The Mississippi enterprise. (Jackson, Miss.) 1938-current, 1958-10-18
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
BY Rev. Geo. A. Harper
September 10. 1853

September 10, 1853
THE BAPTISM OF JESUS.
Matthew 3:13-17; Luke 1882.
MEMOIR Selection: come
to do thy will, o God. He-
brews 10:7). When no less sac
rifice would be a proper salts
faction to the justice of God
than that of Christ himself,
then Christ voluntarily came
into it: 10, / come! | delight
to do thy will, o GodI Let thy
curse fall upon me, but let
those go their way. Father, |
delight to fulfill thy counsels,
and my covenant with thee for
them; / delight to perform all
thy promises, to fulfill all the
prophesieS. This should en-
dear Christ and our Bibles to
us, that in Christ we have the
fulfilling of the scriptures.
THE PEOPLES Interest
Concerning John: "And as the
people were in expectation,
and all men unused in their
hearts of Jim, whether he were
the Christ, or not" Johns
preaching and baptizing had
started a great wave of inter-
est and expectation among the
people far and wide, and many
of them were sure that John
was the Christ. Not since the
days of the prophets many GEN.
turtles before had such relig-
1ouS enthusiasm been stirred
up among the people of Is
rael; this could mean but one
or two things, either the Mes
siah had come, or his advent
was not far off.
JOHNS TESTIMONY Con-
corning Jesus: John answer
ed, saying unto them all, | in
deed baptize you with water;
but one mightier than | COM
eth, the latchet of whose shoes
l am not worthy to unloose; he
shall baptize you with the Holy
Ghost and with fire" The
Christ, John pointed out, was
among the crowds of people,
but had not as yet manifested
himself. In power and author
1ty he was far greater than
John, and the significance of
his ministry far more power
full, for whereas John baptiz-
ed with water unto repentance.
Christ would baptize after re.
pentance with fire and with
the Holy Spirit. This is the
contrast John made between
him and Jesus as he sought to
convince the people that he
was not the Lords Christ but
sent before him to bear wit
ness of him. Whose fan is
In his hand, and he will thor
oughly purge his floor. and
will gather the wheat into his
garner; but the chaff he will
burn with fire unquenchable"
The mission of John was one
OF readiness, that is, getting
people ready for the future
but the mission of Shrist was
and is one of accountability.
AS the harvester fans awav
the chaff from the grain and
puts each in its particular
place, so will Christ separate
the righteous from the upright
eous, and put each group
where it belongs. "And manv
other things in his exhortation
preached he unto the people,
The statement, Repent We
for the kingdom of heaven is
at hand" was merely the text
of John the Baptist, and was
by no means the sum total of
all his discourse, as the pres
ent verse indicates.
HEROD Imprisons John:
but Herod the tetrarch being
reproved by him for Nerodias
his brother Philips wife, and
for all the evils which Herod
had DONE" Matthew and Mark
state that John was imprison-
ed by Herod because of Herod-
las, for John condemned Her
cd for taking the wife of his
brother Philip. But Luke indi-
Gates that the matter of Herod-
las was one of the incidents
John criticized Herod for.
There were other misdeeds
Herod had committed which
were sinful and for which John
had criticized him. All this put
together resulted in John be-
ing put in prison by Herod. It
is questionable whether Herod
would have put John in prison
purely because of the matter
of Herodias, for he had a great
deal of fear and respect for
John. added yet this above
all, that he shut up John in
prison." All John had done