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_. The Library SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY © AT CLAREMONT
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The Gospel
‘ ’
By G. CAMPBELL MORGAN, D.D.
New Yore Cuicaco Fleming H. Revell Company
Lonpon AND EDINBURGH
By G. CAMPBELL MORGAN
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Foreword
S in the case of my volume on The Acts of the Apostles, and that on Mark, in this volume we have stenographically reported sermons. They consist of seventy-three such. é
From this method they suffer, and gain. They suffer the loss of literary finish possible to the Writer; but they gain from the very rough- ness and directness associated with the word extemporaneously uttered, as to the form of sentences.
They proceed, from first to last, on the assumption that it was the inten- tion of the writer of this Gospel to set forth the Person of our Lord in relation to His Kingly office.
From the mystic account of His advent in human history, through the record of the authority of His ethical enunciation, the mercifulness of His method, the majesty of His Death, and the glory of His Resurrection, to the ringing claim of “all authority,” and clarion command to “ disciple the nations,” we are ever in the presence of the King.
With happy memories of the days when they were prepared and spoken, and profound gratitude to God for His acceptance of them then, manifested in the blessing they were to many, I now commit them to the wider ministry of the printed page, praying that they may still be helpful, in some measure, in showing forth some of the glories of Him Who was attested of God in the words, “ This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased ;” and thus the Son, to Whom He gives the nations for His inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for His possession.
Gi. M.
Glendale, California.
School of Theology at Claremont
Allo3 7 2 5
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW
MATTHEW I, 1-17
HE first verse of this chapter gives
the title to the section under con- fideration; while the last verse of that section summarizes its content. The first is undoubtedly the title of the geneal- ogy of Jesus as it appeared in the Jew- ish records. The last is Matthew’s summary of the content thereof.
It is not my purpose to dwell at any length upon the matter of the difference between this genealogy and that which we have in the gospel according to Luke. There are, however, one or two matters that it may be well for us to note by way of introduction.
The first is that to which I have al- ready twice drawn attention. The open- ing words, ‘‘ The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham,” do not constitute the title to the gospel according to Matthew,
74 but the title of the genealogy of Jesus
Christ as it is here given. We shall take it) for granted that this genealogy was taken from the legal records by Matthew in order to preface the gospel in which he was about to present the One Whom he had come to know as the long-looked-for Messiah-King of his people.
My personal conviction is that this genealogy does not appear in our gospel exactly as Matthew found it in the records. His concluding summary, in which he declares that these gener- ations from Abraham to the Messiah fall into three cycles of fourteen, makes this improbable for the simple reason that there are conspicuous omissions. In the eighth verse between Joram and Uzziah the names of Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah are omitted, and in verse eleven Jehoiakim is omitted between Josiah and Jehoniah. I am inclined to believe that the former omissions were / deliberately made for spiritual reasons.
It is noticeable that the evangelist says, “All the generations from Abraham unto David are fourteen generations,” and in that section there are no omis- sions. But with regard to the subse- quent divisions he says, “from David unto the carrying away to Babylon fourteen generations; and from the carrying away to Babylon unto the Christ fourteen generations ;” not that they are all, but that he has named those chosen to complete the chain. When it is remembered that those omitted first were the immediate de- scendants of the daughter of Ahab and
y Jezebel, we may have a clue to the principle of Matthew’s selection. In all likelihood the omission of Jehoiakim was due to the work of a copyist, be- cause that omission makes it necessary, in order to the three fourteens, to use the name Jechoniah at the end of the second and at the beginning of the third.
It should finally be noticed that this genealogy does not say that Jesus was the son of Joseph. It is the genealogy of Jesus only because of His mother’s marriage with Joseph, and in the Jew- ish records He appears as one born to Mary whose husband was Joseph.
I propose to glance briefly at the genealogy itself as given in the para- graph commencing with the second verse and ending with the sixteenth verse; and then to examine more care- fully the title as given in the first verse, and the summary as given in the seven- teenth verse.
These intervening verses are inter- esting for several reasons. The first is that while they are entirely Jewish in outlook, they do nevertheless overleap the boundary of the Hebrew nation in a most remarkable way in the inclusion of Rahab; and they violate the preju-
[mattr. 1. 1-17]
MATTHEW
dice of Judaism in the introduction of women. This violation is the more re- markable when we remember the char- acter of the women whose names are introduced. The first is that of Tamar, a notorious sinner. The second is that of Rahab, a foreigner and a sinnef. ’ The third is that of Ruth, a foreigner, although received into the nation. The fourth is that of Bathsheba, through whose sin with David the shadow of shame for ever rests upon the royal line. mother of the Lord. Thus in this” genealogy, consciously or unconsciously,
” there are signs and portents of the grace which is being brought to all men through the coming King.
Another point of interest is that of the closing declaration of the genealogy proper; “ Jacob begat Joseph, the hae band of Mary, of whom was born Jesus,” which is entirely out of har- mony with the method of obtaining all through until that point. It marks a separation to be explained by the story of the birth of Jesus which immediately follows. It emphasises the fact that He was not the son of Joseph. Thus on the first page of the gospel Jesus is pre- sented as connected with a race which nevertheless could not produce Him. He came into it, was of it; and yet was distinct from it. As we have said, the mystery is not explained here, but waits ”
The fifth is that of Mary the a
David to Jesus. The genealogy in Luke gives His lineal descent through Mary, and He was through her, son of David. Matthew therefore speaks of Him as son of David, and not as son of any of those who are in the geneal- ogy of Joseph subsequent to that point.
The remarkable fact of this title is that it speaks of Jesus as son of David and son of Abraham. Now the peculiar promise of God to each of these men, according to Old Testament history, was that of a son; and the immediate fulflment in each case was in many senses disappointing. Therefore the son of Abraham, who came for the fulfil- ment of the ideals for which he stood in obedience to faith; and the son of David, who came for the fulfilment of the ideals for which he stood in obedi- ence to faith; was neither Isaac, nor Solomon, but Jesus.
This fact is worthy of a somewhat closer examination in each case. Let us take them in the order of statement in the verse.
The son of David to whom he looked for the fulfilment of his purpose of the establishment of the kingdom around the temple of Jehovah was Solomon. His name, Solomon, the peaceful, sug-
. gested the principle of the kingdom. His
greatest endowment was that of wis- dom. His specific work was that of the © building of the temple. His reign was
for the unveiling of the subsequenti characterised by peace and prosperity.
story.
Turning to the examination of the first verse, which constitutes the title of the genealogy, we are at once ar- rested by the fact that it emphasises a relation between Jesus Christ and the two outstanding men in Hebrew history, namely Abraham and David. In each case the relationship is distinctly af- firmed to be that of sonship. He is the son of David, and the son of Abraham. Thus His connection with the Hebrew
people is royal and racial. He is of the /
kingly line, and He is from the father and founder of the people. It may be as well at this point to draw attention to the fact that the genealogy given in Matthew corresponds exactly with that given in Luke between Abraham and David. The differences are found in the portion of the genealogy from
Nevertheless the story of Solomon is one of disastrous failure. In spite of he gifts of wisdom from on high he lived a life of unutterable and appalling folly. Even though he built the temple, he so contradicted all that for which it
“stood as to make it a centre of form
without power; and even though, through the goodness of God to him, for the sake of his father, the kingdom was maintained in peace and prosperity during the period of his life, he had sown it with seeds of disruption which bore harvest immediately after his death. Thus was David disappointed in his son after the flesh.
Jesus Christ, the Son of David after the flesh, but the Son of God as the resurrection finally attested, came for the overcoming of all the failure which characterised the life and reign of Solo-
MATTHEW [matt, t. 1-17]
mon. With an infinite wisdom He pro- the call of Abraham; his obedience and ceeded to the building of the temple consequent founding of the new race on which cannot be destroyed; and laid ., the principle of faith. The second is the foundation for the establishment of | connected with David, the king after the Kingdom in peace and prosperity God’s own heart; whose appointment from which all that offends will finally was nevertheless the outcome of na- be cast forth. tional failure in that they clamoured The son of Abraham to whom he for “a king like unto the nations.” The looked for the fulfilment of the promise last is that of the carrying away into of God, that from him there should captivity to Babylon of the people spring a nation which should be the whose very existence in the economy medium of blessing to all the nations, of God was intended to be a force an- was Isaac. His name, Isaac, laughter, tagonistic to everything of which Baby- was to Abraham for evermore a witness lon was the embodiment. of the merging of the human and the The three cycles culminate in Christ, Divine, in that he was born because and that fact suggests His relation to “Sarah received power to conceive seed all. As we think of them and of Him, when she was past age.” Through him we are impressed by the threefold fact there was given to Abraham that seed of relationship in each case which may which consisted of sons who, to his be described as identity of principle, vision, were destined to carry forward superiority of realisation, and correc- the enterprises of God. The one in- tion of failure.
