The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-01-05
INTERNATIONAL
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
BY w. T. ELLIS

beginning:
thru Him all existence came into
being
no existence came into being apart
from Him,
In Him lay life,
and this life was the Light for
men.
amid the darkness the Light
sllone,
but the darkness did not master
it
A man appeared, sent by God,
whose name was John; he came for
the purpose of witnessing, to bear
testimony to the Light, so that all men
might believe by means of him. He
was not the Light; it was to bear tes-i
timony to the Light that he appeared.
The real Light, which enlightens every
man, was coming then into the
world:
He entered the world
the world did not recognize Him:
He came to what was His own, yet
His own folk did not welcome
On those who have accepted Him.
however, He has conferred the right
of being children of God, that is, on
those who believe in His Name. who
owe this birth of theirs to God, not to
human blood, nor to any impulse of
the flesh or of man. So the Logos
became flesh and tarried among US;
we have seen his glory-glory such
as an only son enjoys from his father
seen it to be full of grace and real
ity.
Making Over the World.
Gods method of making over the.
world is to send man. Truth triumphs
when incarnated in a life. 80 the,
Logos become flesh" Only when the
divine Word, the expression of the
character of the Father, becomes in
a. in n
it begin to change society. Reverent-.
ly we say that it seems as if the only
truth that God can employ for His
conquests is that which has been
made part of the character of His
servants. A man may be a message,
word of God even as Jesus was
AS voice is the most distinctive ex-
preston of personality, surviving the
mutations of the years, so Jesus was
uniquely the Word of God, the very
incorporation of the Supreme Will and
Character
For verse y-verse exegesis of the
lesson passage there is not space here.
There are seven cardinal points how
ever, in the text that may be tersely
restated, without amplification.
l. 1t is a far-founded faith that
John propounds. Overlapping all bar
riers of time it goes back to the u1ti-
mate beginning, when the Word was
present in the councils of the Creator.
DS1OIO ever TIME began. w. L, q
2. AS an essential agent and ex-
preston of God, as a co-worker with
the Father, Christ was present and
participating in creation. John
does not leave standing room for
those who see in Jesus only a beautiful
character and a sublime teacher, "
81
3. Life, with all that it means of
largeness and power and joy and
serenity. is I'm Him. This audacious
chronicler affirms that there is no real
life except spiritual life, and that is de-
rived from Christ its Source. ". 4. }
As Tennyson declared:
"Our little systems have their day,
They have their day and cease to be
They are but broken lights of Thee,
And Thou, Lord, art more than
they"
4. That Life is Light Wherever
Christ goes. light accompanies; so
that a myriad treatises have shown
Him to be 1.-The Light of the World
In our own dark time Christ is our
only light; and there is no hope for
a readjustment of civilization, except
as we see things in the light of Jesus.
Wrapped up in the truth of Christ as
the light is all the missionary exper-
fence of the Church. For however
ed the Light. ". 4, 5, 8, 81
5. Saddest of all the words of hu-
man speech is the sentence He came
unto His own, and His own received
Him not" Because He was "despised
and rejected of men, the suffering
Saviour is the sympathetic comforter
of all who walk a solitary way, and
drink lifes bitter cup. Had he come
in pride and power and prosperity,
| Jesus would not have been able to
meet most of us on our own level. "
| 10, I'D
! 6. This first Son of God became the
best Brother of man. He opened the
way into sonship for all the rest of
US. We have our peace in Gods house
hold of faith because our Brother
sought us wandering and brought US
home. We may recognize all sons of
God by the family likeness. w. -,
49,
Z. Here is man telling what he
knows. This is the testimony OF an
eyewitness, for John wrote, I'VE be-
! held His glory All these majestic
declarations of the Prologue of Johns
Gospel are the testimony of one who
had personal experience of his Sub
ject Back. of all our creeds, lies the
simple fact of the historical Christ
| ". 14)