Christian Nation Vol. 18 1893 - Rparchives.org

Jan. 25,1893A FAMILY PAPER.man, but he puts himself with the r^st of Israel,and says," We have sinned, I and myfather's house have sinned." These sins heconfesses so specifically, that between himselfand God, there is a clear understanding. Thesins confessed were sins in the midst of lightand knowledge. " Laws, commandments, statutes,judgments, given by Moses the servant ofGod." The specification aoes not leave out ofconsideration any form of sin into which thepeople were likely to fall.5. Pleading the, promises. In the Sth versehe pleads the promise which God had made,but in the way of a threatening. God hadpromised, Lev. 26:33, and elsewhere, that ifIsrael rebelled, he would scatter them. Hehad also promised that if they repented, hewould restore them. Hence the prophet says,you have scattered us, now fulfill the rest. Wahave no stronger plea at the throne than thepromises. If you can j ust fixyourself in suchrelation that you can say to the King, " Youpromised me," you have yaur case. Rememberthe Bible is full o'! promises. Remember,too, that threatenings on the one hand, areoffset by promisea on the other, if we will acceptthe latter. Ebal is over against Gerizim.6. Pleading the persons. " Now these arathy servants, and thy people whom thou hastredeemed, by thy great power aud by thystrong hand," v. jO. Probably he here goesback to Egypt. Nehemiah recognized thebinding obligation of covenants, for he goes along way back, and ph ais that the obligationstaken at Sinai, were binding in Persia. And itis true to day that man cannot rid themaelvesfrom the obligation of covenants which aremoral in their nature. They may break theircovenants, bnt that does not release from theobligation. Nehemiah pleads that these peoplearB bound to God by covenant.7. All this in faith, v. 11. Let now thineear be attentive nnto the prayer of thy servant,he claims relationship to God. In this relationhe associates himself with others,—the prayerof thy servants, who desire to fear tby name.8. The prayer is defiaite. He ends it all byputting before God a definite petition, and itreveals the fact that the prophet bad a plan ofwork laid out in his own mind, if God wouldonly open the way for him, " Prosper, I praythee, thy servant this day, and .grant himmercy in the sight of this man." God knew towhom he referred. That we too might knosv,he modestly adds, "I was the King's cupbearer."He had to wait for the answer, but it came.Ani so we should hear the admonition," Though the vision tarry, wait for it."Lessons in Brief.1. Be interested in your own country.2. Let the interest in father-land lead us tothe throne of the Father iu Heaven.3. Let the trouble of our land be recognizedas a result of sin.4. We may do others good in our own true,penitential fasts.5. If there is cause for fasting, do it atonce.God mav not defer his judgments until we gettime to fast.6. Let prayer be earnest, reverent, believing,and it will be answered.THE PRIMARY LESSON.Bj Gia3e Hamilton George.Cyrus was the king who freed the captivesfrom Babylon. Zerubbabel was their leader.To build the temple was their special work.We have followed them through their trialsuntil they have finished it. About eightyyears after they left Babylon, God put it intothe heart of Ezra to return to Jerusalem. Artaxerxeswas king then. He allowed Ezra toreturn with as many as would accompany him.Their special woik was to teach to Israel thelaw of God. For while they had the templeworship, they did wrong in many ways, for theheathen, nations around them had a bad influenceover them. In Ezra 7th to 10th chaptersyou will read of Ezra's work.There was still another return, the beginningof which we study today. Away in Shushan acity of the Persian Empire, was the palacewhere the 'sing lived, the same king who allowedEzra to return. Among his most honoredattendants was Nehemiah, a Jew, who washis cupbearer. This was a position whichproved him to be a most intimate friend of theking. It brought him a large salary, so Nehemiahwas comfortably fixedin Shushan. Butthough he was thus surrounded with wealthand honor, his hecrt was with his brethren inJerusalem. One day some of his brethrencame to Shushan from Jerusalem and he hadan opportunity to hear from the people there.But the story they told was a sad one Thepeople were in poverty; the walls of the citybroken down; they were at tbe mercy of thehostile nations about them. Nehemiah's heartwas sorely vexed when he heard these things.He wept and mourned There was only one towhom he could turn in his trouble. Godwould hear him. He fasted and prayed toGod. Iq our lesson we have his prayer. Nehemiahknew where the trouble lay. He knewGod always did his part ana that the fault waswith Israel. So the firstthing he did was toconfess the sins of Israel. He acknowledgedthat they had done wrong. Second, he recalledGod's promise. God had warned them if theydid evil, he would scatter them among all nations;he had also added that iE they repentedhe would restore t'aem from the uttermostparts of the earth. Third, he claimed thispromise for Israel ; that God would restoreihem to their land as they repented for theirsins. Fourth, he prayed for God's help inwhat he was going to do. Would God hearthis prayer? -God always hears the sincereprayers of his people, "^e will learn how hesucceeded