from WL Worcester (H Blackmer, ed.), 
The Sower.  Helps to the Study of the Bible in Home and Sunday School
 
(Boston: Massachusetts New-Church Union, n.d.)

Table of Contents
 

 

Lesson 10

John 5: 30-47  The Scriptures Testify of the Lord

The Story

Junior

"Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me." "For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed Me: for he wrote of Me." (Verses 39, 46) What did the Lord mean by the "scriptures"? Yes, the Scriptures are the Bible, or, strictly, those books of the Bible which are the Lord's Word. And of course at the time the Lord was speaking, before the New Testament was written, the Scriptures were the Old Testament. The New Testament you know tells of the Lord's life in the world, but did you know that that is really what the Old Testament is about also? It tells us things about Him which not even Mary and Joseph knew. It tells us of His very thoughts and feelings when He lived in Bethlehem and Nazareth. Even the wisest people in this world can only read a little of this sacred meaning, and the wisest angels of heaven can never come to the end of all that it tells of the Lord, and of His life in the world. Let me read more from a Helper.

"You want to know what part of the Bible tells about the Lord when He was a little child. The first part, especially the story of the garden of Eden, of Noah, Abraham, and Jacob, and Joseph. I feel like speaking softly when I think of the little Child lying in the manger and know that His heart was filled with such gentle holiness as we feel a little of when we read of the garden of Eden.

"When He grew older He began to know what His work would be; then He was very eager to learn. It was little that Mary and Joseph could teach Him, but He learned from the stars and the flowers, and from the Bible. We read all this from the story of Abraham and his journeys, and the famine when he went down into Egypt. It is all so holy because it tells us of the Lord, who when a little child went down into Egypt too.

"The story tells us that there were trials, terrible struggles, in the Lord's heart when only a child. At first His life was peaceful, but soon evil things arose and He fought so hard with them even when a child in Nazareth; and the angels helped Him. We read this in the story of kings who rebelled, and how at first the good suffered with the evil, but Abraham fought and brought peace, and his kind friends helped him as the angels helped the Lord.

"And the story goes on to tell how the Lord looked about and saw how wicked people were, how unkind, how dishonest, how disobedient, and a fear came to His mind that perhaps they could not be saved; but He felt so sorry for them and He would try so hard to help them, and He felt that He should succeed. We read this where Abraham prayed so earnestly that if there were any good in Sodom it might be saved.

"Afterwards the Lord saw plainly what He must do; He must live in the world like other people, and work with them and share their troubles; and He saw that as He did so a way would be opened from heaven into the world, and good things could come down to men, and the way would be opened for them to look up to the Lord and go to heaven. This is told in the beautiful vision of Jacob's ladder. Do you wonder that these stories are so holy?

"And now the beautiful story of Joseph. We all have cried as we have read of the lad sent out by his father to find his brethren; how his father loved him and made him a coat of many colors; how he hunted for his brethren, and when at last he found them, how they stripped him of his coat, his coat of many colors, and sent it stained with blood to his father; and how they cast Joseph into a pit and afterwards sold him to the traders who were going down into Egypt. Why do little children love this story so? Why does it bring tears to our eyes as we remember it? It is because it is really the story of our Lord: and you remember how they rent His garments, too, and sold Him, too, for money.

"The Lord came to seek His brethren, but they hated Him and would not hear what He had to say; and still He loved them and did everything He could for them. He stored up good, gentle things in every little child's heart. He taught men in simple words that they would know the real meaning and value of by and by. They did not know that the Lord was doing this for them, but He was, just as Joseph in Egypt was storing up corn and feeding his brethren in the years of famine, although they did not know him.

"You remember how Joseph loved his brethren; how he longed to tell them who he was, and that he forgave them and would have them love him too. He could not stop his tears, but had to leave them and find where he might weep alone. So the Lord longed to make Himself known to people: He loved them so, there was nothing He would not do for them. But He must be very patient and do only what would be best for them.

"Further on we find the story of David, how he was called from the care of the sheep in Bethlehem and became the king, 'a man after God's own heart,' a soldier from his boyhood who fought with enemies on every side and conquered them. We all know that this history tells us about the Lord who was born in perfect innocence in Bethlehem and who became the King of kings. He was the man after God's own heart. He was the faithful soldier who fought with all the evil powers which attack men, and overcame them."

And we learn that after the land was freed of the enemies of Israel, Solomon built the beautiful temple. So after laboring and conquering all the evil, the Divine love and power came to dwell with men in "the temple of His body." You begin to see what the Lord means when He bids us to search the Scriptures, and says, "They are they which testify of Me."


1. Where was the Lord when He spoke the words of our lesson today? What miracle and what answer of the Lord had aroused the opposition of the Jews?

2. What books of the Bible did Moses write?

3. What do the Scriptures everywhere tell about in their deepest meaning?

4. Mention a Psalm and an Old Testament story which plainly are about the Lord.

Spiritual Study

Intermediate

In the talk with the children a number of the Old Testament stories have been referred to, with a suggestion of how in their deeper meaning they describe the life of the Lord. You will be able to suggest other parts of the Old Testament where the reference to the Lord is plain, for example, Psalm 22; 23; 24. These are illustrations of the truth which the Lord taught in this chapter of John, that all the Scriptures speak of Him. He taught the same after His resurrection, when He opened to the disciples in all the Scriptures - in Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms - the things concerning Himself. (Luke 24:27, 44) The same truth is taught in the first chapter of John, where the Lord is called the Word made flesh. If the Scriptures are the Lord's Word teaching the true order of human life, then in their deepest meaning they must describe the life of the Lord Himself in whom alone the true order has been perfectly fulfilled. You find a new and wonderful interest in the histories and Psalms when you remember, as you read them, that they are about the Lord. (A. 1401 and many pages following)

At a later time the Lord said to the Jews, "It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true. I am one that bear witness of Myself, and the Father that sent Me beareth witness of Me." (John 8:17, 18) The law, which you find in Deuteronomy 17:6; 19:15, was based upon and represented the truth that both understanding and heart must be appealed to before one is convinced; that both the outward form of what one has done and also its intention must be known before the deed can be judged. The two witnesses of a right action are its goodness and its truth; the two which condemn a wrong action are its evilness and its falsity. We see now the meaning of the Lord's application of the law of witnesses to Himself. In His human life He was the embodiment of the Divine truth, as He faithfully lived the Word; but to be convinced of His Divinity men must also feel in Him the Divine love (the Father), which was the motive of all His words and works. The Lord said, "No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him." (John 6:44) Those who were evil and selfish refused to bear the inner witness of the Divine love, and therefore the witness of truth was not received and was not convincing, either as expressed in the Lord's life or in the Scriptures. It will always be found that an evil life leads to denial of the Lord and of the Scriptures, and that a good life leads to belief in both. It is because the good life opens the heart to the witness of the Divine love, which is needed to make the witness of truth convincing. (A. 4197)

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