Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1889-01-04
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
LESSON |, FIRST QUARTER, INTER-
NATIONAL SERIES, JAN. 6.

Stearns.
Compiled from Lesson Helper Quarterly, by per
mission Of II. s. Hoffman, publisher, Philadel
phia.
1. 1.-THE beginning Of the Gospel Of Jesus
Christ, the Son of God" We shall now be
privileged for six months to study again the
earthly life, or rather the unearthly life on
this earth, of our Lord Jesus Christ; for al
though He was a perfect man, yet He was an
unearthly man, at home among men, SYM
pathizing with all men, and yet ever speak
ing of and pointing men to a home from
which He had come and to which He was re-
turning. His tbirty-three or four years on
earth as a man among men was but an event
in life which had no beginning and shall
have no end, for He was in the beginning
with God, all things were made by Him and
for Him, and He shall subdue all things unto
Himself. Although it is over eighteen hun
dred years since He was on earth, yet He is a
real man today, unchanged and unchange-
able, and we read of Him in the Gospels,
SO we are to think Of Him, saving, healing,
sympathizing, comforting; calling us to fol-
low Him, serve Him, wait and look for Him
while we yield our bodies unto Him that He,
by His spirit, may live His life over again in
each of His followers. In the Old Testament
He was foretold as not only the seed of tho
woman who should bruise the serpent's head,
but also as the seed of Abraham in whom all
nations should be blessed, the Son of David
who should sit on David's throne, the servant
of God, doing all His pleasure. the Son Of
Man subduing all things unto Himself and
restoring the dominion lost by Adam, and
the Son of God, equal with God and reveal
ing God to man. In Matthew's gospel we
learn Of Him as Son of David, Son of Abra-
ham, King of the Jews; while in this gospel
we see Him rather as the servant spoken Of
in lisa. xiii, l, "Behold my servant" also
Isa xxx, 6; lii, IL Eek. xxxvii, "a, 25;
Zech. Iii, 8, etc. There is one word in this
gospel which peculiarly points Him out as
the servant; it is used about eighty times In
the New Testament, and half that number of
times it is found in this gospel; ten or eleven
times it is found in this first chapter and is
translated Immediately" "straightway,"
forthwith" 'anon," but in the Revised
Version it is always "straightway." While
each gospel has its distinctive features, we
also find more or less OF each in them all, and
this first verse brings before us Jesus, the
Saviour, who saves not only from the wrath
to come, but also from our sins; Christ, the
Messiah, the anointed King of Israel, and
the Son Of God, equal with God, one with the
Father The beginning Of the gospel or glad
tidings in my soul was when received Him
as my own Saviour, and blessed be God while
there was beginning there shall be no end.
9. "As it is written in the Prophets" The
whole history Of His humiliation, sufferings,
death, resurrection and future glory is all
written in the Prophets, for they all spake Of
Him, the Holy Spirit speaking through
them.
behold send my messenger before Thy
face who shall prepare Thy way" This is a
quotation from Malachi iii, l, and refers to
John the Baptist as the herald of Jesus Christ.
Observe carefully Gabriel's announcement
concerning him in Luke i, 1917, and his
fathers utterance by the Holy Spirit in Luke
i, 1910
3. The voice of one crying in the wilder
ness" This is a quotation from Isaiah xl. 3,
and carries us beyond the first coming Of
Christ, when He came to suffer, to His second
coming, when He shall comfort Jerusalem,
pardoning her iniquity and cause all flesh to
see the glory Of the Lord when He shall APP
pear in His glory to build up Zion FPS. eli, 10y ;
when He shall appear the second time with
out sin unto salvation Heb tx, 2S) the saliva
ton ready to be revealed at the revelation Of
Jesus Christ. Il Pet /, 5, Z, 49,
4. THE baptism Of repentance for or unto,
the remission of SINS" Such was the preach
ing of John, and such was the commission
to and the preaching of the apostles luke
xiv, AZ; Acts iii, 10; v, 81. with this diff
ference, that John pointed to a Saviour
about to come, while the apostles pointed to
Saviour who had come, suffered, was cruel
fed, risen, assembled and would come again
to restore all things of which the prophets
had spoken (Acts Iii, 1920.
The first essential to present happiness
and future glory is the forgiveness Of our
sins, and that we cannot have without re-
pentance-that is, a true turning from sin to
God, or, as our catechism has it, "a change
Of mind toward God, the effect Of the con-
viction Of sin wrought by the Holy Ghost
| 5. There went out unto him all Judea
Great multitudes came to him confessing
their sins and desiring baptism, but his esti-
mate of their sincerity and true repentance
we may gather from his preaching luke Ill
| 7-lS. No outward form or mere say SO il
worth anything whatever in the matter Of
repentance, or faith, or service, nothing but
rec Lhonest heart work is Of any avail, and
John gave them to understand that unles:
their lives proved their sincerity they would
like chaff come to the unquenchable fire.
9. Clothed with camel's hair" John wal
no fashionable preacher, either as to person
or style; food and raiment were matters Of
small importance to him, and as to hi
preaching he sought not to please men, but
God. Gabriel had said that he would com,
in the spirit and power OF Elijah luke 1, IL
and although he was not Elijah John i, III
he was wonderfully like Mm.
z. Zone mightier than l." And John die
not consider himself worthy to be privileged
to unloose His shoes. Gabriel himself would
covet such an honor. and what angel II
Heaven would not rejoice to do Him tn
lowliest servicel But the Is so mighty il
most Of us that Johns "mightier than l,
whom he so delighted to honor, finds US bu
poor witnesses. lie is THE Mighty God, th
Everlasting Father, the Prince OF Peace;
and if we only believed what we profess t
believe, that We are joint heirs with Hin
who is Heir of all things, and are thus ex
allied through His sufferings, our devotion t
Him would be such that a thought of sci
would not be tolerated. We would say wit
Paul, "For me to live in Christ and to die
gain; let Him be glorihed either by my lif
or death" phil /, 20, ~.
y. "He shall baptize you with the Hol
Ghost Unless We have this baptism we sha
never amount to anything in Christs service