Covenanter Witness Vol. 55 - Rparchives.org

you."ance."perish."man, he was called a judge; but hewas not a king. He would tell the Israelites what God wished them to do;and He would punish bad people.Moses had once been the judge ofIsrael and Joshua had been a judge.He did not sit on a throne or wear acrown, as kings do;and he always asked God to tell him what the peopleought to do, and then he told the peoplewhat God had said. The Israelites shouldhave been very glad that God was theirKing. No other kingso great as God.was so good andSamuel was a very wise and fairjudge, but he was the last of thejudges. When he was old and unableto travel about, he had his two sons,Joel and Abiah, to help him by servingas judges also. Joel and Abiah werenot good judges as their father hadbeen so the older men of Israel cameto Samuel and said, "You are growing old and your sons are not goodlike you. They do not rule as wiselyas you have done."You will be sorry to hear that atlast they were tired of having God astheir King. They wanted to have a kingthey could see. So they said to Samuel, "Give us a king."Samuel was very sorry to hear thisand he went and prayed to the Lord.Do you think that God would allowthe Israelites to have a king? God wasdispleased with them for wishing fora king, but as they wanted one, Godsaid they might have one.So Samuel called the Israelites together to speak to them, and then hesaid, "God will let you have a king,but this is the way the king will treatyou. He will make your sons work forhim, also your daughters; he will takeaway many of your fields, and gardens,corn, and sheep, then you will be sorrythat you wished for a king; you willcry to God and He will not hearDid the Israelites still wish for aking? Yes, they would not mind whatSamuel said but they cried out, "Wewill have a king!"In the next lesson you will learnabout the man whom God chose to bethe first king of Israel. God let theIsraelites see the right way and thewrong way and then He let them choosein order to teach them a lesson. Godlets us see the right way and the wrongway, then He lets us choose.If we eat too many cookies beforedinner, it will tend to take away ourappetites, and we will not be hungryat dinner time, and Mother will bedisappointed. God directs us in otherways. If we know to tell the truth always, and we tell untruths, God willnot strike us dumb, but after awhilewe will find that we have lost manyof our friends because we can no longer be trusted.We won't do things we know arewrong but we will follow God as ourking. You must ask God to help youto do right in everything and serveHim only.For your Notebooks:True or False.swer)(Circle the right an1. Samuel was a good judge. TrueFalse2. Samuel learned of God as a child.True/False.3. Samuel had two sons. True/False.4. Samuel had a son named Joel.True/False.5. Samuel had a son named Peter.True/False.6. Samuel's sons were well liked by theIsraelites. True/False.7. The Israelites told Samuel they wanted a king. True/False.8. God permitted the Israelites to havea king. True/False.9. God is waiting to become king overour lives. True/False.SABBATH SCHOOL LESSONfor January 15, 1956JESUS CALLS FOR REPENTANCELUKE 13(Lessons based on International Sunday SchoolLessons ; the International Bible Lessons forChristian Teaching, copyrighted by the International Council of Religious Education.)Comments by Rev. John K. GaultLa Mirada, Calif.No better definition of Repentance canbe found than that which is given to usin the Shorter Catechism in answer tothe question, "What is repentance untolife?"All teachers and students of thislesson should be able to repeat the answer to that question from memory.Now the first fact which is broughtto our attention in this interesting lesson is that special suffering is no indication of unusual sinfulness on the part ofpeople. The book of Job deals with thatproblem, and the Jews to whom Christaddressed Himself in this lesson shouldhave been familiar with that portion ofthe Old Testament. Evidently there wereself-righteous persons in Jesus' audiencewho believed that if one suffered greatlyit must mean that that person was, orhad been, an unusually great sinner.Jesus says, "I tell you It nay."probablywas true that the Galileans whom Pilate's soldiers skewered with theirswords and spears had nothing to dowith the rebellion or riot. But this wanton slayingwould fulfill two purposeswhich the Governor had in mind. Itwould tend to cow the rest of them andthus keep them in subservience, but also,he could in this wayshow his utterscorn for the Jewish religion. He notonlykilled them but the killing tookplace while they offered their sacrificestheir religious rites. So the bloodduringof people was mixed with the blood ofthe animals which were being sacrificed.And the tower of Siloam fell over andkilled some people. That was a plainaccident. Manygood people have beenkilled by accident. No, we are not tojudge people who meet with tragedy.They probablywere no better or noworse than thousands of others.Another important thought in thislesson is that special calamities, such asbefell the Galileans and the Judeans,should lead all people to repent of theirsins and prepare to meet God. Jesussays, "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise He probably did not meanthat they would all meet with tragicdeaths as these others did; but he didmean that they would all perish eternally if they did not repent of their sins.Now all people need to repent of sin.Sin is inherent in the race and we areguilty of sins of omission as well as commission. So when a tragic occurencetakes place in some part of the country,such as the destruction of a town inKansas by a tornado, the loss of life andproperty in New England by a greatflood, or, the explosion of the airplane inColorado, people all over the countryshould profit by these tragic occurencesand repent of sins. Undoubtedly it is thepurpose of God who governs all things inHis infinite wisdom, to teach us by thesecalamities, that our lives and times arein His hands; and as David states it,"there is but a step between me anddeath."tears."This world is called "a vale ofIt is full of tragedy. The greatneed, therefore, of this and every hour, isboth national and individual repentance.The next principle thought is that thislife is a period of probation during whichwe are to repent and bring forth fruitunto eternal life. While it is true thatthe particular application which Jesuswished to make of the parable of thebarren fig tree was to Israel, it is alsotrue that it applies to all of us. We areon probation here. The Lord expects usto bring forth "fruit meet for repentThe public ministry of Jesus lasted approximately three years. Yet therehad been no national repentance. Comparatively few of the people had becomefollowers of the Saviour. Jesus comesseeking fruit on this tree which He hasplanted and on which He has lavishedsuch tender care. Only by reason of Hispatience has this tree been spared aslong as it has. But it was spared untilHis earthly ministry and also that of Hisapostles was completed and then withinthe century Jerusalem was destroyedDecember 28, 1955 427