Middletown transcript., 1899-05-27
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON TX, SECOND QUARTER, INTER.
NATIONAL SERIES, MAY. %.
Text of the Lesson, John xviii, IS, 40.
Memory Verses, 3S-4O-Golden Text,
John xix, ECommentary Prepared
by the Rev. d. NJ. stearns.

by the Rev. D. NJ. Stearns.
copyright, 1899. by D. NJ. stearns-l
28. "Then led they Jesus from Camp
has unto the hall of Judgment" II
Math. xvii, 2. it is written that they LEI
Him away and delivered Him to Pontiu
PLATE, the governor. Some of these sell
righteous people, with murder in theil
hearts, would not enter Pilates house les
they should be def1led, for they desired tx
eat the Passover. They did not know
that the true Passover Lamb was being
put to death by them and that their Pass
over, like their Sabbaths and all theil
feasts, was mere form-a husk withou
a kernel, chaf to be burned up. What Il
your religion? In what do you trust? L
1t in some church or creed or ceremony, o.
is it in Jesus only and His precious blood
90, 80. "If He were not malefactor
we would not have delivered Him up untt
thee. This from them in reply tx
Pilates question, What accusation
bring ye against this man?" 1t is easy tx
call Him An evildoer, but impossible *
prove it. They must, however, say some
thing, and having yielded themselves tx
the devil he will suggest many lie tt
them In all His life He never said Oh
did wrong thing except in the eyes o.
those who hated Him. He knew no sin.
81. tTake ye Him and judge Him &C
cording to your law" Thus said PLATE
to which they replied, "It is not Lawful
for us to put any man to death. 7" 81
they confess that they have determined
that He must die, and they only desirt
that plate will attend to it for them L
would not do for them to say how Ions
ago they had made up their minds to Kill
Him as soon as possible 1t might show
their hearts toward Him too plainly. L
it was unlawful for them to put any ont
to death, how was it that only a littlt
later they found no difficulty in stonine
Stephen?
80. ''That the saying Of Jesus might b
fulfilled, which He spake, signifying what
death He should die" The Jewish mode
according to their law, was stoning, but
Jesus had said that He should be crucidet
(Math XXX, 19). This was typifed by the
serpent of brass lifted up on polo (Num
xxi, 8; John iii, 14) and was plainly de
scribed in Ps. xii, 16, "They pierced NJ
hands and Ny feet" The law said
"Cursed Is every one that hangeth on {
tree, !" and Christ hath redeemed US from
the curse of the law being made a curs'
for us (Deut. xxi, 90; GAL iii, 13).
33. ''Art Thou the King of the Jewsp
Pilates question to Jesus when He en-
tered the Judgment hall again. The wis
men from the east came with the inquiry
where is He that is born King of thu
Jews2" The prophets had foretold a Mes
siah who would sit on David's throne a'
King of Israel (Math. ii, q; Isa- tx, 6, 2
Jer. xiii, 8, 6; Eek. xxxvii, 22), but
what did PLATE know of these things ant
why did he ask this question? We're mo-
the Jews subjects Of Caesar?
a. "Jesus answered him, Sayest thor
this thing of thyself, or did others tell il
thee of Mep" OF course Jesus knew VIII
he asked it, for He knew what is in man
He knows the things that come into oul
minds, every one of them John ii, 25
Ezek. II, 81. He had reason for asking
PLATE, for He does nothing without {
cause (Ezek. xiv, 23).
85. "Pilate answered: Am 1 a Jew
Thine own nation and the chief priest!
have delivered Thee unto me. What has
Thou doneP" 1t is unusual to have {
prisoner and have no charge against him
and unusual also to see the judges, as in
the case of Caiaphas and Pflate, asking the
prisoner to tell what he has done. Was
ever seen on earth such trayesty OF
justice as in this case?
SO. "Jesus answered, My kingdom Is not
of this world" How often this word o1
Christ Is used to try to prove that oul
Lord shall never have kingdom on this
earth except that which He is now said tC
have in the hearts of men-a very pool
sample Of kingdom truly, judging from
the lack of subjection to Him everywhere
manifesto But one might as well say that
the believer has no business on earth be
cause he is not of this world. That is the
very reason that he is herein the world
but not of it, that he may glorify God in
it. His origin is not earthly, for he is moi
child of God until born from above, and
Christ is here speaking of the origin oi
His kingdom, as He Himself explains il
the last clause of this verse, Now is My
kingdom not from hence. " 1t will be as
truly kingdom on this earth as was
Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece or Rome,
but it will not be set up by force of arms,
but by the mighty power Of God, the
sa1nc that brought Israel out Of Egypt, di-
vided the Red sea and the Jordan and sub
QuSU OduadQ D6IOr6 Bl6IQ.
81. ITO this end was l born, and for
this cause came into the world, that
should bear witness unto the truth.
Every one that is of the truth heareth My
voice. Thus Jesus replied to Pilates
question, cart Thou a king, thenP" he
was the truth, sent by the God of truth,
filed with the spirit of truth. Yet we are
called upon to spend three weeks In this
eighteenth chapter of John, full Of arecord
of the works of the devil through Judas
and the rulers Caiaphas and PLATE and
even Simon Peter, and the wonderful
words of truth in chapters 16 and IL,
some of the most wonderful words on
record, we are asked wholly to omit.
3S, 80. 81 find in Him no fault at all. ("
Such was Pilates testimony again and
again Judas also confessed that he had
betrayed innocent blood (Math. xvii, A..
Pilates wife called Him just man and
urged her husband to have nothing to do
with cendemning Him. But PLATE had
Him on his hands and must either con.
denim Him or release Him. The latter he
wished to do, but had not the courage to
do IL. He hopes for way out Of his diff
Guilty by suggesting that as it was his Gus
tom to release unto them prisoner at
Passover he should now release unto
them Jesus. As an alternative he mem
tions a notable prisoner named Barabbas,
probably thinking that, he being 50
wicked, the people viii not ask to have
him released, but viii at once choose
Jesus. He knows not the destroyer who
was behind the scene that day, nor did he
know that he himself was making choice
between God and satan.
40. mot this man, but Barabbas "
Tins they deliberately chose murderer
and rejected the Prince of Life. They
preferred darkness to light and satan to
God. They did what they always had
been doing as a nation since they wero
brought out Of Egypt-turned their backs
upon their Redeemer and leaned upon an
arm of flesh, for when plate said, "Be-
hold your kingi" they cried, I'VE have
no king, but C@sarl" (John XIX, "A, 15.)
Many school children are sickly.
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