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Zurich Herald, 1937-12-09, Page 3ay School .eSSOn LESSON AI CHRISTIAN FELLQWSHIP — 1 John 1:1-7; Revelation 21:1-7 Golden Tett — "'Our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ," 1 John 1:3. THE LESSON IN ITS SETTING Time --The first epistle of St. John and the Revelation of St. John were written toward the close of his life, the former probably about 90 A,D., and the latter perhaps as late as 90 A.D. Place — We do not know where John was when he wrote his epistles, but probably in the city of Ephesus. He himself states that, when he re- ceived the visions recorded in the book of Revelation, he was on the is- land of Patmos (Rev. 1:9), which is in the Aegean Sea. twenty-four miles southwest of Asia Minor. The word translated "fellowship" in our lessen 'means "association," "com- munit, "jn&nt participation." It is re- lated to a verb meaning "to enter into fellowship. to join one's self as an as- sociate, to make one's self a sharer or partner," and then it also means,. very signfficanny, "so to make another's necessities one's own as to relieve them." Our Fellowship's Foundation Hing," The beginning here is not, of course, the beginning of the life of Christ, or even the beginning of hu- man history, but it refers to a time long lecfore man had been created, the very beginning of all things. "That which we Neve heard." With this 'clause we ones from eternity into time. The fi*rt elause refers to some - thine; prior to the Creation. Here both the Creet'en and the Incarnation have taken Were. "That ;which we have seen with ot• eyes, that which we be- held." The additional phrase 'with our eyes" ernehesizes the idea of direct personel eseorience in a matter mar- velous to itself. The vision was not of the rnrl c•ithin, but in life. There can be nn doubt that the exact word is used with a distinct reference to the invitation of the Lord after his resurrection, 'Handle me.' "Concern- ing the Word of life." The fact that 'Word' is printed in the text of the Revised Version as a proper noun, with the first letter as a capital, in- dicates that the phrase is to be taken as a direct reference to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, Christ is-tioth the word of God and the life of man.. Words of Eternal Life Jesus himself said: The words that 1 have spoken unto you are spirit and' are life,' and the a tostle-,Pater ,coffees. V'"'fo'"°ii e"`Cord shortly after: "Thou hast the words of eternal life.' "And the life was manifested." This phrase simply means that Christ, who was from eternity, and lived in heaven out of sight of men, became such that he could be seen by men. "And we have seen, and bear witness." It is one thing to see and handle something and'evei to be convinced of its real- ity.It is another thing to bear wit- nesy publicly, to others, concerning that which we have investigated and pound true. "And declare unto you the life, the eternal life, which was with the Father, and was• manifested unto us." "That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you also, that ye also may have fellowship with us; Yea,- and our fellowship,, is with the Father, and : with his Son Jesus Christ." Fellowship, in this verse, is spoken of under two different aspects -- there is the, fellowship which be-. lievers have with one another, and there is the fellowship which believers have with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. Let us be clear that there is uo true fellowship, as John is spearing of it, except in a common belief, concerning the Lord Jesus Christ and an acceptance of hint as'- , Saviour. Fellowship with God as to privilege is communion with him; as to responsibility, it is partnership with him. Fellowship with God means we have come info business with God, and that his enterprises are to be our en- terprises. With God fellowship is my privilege, to pour out everything that is in my heart, saying anything, say- ing everything I am thinking. Con- verse with God reaches its highest le- vel when alone With him. There is no sweeter fellowship in the world than that which believers have who are united in Christ. Where in all the world can such a fellowship as this be found, except among the Christian believers? It is love that has bound us together, and no other fellowship can ever be as permanent, as enriching, as genuine, as spontan. eous, as the fellowship Christ has gi- ven to vs in our common salvation. "And these things we write, that our joy may be made full." The joy is , that serene happiness, which is the re- sult of conscious union with God and good men, of conscious possession of eternal life, which raises us above pain and sorrow and remorse. Walk in the Light "And this Is the message which we have heard from him and announce unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all" There are three statements in the Bible which stand alone as revelations of the nat- ure of God, and they are all in the writings of St. John: 'God is spirit' (John 4:24); 'God is light'; and 'God is love.' They are probably the nearest approach to a definition of God that the human mind could frame or com- prehend; and in the history of thought