The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1916-04-18
INTERNATIONAL,
SUNINySClN)OL
LESSON
tBy E. o. SELLERS, Acting Director of
Sunday School Course of the Moody
Bible Institute. Chicago)
Copyright, 1915 Western Newspaper Union1
LESSON FOR APRIL 20
EASTER LESSON.
LESSON TENT Cor. 15:1-2S.


If teachers can impress indelibly
upon the minds of their scholars the
fact that Jesus rose from the dead and
is as truly alive today as when walk
ing the hills of Galilee this repetition
of the Easter story will not be in vain.
For the pupils to take notes of the
points of the argument and to recite
upon those notes at the end of the
class hour would greatly help to fix
the facts in their minds. This account
considered today is perhaps the old
est written record we have of this
great fact, written about 56 A. D.,
hence the significance of verse six.
l. The Triumphant Fact Tvs. 1-4). If
Christian workers would be more ia
miliar with this passage they would
more intelligently understand what
the term Gospel means The fact of
the resurrection doomed larger in
Paul's mind than the virgin birth; the
former was and is the greater miracle.
This, one of the supreme chapters of
the Bible, tells us what the Gospel Is,
and what its results are to be. %
What it is. Not new cure for tuber-
culosis, nor new social environment,
but the good news of one who was God
incarnate paul does not use his earth
ly name Jesus), Christ the Amounted
One, who died for our sins just as the
Scriptures had foretold, and was bur-
led. On the third day, according to
the Scriptures" He rose again and Is
now and ever shall be alive. Any Cos
pei that ignores the incarnation, pas
to the Scriptures and lie. ca The
result of preaching or testifying to
this great program is twofold first,
salvation, saved, restored to right
relations with God" and second, per-
severance, wherein we stand" The
"God-story," good news, evangel or
gospel-they are all the same-is the
power of God unto salvation" and tho
strong doctrine of the resurrection
will cause men to walk straight, to
stand upright. Christ died for my
sins according to the Scriptures" Qso
So: $40.
III. Witnesses to the Fact Tvs. 5-12).
Paul (v. 3 received the resurrection
truth from many witnesses, whom he
proceeds to enumerate, for it was not
matter of his own invention The in
credulity of the disciples at the first
is frankly recorded duke 24:12). Je-
sus did not appear first to John. Plate
or the Sanhedrin, but to a woman, and
the change of the apostles from a
spirit of despair 20 that of confident,
joyous certainty was most astonishing.
There are eleven recorded appear
ances Of Jesus after his resurrection,
and not one Of them was made to his
enemies. Paul does not mention all
of the appearances. He is probably
naming only those persons, witnesses
of his appearances, with whom he had
conversed, or at least a few from each
group. % Peter, referred to Indirect
ly in Luke 24:34; (2) the apostles, to
be exact, the first ten, Judas being
dead and Thomas absent; 90 the apos-
ties with Thomas present; ca five
hundred, the only record of this great
company, though perhaps implied in
the brethren of Matt 28:10. Half
a thousand witnesses are enough to
establish any case" OF these the
greater number were alive twenty-five
of ho
ably our Lords brother, the honored
head of the Jerusalem church; CD
Then all the apostles" larger cir
Gle than the twelve (see Luke 28:48,
Acts 1863. This may have been the
appearance in the morn at the Sea of
Galilee; Cd me also" The winning
of the prosecutor who had looked
upon this wild tale of crucified and
risen teacher as a sacrilege and a dis
grace to his nation is the most signal
and significant triumph of the Chris
tian faith. The Damascus road vic
tory was far more portentious than
any other battle of history. That vi
him amidst the most astounding trials
and testings. "Out of due season."
like an abortive child, like a child of
untimely birth, Paul was unworthy of
the name of a child. He had seen the
martyr Stephen die, he had prosecuted
those who believed, and although for
given by God, yet he was filled with
lifelong regret for his misused in
fiuence and misspent years. There
fore he terms himself, least of the
apostles" But he is saved and
through the grace of God can ex-
claim, 81 am what / am" The evil
dence Of the resurrection is more pre-
ponderant and definite than the his
toric evidence we have that Caesar
Augustus or Abraham Lincoln ever
lived 1t is a greater strain upon hui
man intelligence not to believe this
fact than it is to deny the evidence of
wireless telegraphy.
III. The Fact Applied. Tvs. 1920.
The Corinthians, to whom Paul was
writing, did not deny Christs immor-
tality, but seemed to deny that the
same power which had raised him
could be applied to us who are only
human. Paul answers this by present
ing four arguments:
~ The resurrection Of Christ
proves the possibility of the resurrec-
ton from the dead, if only of Jesus.
I'M