Training the Teacher Part 12

6. Give instances of Saul's hatred toward David.

7. Over what tribe did David rule alone for seven years?

8. Give the boundaries of David's kingdom at its height.

9. What noted building did Solomon erect in Jerusalem?

10. Why were the people finally dissatisfied with the king?

11. When the United Kingdom was divided, who was chosen king over the Northern Kingdom?

12. Name the Northern and the Southern Kingdom.

13. What king tried to restore the wors.h.i.+p of Jehovah?

14. Name two prophets of the time of Jeroboam II.

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?

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Lesson 1

New Testament Division

PRINc.i.p.aL 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 pa.s.sages).

#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 G.o.d has in store for it. Mult.i.tudes gather and hearken. Then comes Jesus from Nazareth, and John almost in one breath calls him "Son of G.o.d" and "Lamb of G.o.d." Two apparently irreconcilable t.i.tles, for the one means power and exaltation, and the other sacrifice and humiliation. How these two t.i.tles 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 G.o.d'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 G.o.dliness; 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 t.i.tus 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.