The true northerner., 1898-01-12
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON ~. FIRST QUARTER. INTER-
NATIONAL SERIES. JAN. t6.


ory Verses. is-.O-Goiden Text. Msth.
iv. i6-Commentary by the Rev. ID. M.
stearns.
H. From that time Jesus began to
preach and To say, Repent. for the king
dom of heaven is at hand. The express
sion from that time" is said to be found
in this gospel only here and in chapter
xvi, 2l, this beginning the section about
His nature and person, and that about His
work and ours as His followers. The her
aid being imprisoned (verse l2) Jesus Him
self begins to show Himself. and first as "A
light i'm Galilce to fulfill the words of
Isaiah in chapter tx, |, 2, and as surely AS
those were literally fulfilled so shall the
words of verse of the same chapter be,
and the kingdom that was at hand in the
days of John and Jesus, but now post
poned because of the rejection of the King,
shall yet be established upon the throne of
David in the person of Jesus Christ the
Son of David, and of the increase of His
government and peace there shall be no
end The Zeal of the Lord of Hosts will
perform it, Behold, king shall reign
in righteousness and princes shall rule in
Judgment. And the work of righteous
ness shall be peace and the effect of right
eousness, ,quietness and assurance forever "
Is. And Jesus walking by the sea of
Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon, called
Peter, and Andrew, his brother, casting "a
net into the sea, for they we're fishers
In John /, 35-42, we read of the first meet
ing of Jesus with these two how that one
day when John the Baptist cried, BE
hold the Lamb of Godi' two of Johns
disciples followed Jesus and being invited
by Him abode with Him that day. One
of the two was Andrew (the other prob
ably John, who wrote the gospel), who
found his brother Simon and brought him
to Jesus and Jesus called him Cephas, or
Peter 1t was the day after that on which
Jesus found Philip and Philip found Ma
thanael, who said to Christ, Thou art
the Son of God, Thou art the King Of Is
rael, and to him Jesus spake of the won
drous significance of Jacobs ladder.
10. And He saith unto them, Follow
Me, and will make you fishers of men,"
1t would seem that after the events just
referred to as recorded by John, Andrew
and Simon, although having evidently re-
ceived Christ as the Messiah, returned to
their occupation as fishermen. This was
in accordance with what Paul afterward
taught, Let every man abide in the same
calling wherein he was called" U Cor.
vii, 20). Our Lord glorifed the Father
first as carpenter i'm Nazareth. When
we receive Christ, we must first glorify
Him at home and i'm our ordinary occupa-
ton.
20. And they straightway left their
nets and followed Him" The time may
come when, if He sees us faithful at home
H..
follow Him more fully The whole Chris
tian life should be steadily increasing
following Him, ms He more and more
fully reveals Himself unto us. We are
saved when we receive Him (John /, 12)
for salvation is not giving up this or that
but wholly a receiving. We repent, or turn
round. forsake idols and welcome Him and
have eternal life as a gift rom. vi, 23).
Then day by day He more and more takes
the place of even lawful things, and they
lose their hold upon us until Christ is all.
2l. And going on from thence, He saw
other two brethren, James, the son of Zeb-
edee, and John, his brother, in ship with
Zebedee, their father, mending their nets,
and He called them" AS we have said,
John was no doubt the other disciple of
the Baptist who followed the Lamb of
found his own brother and brought him
to Jesus, it is more than probable that
John found his own brother and brought
him TO Jesus. Perhaps the words HE
first findeth his own brother (John /, 41)
may indicate that Andrew was just lit
tie ahead of John in this brother finding
business If the SO called brotherhood of
Philip and Andrew confine themselves to
i'm l. HOY xx-iI Io - Oh
but when they step aside to the social and
entertainment business they are no longer
in the service of Christ. He came to save.
%. And they Immediately left the ship
and their father and followed Him" The
following Him of these four at this time
was soon followed by even more whole
hearted following as recorded in Luke V,
IL, when they forsook all, ships, nets, fish
and everything and followed Him. This
also after the resurrection was made to
mean even more to Peter, when he was
told to follow Jesus, regardless of even
what John might do (John xxi, 22). Thus
the life becomes an ever increasing sepa-
ration from the nearest and dearest unto
Him alone, and we sing with meaning
perhaps undreamed of before I'll go with
Him, with Him, all the way.
90. And Jesus went about all Galilee,
teaching in their synagogues, and preach
ing the gospel of the kingdom, and heal
ing all manner of sickness and all manner
of disease among the people" When the
kingdom shall have fully come and God
shall dwell with men on earth, there shall
be no more death, neither sorrow, nor cry
ing, neither shall there be any more pain
(Rev. xxi, Al. The inhabitant shall not
say, I am sick; the people that dwell
therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.
They shall obtain JOY and gladness, and
sorrow and signing shall fee away Elsa.
xxxiii, "a; xxxv, 10Y. AS Jesus preached
the kingdom He also manifested some
thing of the nature of it as it had been de-
scribed i'm the writings of their prophets.
"a. And His fame went throughout all
Syria, and they brought unto Him all sick
people, y" and He healed them" So we
read in chapter xiii 10, "Great multitudes
followed Him, and He healed them all. "
The manner of the disease mattered not,
for He had all power. 1t had been writ
ten by the prophet, 1.-The eyes Of the blind
shall be opened and the ears of the deaf
shall be unstopped, then shall the lame
man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the
dumb sing" lisa. xxxv, 5, 81. 1t had also
been written of the Messiah that He should
do these things bind up the brokenheart-