It shall be our pleasure from now on to learn what Jesus Himself taught, that we may learn the better to know Him and the Father, and thus gain eternal life. THE REFERENCES Abraham Chs. 1,2. Moses 5:1-11. Exodus 20:3. 1 John 2:3-5. 1 Cor. 8:6. THE QUESTIONS 1. What was the real problem that confronted Abram in his search for God? 2. Why is the true God called the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob? 3. What is the first of the ten commandments? 4. How does it apply in this age? 5. What does it mean to know God? 6. What do men of the world often think of Jesus? 7. Why was Jesus necessary in the plan of salvation? 8. What does it mean to know Jesus Christ? 9. What does it mean in full to know God and Jesus Christ whom He sent? 10. What should be an aim of all true education? {27} {28} PICTURE: SIMEON BLESSING THE LORD. {29} III THE GOD OF ISRAEL. [Sidenote: A very important question.] What kind of being is God, the Father, of whom are all things? If you should be sent into the missionary field to preach the Gospel, you would find this one of the most difficult questions you would have to answer. For God is somewhat of a mysterious being in the opinions of most men. Very few men have ever claimed to have seen God, or to have held converse with Him. And for that which seems mysterious, men like to find hard, complicated answers. The simple truth does not satisfy them. [Sidenote: The truth is simple and easy.] Yet, the simple answer is nearly always the right one. A missionary to the South Sea Islands found himself one day trying to explain to the natives the nature of hail. There is neither hail nor snow nor sleet on the islands. There are really but two seasons--the dry and the wet. When it is wet it rains. The missionary tried by many various roundabout ways to make the natives understand that hail is frozen raindrops. The natives knew nothing about frost. They had no previous knowledge with which to associate his explanation. And, as you know, we cannot understand anything new unless we can tie it up with something that we already know. The missionary became desperate. Finally, he thrust his hand into a bowl of rice standing on the floor, lifted a handful, and allowed it to fall again in a shower to the ground. "Hail," he said, "is like that." Instantly {30} the natives got the picture. They saw the raindrops turned white and hard, and pelting the earth in their fall. The simple explanation went home. [Sidenote: Jesus's explanation of God.] Now, Jesus's explanation of what kind of being God is, is even more simple and clear than is this illustration of what hail is like. But men have strayed into the worshipping of many different kinds of God, because they have refused to accept the simple truth. Near the close of His mortal life on the earth, Jesus delivered a very excellent farewell discourse to His disciples. It is full of words of cheer and comfort. Amongst other things Jesus said: