The Life of Jesus Christ for the Young Part 17

And so we see that the second lesson taught by the Transfiguration was the _lesson of instruction_. We must learn to think of Christ as the Father in heaven thinks of him.

_And then there is_--A LESSON OF DUTY--_that comes to us from this Transfiguration scene_.

We are taught this lesson by the last two words that were spoken, by the voice which the apostles heard from the cloud that overshadowed them. These are the words:--"_Hear Him."_ "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: _Hear Him_." This is G.o.d's command to every one of us. To hear Jesus, means to listen attentively to what he has to say, and to do it. And what does Jesus say to us? He says many things. But the most important thing he has to say to the young, is what we find in St. Matt, vi: 33: "_Seek ye_ FIRST _the kingdom of G.o.d_." This means that we must give our hearts to Jesus, and serve him while we are young. We must do this _first_,--before we do anything else. We cannot hear or obey Jesus in anything, till we hear and obey him in this. And there are three good reasons why we should do this.

We should "hear him" because there is _safety_ in it. We are exposed to dangers every day, and nothing will so help to keep us safe in the midst of these dangers as hearing Jesus, and doing what he tells us to do. Here is an ill.u.s.tration of what I mean.

"Life in the Midst of Danger." There was an alarm of fire one day, near one of our large public schools. The children in the school were greatly frightened. They screamed, and left their places, and began to rush to the windows and stairs. The stairway leading to the door was soon choked up; and although the fire never reached the school-house, many of the children had their limbs broken and were bruised and wounded in other ways.

But there was one little girl who remained quietly in her seat during all this excitement. When the alarm was over, and the wounded children had been taken home, and order was restored in the school, the teacher asked this little girl why she sat still in her seat, and did not rush towards the door, as the other girls had done.

"My father is a fireman," she said, "and he has always told me that if ever there was a cry of fire when I was in school, I must remain quiet in my seat, for that was the safest way. I was dreadfully frightened; but I knew that what father had told me was best; and so I sat still, while the others were running to the door." This little girl _heard_ her father. She minded him. She did what he told her to do, and she found safety in doing so. And if we "_hear him_" of whom the voice from the Mount of Transfiguration speaks to us--we shall find safety from many a danger.

We ought to learn this lesson of duty, and "hear him," because there is _success_ in it.

In old times, when the racers were running in the public games, if a man wished to be successful in the race, it was necessary for him to fix his eye on the prize, at the end of the race-course, and keep it fixed there till he reached the end. No one could have any success in racing who did not do this.

Here is an incident about some boys at play that ill.u.s.trates the point now before us.

"How to Walk Straight." A light snow had fallen in a certain village, and some of the village boys met to make the best use they could of the new fallen snow. It was too dry for s...o...b..lling, and was not deep enough for coasting; so they thought they would improve the occasion by playing at making tracks in the snow.

There was a large meadow near by, with a grand old oak tree standing in the centre of it. The boys gathered round the tree, and stood, on opposite sides, each one with his back against the tree. At a given signal they were to start, and walk to the fence opposite to each of them; and then return to the tree, and see which had made the straightest track.

The signal was given. They started. They reached the fence, and returned to the tree. "Now, boys, who has made the straightest track?" said one of the boys, named James Allison.

"Henry Armstrong's is the only one that is straight at all," said Thomas Sanders.

"I don't see how we all contrived to go so crooked, when the meadow is so smooth, and there is nothing to turn us out of the way," said one of the boys.

And then, looking to their successful companion, they said--"Tell us, Harry, how you managed to make so straight a track?"

Now mark what Harry said:--"I fixed my eye on yonder tall pine tree on the other side of the fence towards which I was to walk, and never looked away from it till I reached the fence."

The other boys were walking without any particular aim in view. No wonder that their walk was crooked. After the apostle Paul became a Christian, he made one of the straightest tracks through this world to heaven that ever was made. And he made it in just the same way in which Harry Armstrong made his straight track through that meadow. We have seen what Harry said of his track through the snow; now see what St. Paul says of the way in which he made his straight track through this world to heaven. _This_ is what he says:

"One thing I do; forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark, for the prize of the high calling of G.o.d, in Christ Jesus,"

Phil, iii 13,14. This was just what the racer used to do in the ancient games, when he fixed his eye on the prize and pressed right forward till he reached it. And it was just what Harry Armstrong did in his play. He fixed his eye on the big pine tree and never turned to the right hand or to the left till he reached it. The apostle Paul fixed his eye on Jesus, and made a straight track through the world till he reached the glorious heaven where Jesus dwells. And, in doing this, the great apostle was only practising the lesson of duty taught by the voice that speaks from the Transfiguration scene. "_Hear him_," said that voice. And if you and I listen to it, and obey it, as St. Paul did, it will lead us to follow him as he followed Christ; and then we shall make a straight path through this world to heaven, as he did in his Christian course. There is success in doing this.

