prophet Nathan encourages
him in his purpose to build an house for the
Ark; this leads to message from the Lord
to David, in which he is told that not he but
his son shall build the house and that through
this son David's house and kingdom and
throne shall be established tR. ", made sure)
for ever So, with the assurance from God
of a wonderful Son and an eternal kingdom,
he sits before the Lord and says, ''Who am I,
o Lord Coda and what ismy house that Thou
hast brought me hitherto2n
10. 'Thou hast spoken also of thy servants
house for great while to come" Not only
was David amazed at the past goodness of
God to him in taking him from the sheep
cote and from following the sheep to be the
ruler over Gods people Israel ". viii), but
he was overwhelmed by the revelation now
made to him of the future glory and sta
bility of his house and kingdom sAnd is this
the manner of man, o Lord Coda" There
is no doubt some reference to Solomon in
this description of the future glory of the
house of David, but there is q more decided
reference to the Son of David of Matt. i, /;
xii, AZ; the Son of whom Gabriel said: ''The
Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of
His father David, and He shall reign over
the house of Jacob forever; and of His king
dom there shall be no end" Iuke i, 81, 3s).
Our lesson today is undoubtedly concern
ing that covenant which Isaiah calls 'sThe
sure mercies of David;" and which Paul tells
us she'll be fulfilled only in the resurrection.
dsa. ", 3; Acts xiii, 34)
20. "And what can David say more unto
thee? for Thou, Lord God knowest Thy SER
want" Inasnuch as God knew all about
David before ever He began to lead Him out,
he felt that there was nothing more for him
to say.
81. "For Thy Words sake, and according
to Thine own heart, hast Thou done all these
great things to make Thy servant know
them" In Ezekiel xxxvi, 90 80 speaking Of
this very kingdom when Israel shall be re-
stored and cleansed from all their sins, the Lord
says that He will do it, not for their sakes,
but for His Holy Names sake. When we re-
member that one of the precious names of
Jesus, Son of David, is ''The Word of God"
John l, L; Rev xix, lS), then We understand
that ''for Jesus sake" He will accomplish all
things concerning his elect church, and His
elect nation Israel, according to the eternal
purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus
our Lord" (Eph. iii, 11l
%. Wherefore, Thou art great, o Lord
Gods for there is none like Theen 'sWho is
like unto Thee, o Lord, among the godsg"
sang Moses after the Egyptians had been
overthrown in the Red seq Ex. XIV, 1p.
ssThere is none like unto Thee, o Lord; Thou
art great, and Thy name is great in might, -
says Jeremiah as he talks of the True and
Living God, king of nations, king of eter-
nifty. (Jer. K, 6-l0)
%. "And what one nation in the earth is
like Thy people, even like Israel, X II
which Thou redeensedst to Thee from Egypt,
from the nations and their godss' Is
rael alone of all the nations was thus honored
Of God, and surely He had right to expect
from them great things in the way of obedi-
ence, in return for the great things which He
had done for them. The church of Christ,
composed of believers gathered out of ali
nations, has been redeemed by His precious
blood that she may make Him name on this
every one thus redeemed q holy life and a
tod 70
present great work of preaching the Gospel 70
every creature.
a. Thou hast confirmed to thyself thy
people Israel, to be people unto thee for
ever, and thou Lord art become their God. !"
81 know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall
be forever" (Eccl. iii, l-i). The sun, moon and
stars as we look upon them in the heavens are
sign to us that Israel shall never cease to be
nation before God.
25. "And now, o Lord God, Il do
as Thou hast said" David sollows up his
heartfelt thanksgiving by placing himself en-
tirely in the will of God and at His disposal;
like Mary when she said: "Behold the hand
maid of the Lord; be it unto me according to
Thy word" duke i, 3S)
26. "And let Thy name be magnihed for
ever" David seeks not his own glory nor the
glory of Israel, but that through him or his
house or his people the name of Jehovah may
be magnitied In Ps. Xix, so, he says, 81 will
magnify Him with thanksgiving" and that
is what he is doing in this lesson Hear him
repeatedly saying, "Let the Lord he magni-
Ged" Cps. x1xv, 81; xl, 1G; Xxx, ~, and call
ing upon the people to magnify the Lord
with him and exalt His name together Ps
xxxiv, 81.
%. For Thou, o Lord of Hosts, God of Is
rael, hast revealed to Thy servant, saying,
will build thee an house." and therefore Da-
vid prayed this prayer This is the right
thing to do with all tho revelations which
God makes to lis in His word concerning His
great goodness towards us and His purposes
not yet fulfilled; just receive them grateful
ly, eat them joyfully and pray for them with
expectation.
IS. "And now, o Lord God, Thou art that
God, and Thy words be true, and Thou hast
promised this goodness unto Thy servant. "
He here acknowledges that he firmly believes
that all Gods words are true, and lie simply
pleads His promises. This is what we need
today on tho part of Christians; to lay hold
of Gods promises and plead them with the
same confidence with which we would present
check at a bank for payment; but as the
check will not be paid till we indorse it, SO
we need not expect promise to be fulfilled
till we indorse it--that is, write our own
name OH it as If it meant us individually.
80. 'Thou o Lord, hast spoken it; and
with Thy blessing let the house of Thy SER
want be blessed forever" Satisfied with
favor, and full with the blessing of the Lord
[Deut. xXXiii, 23), who can estimate ita "A
blessing that there shall not be room enough
to receive" tAlal iii, lU, why should we not
have its Only let us fulfill the conditions of
this last one and it will surely come in His
time; and as to the blessings of Matt. v, J.
notice the conditions and fulfill them.