fluence which he exerted was that of The relationship between Abraham the power, which he retained by faith, and Christ is first that of identity of of blessing his sons after him. y’ principle. The principle on which
Nevertheless the story of Isaac is one - Abraham acted when he left Ur of the of disappointment, both in the weakness Chaldees, and throughout the whole of 7 of his own character, and in the ap-_ his life, in so far as it was in accord palling failure of his sons through the with the Divine will, was that of faith. long succession of the ages; and in The whole life and ministry of Jesus, the fact that they failed to enter into ,on the plane of His humanity, was true the true meaning and value of the bless- V to the selfsame principle; and as it has ing he pronounced. Thus was Abraham often been pointed out, the writer of the disappointed in his son after the flesh. letter to the Hebrews gives Him prece- Jesus, the son of Abraham after the dence of Abraham in this matter, as he flesh, but in the mystery of His Person declares Him to be the Author, or File- able to say, “Before Abraham was I leader of faith. am,’ came to realise and fulfil all the The difference is at once seen in the purpose which had failed through Isaac absolute superiority of His realisation and his seed after him. He was the | vof this principle of faith. In the life of true son of Abraham both human and Abraham we have accounts of deflec- _ Divine, and there sprang from Him “so tions issuing in disgrace, and almost in many as the stars of heaven in multi-)/ disaster. In the life of Jesus there was tude, and as the sand, which is by the no doubt, and consequently no deviation seashore, innumerable,” to carry out the from the path of obedience. purposes of God. Moreover, and principally, the rela- Thus Jesus Christ, the Son of David tion between Christ and Abraham is jand Son of Abraham, came in the ful- that of His correction of the failure. / ness of the times to overcome the fail- In His case the city of God is not only ure of Solomon the son of David and looked for, but built; the glory of God Isaac the son of Abraham; and to es- is not only sought, but manifested. tablish the throne and to perfect the The relationship between David and nation. _,Christ is first that of identity of prin- In the summary with which the sec- “ ciple in the matter of kingship. David’s tion ends three crises in the history of loyalty to Jehovah was the condition of the people are mentioned. The first is his royalty. It was because of his fidel- that original movement connected with ity to Him in circumstances of difficulty
9
}
:
[matt. 1. 18-23]
MATTHEW
that he came at last to full and glorious crowning. In the case of Jesus all that was imperfectly foreshadowed in the experience of David was absolutely ful- filled. Loyalty to the will of God was the master passion of His life, and created the majesty and might of His regal authority.
The superiority of realisation is even more marked in this case than in the former. David’s deflections from loy- alty not only tarnished the escutcheon of his royalty, but limited the extent of his authority. The absolute abandon- ment of Jesus to the acceptable will of His Father created the lustre of His crown, and ensured that limitlessness of empire which enabled Him to say, “ All authority hath been given unto Me in heaven and on earth.”
The final and gracious fact of rela- tionship between Christ and David is that of His assured establishment of the Kingdom, and the vindication of the glory of God.
The relationship between the carry- ing away into captivity and Christ is again that of identity of principle. These people passed under the yoke of a nation full of pride and rebellious against God’s government. Christ was born under the yoke of Rome, amid His people, in days when their inde- pendence was lost. The very surround- ings of His birth were created by the fact that His mother with Joseph her husband were travelling in obedience to the edict of the Emperor that all the world should be enrolled.
0
His infinite superiority is seen in the quiet dignity of His submission through all the days of His earthly life, as He rendered to Cesar the things that be- longed to Cesar; and in that fine tri- umph over the outward yoke of Cesar, as He rendered to God the things that belong unto God.
The final fact of relationship between Christ and the captivity is that of His breaking of all the bonds resulting from
‘sin, and leading the exodus of all such
as trust Him.
Thus in this genealogical paragraph humanity’s aspirations and incompe- tencies are represented in these generations; and aspirations and in- competencies alike look wistfully to Him. The founder and the king look to Him as Son for the fulfilment of purpose. Faith, which by comparison with sight has seemed feeble through the passing of the centuries, waits His vindication. Government which has perpetually failed waits His adminis- tration. Captivity which has sighed and sobbed in its agony waits His emancipation. What can He do? We will pursue the story presently, and in the meantime crown Him in hope;
“ Hail to the Lord’s anointed:
Great David’s greater Son!
Hail, in the time appointed, His reign on earth begun!
He comes to break oppression, To set the captive free,
To take away transgression, And rule in equity.”
MATTHEW I. 18-23
E have considered the genealogy of Jesus as recorded in the first seventeen verses. Now we commence the study of the story of His birth. Dr. Horton once ended a singularly beautiful sermon on the Virgin Birth of Jesus in words which are well worth reading as a preliminary to this study. After treating the story as constituting one of the idylls of the infancy and life —dealing with it in a most reverent way, as being one of those sweet and sacred things that never could have been known unless told by Joseph, or
Mary, or both—he said, “I believe, my dear friends, that you can do a great service to-day; you can relieve the minds and consciences of thousands of people if you can simply pass on the thought: I believe in the Divinity of Jesus Christ my Lord, on the grounds that St. Paul and St. John have given; and then, I believe in the stories of the infancy because I believe in the Divin- ity of the Lord, and I have found in them a beautiful illustration of what Christ meant when He said, ‘I am from above; I am not of this world.’”
10
MATTHEW
[matr, 1. 18-23]
eee
That position one is fully prepared to accept. Our belief in the truth of this sacred story is based upon the facts of the Person and purposes of Jesus as unfolded in the writings of the Apos- tles, which writings are in turn dem- onstrated true in our own personal experience.
The very position indicated makes it impossible to agree with Dr. Horton in a statement immediately preceding this. Speaking of the Virgin Birth of Jesus, he said, “ Never give anyone the im- pression that the faith of Jesus depends upon it, or that a man cannot believe in our Lord because he does not believe in the idylls of the infancy.”
While recognizing the spirit of pa- tience and toleration which such a statement breathes, it is impossible to accept it as logical. If belief in the feaching of Paul and John necessarily leads to belief in the truth of this story of Matthew, then it necessarily follows that to reject this story of Matthew is finally to reject the teaching of Paul and John, and so not to believe in the Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ.
All our future studies will be from the standpoint of belief in the Deity of Jestis as taught in the subsequent writings of the New Testament, and therefore as accepting this story, as presenting in idyllic form, the sublime, mysterious, and infinite truth—‘ that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.”
From this whole idyll we select the words which chronicle two prophecies. The angelic prophecy is in the words—
“She shall bring forth a Son; and thou shalt call His name JESUS; for it is He that shall save His people from their sins.”
The angel’s quotation is from the proph- ecy of Isaiah, and follows immediately.
* Now all this is come to pass, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying,
“Behold, the Virgin shall be with
child, and shall bring forth a son,
“And they shall call his name
Immanuel.”
Eliminating the words which speak.
of the method of His coming—words which are so severely plain as to de-
“fully the angelic message.
11
mand simple acceptance or equally sim- ple rejection—because we accept them, for the reasons already stated, we shall take the two prophetic words concern- ing Him—
“Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for it is He that shall save His people from their sins,”
and,
“ They shall call His name Imman- uel, which is, being interpreted, God with us.”
The second is a prophecy of the past, expressing the hope of the people. The past looked on, and looked up, and looked out, and sighed for “Immanuel —God with us.” The first is the proph- ecy which tells us how that hope has been realised. The angel declares that all that longing is to be answered, for Jesus is to be born, Who is to save His people from their sins. Observe care- He is to fulfil the prophecy of the past, “Im- manuel—God with us.”
While in the text the prophecies are placed in the order, first of realisation, and then of the statement of the hope, in this study we will take them in the other order, which is that of their real occurrence in the Divine Library.
We will consider, then, first, the hope —‘They shall call His name Imman- uel, which is, being interpreted, God with us;” and secondly, the realisation —‘ Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for it is He that shall save His people from their sins.”
I. This old-time prophecy quoted by the angel, is from the seventh chapter of the prophecy of Isaiah. Look very carefully at its setting therein. It reads thus: “‘ Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign; behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel. Butter and honey shall He eat, when He knoweth to. re- fuse the evil, and choose the good. For before the Child shall know to re- fuse the evil, and choose the good, the land whose two kings thou abhorrest shall be forsaken.” (Ch. vii. 14-16.)
To take the quotation in this way is at once to be brought into the presence of something that increasingly seems to
[matt, 1. 18-23]
MATTHEW
have, as the history is examined, no connection with this great subject of the Birth of Jesus. If the whole chap- ter be read, it will be found that the prophet Isaiah was talking to king Ahaz who was in peril, because Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah, king of Israel,* were coming up against Jerusalem. The
lous vision, as a result of which Isaiah was anointed and consecrated for his work.
Then, immediately we pass into changed circumstances. Ahaz was on the throne. The two kings Rezin and Pekah had come up against Jerusalem, and Ahaz wanted to call in aid from
prophet told Ahaz to be quiet; that * without. The prophet besought him not
V there need be no panic in his heart. Comparing the prophecy of Isaiah with the historical books, we discover that Ahaz was bent upon seeking aid from some other power. appealed to him to do nothing of the kind, and said, “Ask thee a sign of Jehovah thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above.” Ahaz replied that he would not ask a sign of God. Then said the prophet, ‘“ There- fore the Lord Himself will give thee a sign; behold the virgin shall conceive.” “For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land whose two kings thou abhorrest shall be forsaken.” He then proceeded
to do this, but to trust in God; and told
him that a son should be given. Notice what is here stated concerning
Immanuel, for the prophecy merges into
The prophet \/ something larger than the local setting,
as prophecies always do.
It is impossible to study the proph- ecies of the Old Testament without dis- covering that the prophets looked down the vista of years, and sometimes de- scribed something quite close at hand; then saw how its lines ran out into the coming ages; and omitting intervening ages, described the final issue. So here Isaiah’s prophecy merges into something larger. He said that when Immanuel came He should eat “curds and
to say that not only should the enemies,/ honey,” which signifies that He would
be defeated, but that his own nation should be broken because of their lack of faith.
