Chapter 6

15. Under what king was Israel carried into captivity?

16. Which lasted longer, the kingdom of Israel or of Judah? How much longer? Why?

17. Under what kings did Judah have great reforms?

18. Name two great prophets of Judah.

19. Describe and locate the contest between Elijah and the prophets of Baal.

20. Tell the story of Naboth and his vineyard.

21. How long did the captivity of Judah last?

22. Name the three most prominent persons that had to do with the return.

23. What was Zerubbabel's great work?

24. What two prophets encouraged the work?

25. What was Ezra's work in Jerusalem? Nehemiah's?

Lesson 1

New Testament Division

PRINCIPAL EVENTS

#Interval# between the Old and the New Testament--four hundred years of silence. Governmentally, this period was divided between Persian, Greek, Maccabean, and Roman rule.

#Prelude# of angelic ministration. Message to Zacharias (Luke 1:5-20). Annunciation to Mary (Luke 1:26-38). Angelic chorus on Bethlehem's plains to shepherds (Luke 2:1-18). Warning to Joseph to flee from Herod (Matt. 2:13). The first thirty years of the life of Jesus are referred to but slightly in the Bible.

#First Period.#--Six months of preaching by the "forerunner," John the Baptist (Matt. 3:1-13; also parallel passages).

#Second Period.#--The entire life of Jesus, from the baptism at Jordan to the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. (See entire Gospel narrative.)

#Third Period.#--From Pentecost, the outpouring of the Spirit and admission into the church of three thousand in one day (Acts 2:1-40). Gentiles admitted to the church (Acts 10:1-48). The first persecution (Acts 5:17-40). The martyrdom of Stephen (Acts 6, 7).

#Fourth Period.#--The time of the Gentiles--the period in which we now live (Rom. 11:25; Luke 21:24).

#Fifth Period.#--Will begin with "the lifting of the veil" from the eyes of Israel (2 Cor. 3:15, 16). The close of this period will be a time of great blessing (Rom. 11:15).

#The end# will witness the final triumph of the religion of the Messiah over Jew and Gentile.

#TIME.#--About 400 B. C. to present time.

#PLACES.#--Palestine and Egypt; for the Third Period see later maps.

#SIGNIFICANCE OF EVENTS.#--The New Testament marks the change from the old dispensation of priests as mediators, to the new, when "Jesus Christ became the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but for those of the whole world!"

The New Testament Preview

#103. Interval.#--Between the close of the Old Testament Period and the opening of that of the New Testament there is an interval of four centuries of silence.

#104. Prelude.#--This is largely angelic in character. To Zacharias comes the message of the birth of the forerunner. Then follows the angelic annunciation to Mary herself. This in turn is followed by the angelic message to the shepherds and the heavenly chorus on Bethlehem's plain. Heaven stoops to earth to announce its glad tidings. A new creation is heralded, better and grander even than that of the opening chapters of Genesis. One or two events are then recorded in the early life of the Holy Child, and then there is silence for thirty years. It is as though the prelude should end all. But no, the story will not end with mere prelude. It will go on its course till the very last act.

#105. First Period.#--_From John to Jesus._ Suddenly John the Baptist breaks on our vision, for his short but decisive part. His message is twofold, and is comprised in the words "Repent," "Prepare." For six short months this fiery preacher calls the nation to prepare for what God has in store for it. Multitudes gather and hearken. Then comes Jesus from Nazareth, and John almost in one breath calls him "Son of God" and "Lamb of God." Two apparently irreconcilable titles, for the one means power and exaltation, and the other sacrifice and humiliation. How these two titles were to blend in one character will be seen in the following acts of the Divine dealing with men.

#106. Second Period.#--_From Jordan to the Mount of Olives._ Three and a half years was this in duration. Short as compared with any one of the Old Testament stories, but far more significant, and more full of the Divine revelation of God's mercy and justice. Now miracles multiply as never before, for now, as never before, the Divine comes down to man and holds communion with him. Now truth is made clear as no patriarch or prophet ever saw it. Truly in this period, "Great was the mystery of godliness; he who was manifested in the flesh." With this period we shall deal more in detail later on in these lessons, so we make but brief allusion to it in this place. Suffice it to say that not in all the history of this world were there ever three years and a half so filled with benediction for mankind as were these of the second period.

