Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-12-24
SABBATH SCHOOL LESSON
For December IS. Matt. '2:1-12
BY DIR. MARION NH. HULL

that is working in His behalf against
me? Come to worship kind
of person is this, that these kings of
the Orient should make this long
and expensive trip just to worship
Him? All! / have it; L will pretend
that I, too, will worship Him; will
find out from them by stealth His
whereabouts, and L will quickly put
an end to this new aspirant to my
throne" So he inquired of the
priests where the King was to be
born. They knew their Bible, and
answered at once-in Bethlehem Of
Judah. But the tragedy of it! They
were absolutely Indifferent, and
made no attempt to find the King
themselves. Knowing the Scrip
lures is good enough in it's way; but
it is not enough to know them; you
must know Him of whom they
speak. Jesus severely criticized the
religious leaders of His day for just
this thing. Eye search the Scrip
lures, for in them we think we have
eternal life; and they are these
which testify of Me; but We will not
come to Me that we might have life"
Ono. 5:39, 40). Those religious lead
ers could tell Herod exactly what he
wanted to know, but it made no
change in their one lives.
So Herod passed the word on to
the kings of the Orient, charging
them when they found the king to
let him know SO that he, too, could
come and worship Him.
And then the star began to move
again-this time towards Bethlehem.
The wise men followed that star I'm
til it came over a certain house in
Bethlehem, and then it rested. The
star had disappeared when they
came OUT 1t was no ordinary star.
The conjunction of the planets Jul
piter and Saturn and Mars could not
have moved and stopped as this one
did. This star was the Shekinah
glory, the pillar of cloud by day
and the pillar of fire by night that
had led Israel out of Egypt, that
they had followed when it moved and
had rested when it stopped.
1t had begun to shine when the
infant Jesus was born, and it was
no doubt the glow from this glory
that was the light which the angels
saw. 1t guided the wise men to the
house in Bethlehem to which Joseph
had taken Mary and her babe as
soon as he could move them from
the stable. That was no ordinary
star, but the glory of the Lord, the
symbol of His presence.
The Christmas Story
The kings of the east had trav-
elled a long way to see and worship
Him who had been born king Of the
Jews; they had followed the star
they had come to the house in Beth
lehem, and when they went in they
found-a little baby, born to a
mother so poor that she could only
offer the sacrifice of the poor two
doves. A little baby, about six to
eight weeks old; just like any other
baby of that age, weak, helpless, de-
! pendent. To all outward appear
ances He didn't look much like one
born king; but they had faith enough
to believe, and they made Him gifts
of gold and frankincense and myrrh.
The gold was for loyalty, the frank
incense for deity, the myrrh for His
humanity and suffering. I doubt
that they knew how significant their
gifts were; but tt y believed, and
were guided. %
Was this really the king Of the
Jews? Was there anything about
this little baby that was unusual?
The records of, His birth and gen.
ealogy given us by Matthew and by
Luke tell us that there was-that
He was the son of Mary, and the
legal, but not the actual, son Of 10
seph; and John epitomizes what the