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July IS, 1914.
A FAMILY PAPER.
Inthe Sabbath School
Lesson V. August 2, 1914.
THE TRIUMPHANT ENTRY.
Golden Text.—Rejoice greatly, O daughter of
Zion; shout, 0 daughter of Jerusalem; behold,
thy king cometh unto thee. Zach. 9:9.
Lesson Text.—Mark 11:1-11.
Time.—April, Christ's last Passover. Place.—
Bethany and Jerusalem.
Suitable Psalms.—29, 24, 47, 95.
Exposition.—What a wonderful day this .was for
Jerusalem. It was the day that the Jews had
•"been looking for-'vard to for many centuries. And
still when the day had come and gone it did not
seem to mean to them what they had thought
that day was going to mean. In the enthusiasm
ot the moment they made themselves think that
the lowly carpenter riding on the ass down the
hill to Jerusalem was their king, hut when the
night came and tbey had time to think whal the
entry had really been and how different it was
from what they had expected they were disappointed
and were ready to crucify that one who
had failed so miserably to come up to their expectations.
This scene of the Triumphant Entry has something
the same effect on one as when he looks for
the firsttime on some famous painting. You may
say at the firstsight, "0, that is not what I had
expected at all." You stand there looking at it
and may go away disappointed. But you return
toIt again and stand for a long time looking at
ittill you begin to see something of the real
beauty of the picture, and as you come back time
after time you at last feel the inspiration of the
artist that enabled him to create one of the great
ideas of his life there on the canvas.
The world knows far more now after two thousand
years, of the glory of that triumphant entrance
than it knew the morning after Christ
rode into Jerusalem. We know now that it was
far more wonderful and glorious than the Jews
had ever pictured for their Messiah with his banners
and horses and soldiers. He entered Jerusalem
not only as a world conqueror, but as a conqueror
of all the powers of evil—King of heaven
and earth.
Perhaps Zechariah told of a more wonderful
glory than he realized when he wrote, "Rejoice
preatly, 0 daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of
Jerusalem; behold, thy king cometh unto thee."
Andit seems to me that the Covenanter Church
is growing into the realization of what that triumphant
entry into the church means. In the
past two years this church has experienced the
triumph of Christ her King, in a way that has not
been known since the times of the persecutions.
Christ has come to us and he is surely going to
triumph over pride and selfishness and sin that
have been a wall of stone against him for so long.
Christ has made many triumphant entries. The
first that any of us experience and one of the
most wonderful, is his entry into the human heart.
In reading history there is always a large part
of the pages filledwith the stories of war. War
has always been glorified and the supreme moment
of a king's life is when a strong city has
been besieged and after long labor and hard
fighting, the city surrenders and the king marches
into the city in triumph, at the head of his army.
One of the supreme moments in the life of
Christ in his relationship to us is that moment
when, after a long siege of the human neart that
bas resisted his entrance in every known way
and with the assistance of Satan and all his
angels the opposition has been very strong, an
entrance is at last made and we lay down our
arms and submit to him as king and he enters
there in all his glory. The victory that is gained
there In the citadel of the heart Is a greater victory
than that gained hy the king before the
walled city, "and he that ruleth his spirit than he
that taketh a city." In Harold Begble's book.
"Other Sheep," there are some wonderful stories
nave stand come men which victory.
Quers umphs of Of When There his the Christ's been whom into the solid chariot a ways Christ contrite are that in heart completely victories against other enters. triumphs church has and which hearts triumphant over the touchev* makes subjec\'l through Christ A in of Man-soul.
entrance the whole a rides his that church, enters and open the people. to entries to his church whose him of hearts door victory into does conveyance
Christ and He A through his hearts of might brok­
after one con- tri­
not the
their king, for it means more than we often
suppose when we give Christ the place of authority,
even in the church. The whole church might
stand solid against such an entrance for many
years until at last. In one or two or three hearts,
a break is made in that solid wall and an entrance
is effected, and when he has once come
within the wall, the victory in the whole church
is easy.
Another triumphant entry that Christ has
made is that into the missionary world. He has
made his entrance here also through the hearts
of his people. "It is a light thing that thou
shouldst be my servant to raise up the tribes of
Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I
will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles,
that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end
of the earth."
How many centuries Africa lay in darkness
and heathenism. How long time the devil ruled
there, opposing all that was good and thinking
to withstand forever the entrance of Jesus, the
Savior and King. Africa was a city whose walls
reached to heaven until Christ entered Africa
through the open door of the heart of Livingstone.
A subdued heart always means a breach
in the walls of iSatan.
How many centuries the great land of China
lay in darkness of superstition and heathenism,
surrounded by the wall of Satan's defences
mightier by far than the Great Wall of China,
until Christ made his entrance there through the
breach in that wall.of darkness by the coming
of Robert Morrison and others whose hearts God
had touched and had sent to prepare the way
and to announce his coming.
How many years the land of India lay in
darkness of immorality and devil worship building
ever higher and ever stronger the wall of
defence against the entrance of the Lord of
Glory. India was the land whose king was
Pride, glorying in her opulence and her misery,
until Christ made his entrance there in the subdued
hearts of William Carey and others who
have served within that broken wall.
Is it not a triumphant entry that Christ has
made into the missionary world It is the fulfilled
promise which has for so many centuries
seemed like a vain boast in the mouths of God's
people, that all the earth shall see the salvation
of God.