and religion they are unique. The more we consider then, the more they satisfy us. The simplest intellect can understand their meaning; the subt- lest cannot exhaust it. The statement that there is no darkness in God, means first, that there is nothing hid- den in God — he never expresses any truth, he never undertakes any act, in which the slightest shadow' of un- truthfulness, or compromise with sin, can ever be discovered. "If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness, we lie, and do not the truth." The apostle John, in this very epistle we are studying, says that a man who hates his brother, 'is in darkness.' "But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son cleanseth us from all sin." Walking in the light is presupposed as the condition for this application of the virtue of Christ's life and his death. The marvelous thing is that when you put your trust in the Lord Jesus, the blood of Christ cleanses et- ernally and completely in`tlie sight of God, "And I saw a new heaven and a new earthare passed away; and the sea,is earth for the firstheaven and the first no, :more:" When ,Jehn says;;that he: saw a new heaven and a new earth, it is not to be understood that the earth itselfhas been destroyed,or that heaven has been destroyed. There are two words to indicate the idea of newness in •the Greek language,— one one means something newly created, something brought for the first time into. existence; the other one means something that has been changed, or renewed, or restored, and this .is the word here used. What a glorious day that will be when the earth will be restored to its original' beauty, and all who are upon the earth will be iu the perfection of God's image, without a blemish and without stain! "And I saw the holy city, new Je- rusalem, ,coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride is adorned for her husband." There are three Jerusalems in the Bible — the earthly city by that name; our home in heaven is sometimes called the Je- rusalem which is above, then there is the Holy City, new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven. "And I heard a great voice out of the throne saying, Behold, the taber- nacle of God is with men, and he shall dwell with them-, and they shall be his peoples, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God." Here we have the perfection of all fellowship, for God is now found actually dwelling with men, the consummation of all his purposes, for his redeemed people. "And he shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more; neither shall there be any mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more: the first things are passed away.' There is infinite wisdom here, infinite love. and infinite power. God Punt For All But th Turkey . ______) Festine.;dinners are just a pain in the neck to the average turkey, but tlns'b'ird is doing something abort it. Small cause for him to feel happy about the whole situation, with that convincing sign paint- ed on this restaurant window. oarioL By VIRGINIA 16A,L13 It is a toss up whether Madeline Carroll or Loretta Young will be the most -exquisitely dressed screen star this winter. Miss Carroll writes from Paris that she is having the time of her life selecting costumes for "The River Is Blue" which she will start making for. Walter Wenger when she returns to -Hollywood. Loretta Young was in New York recently buying fur coats, hats, and dresses by the score just as if she had not liad':'.any, new,,lothes. in agesellen lywood'des' kites haVe just about run out of ideas for Loretta since in her last four pi.etures she has had altoge- is not ignorant of nor aloof from the sufferings of men, nor is he, knowing man's deep tragedies, powerless as he looks upon them, for he . not only takes away our tears, but he takes away all that causes tears — death, and pain, and sorrow. Father and Son "And he that sitteth on the throne, said, Behold, I make all things new. And he saith, Write: for these words are faithful and true. And he said unto me, They are come to pass. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the begin- ning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overnom- eth shall inherit these things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son." In the last clause of the seventh verse — 'I will be his God, and he shall be my son' — we have the ulti- mate achievement of the great re- deeming work of God's only begotten Son. Beloved, now are we children of God, and it is not yet made mani- fest, what we shall be. We know that, if he shall be manifested, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as be is, (1 John 3:1, 2.) In these seven verses we have three distinct forms of fellowship — that which is repre- sented by a city, that which is symbol- ized by the loving relationship of a bride and her husband, and that which is indicated by the living, vital rela- tionship of a son to his father, D --•J a ther some 80 changes of costume, and each one was supposed to be a knock- out. The extreme and bizarre clothes are, the better she likes thein — so she keeps designers working overtime. * * * You will 1-e hearing a lot from now on' about Ilona