And then there is--_profit_--in learning this lesson, as well as safety and success.

David says, when speaking of G.o.d's commands, "In keeping of them there is _great reward,"_ Ps. xix: 11. This is true of all G.o.d's commands; and it is especially true of the command we are now considering--"Hear him."

Samuel obeyed this command, and it made him a blessing and an honor to the nation of Israel. David obeyed it, and it made him one of the greatest and most successful kings. Daniel obeyed it, and it covered him with honor, and made him a blessing to his own nation, and to the church of Christ in every age.

"The Reward of Obedience." Here is an Eastern story which ill.u.s.trates this point of our subject. The story says there was once an enchanted hill. On the top of this hill a great treasure was hidden. This treasure was put there to be the reward of any one who should reach the top of the hill without looking behind him. The command and the promise given to every young person who set out to climb that hill, were--do not look behind you, and that treasure shall be yours. But there was a threat added to the command and promise. The threat was, if you look behind, you will be turned into a stone. Many young persons started, to try and gain the prize. But the way to the top of the hill led them through beautiful groves, which covered the side of the hill. In these groves were birds singing sweetly, and sounds of music were heard, and melodious voices inviting those who pa.s.sed by to stop and rest awhile. One after another of those who set out for the prize at the top of the hill would stop, and look round to see where the voices came from; and immediately they were turned into stones. "Hence," says the story, "in a little while the hillside was covered with stones, into which those had been turned who neglected the command given them when they started."

Of course there never was such a hill as this. But the story gives us a good ill.u.s.tration. Our life may well be compared to such a hill.

The treasure, on the top of it, represents the reward that awaits us in heaven, if we serve G.o.d faithfully. The songs, and the voices, from the groves, on the hillside, represent the temptations that surround us in our daily paths. The lesson of duty that comes to us from the Transfiguration scene--"Hear him"--is the only thing that can preserve us from these temptations. If we hear Jesus when he says to us--"follow me;" if we give him our hearts and walk in his way, he will carry us through all temptations; he will bring us safely to the top of the hill; and the reward laid up there will be ours. Let us learn this lesson of duty, because there is safety in it; there is success in it; there is profit in it.

And so we have spoken of two things in connection with the Transfiguration; these are the wonders that attended it, and the lessons taught by it. The wonders are three--the wonderful change--the wonderful company--and the wonderful conversation; and the lessons are three--the lesson of hope--the lesson of instruction--and the lesson of duty.

In leaving this subject, let us lift up our hearts to Jesus, and say, in the beautiful language of the Te Deum:

"Thou art the King of Glory, O Christ!

Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father.

When Thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death Thou didst open the kingdom of heaven to all believers.

Thou sittest at the right hand of G.o.d, In the glory of the Father.

We believe that thou shalt come to be our Judge.

We therefore pray thee, help thy servants Whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood.

Make them to be numbered with thy saints, In glory everlasting. Amen."

THE LESSONS FROM OLIVET

Our last chapter was on the Transfiguration. The next will be on The Last Supper. Between these two events in our Saviour's life, how many interesting incidents took place! How many important sayings that fell from his gracious lips during this period are written for our instruction by the four evangelists! There is, for instance, the beautiful lesson about what it is on which the value of our gifts depend. He taught this lesson when he saw the rich casting their gifts into the treasury. Among them came "a certain poor widow, casting in two mites. And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all;--for she of her penury hath cast in all the living she had," Luke xxi: 1-4. But, from among all these, we have only room for one chapter. A dozen, or twenty chapters would be needed on this part of the life of Christ.

Where there are so many that might be taken, it has been very difficult to decide which is the best. In deciding this matter, I do not think we could do better than join the company of the three favored disciples, Peter, John, and James, and go, in thought with them, as they followed their Master from his last visit to the temple in Jerusalem, up to the top of the Mount of Olives. There Jesus took his seat, and his disciples sat around him, anxious to ask him some questions about what he had said to them in the temple. We read in St. Mark xiii: 1-2, that as he was going out of the temple the disciples called his attention to the beauty of that sacred building and the great size and splendor of some of the stones that were in it. Then Jesus pointed to that great building, and told them that the time was coming when it would be destroyed, and "there should not be left one stone upon another that should not be thrown down." This filled the minds of the disciples with surprise and wonder. They supposed that their temple would last as long as the world stood.

They thought that it was the end of the world of which Jesus was speaking; and they were very anxious that he should tell them something more about it. And so, as soon as they were seated around him, on the Mount of Olives, they said, "Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign, when all these things shall be fulfilled?" St. Mark xii: 4.

