The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1904-01-08
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON II, FIRST QUARTER, iNTERNA-
IoNAL SERIES, JAN. 10.

Of whom the angel Gabriel said: He
shall be great i'm the sight OF the Lord,
filled with the Holy Ghost
even from his mothers womb "
Many Of the children Of Israel shall he
turn to the Lord their God and he shall
go before Him in the spirit and power
of Elijah" luke i, 15-1O. Not only
did the Spirit through Isaiah speak
of him as 1.-THE voice Of Him that
crieth in the wilderness, Prepare We
the way of the Lord, make straight In
the desert a highway for our Cod"
but the Lord through Malachi said
also, Behold l send My messenger
and he shall prepare the way before
Me" Qsa. Xl, 3; Nal. iii, p.
Our Lord Jesus said of him. Among
those that are born of women there is
not greater prophet than John the
Baptist" Matt. ri, Il; Luke vii, 2S).
He was one of seven mentioned in
Scripture as named before their birth,
he grew up in the desert till the day
of his showing unto Israel and ut the
appointed time he came forth by the
word of God duke /, 13, so; ILL., %.
When the priests and Levites sent by
the Jews asked him: "Who art thou?
What sayest thou of thyself?' he re-
piled that he was the voice of one cry
ing In the Wilderness, foretold by
Isaiah Gohn i, 1929. His great cry
was like that of our Lord Himself,
Repent, for the kingdom of heaven
is at hand Verse and chapter iv, 10.
See also the preaching of the twelve
and the seventy in Matt. X, Z; Luke
Y, 9.
The King of the Jews had come to
bring the kingdom TO Israel, but be-
cause they would not have either His
herald or Himself He told them that
the kingdom would not come till His
return, and that Elijah would then be
His herald duke xix, II, 10; Matt. xvii,
II, ~. What John the Baptist in the
spirit and power of Elijah was to His
first coming, Elijah himself shall be to
His second coming. BY preaching re-
pentance and remission of sins in His
name among all nations all believers
are now to prepare the way for His re
turn. that the kingdom may come luke
xiv, 46-4S; Acts iii, 1921; xvii, 80
81. for the preaching during this age
of a postponed kingdom is to gather
from all nations a people for His
name, the church, His body. and then
He will return (Acts XIV, 14-1O.
John was not of this world, either as
to food or raimeut; his was no earthly
royalty. Contrast what is said of the
scribes in Mark Xii So 30 He had no
worldly ambition no self seeking, no
desire TO draw men to himself, no envy
when men followed Jesus; but he glad
~ said that he was the friend of the
Bridegroom who rejoiced greatly be-
cause of the Bridegroom's voice, and
delighted TO decrease as He increased
(John iii. 20. 3O).
Many from Jerusalem and JudRa
and the region where John was baptiz-
ing were led to confess their sins and
receive baptism at Johns hands, but
among the many who came there were
some whom John felt led TO address
as a generation of vipers, the seed of
the serpent Our Lord also called them
serpcnts, a generation Of vipers Matt.
xiii. 33), and yet they were the most
religious people Of their day. But it
was all outward, to be seen of men
Matt xiii, 5, 2S). They boosted that
Abraham was their father Verse O.;
John viii, $50, but John told them that
they must prove it by their conduct,
and our Lord said the same. but also
told them that they were Of their IA
Their the devil Gohn viii, 80, Az.
There is no salvation in any mere
say so, or word of mouth, for although
it is gloriously true that we are saved
by faith and not by works, eternal life
being the free gift of God, yet it is
with the heart and not the mouth that
we believe. and where there is real
faith there will be life corresponding
Rom iv, ); Eph. ii, $40; Tit. iii, >,
s; Rom. Y. 3-10).
Our Lord also speaks of the harvest
and the fire at the end of the age for
mere professors, the tares among the
wheat or the bad fish gathered in the
net Matt. xiii, 37-42, 1850. How
awfully solemn and searching to hear
Him who is love itself using such
words and declaring that He will have
to say to some in that day, Depart
frem Me. We cursed. into everlasting
fire, prepared for the devil and his
angels" Matt. XIV, ~. If unquench-
able fire, the lake which burneth with
fire and birthstone, tormented with fire
and birthstone (Rev. xxi, 8: xiv, TO-
III and similar words are figurative
then it must be that the reality is so
unutterably awful that language can
not describe it. 1t must be fearful
thing to perish, else God would not
have sent His son TO suffer MS He did
in our stead that we might not perish
We may well be thankful that the lake
Of fire was not prepared for man. and
that God is not willing that any should
perish q Pet. iii. %; but those who
prefer the devil to God must be con-
tent to share his doom Rev. Xxx, 1O).
Let us be sure that we have truly
received the only Saviour of sinners,
and then yield to Him to be filled with
His Spirit day by day. that like John