Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1917-01-17
SUNDAY SCHOOL.
Lesson lII.-First Quarter, For
Jan. n, 1917.
THE INTERNATIONAL SERIES,
Text Of the Lesson, John !, $751;
Memory Verses, 3e-H-Goidsn Text,
John /, 43-cemmentary Prepared BY
Rev. D. M. Stearns-

John ], 43CCommentary prepared D
Rev. D. M. Stsarns.
One of the wonderful and most In
teresting things In this first chapter Of
John Is the many different names OF
The Lord Jesus. In this respect 1t Is
somewhat like Rev. 1. He is called the
Word Of God the Word made flesh, the
Son Of God. the Son Of Man. the LIANT
Of God. the Messiah. the King Of lsra-
Ell. Jesus Of Nazareth and other names
and each one bears a different revela-
ton of Him to our souls. Let our
heart cry ever be, That | may know
Him. until we can say from the heart
Yea. He is altogether lovely; this is
my Beloved and this is my friend.
Phil. Lii, 10: Song v, 16l. When We
are fully occupied with Him all else
will seem different. As Jonn cried the
next day. Behold the Lamb Of Cod
two Of Johns disciples followed Jesus,
and when He turned and said, What
seek YET they replied. Where dweilest
thou! To which He answered. Come
and seel This led to probably many
hours with Him. for 1t was about the
tenth hour (verses 35-39,, which was
not, as in the margin. two hours be-
fore night. but. as we count time. 10
a. m.
1t Is easily proved by John xix. a..
where, at the sixth hour. which must
have been our 9 a. m. Jesus was still
before PLATE, that John uses Roman
time as we still do. Matthew, Mark
and Luke use Jewish time. counting
from 6 a. M. (Roman time, as the be-
ginning Of the day. SO with them the
third hour would be our 0 a. m. the
sixth hour our II noon. and so on.
Jesus was crucified at the third hour
Jewish time. or 8 a. N. Roman time
and our time. The darkness began at
the sixth hour and continued till the
ninth Jewish time) or noon till 3
p. m our time. when He died MARX
XIV, Is, 80. "a: Matt xvii. As. 46;
Luke xiii, Al. He met the woman
a. V "
". g., not at noon. Just remember
that John counts the hours of the day
as we do. What our Lord talked about
in this interview we may imagine from
the previous chapter luke XIV.
where we read Of His conversation on
the way to Emmaus, and In the upper
room that same evening. We know
that one Of the two men on this occa-
sion was Andrew. and We may safely
conclude that the other was John him
self oversees 4O-42,. for the evangelists
have a way Of not mentioning their
own names when they are specially in
the event.
We may also easily imagine that
John found his brother James as quick
ly as Andrew found Simon. Are we
as eager to bring others to Him. and
does our talk about Him lead others
away from ourselves to Him. as Johns
Behold the Lamb Of Godr' did? lie
our motto HE must increase, but /
must decreaseT John I'll. 3O) The
next day Jesus went Himself to find
Philip Of Bethsaida. the city Of An
drew and Peter. and said to him. "Foi-
low me-" cannot tell you why He
sought Philip and went Himself to do
It, bet am glad that He ever sought
me. though I fear that He has occasion
to say to me. as Ee did to Philip aft
er those three years, "Have l been 20
long time with you, and Jet hast thou
not known Me?' (John xiv, o. We
all seem to become acquainted with
Him 30 slowly. Oh, how patient He
Il with ns. Els "Foliow Me- to Phil
ip verses 43, ~ makes us think Of
His resurrection word to Peter In chap
ter XXI. 10, q, and the application to
us is so helpful.
Philip soon found a friend. saying to
= him. I'VE have found Him Of whom
Moses in the law and the prophets did
write" With disdainful word con-
corning Nazareth Nathaniel was per-
suaded to come and see for himself.
and soon he was heard exclaIming.
rabbi. Thou art the Son of God: Thou
art the King Of Israeli oversees 45-49)
Perhaps the word Of Jesus, Before
that Philip called thee. when thou
vast under the fig tree. | saw thee -
had something to do with his confes-
sion. Only He who knoweth our down
sitting and uprising and all our ways
rould say such things to any one FPS.
cxxxix. Ia. 1t win help us greatly If
we remember that we have to do with
Him who knows US so thoroughly and
to whom all things are naked and open
Our Lords next word to Nathaniel.
Thou shalt see greater things than
these" have often taken to myself
as have seen many Of the wonderful
things He has wrought for us and
through lis. and then have l pleaded
again His words in Jer. xxxiii. 8.
The last verse in our lesson. which
is an evident reference to Jacobs
dream and vision at Bethel (Gen.
xviii. 12). makes me think that per-
haps under that fig tree Nathaniel had
been meditating upon this very thing.
o