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November 18, 1914.
A FAMILY PAPER.
Inthe Sabbath
School
Lesson X. December 6, 1914.
CHRIST RISEN FROM THE DEAD.
By Rev. Owen F. Thompson.
Golden Text.—Why seek ye the living among
the dead He is not here, but is risen. Luke
24:5-6.
Lesson Text.—Mark 16:1-8; Matthew 28:11-16.
Time.—April, A. D. 30. Place, Jerusalem.
Suitable Psalms.—29, 45, 15, 24.
Exposition.—The account of the resurrection
does follow naturally after the account of crucifixion
but we ought to be careful to make it follow
closely that order in our thoughts and conversation.
In the Catholic Church they make so much of
the crucifixion of Christ that it throws the other
parts of his work into the background and
makes the people forget somewhat tbe living
Christ. Perhaps in that we have the reason for
their willingness to let so' many others hold a
very prominent place in their worship. They
love their Savior and have faith in him but they
think so much about him being a dead Savior
that they do not have the vivid realization of his
living presence that they ought to have. So
they pray to the Virgin Mary and expect her to
intercede for them with the Savior and they pray
to the saints and think that they have pome
better access to the Savior. The Christ that
they worship is the Christ on the cross. That
is the picture that they have in their souls.
'We have this very thought in the Golden Text,
'"SVhy seek ye the living among the dead He is
not here, but is risen." The Christ that you are
to seek on your knees in sorrow, in joy, in sin
and in close communion, is the risen Lord. He
lives for you just as truly as he died for you.
The women wanted to anoint the dead Christ.
They were shown something better. They were
shown the resurrection. So many times we look
tor death when there is life to be seen. We look
for disappointments when we ought to be seeing
joy. We are filledwith despair when we ought
to be fllledwith hope. We are torn with doubts
when we ought to be strong in the faith. We so
often seek the wages of sin wbich is death when
we ought to be seeking eternal life in Jesus Christ
our Lord.
The women said. Who shall roll .away the stone
from the door of the sepulchre That great
stote and the closed door represent the difficulties
in the way of those who are seeking the
dead Christ. If you are seeking a dead Christ,
then you must open up the way to bim yourself.
But if you are seeking a living Christ, then he
has opened up the way himself for Christ himself
is the opened door. So the Roman Church
has labored hard to flnd a way to let her people
into the presence of Christ. They give them
priests and sacrifices and penances and saints
and images, while if they had given them the
living Christ, they would have needed none of
these things.
Te soldiers reported that the Savior was
stolen away. How many times that report is
started in these days and carried to the ends of
the earth. So many new beliefs have sprung up
by which the devil has stolen away the Savior
and given men something else instead, xie commonly
gives them just a common man in place of
Christ, as the Soldiers did the Jews. How many
times the so-called higher critics of tbe Bible
have claimed tbat tbe words about Christ are not
true or that they mean something else altogether
Even in many churches today, the ministers
of the gospel are preaching to the people that
Christ was not God and tbat he never rose from
the dead except in a flgure. They steal him away
while we sleep.
The resurrection, is nearly two thousand years
old, but it is pictured to us new every day. Is
it not a resurrection for the sun to rise out of
and is your it the of ing winter glad. not darkness the flowers eyes Is a sun day resurrection it and There after light not of to and put new a is awaken lighten resurrection night The no life their for time has winter the of out new come unconsciousness grass world of dress of for the and death you in and year long tbe the trees to is sparkle morn­
world sleep when open past and Is
everything -eems as happy as in the spring. So
tbe resurrection to life will be after the long
sleep of death. It will be a time of joy to those
who awaken into eternal life. The others will
be in God's hands.
I was walking across a pasture of several hundred
acres one spring before the frost was all
gone out of the ground. The grass was brown
and dead and the trees stood like s'lent skeletons.
The path led up along the bed of an old
stream. The leaves cluttered the path or lay
half buried in the clay. There was no sign of
life. But suddenly, as I turned a bend in the
path there on the south slope of tbe bank,
nodding their heads in the sunshine and looking
like a nest of little kittens opening their eyes
for the flrstttiime, was a bed of violets. They
were not the large ones that came out later,
but they were beautiful for the lesson tnat tbey
held. They were the firstfruits of them tbat
slept. They held the promise of summer.
What is the significance of the Resurrection
It shows flrst the certainty of a future life.
Because I live, ye shall live also. That was the
•Savior's promise and his own resurrection was
the seal on that promise that made it sure.
If you go to old ruins you see broken columns
lying about. Some are unflnished and some are
marred. They speak of blasted possibilities. Like
the columns we fall one aftef another, our lives
seemingly unflnished and marred. But unlike
the columns, the shortened lives are not blasted
possibilities. God having put faith and hope
into men's hearts bas also given them this sure
promise that they =hall live again. A life apparently
broken by the Master's band here, is seen
to be shapen by bis hand when it is taken yonder
for a building stone.
The resurrection shows second, the nature of
Christ's victory over sin and death. Tbe resurrection
was from the grave. It came at the
end of that long bloody road that passes by Calvary.
The time was marked by the splash of
tears and the sobs of the broken-hearted. Christ's
victory, like other great and eternal victories,
was a victory through defeat.
The resurrection shows third, the promise of a
better life ahead for his people. If we be dead
with him, we shall also live with him 2 Tim.
2:11.
