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Weekly Bible Study Resources Bible Characters for Your Weekly Bible Study Compiled by Lt Gen C. Norman Wood, USAF (Ret) For week of January 16 - 22, 2012 SUBJECT: TRUTH “Truth is now,” Monitor (5 July 1977), p. 21. --People tend to think in terms of the past, even though it be only an hour ago. • Or they mull over the future, though it be but an hour ahead. ---However, time—a mortal concept—is illusive; it is measured in matter, making it finite, limiting, restrictive, unpredictable. --Right now your real being is the spiritual reflection of God. • Right now you are complete, harmonious, rich in God’s continual supply. --As we realize what is really true of ourselves, we experience only harmony. • We can rejoice in the fact of present perfection. --Why not reach out for the presence and eternality of God—Truth that is here, and now? GOLDEN TEXT: Truth is the witness, or testimony, of God (I John 5: 6 it) TIME LINE AND AUTHOR: Written by John from Ephesus to the churches of Asia Minor [Turkey], 90-95 AD. “The term witness is the theme of this section [vv.6-12]. The passage concerns the witness or testimony of God and the Spirit to the world…. (MacArthur Bible Commentary) “The writer has used the verb ‘to witness’ or ‘to testify’ at 1:12 and 4:14 but in this brief section it occurs 4x (vv.6,7,9,10). The noun ‘testimony’ is not used elsewhere in the letter, but here it occurs 6x (vv.9-11). Witnessing is therefore central to this passage, just as it is in the Gospel of John.” (People’s NT Commentary) Wells, Robert Dolling, “Truth’s Evidence Is Spiritual, Not Material,” Journal, Vol. 67 (March 1949), p. 101. --[The] great truth, obviously, is effective in human experience only as it is apprehended and claimed by mankind. --Convincing evidence of perfection is always present and available to spiritual sense. • Such evidence is always independent of material circumstances. ---To yield without restraint or mental reservation to the Word of God, the spirit of Truth, and spontaneously confirm it in the inner most reaches of human consciousness is to open one’s vision to the present spiritual reality of being and to realize instantaneous healing. --Rejoicing in the spiritual truth acts as an alterative on the mystification on mortal thought as the sun acts on the fog. • It disperses what hides the true condition. Moseley, Prof. Joel Rufus (CSB), "Witnessing to Truth," Journal, Vol. 23 (December 1905), p. 548. PrayerfulLiving.com Weekly Bible Study resources http://www.csdirectory.com/biblestudy/nw-index.html 1 Bible Characters for your weekly Bible study — January 16 - 22, 2012 --Christ Jesus, "the faithful witness," did not claim to create anything new, he simply witnessed to and expressed Life, Truth, and Love. • He brought life, health, and immortality to light. • He unveiled the Father. • He was always about his Father's business, expressing good and overcoming evil with good. • He was immediately conscious of, and was constantly declaring, his relation to God and God's relation to him; and he commanded the evil, which denied the perfect unity existing between him and the Father, to get behind him. ---His prayers were recognitions and realizations of God's all-power, presence, and goodness, as well as petitions and longings for the good to be universally and perfectly seen, loved, and lived. SECTION I: Special Witnesses Appointed (Isa 43: 7 I have created, 10 [to 2nd ;], 12 ye) TIME LINE: Written by Isaiah 700-681 BC. “An oracle of salvation follows [vv.1-7], with the elaborate structure characteristic of these chapters.” (Oxford Bible Commentary) The return of all Jews to Israel was described as meaningful in order to represent to the rest of the world what the God of Israel was capable of accomplishing.