The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1911-07-07
SUNDAY SCHOOL.
Lesson Il.-Third Quarter, For
July 9, 1911.
THE INTERNATIONAL SERIES.

pared by Rev. %. NJ. Stearns.
Behold my servant, my righteous
servant Qii. 10; lii. III. This is what
we must ever and always do in this
blessed holy week, which is all writ
ten by the Holy Spirit and is forever
settled 10 heaven I'll Tim. lii, Is; II
Pet. !. 21; Ps. cxix S9D. Compare lisa.
xiii /; Matt. xii, 1S; Zech. Ill. g. Hear
John the Baptist's cry. Behold the
Lamb of God"' and see Him In this
lesson described as III Isaiah had been
a real witness of His sufferings. /
am grateful to some one for calling
my attention TO the fact that these
last tventy-seven chapters of Isaiah
are divided into three mines, the first
two ending with the statement that
there is no peace to the wicked (xlviii.
%; lvii, 21).
The lesson today is the middle por-
ton of the second nine. and IL we
take the fifteen verses of our lesson
as one portion. as we have q right to
do, then chapter lii. 5, is the middle
verse. What a great fact this is for
US to ponder. that the middle verse
of the middle chapter Of the middle
section Of the last twenty-seven chap
ters Of this great prophecy tells Of
His being wounded for our transgres-
sions and that with His stripes we
are healed. Here is the heart of the
whole Bible and of all history, the
one topic Of conversation on the part
of Moses and Elijah on the mount OF
TRANSPORTATION and the constant re-
frain Of the songs OF the redeemed In
glory duke tx, 81; Rev. v, o.. In
Pet. 1, II, we read that the Spirit of
Christ in the prophets testified before
hand the sufferings of Christ and the
glory that should follow. and it was
this very topic that He Himself open.
ed up in that walk to ,Emmaus on the
afternoon Of the resurrection day
Luke xiv. 25-20.
At least ten of our lesson verses tell
Of His sufferings iii, Il: Iii. 2-10G
the others and parts of these tell of
LIS StOLEs hH We VI 11lS
visage and form we see Him before
Caiaphas and Pilate in the hands of
His enemies. Other verses tell of His
lonely life all those thirty years at
Nazareth, the i'll treatment during the
three years Of His public ministry and
the sufferings of Gethsemane and
Golgotha.
This fifty-third chapter may prove
to be largely Israel's national confess
sion after they shall have looked upon
Him coming in His glory and shall
have received Him as their Messiah:
but 1t is also for our individual APP
preparation now. We can each truth.
fully say IL we are now His redeemed
ones. Time was when by me He was
despised and rejected. ana esteemed
Him not, yet He bore my griefs and
carried my sorrows; He was wounded
for my transgressions. bruised for my
iniquities, and with His stripes / am
healed. Like lost sheep ! went
astray. seeking only my own way, hut
the Lord laid on Him all my iniquity.
We are not expected to understand
the mystery of His sufferings. but we
are expected TO believe 1t all and,
pleading guilty, receive Him as our
personal Saviour. Only thus can the
arm of the Lord be revealed to us. for
we cannot know His power on our be-
half except In Christ Jesus by virtue
of His great sacrifice.
In verse o note the prediction that
His body would be laid in a rich
mans tomb. although His enemies
would prepare Hin a grave as a male
factor. and we know how IL all came
to pass. Not only did He His own
self bare our sins In His own body
on the tree. but He also left us an ex-
ample that we might follow His steps.
bearing reproach and suffering as
meekly as He did q Pet. II, 20-24).
This we cannot do till we are redeem
ed by His precious blood: but then we
are taught that 1t is great privilege
granted unto us to suffer for His
sake and to ill up the Affections
which are behind for His body's sake
phil. /. 20; Col. 1. pa.
To be silent before our enemies
when falsely accused. when cruelty
wronged and iii treated is great vic
tory and clarifying to Cod He suf-
fered shamefully for our sakes and
bore 1t so meekly and patiently. We
never can be called upon to suffer as
He did. and yet we are so apt to COM
plain when we have the least thing to
bear that is disagreeable We certain
ly have need of patience Heb. K. SO:
Col. /. III. See in I'LL, 10. His resur-
rection from the dead. for In what
other way could one who died prolong
his days See also His future glory in
iii. 1915; Ill., 1912. when He shall be
many nations Or. ". margin). He
shall see the result of all His suf-
ferings and shall be satisfied Some
one has said that while we wait for
that time we should remember that
He longs to see OF the travail Of Els
soul in us now.
Since the pleasure Of the Lord viii
always prosper In His hand, what can
be more desired than to be In Els
hand for His pleasure DER xviii. @:
Rev. Nv. III. content to be treated as
He was II only we may glorify Him2
Note the sayings. "His soul an Offer
ing for sin" and poured ont His soul
unto death" niii. 1922. and may His
love 80 constrain us that we shall be
willing to be poured out or cut Off OK
suffer In any way for His sake.
s.-~--