That prophecy was perhaps partially fulfilled in the birth of a child to Isaiah. In the story in the following chapter there was a child born who was named Maher-shalal-hash-baz, the meaning of which is, the spoil speedeth, the prey hasteth. For all local fulfil- ment this was the child referred to. The phrase, “ Immanuel, God with us,’ had never occurred before. It occurs twice in Isaiah—once here, and once in the following chapter—and never again
“until the angel whispered it to Joseph,
as chronicled in the story in Matthew. We can hardly understand the value of this in a study of the mere text. The whole context must be taken. For an interpretation of this prophecy chapters six to nine should be studied. The reference to Immanuel in chapter seven is incidental—not accidental—but pre- paratory, a gleam of light flashing on a purely local circumstance.
Let us epitomise chapters six to nine in order to see the setting.
In chapter six the death of Uzziah is recorded, also the story of that marvel-
12
come into the midst of circumstances of poverty and trouble.
Turn to chapter eight. A son was born to Isaiah, and the prophet an- nounced the coming of Assyria in verse eight—“‘It shall sweep onward into Judah; it shall overflow and pass through; it shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of its wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel.”
There was a person in the mind of the prophet, not yet focussed or re- vealed, as he spoke of the Virgin’s Child, Immanuel. As he saw desola~ tion coming to the land of the ancient people he spoke of it as the land of Immanuel. He evidently contemplated the incoming foes and spoke of them, and said, “ Make an uproar, O ye peo- ples, and be broken in pieces. . Take counsel together, and it shall be brought to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand; for Immanuel, God is with us.”
The name is mentioned in the local prophecy, but thus it merges into a larger application when the prophet speaks of the land as “ Immanuel’s land.” It includes a still larger outlook
MATTHEW
[marr, x, 18-23]
SLL LLL ea ea aT Tene mctnrerarsoopeeenaneeereraneereceeeee ere Se Oe ee ee
when the prophet declares that the foes coming against the land will be de- feated because Immanuel will be with Israel.
The Messianic quality gradually gtows as we read through the prophecy. Who is Immanuel? What is He to be? He is to be a sanctuary, and a rock of
The Person Immanuel, incidentally mentioned in local connection, in chap- ter seven, blazes out into splendid light in the ninth chapter as the prophet wrote, “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the govern- ment shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, Father, Prince of Peace. Of the in- crease of His government and of peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom, to establish it.”
Long centuries passed, and an angel came in a dream to a man and told him that the ultimate fulfilment of that prophecy was at hand. While the words of Isaiah had local applications, they had vaster values than such applica- tions could contain. So the birth of Jesus was for the fulfilment of those vaster values that lay within the old- time prophecy. This hope must be in- terpreted in its local setting, and yet with that more spacious intention which it evidently contains.
From this examination of Isaiah’s prophecy we make general deductions. Take the first and the last of these verses. The first (ch. vii. 14)—‘A Virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel ;” the last (ch. ix. 6)—“ Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given.” This one great prophecy, beginning in such
a simple circumstance and growing to ,
‘such a sublime declaration, expressed the hope that God would presence Him- self in actual human life through a human birth; that by some mysterious method which could not be expressed
5)
offence. Be
knew Him. “Mighty God;” so was He revealed through all the processes of the history of the Hebrew nation. “Everlasting Father;” so is He known in this dispensation. “Prince of Peace ;”’ so shall He be revealed in the established Kingdom. All that was focussed in this Child.
Thus the immediate teaching of Isaiah’s prophecy flashed its light for- ward. Immanuel shall come into the midst of His people’s degradation and share it. Immanuel shall become a sanctuary and a stone of stumbling. Immanuel shall finally conquer all His enemies. At last the God-inspired hope of His people, expressed through proph-
Mighty God, Everlasting \/ecy, is declared to be realised in the
birth of the Child of Mary. Joseph heard it and believed it. Mary heard it and sang the Magnificat. Early dis- ciples heard it, and hearing it believed it, and proclaimed it. It is far easier for us to believe it than it was for any of these to do so, because we see the programme carried out into the centu- ries. As we read carefully and ponder it, we discover the whole programme of events, from the time Isaiah spoke until now, and beyond it, gathered round the word Immanuel. It was a great hope, and all that we see fulfilling the prophecy, is the result of His birth. II. Now let us go back to the first prophecy, made directly by the angel to the man Joseph—‘“ She shall bring forth a Son; and thou shalt call His name JESUS; for it is He that shall save His people from their sins.” Take the local setting. This story is beautiful in its simplicity. Joseph was a just man, “a righteous man.” One hardly knows which word is best to use. We talk to-day of a just man; and we may think of a man hard and cold. We talk of a righteous man, and we have said, “Scarcely for a righteous man will one die; for peradventure for the good man some one would even dare to die.” The good man is the man of the simple heart. A blunt translation would
fully in human language, God would,/ be Joseph was a straight man, a true
come-and manifest Himself in a four- fold character.
The Bible may be divided around that description of manifestation. “Wonderful Counsellor;” so man first
13
man. Not that he was severe and harshly just; not coldly and cynically righteous; but he was a true man, the carpenter, the village builder.
Mary was his betrothed, and accord-
[mart, 1. 18-23]
MATTHEW
ing to the old and beautiful Hebrew custom was bound to Joseph, the be- trothal ceremony being as sacred as the matriage rite, after which the bride- groom took his bride home, with songs and rejoicing, and accompaniment. of music. ‘They were simple village folk
of royal lineage, for when the angel “ coming to
spoke to Joseph he did not call Jesus his son, but Son of David. A straight
mother Mary to give Him this name Jesus. Moreover, the name means “ Je- hovah Salvation.”
Mark the intention of it. They are “His people.” Give Him the name as one of His people; calling Him by the ordinary name of His people; He is identification with them. They are under a yoke, eating curds and honey; He is coming to eat curds
strong man, and a simple, sweet maid..“and honey with them, as the prophet
There is no love story quite as sweet as the love story of mountain, hill and village. All the conventional arrange- ments of matriages are of hell. Love that is a dream, breaking in upon the soul, is always beautiful.
In the midst of that period of be- trothal came that awe-inspiring and Holy Mystery, that sacred Mystery that we meditate in solemn silence; the Holy Mystery—the touch of God upon the simple life that made it for ever sublime. A thing not to be repeated; unique, and alone in the history of the trace. The word of God is not void but
said. They are an oppressed and a devastated people; He is coming to identification with them; give Him the name signifying identificaticn in all its deepest meaning. He is coming to suffer.
Then mark how the angel told heaven’s secret in heaven’s language. What the people thought they wanted was a Joshua who could reveal himself to this material Jerusalem as King, break the power of Rome, and set up an earthly Kingdom. The angel said the deeper trouble was not that of the Roman yoke; or that they had been
powerful; and the maiden was pos- Fs beaten in battle; the trouble with them
sessed with the Holy Mystery.
Then the angel visitor came, and an- nounced the name, “Thou shalt call His name Jesus.” It was just an ordinary Jewish name about as common in Judea as John is common amongst us. The name had not the significance that we understand to-day. Thank God it has gathered so much beauty and fragrance about it, that we can never dare call our children by that Name, and we are right. It was a beautiful, Jewish boy’s name, a common name of the common people. But here, as everywhere in the great spiritual movement, God took hold of the commonplace to show that there was something infinitely more than the common. the Hebrew Joshua, meaning Saviour. Other men had borne that name. Many a mother called her boy Joshua, in the hope that he would be a saviour, and break oppression, and set the people free. Now the angel said: Give that name to this Boy; “It is He that shall save His people from their sins.” Take the human name, sweetest of them all, and give it to the Child of the Holy Mystery; the Child Who is not of
was that they were sinners—“ He shall save His people from their sins.” He will not come to battle with externali- ties, but to grip sin at its heart.
We look on as the angel speaks, and we see the Cross, the way by which “He shall save His people from their sins.” The name is a prohecy. Joseph was commanded to give it to Jesus, and when Joseph gave it to Him, it was prophecy only—*‘ Call His name Jesus, for it is He that shall save His people from their sins.”
A generation passed away, three score years, and, at the close of the period, the story was recorded by the evangelists. At last the Apostle of
Jesus is a Greek form of \/ the Gentiles told it also. Jesus, “ exist-
ing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a Servant, being made in the likeness of men.” He did not abhor the virgin’s womb, but came in “the likeness of men.” ‘That is the apostles’ story of the incarnation.
Now follow the story. ‘“ Becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the Cross. Wherefore also
Joseph, but of God. ‘Tell His sweet God highly exalted Him, and gave unto
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MATTHEW
[matr. 11. 5, 15, 17, 23]
eee
Him the name.” What name is this? Joseph called Him Jesus because the angel said that He was to be named so. It was a prophecy; but it was fulfilled by His birth, His Cross, and His Resurrection.
God gave Him the name when He ascended. What name was it? ‘“ That in the name of Jesus every knee-should bow.” It was prophecy at His birth. It is an evangel on the Ascension morn- ing. It was an indication of purpose when He was born. It is a declaration of accomplishment when He ascended on high.
Jesus, name of sweetness,
Jesus, sound of love;
Cheering exiles onward, To their rest above.
* Jesus, oh the magic! Of the sweet love sound,
How it thrills and trembles To creation’s bound.”
Never was there so much music as there is in that Name.
So came the King. Standing back to-day, and looking over the centuries, we see the merging of the Hope Im- manuel, into realisation in Jesus. God is born of a virgin into human life. God is born into the midst of the degra- dation of man. God moves in this Man to the Throne of imperial and unending Government. God through this Man saves from sins, and establishes and
upholds a Kingdom for ever. God per- forms all this in His own zeal through Jesus Christ.
“© little town of Bethlehem,
How still we see thee lie!