Another triumphant entry that Christ has
made or is to make, is that into the nations of
the world as their king. He is to be acknowledged
as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. "Thus
saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and His
Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him
whom the nation abhoreth, to a servant of rulers.
Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall
worshin, because of the Lord that is faithful, and
the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee."
And here a.gain Christ will surely make his entrance
into the life and the thrones of the nations,
not by a supernatural destruction of opposition
but through the hearts of those who have
Lesson V. August 2, 1914.
made him the king of their own lives and are
LESSON FOR THE CHILDREN.
carrying him in triumph to the throne of their
By Anna Pritchard George.
Fatherland.
THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY.
It did not take many missionaries to open
Mark 11:1-11.
Africa, and China, and India. It took hearts completely
subjected to Christ. They are the chariots
Did you ever see the President of the United
States
of his glory.
"I did."
It
Was
will not
there
take
a
a
crowd
great
around,
host to
Elmer break the "A opposition great big to crowd." the entrance And were of Christ the
people into the excited nation as "They King. all But shouted one church, and cheered."
one of Today the smallest, we will being hear broken about to when his will, Jesus may
even
came be made as king, the breach to Jerusalem, in the wall and how and Christ happy the all
the King people may were. come in through them.
On the table pile up the sand for the Mt. of
' lives. On this slope of the Mount is Bethany,
fhere Mary and Martha and Lazarus live, and
.vhere Jesus loves to stay. Near by is Bethphage,
vhere a great many fig trees grow. These boxes
ire the houses and these sticks the people. West
of the Mt. of Olives is this ravine and on the
hill on the other side is Jerusalem—a most beautiful
city. These white boxes are the buildings.
With these stones form the wall around the
city, and on this hill inside is the temple, shining
in white and gold. Use this large white
box for the temple. It is passover time. There
are millions of people in Jerusalem. Jews have
come from all over Palestine for the great feast,
and there are not enough houses in the city to
hold them. So some are living In booths made
of branches of trees. All these sticks are the
people. Here is the road leading from Bethany,
past Bethphage, winding around the Mt. of
Olives, down the slope and up again, to Jerusalem.
Stand these green twigs in the sand for
the palm, fig and olive trees growing all along
the roadside. These clothespins are Jesus and
his disciples. We will cover them with pieces
of cloth for cloaks. Cover some of these sticks
in the same way.
As Jesus and his friends draw near Bethphage,
Jesus says to two of his disciples, "Go your way
into the village over against you; and as soon
as ye be entered into it, ye shall find a colt
tied, whereon never man sat; loose him, and
bring him. And if any man say unto you Why
do ye this, say ye that the Lord hath need of
him; and straightway he will send him back
hither." How does Jesus know about the colt
and all that the men will say. Buster' "Jesus
knows everything." So here go the two disciples
into Bethphage. At the door of this house they
find the colt tied just as Jesus said and they
loose him. Use these cardboard animals for the
colt and his mother. "What do ye, loosing the
colt" ask these men standing hy. "The Lord
hath need of him," they reply. ''Take him
then," the men say. So the disciples lead the
colt to Jesus, and the mother of the colt follows
along.
The disciples take off their coats—probably
their very best—and make a saddle for Jesus
with them. Jesus sits on the colt and starts toward
Jerusalem. Now all the people begin to
shout and sing. A great throng follow Jesus
from this city and mingle with those already in
the crowd. Are they Jesus' friends, Ellis Yes,
and whom do you think are there "The lepers."
"Bartimaeus." And Mary Magdalene, and
the boy who gave Jesus the loaves and fishes,
and the little girl Jesus raised from the dead and
Lazarus and his sisters—all the people, men,
women and children, whom Jesus has cured!
They are so happy to be witn Jesus and they
all love him so. Some take off their cloaks and
spread them on the muddy ground. Is anything
too good to give to Jesus, Mary "No." A little
boy I know was giving his best toys to a poor
boy who had none, just because he loved Jesus.
Some people give everything they have for Jesusi
even their very lives. Here in this crowd are
some cutting down branches from the trees
and throwing them on the ground before the
colt to make the road beautiful and easy to travel.
these others keep waving palm branches in
the air while they shout and sing, "Hosanna to
the Son of David; Blessed is he that cometh in
the name of the Lord." These crowds in and
on the road to Jerusalem hear the shouts of joy
and praise, and come back to meet Jesus. They
too take up the cry, and now the great throng
going Ijefore Jesus, and the great multitude following
after, are all crying, "Hosanna; Blessed
Is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Blessed
he tue kingdom of our father David, that
cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the
highest." So Jesus goes riding slowly along
the road around Olivet toward Jerusalem.
Now Jesus reaches Jerusalem in the midst of
a mightly throng. The city itself is crowded—
the streets, the walls, the buildings, the roofs—
everywhere are people, people. "Who is this"
they ask. "This is the prophet, Jesus from Nazareth
of Galilee." Jesus passes on through the
then we now, at your Jesus world midst Jerusalem.
Montclair, Children, all. not temple.
Son we life of and would 'Satan all the of sing make cannot If would take be David." And N. shouts This be would all -"j and J. him up servr.g the is b„ you of talk how be their .rlth boys next joy accept pretty same about Jesus, no king, and day Jesus sin praise, cry, lonely him girls came and the soon nor "Hosanna as all children how would bad and as the your through king people enters would happy whole king love to