And now, we may imagine ourselves sitting with Jesus and his disciples on the Mount of Olives. As we look down we see the city of Jerusalem spread out beneath our feet. We see its walls, and its palaces. And there, just before us, outs.h.i.+ning everything in its beauty, is that sacred temple, that was "forty and six years in building." Its white marble walls, its golden spires, and pinnacles, are sparkling in the beams of the sun, as they s.h.i.+ne upon them. No wonder the Jews were so proud of it! It was a glorious building.

But now Jesus is beginning to speak. Let us listen to what he says.

The lessons that he taught on the Mount of Olives run all through the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth chapters of St. Matthew. In the first of these chapters, Jesus gave them a sign, by which those who learn to understand what he here says, might know when his second coming is to take place. These are some of the lessons from Olivet. I should like, very much, to stop and talk about them. But this cannot be now. We pa.s.s over to the twenty-fifth chapter of St. Matthew. In this chapter we have three of our Saviour's parables. These are very solemn and instructive. They all refer to the judgment that must take place when Jesus shall come into our world again. The second of these parables is the one we are now to consider. It is called--"The Parable of the Talents." We find it in St. Matt, xxv: 14-30. And _the lessons from Olivet_, which we are now to try and learn, are all drawn from the words of our Saviour, contained in the verses just mentioned.

This, then, is our present subject--_The Lessons from Olivet_. And there _four_ lessons, in this part of our Saviour's discourse, of which we are now to speak. _The first is--the lesson about the Master. The second--the lesson about the servants. The third is--the lesson about the talents; and the fourth, the lesson about the rewards_.

_The lesson about_--THE MASTER--_is the first thing of which we are to speak_.

In the 14th verse of this 25th chapter of St. Matthew, Jesus speaks of himself as--"a man travelling into a far country,"--and of his people as--"his own servants." In the 19th verse he speaks of himself as "the lord of those servants, coming back, after a long time, to reckon with them."

In St. Luke xix: 11-27 we have another of our Saviour's parables, very similar to the one now before us. There, he speaks of himself as "a _n.o.bleman_ who went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return." This language was borrowed from a custom that prevailed in those days. The headquarters of the government of the world then was in the city of Rome. The kings and rulers of different countries received their appointments to the offices they held from the Roman Emperor. Archelaus, the son of Herod, succeeded his father as king of Judea. But, it was necessary for him to go to Rome and get permission from the emperor to hold and exercise that office. He had done this, not very long before our Saviour applied to himself the words we are now considering. This was a fact well known.

And this is the ill.u.s.tration which Jesus here uses in reference to himself. He is the Head--the Prince--the Lord--the Master of all things in his church. He spoke of himself to his disciples as their "Lord and Master," St. John xiii: 14. He tells us that he has gone to heaven, as Archelaus went to Rome, "to receive for himself a kingdom and to return." He said he would be absent "a long time," verse 19.

And this is true. He has been absent more than eighteen hundred years. He said he would "return," or come again. And so he will. It is just as certain that he will come again as it is that he went away. And he will come, not in figure, or in spirit, but in person, as he went. Remember what the angels said about this to his disciples, at the time of his departure. "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken from you into heaven, shall _so come, in like manner_ as ye have seen him go into heaven," Acts i: 11. He said he would return, and so he will.

But, in the meantime, he would have us remember that he is still our Lord and Master. No master ever had such a right to be Lord and Ruler as he has. G.o.d the Father has appointed him to be "Head over all things to his church," Ephes. i: 22. He is our Master, because he _made_ us. This is what no other ever did for his servants. He is our Master because he _preserves_ us. We cannot keep ourselves for a single moment, but he keeps us all the time,--by night, and by day.

And he is our Master because, when we had sold ourselves into sin, and were appointed unto death, _he redeemed us_. He bought us with the price of his own precious blood. He made our hands to work for him; and our feet to walk in his ways. He made our hearts to love him;--our minds to think about him; our eyes to see the beauty of his wondrous works, our ears to listen to his gracious words, and our lips and tongues to be employed in speaking and singing his praises.

We cannot be our own masters. "I am my own master!"--said a young man, proudly, to a friend who was trying to persuade him from doing a wrong thing; "I am my own master!"

"That's impossible," said his friend. "You can not be master of yourself, unless you are master of everything within, and everything around you. Look within. There is your conscience to keep clear, and your heart to make pure, your temper to govern, your will to control, and your judgment to instruct. And then look without. There are storms, and seasons; accidents, and dangers; a world full of evil men and evil spirits. What can you do with these? And yet, if you don't master them, they'll master you."