next Sabbath.In these days we are saddened, as Nehemiahwaa, with the condition of our nation, the indifferenceof the paople, the slow progress ofChrist's kingdom. "We may turn, as Nehemiahturned in his grief, to God. We mustconfess our sins. For we know, as Nehemiahknew, that God is a covenant-keeping God,and we find tbe cause of trouble in our ownevil hearts. When we pray we must be readyalso to do. He has work for us in connecticnwith our prayers. We may take the GoldenText as our motto in our work for God, beingsure that he will be with us in what we attemptfor Him. " Lord be thou my helper."PRAYERMEETING TOPIC.Rev. T. H. Acheson.Prayermeeting topic for Wednesday, February 8,1893*Messiahship of Jesus proved Passage: " Is not this the God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Ps. 22 : 1. MatChrist?'' John 4 : 29. It can be proved :1. By his miracles.27 : 46. Ps. 22 : 7-8 ; see Mat. 27 : 39-43.Matt. 27 : 35.Ps. 22 : 18.2. By the fulfillment of prophecy in his life and death.3. By the outpouring of the Spirit on Pentecost.4 By the progress of his kingdom on earth.The outpouring of ihe Spirit on the day of Pentecostconfirms the same truth of the Mesiaship of Jesus. Hehad foretold, and at diffe-ent times, the coming of theParallel Passages : Mat. 21 : 10 ; 16 : 13-17. John Spirit; ^had promised them the aid of the Spirit. "I will8 : 25. John 1: 41; 4 : 42 ; 6 : 69 ; 9 : 36 ; 11 ; pray 27 . the Father, and he shall give you another coraforter,12 : 34. Acts 9 : 22 ; 17 : 3; 18 : 28. Is. 42 : 1-4 that \ he may abide with you forever ; even the spirit of53: 1, etc.; 61: 1-3. Zech. 13: 7.truth." John 14 : l'J-17. See also John 14 : 26 ; 15 ;-Suitable Psalms : 2 : 6-9 ; 22 :1 5 ; 22 6-9; 45 : 4-726 • 16 • 7. After his death and resurrection, and beforehis'ascension, he tells his apostles not to depart from(S. M.;) 110: 1-4 ; 72 : 7-10.Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father,Tesus is on his way from Judea to Galilee, and is passingthrough Samaria. He meets a woman at the wellot Jacob, and enters into conversation with her, touchingupon truth vital for her to understand, revealingsingular knowledge of her domestic life, and finallyannouncingto her that he is the Messiah. The woman,forgetful or indifferent concerning her firsterrand, leavesher water pot behind, and going into the city, says to themen, " Come, see a man that told me all things thatever 1 did: is not this the Christ?" This question of thewoman let us ask of ourselves, and for the strengtheningof our faith and broadening of our knowledge, endeavorto findthe answer in God's word and elsewhere.This is a question of solemn significance. Few questionsare of equal importance to the world. It strikesto the foundation of a sinful world's hope. It knocksat the door of vital truth. It looks for the practical solutionof the problem of sin. Momentous results dependon the finding of the true Saviour. Momentous resultshinge upon our answer to this question ; " Is not this theChrist?"This outline is, by no means, intended to be a full outlineof proof that Jesus was the Christ. There are manyother proofs. The testimony at Jesus' birth, of the angelto the shepherds, and of the star to the wise men; theeven more remarkable testimony at his baptism ; thesinlessness of hi slife ; the elevated character of his teachings; his resurrection from the dead ; and his ascensionto heaven, are all, either singly, or in connection withother points, evidences of his Messiaship. We havefour other, and important proofs before us at this time.Christ wrought iniracles. Moses, Elisha, Paul, andPeter, in a certain sense, at least, did miraculous deeds.The mere fact that Jesus did miracles would not provehis Messiaship, unless it might be shown that these othersmentioned, wrought with the expressed recognition ofthe divine hand, and further, that Christ did not thusact as though he were a mere agent. However thefact of Christ's working miracles, coupled with his distinctclaim to be the Messiah, establishes the truth ofhis claim. That Jesus regarded his miraculous deeds asproof of his being the Saviour, is evident from his answerto the disciples of John sent with the question : " Artthou he that should come, or do we look for another?"He replied, " Go and show John again those things whichye do hear and see : the blind receive their sight, andthe lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear„the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospelpreached to them." Mat. 11: 2-5. The character,number, and variety of the miracles of Jesus make thisproof all the stronger.The fulfillment of prophesy isone of the very strongestarguments in favor of Jesus' Messiaship. Take up theWord of God, and with your previous knowledge andthe aid of references, study the question. It is rn u terimpossibility that uninspired men could have spoken t fthe coming Christ as the prophets did. It is an utterimpossibility, that any but the real Christ could have fulfilledthose prophesies as Jesus did. Here are some ofsuch prophesies. His biath-place foretold ; Micah 5 : 2.Fulfillment; Mat. 2 : 8-11. Luke 2 : 4-7 ; 2 : 11. Hishumiliation and rejection foretold. Is, 53 : 3. Fulfilled,Johnl : 11 ; 8 :59; 10: 31. Acts 2 : 22 23. Is. 53 :5." Stripes "; John 19 : 1. " Numbered with the transgressors,"Is. 53: 12. Mark 15: 27. " My God, my