THE FORERUNNER AND THE CHRIST.
| ANALYSIS. | REFERENCES. |
| I. The Ministry of the Baptist. 1. John's Special Message. 2. The Baptism of Jesus. 3. His Testimony of the Divinity of Jesus. | St. John i:6-36; also iii:23-36[A] Matt. iii. Mark i. Luke iii:1-23. Notes 4, 5. |
| II. The Ministry of Jesus. 1. The Call of the Twelve. 2. Messiah's Precepts. 3. The Manner of His Teaching. | Luke iv:1-23. Mark i:14, 15. Matt, iv:12-25. John i:35-61. Matt, v-vii. St. John vi-viii. Note 6. |
[Footnote A: St. John's Gospel gives the most complete account of John the Baptists' ministry, and hence is given precedency here. The same method is followed on other topics; that is, the evangelist or authority giving the fullest or most important information is given precedence.]
NOTES.
1. Meridian Dispensation: Meaning really the middle dispensation: the one that comes some where near midway between the first and the last. The first opened with Adam, the last closes with the triumph of the Christ. It would be more agreeable to the writer to call the Dispensation here to be treated the "Christian Dispensation," because Christ is not only the central figure of it, but in it also he lives his earth career, manifests God in the flesh, and opens the way of the resurrection. But since it is imperative that we recognize the real presence of the Christ in every dispensation, from the very first to the very last, it might lead to confusion to call this Meridian Dispensation the Christian Dispensation, and hence the less satisfactory name is used.
2. Treatment of the Meridian Dispensation: It is not the purpose of the lessons covering the period of this Meridian Dispensation to deal either in detail or succinctly with historical events. The general scheme of our present year's work precludes any such attempt. Equally distant is it from our purpose to attempt to treat exhaustively of Christian doctrine, or even the divinity of Christ. The intention of the lesson is merely to present sufficient historical and doctrinal matter as will hold the thought present to the mind that a dispensation of the Gospel was again given to men under the ministry of John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Christ, and in the birth, life, teaching, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. The aim of the Lessons dealing with this dispensation is merely to treat it as one of many dispensations of the Gospel given to men: not to emphasize its glory, or importance, or treat it as a culmination of ages, or of divine purposes. For that culmination of ages and purposes—"the Dispensation of the Fullness of Times," which will witness gathered together, "in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him;" the age in which the Christ shall be entirely triumphant is an age and dispensation future from the Meridian Dispensation, as we shall fully see before this division of our work closes. Here it is thought necessary only to guard the student against disappointment by cautioning him not to expect too much.
3. Literature of the Meridian Dispensation: "The history of the Meridian Dispensation divides itself into two chief parts: (1) The Revelation of the Gospel by Jesus Christ, including the accomplishment of his work of redemption; and (2) the Propagation of the Gospel, and full establishment of the Christian Church, after his ascension. The former history is written in the "Gospels," of the "Four Evangelists," the respective openings of which furnish us with four different, but almost equally important, starting-points for all that follows. St. Matthew, who writes with the most constant reference to the fulfillment of prophecy, begins by showing that Jesus Christ was, by his reputed father Joseph, the son of David, and the son of Abraham; the predicted king of the royal line of Judah; the promised seed, in whom all kindreds of the earth were to be blessed; the great object of Covenants made by God wih Abraham and with David. St. Mark, commencing at once with the public proclamation of Christ, dates "the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God" from the ministry of John the Baptist as his forerunner. St. Luke places in the forefront of his narrative its practical purpose, for the instruction of a convert to Christianity, and begins "to write in order" from the birth of John the Baptist, and of Christ himself. St. John, having his mind imbued with the mysteries revealed to the "disciples whom Jesus loved," goes hack to a "beginning" antecedent to all time, and displays the eternal and divine glory of that "Life and Light," which were, manifested by Christ when he appeared on earth.
And what is true of the beginning of the Gospel history applies to each step of its subsequent development. Critics may speculate on some common remoter source of the narratives of the four evangelists, till they learn to abandon the unprofitable search; harmonists may pursue their useful labors so far as to be in danger of confounding the separate characters, the four documents, in the artificial compound of their own making; but the student who rightly appreciates the purpose of God's providence, in entrusting the record to four writers instead of one, will trace the distinct spirit of each as really his own, and will find the truest harmony in the concordant spiritual impression they produce, under the guidance of the inspiration of the Holy Ghost." (Dr. Smith's New Testament History, p. 178.)
The Literature of the second part of the Meridian Dispensation, viz. "The Propagation of the Gospel" is found in the Acts of the Apostles, and the Epistles and treatis that make up the balance of the New Testament. History says:
"St. Luke's "Second Treatise" or Discourse, (The Acts) addressed to Theophilus, bears a title apt to mislead the reader; a title certainly not given it by its author. It contains no full account of the "Acts of the Apostles." Most of them are never mentioned even by name, after the list given in the first chapter; and the history of St. Paul is not brought down to his death. Its true subject is the fulfillment of the promise of the Father by the descent of the Holy Spirit, and the results of that outpouring, in the diffusion of the Gospel among Jews and Gentiles. It deals only with the beginning of this great theme; and, having shown us the full establishment of Christ's Church, first in the Holy Land, then in those Eastern and Grecian provinces of the Roman empire which the Jews were wont to regard as representing the whole Gentile world, and finally at Rome; it leaves all the future progress of the Gospel to be recorded by the Church itself.