Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1917-02-14
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
LESSON FOR FEB. IS
SECURED EXCLUSIVELY BY THE
BANNER FOR ITS MANY
READERS
ACCORDING TO THE
INTERNATIONAL SERIES
Text of the Lesson, John iv, 1854.
Memory Verses, 1881 - Golden
Text Matt. viii, documentary
Prepared by Rev. ID. M. Stearns.

IItpdTc0 ny hcN. ~. Ni. OtcdiuS.
The story OF today is called the sec
ond miracle In Galilee, and II was
wrought at the same place as the first,
In Cana Of Galilee. Verses 46, "a. COM
pare chapter ii, 2, IL. At the marriage
he manifested forth His glory. and 1t
was on a third day chapter II, 1. III.
and must confess to a special delight
In working out the third day and the
glory or kingdom veins OF truth In the
Scriptures, believing that 1t is only az
the glory of His kingdom takes hold
Of us that we shall be the faithful fol-
lowers we ought to be In this present
evil age. 1t would seem from verses
40, 40, that this was another third day
event, though II Is just possible that
there may have been an interval Of a
day or two between the two verses.
but think not. The marriage OF the
Lamb is the next great event in the
future, and, counting thousand years
as one day, It will probably be the
third day in the morning. Somewhere
about that time will be the redemption
of Israel, as it is written In Hos. vi, 2,
after two days will He revive us; in
the third day He will raise us up, and
we shall live I'm His sight"
Our Lord seemed to have the same
thing in view when He said, Behold,
/ cast out devils, and / do cures today
and tomorrow, and the third day
shall be perfected" luke xiii, 32). 1t
will be the time OF the resurrection of
a righteous Israel. according to lisa.
XIV, 8, o; XVI, 1921; Dan. xii. 1-3,
when "the King OF Israel, the Lord,
shall be In the midst Of them and they
shall not see evil any more (Zeph. iii,
15). Note the sayings already I'm this
gospel concerning the Son Of God, the
King OF Israel; heaven opened and ia
cob's vision a reality, the temple of
His body raised up, the kingdom which
can only be entered by the new birth,
the saying about the bridegroom and
the bride, His declaration that he was
the Messiah and His reference to the
harvest chapters 1. 90, 81; ii, 20, 81;
III, 3, 8, %; iv, 20, 35). Surely we can
not but be fully persuaded that the
kingdom and the glory were the JOY
ever before Him which enabled Him
to endure Heb. xii, q. And how can
we, His followers, hope to endure in
any other way?
This teaching will not bring us hon
or from men, but the honor which com
eth from God only will more than suf-
fee dv, A; v, Az. The Galileans be-
lieved because they saw the things
that He did at Jerusalem, and / do
not know any truths which will work
In us the Christ life like those con-
letter just I'm from the Philippines tells
Of worker whom many people think
queer because of these truths, but the
remark was added that her lovely life
wins many people to Him. That is the
one thing worth while. The healing
Of the nobleman's son in this connec-
ton makes us think of the time of the
kingdom when the inhabitant shall not
say, am sick; the people that dwell
therein shall be forgiven their iniquity
lisa. xxxiii, 24).
After He had spoken the kingdom
truths of Matt. v-vii He gave samples
Of the kingdom in the healings of
chapters viii and TX. While the king
dom is postponed because of His re-
lection, we may not expect kingdom
miracles, though in His great grace He
has wrought many for many of His
simple minded believers and has made
1t manifestly true that His word stands
according to your faith be It unto
you" We may journey with this no
bleman and imagine something OF his
heartache as. having left his son at
the point OF death, he seeks the Great
Physician. We may not know how He
was encouraged to believe that the
Lord Jesus would help him, for the
healings at Capernaum of the demon
possessed man, and Peters wife's
mother, and the centurion's servant,
and the rulers daughter, seem all to
have taken place after this. But he
must somehow have seen or heard
enough to convince him that here there
was help for him, though he seemed to
think It necessary that Jesus should
accompany him home (verse 40. That
gracious word, "Go thy way; thy son
liveth" (verse 500, did its work In both
father and son. for the father went bis
way believing and found on reaching
home the next day that the boy had
been healed at the very time that Jesus
had said the word. One result was
that the mans whole household believ-
ed in Jesus. Just as the Galileans
who had been to Jerusalem saw His
works and believed, so this household
saw and believed, and there are still
those who need to see something Of
the power and grace Of God In human
lives to lead them to believe. and they
ought to see 1t. for His life should be
m, N x,ffaOt IN TIfo rodoouo6 III Tor 80