Covenanter Witness Vol. 54 - Rparchives.org

offenses,"
you,"
ry."
me."
Lesson Helps for the Week of April 10, 1955
C. Y. P. U. TOPIC
AprU 10, 1955
"The LIVING JESUS"
John 6:51; 14:1-19
Comments by Rev. Robert W. McMillan
THE FACT HE AROSE FROM THE
DEAD
Standing in front of a shop window,
a man was gazing
upon a beautiful pic
ture of the crucifixion. Beside him stood
a ragged street urchin, also enrapt, stu
dying the same picture. The man, won
dering if the lad really understood the
picture, asked; "Sonny, what does it
mean"
"Doncha know" he answered.
"That there man is Jesus and them
others is Roman soldiers, and the wom
an what's cryin'
is His mother, and
they killed Him." After a bit the man
walked away, but soon heard the sound
of running feet behind him.
Breath
lessly the little street arab exclaimed,
"Say, Mister, I forgot to tell you, but
He rose again."
"But He rose That's again."
the point,
young people ! He was "delivered for our
but He was also "raised
again for our justification" (Rom. 4:25).
These comments are written to help
you with your meeting on April 10 the
day when the resurrection of Jesus
Christ will be the central theme in
churches everywhere.
THE MEANING OF THE FACT
YOU WILL. RISE TOO!
How important is this fact that Jesus
is not a dead martyr, but a living Sav
iour who is even now "prepare (ing) a
place for
and One who will come
again and receive you unto Himself.
Tom Olson, writing in NOW, lists the
staggering implications of a denial of the
resurrection.
"If Christ be not raised from the
dead:
1. Prophecy would have failed, for it
was predicted that His body
no corruption (Ps. 16 :10) .
would see
2. The apostles would have been false
witnesses, for they said again and again
that He arose from among the dead
(Acts 2:32).
3. Preaching would be so much van
ity, for if there is no resurrection people
may as well live as they list (I Cor. 15:
19).
4. Faith would be an empty thing, for
faith in a corpse is valueless for the re
mission of sins (I Cor. 15:17).
5. Christian martyrs could be shown to
have been silly characters, sacrificing
their lives for believing something which
never occurred (I Cor. 15:18).
6. Death would be hopeless, for if
March 23, 1955
Christ did not rise certainly His follow
ers will not (John 14:19).
7. The hope of the Church would be
blasted, for if Christ be not raised, how
can He come again (I Cor. 15:23)
8. Assurance of God's satisfaction with
the atoning sacrifice of Christ would be
an impossibility (Acts 17:31).
'But now is
Christ risen from the
dead, and become the firstfruits of them
that slept. For since by man came death,
by man came also the resurrection of the
dead' 15:20-21)."
(I Cor.
FOR UNBELD3VERS
THE RESUR
RECTION OF DAMNATION
There is another resurrection, often
overlooked, that the whole world should
consider today, and every other day in
the year. The Bible speaks not only
about the resurrection of believers, but
also of unbelievers. (John 5:28, 29
"The
hour is coming, in the which all that are
in the graves shall come forth; they that
have done good, unto the resurrection
of life; and they that have done evil unto
the resurrection of damnation.")
The
resurrection of damnation! T. Dewitt
Talmadge, in his book, "The Empty
Tomb,"
has this to say about that res
urrection :
"If, after the close of a night's de
bauch, a man gets up and sits on the side
of the bed, sick, exhausted, and horrified
with the review of the past, or rouses up
with delirium tremens, and sees ser
pents crawling over him or devils danc
ing about him
what will be the feeling
of a man who gets up out of his bed on
the last morning of earth, and reviews
an unpardoned past, and instead of im
aginary evils crawling over him and flit
ting before him, finds the real frights
and pains and woes of the resurrection
of damnation Between the styles of
rising, choose you. I set before you, in
God's name, two resurrected bodies. The
one radiant, glorious, Christ-like; the
other worn, blasted, infernal. I commend
you to the Lord of the resurrection. Con
fiding in Him, Death will be to you only
the black servant that opens the door
and the grave will be to you only the
dressing room where you dress for glo
JUNIOR TOPIC
April 10, 1955
Mrs. Luther McFarland
THE VOICE IN THE FLAMES
Scripture: Exodus Chapter 3
Memory Verse: "Jesus saith unto him,
I am the way, the truth, and the life : no
man cometh unto the Father, but by
John 14:6.
Psalms
Memory Psalm 103:9-12, page 244
Psalm 19:1-4, page 41
Psalm 95 :6-9, page 231
Psalm 93:1-5, page 228
If you read all of the second chapter
of Exodus last week you learned that
Moses was at the court of Pharaoh
about 35 years. But because of his hasty
action in killing the Egyptian task
master, he fled to the wilderness, where
he remained forty years, until the time
of our lesson today.
Here in the desert Moses found a
home and became a shepherd like the
people among whom he lived. For forty
years God was his teacher. Moses had
lessons to learn which neither his moth
er nor the schools of Egypt could teach
him. He was alone a great part of the
time, and so had much time for quiet
thought and meditation. We all need
quiet times in our lives when we can
listen to God's voice talking to us, and
when we can talk to Him. Perhaps the
greatest lesson that Moses learned, and
that we need to learn, is that of self con
trol. In the palace as the King's grand
son he learned the lesson of the use of
authority; in the desert with God and
the works of God as his teacher, he
learned the lesson of humility.
There was yet another lesson Moses
was to learn, it was a lesson of rev
erence in the presence of God. On that
day when God spoke to Moses, the sun
rose as usual in all its brightness over
the sandy desert and bare mountains.
The sheep browsed as
usual, or lay
panting in the shadow of a great rock or
shrub. These things were as they had
been forty years ago; there was nothing
to make Moses think that God was any
nearer than in days past. Suddenly an
ordinary bush began to shine; it seemed
to be on fire. Moses turned aside from
the path he was following, to better see
a bush that was on fire but was not be
ing consumed or destroyed by the flame.
It was then that he heard God's voice
calling to him, "Moses, Moses."
Then it was that Moses learned a
lesson in reverence to God, Exodus 3:5,
a lesson that all of us should learn. God
wants all His children to come into His
presence in prayer, through His Son;
but we are to come in humility and in
reverence. Why When we come into
God's house, His church, we are to be
reverent; not loud and boisterous. Why
Leviticus 19:30. With reverence we
should listen to the Word of God, and
try to hear His message. God, in the
Bible, speaks to us through the prophets,
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