The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-12-19
FOR THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
LESSON XII, FOURTH QUARTER, IN
TERNATIONAL SERIES, DEC. 23.
Text of the Lesson, lisa. tx, 2-7-A
Christmas LessOn-MemOry Verses,
q, 7-GoIden Text, Ism tx, 7-COm-
mentary by the Rev. ID. VI. Storms.

mentary by the Rev. ID. VI. Storms.
2. THE people that walked in darkness
have seen a great light. They that dwell
in the land Of the shadow Of death, upon
them hath the light shined." The Spirit
through Matthew, says that there was a
fulfllment Of this when Jesus left Naza-
reth and went to dwell in Capernaum
Mat. iv, 1916 Wherever Jesus is not
known it is certainly darkness and Oft
times deep darkness" as the expression
Shadow Of DEATH" is translated in the
margin of the r. V. both here and in
Ps. xiii, 4, and elsewhere. This dark
ness can only be driven away from an in
dividual, or a nation or a land as Jesus
the Light of the world, is revealed. Those
who have heard Of and have received Jesus
can say, God, who commanded the light
TO shine out Of darkness, hath shined in
our hearts to give the light of the knOwl-
edge Of the glory of God in the face Of
Jesus Christ Oh Cor. iv, g.. That makes
us think Of the darkness that was over
the deep in the beginning OF the bible
story, when the Spirit moved upon the
face Of the waters, and God said, LET
there be light" and there was light. God
is light. Jesus said, II am the light Of the
world" 1t is written that the entrance
of His word giveth light, and we know
that His words are spirit and life q
John /, .; John viii, -; Ps. cxix, 100; John
vi, 63). Jesus said to His disciples, "Ye
are theslght Of the world" (Iath. V, I'D.
We know that we have no light in our
selves any more than the moon, which ap-
pears to be a ruin Of nature, as man is.
But If the sun shining upon the moon can
give us such light then we may imagine
how the Lord Jesus might make US shine
FOR Him If we were only willing to reflect
His light and give Him all the glory.
After we have shone for Him a Httle
longer, and He has gathered out his body,
the church, then In the midst of gross
darkness covering the people the Lord
shall rise upon Israel, and His glory shall
be seen upon them, and the nations snail
come to their light, and kings 70 the
brightness of their rising Qsa. TX, 1-3).
3. Thou hast multiplied the nation and
not increased the joy. They joy before
Thee according to the joy in harvest and
as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. -
The r. V. gives for the second clause,
Thou hast increased the joy" This is
certainly more in accord with the res of
the verse and with the context. The light
would give them joy Compare Isa. TX, 20.
The Lord shall be thine everlasting light,
and the days of thy mourning snail be
ended" Even in the days Of Mordecai
the Jews had light and gladness and JOY
and honor (Est. viii, 16). AS the entrance
of Gods word giveth light, so also we
become filled with joy and peace by be-
heVing, and we are comm nded to IRE
j1ce in the Lord Away CRom. XIV, Is;
Phil. iv, -. Our verse says, They joy
before Thee" and in Ps xvi, II, we read
il Of lou ?
Thy right hand are pleasures fOreVerm0re. -
4. For Thou hast broken the yoke of
His burden, and the staff Of His shoulder.
the rod of His oppress0r, as in the days
of INDIAN" All past deliverances Of Is
rlel, whether i'm the DAYS Of the Judges
under Gideon, Samson, Jephtha and others
and even the deliVerance from Egypt
under Moses, were but fOreshadoWlngs Of
a greater and final deliverance from anti
christ ere the kingdom shall come. The
deliveranCe from Midan under Gideon, as
recorded in Judg. vi and vii is one of the
mast interesting and instructive of bible
stories, showing how God uses the weak
things and things that are not to show
forth His glory. But the greater deliver
ance that shall Guido all others IS plainly
referred to in Jer, xvi, IA, 10, and Xiii,
5-S, Then shall the Lord go forth and
fight against those nations, as when He
fought in the day of battle.
5. For every battle of the warrior is
with confused noise and garments rolled
in blood, but this shall be with burning
and fuel Of fire" The r. V. is more
clear and reads, For all the armor of the
armed man in the tumult and the gar
ments rolled in blood shall even be for
burning for fuel Of fire" The Spirits own
comment and light upon this is found in
Eek. xxx, 3, r. where We read that
the weapons Of the slain shall provide fuel
Tor Israel Tor seven years, and they shall
be seven months burying the dead. The
church, the body of Christ the history of
which is not fully revealed in the old
testament. having been connected and
caught up 10 meet Him in the air. shall
afterward return with Him when He
comes 10 the earth IN His glory for the
her enemies. These will be the days of
recompense for Israel aQd vengeance upon
her enemies, so often referred TO lisa.
xxxiv, 8; xxxv, 4; xiii, A..
6. For unto us child is born, unto us
q son is given, and the government shall
be upon His shoulder, and His name shall
be called Wonderful, Counselor, the
Mighty God. the Everlasting Father, the
Prince of Peace" This verse with the
following, is one Of those many passages
in which we have a summary of the suf-
ferings Of Christ q nd the glory that shall
follow q Pet. j, ID. or, in other words,
His first coming in humiliation to suffer
and His second coming in glory to reign.
The Christmas lesson which only looks
back to His coming as babe in Bethlehem
teaches only half the story. There was
no government OF earth given TO Him al
His first coming. They gave Him sta
BILE for His birthplace. a n1anger for His
cradle, not where TO lay His head during
His life, a cross and a grave with the
wicked for His reward. But God raised
Him from the dead and gave Him glory,
and when He shall come again in that
glory then shall He be seen TO be the
Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the
Prince of Peace. He was indeed wonder
full in His humiliation, i'm His love and
patience and faithfulness unto death, but
it shall yet be seen more fully that His
name is Wonderful Oudg. xiii, is, margin).
Z. "Of the increase Of His judgment and
peace there shall be no end upon the
throne OF David and upon His kingdom,
to order it and to establish ii with judg-
ment and with justice from henceforth
even forever. The zeal of the Lord of
Hosts will perform this" 1t is fearful
perversion of scripture to speak of Jesus
being now on David's throne, as If David
ever had a throne in heaven. David
relgned seven years at Hebron and thirty
three years i'm Jerusalem, and Jesus is to
sit on David's throne at Jerusalem and
reign over the house OF Jacob, according
to the simplest meaning of plain words,
as in Jer. ill., II Luke 1, 80, SO, etc.
HoxveIIs on DANTE.