The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1936-01-04

king, Antiochus Epiphanes, to
crush out Judaism. This severe
and heartless persecution brought.
about the glorious Maccabean Pc
Rod U67-63 B. c.. The Macca-
bees were a priestly family who
overcame the Syrians in battle,
thus securing Jewish independ-
ence and the re-establishment of
the Jewish religion. In 60 B. c.
the Roman Period begins by Pom
pegs capture of Jerusalem. In
81 B. c., as a result of Roman
control, Herod the Idumaean ed
omite) became king and reigned
until his death in 4 B. C. All stu
dents of the Bible should acquaint
themselves with this period be-
tween the Testaments. When we
enter the New Testament from
tn Old it is like coming into a new
world. There is SO much there
that we have not seen or heard
of beAre. These new things arise
out of this OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES pc
riod. Josephus tells the story of
these years in most interesting
way. The two books of Maccabees
give the story of the Maccabean
Period. First Maccabees is a fine
bit of historical writing. These
two books will be found in the
Apocrypha, which is often found
in large family Bibles. DR.. H. A.
Ironside has written a most eX-
cellent little book entitled THE
Four Hundred Silent Years."
which should find it's way into the
hands of Sunday-school teachers.
1t costs but thirty cents in paper
binding and seventy-fve cents in
cloth.
Explanation
Our study is the first chapter
of Luke. Read the chapter with
care. The first thing that impress
es US in this and the chapter fol-
lowing is that we are still in the
Old Testament. The atmosphere,
the characters, the worship, the
setting of these chapters partake
of the spirit and nature of Old
Testament times. In Luke we pass
without jolt into New Testa-
ment times by way of the thresh-
old of his first two chapters, thus
bringing US, to see at once that
the Old and New Testaments be-
long together as an unfolding of
Gods revelation of himself to
man. The same God who spoke
in times past by the prophets is
now speaking to us by his Son.
(Hebrews l.: /, 2. }. Another thing
that impresses US is the fact Of
Gods breaking the +. silence 6f
centuries to again make himself
known to man. No prophet had
spoken since Malachi, now God is
to resume his prophetic voice.
The outstanding idea of this
chapter is PROMISE. Here begins
a story that will have marvel
Gus ending. 80,
DISCUSSION
The purpose of Luke's Gospel
is, not to give the life of Jesus
Christ after the manner of a mod
ern biography, with its minute de-
tails and chronological arrange
ment, but rather to give picture
of the Saviour that reveals his
personality in all its beauty and
perfection. The material given is,
adequate for this purpose. We
would gain little BY knowing more.
of the details of the life of Jesus
o. by having more of, his teaching
transmitted to US. AS. we study
this Gospel there will be things
untold that we should like to
know, but on thought. we shall
see that such knowledge, while
satisfying our curiosity, would
add practically nothing to the es-
sential knowledge of Jesus Christ.
At this point in our study the
question of the historicity of
Jesus should be given considera-
ton. Both in private study and in
class little time given to this
problem will settle the issue once
for all. Make this the theme for
discussion: 81. -
Jesus Christ Was an Historical
Person
BY this we mean that he &C
tually lived in the world, as re-
corded in the Gospels. Once in
while there arises some person
who teaches that Jesus is Il myth
and classes him among the figures
of mythology. Such a view has
had no standing among scholars
for the reason that the evidence
| for the existence of Jesus as a
person in history is oVerwhelm-