Bible Expositor and Illuminator March, April, May 2018 SPRING QUARTER For Adults Ages 26 & Up
Vol. XC No. 2 Bible Expositor and Illuminator SPRING QUARTER March, April, May 2018 Looking Ahead... 2 Editorials... 3 Acknowledging God UNIT I: Follow in My Ways Mar. 4 The Lord Will Provide Gen. 22:1-14... 4 Mar. 11 A Prayer of Dedication II Chron. 6:12-21... 18 Mar. 18 Worshipping in God s Temple II Chron. 7:1-9... 32 Mar. 25 Seeking His Face II Chron. 7:12-22... 46 UNIT II: All Glory and Honor Apr. 1 He Has Risen (Easter) Luke 24:1-12, 30-35... 60 Apr. 8 Appearance of the Risen Lord John 21:1-14... 74 Apr. 15 Follow Me John 21:15-25... 88 Apr. 22 The Lord God Almighty Rev. 4:1-6, 8-11... 102 Apr. 29 Blessing, Glory, and Honor Forever Rev. 5:6-14... 116 UNIT III: Give Praise to God May 6 Giving from a Generous Heart Exod. 35:20-29; II Cor. 9:6-8... 130 May 13 Bringing Firstfruits Lev. 23:9-14, 22... 144 May 20 Remembering with Joy Lev. 25:1-12... 158 May 27 Rejoicing in Restoration Ps. 34:1-10; Heb. 2:17-18... 172 Topics for Next Quarter... 188 Paragraphs on Places and People... 189 Daily Bible Readings... 190 Review... 191 Editor in Chief: Todd Williams Edited and published quarterly by THE INCORPORATED TRUSTEES OF THE GOSPEL WORKER SOCIETY UNION GOSPEL PRESS DIVISION Rev. W. B. Musselman, Founder Price: $4.65 per quarter* $18.60 per year* *shipping and handling extra ISBN 978-1-59843-677-8 Lessons based on International Sunday School Lessons; the International Bible Lessons for Christian Teaching, copyright 2014 by the Committee on the Uniform Series and used with permission. Edited and published quarterly by The Incorporated Trustees of the Gospel Worker Society, Union Gospel Press Division, 2000 Brookpark Road, Cleveland, Ohio 44109-5812. Mailing address: P.O. Box 6059, Cleveland, Ohio 44101-1059. www.uniongospelpress.com
LOOKING AHEAD The theme for this quarter of study is Acknowledging God. We Christians often bemoan the fact that people in general do not acknowledge God as they should, but we also have to take a look at our own lives. Do we acknowledge God as we should? Perhaps the world does not acknowledge God because we do not acknowledge Him as we should. How do we acknowledge God in our lives today? Our first unit of study helps answer that question by focusing on the importance of following God s ways rather than our own. In lesson 1, we look at God s command to Abraham in Genesis 22 to sacrifice his son Isaac. There we learn that God provides for us, which gives us assurance as we follow His ways. In lessons 2, 3, and 4, we examine the completion of Solomon s temple, noting his prayer of dedication, the time of worship, and God s command to seek His face always. These lessons further unveil to us important elements in following God s ways. To acknowledge God fully means we will come to a place of giving Him all glory and honor. In the second unit of study, we give glory and honor to the Lord Jesus as we remind ourselves that He has risen (lesson 5), that He appeared to many people after His resurrection (lesson 6), and that He now wants us, like Peter, to follow Him (lesson 7). This unit of study concludes with the worship scenes in Revelation 4 and 5. In that magnificent setting, we will give glory to the Lord God Almighty (lesson 8) and will do so forever (lesson 9). The final unit of study helps us understand that acknowledging God means we praise Him regularly. Lesson 10 turns our attention to Exodus 35 and II Corinthians 9 and the importance of a generous heart as one way of praising Him. Lessons 11 and 12 take us back to Leviticus, where we learn from the Feast of Firstfruits, the Sabbath Year, and the Jubilee Year how to praise the Lord. The final lesson in this series, from Psalm 34 and Hebrews 2, leads us to rejoice in the Lord as a means of acknowledging Him. May these lessons help you acknowledge the Lord more and enable you to help others do the same. Don Anderson. PLEASE NOTE: Fundamental, sound doctrine is the objective of the Incorporated Trustees of the Gospel Worker Society, Union Gospel Press Division. The writers are prayerfully selected for their Bible knowledge and yieldedness to the Spirit of Truth, each writing in his own style as enlightened by the Holy Spirit. At best we know in part only. They received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so (Acts 17:11). 2
EDITORIALS Who Receives the Glory? PAUL R. BAWDEN The basketball game came down to the last few seconds. When one of the players got the ball, instead of passing it, he dribbled it, taking the last shot. He missed his shot, and his team lost the game. After the game, someone commented that it seemed odd that the player did not pass the ball to a more open player. The prevailing opinion was that he was a glory hound. What does that term mean? It means that the player wanted to be in the limelight and receive all the honor. It was all about him and not the team he was on. Such an attitude displays a misunderstanding of man s glory. First Peter 1:24 says, For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away. Any glory that man has, then, is here today and gone tomorrow, just like man himself. Is there glory that lasts for time and eternity? The answer is a definite yes! It is not found in finite man but in the infinite, eternal God revealed in the unchanging Word of God, the Bible. When the work on the Old Testament tabernacle was finished, we read in Exodus 40: 34-35, Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. When Solomon later dedicated the temple, the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the God (II Chron. 