#107. Third Period.#--_From Pentecost to the Turning to the Gentiles._ Pentecost was the birthtime of the Christian Church. No Pentecost, no Acts of the Apostles. No Acts of the Apostles, no Christian Church. In that case the world of to-day would be heathen, Muhammadan and Jewish. At Pentecost more were brought to an acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah than Jesus himself had won in his whole active ministry. About five hundred would seem to have been the number of believers after our Lord's resurrection. Now in one day Peter wins and baptizes three thousand. Thence onward the number of believers grows, till it numbers thousands and thousands. But all these are yet Jews, or else proselytes. The next step in this third period is the official opening of the door to the Gentile world. This took place at Caesarea, and to Peter was given the joy and privilege of admitting Gentiles without their first becoming Jews. Through Pentecost and the experience at Caesarea was in large measure fulfilled to Peter the "promise of the keys" (Matt. 16:19), for he it was who received the Jews at Pentecost into the church, and he too it was who opened the door of the church to the Gentile world. How great this portion of Period Three, and how significant to us, is apparent as soon as we realize that but for the advance in Caesarea we in this day would first have to become Jews before we could be members of the living church. Had the Jews been willing to receive the Nazarene as their Messiah, there is no telling what sweeping measure of blessing they might not have received. Certain it is that their history from that day to this would have been very different from what it has been. Their rulers cried, "We have no king but Caesar," and from that time many of their people have had few to rule over them but Czars, Sultans, Emperors, and hostile rulers.

#108. Fourth Period.#--_The Times of the Gentiles. In this period we now are._ Here it behooves one to speak guardedly, for opinions differ. The writer gives his interpretation of what the Word says. When the Jews refused to receive Jesus as their Messiah, the Apostles plainly said, "We turn to the Gentiles" (Acts 13:46). On account of their hardness of heart, blindness came to Israel, and a veil fell before their eyes. "A hardening in part hath befallen Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in" (Rom. 11:25). Our Lord alludes to this same truth when he predicts that Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled (Luke 21:24). That Jerusalem from the days of Titus to the present day has been thus trodden under foot of the Gentile world is only too manifest to all who know its sad history.

In this period our lot is cast, and thus we become actors in the great Divine drama of the New Testament. Solemn thought, and one calculated to make us feel the serious nature of our responsibility.

#109. Fifth Period.#--This is yet to come. It will begin with the "lifting of the veil" from the eyes of Israel. When that is to begin we know not, and it is neither safe nor wise to venture any guess. But that it will come in due time is as sure as that all the other predictions of Old and New Testament have had their commencement and their close. It will be a great day, for, as the Apostle Paul says, "if the casting away of them [Israel] is the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?" (Rom. 11:15). That will be a day of vast ingathering into the kingdom of God, and then Jesus shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied.

#110. Then Comes the End.#--Jew and Gentile will then be one, and the final triumph of the Redeemer will be ushered in. Then the ransomed and redeemed of the Lord shall unite in singing praises to him who has loved them and bought them, and has brought them home to glory. (There are differences of opinion as to the last two periods in this New Testament story. Let the student go to the law and the testimony, as referred to above, and decide for himself whether the writer is upheld in his laying out of these two great periods.)

Test Questions

How long an interval of silence is there between the Old and the New Testament times?

Give the prelude to the New Testament Period.

In what does the first period consist?

How long does the first period last?

Give the title of the second period.

How long did this period continue?

What is the third period called?

Into what two divisions may this period be divided?

What was the significance of the admission of the Gentiles to the church?

Give the fourth period.

Name the fifth period.

What Scripture is there in support of these two periods?

Lesson 2

The Life of Jesus--Thirty Years of Preparation

New Testament Division--Second Period

#The Life of Jesus# may be considered under five subdivisions: Silence, Obscurity, Popularity, Opposition, The Passion Week.

#Thirty Years of Silence.#--The Bible narrative tells but little of these early years; but one public utterance of Jesus is referred to until he was thirty years of age.

