The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1899-02-24


37-Memory Verses, 2s-31-Golden
Text, John vii, 37-Commentary Pre-
pared by the Rev. ID. Nj. stearns.
copyright 1899, by d. M. Stearns.1
A. "Now about the midst of the feast
Jesus went up into the temple and
thought" 1t was the feast of tabernacles,
and His brethren who did not believe in
Him had in sort of sneering way advis-
ed Him to go up to the feast. His reply
was, MY time is not yet COME" SO they
went without Him, but He went up later,
and as He taught the Jews wondered at
His knowledge and His teaching, as He
had not been to their schools. His reply
to them was "My doctrine is not Mine,
but His that sent Me- (verse 16). He
took no credit for His words or works, He
sought no glory for Himself
80. HThen cried Jesus in the temple as
He taught, saying, Ye both know Me- and
ye know whence I am, and am not come
of Myself, but He that sent Me is true,
whom We know not.'' They had said, We
know this man whence He is, but when
Christ cometh no man knoweth whence
He is Verse 27). They knew that He was
from Nazareth and of humble parentage,
and that was all they professed to know,
but If they had been honest they would
have said, We know that Thou art teach
or come from God (John iii, p.
&c. tBut l know Him, for I am from
Him, and He hath sent Me-" He said
again, GAS the Father knoweth Me- even
SO know 1 the Father (John x, 15) and
again, mo man knoweth the Son but the
Father; neither knoweth any man the Fa-
Their save the Son and He to whomsoever
the Son will reveal Him (Math. xi, 27).
In His prayer He said, 80 righteous Fa-
Their, the world hath not known Thee, but
/ have known Thee, and these have
known that Thou hast sent Me- John
xvii, 25).
30. "Then they sought to take Him,
but no man laid hands on Him because
His hour was not yet come" Many
time would they have taken Him, but they
could not touch Him till the appointed
time. When they did finally take Him, it
was because He allowed them to- and when
He died He freely gave up His life. He
laid it down of Himself; they could not
take 1t from Him John K, 18).
81. Sand many of the people believed
on Him and said, When Christ cometh
will He do more miracles than these which
this man hath doneY' While some be-
who professed to believe turned back and
walked no more with Him (chapter vi,
66) He kept steadily on bearing faithful
testimony and doing the Fathers works
and will, sure that all whom the Father
gave to Him would come unto Him (chap-
ter vi, 37) and that he would see of the
travail of His soul and be satisfied (Isa
lii, ~.
49, 1.-THE Pharisees heard that the peo-
Pile murmured such things concerning
Him, and the Pharisees and the chief
priests sent officers to take Him." They
might have remembered that certain
king of Syria did his best to take Elisha,
but in vain, or that Ahab did his best to
find Elijah, but also failed that SIENNA
cherib would have taken Jerusalem, but
could not When will the enemies of God
stop imagining vain things? Not till the
antichrist, yet to be manifested is destroy
ed, and satan shut up in the pit, and even
after that there shall be enemies of God
until satan is finally cast into the lake of
fire and the kingdom comes.
33. "Then said Jesus unto them, Yet
little while am 1 with you, and then go
unto Him that sent Me- The time was
short until He would give Himself up and
let them take Him and kill Him, but even
in death He would go to the Father, and
after the resurrection He would in His
glorified body ascend to the Father. For
more than 30 years He had willingly alb
sented Himself from His home in glory
bearing all manner of humiliation and
scorn for our sakes, and soon He was to
become our sin offering, bearing our sins
In His own body on the cross.
"a. "Ye shall seek Me and shall not find
Me, and where I am thither We cannot
come" In chapter viii, 21, He says: II go
My way, and We shall seek Me and shall
die in your sins Whittier l go ye cannot
come" In verse "a of the same chapter
He says, eff ye believe not that am He,
We shall die in your sins. Now is the
time to seek Him, for it is written, "Seek
We the Lord while He may be found" and
all who truly seek surely find Elsa. lv,
6; Jer. xxx, 49, Math. vii, 81, but If the
sinner will not yield to the seeking Saw
iour-for He is always seeking ever since
He sought Adam hiding from Him in
Eden-then there is possibility Of the
experience of Prov. i, %: "Then shall they
call upon Me, but will not answer. They
shall seek Me early, but they shall not find
Me-"
85. "Then said the Jews among them
selves, Whittier will He go that we shall
not find HimS viii He go unto the dis
persed among the gentiles and teach the
gentilesP'' If they believed Him to be
possessed of devil as they said, they
could not think of His going to heaven to
leave them, but even If He should pos
sibly he good man and go to heaven
surely they would find Him, for were they
not all going that way, at least in their
own opinion? Anything more than a
mere man they could not see Him to be
and SO they understood Him, not because
they would not receive Him.
SO. "What manner of saying is this that
He said, 'Ye shall seek Me and shall not
find Me, and where am thither We can
not Gomez" 1t is not strange that these
unbelievers could not understand His
word, for even the disciples are heard say
ing on the night before His crucifxion:
"What is this that He saithP A little