Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1896-05-29
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON TX, SECOND QUARTER, INTER-
NATIONAL SERIES, MAY 81.

XXI, 33-Commentary by the Rev. ID. Nj.
stearns.
90. aye shall see Jerusalem comprised
with armies" One day as He was leaving
the temple they sought to call His atten-
ton to the great stones and gifts, but He
said that the time would come when not
one stone would be left on another They
afterward asked Him about this, and He
then told them of the approaching destruc-
ton of Jerusalem and of this whole age
till He shall come again.
81. "Then let them which are in JudRa
flee to the mountains" Sometimes we are
to stand and endure and die, and some
times we are to fee He will tell us when
to stand still and when to go forward If
we have ears to hear Let us ever watch
the way" and watch to see what He will
say" (Nah. ii, / Hab. ii, ~. Eek. xii,
1929, has had fulfllment, but like many
another prediction the great fill full -ment
is yet to come.
%. For these be the days of venge-
ance." Such passages as Deut. xviii, %,
As; Dan. tx, 90, were then fulfilled, but
we read elsewhere that the days of venge-
ance will be associated with Israel's re-
demption, not with the destruction of Je-
rusalem. When the Lord shall appear in
His glory, He shall build up Zion (Ps. eli,
16).
23. "There shall be great distress in the
land, and wrath upon this people, 1t is
written concerning their being carried to
Babylon that they Knocked the messengers
of God, and dcspised His words, and mis-
used His prophets, until the wrath of the
Lord arose against His people, till there
was no remedy" Oh Chron. xxxvi, 16).
Tnr, n1g,,, eI,, 1,a
of the gentiles until the times of the gen.
tiles be fulfilled" She is still trodden
down. Therefore we are still in the times
of the gentiles, but she is arising from her
desolations Therefore the times of the
gentiles are nearly fulfilled. Read with
this Rom. xi, 25, and consider that in
some little measure the blindness is pass
ing from Israel, and therefore the fullness
of the gentiles (the church or body of
Christ gathered from the gentiles) must
be approaching completion. Notice an
other "until" in Acts Iii, 81.
25, 26. 'The powers of heaven shall be
shaken" This is the time of the great
tribulation at the end of this age to which
we have already referred. 1t is mentioned
in Hag. H. 6, Z, as follows: "Yet once it is
little while, and l will shake the heav-
ems, and the earth, and the sea, and the
dry land, and will shake all nations, and
the desire of all nations shall come" In
Heb. xii, ~, we read that the aim of all
this is THAT those things which cannot be
shaken may remain" Resting on the
firm foundation of the Rock of Ages we
can say, Therefore will not we fear,
though the earth be removed, and though
the mountains be carried into the midst
of the sea- ops. XVII p.
%. And then shall they see the Son of
Man coming in cloud with power and
great glory" In Math. xiv, go 80, we
read that this shall be Immediately after
the tribulation of those days lisa. xxxv, 4,
says Behold your God will come with
vengeance, even God with a recompense.
%. Your redemption draweth nigh"
That is, the redemption of Israel as a
nation, for while individual Jews are
now converted as individual gentiles by
looking to Jesus by faith the nation will
be converted as a nation only when they
look upon Him as He shall come in His
glory. This is fully described in Zech. xii,
10, to xiii, /.
80, 80. Behold the fig tree and all the
trees" He now called their attention to
nature and to the way that they knew that
summer was nigh. Israel is Gods fig tree
as well as His vine. Hear Joel i, T. He
hath laid my vine waste and barked my
fig tree" The fig tree that Jesus cursed
as He entered the city one day, which was
full of leaves, but had no fruit, was a
symbol of Israel full of profession, but
without righteousness. The fig leaf aprons
of Adam and Eve were very suggestive of
their efforts to regain that which they had
lost, but they had to lay them aside and
accept the coats of skins, Gods provision
by sacrifice, for without shedding of blood
is no remission (Heb. tx, 22; Lev. xvii
1D.
81 know We that the kingdom of God
is nigh at hand" We may not know the
day or hour, but we may know from signs
as plain as the leaves upon the trees that
the event is approaching. Our Lord asso-
ciates the redemption of Israel and the
kingdom of God. Why should we ever
separate them and talk of the kingdom as
being now here, when there cannot be
kingdom of God on earth apart from Israel
as a center? So long as the throne of
David is vacant the kingdom has not come
3D. "Nerily say unto you, This gener-
alton shall not pass away till all be full
filled" Generation means a race or peo-
pie, and the continued existence and mar
Vicious preservation of the Jews as peo-
due time of every word of God The pro-
noun this" may be and is elsewhere
translated that, so that there is posi-
bility that the saying means that gener-
alton, the generation that shall witness
the beginning of those things shall also
see the end of them.
33. Heaven and earth shall pass away,
but my words shall not pass away" 1.-THE
word of our God shall stand forever" lisa
xl, 81. 1.-THE word of the Lord endureth
forever" Il Pet. i, 25). "The heavens, be-
ing on fire, shall he dissolved Tor loosed
from bondage) and the elements shall melt
with fervent heat. Nevertheless We &C
oording to His promise look for new heav-
ems and "A new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness Oh Pet iii, ~, 13).
"a. Take heed to yourselves lest that
day come upon you unawares. We are
to avoid all entanglemonts of earth lest we
be overcome and taken unawares. This