The Bible Story Part 227

I The Nativity. 37 II The Wise Men. 41 III A Journey to the Land of the Pharaohs. 45 IV The Boyhood of Jesus. 49

2 _How the Lord Jesus began to win the love of many people_. 61

I The Baptism of Jesus. 65 II The Temptation in the Wilderness. 70 III The First Disciples. 74 IV The First Miracle. 78 V At the Pa.s.sover. 79 VI Jesus at Jacob's Well. 82 VII The Good Samaritan. 88 VIII Jesus and the King's Officer. 92 IX The Choosing of the Twelve Disciples. 94

3 _How the Lord Jesus went about doing good, teaching and healing, and how He grew in favor with the people_. 103

I The Sermon on the Mount 105 II The Roman Soldier's Faith. 121 III Days of Service. 125 IV The Miracle at Nain. 130 V The Great Teacher. 133 VI The Tempest. 136 VII The Little Girl Who Died. 141 VIII Learning to Serve. 143 IX The Feeding of the Mult.i.tude. 144 X Jesus and John the Baptist. 149 {10}

4 _How, while He was still teaching and healing, many began to turn against Him, and how He, seeing that He must suffer to save the people, took up the journey to the cross_. 159

I The Beginning of the End. 161 II The Enemies of Jesus. 167 III A Long Journey. 172 IV The Shadow of the Cross. 178 V The Transfiguration. 180 VI Teaching the Disciples. 185 VII Jesus and Little Children. 188 VIII Jesus at Jerusalem. 190 IX At the Feast of Dedication. 197 X Stories of the Divine Forgiveness. 202 XI The Rich Young Man. 211 XII The Raising of Lazarus from the Dead. 215 XIII Zacchaeus the Publican. 221

5 _How the Lord Jesus spent His last days in Jerusalem, how He loved His friends unto the end, how He fell into the hands of His enemies, and how He crowned a life of service with an heroic death_. 227

I The Supper at Bethany. 229 II The Entry into Jerusalem. 233 III In the Temple. 237 IV Last Days at Jerusalem. 238 V The Last Supper. 248 VI The Betrayal. 264 VII The Trial. 268 VIII The Judgment. 272 IX The Crucifixion. 281 X The Burial. 286

6 _How the Lord Jesus rose again from the dead, how He comforted His disciples, and how He sent them out, to teach all men in His name_. 295 I The Resurrection. 297 II On the Way to Emmaus. 301 {11} III Doubting Thomas. 305 IV "Feed My Sheep". 307 V The Ascension. 310

LEADERS AND VICTORIES OF THE NEW FAITH.

1 _How the new faith spread from Jerusalem_. 323 I The Day of Pentecost. 325 II A Miracle of the New Faith. 330 III Ananias and Sapphira. 335 IV The First Martyr. 339 V Simon the Sorcerer. 346 VI Philip and the Queen's Officer. 348 VII Peter and Dorcas. 350 VIII Peter and the Roman Captains. 353 IX The First Missionary Journeys. 357 X Peter in Prison. 359

MISSIONARY JOURNEYS AND ADVENTURES OF PAUL.

PAUL THE APOSTLE. 367

1 _How Paul the Persecutor laid aside the old life and took up the new_. 371

2 _The First Missionary Journey_. 376 I Paul and Barnabas Sail for Cyprus. 376 II From Cyprus to Antioch. 380 III Through the Towns of Galatia. 385 IV A Disturbance in the Church. 388

3 _The Second Missionary Journey_. 392 I Revisiting the Scenes of Former Victories. 395 II "The Macedonian Cry". 396 III Preaching in the Macedonian Cities. 403 {12} IV Paul at Athens. 404 V Tentmaking in Corinth. 408

4 _The Third Missionary Journey_. 417 I Far and Wide by Land and Sea. 418 II A Riot in Ephesus. 418 III Farewells to the Churches. 422

5 The Captain of the New Faith in the Hands of His Foes. 433 I The Jews Stir Up a Riot. 433 II On the Castle Stairs. 434 III A Citizen of the Empire. 441 IV Paul Before the Council. 442 V A Conspiracy Against Paul. 445 VI The Accusation of the Jews. 448 VII A New Examination Before Governor Festus. 452 VIII Paul Makes His Defense Before King Agrippa and Queen Bernice. 455

6 _The Captain of the New Faith in the Capital of the Caesars_ 462 I Paul's Voyage to Rome. 462 II A Winter's Storm on the Mediterranean. 469 III At Malta. 474 IV Paul at the City on the Tiber. 478

NOTES. 483

MEMORY VERSES. 499

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The Life of the Lord Jesus

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THE NATIVITY.

By Lerolle.

"O blessed day which giv'st the eternal lie To self, and sense, and all the brute within; Oh! come to us amid the war of life; To hall and hovel come! to all who toil In senate, shop, or study! and to those Ill-warmed and sorely tempted-- Come to them, blest and blessing, Christmas Day!

Tell them once more the tale of Bethlehem, The kneeling shepherds and the babe divine; And keep them men indeed, fair Christmas Day!"

--_Charles Kingsley_.

