The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1890-12-18
JESUS PARTING WORDS.
International Sun lay school Lesson for
December Ell, 1890.

myselt - Iohn 14:3
CENTRAL TRUTH--The duty of the hour is to
make known the spell to the world
TIME Verses 4i-49 arc a summary Of the
teaching during the forty days. The ascension
was Thursday, May Is, A. D. 20.
PLACE-The ascension was from Mount
Olivet, near Bethany.
HELPS OVER HARD PLACEs-f4 These are
the words which spake unto you:' Sec Luke
1898: Mark 1898. These strange events which
have staggered your faith should be tue means
of strengthening 1t, because they are the fulfil
ment not only OF what told you beforehand
should take place, but of what was foretold
ages before in the Scriptures. (Which were
written in the law OF Noses" etc. The Old
Testament Sc iptures are full OF Christ He is
the focus on which are concentrated the rays
from al the ages of revelation. As in the
ancient Roman Empire al roads led to Rome,
where a golden milestone was placed, so the
prophecies from every age the types Of every
ceremonial the guiding hand of Providence
in all history center u3on Jesus Christ.
45 '"Then opened He their understandable" This
is what first of all they needed as preparation
for their work of procaiming the Gospel. Thus
alone would they understand Gods planpf saliva
tion; thus only would hey know the full truth
about Jesus the Christ: thus only would they
avoid false ideas about Christ, and errors which
would injure where He desired to bless. 48.
"And thus it behooved:'' was fitting. The
Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead:"
these were the two great essential facts Of the
Gospel. The Christ made an atonement on the
cross for the sins of the word. and He was
raised again to prove His divinity, to reveal i'm
mortal life, and open Heaven to the world. 47.
"And that repentance" the duty of repentance
on the part Of men, the motives for repentance
revealed and emphasized by the cross, the aids
to repentance by the assurance of Gods for.
giveness in Jesus Christ and by the gift of the
Holy Snirit ga nd rpmiSSiOn of SipS.S the for
giveness Of sin, the removal of its punishment,
and deiverance of the soul from the power Of
sin. Among all nations beginning at Jeru.
salem:" they were to begin at home but by no
means to remain there. These are the march
ing orders of the church. the bugle call to serv.
ice and victory 49, "And ye are witnesses OF
these things:" and still the power OF preaching
and of teaching is not in arguing, but In Wit.
Messing, in declaring the truths known and
tested by experience. 40. Sand, behold, send
the promise of my Father upon you:" the prom.
Use Of the gift Of another Comforter contained
in Chrst's last conversation with the eleven.
This was the promise of the Father, made In
the Old Testament Qsa. H3; Esek. 38:27; Joel
2:2S39). Until ye be endued with power from
on high" U) the power OF working miracles;
(2) p 'rsonal, moral and spiritual power in the
conflicts and temptations of life, and especially
in bearing suffering and persecution for Christs
sake; (3) power in the ministry of the world
beyond that which belongs to human eloquence
and wisdom, or even to the mere natural
adaptation OF the truth to human wants. 80.
"And be led them out from Jerusalem" This
was his eleventh and last appearance. 81.
"He was parted from them" by beginning to
ascend upwards. "And carried up into Heav-
en-" there has been a stupid objection raised,
that as the world is turning around all the
time, going up would not necessarily lead to
any point in the sky, called heaven. But il
fhera is n int heinu uojnn
up from this world q short distance could
change his course to that direction, no matter
in which direction he started 1t was at this
time, doubtless, that the great change came
over His body described in Cor 15:51-53.
LESSON COMMENTS.
For the last two lessons we have been
dealing with the story of the resurrec-
tion of our blessed Lord. In this lesson
we continue that and read how He
opened the understanding of the disci-
Piles, so that they might understand the
Scriptures in all their meaning. He ex-
planned to them the real meaning Of His
death, and then told them that salvation
was to be preached in His name, begin
ming from the city of Jerusalem and ex-
tending to all nations. OF the truths of
His life, death and resurrection they
were to be the living witnesses, but first
th " were to wait in the city of Jerusa-
lem till they were baptised with the
Holy Spirit, who was to give them pow
or TO witness for Him. After that He
far as Bethany, and there gave them His
parting blessing, and while He was
doing this they saw Him rise from their
midst, and cloud received Him out OF
their sight. AS they were gazing won
deringly toward Heaven, two men in
white apparel stood by them, who told
them that this same Jesus whom they
had just seen disappear should in like
manner return some day. This filled
all their. hearts with joy, so that they
returned to the city, and daily were in
the temple praising and blessing God.
The disciples knew the Script
ures probably better than many of
us know our Bibles. Yet they
had made some very sad mistakes
in their Interpretation of them. They
needed Divine help in order that they
might understand them Alright. This
the Master gave to them.
1uc uloClplcS saw ulm aScenQ, anu
the men in white bore witness as to
where He had gone. Yes, we have as
surance that Jesus in His bodily form is
in Heaven to-day. We are not worship
ing Saviour who is we know not
where. Has any one seen Him there?
Yes; Stephen as he was about to die saw
Him; for he said: "Behold, / see the
heavens opened, and the Son of Man
standing on the right hand of God"
Has any one else seen Him in glory?
Yes; when Paul fell to the ground on
his way to Damascus he saw Jesus in
glory and heard Him speaking to him.
Jesus told him who He was; for when
Paul said: ''Who art thou, Lord?"
Jesus answered: 81 am Jesus, whom
thou persecutest." John, the beloved
disciple, saw Him. For on the island
of Patmos, when he was in the Spirit on
the Lords day, he heard voice behind
him, and, turning to see who it was WHO