The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1889-04-11
THE REJECTED SON.
LESSON II, SECOND QUARTER, IN
TERNATlONAL SERIES, APRIL II.

NIT Verses 6-s-GoIden Text, John i,
Ii Commentary by the Rev. d. NJ.
Stearns.
Compiled from Lesson Helper Quarterly by per-
mission of IL. s. Hoffman, publisher, Philadel-
phla
l. "And He began to speak unto them by
parallels" This is one of many parallels and
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 if we re-
member that God is represented as dealing
chiefly with two classes OF people, the Jews or
nation of Israel, and the church OF called out
company from Jews end 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 tho world is told in the Acts Of the
apostles and in the Epistles: while the Reve-
lation OF Jesus Christ gathers together and
shews the consummation of the history of
Israel and the church resulting in blessing ia
the whole Garth
"a certain man planted vineyard" SO
say Mark and Luke, whilc Matthew calls him
"a certain householder" Matt xxi, 33).
From Pslx Xxx, $40; Isa. V, IL we, learn that
house Of Israel, and the men Of Judah His
plant"
.. 'iHo sent IA servant that He might re-
l,a frI1it - c,t1raI1r thic hla
after lie had bestowed such loving care upon
thea The servants were tho prophets, rs it
is written, II sent unto you all nay servants,
the prophets der. Xiv, q and the fruit He
expected was Righteousness and obedience and
some gratitude for mercios bestowed.
3 ''Ihey caught and beat him and sent
him away empty" MicaiGh was snitten,
Imprisoned and fed on bread and water Gil
Chrcn xviii, 3. 80, jeremiah was smitten
and pat IA the stoc!.s lJcr. xx, 2, and was
told that he spoke falsely and that God had
not sent Linn der. xiii, y.
4. Again lie sent unto them another SER
want" We would thinl; that the i'll treat
ment of one servant would lead the owner of
the vineyard to punish the huslandnen and
remove tienl from the care Of the vineyard,
but the namo OF tho owner is ''tho Lord, the
Lord Cod, merciful and gracious, long suf
fering, and abundant il l.oodnes5 and truth"
s. Yet another lie sends in His love and
long suffering. only to be treated worse than
the former ones ''they were stoned, they
were Sawa asunder, were tempted, were
slain with tho sword; they wandered about in
sheepsi;ills and isoatsl-ins; being destitute, cf-
licted, tormeatcd; of whom the world was
not worthy; they wandered il deserts, and in
mountains, aad Ii dcns and caves Of the
earth" dies Il, 81, 81
g. Having set, therefore one son, His
wei beloved. lIe sent Him olso last unto
then, sayins they win reverence my son"
Now He s2ea':s Of Hialsalf o. the cEly besot
ten Of the Father, tie prophet like unto
Moses the antityPc .! Gii priests and pIoph-
cts, the true servant OF jehovah Isa xii, H.
7,S This is tie heir, como let rs kill
him" Instead Of reverence and respect for
the oniy son Of their gracious and loving
Lord, this is their language
O. "He viii come and destroy the husband
nlen, and viii give too vineyard unto others" !"
This is their answer to His question, "What
shall therefore the lord of the vineyard dor
Matt xxi. Al 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" (Iatt. xxi, 43)
La order to understand this wo 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, %; Jer. XXI, So
| 81, and the special covenant with Israel at
Horeb, to make them kingdom of priests,
an holy nation, peculiar treasure, il they
would only be obedient and keep Gods cove
| nant (Ex. xix, o, o.. This last covenant was
not mado with their fathers, but with them
| as nation at Horeb Q)eut. v, 2, 81, and it is
this which by the rejection of their
messiah is now lost to them and
| given 10 tho called out ones from
Jows and Gentiles, the church, which Peter
calls "a royal priesthood, an holy nation, q
peculiar or purchased people"
TO- "Havc ye not read this Scripture!n 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 o sense of duty, without
stopping to think what they mean or what
| they say to Us individually. II Jesus should
| ask us this question concerning very much of
| tho Old Testament, how ashamed many would
| be as they replied, mo, Lord, we never read
that we liked the New Testament better.n
Tho stone which tho builders rejected i
become the bead Of tho corner" This Is
| found in Ps, cxviii, %, tho same one from
| which He quoted In our last weeks lesson
when He said, "Ye shall not see me hence
| forth till yc shall say, Blessed Is He that
cometh in the name OF the Lordn aintt. xiii.
50; ps cxviii, 2il It points us forward to
| the day Of tho Lord when Ho shall return ns
both foundation and top stone of His temple,
the church, bringing His completed body
with Him; when Ho shall return with all His
saints for vengeance upon his enemies and
redemption for Israel lisa. xxxiv, s; kill,
| a. Then shall Israel see that tho stone which
they as builders rejected Is indeed, after all,
their own Messiah, King Of Kings and Lord
az r.ras-t.--= ss>S2 -a>,zrn hnc.rsc ef tl.asis