The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1896-06-10
!4lE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
lEssoN xI, SECOND QUARTER, INTER-
NATIONAL SERIES, JUNE -.
Text Of the Lesson. Luke kill. S3-A6 Mems
DRY Verses. l4-46-0olden Text. Cor.
Nv, 3-Comment2ry by the Rev. ID. M.
Stearns.

W. OSo"ho"esSy W s"o Aso'' - 80
stearns.
33. There they crucifled Him." Four
words, but how unuttcraby significant.
who can measure itS Then the events be-
tween the passover and supper of the even
Ing before and this last and browning
event. Gethsemane, the betrayal and ar
rest, Peters denial, the long and weary
and awful night and morning before the
council, and Herod, and Plate the mock
cry and the scourging and now the cruel
fixion, and that between two malefactors
as II He too, was one. Truly He was
numbered with the transgressors, and He
complained not. oh, my SOUL IL was all
for thee! What thinkest thou of Ii, and
of Him who was crucifed on thy accounts
81 Father, forgive them, for they
know not what they do" This was His
first utterance from the cross. IL we take
the seven in order as we find them here
and in verse 43, then John XIX 25-27;
Math. xvii, As; John xix, rs, 30 Luke
xiii, As, we have suggested to us the
great facts of forgiveness, glory all that
we need between forgiveness and glory,
His being forsaken that we might never
be- His thirst and all that is implied in it,
His finished work and then His exit from
the body to His Father.
35 "He saved others. Let Him save
Himself If He be Christ, the chosen of
God" Thus the people and the rulers de-
rided Him. They were natural men, they
understood not, therefore they talked fool
ishly. He could have saved Himself, for
He said "No man taketh My life from
Me, lay it down of Myself" John x, 49,,
but He could not save Himself and save
tarily that He might save others.
36, 81. IF Thou be the King of the
Jews save Thyself." Thus the soldiers
also Knocked Him, not knowing what they
said. He would not save Himself, but
He would save them If they would let
Him, for had He not prayed for them even
as they drove the nails into His handsS
Let us lay to heart His words "He that
saveth his life shall lose it, but he that
loseth his life for My sake, the same shall
save it duke tx, 2i.
3S. This is the King of the Jews"
Thus PLATE caused IL to be written over
Him in the languages of the world, Greek
and Latin and Hebrew, and he would not
alter it even to please the Jews. This
was doubtless of God, for the time will
come when all the world shall see and ac-
knowledge that this same Jesus, once
crucifed at the place of skull, is the
King of the Jews. Then shall He also be
King of Kings and Lord of Lords With
out Him all the things of earth are "a
empty as skull, nothing to them, all
vanity and vexation of spirit, but in Him,
and with Him, all Is peace and righteous
ness.
80. And one of the malefactors which
were hanged rallied on Him, saving If
thou be Christ, save thyself and us.
Both Matthew and Mark say that the
thieves reviled Him. Luke does not con-
tradict that for if both at first did IT, he is
correct in saying that one of them did so,
and he doubtless refers to the one who
persisted in doing so. To save Himself
and them was impossible, but to give His
life in order to save them was what He
was doing.
40 "Dost not thou fear God, seeing
thou art in the same condemnationy"
When a malefactor turns preacher, some
thing has happened to him, and in a
short space of time something remarkable
has come to this thief. His eyes have been
opened to see that the One in the midst Is
more than He appears TO be. and he has
already In his heart believed upon Him
and received Him as Lord.
Al. And we indeed justly, for we re-
ceive the due reward OF our deeds, but this
man hath doi.e nothing amiss." Here Is
evidence of the new birth. He condemns
himself and justifes the Lord, whereas the
carnal mind, which is enmity against
God, always justifes itself and condemns
God (Rom. viii, z; Luke xvi, 15). He
confesses his sins and acknowledges that
he is suffering only what he justly de-
serves while at the same time he testifies
to the holiness of the One in the midst.
This is the work of the Spirit of God.
AZ. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, re-
member me when thou CONTEST into thy
kingdom. " No man can say that Jesus Is
the Lord but by the Holy Spirit U Cor.
xii, -. See, then, the Spirits work in
this mans heart. He believes that Jesus,
though crucified as an evildoer, is the
Lord of glory, and that He has kingdom.
43. and Jesus said unto him, Verify
say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with
Me in paradise" What joy to the peni-
tent thief, his sins all gone, his bodily
sufferings so soon TO be over, and that very
day in glory with his Lord Let us not
modify or seek to alter the precious words.
They are in perfect accord with other
words of the book concerning the death of
the righteous. ITO die is gain. :" ITO de-
part and be with Christ is far better"
Absent from the body, present with the
Lord" Phil. 1, 81, 90; III Cor. V, 81. But,
says one, Jesus had not assembled to the
Father when He met Mary Magdalene on
the morning Of the resurrection John TX,
~, therefore how could the thief be with
Him in paradise that dayp He spoke to
Mary Of His ascending to the Father In
His risen body, but as to His Spirit He
was surely In paradise as soon as He died.
A. And IL was about the sixth hour,
and there was darkness over all the earth
until the ninth hour" He was crucifed
at the third hour MARK XIV, 25), or In
the morning, and from noon till p. IN.
there was this awful darkness, for the
prince of darkness was doing his worst 1t
was his hour and the power Of darkness.
45. And the sun was darkened, and
the veil Of the temple was rent In the
midst" When the Sun of Righteousness
was suffering for the sins of the world, IL
was surely meet that the sun In the heav.
ems should refuse to shine. Just before
He comes in His glory the sun and moon
shall both be darkened In the day of HIS
wrath (Math. xiv, 80, 30) The veil In
the temple was a symbol of His body, for
He hath opened for us new and living