5:14). The word glory in the Old Testament has the idea of being heavy, meaning something that has incredible meaning and significance. When the glory of the Lord is mentioned, that is telling us something very significant about God. The Hebrew for Lord tells us that this is the self-existent, eternal God. Since the Lord is eternal, the glory of the Lord is eternal as well. When the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle and temple, that was the revelation of the incredible, significant, awesome presence of the eternal God. Certainly the biblical God has many characteristics, such as love, holiness, truth, justice, omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience; but the Lord s glory is really the manifestation of all His characteristics at one time. When the glory of Lord came to the tabernacle and temple, it was a display of His glorious presence that overwhelmed the people, for Moses could not enter the tent of the congregation, and the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud, the glory of the Lord. What happened to the glory of the Lord after the nation s disobedience in worshipping the creation rather than the Creator? Ezekiel 10 gives us the account of the glory of the Lord departing from the temple. The Lord s glory will not tolerate idolatry. Only when the Lord Jesus Christ returns to earth will the glory of the Lord fill the temple as it once did (chap. 43). John penned these words in his Gospel, The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth (1:14). The Word... made flesh is referring to the incarnation of Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God. Dwelt among us could be translated, tabernacled among us, (Editorials continued on page 186) Bible Expositor and Illuminator 3
LESSON 1 MARCH 4, 2018 Scripture Lesson Text GEN. 22:1 And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt A bra-ham, and said unto him, A braham: and he said, Behold, here I am. 2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son I saac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Mo-ri ah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. 3 And A bra-ham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and I saac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. 4 Then on the third day A braham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. 5 And A bra-ham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. 6 And A bra-ham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon I saac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them to gether. 7 And I saac spake unto A braham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? 8 And A bra-ham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. 9 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and A bra-ham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound I saac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. 10 And A bra-ham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. 11 And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, A bra-ham, A bra-ham: and he said, Here am I. 12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. 13 And A bra-ham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and A bra-ham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. 14 And A bra-ham called the name of that place Je-ho vah ji reh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen. NOTES 4
The Lord Will Provide Lesson: Genesis 22:1-14 Read: Genesis 22:1-24 TIME: 2050 B.C. PLACES: Beersheba; Moriah GOLDEN TEXT Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together (Genesis 22:8). Introduction The phrase to acknowledge God can have at least two different meanings. It can mean simply recognizing that God exists. That kind of acknowledgement is foundational, but it is certainly a low-level acknowledgement. We Christians must go beyond this foundational level and acknowledge that God is sovereign and that we are accountable to Him. Truly acknowledging God means we put ourselves under His authority, recognizing that He is our Creator who deserves our worship and obedience. This week we begin a new series of lessons titled Acknowledging God. In these lessons, we will examine Scriptures that point to God s greatness and our proper response to Him. The first unit of this series focuses our attention on following God s ways as an essential component of acknowledging Him. If we are to acknowledge Him properly and fully, we must confess that His ways are right and commit ourselves to following His ways. In our first study, we examine Genesis 22, the account of Abraham s willingness to offer his son Isaac. LESSON OUTLINE I. GOD S COMMAND TO ABRAHAM Gen. 22:1-2 II. ABRAHAM S OBEDIENCE TO GOD Gen. 22:3-10 III. GOD S PROVISION FOR ABRAHAM Gen. 22:11-14 Exposition: Verse by Verse GOD S COMMAND TO ABRAHAM GEN. 22:1 And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. 2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. Bible Expositor and Illuminator 5 March 4, 2018