The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-10-16
TIE SUNDAY.SCHOOL LESSON
THANKSGIVING OF DAVID.
LESSON III, FOURTH QUARTER. IN
b TERNATlONAL SERIES, OCT. 20.

LESSON III, FOURTH QUARTER. IN
TERNATloNAL SERIES, OCT. 20.
Text of the lesson, II Sam. vii, 1S-29-Com-
NIT Verses 2s, 29-Golden Text, Thess.
y. 1s-Commentary by the Rev. d. NJ.
Stearns.
Compiled from Lesson Helper Quarterly by per
mission of a s. Hoffman, publisher. Philadel-
phia.l
lS "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 from all his enemies his
thoughts turn to the Ark Of God dwelling
within curtains, while he dwells in a house
of cedar, and the prophet Nathan encourages
him in bis 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 R. ", made surel
for ever So, with the assurance from God
Of q wonderful Son and an eternal kingdom
be sits before the Lord and says, "Who am l,
o Lord Godf and what ismy house that Thou
, hast brought me hithertoa"
10. srThou 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 ". viiD, but
be was overwhelmed by the revelation now
made to him Of the future glory and sta
bility Of his house and kingdom. "And is this
the manner of man, o Lord Godw There
h no doubt some reference to Solomon In
this description of the future glory Of the
house Of David, but there is a more decided
reference to the Son of David Of Matt. j, L;
xxn. 42; 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" Quke 1, 80, 3S).
Our lesson today is undoubtedly concern
ING that covenant which Isaiah calls 'The
sure mercies Of David" and which Paul tells
us shall be fulfilled only in the resurrection.
Gsa. ", 8; Acts xiii, 34)
90. "And what can David say more unto
thees for Thou, Lord God, knowest Thy ser
want" Inasmuch as God knew all about
David before ever He began to lead Him out,
he felt that there was nothing more for him
10 say.
81. 'sPor Thy Words sake, and according
10 Thine own heart, hast Thou done all these
great things to make Thy servant know
them" In Ezekiel u1vi, 22-S2, speaking OF
this very kingdom when Israel shall be re-
stored and cleansed from all their sins, the Lord
saws 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 1.-The Word of God"
John !, /; Rev. xix, 1S), then we understand
that "for Jesus saken 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. Lii, Ill.,
q "Wherefore, Thou art great, 0 Lord
God: for there is none like Thee" "Who Is
like unto Thee, o Lord, among the gods?"
sang Moses after the Egyptians had been
overthrown In the Red sea (Ex. XIV, 1D.
'sfhere Is none like unto Thee, o Lord; Thou
Az great, and Thy name is great in might"
eays Jeremiah as he talks Of the True and
Living God, king of nations, king of eter-
nfty. per. <, 6-10)
s. "And what one nation in the earth is
HE Thy people, even like Israel, =
which Thou redeemedst to Thee from Egypt,
from the nations and their godsw Is
Faal alone Of oil the nations was thus honored
Of God, and surely He had a right to expect
from them great things in the way Of obedi-
enee, In return for the great things which He
bad done for them The church Of Christ,
composed Of believers gathered out Of all
nations, hos been redeemed by His precious
blood that she may make Him name on this
earth; and He has a right to expect from
every one thus redeemed holy life and
whole hearted devotion to Himself in His
present great work Of preaching the Gospel to
every creature,
"a. Thou hast confirmed to thyself thy
people Irael, to be people unto thee for
ever, and thou Lord art become their God"
II know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall
Be forsver" Ecci lii, 10. The sun, moon and
stars as We look upon them In the heavens are
dgn to VI that Israel shall never cease to be
. naeion before God.
e. "And now, o Lord God, do
a. Thou hast said" David follows up his
heartfeat Thanksgiving by placing himself en-
tndy in the will Of God and at His disposal;
Ehs Mary when she said: "Behold the hand
lratd Of the Lord; be it unto me according to
Thy word" duke i, 8s)
g. ~And let Thy name be magnitied for
ever David seeks not his own glory nor the
glory Of fsrael, but that through him or his
house or his people the name Of Jehovah may
b magnifed- In Ps. Xix, 80, he says, 81 will
magnify Him with thanksgiving" and that
b what he Is doing in this lesson. Hear him
repeatedly saying, 'Let the Lord be magni-
Ing upon the people to magnify the Lord
With him and exalt His name together FPS.
"iv, 81.
q. ''For Thou, o Lord of Hosts, God of Is
rael, hast revealed to Thy servant, saying,
wfll build thee an house." and therefore Da-
vid prayed this prayer. This is the right
thing to do with all the revelations which
CT makes to us in His word concerning His
: ,.feat goodness towards US, and His purposes
not yet fulfilled; just receive them grateful
iy, eat them joyfully and pray for them with
expectation.
q. "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 he simply
pleads His promises. This is what we need
today on the part of Christians; to lay hold
Of Gods promises and plead them with the
same confidence with which we would present
check at bank for payment; but as the
check will not be paid till we indorse it, so
we need not expect promise to be fulfilled