The resurrection shows fourth, the promise of
perfection for God's people. We shall be like
him, for we shall see him as he is. We shall
be raised in his likeness. Who shall change our
vile body that it may be fashioned alter his
glorious body. If the firstfruits be holy so also
is the lump.
Fifth, the resurrection is the seal of the Christian
faith. And if Christ be not risen, then is
our preaching vain and your faith is also vain. If
Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, ye are
yet in your sins.
Many years ago a Christian Turk namec Geronimo
was captured by bis own people and
buried in a solid cement wall. He died n perfect
confldence that he would appear again at tbe
resurrection. Not long ago that wall was torn
down, and tbe remains of the man were found
where they bad been bidden in solid rock for
centuries. The Turks thought they bad
buried him for ever, but no one is buried for
ever who believes in the resurrection of Christ.
"Tbe dead shall rise." The promise is sure.
The resurrection shows sixth, the infinite
nower of God for the salvation of men. Read
Ephesians 1:19.
An infidel German Countess provided in her
will that she should be buried under a heavy
slab of granite and that great blocks of stone
be clamped to this on everv side. The inscription
to be carved on the granite was, "This
Lesson X. December 6, 1914.
LESSON FOR THE CHILDREN.
By Anna Pritchard George.
Christ Risen from the Dead.—Mark 16:1-8;
Matt. 28:11-15.
John, when our bodies die on this earth, do our
spirits—the part of us that loves and knows and
tells us what to do—die too "Xo. Our spirit
goes to heaven, if we are good and love Jesus."
Today's lesson tells us how we are sure of this.
Gladys, what did the wicked Jews do to Jesus
to get bim out of their way "Crucified him."
Then his friends took his body down from the
cross, wrapped him tenderly in a clean linen cloth,
and laid him away in a new tomb, hewn out of a
rock.
On the sand table form the hills and valleys
around Jerusalem. Place these boxes for the
city. Not far away is the garden in which is the
tomb of Jesus. Lay these large stones together,
forming the shape of the tomb. The chief priests
have had a great stone rolled before the door and
sealed, and a guard of soldiers placed there so
that no one can steal Jesus' body and pretend
he has risen. These sticks are the soldiers.
Jesus' enemies think Jesus is dead to stay, and
that they have won out. But we will see how
no power on earth, not even Satan himself, can
conquer Jesus.
It is early Sabbath morning. An angel comes
down from heaven and rolls away the stone from
the' tomb and sits on it. He is in shining white
and the soldiers are so frightened they cannot
move, but are like dead men. They have not seen
Jesus rise from the dead and leave his grave,
but he is not here. Finally they run away to
tell the chief priests what has happened. These
bad men give money to the soldiers and order
them to tell everyone that the disciples came in
the night and stole Jesus' body while they slept.
While the soldiers are gone, the women come
to the grave with sweet spices to anoint Jesus'
body. They are Mary Magdalene, whom Jesus
cured of the devils, Mary the mother of James,
and Salome. Are they happy. Bud "No, they are
crying because Jesus is dead.'' Probably they are.
And they are Viondering who will roll away the
stone for them-.
They do not know Jesus has risen. When tbey
reach the grave they see the stone already rolled
away. They think some one must have stolen
Jesus' body. Mary runs to tell Peter and Jobn
but the other women go in and see the angel.
Are they surprised, Mittie Yes, and frightened.
"Be not affrighted," says the angel. "Ye seek
Jesus of Nazareth . . he is risen." And
he sends them to tell the other disciples. So the
women hurry away amazed. They do not knoifr
what to think. These sticks are they.
After a bit Mary Magdalene comes back and
is standing near the grave weeping. She turns
and sees Jesus. "Woman, why -n'eepest thou
whom seekest thou" asks Jesus. And what do
you think. Buster, Mary does not know he is
Jesus. She thinks he is the gardener. "Sir, if
thou bave borne him hence, tell me where thou
hast laid him, and I will take him away." Jesus
looks at ber. Ob! what a tender, loving look!
"iMary," is all he needs to say. "Rabboni!" she
calls. Jesus comforts Mary and is recognized
first as the Great Comforter. And she is sure her
Lord is a living Lord.
These sticks are the other women hurrying
back to Jerusalem with the angel's message.
Jesus meets them. "All hail," he says. "Go tell
my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there
shall they see me." They are sent by Jesus as
the flrst Christian missionaries, and tbey are
sure of their message that Jesus is no longer
dead but liveth.
Some time durin- this Sabbath Day Jesus appears
to Peter. What had Peter done the last
buried place, . purchased to all eternity, must
never be opened." A little seed fell between time be was near Jesus, Mary "Denied Jesus."
the stones and in a few years the solid masonry Is he still sorry Yes, his heart is aching more
was tumbled aside by the roots of tree and lay
and Eternal. rection bow terwards the cause shall Then ered Corinthians a That Every little ruins. higher graves end much all up cometh it iresurrection is out be seed victory of points they Do Tbe heaven's more made life.
15:23-24. this of kingdom you bas the all grave that our has to alive—Christ tbat life end hope power tbe grand old God are is was v/e to when end. to dead significant in Christ's God gam to opened call the Commencement
be heaven " even selves there them beginning shall at life firstfruits, such power the last. seventh, so his into have Father." a coming. to life. of a And Christ grave, resur­
Day— deliv­
open new Life be­if
1 af­is vite and that northwest panion, know run their along another This Sabbath back know more Jesus Jesu,