#NOTE.--The harmony of the four Gospels used in the following chapters is not intended to be memorized. It is placed here in order to familiarize the pupil with its use, and to afford a ready means to locate the events in the Life of Jesus.#

+---------+--------+---------+------- EVENTS | MATTHEW | MARK | LUKE | JOHN -----------------------------+---------+--------+---------+------- Introduction. | ... | 1:1 | 1:1-4 | 1:1-18 | | | | The Genealogies. | 1:1-17 | ... | 3:23-38 | | | | | Appearance of an Angel to | | | | Zacharias. | ... | ... | 1:5-25 | | | | | An Angel Appears to Mary, | | | | Annunciation. | ... | ... | 1:26-38 | | | | | Mary Visits Elisabeth. | ... | ... | 1:39-56 | | | | | Birth of John the Baptist. | ... | ... | 1:57-80 | | | | | An Angel Appears to Joseph. | 1:18-25 | | | | | | | The Birth of Jesus, etc. | ... | ... | 2:1-21 | | | | | Presentation in the Temple | | | | (1, 2). | ... | ... | 2:22-38 | | | | | Visit of the Magi. | 2:1-12 | | | | | | | Flight into Egypt, etc. (3). | 2:13-18 | | | | | | | Return to Nazareth (4). | 2:19-23 | ... | 2:39,40 | | | | | Jesus Goes to the Passover | | | | (5, 6). | ... | ... | 2:41-52 | | | | | Ministry of John the Baptist.| 3:1-12 | 1:2-8 | 3:1-18 | -----------------------------+---------+--------+---------+-------

(The harmony reproduced here is taken from Professor Riddle's Outline Harmony of the Gospels; and the Journey Maps are reproduced from Arnold's Chart of Christ's Journeyings and Chart of Paul's Journeyings.)

#TIME.#--5 B. C. to A. D. 26.

#PLACES.#--Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Egypt, Nazareth.

#SIGNIFICANCE OF EVENTS.#--The fulfilment of prophecy is strikingly shown in the events surrounding the coming of Christ and the preparation for his ministry; and the preaching of John the Baptist epitomized the message which Jesus was about to proclaim.

The Incomparable Life

#111. The Thirty Years of Silence.#--To these years the Gospels give small space. Only Matthew and Luke make any mention of them, and these give to them only four chapters. All the rest of the Gospels are devoted to the three and a half years of the Lord's active ministry.

#112.# Take, now, first what we _know_ of this early life. It was lived in Nazareth, in Galilee. Nazareth was a town where caravans rested on their journeys between Damascus and Egypt. It was a rough town, as we may infer by the remark of Nathanael, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" (John 1:46). His home was that of a workingman, as Joseph was a carpenter. It was therefore the home of a poor man. Doubtless he himself followed for all those years of silence, the trade of his reputed father. So Jesus was truly a workingman himself. His mother was exceptionally godly, as we see by her wonderful outburst of song in Luke 1:46-55. This song is fairly saturated with the spirit of the old prophets. Joseph also gives signs of his fear of the Lord during these early years in more ways than one. Thus we may be sure that the "atmosphere" of that home was conducive to godliness. He was taught the Scriptures from his youth. This is apparent from his great familiarity with them, shown in his later years. To this we shall refer later.

#113. His Early Education.#--Of course he was taught to read and write, as every Jewish boy was. He also had the advantage of frequent visits to Jerusalem, for the visit referred to by Luke, at twelve years of age, was only the first of a long series of such visits. No doubt after that first visit he went up to the Holy City every year to the feast. A lad of his type of mind would not let such an opportunity pass without taking advantage of it each time that it came. So much we may say we practically know about these thirty years. But there is much that we may legitimately _infer_, and when guardedly used, inference is a legitimate source of knowledge. If you will let me go into a man's library, I may be able to infer with much accuracy the calling of that man. If the majority of the books are medical or legal, I infer that the man is a doctor or a lawyer. If the majority of the books that are worn are light fiction, my inference is of a totally different nature. If, to change the illustration, I go to the home of a lady, and in the afternoon find that I can write my name in the dust on the polished piano-lid, I infer somewhat about the housekeeper in whose home I am.

#114.# Making, then, reverent use of inference, what may we learn about these thirty years of our Lord's life, and of the influences that were at work all that time? Who were his teachers? For, bear in mind, that at the time of Jesus' entry into his public ministry, he came as a full-fledged man, who was prepared for his life's work.

#115. Nature Taught Him.#--Nature is God's first book, and if man had not sinned, he would have needed no other. To Jesus, nature was an open volume, and he read it in all its spiritual significance. While other boys saw only that which was outward, he saw that which was inward and had spiritual meaning. To him the lily spoke of his Father's care, the leaven that he saw in his mother's house spoke to him of the way in which the kingdom of God grew in this world. The mustard seed was an illustration of the growth of truth. Many of his most simple and precious teachings were drawn thus from nature. Sparrows, seed and tares, fig-tree, salt, and many other objects of nature told him of things unseen.

