The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1912-01-04
SUNDAY SCHOOL.
Lesson First Quarter, For
Jan. 7, 1912.
THE INTERNATIONAL SERIES.
Text of the Lesson, Luke !, 5-23.
Memory Verses, IS, 1e-Golden Text,
Heb. XII, ecommentary Prepared by
Rev. o. NJ. Steerns.

Rev. D. NJ. Stearns.
Notice in the opening verses that
Luke says to his friend that he is
about to set forth Il declaration of
things most surely believed. that he
might know the certainty of those
things. May all who study these les
sons be most surely believers. knowing
the certainty of all things written In
the whole Bible.
1t seems to me that Luke must have
had in mind the words of Prov. xii.
q, That might make thee know
the certainty of the words of truth.
that thou highest answer the words
Of truth to them that send unto thee"
Thank God for book (. yertainties
concerning things beyond the wisdom
Of men ard concerning Him Of whom
the whole book tells. he Creator. Re-
dee:ner. Judge. the Head of tile church,
the II essiah of Israel. the King OF
kings and Lord of lords. Matthew
writes Of Him as King of the Jews,
Mark tells Of the perfect servant.
Luke describes Him as man, the Son
Sen OF God. reminding us of the four
faces of the cherubim, the lion. the OK.
the man. the eagle. He was foretold
as the coming one from Gen. iii, Is.
onward. and He often appeared as
man before He came as the Son of
Mary But He was the Creator of all
things and yet set apart as the Re-
deemer before the world was John
/, 1-3; Col /, 16, II: Pet i. 2O) The
Holy Spirit who wrote the whole of
Malachi that a certain one would pre-
cede Him and herald His coming and
prepare the way before Him Elsa. xl,
8, 4; Nal. iii, u. The angel Gabriel
confirms this in verse II of our lesson.
Herod reminds us Of the great ad.
versary. the devil. to whom he be-
longed and whom he served SO well.
but God works out His purposes In
spite of all adversaries and makes
even the wrath of man to praise Him
Cps. lxxvi, 10. Herod belonged to the
line of Cain, which will be consum-
mated in the coming antichrist. or
wicked one. or beast of Dan. xi, SO. 40;
II Thess. ii. 8, 8: Rev. xix, 10, 20.
Zacharias and Elizabeth are in the
line of Abel and belong to Him who
shall yet overcome. the Lamb, who is
also the Lord of the whole earth. How
beautiful the testimony concerning
them in verse 6. ''They were both
righteous before God, walking in all
the commandments and ordinances of
the Lord. blameless." Their standing
before God was correct, for they could
say. I'm the Lord have righteousness
and strength" and they relied upon
the blood which maketh atonement for
the soul lisa. xiv, "a: Lev. xvii. ~.
They lived according to Mic. vi, 8.
doing justly. loving mercy and walk
ing humbly with God Yet in their life
story there were a loneliness and
long unanswered prayer oversees Z. 13).
The prayer had been heard from it's
first utterance, but Gods time had not
come. Let us never doubt that He
hears us. but let us be gladly patient
as we wait for Him Cps. Xxxyii, y. In
their case 1t seemed hopeless mat
ter. somewhat like Abraham and
Sarah, but the latter had assurance
from God that the child would be given.
and so he staggered not through I'M
belief Rom. ". 10. 90 There must
be good reason for allowing us to
come to the end Of ourselves and to
wait till the last minute. so to speak.
before manifestly answering our petit
tons. Consider the case Of Peter in
Acts xii. Having committed the mat
ter to the Lord. go about your work
with the assurance that He will see to
it. Zacharias was doing as was his
custom. executing the priests office
before God verses $40. It was the
time to burn incense. and the multi
tude were praying without 1t is all
so suggestive of our present privilege.
for there is one before God on our
behalf who ever liveth to make inter-
cession for us.
The appearance of the angel troubled
Zacharias. as also it did Mary some
months later, but his word to each had
comforting "fear not verses 11-13,
20. BOZ, There is many fear not
for you. o faint hearted believer. If
you would but appropriate them. God
does not give fear QI Tim /. Y. There
must be great JOY and gladness where
the angels live. for they have much
to say about 1t (verse IA: Lu. ii, 10Y,
but it is all because of Him to whose
voice they love to hearken and ex-
ceiling in strength to do His pleasure
they delight to do His commandments
| Ps. CHI, 20-22). How wonderful is
verse 10. where we learn that this
promised Son would be great in the
sight Of the Lord and filed with the
Spirit from His birth. in order to make
ready people prepared for the Lord
Verse 10. There is. however. a sep
aration implied. according to Mum.
VI, 1-8. without which the spirit filled
hfe cannot become a reality Insula-
| ton from the world is essential to a
God clarifying life Roin xii. l. p.
Eliiah's life was a separated one also.
his motto being, 1.-THE Lord God of
Israel liveth before whom I stand"
but even be did not always see the
Lord alone, nor did he always cease
from himself. Zacharias did not
promptly receive Gabriel's message
| and was in consequence dumb
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