Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1890-12-19
JESUS PARTING WORDS.
LESSON XII, FOURTH QUARTER, IN
TERNATlONAL SERIES, DEC. 21.

NJ. Stearns.
Compiled from Lesson Helper Quarterly by per-
mission of H. S. Hoffman, publisher Philade-
phia.
A. And He said unto them, These are
the words which spake unto you while |
was yet with you" He is no longer with
them as when in His mortal body. He is
the same Jesus as He has proved by walk
ing, talking, eating with them, allowing
them to handle Him; but while all this
is grandly true, yet He has ceased to be-
long to the earth in its present state Il
mean only as to abiding upon it), for the
| immortal and incorruptible does not yet
dwell on earth.
"That 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. Moses wrote of Him, and
to Him gave all the prophets witness,
while David also in the psalms spake con-
corning Him John V, 46 Acts X, 43; ii, 3D.
45. "rhen opened He their understand
ing, that they might understand the Scrip
lures" AS He is the key to all Scripture,
so He also by His Spirit is the only
Teacher. Who teacheth like Him? The
inspiration of the Almighty giveth under
standing dob xxxvi, 20; xxi, 81. The
natural man receiveth not the things of
the Spirit of God. for they are foolshness
unto him; neither can he know them, be-
cause they are spiritually discerned, But
he that is spiritual discerneth all things.
As. "And said unto them, Thus it is writ
ten, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer,
and to rise from the dead the third day"
Jesus in all His teaching appealed to the
Scriptures, saying, at is written" or
| IL 4
now he repeats what He had said to the
two on the way to Emmaus, that, accord
ing to the Scriptures, the Christ must die
and rise again the third day. The promise
was that the Christ or Messiah should put
away sin; but in order to do that He must
become Himself a sacrifice, the sinners
substitute, as was typifed in all the sacri
fees and so plainly stated in Ps xxi
and Isa lii
| AZ. And that repentance, and remission
of sins, should be preached in His name
| among all nations, beginning at Jerusa-
lem" This the apostles faithfully preached.
| Him hath God exalted with His right
hand to be a Prince and Saviour, for to
give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of
sins" acts " 3D. Thus preached Peter to
Jews only, before he received the vision
which sent him to Gentiles also. Through
this man is preached unto you the forgive
ness of sins, and by Him all that believe
are justified from all things" acts xiii,
IS, 39J. Thus preached Paul To both Jews
and Gentiles at Antioch in Pisidia.
As. I'D we are witnesses of these
things" Or, as it is written in Acts i, s.:
aye shall be witnesses unto Me, both in
Jerusalem and in all Judea, and in
Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of
=, |, f..l hal (;
eye are my witnesses saith the Lord,
that am God' lisa. xiii, 49, ~. 1t is
considered an honorable and very desirable
position to be representative of "A country
or government at a 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 a faithful remnant stood
for Him, the majority of the people failed
to honor God, but sadly dishonored him,
and made His name reproach. The apos-
lies were chosen to go forth in the name of
Jesus, and by living His life over again,
and preaching the gospel of the kingdom,
to win to Christ such as might believe on
Him through their word. The Acts of the
Apostles tell how faithfully they did this.
40. "And behold l send the promise of
my Father upon you; but tarry We in the
city of Jerusalem until We be endued with
power from on high" 1t is not possible
for the natural man to please God (Rom.
viii, I, s.; he must be born again or from
above (John iii, 3, 8, y. 1t is just as inn
possible for the new man to be Il faithful
witness unto Christ except by the power OF
the Holy Spirit; and here is where all the
failure in Christian life and service comes
in
Ia la1 fn tr
Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and
} blessed them" During forty days He had
showed Himself alive at various times to
various individuals or companies of His
followers on ten or twelve different occa
sions, and always speaking of the things
pertaining to the Kingdom of God (Acts J.
81. But now the last time has come, and
He is about to leave them to appear nc
more on the earth till His feet shall stand
again on the same Mount of Olives wheI
He comes in power and glory, bringing His
| saints with Him Czech. xiv, 4. 5; / Thess
iii, 49,.
81. And it came to pass while He blessed
them, He was parted from them, and car
ried up into Heaven" Gradually He as
cended from their midst, until CLOUD
received Him out of their sight, and HI
was seen of them no more. AS Stepher
was dying he saw Heaven open, and tn,
Son of Man standing on the right hand o
God. AS Saul of Tarsus journeyed t.
Damascus Jesus spoke to him from Heav
en- and appeared to him. And again t,
= John on Patmos Jesus appeared in vision
So And they worshiped Him, and re
turned to Jerusalem with great joy.
When they were so sad at His death, be
cause He had not redeemed Israel AS the,
expected He would have done, how is i
, that they are now full of great joy whel
He has gone again and the Kingdom hat
not yet Gomez Some tell us that now the,
understood, as they did not before, that H
had come, not to restore the Kingdom t,
Israel, but to set up spiritual kingdom il
the hearts of men. This is a mere fabrica
ton of man, and it is not only withou
foundation in Scripture, but is contrary Il
all Scripture. The true reason of their jo,
is found in the message of the angels WIFI
stood by them after He assembled, and said
: This same Jesus which is taken up from
you into Heaven shall so come in like man
ner as we have seen Him go into Heaven