Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-10-04

The next three months lesson!
close an eight years cycle of these
International Lessons, and will 81
devoted to A single theme-the mis-
sionary teaching of the Bible. IL
Easp the significance of the topi'
TcY today - Abraham. bless
ing 10 the whole world-we shall
4 have to go back a bit to the very be
ginning of things. and discover Wha
| Gods plan Is and was. God haC
created an archangel and had giver
him certain prerOgatives. He REBEL
ed against God and determined to es
tablish a kingdom of his own. Their
God set about the task of bringing
back to Himself that portion of His
kingdom which had been brought un
der the power of this rebellious Great
ure of His.
His first step was to create man IN
His own image and give him domin
ion over all His creatures. He placed
On him only one conditiOn-that ne
should obey Him implicitly. Had
man kept that covenant, he would
have conquered every foe of God
and had been able TO take from the
power of the adversary, this rebel
. fous archangel. the devil or Satan
all that had been lost to God, and
brought it into subsection to its
Maker and Rightful Owner again
Satan knew this, and by sublety and
lying he caused the man to sin, to
disobey God and so brought him un
der his power. So God had to start
over again. Gods first attempt was
a .failure-not because of any lack OF
power on His part. but because OF
the material with which he had to
work.
God therefore made a second at
tempt to win the world back to Him
self. This time it was through the
seed of Adam and Eve. But Abel
who believed, was murdered by Cain
who trusted in his own way; and
finally of Seth's descendants, the
goddess became so ungodly and re
bellious against the Spirit of God
that the judgement of the flood came
np31 them and destroyed all but the
remnant who believed Gods sec.
ond attempt was a failure for the
same reason-the material with
which He had to work.
God made a third effort-this
time through the descendants of
. Noah; but while Noah was a man
7 OF marvellous faith, yet he made
homebrew and got drunk a short
while after coming out of the ark
The goddess element became so bold
that they determined to build tow
err IS the headquarters of their re-
Igion that would be as high as the
God-religion. And God had to bring
upon them the judgment of confu
sion of tongues at Babel. God s
third attempt had failed because Of
the material with which He had to
work.
Abraham
This brings us to the point of our
lesson today. God is about to begin
again the task of bringing the world
back to Himself and of restoring
them to that place of fellowship with
Him, which man had enjoyed before
the fall, and through Him to get
again possession of that which was
rightfully His. His next plan is
TOT take a man, separate him from
al past associations. give him
place to live, and make him the
head of a nation TO whom He can
reveal Himself and His plans, and
through whom He can raise UP a
deliverer, who. by perfect obedience
upon Him, He may be able to do
the job of destroying the works of
the devil. and get back possession of
His lost world
Abram of Ur of the Chaldees is
that man. And if we anticipate the
story a bit, we shall realize that by
a tedious process God did make of
him nation, revealed Himself to
that chosen nation, raised up in that
n h
has proven Himself victorious in
every conflict with the devil and
who will eventually destroy all the
works of the devil. and turn over
the kingdom to God which the devil.
had usurped, so that God shall be all
in all through the ages of the ages
to come as He had been in fEe ages
from the beginning until the day
in which the archangel, 1.ucifier,
son of the morning, rebelled and be-
came the great adversary Of God.
Gods purpose will eventually be &C
complished, and all of His plans
vindicated, and even the devil bow
the knee and acknowledge that Jesus
Christ is Lord to the glory of God
the Father.
We shall now trace the steps in
this new attempt to work out Cod S
plan.
There is a man in Chaldea in the
province of city OF Ur. In some way,
not revealed. he is told to leave his
home and kindred and 60 to a land
that God would show him. He be
lieved and he obeyed-but not fully
at first. His father, his brothers.
his wife, and his nephew went witE
him. God had told him to leave his
land, his home, and his kindred. He
did the first two, but he didn't do
the last. And at Haran they waited
for fifteen years, until his old ia
, ther died. Then he moved in the
direction God had given him.
With the details of Abrams life
and character We are not concerned
in this study. What interests us
most is Gods choice and covenants
how God acted to accomplish His
will. He wanted to bless the world
by delivering them from the power
: of Satan, and he agreed to do GER
tain things.
There are seven elements in this
covenant: IL will make of thee a
great nation. This was unconGi-
tional, an act of free grace, of unde-
served favor on Gods part Abram
had done nothing to merit it, and
was not required to do anything but
to believe it, q will bless thee.
81 will make thy name great. f.
Thou Shalt be a blessing-au these
are absolutely of Gods grace. Moth
ing for Abram to do. except to be-
iieve and to obey. 81 will bless
him that besseth thee. 6-I will
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