Massey, who makes her American screen debut in M -G- M'S "Rosalie." Officials of the com- pany are so delighted with her ner- forinsnce in a minor role that they are ring to give her the title role in `" ompadour," one of the most allnigig beauties in history or drama. T11 are is one popular radio player who will have to mend her ways if she ver goes into motion pictures— .T1 ost of them do sooner or later. Ah s 'c Trost of the "BiSister" cast cornet' out of rehearsals with her forehead all smudged. She holds a pence in her hand, and in a moment ofd uratic tension invariablydraws the' oint across her forehead. * * * TI jinx that has dogged the foot- steia ; of all Hollywood players who deyosuthe ,.Exoadwa Fara {this._ ... ;season has at last been knociced'"out. Frances Farmer broke the spell. She opened': recently in "Golden Boy,'' a play about a prize fighter, and the ' critics went into rhapsodies over her. deft playing of romantic scenes. * •* * Radio performers develop some of Ir the strangest hobbies, but for the present Tony Wons, the CEa ptiilo. copilot., is leading them all, Hb makes violins He makes violins with the utmost care out of any cad thing he finds lying around the house, In- spired, possibly by Bob Burns and his far famed bazooka, he has spade one out of a piece.. of tin stovepipe and the tone to his surprise is ex- cellent. xcellent. The battle of the two great glam- orous stars of the screen, Garbo and Dietrich, turns out to be no battle at all when you see their new pictures, "Conquest" and "Angel." Garbo is so far in the lead that there is just no competition at all, "Conquest" is a lavishly - produced, historically -faith- ful romance of the time of Napoleon and Garbo as the lovely Countess Walewska has never been more ap- pealing. "Angel," on the other hand, is just an inconsequential modern triangle story in which the camera lingers on Miss Dietrich to the ex- clusion of any action. * * * Edgar Bergen and Charlie Me- ,Qarthy will be in the cast of a new comedy that will fea- ture Irene Dunne and as a result she is the envy of all Hollywood as well as the public at large. Her out- standing success as a comedienne in "T h e Awful Truth" influ- e n c e d Universal to postpone their biog- r a p h y of Madame Curie a n d instead of that story to cast her in comedy.Thus she has established herself as a dou- ble threat actress, at home in heavy drama as well as light farce. Charlie McCarthy * * * ODDS AND ENDS — Constance Bennett is the envy of all the pamp- ered stars, because Alfalfa Sweizer of "Our Gang" comedies serenades her in his hilariously -uncertain tenor Ken Murray and Edgar Ber- gen have evidently decided that they are in pictures to stay because they have both bought ranches out near Al Jolson's . . . Ann Sothern's sis- ter, Bonnie Lake, has composed a song and sold it for "Girl of the Gol- den West"KateSmith is toy- ing . Y ing with the idea of trying motion pictures again. • Chocolate or Orange In Drunkenness Test A physician recommended that persons arrested for drunken .driving be given a bar of chocolate or an orange to determine whether they are really intoxicated oil suffering from insulin shock, Dr. Sidney Weinstein, a faculty member at the university of Penn- sylvania Medical school, described the test at the convention of the Inter- national Association of Police and Fire Surgeons. He said that diabet- ics suffering from insulin shock --se- rious temporary shortage of sugar in the blood—exhibit symptoms closely allied to those of intoxication. The sugar contained in a bar of chocolate or an orange will return a diabetic to normal in a short time. Dr. Weinstein said. USiEN�k tANAA 1937 IMPERIAL TOBACCO'S INSPIRING PROGRAM 4f Every Friday Night on a national coast to coast network. • •k:V..**.•E.:.S6ztxaxh"�tif�:.�' THE INVIGORATING DRINK Of REAL BEEF FLAVOUR =C. IONli RVAa ,,, G i t 5 i THE SALVATION ARMY XMAS APPEAL In hundreds of homes in Canada where. need exists thbre is confidence that The Salvation Army will give aid. With your help we will not -disappoint them. Please send your contributions to: COMMISSIONER GEORGE L. CARPENTER, 20 ALBERT • STREET TORONTO Ford Shows Two V-8 Cars, New Trucks K FRONT END views of the three units of the Ford V-8 line for 193$ are pictured above. At top, left, is the standard V-8 car, designed for owners to whom economy is para- mount. Below, the de luxe Ford' V-8, stylish sister of the standard car. Tho standard Ford, in three body types is powered by the fa* mous Ford V-8 engine. The de luxe car, in eight body types, is richly styled with new outward beauty and interior luxury. Sweeping lines and longer hoods give the 1938 Ford V-8 cars a new and distinc- tive appearance. Both the de luxe and standard cars have the same. Ford V-8 chassis, The neat Ford V-8 truck front is shown, (top right). Now treatment of the ra- diator grille en both de luxe and standard trucks, gives a more massive, impressive appearance which is heightened by the long louvres which extend horizontally along the hood, Trucks are in three wheelbase lengths, the 157 -inch, the 134 -inch which replaces the 1311/2 - inch of previous years and the 112 - inch wheelbase for commercial cars.