Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-07-05
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
BY DIR. MARION MICH. HULL
For July 6, 1924-Luke 2:7-2o

Golden Text-'Behold I bring you
good tidings of great joy, which shall
be to all the people. For unto you
is born this day in the city of David
a Savior which is Christ the Lord
\ We are beginning today a study
OF the life of Christ which is to con
t1nue through the next three quar-
tiers. We shall take up, as today
many familiar passages; and one OF
our dangers will be the lack of at
tention which this very familiarity
will cause. One of the beauties OF
the Bible though is the perennial
freshness of it; one can never &C
to even the most familiar passage ir
the right spirit without finding some
new nugget of truth. Therefore, as
we begin the study of these more OF
less familiar portions, let us come
to them with a mind prepared for
new truth and a heart ready to obey
it when seen. And always let us
come with a desire to catch q new
vision of Him whom having not seen
we love, who is the chiefest among
ten thousands and the One alto
gether lovely.
Well, right at the beginning we
have discovered something new--no
not something new, but new view
of an old truth, just one of those
wonderfully delicate variations made
possible by the flexibility of the
Greek language. 1t is another evil
dence of the wonderful truth of the
Virgin Birth.
DR.. Luke is telling the story of the
birth of Jesus, and the circumstances
surrounding it, The prophets said
that the Christ should be born in
bethlehem of Judea; but Mary was
ARg in Nazareth of Galilee. So a
|0ecfee goes out from an heather king
Pin Rome that all the (Roman) world IS
to be taxed, a census must be made
land in one of his provinces recently
conquered, the method of taking the
census is for every one to be en-
|rolled in the city of his ancestors.
This necessitated a tedious journey
lon foot or muleback, and Mary was
mot in the best of condition for such
la trip at this time, for the time OF
her ACCOMPLISHMENT was almost at
hand. But the decree had been is
|sued and must be obeyed; so Joseph,
who was of the same tribe and fam
lily, started on the journey to the
|SlLy VI Ills 1otIICI I|clNlO IoHNAAAS "AS-~
him MARY, his betrothed wife, be-
ling great with child" And here is
where the new view of the old truth
lis discovered.
The world translated "betrothed'
lis memnesteumene, and is derived
from another word meaning Ito re-
mind" 1t means originally there
fore ito give a souvenir" ian en-
|gagement present. which will be a
constant reminder of the giver.
MARY his espoused wife" there,
fore, was still a virgin. She had
|been betrothed to Joseph, she had
received her engagement present,
1.-THE souvenir which was a constant
Reminder to her Of her loved one
whose wife, she was to become. And
when we take this In connection With
1.-THE supplementary and complement
|tary statement made by the Holy
Esprit through the pen of Matthew
|(Matt. 1:25) that Joseph, by divine
direction, took her and knew her
mot until she had brought forth her
|irstorn son, we can be sure of the
blessed old truth that the Child born
lat Bethlehem was the Son of the
Virgin Mary, who was only the be-
|trothed wife of Joseph, and that Jo-
|seph had no part in the conception.
Another new emphasis Of an old
truth comes to us in the study of
1.-THE message which the angel
brought to the shepherds who were
watching over their flocks by night.
You recall that suddenly they were
surrounded by light such as they
had never seen before. 1t was not
|of any star, it was not the rising
|sun, it was not an electrical storm
with ightning-they had seen lights
like these before, and would not
have been affrighted. But this light
that surrounded them was unusual;
lit was more brilliant than any they
had ever witnessed, it was effulgent.
mo wonder they were afraid, and
particularly when they saw the fig
ure Of an angel standing by them.
He Gained their fears, however, by
saying: Fear not, for behold l bring
|you good tidings of great joy, etc"
And here is the new emphasis:
Announce glad tidings to you is
"evaggelizomai" or "evangeliZe. "
Evangelization is simply announc-
ing the good news, telling the glad
tidings. 1t may be done by an angel
as in this instance, or it may be
done by you, or by the simplest
child. The good news that is to be
announced is the essence of the
|evangelistic note-that to you is born
a Saviour. So often these days we
think of evangelization only in con.
nection with protracted meetings,
special music, sometimes only with
the idea of a special tabernacle or
tent or place of meeting, and with
all the paraphernalia Of decision
cards, and personal workers and
ushers, and publicity, and visible and
tangible results. These are all good
enough in their place, but one of the
wills devices is to make us think
sseannot have evangelism without
These. and then they become snares
The angel evangelical the shep
herds; he simply announced to them
the glad tidings of the birth of a
Saviour for them. You can do that
kind of evangelism today-just talk
about the Saviour to the folks that
you meet every day and talk about
Him in an ordinary conversational
tone, just as you would about the
Democratic convention in New York
the baseball news, your best game