Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1915-12-29
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
LESSON FOR JAN. 2
BANNER FOR ITS MANY
READERS
ACCORDING TO THE
INTERNATIONAL SERIES
Text of the Lesson, Acts l, LA
Memory Verses, 10, 11-GOlden
Text Eph. Nv, 8LCOmmentary Pre-
pared by Rev. ID. M. Stearns.

treatise, his gospel, he had written of
all that Jesus began to do and teach,
and this book. which We begin today,
might well be called the record OF that
which Jesus continued TO do and teach
through His apostles, notably Peter
lists Stephen and Philip. Note the or
der OF the words do and teach" and
the many places where the order IL
the same or the parallel words ''seen
and heard" The d0ings are seen and
the teaching Is heard MARX vi. 30;
Acts iv. 20: | John |, 81. We cannot
! learned TO do. The day In which He
|, was taken NJ carries us back TO the
taking up of Enoch and Elijah and on
ward 10 the taking up OF all true be-
levers nj Ills coming TO the earth for
His people Il Thess. Nv, 1913. In the
! forty days between His resurrection and
ascension He showed Himself alive at
least ten times and after his ascension
twice TO Paul. also to Stephen and
John. The same Holy Spirit who con-
trolled Him before His death spake
by Him after His resurrection and, as
always, concerning the kingdom of
God verses 2, 81.
Note how this book, like the whole
Bible, begins and ends with the king
dom of God (Acts xviii, %, 81, but
| observe that the kingdom always
means dominion over all things on the
whole earth, given to Christ by the
Father and by Christ shared with His
redeemed. 1t was at hand and preach
ed by John the Baptist and the Lord
Jesus and the twelve and the seventy,
but being violently rejected and the
King crucified It was postponed till He
shall come again, according to Luke
XIX, IL, II; Acts iii, 20, 81. The disci-
Piles understood, and rightly, too verse
O., that the center OF the kingdom will
be restored Israel, for apart from Il
| righteous Israel and the throne Of the
Lord at Jerusalem the long predicted
kingdom cannot be. The kingdom be-
| EtJtNNtu POoNpouco thc
time Of the Kings return known only
to God, He is gathering from all the
world an elect people who shall reign
with Him when He shall come again
to set up His kingdom. This Is the
mystery hidden I'm the ages past and
revealed specially to Paul (Eph. ill,
800. To this end the Holy Spirit has
been specially sent to testify of risen
and glorified Christ, who Is waiting
at the Fathers right hand for the
building of His body, the church, His
Eve, who shall share with Him the
dominion as truly as Rebecca and Ruth
shared with Isaac and BoaZ all their
wealth
The disciples were TO wait for the
special power for this service and. wit.
Messing the power Of the Holy Spirit,
then bear witness for the Lord from
Jerusalem unto the uttcrmost parts OF
the earth.
The great testimony is that Jesus
Christ is risen and alive forcyermore
at the right hand Of the Father and
gladly receiving all who come unto God
by Him and are willing TO live in the
power Of His resurrection life and help
to gather from all nations Ills holy
! Church.
Mere human wisdom cannot grasp His
purpose. nor can the best scholarship
understand or be of any use to Him
apart from the only power and the only
teacher. the Holy Spirit. When He
had spoken His last message to them,
while they behed He was taken up
J verse 30, or as il is written in Luke
xiv, 80, 81, while He blessed them,
He was parted from them and carried
up into heaven" With what utter
amazement they must have seen Him
ascend from their midst and how stead
tasty they must have gazed upon Him
until the cloud hid Him from their
sight!
We do not know that any one said
he was swept away In a whirlwind
with horses and chariot of fire. This
was quiet, visible taking as He talked
with them and blessed them, sugges-
tive of the fact that He is still bless
| ing or ready to bless.
As they, In wonder and awe, watch
ed the cloud that hid Him from their
view two men stood by them and
said very plainly that as He had gone
| SO He would come again in like man.
nef.
One result of this message was that
they worshiped Him and returned to
Jerusalem with great joy and contin-
ued I'm prayer and praise verse IA;
Luke xiv, 81, 53). There is no more
joyful topic than that of the coming
again Of the Lord Jesus to the earth to
welcome His people and then back to
Olivet with His people to set up His
Kingdom, with the throne Of David as
Its earthly center (Zeph. Ill, IA, Is:
Zech. xiv, 4, o: Luke 1. 80, 33). These
heavenly messengers may have been
angels, for angels are sometimes called
men. as In Gen. XVIII, 2, or, for aught
we know they may have been Moses