Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1918-04-17
SUNDAY SCHOOL
Lesson Second Quarter, April
Il, 1918.
THE INTERNATIONAL SERIES
Text OF the Lesson, Mark o:2; 10
: Memory Verse, Rom. s:1s--Golden
Text, Mark e:7-commentary Pre-
pared by Rev. D. M. Stearns-


Lord himself or to his followers, suf-
fering always leads to Glory, and the
Glory is set before us as an incentive
to patient suffering. The prophets tes-
titled of the sufferings of Christ and
the Glory that should follow q Pet.
1e19, ~. He said to the two on the
way to Emmaus, "Ought not Christ to
have suffered these things and to en-
ter into his glory?" duke "a :26).
The joy set before him helped him to
endure his own cross (Heb. IL 10,
70; Rom. S:1S). Now as he spoke Of
his own and his disciples sufferings,
he also spoke of his coming In Glory,
aid said that some of those listening
I'd him should not taste Of death till
they had seen the Kingdom of God
come with power mark S:3S; 81;
compare Matt. 16 ~, % and Luke
9t26. 27). The account of his trans
figuration following Immediately after
that statement In each of the Cos
pels, and Peters testimony In 2 Pet.
1 ;16-1S, make it Enthusiastically clear
to me that the events of the transfig-
uration were what he referred to in
Mark 9:1; and the three disciples.
Peter, James and John, actually saw
that Kingdom in miniature. They
went up into high mountain, and as
he prayed his appearance changed as
described: His face did shine as the
sun, and his raiment became white as
snow. Compare the account in each
Gospel and also Rev. l 1916. Then
Moses and Elijah appeared, and talked
with him of his approaching death in
Jerusalem. The three disciples were
heavy with sleep, but when they were
awake they saw his Glory and the two
men who stood with him Peter not
knowing what he said, talked of max
ing three tabernacles, one for the Lord
Jesus, one for Moses and one for Eli
jah, for he felt that II was so good
to be there. While Peter spake, a
cloud overshadowed them, and voice
out of the cloud said: "This is my
beloved Son, in whom am well
pleased, hear We him." When the
cloud was passed they saw no man
any more save Jesus only with them
selves. Now consider this, and see
the glory which was ever in that pre-
pared body. shining forth as 1t will
when he shall come again. See Moses
representing the risen saints, for no
doubt he had his resurrection body
Guide 81, and Elijah representing the
translated saints. and the three disci-
pies representing Israel in the flesh.
and all together they represent the
center of the Kingdom of God or of
heaven yet to be set upon this earth,
when Christ shall reign with his
saints, and redeemed Israel shall be
the earthly center blessing to all ma
tons. This Is the resurrection con-
summation for which we wait and to
which we are ever moving onward.
and as we consider this we shall be
changed or TRANSPORTED (for the word
is the same in 2 Cor. 3 :1s; Rom. II ~
by the renewing of our minds as we
by faith behold his Glory. Being a
resurrection event, may be the reason
why he told them not to speak of 1T
until he should be risen (John 20 ~.
How his patience should teach us to
be patient with those who are slow to
believe the truths set before them.
The appearing of Elijah led them to
inquire about his coming again accord
ing to Nal. As, 6, and he gave a
two-fold reply, to the effect that he
had already come in the person of
John the Baptist, who came in the
Spirit and power of Elijah, but being
rejected, the real Elijah would truly
come in due time (vss. lib; Matt.
17:10-13). What John the Baptist was
to the first coming of Christ, the real
Elijah will be to his second coming,
after the church has been caught up,
and will no doubt be one of the wit
nesses of Revelation, IL.
As they came down from the noun
tain the next day they found the rest
of the disciples unable to deal with
a young man who was possessed by q
demon, and had been so from child
hood. The father of the boy said to
Jesus, eff thou canst do anything.
have compassion on us, and help u.s."
The Lord Jesus replied: aft thou
canst believe; all things are possible
to him that believeth." In answer to
the fathers confession of faith the
Lord frebuked the evil spirit and
healed the boy. There is here fore
shadowing of the Lord delivering Is
rael from their demon possession at
his coming in Glory when he shall
cast out Satan from the air and the
earth. and bind him in the bottomless
pit for thousand years. There is
also an illustration of what we so
often meet In daily life, when we
would fam stay on some mount of
privilege and blessing, but we must re-
turn to the ordinary routine Of daily
life, and often there Is an evil spirit
ID some form awaiting us.
The prayer and fasting Of which he