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PALESTINE IN THE DAYS OF THE LORD JESUS

Palestine was a busy country in the days when the Lord Jesus lived in it. Hundreds of little villages were scattered all over its hills, with here and there a great town, where all day long crowds of people pa.s.sed in and out the gates of the gray stone walls. Greatest of all the cities, loved by every Jew in the world, was Jerusalem, but more trade flowed in and out of some other cities. All over the country were roads running from city to city. He who traveled on a great road saw much of the world. There were the country people going into the city to sell fruit and firewood, merchants riding past on a.s.ses, patient pilgrims on the way to Jerusalem, trains of mules and long caravans of slow-moving camels loaded with the goods of distant countries, crossing Palestine to the ports of the Mediterranean Sea, and here and there a Roman officer hurrying past on some grave business of the empire. All this made the roads, even to a boy shut in by the hills of Galilee, a series of pictures that waked his imagination of the great world beyond the mountains. This was even more the case in Galilee, where Jesus lived when a boy, than it was in the southern part of the land, in Judaea. In Judaea nearly all the people were Jews, and very proud they {18} were of the fact. In Galilee many belonged to other nations, and the Judaeans looked down on Galilee and thought it was half heathen. But even in Galilee there were many earnest Jews, and it may be doubted if, after all, half-heathen Galilee was not a better place for a boy to grow up in than was proud Jerusalem. It is better for a boy to be able to sympathize with those who do not belong to his set, than to look down on other people because they are somehow different from him.

And then the schools and the churches! Every village in Palestine had them, and the school was in the church. The beginning of the training was at home. There is little doubt, however, that in the time of Jesus, Nazareth had a school, and that Jesus with the other boys was taught to read the Old Testament in Hebrew. The people no longer spoke the language in their homes, but it was always read in the services on the Sabbath, and the teaching of the schools was in it, as in the olden time the teaching of the schools in Europe was in Latin. On the Sabbath all the people came to these places of wors.h.i.+p, which were called synagogues, and read the Old Testament and prayed to G.o.d and sometimes heard a sermon from some wise man who had something he wished to say to the people. Sometimes the man who preached was an old rabbi, who had thought about the great things of his religion for many years, until all the people had come to look with great respect on so wise and venerable a man. Sometimes it was a younger man, but with the fire of youth, and then when the people went home their hearts burned with a great {19} longing that their G.o.d would show himself to them in some wonderful deed of power. But the years pa.s.sed on and the divine deed of power never came. So some of the people became disheartened and almost ceased to care what happened to their religion, except that if anyone insulted it, their anger burned up very quickly, and their hands reached for sticks and stones to throw at the man who dared to say a word against their faith. But others studied their old books with still more diligence, and strove so hard to keep all the laws they found, that almost no time was left to do anything else. Very much above the common people they felt themselves in their religious pride, and religious pride is the very worst pride in all the world.

Such were the Pharisees, of whom the New Testament tells so much. But all over the country, both among the Pharisees and among the other people, were many patiently waiting and earnestly praying that G.o.d would show himself to his people.

How did they want G.o.d to show himself? In some great act of relief for the nation. During these years Rome ruled over all the lands of western Asia. Now the rule of Rome was the wisest and best rule that these lands had ever known. Sometimes a selfish or a cruel officer appeared, who cared for nothing but the money he could get from the people, or who turned his soldiers into the streets to kill and plunder as they pleased, but generally the Romans made good and just governors. But the Jews were not content. They remembered the time when kings of their own nation had ruled over them, and they dreamed {20} dreams of a glorious future when G.o.d would free them from all foreign power, and Jerusalem should rule the world. They were very sure that this would come sometime. G.o.d would not always let a heathen army keep the castle which overlooked his own temple in Jerusalem.

They read in the prophets of the Old Testament about a Prince and a Saviour whom G.o.d would send some day. This Prince was called the Messiah, and the hope of his coming was the Messianic hope. Every generation hoped that he would come in their day. Year by year they said, "It must be before long. G.o.d cannot wait much longer." Some of them thought that Israel itself was not pure enough, and that this kept back the Messiah. "If Israel kept the law perfectly for one day,"

so they said, "the Messiah would come." Others thought that they ought not to sit still and do nothing, but should be brave and strike a blow for their own liberty. Such men were looking for a leader, but no leader had yet been found. So all the people, with their various ways of thinking, were looking and longing and waiting for the Messiah. Is it any wonder that, when Jesus began to teach and do cures, the people asked one another if this might not be the Messiah, and that they sometimes tried to make him a leader to free them from the Romans? To understand what the people thought of Jesus and how Jesus talked to the people, one must know how this hope of the Messiah was all the time in the people's minds. They were ever saying, "Is not this the Messiah?" Jesus was ever answering, "Not the Messiah you expect." They were ever asking him, "Will you now found the kingdom?"

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GATHERING TARES IN THE STONY FIELDS NEAR BETHEL.

Copyright by Underwood & Underwood and used by special permission.

This would look like a very scanty harvest to eyes accustomed to fruitful fields. There are four species of tares in Palestine. The seeds are poisonous to man and to beasts, producing serious sickness and sometimes death. They are, however, harmless to fowls and are sold as food for poultry. It is customary to gather out the tares when the grain is nearly ready for harvest. Then the women and children go into the fields and carefully remove not only the tares but all the weeds as well.

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Jesus was ever replying, "The kingdom of G.o.d is not outward, with courts and armies and a great parade. It is inward, and means obeying the will of G.o.d." So Jesus lived in that busy world of his day, but few understood him. At last, because he would not be the kind of a Messiah they wanted, they crucified him. About forty years after this, the busy, proud people attempted to fight the Romans. They were defeated, and Jerusalem was taken. The temple was burned, the stone walls were thrown down, and the Jews were killed or sent away. So the story of Palestine and of its great hope ends very sadly for the Jews, who so looked and longed for their freedom. But we shall always love the land where the Lord Jesus lived and the people among whom he worked, because he loved them so much himself.

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Map of Palestine at the time of the New Testament.

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IT CAME UPON THE MIDNIGHT CLEAR

It came upon the midnight clear, That glorious song of old, From angels bending near the earth To touch their harps of gold; Peace on the earth, good-will to men.

From heaven's all-gracious King; The world in solemn stillness lay To hear the angels sing.