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep The silent stars go by;
Yet in thy dark streets shineth The everlasting Light;
The hopes and fears of all the years Are met in thee to-night!
“For Christ is born of Mary;
And gathered all above,
While mortals sleep the angels keep Their watch of wondering love;
O morning stars! together Proclaim the holy birth,
And praises sing to God the King, And peace to men on earth.
“How silently, how silently
The wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts The blessings of His heaven;
No ear may hear His coming; But in this world of sin,
Where ee souls will receive Him
still,
The dear Christ enters in.
“O holy Child of Bethlehem,
Descend to us, we pray;
Cast out our sin, and enter in— Be born in us to-day!
We hear the Christmas angels The great glad tidings tell—
Oh, come to us, abide with us, Our Lord Emmanuel!”
MATTHEW II. 5, 15, 17, 23
HIS second chapter of the Gospel is at once historic and prophetic. All the stories gather round four prophecies, and indicate the fulfilment of their deepest intention in history. The first prophecy is from Micah: “But thou, Bethlehem Ephrathah, which art little to be among the thou- sands of Judah, out of thee shall One come forth unto Me that is to be Ruler in Israel.” The second is from Hosea: “I... called my Son out of Egypt.” The third is from Jeremiah: “A voice is heard in Ramah; lamentation, and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children; she refuseth to be com-
forted for her children, because they are not.”
The fourth is a truth uttered by many of the prophets in some form: “That He should be called a Nazarene.”
Thus the chapter shows us that the coming of the King was the fulfilment of the prophecies of the past.
But that is only one of the values that we find in this chapter. It be- comes in itself a prophecy not directly or intentionally, but incidentally, and yet by no means less powerfully. The whole chapter is a prophecy indicating the line of the new history; revealing as in a flash the condition of things
[mat?. 11. 5, 15, 17, 23]
MATTHEW
which will obtain around this King through all the period following His first advent, until His second advent. It is a microcosm of the Christian age, revealing principles that abide unto this hour. .
First, then, we will consider the ful- filment of the prophecies of the past in the coming of Jesus; and secondly we will. attempt to notice how a new prophecy is articulated in these stories.
Now the Bible student, finding. in the New Testament a reference to the Old, must always take time to turn to such a reference. If we take these proph- ecies simply as they are uttered here, we cannot appreciate all their value. We must see them in their relation to context.
Turn first to the prophecy of Micah.
In ch. v. 2, we find this prophecy which /
Matthew first quotes: “But thou; Bethlehem Ephrathah, which art little to be among the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall One come forth unto Me that is to be Ruler in Israel; Whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.”
Let us consider the circumstances under which these words were uttered ; and remember the great burden of this prophecy. It centres round the subject of authority. Every one of these old prophets had a burden and a message. They had many burdens, and yet in every single prophecy you will find that the many burdens are included in some one great conception of truth. Micah’s is the message of authority. He thun- dered denunciations against the false tulers of his own time, and looking on down the centuries, saw the revelation: of the coming of the true King. It is the voice of the prophet of order, of authority ; the voice of the prophet who uttered the sob of the nation for the King, and fore-announced His coming.
Now we go back to our story. Jesus, Child of the virgin, is born, not at Nazareth, but at Bethlehem; born there through the decree of the Roman Em- peror, under whose yoke the chosen people are serving at the moment; born there because His parents were going up to the taxing which had been or- dered by the Imperial decree. For that reason the people of Nazareth were in
y J
16
Bethlehem, and out of Bethlehem Jesus comes—little Bethlehem, from which no
one would look for a governor or a »
tuler, or expect a great man to arise. Thou art little to be among the thou- sands of Judah, but out of thee shall, come a Governor, a Ruler. And
Matthew, who by this time has learned |.
the character of Jesus, takes liberties with the text of the old prophecy, and says more than Micah said; adds to the prophecy of Micah a tender touch which explains the character of the Ruler. Matthew has seen a little more
deeply into the nature of the Ruler, and ~
says that He shall be a Shepherd.
Now notice the actual facts surround- ing that prophecy which was here ful- filled. Two forces are represented. Homage is rendered to the Ruler as to kings; hatred is manifested against Him. Standing in opposition and con- trast to each other, are the Wise Men with their gold, frankincense, and mytrh; and Herod with the hatred of his lust and blood-thirstiness. So, as out of Bethlehem there comes the Ruler, the Shepherd, the Governor, the King, Who is yet to occupy the throne and hold the sceptre, there are those who welcome Him, and those who hate Him, There are those who take the long journey, following the guiding star, to lay at the feet of the new King— even though He came in lowliness in little Bethlehem—their gold and frank- incense and myrrh; and there are those who are stupid, blind, and untouched, and moved wholly to destroy Him. So He comes; and concerning the coming of the King the prophet spoke long before. Homage and hatred are re- vealed side by side.
Pass to the second of these prophe- cies. Again we must go back to the prophecy of Hosea. In ch. xi, 1 are the words from which Matthew is quoting — ‘When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.” It is perfectly evident that the reference here is to Israel as a nation. rr
Let us see the whole scope of this prophecy of Hosea. The message of Hosea is one concerning the decadence and failure of Israel to fulfil its first in- tention. The subject-matter of Hosea’s
Ny
S.
MATTHEW
[matr. 11. 5, 15, 17, 23]
prophecy is that of spiritual harlotry as the worst of all sin. Hosea spoke of the condition of affairs, the worst that ever existed in the history of the na- tion, and he spoke to the people out of the strangest and most tragic of cir- cumstances; experiences in his domes- tic life through which God had brought him into sympathy with -Himself. When Hosea’s heart was broken; when he had seen the fair ideal of his dreams wrecked before his eyes; when he had suffered that worst agony that ever comes to the human heart, the agony that follows upon the infidelity of hus- band or wife; then God said to him in effect: Now, Hosea, you know what I am feeling about Israel, for Israel has played the harlot against Me. Around that tragic training of the prophet lies the great message he bore.
There are three cycles in the proph- ecy of Hosea. In the first cycle, the prophet dealt with pollution and its cause; in the second cycle, with pollu- tion and its punishment; at the begin- ning of the third cycle the prophet sang the love song of Jehovah.
Take the whole love song and analyse
‘it, and there are again three great
movements: first the prophet sang the song of the present condition of the people in the light of God’s past love; then he sang the song of the present condition of the people in the light of God’s present love; finally he sang the song of the present condition of the people in the light of the love of God which is yet to come.
In ch. xi. 1-4 God is singing, through the prophet, of the way He loved Israel as of old: “ When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt... .” Out of the midst of that love song, Matthew made a quota- tion, applying it to Jesus Christ; and at first it appears almost strange. “ Out of Egypt did I call My Son.” What does it mean? When God is telling the story of His love to Israel, He says to them: I loved you, and brought you out of Egypt. Egypt to you was a place of oppression, the place of slavery; but I brought you out. There was a great exodus, and I led the exodus out of Egypt. What has happened to these people? They have been scattered.
The message of Hosea was heard for a little, and then forgotten. The movement of degeneration went on until Jeremiah thundered denunciations against the nation; until finally the last prophet, Malachi, spoke. Then no prophetic voice sounded for four hun- dred years.
Now, four hundred years after the voice of prophecy and the last vision, a Child is born, the Child upon Whom all the hopes of God should rest, and therefore the hopes of men. The Child immediately shares the result of the sin of His own people. The man who occupied the throne when the Child was born was not an Israelite but an Edom- ite. Herod was outside the Covenant, and he was on the throne. The sin of Israel was that of making alliances with outside powers. By His coming, the true worship, and the worship of the false, are brought to light. Herod, the corrupt in his degradation, sat upon the throne, expressing in the very fact of his kingship everything that was un- like the purpose of God. He drove the chosen King down into Egypt, the place of oppression and sin. But the chosen King was not to stay in Egypt—“ Out of Egypt did I call My Son.”
It was a statement having historic value when Hosea sang it, but it had a prophetic value also; and now that at last the fruition of Israel, the fruitage of Hebraism, is to be found in the Per- son of this One, we see this historic
Child, driven by the corruption of Is-
" rael into Egypt.
7
As of old God loved Israel when a child, the child na- tion, and brought it out of Egypt; so His love centres still upon the King Who is yet to build a city and establish a nation; and as He also shall come out of Egypt, and coming out shall lead the exodus, so, with others following, a great ideal shall be realised. It is a simple historical fact. Herod was mad with rage, and the angel warned Joseph and Mary, and they took the little Child and hurried into Egypt. But heaven watched and saw all Israel driven into Egypt in the Person of that little Child. Matthew says that He was to come back again. He had only gone there that He might be afflicted in all their affliction, that He might enter into
[marr, 11. 5, 15, 17, 23]
MATTHEW
their sorrows. And as of old it was \ written, ‘Out of Egypt did I call my son,” so again shall the King come out of Egypt; only a little Child, but lead- ing a great and glorious exodus.