#116. Men Taught Him.#--He doubtless mingled much with them in Nazareth, and it is not hard to imagine the boy going to the camping-place of the passing caravans, and listening to the tales that the men from far countries had to tell. The stories that he afterward made use of were in many cases doubtless gathered from such sources. But he made them illustrate things unseen and spiritual. Look at his parables, and see how true this may easily be. The ten virgins may well have been a story that he heard, and of which he made such solemn use in his ministry. Is it unnatural to suppose that in these gatherings of men he may have heard some one tell of a pearl merchant and his fortune in finding a peculiarly valuable pearl? In due time he used this story to illustrate the wisdom of staking all on one superlative venture. Look at his parables, and see how he made use of the interests of men in making clear the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. The sower, the lost silver, the prodigal son, children in the market-place, the rich fool, the vineyard and the laborers--these and many more show how richly the relationships of men with their fellow-men instructed him.

#117. The Bible Taught Him.#--He was most familiar with its teachings, and knew how to use them on the spot, without reference to commentary or concordance. We find in his sayings reference to, or quotations from, the following books of the Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, 1 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Jonah, Joel, Hosea, Micah, Zechariah, and Malachi--22 in all. Had all the utterances of our Lord been given to us, I doubt not that we should have found that he quoted from every book of the Old Testament. For bear in mind that we have only a very small part of what our Lord said preserved for us. His recorded words are only 38,422, or the equivalent of ten short sermons. But for three years he was speaking incessantly.

#118. Prayer Taught Him.#--His habit of spending all night in prayer was not one acquired of a sudden. No doubt he spent many a night in prayer while he was still at the carpenter's trade. But the prayer-habit is one calculated to shed much light on things that lay hold on eternal truth. All spiritual seers are men of much prayer.

#119. Finally, His Visits to Jerusalem Taught Him.#--Not in vain did he go at least 18 times to that city before his public ministry began. It was in this way that he saw the formality of the Pharisaic party, and the self-seeking of scribe and chief priest. So when he denounced them so fiercely in later times, he did it not out of an experience of day before yesterday, but out of years of observation. Such were some of the influences that surrounded him, and the teachers that prepared him during those thirty years of silence for his great work. Thus, when the fulness of time came, he stepped forth full armed for the contest with the powers of darkness.

Test Questions

Where were Christ's thirty years of silence spent?

What was our Lord's trade?

What can we say of the religious life of his mother and of his father?

In what way is inference a legitimate ground of knowledge?

What is the first of the teachers of our Lord during that time that is mentioned?

Give the second of his teachers.

What else did he have as teacher?

Illustrate each of these somewhat in detail.

What else taught him?

What is the last of these teachers mentioned?

Lesson 3

The Year of Obscurity

New Testament Division--Second Period

#Religious Life# of the time was marked by absence of idolatry, by the presence of numerous synagogues and of reverence for the Scriptures.

#Government# was that of a foreign nation--Rome.

+------------+----------+-----------+-------- EVENTS | MATTHEW | MARK | LUKE | JOHN ---------------------+------------+----------+-----------+-------- | | | | Baptism of Jesus. | 3:13-17 | 1:9-11 | 3:21-23 | | | | | The Wilderness. | | | | Temptation of Jesus | 4:1-11 | 1:12,13 | 4:1-13 | (1, 2). | | | | | | | | The Witness of John, | ... | ... | ... | 1:19-51 etc. | | | | | | | | Cana. The First | | | | Miracle. Capernaum | ... | ... | ... | 2:1-12 (3, 4). | | | | | | | | Jerusalem. First | | | | Cleansing of the | ... | ... | ... | 2:13 to Temple, etc. (5). | | | | 3:21 | | | | Ministry in Judea. | | | | Witness of the | ... | ... | ... | 3:22-36 Baptist. | | | | | | | | Imprisonment of John | | | | the Baptist. Jesus | 14:3-5; | 6:17-20; | 3:19,20; | 4:1-3 leaves Judea, etc. | 4:12 | 1:14 | 4:14 | | | | | Jacob's Well. | | | | Discourse with | | | | Samaritan Woman, | | | | etc. (6). | ... | ... | ... | 4:4-42 ---------------------+------------+----------+-----------+--------

#TIME.#--A. D. 26 to A. D. 27.

#PLACES.#--Wilderness of Judea, Bethany beyond Jordan, Cana, Sychar, Jerusalem, Judea.

The Incomparable Life (Continued)