The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1913-04-11
SUNDAY SCHOOL.
Lesson Il.-Second Quarter, For
April 10, 1913.
THE INTERNATIONAL SERIES.

AAAG AASAAAIA . PINRAS
a wife among the daughters Of Laban,
his mothers brother. So Jacob went
out from .Beersheba, where Isaac
seems to have continued to I've since
the record in chapter XVI, 81, 80, and
went toward Haran.
Haran was the name of Lots father,
and he died in Or before Abram was
called out. 1t was also the name
of the place where Abram tarr1ed
until Terah, his father, died CHAP
ter ri, 1882. 1t was from thence Re-
bekah, came to be the wife Of Isaac.
1t would have been a long journey for
Jacob from Beersheba to Bethel in n
day between forty and fifty miles,, so
it was perhaps his second night out
on which he had this remarkable ex-
perience. That matters not, however.
1t was the dream or vision that count
ed rather than tn time when.
That one who had acted as Jacob
had should have such a revelation
from the Lord is the wonderful part
of the transaction. There are, how
ever, two very prominent facts in all
the Scriptures which continually at
tract our attention. One is the ex-
ceeding sinfulness Of man. with his
deceitful and desperately wicked heart,
and the other is the exceeding riches
Of the grace and love Of God.
1t does not matter as to the kind OF
ladder, whether steps of stone or some
other kind. But the great fact is that
Jacob saw a way Of access from earth
to heaven, angels ascending and de-
scending, and he heard Jehovah from
the top OF the ladder talking to him
most graciously and in such words Is
no mortal could expect or by any
means deserve.
Because of Jacobs un~worthiness and
the wondrous grace of God notwith-
standing oven 1 have ventured to ap-
propriate and have proved in world
wide ~journeyings the comfort OF
verse Is.
The Lord, who stood above the lad
der and spoke the words Of love and
grace, no doubt referred to that night
and that event when he said to Ma
thanael, "verily, verify, 1 say unto
you, Hereafter We shall see heaven
open and the angels Of God ascending
and descending upon the Son Of Man"
John i, 81. Some day when the New,
Jerusalem shall have taken it's place
e the earth and the elect church
glorifed and the elect Israel all right.
eous and the holy angels shall all be
in perfect accord with the Lord in adj
ministering the affairs OF the kingdom
we may think of and understand this
vision more fully. Meantime let us
think Of Him who is 1.-The way, the
truth, the life," who became man for
us. The ladder was set up on the
earth. 1t starts from just where you
are. You may step on it if you will.
but it must be with both feet clean of
the earth, actually in Christ.
1t reaches heaven; it is not too short.
To mount day by day we must look
up steadfastly and see Him who is
in heaven for us. Run with patience,
looking unto Jesus. The angels will
be always ministering (Heb. xii, /, 2;
], 14). Notice the four "beholds' OF
verses II, 13, 10. Between the time
of Jacobs Lee Ting home and this
nights experience it looks as if the
Spirit had been working some true
penitence in Jacobs heart, and this
special revelation. and message was
the result of it. When we turn home
ward the Father always runs to meet
us, according to Luke w, 90.
Such overwhelming grace made ia
cob feel somewhat as Simon Peter did
when the Lord filed the ships with
fishes and Peter said, Depart from
me, for I am a sinful man, Lordg".
duke v, g. We do well to remem-
Der that the Lord is ever with us and
that every place with Him may be to
us the house of God and the gate of
heaven.
The pillow becoming an anointed
pillar and the fact that believers are
called stones Il Pet. ii, 81 suggest that
instead of being prone upon the earth
we may become upright, anointed nv.
ing stones to the glory of God.
Jacobs VOW In verses 20 to % may
be good or not so good. If he is bar
5oAhAAS NAIA NOu dIleE dll lie EFA-
cious assurances, as our authorized YER
sion would seem to indicate, then his
language and his spirit were poor in
deed. But If he said. "Since, on seeing
that, God will be with me- (verse 2O,
his words are better. He has been con-
sidered by some a very mean man, but
If any who read these words do not give
the Lord ~ least a tenth of their in-
come are they not meaner than Jacob?
No further incident of his journey is
mentioned, but he certainly had
enough to think about and to COM
fort and sustain him for years to come
in that vision. He reached his desti.
nation, met his cousin, Rachel, at the
well, helped her to water her fathers
sheep, for she kept them, and was
heartily welcomed to Laban,s home.
He loved Rachel, agreed to serve
seven years for her that she might be.
come his wife, and they seemed unto
him but a few days for the love he
had to her xxx, 9-20l.
In Hos. XII. IL. we find this state
inent: Jacob 1ed into the country Of
Syria. and Israel served for a wife.
n Tor a wife he kept sheep"
part of the state Of Pennsylvania ana
bafnra noynipu bara r,z -...t -