Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1907-02-22
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
LEssoNVIll, FIRST QUARTER, lNTERNA-
TloNAL SERIES, FEB. "a.

Memory Verses 3, O--GOlden Text
GEN. XIV, documentary Prepared
by Rev. ID. M. stearns.
[Copyright, 1907, by American Press Association. ]
AS God, the faithful Creator q Pet.
iy. 19), saw His friend Abram return
ing from his victory over the four
kings and saw the temptation that
Satan was planning for him through
the king Of Sodom He forestalled the
adversary by sending Melchlzedek,
His servant, king of Salem and priest
of the most high God, to bless Abram
and to meet him with bread and wine,
so that when the king OF Sodom offer
ed Abram the goods he had captured
he was able to say: No; | thank you
Having the blessing of Him who
possesses heaven and earth, | prefer
to receive no favors from you. How
the church has fallen from this high
standard, for 1t would be rare thing
today to see her turn her back upon
any one who would send some earthly
possessions her way to help her carry
on what she calls the Lords work!
She is evidently not intimate with the
possessor Of heaven and earth.
1t seems probable that the great adj
versary was making 1t lively for
Abram after his victory over the four
kings and over the offer of Sodom's
king and was saying to him something
like this: Those kings will gather their
forces and come upon you and take
you and yours off the earth, and what a
fool you were to refuse those goods
you captured! So Abram doubtless
had some fears and also some thoughts
Of the reward he might have had.
Then the word of the Lord came unto
him in a vision, saying: Fear not,
Abram. / am thy shield and thy ex-
ceeding great reward" Thus the Lord
delivered His friend from his fears
and comforted him by the revelation
Of Himself Lay to heart this first
precious "Fear not" and look up and
eat all the others you can find, and
may the Lord God be to you person
ally a sun and shield Ops. lxxXiv, III,
and may you be satisfied with Himself
as your reward.
The years are passing with Abram,
and the heir has not been given, and
he inquiries Of the Lord about it and
is brought forth and told to look to-
ward heaven and number the stars If
he can (verse 81, and he Is assured
that so shall his seed be. This was
higher look than that Of xiii, II, even
look to the Lord Himself, and In the
direction of His dwelling places.
In reply to his question, Whereby
shall l knOw?" he IS referred to the
sacrifices, which all point to the one
great Sacrifice, by whom alone all
things are made sure, for "All the
promises of God in Him are yea and
in Him amen" III Cor l. 20). He who
spared not His own Son will with Him
also freely give us all things (Rom. |
viii, 32), and it is our privilege to
keep the birds (the evil one, Matt. kilt, |
4, 19) away from the promises by our
steadfastly believing them.
The 400 years bondage Of Abrams |
posterlty and then their deliverance are
here plainly foretold and also preflg-
ured by the smoking furnace and the
burning lamp (verses 12-10. The lit
eral fulallment is seen In Elk. xii,
35-41, even to their coming out with |
great substance.
The reason why Abram could not at
once possess the land is given in verse
16, and we see In the same words the
reason why the Lord does not now
at once take the kingdom. Not till the
church is completed and taken away
shall the mystery Of iniquity be fully
developed II Thess. II, 7-9). In verses
1921 we see that the land which God
gave to Abram by unconditional cove.
nant will reach from the river of
Egypt to the Euphrates, a very much
larger portion than that which we
now know as Palestine.
This Is in some respects the most re-
markable chapter we have yet taken up
since the creation and restoration of
chapters l and 2. There are so many
words used in 1t for the first time
such as the word Of God, vision fear
not, shield, reward, believed, right
eousness, ETC., and inasmuch as the
first use Of a word is the place to get
light upon its significance, one can
readily see by taking up these words
what field for study and meditation
Is here opened up. We have already
suggested the fear nots," but what
about the words "believe" and fright
eousness" See how the Holy Spirit
has Himself repeated verse @ in Rom.
iv, 3; Gal. i'll, 6; Jas. Ii, %, and In the
context In each place enlarged upon
them and made plain that Gods only
way of righteousness is by faith In
Jesus Christ apart from any works of
ours (Rom. lii, "a; Eph. ii, 8, 8; Tit
Ill, %. Up to chapter xiv we have had
but two names of our great Creator
and Redeemer-viz, God (Elohim) and
Lord OehOvah), or combinations of
these-the first revealing to us God as
the Creator, and the second "a name
used perhaps 1000 times in scripturel
revealing to us God as our Redeemer
wswx-m l..