Take the next prophecy, Jeremiah xxxi. 15: “Thus saith the Lord; A voice is heard in Ramah; lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children; she refuseth to be com- forted for her children, because they are not.” Such is the part of Jere- miah’s prophecy that Matthew quoted. What were the circumstances under which Jeremiah uttered his prophecy? We will go over its content that we may see the connection between it and the birth of the King. The prophesy- ing of Jeremiah was in some senses the most tragic of all. the doom of a dying nation, and as every man of God does when he utters a doom, uttered it in tears. Presently Another shall come greater than Jere- miah; One Who will say everything in more fiery words; Who shall stand upon the slopes of Olivet, and look at the city smitten with the glow and glory of the setting sun; and as He sees it He shall say, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killeth the prophets, and stoneth them that are sent unto her! how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gath- ereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.’ And as He shall say it, the very tears of God will rain down His cheeks. Jeremiah was the forerunner of Jesus, centuries be- fore in this matter. It is a terrible and awful story, that of his prophesying, and suffering, and tears. But in Jere- miah, as in every other prophecy, there was a gleam of the glory of hope. How great were these Hebrew prophets—so cloudy, so rough, so stormy; but on every storm-cloud there is a rainbow, and the promise of deliverance. Read- ing the prophecy of Jeremiah, we find that, beginning with chapter xxx. and
-ending with chapter xxxiii., there are four chapters in the heart of the book, full of consolation, full of comfort, full of joy; and these are the chapters in which Jeremiah went a little higher than the cloud-land in which he spoke,
18
and saw the dawning of another morn- ing far off, the coming of the Branch, and the Deliverer.
Now the prophecy that Matthew quotes is in the Book of consolation, but we seldom read it as though it had consolation in it. Rachel was weeping for her children and would not be com- forted because they are not. Surely this should not be in the book of con- solation! Let us read the context of the passage in Jeremiah. We have heard the plaintive wailing, the weeping of Rachel, the mother, because her chil- dren were gone; but “ Thus saith Jeho- vah: Refrain thy voice from weeping and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith Jehovah; and they shall come again from the land of
Jeremiah uttered,” “the enemy. And there is hope for thy
latter end, saith Jehovah; and thy chil- dren shall come again to their own border.”
Now we begin to understand why this prophecy is so placed, when we see the sequence of it all. Yes, there was weeping when Jesus was driyen out. How many suffered death in Bethlehem, we do not know; but there were moth- ers weeping, ad Matthew heard of it, and said, It is the wail of the Mother Rachel, Mother of us all. Then, said Matthew, was fulfilled the old prophecy of Jeremiah. Matthew did not quote the entire prophecy, but only that part dealing with the weeping. Surely, though, he meant to refer us to the con- text of the quotation,
The first prophecy quoted in the sec- ond chapter mentioned the Coming of the King. The second prophecy con- cerned His leading of an Exodus from Egypt. The third prophecy was that Rachel should have her tears dried and her weeping should cease. The King has come, as Micah foretold; the Exo- dus has come, as Hosea prophesied; and Rachel’s weeping shall cease, as Jeremiah foretold.
There is a triumphant march and a great sequence through this collection of the prophetic words, which leads us to the last of these prophecies, the gen- eral word—‘ That He should be called a Nazarene,”
What is the meaning here of this
MATTHEW [matt, 11, 5, 15, 17, 23] AS Be RS SES ES gE ELE SEO SN SSO aN aR He Ua Re
word Nazarene? It is a term of con- Go on through the prophecy and you tempt. We must first get back into the will find out more about the Branch. historic setting, and understand the Then in the prophecy of Jeremiah, story as Matthew wrote it, and as the xxxiii. 15, we read: “In those days, men of the day understood it. To have and at that time, will I cause a Branch lived then, and to have said thata man of righteousness to grow up unto was a Nazarene, would have been to David; and He shall execute justice use a term of contempt. Nothing de- Wand righteousness in the land.” The \" Cisive can be said as to the root origin branch, the sprout, the thing held in or real meaning of the word Nazareth. contempt, shall count; a thing despised There are two interpretations—one shall have dominion. When will the meaning @ sprout, a branch; the other world learn its lessons? When will the meaning a protectress, or a guard. world come to see that though He is Probably the name Nazareth came the Nazarene of men, counted nothing from the old Hebrew “ Nétzer,” which worth, He is God’s Imperial One in the » means a sprout, and so was something race? to be held in contempt. A tree is cut Micah said the King should come off, hewn down and left. One morning through Bethlehem; and He came. the passer-by sees just one green sprout Hosea said through Egypt He should /coming up from the stump; “nétzer.’”” * come, living through all oppression; It is of no use. The tree is gone. And and from Egypt He came. Jeremiah so this little town, high up off the main said Rachel should weep, but that He roads at the foot of the mountains; should Himself stop her weeping, for along which the great merchants of ; her captives would be brought back. Greece came; along which Roman le- And finally the prophets said He would gions marched, and the priests passed; be a Nazarene, a sprout; He would was held in contempt. There were dwell in Nazareth. But the Sprout be- great movements down in the valley,,, came a Branch, Spirit-clothed, and but Nazareth was so much out of reach flaming with the majesty of God. as never to be affected by them. And The whole chapter is microcosmic. there is that thought in the quotation, It is a picture for all time, until He “He shall be called a Nazarene;” a come again. It indicates the treatment » Man belonging to the city that is not Christ will receive at the hands of the worth naming; a Man off the highways world through the centuries, until He of life, knowing nothing of the great come the second time. Through every movements of the world; a Nazarene. century the critics of that chapter have In Isa. xi. 1 we read, “And there been manifest. Take these four proph- shall come forth a shoot out of the’ ecies, and what have you?
_ stock of Jesse, and a Branch out of his Homage and Hatred. roots.” It is the Hebrew word “ nét- Exile and Exodus. zer,” the same word as that from which Sorrow and Song. Nazareth is probably derived. The fig- Meanness and Majesty. ure is that of a green tree cut down. Where is the King to-day? Hated.
Isaiah has foretold this cutting down, But, thank God we bring our gold, the destruction of the nation, of the 4 frankincense, and myrrh, to lay at His country, of its city; but he says there blessed feet. shall come forth a shoot, just a little Where is the King? Exiled from sprout that nobody will think to be of /hearts and homes and lives; but, thank s value; something that everyone will de- * God, He is leading an exodus of men spise: and “ The Spirit of Jehovah shall and women. rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom What is the result of His presence and understanding, the Spirit of coun- ,in this world? Sorrow. Rachel still sel and might, the Spirit of knowledge,” / weeps for her children; the suffering and of the fear of Jehovah.” The saints are all here; but there is a prophecy declared that when Messiah song that rises high above the dirge of comes He shall be despised, counted sorrow. nothing worth, just a branch, a sprout. How is He accounted of men to-day?
19
'
[marr. 111. 1-12] MATTHEW
Men are still saying, ‘Can any good had its day. But that is not all. We thing come out of Nazareth?” only are crowning Him, we are lifting high they are now talking in past tenses and ,“ above the conflict the song that tells He
Ww saying Christianity is worn out; it has is King of kings, and Lord of lords.
MATTHEW III. 1-12
T the commencement of this pas- Prepare ye in the wilderness the way sage we read, “In those days,’ of Jehovah, make level in the desert a but the reference is not necessarily one highway for our God.” Let us en- of immediate time. Matthew takes the deavour to keep in view the whole story up after thirty years have elapsed, sweep of the prophecy of Isaiah, for we and gives us no details of the happen- can only grasp individual verses by ings of that period. A generation has great outlooks. We shall only see passed away since we saw Jesus car- where this quotation fits into the min- ried to Nazareth as He returned from istry of Jesus Christ, as we attempt to Egypt. The time of the showing of the fasten upon our minds what this proph- King is approaching; the hour at which _ecy teaches. He must be manifested to His people; Leaving any discussion of the unity the hour at which He is coming forth of the authorship of Isaiah, but remem- from privacy to publicity. He will bering that it is a unified message, there cease to tread the lowly, patient path- will be manifest a very distinct method. way of a subject merely, and will begin The book falls naturally into three great to exercise His authority by declaring divisions. There are first thirty-five His manifesto, by exhibiting the bene- chapters, constituting a great move- fits of His kingdom, and by finally ment; of judgment pronounced, shot moving to His Cross and Throne. But through again and again, as all the before His manifestation, His herald is Hebrew prophecies are, with the light seen, and it is with the herald that we of mercy, and the gleaming glory of have todo in this passage. infinite grace, that for evermore en- Let us, then, look at the herald him- wraps the judgment of God. The great self. Let us consider the ministry he subject of this first division is judg- exercised among the Hebrew people. ment. The prophet first of all utters Let us finally consider his Christian an impeachment of the nation, with ministry—that is, the ministry by which strange, alarming, and terrible denunci- he linked the old economy to the new; ation of the condition of God’s ancient culminating one dispensation, and utter- people. Then moving on, he tells the ing the word which indicated the com- story of how he was called and com-
mencement of the new movement. missioned to his work. In those chap- —
In the first four verses the man him- ters are two movements of judgment: self is presented to our view. The key- first, the judgment of the chosen people note of his ministry is struck; but we on account of their failure; secondly, are principally occupied with the man. the judgment of the nations.
Let us look at the man first according Then there is a small division in the to the old-time prophecy (ver. 3). Sec- heart of the prophecy, chapters xxxvi.- ondly let us see the man as he appeared xxxix., four chapters only, which may to his day and generation (ver. 4). be called historic; corresponding with Finally let us listen to the key-note of the story in some of the historic books his ministry (ver. 2). of the Bible. In these the prophet de-
First, then, the man, according to scribes the condition of affairs in his prophecy. Here again the Hebrew own time, and so explains the great evangelist, writing specifically from the burden of judgment that he has been Hebrew standpoint, linked the coming compelled to utter. of John with the prophecies of the past. Then at chapter xl. commences the
Turn to the prophecy of Isaiah (ch. supreme message of the Book of Isaiah, xl, 3): “The voice of one that crieth, W that for which all the rest has been
20
MATTHEW
[matr. 111. 1-12]
necessarily preparatory. In Isaiah, as in every Hebrew prophecy, judgment is not the final word, and the prophet breaks out, “Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, saith your God.” Then, as if he were listening to something that was not to come for centuries after— for an inspired man has not only keen vision, but acute hearing—he says, without naming the man, “The voice of one that crieth, Prepare ye in the wilderness the way of Jehovah, Make level in the desert a highway for our God.” The prophet has heard the cry afar off before any one else has heard it. It is a voice in the desert; but he understands it, he knows what it means, and in a moment he begins, “ Every valley shall be exalted, and every
mountain and hill shall be made low;
and the uneven shall be made level, and the rough places a plain; and the majestic description of issues moves on through chapters xl. and xli, and everything moves forward to chapter xlii. “Behold My Servant, Whom I uphold; My Chosen in Whom My soul delighteth.” From that moment the prophecy centres in, and _ proceeds through, that Servant of Jehovah.