(for my glory, v.7). "Israel's God repeatedly predicted the future accurately, thus enabling Israel to witness [v.10] to His truthful accuracy (v.13), and the reality that He was the only eternal, living God." (MacArthur Bible Commentary) “Issues of Life,” Monitor (4 August 1999), p. 23. --In the Bible, God says of His child, “I created him for my glory, I have formed him: yea, I have made him” (Isa 43:7). • And Moses counseled the children of Israel, “Choose life that both thy and thy seed may live: that thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days” (Deut 30:19,20) --Here the Bible shows that God, divine Life, is the sole creative source and power. • So, as Life’s outcome, we can only express and know our Life in God. In prayer, in understanding the spiritual reality, in relying on God’s divine law and perfect will for good, we can trust God. ---Humbly and steadfastly follow the Bible’s counsel to choose life in God. This life cannot be induced materially either to live or to die. • Divinity isn’t escaping us or being lost to humanity. --The God who is infinite Life is the satisfying healing answer to the issues of life. “A true witness,” Monitor (6 September 1977), p. 19. --“Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God.” [Isa 43: 12] • A witness serves as evidence or proof of truth; he attests to what is genuine, or real. Hence, to be God’s witness is to serve as evidence that God is the one self-existent, Supreme Being and to attest to His power, goodness, and allness. --Being a witness to God has profound meaning. • It transcends the human concept of a limited mortal called to testify to some mortal fact and reveals man as God’s spiritual expression, the divine evidence of His goodness and power. PrayerfulLiving.com weekly Bible Study resources http://www.csdirectory.com/biblestudy/nw-index.html 2 Bible Characters for your weekly Bible study — January 16 - 22, 2012 --Christ Jesus’ entire ministry was spent in being [a] witness to God. • His thoughts and acts were testimonies to God’s power, supremacy, and love. --Are we learning to bear true witness to God, the source of all that is good and eternal? SECTION II Elijah raises the son of the widow of Zarephath (I Kings 17: 8-10 [to 1st .], 17-24) RELATED SCRIPTURE: II Kings 5: 10-14; Luke 4: 24, 25 TIME LINE AND AUTHOR: “Kings was written between 561-528 BC….most likely by an unnamed prophet…who lived in exile with Israel in Babylon.” (MacArthur Bible Commentary) “The story of the widow’s son is not strictly relevant to the account of Elijah’s survival.” (Eerdmans Commentary) “This story was probably an unconnected piece, attached to the previous episode by the editors. Both stories contain the same three people and deal with the question of whether it is worthwhile to support itinerant men of God.” (Oxford Bible Commentary) “Its function here is to heighten the impression of the prophet’s standing with Yahweh and to create the expectation that more momentous deeds are to follow.” (Eerdmans Commentary) Zaraphath, (v.9) is “a town on the Mediterranean coast about seven miles south of Sidon [Lebanon].” (MacArthur Bible Commentary) “It is interesting to note that God hid Elijah in Jezebel’s homeland, where Ahab never thought to search for him (cf. 18:10).” (King James Bible Commentary) “The plot action moves from an interchange between the mother and Elijah (vv.18-19) to a private scene between God and Elijah in the prophet’s upper room (vv.20-22). It then moves back downstairs to a closing scene with the mother (vv.23-24), Elijah ‘took him up’ (v.19), ‘brought him down,’ and ‘gave him to his mother’ (v.23).” (HarperCollins Bible Commentary) “a widow woman” The status of widows in ancient Israelite society was precarious. The women designated by the term widow were not merely someone whose husband had died; they lived outside of the normal social structure in which every female lived under the authority of some male; they were responsible to and for themselves. Having no inheritance rights and often in want of life’s necessities, they were exposed to harsh treatment and exploitation. “Widows without economic support of a father or older son could easily be reduced to poverty.” (HarperCollins Commentary) "Autonomous widows, unless their spouses and fathers were wealthy, were socially and economically marginalized, barely able to survive in times of plenty and clearly at risk during droughts." (Women in Scripture) “In contrast to the cruel and unscrupulous Jezebel, who had threatened to have the prophet Elijah slain, stood one obscure woman who opened her humble home to him.” (All of the Women of the Bible) “The renowned widow of Zarephath, or Sarepta, so sympathetic, kind, and self-sacrificial, must have had a lovely name. Yet both her name and that of her boy are not given….It must have been a sad day when God called Elijah to leave the shelter and love of the widow’s home and go to show himself to Ahab and pronounce the end of the three and a half years drought.” (All the Women of the Bible) Elijah [Ē lī’juh] (“Yah[weh] is my God”) PrayerfulLiving.com weekly Bible Study resources http://www.csdirectory.com/biblestudy/nw-index.html 3 Bible Characters for your weekly Bible study — January 16 - 22, 2012 “ELIAS. Prophecy; spiritual evidence opposed to mate rial sense; Christian Science, with which can be discerned the spiritual fact of whatever the material senses behold; the basis of immortality. ‘Elias truly shall first come and restore all things.’ (Matthew xvii. 11.)” [S&H 585: 9-14] TIME LINE: 870-845 BC Kings of Israel: Kings of Judah: Kings of Assyrian Empire: Omri, Ahab, Ahaziah, Joram Jehoshaphat, Jehorem Asshurnasirpal II, Shalmaneser III Elias is another name for Elijah. He was a Hebrew prophet and reformer in the northern kingdom of Israel [Northern Israel/Western Jordan] during ‘the divided monarchy during the reigns of Ahab, Ahaziah, and Jehoram (873-843 [BC]).” (All the People of the Bible) Of all the prophets, priests, and sages in the Old Testament, none has kept so vivid a hold on the popular mind as Elijah the Prophet. Elijah, the Tishbite, was an inhabitant of Gilead, the Israelite province east of the Jordan river. He is described as appearing mysteriously from an unknown background, fought as a soldier of the Lord against heathen gods, championed the downtrodden, performed his miracles, and vanished in a blazing chariot. The first mention of Elijah is about the year 864 BC, half-way through the reign of Ahab, son of Omri, in the northern kingdom of Israel. Ahab and his wife, Jezebel, figure prominently in Elijah’s activities. “Elijah is the protagonist of four stories in the book of Kings.” (HarperCollins Dictionary) "The struggle between Yahwism and Baalism supplies dramatic unity to the events recounted in 1 Kings 1719." (Anchor Bible Dictionary) “I Kings 17-19 is artfully arranged from short stories into a coherent demonstration of [God’s] control of fertility and protection of his prophet. Elijah announces a drought in 17:1, then in 17:2-24 is protected from its effects and from the king. In 18 1-40 Elijah challenged Ahab and his prophets to a contest to determine which deity could end the drought….The prophetic word ending the drought, like the word that began it (17.1), puts Elijah in danger from the king.” (Oxford Guide to People and Places) “Elijah escaped from Jezebel and her minions across the Jordan and hid himself in a desolate spot next to a stream called Cherith." (Who's Who in the Old Testament) “He found water in the brooks and ravens brought him food.” (All the People in the Bible) He "is described as returning in the darkest moment of his life to the mountain of God, called Horeb in Deuteronomic style, where the theophany experienced by Moses is repeated, but with a difference: Yahweh is not in the wind, the earthquake, or the fire—all manifestations of his presence in Exodus—but in the 'still, small voice' (1 Kings 19:12)." (Oxford Guide to Ideas & Issues) “When the brook dried up God sent him to Phoenicia to a place called Zarephath, where he was directed to seek hospitality from a widow there.” (All the People in the Bible) After the test of loneliness in his hideaway in the wilds of Transjordan, God provided for Elijah’s sustenance and gave him new training in faith. He sought refuge across the Phoenician border and reached the town of Zaraphath [coast of Lebanon], seven miles south of the great port city of Sidon [Lebanon]. Near the town gate he saw a poor widow gathering sticks for firewood. He asked her to bring him a drink of water and a piece of bread. She answered that all the food she had for her son and herself was a handful of meal in a jar and a little oil. The prophet told her not to be afraid, for her flour and oil would by a miracle feed all three of them until the drought ended. “The widow trusted God and shared her last cake with Elijah” (Holman Bible Dictionary). “Their food was provided by a jar of meal and cruse of oil which remained miraculously unspent during the whole drought ([I Kings 7:]10-16).” PrayerfulLiving.com weekly Bible Study resources http://www.csdirectory.com/biblestudy/nw-index.html 4 Bible Characters for your weekly Bible study — January 16 - 22, 2012 (Interpreter’s Dictionary) From then on Elijah lodged in the upstairs room of the widow’s humble home. “One day the boy fell ill and died. The distraught mother blamed Elijah and cried out to him, “thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?” (I Kings 17: 18). Without a word, Elijah took the child in his arms, carried him up the stairs and laid him down on his own bed. Three times he stretched out on the small, inert form, praying to God to restore it to life. The child revived.” (Who’s Who in the Old Testament) “In the third year Elijah was told by the Lord that the drought was about to break, and he was instructed to present himself again to King Ahab. On his way to Samaria, Elijah met Obadiah the master of the royal household, who had been sent out to search for grazing in the parched countryside. According to Obadiah, the king had hunted everywhere for Elijah, and he was most reluctant to notify Ahab of the prophet’s coming; but he eventually agreed.” (Ibid) “Then followed the scenes at Mt. Carmel [near Haifa, Israel].” (Holman Dictionary) He challenged “the prophets of Baal to a contest (vs. 17-19), which would serve to decide whether the Lord or Baal was God. All Israel was summoned to witness the ordeal.” (Interpreter’s Dictionary) “The priests of Baal endeavored to secure evidence of Baal’s divinity, but failed.” (Holman Dictionary) “Jezebel, furious at the destruction of her prophets, vowed the death of Elijah, who fled to Mt Horeb [near southern tip of Sinai Peninsula]” and hopes for death. (Westminster Dictionary) The Lord’s presence on this peak came to stand for the reality of divine protection. Thus Elijah sought Mount Sinai (Horeb) in a time of distress, hoping for a fresh revelation from God there. Among the popular stories of Elijah’s success are the confrontation on Mount Carmel. Also, his survival in the wilderness fed by the ravens; and his prophecy with the widow woman, and the raising of her son from death. Elisha became his protégé, and refused to be parted from him in later years. “The last accounts of the prophet are those connected with his ascension (II Kings 2:1-11).” (Funk & Wagnalls Dictionary) "A chariot and horses of fire appeared to {Elijah] when he had gone with his attendant Elisha to the e. of the Jordan, and parting them asunder, took Elijah up in a whirlwind to heaven (II Kings 2:1-12)." (Holman Bible Dictionary) Elisha picked up his fallen mantle and continued his work on earth. "In the NT, Elijah is identified in the popular mind with Jesus (Mark 6:15; 8:28) but Jesus identified John the Baptist as Elijah who was to return and restore all things (Mark 9:12)." (HarperCollins Bible Dictionary) "The New Testament also mentions the reappearance of Elijah in person. Along with Moses, he appeared with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt 17:3)." (Who Was Who in the Bible) Leishman, Thomas L., “Elijah the Tishbite,” THE CONTINUITY OF THE BIBLE, Journal, Vol. 86 (March 1968), p. 146. --In I Kings 17: 1, we read that “Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.” --Brief though this introduction is, it casts light upon the significance of this brave and rugged seer. • The fact that he was called “the Tishbite” may suggest that he came from a town named Tishbi or possibly Tishbeh, although its position has not yet been identified. PrayerfulLiving.com weekly Bible Study resources http://www.csdirectory.com/biblestudy/nw-index.html 5 Bible Characters for your weekly Bible study — January 16 - 22, 2012 ---The reference to Gilead indicates that whether or not he was born to the east of Jordan, he had recently been living in that wild and picturesque area. --Elijah encountered a widow, who, although she and her son appeared to be on the brink of starvation, lovingly shared what she had with the prophet. __________, "Two Faithful Women of Phoenicia," Journal, Vol. 62 (April 1944), p. 227. --It is recorded in I Kings (17:8-24) that in time of dire famine, Elijah was inspired to proceed to Zarephath, a village in the immediate vicinity of the Phoenician seaport of Zidon—places which in the New Testament are called "Sarepta" and "Sidon" respectively. • There he was led to approach the home of a poor widow…. ---After some time, the widow's son fell ill, "and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him." • Once again the prophet came forward to meet her need, and taking the child to his own room, he prayed earnestly to the Lord, with the result that the boy revived and was returned to his mother's arms, alive and well. ---No wonder she hailed Elijah as a "man of God." --More than eight centuries later, Christ Jesus cited Elijah's memorable visit to Zarephath as proof that healing was by no means a monopoly of the people of Israel (Luke 4:26); and in due course the opportunity arose for the Master to carry his own healing work to Phoenicia. [Hovnanian] Cook, Mrs. Louise Knight Wheatley (CSB and Lecturer), “The Healing at Zarephath,” Sentinel, Vol. 35 (10 December 1932), p. 283. --…her son had fallen sick, and to human sense was dead. • She turned to Elijah in her need, calling out, “What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?” -- “To call my sin to remembrance”! • That is what arrests the attention of the student. ---What sin? ---The record does not state. • But, in her despair, the woman may have believed that which much of humanity believes today, namely, that for her sin, whatever it was, an innocent child must pay the penalty. --But the man of God knew better. • One can almost picture the tender compassion which must have shown in his eyes as he quietly said, “Give me thy son.” --Something…may have been glimpsed by that mother of long ago, as she took her child again from the arms of Elijah. • “See, thy son liveth” was all he said; yet he must have known what else had happened, just as the Christian Science practitioner of today knows that much more is often accomplished in the course of a healing than the patient at the time may realize. Emmons, Myra, “Christian Science the Scriptural Healing,” Sentinel, Vol. 12 (12 March 1912), p. 544. --Elijah then took the child up; that is, realized the exalted identity of the spiritual idea; and the loft where Elijah abode, to which he carried the child, was synonymous with that upper chamber where Jesus took his disciples when he broke for them the bread of life. PrayerfulLiving.com weekly Bible Study resources http://www.csdirectory.com/biblestudy/nw-index.html 6 Bible Characters for your weekly Bible study — January 16 - 22, 2012 • We next read that "The Lord heard the voice of Elijah," and that the child was awakened from the dream of death. ---When Elijah delivered the child to his mother, as the Bible expresses the action, the healing was made manifest in the flesh. • The fact of the indestructibility of Life and of man as the idea of Life, was made fully apparent, even to the so-called material senses. Job says, "Though…worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God." ---Well might this mother say to Elijah, "Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth." SECTION IV: Jesus speaks to his disciples of the coming of the Comforter (John 14: 6 I am, 12, 16) RELATED SCRIPTURE: Ex 33: 18-23; Acts 1: 8, 18; 10: 30 TIME LINE: Thursday of Passion Week, 30 AD, at Jerusalem “This discourse [chapter 14] explores what it means for Jesus to go away and come again.” (Theological Bible Commentary) “This [I am the way…,v.6] is the sixth ‘I AM” statement of Jesus in John.” (MacArthur Bible Commentary) In verse 12, “Jesus did not mean greater works in power, but in extent. They would become gospel witnesses to all the world through the power of the indwelling and infilling of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8) and would bring many people to salvation because of the Comforter dwelling in them.” (Ibid) Comforter, v. 16 is the “one called alongside to help. [Jesus] would pray the Father, and they would receive a Helper.” (King James Bible Commentary) Phinney, Allison W., Jr. (CSB, CoP, Lecturer, Clerk, Editor, and President; Boston, MA), "Spiritualism: new subtlety to an old error," EDITORIAL, Sentinel, Vol. 86 (15 October 1984), p. 1787. --[Mrs. Eddy] was emphatic that spiritualism is the antithesis of Christian Science, which she discovered and founded. --The root of spiritualism and its related beliefs, Christian Science explains, is the theory that spirit is found in matter and then evolves from that basis. • This is the exact opposite of the teachings of Christian Science, which show that belief of life, intelligence, and substance in matter is a mistake, and is the source of discord in human experience. --Christ Jesus taught, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” [John 14:6] • And he made clear this way when he said, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” [John 17:3] --Christian Science demonstrates that this way is scientific. • It succeeds in cutting through the enigma of mortal existence as nothing else does. Osborn, J. Lester, “’He that believeth on me,’” Journal, Vol. 45 (January 1928), p. 544. --Every student of Christian Science knows that he is a Christian Scientist only to the degree that he is bringing into his daily experiences the teachings of the master Christian, Christ Jesus—only to the degree that he is proving by demonstration that the Christ, Truth, does meet every human need. PrayerfulLiving.com weekly Bible Study resources http://www.csdirectory.com/biblestudy/nw-index.html 7 Bible Characters for your weekly Bible study — January 16 - 22, 2012 --No problem in mathematics, when accurately worked out step by step, is more certain of a correct result than is the following statement of Jesus certain of fulfillment: “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.” • Here we have the definite promise that upon one condition may we do the works of Jesus, and even greater works than he did. ---The one condition is that we believe on him. • Not merely, however, are we to believe on Jesus as many of us were taught scholastically, but rather to believe in Christ Jesus as he is made known in the study of Christian Science. SECTION VI: Jesus, the Son of God, is His witness, when we believe in him, so are we (I John 5: 6 it, 9, 10 [to :]) RELATED SCRIPTURE: Rom 8: 15, 16; Gal 4: 6 TIME LINE AND AUTHOR: Written by John from Ephesus to the churches of Asia Minor [Turkey], 90-95 AD. (See GOLDEN TEXT) “If, then, a human under oath is believed [if we receive the witness of men, v.9], how much more should we believe God who is never [untruthful].” (People’s NT Commentary) “John writes of the internal subjective witness [hath the witness in himself, v.10] to the Son within the believer’s heart.” (MacArthur Bible Commentary) Flower, Leila, “Witness,” Journal, Vol. 40 (May 1922), p. 52. --ACCORDING to Webster a witness is an individual who is able to furnish evidence of or proof of anything; one who can bear testimony. A study of the Scriptures reveals the fact that throughout the Old and New Testaments the role of witness is of a twofold nature. It has reference to the relationship between men in human affairs; it relates also to the understanding of God which any individual may attain, and the manner in which he is able to impart this understanding to his fellow-men. --It was in fulfilling the mission of the Messiah, the perfect witness of God's love for man, that Jesus also raised the honor of a witness between men in human affairs to a far higher standard than was looked for under the Mosaic law. --The "witness" of Christian Science must be expressed in the lives and works of Christian Scientists, and God has appointed definite work for every individual student of this truth on earth today. Knott, Mrs. Annie Macmillan (CSB, Lecturer, Assistant Editor, Associate Editor, Trustee, Bible Lesson Committee, and Director), EDITOR’S TABLE, Journal, Vol. 22 (March 1905), p. 805. --THERE are few religious thinkers who would not readily admit that the sense of materiality militates against spirituality, but they are by no means clear to what extent this material sense should be resisted. • Here Christian Science declares, in no uncertain terms, that all reality is spiritual, and that any reliance upon materiality is sure to result in disappointment, if not disaster. --"He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself." • Christian Science teaches that he has also the true remedy in himself, in so far as he reflects God. In spiritual being there is neither sin, disease, nor death, hence that which enables us to realize and express spiritual being must be the remedy that will eliminate them, and must assuredly have the divine sanction. The recognition of this great truth will give fresh inspiration to every feeble human effort to realize the privileges of divine sonship. BIBLIOGRAPHY: PrayerfulLiving.com weekly Bible Study resources http://www.csdirectory.com/biblestudy/nw-index.html 8 Bible Characters for your weekly Bible study — January 16 - 22, 2012 The Bibliography is provided only in the first Sunday’s Lesson each month. *The weekly Bible Lessons are made up of selections from the King James Version of the Bible and the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. PrayerfulLiving.com weekly Bible Study resources http://www.csdirectory.com/biblestudy/nw-index.html 9