The Yale expositor., 1905-08-04
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON VI, THIRD QUARTER, INTER-
NATIONAL SERIES, AUG. 6.

prepared ny new ~ We oteHhhH'
Copyright, 1905, by American Press Association.l
In the conflict of the ages recorded
in the Scriptures between God and the
devil for man and mans dwelling
place we see those who stand with God
and for whom God works and those
who stand with the devil against God.
And so it shall go on until the great
conflict of which we read i'm Rev. xix,
1921, when the enemy shall be oGcr-
thrown and the leader shut UP in the
bottomless pit for a thousand years
and the earth shall enjoy reign OF
righteousness and peace.
Josiah was one of the few who did
right in the sight of the Lord and real
lied n fulfillment of III Chron. XVI, D.
He was one of seven in the Scriptures
who were named before their birth by
Him who knoweth all things and de-
clareth the end from the beginning.
Nearly 300 years before his birth he
was named by God as zone who on cor
tain affairs would burn mems bones,
and he did. Compare | Kings xiii, ?,
and II Kings xiii, 16. HeZekiah eX-
celled ali others in the matter of trust
ing in the Lord" but Josiah eXcelled in
turning to the Lord" III Kings xviii,
); xiii. 90. To do right in the s ght Of
the Lord without turning TO the right
hand or to the left and to please Him
in all things is an attainment to which
only one perfectly reached, but by His
grace all believers might come much
nearer to it if they desired it as much
as Elisha desired that which he sought
through Elijah the day that they were
parted by a whirlwind.
Josiah began by getting himself right
with God, for in his sixteenth year he
sought the God of David, his father,
evidently with the whole heartedness of
Jer. xxx, 10. Paurs advice to Timothy
was to first take heed to himself Il
Tim. iv, 80, and our Lord taught us
that if we would get the notes out Of
other peoples eyes we must first get
the beam out of our own eye NIatt. vii,
-. The first thing for each individual
is right relationship To God, and this
can be obtained only by receiving His
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and in Him
the forgiveness of all our sins and a
righteousness which makes us accepted
in Him and gives us the standing OF
children and heirs Of God and joint
heirs with Jesus Christ Gohn /, -;
Eph. i, g, Z; Rom. viii. IT, 10. This be-
ing established and we assured of it by
the Spirit through the word, we are
then as ambassadors Of Christ author
o. fI,a
interests OF His kingdom.
When Josiah was twenty. or in the
twelfth year Of his reign. he, being
himself purified. began to purge Judah
and Jerusalem from her idols and idol
airy, doubtless remembering and obey
ing the Lords words at the founding
of the nation, IL am the Lord thy God;
thou shalt have no other gods be-
fore Me-" When an individual or ma
tion has heard and seen Jehovah idols
are no longer tolerated QIos. xiv, S.
In II Kings xiii, LA, there is more
full account of the cleansing Of the
land. and there we learn that it was
preceded by Josiah's reading to the cid
ers and to the people all the words of
found in the house Of the Lord. 1t is
the word of God that sanctifes and
clcansos John xvii, II; Eph. V, 2G; RS.
cXiX, III.
The burning of the bones of men up
on the affairs Verse 81 is more fully de-
scribed in III Kings xiii. 1918, and
when compared with the prophecy ut
foroJ r,oo,.It- ooO ,voo,.e bofOrn VafO-.rnJ
to earlier in this lesson, we cannot but
be reminded Of such words as lisa. xiv,
d; XVI, 10; Ps. xxxiii, 10, II. To know
the purpose of God, "the eternal pur-
pose which He purposed in Christ
Jesus our Lord" (Eph. iii, III, and. to
live in that purpose Is the greatest OF
all honors conferred upon mortals, and
it is open to all.
The last part Of our lesson tells of
Josah's efforts to repair the temple
and to undo the harm which had been
done by other kings of Judah (verse
ID, for though Manasseh endeavored to
undo some of his great wrongdoing his
son Anon walked in his first ways and
trespassed more and more (chupter
xXxiiD. The tabernacle first, then the
temple, was the center of Israel as
Il nation for there God dwelt in their
midst Tex. XIV, 81, and the neglect of
Gods dwelling place meant the neglect
of God Himself Read the first chapter
of Haggai and see what God thought
of their neglect of His house after thee
return from Babylon and how He dealt
with them because of It, When our
Lord was on earth the temple building
was in good condition, but the worship
therein was hypocrisy, and they bad
introduced business into it's courts, so
that at the beginning and end Of His
ministry He cleansed the temple The
majority of people either wholly neg
lect God or render Him formal wor-
ship. which is worse than none at all,
for lie seeketh those TO worship Him
who will worship Him in spirit and in
truth. Believers are the temples of the
Holy Spirit. mansions In which Father,
Son and Spirit dwell (John xiv, II, %;
Cor. vi, 10, 20), and If we would know
tho roxuar NJ Col Il, nj flrott oI, no xrf