We shall find presently in Matthew’s Gospel that he quotes this prophecy of the Servant of Jehovah. We stand
back from this old prophecy, and turn ¥
over to ch. iii. of the Gospel and read, “And in those days cometh John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, Repent ye; for the King- dom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of through Isaiah the prophet saying,
The voice of one crying in the
wilderness, Make ye ready the way of the Lord,
Make His paths straight.”
The King is coming; the Servant of , God that Isaiah described in all they remaining portion of his great book. John is preaching, and the voice that Isaiah heard with keen, quick hearing, centuries before, is singing in the wil- derness, sounding over the Jordan, through the region round Jerusalem, through Judea, penetrating to the heart of the metropolis Jerusalem. voice that foretells the advent of the
21
It is the w
Kingdom of heaven, when ‘“ Every val- ley shall be exalted, and every moun- tain and hill shall be made low.” The voice announces the new age, the new movement; a new age and movement not sentimentally, but personally gov- erned. The Kingdom is at the doors, and the fulfilling of the ancient proph- ecy, the ministry of John the Baptist commences.
Secondly, let us look at the man as he appeared to his people (ver. 4). “ Now John himself had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins, and his food was locusts and wild honey.” That is all. It is one of those pictures that has very little light and shade from without. There are no fine outlines merging into the shadows and ‘coming up into great light. There was nothing of this in John the Baptist. He was a man severe, ascetic; one bur- dened with a sense of the sin of his times.
The story of John is a wonderful one. He was born in the priesthood, and therefore for the priesthood. As to how far he and the Boy Jesus knew each other there has been much speculation. This boy John was born in remarkable circumstances. He grew up, coming to young manhood, when he should have
taken upon him the vows of the priest-
hood according to Divine and human arrangements. But elections of the past are set aside, and suddenly the young man, cared for, prayed for, and nur- tured in the home of his father, turned his back upon home, and upon the priesthood; and went, for preparation for his work, into the wilderness, and dwelt there until the hour of his mani- festation. There he may have brooded over the story of the past; brooded over the strange conviction within him that told of day-dawn at hand; brooded, if he had known the Boy Jesus, over what he had seen in Him, perchance of sim- plicity which had astonished him; brooded almost certainly over his mother’s story of his own birth, and the birth at the same time of this Boy Jesus. He thought long and in loneli- ness. It is quite true that if a man would know something of the sin of his own age, he must live in the midst of his age. But no man has ever spoken
' lived in the midst of his age.
[marr, rrr. 1-12]
MATTHEW
against the sin of his age with the au- thoritative voice of God, who has only He must also see it from the distance. This man went into the wilderness, and suddenly, without warning, he broke upon the whole nation; a great voice, ringing over the mountains and plains.
Thirdly, what washismessage? “ Re- pent ”’—Change your minds. This word, Repent, was the key-note of Jesus’ teaching. This is radical, revolutionary. A man comes out of the wilderness, and looks into the faces of the village-folk, of the suburban people, of the metro- politan people, and he says: Repent; you are all wrong; wrong at the heart and core of things; wrong in your see- ing, and therefore in your doing.
But the reason is, that the “ Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The “ Kingdom of heaven” was a current phrase of
ww
him Jerusalem, and all Judza, and all the region round about the Jordan, and they were baptized of him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins, But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said unto them, Ye generation of vipers ’—offspring, genus, kin—‘‘ who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” And yet he did not turn them back. He did not say they could not flee. He did not say their repentance was not genuine; but he told them what to do. “Bring forth, therefore, fruit worthy of repentance: and think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.” Such is the brief analysis of the He- brew ministry of John; and there are three qualities in it. First, it was at-
Jewish speech, which is almost peculiar tractive—‘ Then went out unto him
to the Gospel of Matthew, representing a perpetual consciousness in Jewish
Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region round about the Jordan;” sec-
thinking. “The Kingdom of Heaven” »® ondly, it was_convictive—‘ They were
—the theocracy, the Divine government, the heavenly Order. In earthly life the
authority of God exercised among men.\/ inyective.
Now, said this strange ascetic preacher as he came, This Kingdom is at hand. The ideal your fathers have cherished is about to be realised in your midst, and you are not ready for it. ‘“ Re- pent,’ change your minds. It was a great word and a great message, deliy- ered with no tone of tenderness judging from the records which, while meagre, are yet sufficient. There was never a tone of tenderness about John until he saw Jesus; and then the stern ascetic became full of tenderness as he used the greatest phrase of the spirit of ten- derness: “ Behold, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world.” But until the great Sin-bearer came, John was the sin-bearer in his own con- sciousness; the sin of the nation was on his heart. He was the most magnificent in many ways of all the long line of prophets, with an awful monotony in his message—“ Repent ye, for the King- dom of heaven is at hand.”
Yet his message to the Hebrew people is given a little more fully. only so far looked at the key-note. Now look at ver. 5. ‘‘Then went out unto
We have,
¥
Vv
4
baptized of him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins;” finally, it was Against the men who con- stituted the fountain-head of all Is- rael’s trouble—Pharisees, Sadducees— he flung himself in passionate protest.
We sometimes imagine that there is nothing attractive in our ministry, ex- cept the winning, wooing note. But there are times when we seem to need again the voice of the herald; and when God finds a John the Baptist and sends him out, his message is full of attractiveness. This is a great picture of attractiveness, of a man with a note of conviction in his message and au- thority in the way that he deals with sin. He came with no theology; he came with no philosophy to discuss; he came with no new cult to introduce; he did not come to ask men to consider a position which they could accept or re- ject as they pleased; he came with the thundering voice of a great inspiration —‘‘ Repent ;” and the message of God’s authority stirred every place, and every one. Thank God it is true to-day, We _do not need one Gospel for the city, and another for the suburbs, and another for the country. Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the villages need the
22
MATTHEW
[mat?, 111. 1-121
same message. Before Jesus come, John Baptist must come to the city, and suburbs, and country; and as his mes- sage is heard there will be attractive- ness in it.
Then notice, his message was convic- tive. At least men acknowledged the truth externally, and submitted to the baptism which was a symbol of their repentance. Of course it all fell short there. It can never be any more than that. John Baptist can never communi- cate life. Coming after him is the Sin- bearer, the great tender-hearted King of men, Who does not only produce re- pentance, but gives life, If we are con- vinced of sin, thank God for it, but it is not enough. The crowds that thronged the banks of the Jordan, and went down into its waters of baptism, which was a baptism of repentance, were very sin- cere; but to accept Jesus there must be something more than this.
Once again, notice the invective note in his preaching. Now the leaders were responsible—Pharisees and Sadducees. The Pharisee was a ritualist; the Sad- ducee a rationalist. The Pharisee be- lieved in all supernatural things, but imagined that they could be expressed in external things, and that is always the story of ritualism. The Sadducees did not believe in angel, spirit, or resur- rection. They were rationalists, cold and hard. These are the forces that damn a people, that blight a nation. John saw them coming; the ritualists and the rationalists, who with their splendid observance of externalities and their inward corruptness of life, had blighted the whole nation. And John said with roughness, ‘“‘ Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come,” ye kin of vipers? And then, as if he had said: You have come, and you say you repent; but by you, more than by all others, must be manifested the reality of your repentance. “Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of repentance ;” trust no longer in your physical rela- tionship to Abraham—* God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.”
What a message it was! It must have burned and scorched these men. The more one studies it the more glad one is that Jesus’ ministry of renewing
followed. Thank God that the message to-day is that of this blessed King! Notice what John said about the King, for after all it is the supreme matter. “And even now the axe lieth at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.” It is a wonderful message! God help us to catch its notes. The first thing that John testifies, is to the coming One, and he says two things of Him—first, He is supreme in
/ His Person; secondly, He is supreme
in His work. There is a humility about this; there is a touch of modesty in it; and the difference between a real hu- mility and a mock humility, we all know. Real humility never knows it is
~“ humble; mock humility is proud of its
humility. ‘He that cometh after me is mightier than I, Whose shoes I am not worthy to bear.” John was quite right. We will take Another’s estimate of John: “Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women, there hath not arisen a greater than John the Baptist.” This is what the King said of him, and this is true also. And yet, greatest of women born, said the King, he was not worthy to bear the shoes of the King. This is quite true.
There is a supreme difference in their work. We need not describe the difference between the two men—the tugged and rough prophet, and the magnificent and majestic King, Whose very gentleness is mightier than the hurricane of His herald. “Thy gentle- ness hath made me great.” The con- trast is not only in the persons; it is in their work. “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He that cometh after me is mightier than I— He shall baptise you in the Holy Spirit and in fire ””—I lead you to the external symbol of your repentance; He shall
ywhelm you in the fire-whelming of the
v Holy Ghost, that burns your sin out of
you, and re-makes you. I have to do, said John, with the external thing— water, that which can only touch the surface of things; He shall work with fire, that which shall go through everything.
