The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1909-01-01
ASCENSIONOF
OUR LORD
Sunday School Lesson for Jan. 3, 1909
Specially Arranged for This Paper


verses. s, 8.
GOLDEN TExT.-"And It came to
pass. while he blessed them. he was part
ed from them, and carried into heaven"
Luke 34:51.
TIME.-The spring of A. ID. 80. The
Ascension, May IS. The ten days wait
ing, May 1928.
PLACE.-The Ascension was from Oil
vet. near Bethany. The meeting place
of the disciples was in the upper room In
Jerusalem.
PLACE IN HIsToRY.-The close of the
earthly life of Jesus Christ The birth
of the Christian religion.
Comment and Suggestive Thought.
The life of Jesus on earth, including
| % What he was; CD What he did;
| CD What he taught; was an essential
condition of all his power during the
centuries of Christianity.
1t made him real being to us,
while unseen on earth.
Ii illustrates his teachings for all
ages.
1t was a perpetual ideal, by which
to test all we are and do and teach.
1t is in itself a supreme power to
influence character.
dant note among educators in the ties.
| timony that THE greatest thing o
teacher ever brings to a child is not
the subject matter, but the uplift
which comes from heart contact with
great personality"
President Charles F. Thwing records
the results of "a very interesting
a Of 10
questions involving the best thing col
lege does for a man." The entire drift
of the testimony was that the most
these men got from college was inspi
ration from life contact with great
| leaders.
'No nobler feeling" says Carlyle,
than admiration for one higher than
himself dwells in the breast of man
1t is to this hour, and at all hours, the
vivifying influence in mans life."
The promise of the Father was the
special. overlooking gift of the Holy
| Spirit, as we learn from verses
and 8, and the fulfillment of the
promise in the next chapter. The Fa
Their had promised this gift through
Joel (2:2S. 29) as shown in Acts 2:
II, 1S: through Isaiah (32:15; 44:3);
Haggai (2:5) Zechariah ass; 1910.
1910.
The promise is called The Promise,
for it really includes all the promises
of the coming of the kingdom of God.
The disciples were the instrumen
tally used by the Great Leader. God
works not only directly on the hearts
of men, but through his people on
other men. God in men is the power
through which the kingdom of God has
so far come, and Is to come in its
fullness. The agencies he employs
must, by their very nature, be the
Divine Spirit and the human disciple"
-Kirtley. The achievements of the
apostles in the story of the Acts were
the account of what Jesus continued
to do after his ascension. The author
of The Fifth Gospel q. e., Saint
Paurs gospel as recorded in his epis-
ties, many of them written before the
first of our four gospels,) shows that
the apostles not only preached the facts
OF Jesus life, but the significance OF
the life which Jesus continued TO
teach them through their own ex
perience guided and inspired by the
Holy Spirit.
1. They had their ideal In the prom
Use of the Father.
2. They were imbued with power by
the Holy Spirit.
3. They were changed, transformed,
by the Holy Spirit, into new men
fitted to carry on the work of Christ.
4. They knew the facts about Christ,
and they experienced his presence and
his teachings. so that they could be
witnesses to the whole world.
1t was at this time, doubtless that
the great change came over his body
described in l Cor. 10 5l-53 For such
a change is signified by his appear.
ance as John saw him REV. 1920.
The Importance of the Ascension
1. 1t is the one fitting ending to the
earthly life of Jesus. Coming from
the Father he returns to the Father
2. The last view of Jesus is not on
the cross, but going home in glory.
3. 1t kept before the disciples the
fact that he is their ever living Saviour.
We do not worship and serve and
trust dead Savious. but one who is
alive forevermore.
4. He can rule and guide his people
infinitely better there than on any
earthly place. where but few could
come into his near presence.
5. 1t places Jesus before all men as
their ideal.
8. 'It enables us to realize hts di.
vinity. without losing his humanity"
| 7. II gives us the true idea of his
kingdom as spiritual kingdom OF
righteousness.
s. The doctrine OF the ascension,
with its hope of future glory, with its
TRANSPORTED son of man mot son of
Jew or Greek. but of mani on the
throne, adds new dignity to life" for
the lowliest shall be changed into the
likeness of his gloriied body.
| The nOwer of faith In q c,,nror,a