The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1890-12-17
SABBATH SCHOOL.
INTERNATIONAL LESSON FOR
DECEMBER II. -
Lesson Text:"Jesus's Parting Words,r
Luke xiv. 44-53-Golden Text:
John xiv, documentary.

Jesus as He has proved by walking, talking,
eating with them, allowing them to handle
Him; but while all this is grandly true, yet
He has ceased to belong to the earth In its
present state Hmeen only as to abiding upon
IT., for the immortal and incorruptibie does
not yet dwell on earth. ~
'efhat all things must be fulfilled, which
were written in the law Of Moses, and In the
prophets, and in the psalms concerning Me-"
Here is the only key to all Scripture, Jesus
himself. Observe that all things written
concerning Him must be fulfilled.
IS. "Then opened BE their understanding,
that they might understand the Scriptures
As he Is the key to all Scripture, so BE also
by HIS Spirit is the only Teacher.
46. sand said unto them, Thus 1t Is writ
ten, and thus it beloved Christ to suffer,
and to rise from the dead the third day.
Jesus in all His teaching appealed to the
Scriptures, saying; 1T is written" or
"What is written, how readest thoup And
now He repeats what He had said to the two
on the way to Emmaus, that, according to
the Scriptures, the Christ must die and rise
again the third day. Believers who now see
only Saviour who died for their sins and
rose again, to the exclusion Of His return to
establish the kingdom Of David. are as blind
as were these disciples and with far less ex-
cuse, for we have more full revelation from
God and we live after Pentecost
A.. "And that repentance, and remission Of
sins, should be preached In His name among
all nations, beginning at jerusalem This
the apostles faithfully preached. Him
hath God exalted with His right hand to be 7
Prince and q Saviour, for to give repentance
to Israel and forgiveness Of sins' (Acts ",
3l). Thus preached Peter to jews only, be-
fore he received the vision which sent him
to Gentiles also. Through this man Is
preached unto you the forgiveness Of sins, and
by Him all that believe are justified fromal
Paul to both Jews and Gentiles at Antioch
in Pisidia. Repentance and forgiveness OF
sins was nothing new in the way Of preach
ing, for ITO Him give all the prophets wit
ness, that through His name whosoever be-
lieveth in Him shall receive remission Of
sins' (Acts K, 49,. But repentance and for
giveness to Gentiles as well rs to jews, and
on equal terms-faith only-without cir
cumcision or the ceremonies OF the Mosaic
ritual, was new thing
4e. "And yeare witnesses OF these thingsH
Or as it is written in Acts l., 8: tsYe shall be
witnesses unto Me, both in Jerusalem and In
all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto theutter-
most part of the EARTH" Unto Israel God
had said: aye are my witnesses, saith the
Lord, that / am God" lisa. Kill, 10, ~. It
Is considered an honorable and very desirable
position to be a representative Of country
or q government at q foreign court. God
chose Israel from among all the nations OF
the earth to be His witness to all nations that
He is the one only living and true God, but
while faithful remnant stood for Him, the
majority of the people failed to honor God,
but sadly dishonored Him, and made His
name a reproach. The apostles were
chosen to 90 forth in the name of Jesus, and
be living His life over again, and preaching
the gospel of the kingdom, to win to Christ,
such as might believe en- Him through their
word. The Acts Of the Apostles tell how
faithfully they did this. Christians are
sun expected to be witnesses unto Christ
and thus win others to Him, and hasten His
return. 81.
40. ''tAnd behold send the promise Of my
Father upon you; but tarry ye In the city
of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power
from on high" It is not possible for the
natural man to please God Rom. viii, Q, 81;
he must be born again or from above John
i'll, s. 5, y. It is just as impossible Tor the
new man to be faithful witness unto Christ
except by the power of the Holy
Spirit; and here is where all the faii-
ure in Christian life and service comes In.
so. stAnd he led them out as far as to Beth
any, and He lifted up His hands and blessed
them" During forty days He had showed
Himself alive at various times to various In
diyiduals or companies OF His followers on
ten or twelve different occasions, and always
speaking Of the things pertaining TO the King
dom Of God (Acts j., 81. But now thelast time
has come, and He is about to leave them to
appear no more on the earth till his feet shall
stand again on that same Mount of Olives
when He comes in power and glory. bringing
His saints with Him (Zech. xiv. 4. 4; Thess
ill.,, 1S). And even as His first sermon began
with blessing, so His last act ere BE finally
ascends is to bless these His disciples.
81. "And it came to pass while He blessed
them, He was parted from them, and carried
up into heaven" Gradually He ascended
from their midst, until q cloud received Him
out of their sight, and He was seen OF them
no more. As Stephen was dying he saw
heaven open, and the Son Of Man standing
on the right hand of God. As Saul OF Tar
sus iourneyed to Damascus Jesusspoke to hun
from heaven and appeared to him. And
again to John on Patmos Jesus appeared In
vision. But since He visibly assembled from
the Mount Of Olives he has not, as Tar as we
know, appeared on earth, as BE did at va
rious times during those forty days after the
resurrection.
80. "And they worshiped Him. and re-
turned to Jerusalem with great joy" Whsn
thew were so sad at His death, because ne
had not redeemed Israel as they expected dc
WOuiQ nave uOuc, liz" 10 ~
now full Of great joy when he has gone
again and the Kingdom had not yet Gomez
Some tell us that now they understood, as
thew did not before, that he had come, NOT
to restore the Kingdom to Israel, but TO sec
a spiritual kingdom in the hearts OF men.
This Is a mere fabrication OF man, ana IL Is
not only without foundation In Scripture
but is contrary to all Scripture. The true
reason of their Joy is found in the message
Of the angels who stood by them after He
ascended' and said, ''This came Jesus wh1cn
is taken up from you into Heaven shall 50
come In like manner as ye have seen hlm go
into Heaven u (Actsi., 1D.
So. sand they were continually IN sae TEN,
n,e praising and blessing God. Amen"
NAV such be the end of each chapter OF our
sniritual life, the end of each day and OF each
Week till we see Him. May our days begin
and end with praise to God for giving unto
M His dear Son, His unspeakable glft, ana
tbe great redemption which is in Him: May
we he filled with the Spirit, so as to be bis
| faithful witnesses even unto aea1n, anu may ss
we each day be found eagerly longing t1s
and expecting His return. Let our neaTes M
saw. Il will bless the Lord at all times hS .
nraise shall be continually in my mouth.
INV meditation Of Him shall be sweet; l
will be glad in the Lord" US. XIV, ~
civ, 34j.--Lesson Helper. -.
The cost of French revolutions to ths
French Government of to-day is record
ed in this little list of pensioned per-
-