That is the difference between Jesus and John to-day. If we listen to the
23
[matxt. 111. 13-17]
MATTHEW
message of John only, we shall be busy with water-baptism and washing. But if we listen to the message of Jesus, the fire will burn, and burn to purity, and burn to realisation, and burn to crown- ing. The work of Jesus is superior, to the work of John. Listen to what John says about His methods. ‘This is to be a strange and
be hewn down; the chaff is to be driven away and burnt,—constructive, for the threshing-floor is to be cleansed; the wheat is to be gathered and garnered, and men are to be fire-baptized. Nineteen centuries have gone since this rugged prophet heralded the com- ing of the King. The work of Jesus has proceeded in human history for
wonderful King Who is coming. He isy#nineteen centuries on exactly the lines
to be destructive and constructive in His method; and His victories are to be destructive and constructive.
His methods of destruction are, “ the axe,” “the fan,” and “the fire.” “The axe lieth at the root of the trees,” said John. It is ready. He is coming, and
he laid down. Jesus Christ has always been the King of destruction and con- struction. Glance back; think of the centuries, and think of the influence of Jesus in the centuries. What has He done? Oh! the things He has burnt up. Oh! the things He has built. Al-
His “fan is in His hand,” the fan that / ways fanning, and chaff is flung before
winnows. And the fire will burn.
But His methods are constructive. He shall baptize you with fire; He shall cleanse the threshing-floor, not destroy it, and “ He will gather His wheat into the garner.” Mark the contrast. The axe at the root of the trees for destruc- tion—for the cutting off of the fruit- less; the fan for scattering the chaff; the fire for immediately devouring the chaff. But mark the constructive work. The fire is for cleansing and energy; the cleansing of the threshing-floor, that perfect work may go forward, and the garnering and the gathering in of the wheat. It is the same thing, and the same instrument that does two opposite things. The fan drives away the chaff, leaving the wheat. The fire burns up the thing that cannot stand its fierce flame; and perfects that which can bear the flame. And so the King Who comes is to be destructive and constructive— destructive, for the fruitless tree is to
it; always a gatherer, and the wheat is being garnered. It is so to-day. The axe of Jesus lies at the root of the tree that is fruitless. The winnowing fan of Christ is at work; the chaff must go. Do you imagine that after all the chaff is going to submerge the wheat, and fruitless trees crowd out the fruit- bearing vines of God? Then you do not know the King. His fan is in His hand, and if we live on the mountains of God, we shall feel the wind of God which blows and scatters things which must go.
The question of importance for us, for our work in the little day God allows us to live, is this: Am I chaff, or wheat? Is the work I am doing chaff or wheat? If I am chaff, His wind will blow me to the unquenchable fire; but if I am wheat, He will gather me, and garner me. So with my work, and with everything.
MATTHEW III. 13-17
HESE few verses reveal the rela-
tion of the King to heaven, as they tell the story of His attestation and anointing.
The paragraph commences with the word “ then,’ which connects it with what has preceded, and reminds us that these events took place in a time of general consciousness of sin, and of that great moral movement throughout the whole region consequent upon the
24
ministry of John the Baptist. Then, the King came out of seclusion to manifest Himself to men. The voice had cried in the wilderness, and the way of the Lord was thus made ready, and His paths made straight. At the set time, the King came from privacy into pub- licity.” From the quiet seclusion of the years spent in Nazareth, He came to inaugurate His work and assume His office.
™=.
MATTHEW
[matt, 111. 13-17]
In these few verses there are three matters for our consideration: the bap- tism of the King; His anointing; and the Divine word concerning Him.
Notice that it is carefully stated that He came “to be baptized.” His coming was of set purpose, and for a special reason. Considering the note of John’s message, and the meaning of-his min- istry, this action on the part of Jesus at once arrests attention and arouses inquiry. John had been preaching re- pentance, and his baptism was the bap- tism of repentance. All men had crowded to him—the men of the city, of Judea, of the wayside, and of the whole region of Jordan. Among the rest, Jesus of Nazareth set His face towards the place where the prophet’s voice was heard and the prophet’s baptism was being administered. He set His face, moreover, not as one of a curious multitude going to listen and observe, but for the special purpose of being baptized. We ask with wonder and amazement, Why should He be baptized with the baptism of repen- tance? That is the question to which we are to attempt to find an answer.
I. In looking at the baptism let us first notice its place in the life of Jesus. Forgetting His office, which is the su- preme matter in this Gospel; turning our attention from the fact that He is King, anointed of God from eternity for this work, we will simply look at Him
v
as the Man as He has appeared before./
us in the story of His genealogy and birth. The life of Jesus was absolutely sinless. If He were not sinless, then we have no Gospel. All the value of His dying depends upon the virtue of His living. Why, then, did the Sinless submit to a baptism of repentance? John looked into the face of this one Man, among all other men coming to his baptism; and with the keen, quick insight of the truly inspired seer, he saw the difference. He had been bap- tizing many men as they had pressed to him, and as he looked upon their faces he had seen in all of them the evidences of anxiety for repentance. But when this Man came to him, One among a crowd, so like them that the crowd did not distinguish Him, there was yet a difference. John said, “In
the midst of you standeth One Whom ye know not.” And then John looked at Him and said, ‘“‘I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me?”
John, looking into His face, became conscious of the absolute perfection and
inless spotlessness of this Man. He was amazed and arrested; he felt as if he dare not lay his hands upon that Man to immerse Him in the waters of the Jordan,
So far as the human life of Jesus is concerned, John was perfectly right in that feeling. There was no place for John’s baptism in the life of Jesus; He had nothing to repent of, no sin to be put away, the putting away of which was symbolised in this ablution in water. If Jesus was simply living out a human life to consummation, which would henceforth be pattern and ideal only, then that baptism was out of place, having neither value nor meaning.
Then we must go further if we are to understand the meaning of the bap- tism of Jesus. If it did not occupy a place in the life of Jesus, did it occupy a place in the mission of the King?
The question suggests the answer. When John was reluctant, and felt he could not lay his hands upon Jesus to baptize Him, Jesus looked at him and said, “Suffer it now; for thus it be- cometh us”—that was John and Him- self—“ Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness ””—thus it becometh you to act with Me, and Me to act with you for the fulfilment of righteousness.
In that statement we find the mean- ing. The supreme element in the bap- tism of Jesus was the identification of
the Sinless with the sinner. He Who
25
had no sin to repent of, took His place among those who had sin to repent of. He Who was sinless, went down into the baptism that was the portion of the sinner.
In Isaiah liii. we read, “He... was numbered with the transgressors.” There, in baptism as in incarnation and birth, and finally and for consummation, in the mystery of His Passion, we see the King identifying Himself with the people over whom He is to reign, in the fact of their deepest need, and direst failure. This chapter of Isaiah
——
LN
(matt, 111. 13-17]
MATTHEW
is the one in which the picture of the Servant of God finds its culminating glory. The prophecy of the forerunner, which was fulfilled in the ministry of John, is found in chapter xl. In chap- ter xlii. is recorded the beginning, of the new movement, “Behold My Ser- vant,” and from there onwards, the Servant of the Lord is presented. In chapter liii. we see the Servant of the Lord rejected, bruised, cast out; the suffering Messiah, the King that men will not have. . Towards its close we have the story of His Person, and of His ultimate victory, and in verse 11 we find these words, ‘He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied. By the knowledge of Him- self shall my righteous Servant jus- tify many; and He shall bear their iniquities.”
These words, “ My righteous Servant shall justify many,” are the explana- tion of the meaning of Jesus when He said to John, ‘ Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.” By identifica- tion with them in sin and suffering “He bare the sin of many.” He identified Himself with them in their sins, and “was numbered with the transgressors ;” and therefore “by the knowledge of Himself shall My right- eous Servant justify many.” His knowledge of Himself is His first-hand knowledge (see John ii. 24, 25), and so is knowledge of the need, knowledge of the remedy, and consent to all such knowledge is involved. “ He shall bear their iniquities.” The King was facing the problem of obtaining His Kingdom, and He faced first the sin of man. He submitted to the baptism of John, in- dicating by this symbolic action His identification of Himself with His peo- ple in their sin, in order that He may put that sin away, and build and estab-
Vv lish the Kingdom of God, and so fulfil
all righteousness. His going down into the waters of
<=
a
»ready kindled!
twice subsequently. Both Matthew and Mark tell the story of some office- seeking disciples who asked to sit one on the right hand, and the other on the left in His Kingdom. And He looked at them and said, “ Are ye able to drink the cup that I drink? or to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” Perhaps they thought He was
‘speaking of that past baptism in water,
for they said, “We are able.” We know He was looking on to that other baptism of which the first baptism was the foreshadowing and the prophecy— the Passion Baptism, That was His great baptism.
Only on one other occasion did He make reference to His own personal baptism. In that wonderful soliloquy of His recorded by Luke, when, sur- rounded by His own disciples and op- pressed, He broke out into these words, “T came to cast fire upon the earth; and what will I? Ob that it were al- But I have a bapiism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished?” John baptized in water. Jesus came to baptize with fire; but He could not
Wbaptize with fire, until He Himself had
=
been baptized in the whelming waters of death.
