Covenanter Witness Vol. 86 - Rparchives.org

winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it together, and lo and behold! the rejectedout to husbandmen, and went into a far stone fitted right into that place.country." This is evidently a representationof God's choice of Israel as a nation, were many who stumbled upon Him; thatWhen Jesus was in the world thereof His bringing them out of the land of is, they took offense at Him because of HisEgypt and establishing them in the land of lowly origin. They were broken by thisCanaan. "They gained not the land by unbelief, but after some years the chieftheir sword or their bow." Then God "went cornerstone fell upon the Temple and "oneinto a far country"; that is, He went back stone was not left upon another." Peopleare being broken by their stumbling uponto heaven and left Israel to take care of thecountry which He had given to them.The "time of the fruit drew near"means that the time came for Israel to dothe will of God and to live in expectation ofthe coming of Christ. Instead of doing this,Israel lived wickedly as a nation. Thepeople worshiped idols and the poor wereoppressed. They did not do the will of God,in general. Israel was represented in thisparable by the husbandmen.As the time of the fruit drew near thehouseholder "sent his servants to thehusbandmen, that they might receive thefruits of it." The servants represent theprophets of the Old Testament times, suchas Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, and others,whom God raised up and sent to preachrepentance to the people of Israel. Thehusbandmen "took the servants, and beatone and killed another, and stonedanother." So Israel rejected the voice ofthe prophets and treated them with greatcruelty. Other servants were then sent and"they did unto them likewise."At last the householder sent his son,"saying, They will reverence my son." Butwhen the husbandmen saw the son comingthey said, "This is the heir; come let us killhim, and let us seize on his inheritance.And they caught him, and cast him out ofthe vineyard and slew him." Thus, theJews did with Jesus, the Son, whom Godsent.6: Because of the Rejection ofChrist the Son, the Kingdom of God WasTaken from the Jews.Jesus followed this parable with arepresentation of Himself as "the stonewhich the builders rejected, the same isbecome the head of the corner." The Jewsas a nation rejected Jesus, but on the thirdday He rose from the dead and ascendedup to heaven to sit on the right hand of God,as the Sovereign of the whole universe. Ina hypothetical building, the chief cornerstonewas cast aside into a pile ofrubble because they didn't know what itwas for. Some of the builders stumbled onthis stone and fell, probably breaking theirlegs. After a while they needed a cornerstonewhich would bind two wallsthe Stone and earthquakes happen tothem, but that is not as bad as having theStone fall on them as it will on the day ofthe last Judgment. Then it will "grindthem to powder" and they will be completelyobliterated, if they have failed torepent."Lesson based on International Sunday SchoolLessons: the International Bible Lessons forChristian Teaching, copyrighted 1967 by the Divisionof Christian Education, National Council of Churchesof Christ in the U.S.A."Junior TopicFor April 4,1971THE SINGING OF PRAISEUnit Topic: Our Public Worshipand SacramentsMrs. John RussellWhat do we do when we are happy?We may laugh, jump up and down, squeal,hug someone! Do you sometimes sing?Yes, a lot of songs are happy songs. Butsome songs are even sad, some tell stories,and maybe you know some that just repeatthe same words over and over and don'treally say much of anything!We can be happy and thankful thatmany years ago God had a man, calledDavid, write songs that God wants us touse in our worship. These are calledPsalms. "Sing unto Him, sing Psalms untoHim" (Ps. 105:2).These Psalms express many of ourneeds and moods. They show happiness,sadness, pleading, tenderness, storytelling,confession, victory, defeat, confidence,hope. They picture God's goodness,greatness, love, power, wisdom, andtruth.These 150 Psalms are included in theScriptures, our Bible, and should be usedin our praise because He wrote themHimself, working through men. Thismeans they were inspired ("Godbreathed")along with the rest of the Bible.In school you will learn of great poets, likeScott, Burns, Longfellow, Tennyson,Browning. But none of these produced apoem worthy to be laid by the side of thePsalms of David. The Spirit of God restedupon David and the other authors of theBible in a peculiar manner. That is thereason we don't sing hymns or other songs(man-made) in our praise of God. Jesus asour example, sang the Psalms when Hewas on earth. (Psalms 113-118 in observanceof the Passover). The earlychurch, that we read of in the NewTestament after Jesus went back toheaven, used the Psalms. They followedChrist's example and there were no hymnswritten at that time. The apostle Paulwrote, taught and preached from the OldTestament, where the Psalms are found.When and where do we sing praise toGod? It is pleasing to Him that we praiseHim wherever we are. Psalm 51:15: "0Lord, open thou my lips and my mouthshall show forth Thy praise." But anotherverse, Psalm 67:5 says, "Let the peoplepraise Thee, 0 God: let all the peoplepraise Thee." Singing of God's praise is apart of public social worship in which thewhole congregation should join. Somethings we should all remember whensinging Psalms in church are 1) It is anact of worship to our God who made us andcares for us. For this reason, it should bedone reverently, with respect andmeaning. In both prayer and praise weshow our love to God and give Him thehonor that He deserves and no matter howyoung we are we can take part. 2) Itprepares our hearts for hearing of themessage from the Bible. 3) It will helpour Christian lives. As we learn the truthabout God and Jesus Christ through themusic, it often softens our hearts andmakes us think on parts of the Bible wehave learned.God is concerned with the manner,too, in which we offer our praise. Thisbrings up the question as to whether wepraise Him with the human voice alone orwith accompaniment of instruments ofmusic.Instrumental music has its place; theworld would be dull without it. But, doesGod command it to be used in His worship?Instruments were used in the OldTestament Temple. But they were not usedin the synagogue after which the NewTestament church was patterned. So wesee that this type of music was used as apart of the ceremonial service in offeringof sacrifices, and when these observancespassed away with Christ's sacrifice,musical instruments in worship alsostopped. Nowhere in the New Testamentare instruments commanded as a part ofworship. God must be pleased to have us12 COVENANTER WITNESS