Thus the King is seen commencing His public ministry. There lie behind Him the quiet years of seclusion and preparation, the years in which He has done the Will of God in the common- place. Now the great crisis has come. He will presently enunciate the laws of His Kingdom, personally exhibit the benefits of that Kingdom; and enforce the claims of His Kingship. He knows that the culminating work will be the Cross; that these multitudes, baptized of John, will reject Him. He knows that He cannot win them by His ex- ample and by preaching, but only by the way of His dying. He knows the issue of sin. These sinners on the banks
baptism was a consent and a prophecy. \) of the Jordan are making necessary His
It was a consent to the only method by which the King could save from sin; and it uttered the prophecy of that final baptism towards which His face was set through all the days of public min- istry—the baptism of His Passion. Jesus referred to personal baptism only
26
death—death in its profoundest sense; and as He watches them going down to those waters, He goes with them, and in that whelming in the Jordan He typifies and prophesies that death- whelming through which He, the Inno- cent, will presently pass in order to
:
MATTHEW
[mMatt, 111. 13-17]
fulfil all righteousness, to cancel sin, to banish it, to make it not to be; that He may build His Kingdom on the founda- tions of righteousness, and “ bring forth the topstone with shoutings of Grace.” By His knowledge—as Isaiah said long before—by His knowledge of the need, and of the real meaning of sin; by His knowledge of the way by which men may be redeemed, His soul consents to an identification that shall issue in death, the supreme character of which shall be expressed by the terrible words, “The pains of Sheol gat hold upon Me.” And as He goes down into these waters of baptism He consents to that mission, and formally commits “Himself to the cause of man, for man’s saving.
This baptism of Jesus has no applica- tion to us. We rob this passage of all its significance when we say that as Jesus was baptized, therefore we ought to be baptized. Let us not take hold of this great and marvellous passage, and use it in a small and unworthy way. We have something to do with this bap- tism of Jesus, but it is a baptism that we cannot be baptized with save by identification through His grace. “ The cup that I’ drink ye shall drink; and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized.” That was a word of infinite love.
There are two applications of the great baptism—that of judgment and of death, and that of life and of fire. We share only in that of life and fire. That, He can only bestow upon us by the way of judgment and of death; by the mys- tery of His Cross. Thus He fulfilled all righteousness. By His baptism He com- mitted Himself to men, and to the pur- poses of God; consented at the begin- ning of His public ministry to God’s method for the saving of men.
II. Now let us turn to that which im- mediately followed the baptism. “ And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway from the water; and lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending as a
/Himself in this form before.
N
of this anointing, in the life of Jesus? Jesus did not now for the first time re- ceive the Holy Spirit. There was a per- manent relation between Jesus and the Spirit of God. He was, in a sense in which none other ever has been or can be, born of the Holy Ghost; His devel- opment had been under the control of the Spirit of God. When He came to baptism, He was a Man of the Spirit of God, as all men might have been, had there been no sin. Jesus was a natural Man; not as Paul uses the word, not in the theological sense, but in the simpler sense that lies behind the theological sense. We are told that the natural man is the sinner, and there are present senses in which that is true; but God’s ideal for a man is that he should live in perpetual communion with the Spirit of God. That is truly natural life. The natural life of the ideal man is super- natural. The whole life of Jesus was dominated by the Spirit of God. He willed, and thought, and lived under the Spirit’s power, and illumination, and impulse.
Therefore without question this was a special anointing of Jesus as He en- tered upon His public ministry. The Spirit of God never appears under the figure of a dove anywhere save here. The Spirit of God never manifested We have no right to pray that the Spirit may descend on us as a dove. It descended on Him in this outward, and visible, and symbolic fashion, and on Him alone.
It has been said by Puritan writers that the dove is among the birds what
_ the lamb is among the beasts—a symbol
; ¥
dove, and coming upon Him; and lo, a ;
Voice out of the heavens, saying, This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.” There is little doubt that none saw this descent of the Spirit save Tesus and John. What was the meaning
27
of great gentleness and sweetness. Jesus used the figure of a dove in that application in those remarkable words when He said to His disciples that they were to be “wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” ‘The dove and the lamb are gentle and harmless in their character; and they are therefore also types of sacrifice. Jesus was led “as a lamb... to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is dumb ” so was He.
The Spirit therefore came upon Him as a dove. The Book of Leviticus de- picts this strange yet wonderful rite of
[matr?, 111. 13-17]
MATTHEW
Hebraism which typified and shadowed sacrifice. In the great sin-offerings >men brought offerings graded, as to
. value, according to their social position.
A man who could afford it brought a
bullock, another would offer a lamb, and
the poorest brought a dove. It is inter- esting to remember that when Mary brought Jesus up to the Temple, her offering was a dove. ‘The dove there- fore is the bird that signifies patience, gentleness, harmlessness; and is the type of sacrifice possible to the lowliest of the people.
We must put ourselves back into Hebrew thinking to understand these things, and their spiritual significances. Matthew wrote his Gospel specifically for the Jew. When the Hebrew heard of a dove, ot of a lamb, he always thought of a sacrifice for sin. The coming of the Spirit as a bird of sacri- fice for sin for the lowliest was the equipment of Jesus for the carrying out of the deepest purpose of sacrifice. He had just consented to death in His whelming in the waters, and the Spirit of God fell upon Him as a dove. The bird of sacrifice for sin in the ancient economy rested in holy gentleness upon Him, Who is God’s one, perfect, final
wy
III. Finally we listen to the attesta- tion. The Voice is heard saying: “ This is My Beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.” We must interpret that Di- vine affirmation by,the second Psalm, in which we see the anointing of the Son, and the King, “ upon His holy hill of Zion.” Therein we hear the decree of God:
“ Jehovah said unto Me, Thou art S My Son; * This day have I begotten Thee.”
That is one of the most glorious references to the Son of God as the reigning King that the Old Testament Scriptures contain. God’s King is to ask for the nations, and possess them with the heathen, and hold them for an inheritance. “Thou art My Son.” The thought of the Scriptures that He was a Son runs through the old Hebrew prophecies, and ritual, and thinking. Now at last, on the banks of the Jor- dan, God says, “ This is My . . . Son.” This is the Son of man, but He is “ My . .. son,” Whose advent the prophets foretold. Men have been waiting and looking for His appearing; calling to the watchers on the mountains, and asking, “ What of the night?” They
a
v
J
Sacrifice for sin. The dove is the em- .jhave wondered at the delay of His
blem of weakness; but the Spirit of God in the form of a dove is an emblem of power in gentleness—Deity submis- sive to sacrifice for the salvation of men. This was an anointing for death, for atonement. It was not simply an
coming, and have cried out through the days, Come quickly! “This is My... Son.” So God marks out the King. But God declares another thing con- cerning Him. “In Whom I am well pleased.” This declaration flashes its
anointing for preaching, but for living ylight back on those hidden years of
in order to dying. He had consented to death; and Heaven crowned Him with power for that death. “Christ... through the eternal Spirit, offered Him- self without blemish unto God;” and when the Spirit came as a dove, it was for that crowning and that purpose. The King as a man is energised by God for dealing with that which is funda- mentally wrong in the Kingdom, and setting it right. God clothes Himself with man that He may proceed to the redemption of the lost race; and the Son is enwrapped in the power of the Spirit’s anointing, and crowned with the dove-like form. So the King faces the conflict, already conquering in the glory of the victory that is to be.
Nazareth. We have no chronicle of those years. There is an almost com- plete silence from the time He was twelve years of age to His thirtieth year. It is now at thirty years of age we see Him on the banks of the Jor- dan, spotless, and sinless, and ready for sacrifice. One’s mind goes necessarily” back to the old economy, and we see the priest examining the sacrifice, which must be without blemish. Is this Man without blemish? God says “I am well pleased.” He sets the seal of perfec- tion upon the hidden years. We want to know no more. We ask for no de- tails; it is enough.
In Nazareth He has pleased God as a Man; He has done what no other did,
28
MATTHEW
[mat tv. 1-11]
or could do, since man fell by sin. And so the light is flashed upon the past, and shows its perfection.
But there is a further value. Said Jesus, “ Therefore doth the Father love Me, because I lay down My life.” And when God said, “I am well pleased,” it was a declaration of the Divine com- -placency with the act of baptism, which indicated perfect union with God in the purpose of salvation, even by the way of the Cross of death. :
There was the most perfect unity of , purpose and of spirit between the Father and the Son through all the process of redemption. Smitten? Yes. Afflicted? Yes. Bruised? Yes. Be- cause of righteousness and holiness? Yes. But, “In all their affliction ”— even in the affliction of the Cross— “ He was afflicted,” not merely as Man, but One with God Himself working for
salvation. “ Therefore doth the Father love Me”—because of this accomplish- ment. And as He sets His face toward the Cross, in perfect union with the Will of God, God breaks the silence and says, “I am well pleased.”
Thus in baptism He assumed respon- sibility for sinning men; by the anoint- ing of the Spirit He was crowned and empowered; and by the Divine Voice He was attested God’s King, set upon the holy hill of Zion.
Let us close with the words of the Psalmist :
‘Now therefore be wise, O ye kings: Be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve Jehovah with fear,
And rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish in the way,
For His wrath will soon be kindled.
Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.”
MATTHEW IV. 1-11
E have now to consider the King in His relation to the great under-world of evil, and to its god, ~ “the prince of the power of the air.” The King has come, not merely to reign. There is an initial work devolv- ing upon Him—that of subduing the Kingdom to Himself. He does not enter into a Kingdom waiting for Him, re- sponsive to His claim. He comes to a Kingdom characterised by anarchy and rebellion. In God’s economy of the Kingdom, a Man is to be King. But this Man, if indeed He is to receive the Kingdom, and reign over it, must be demonstrated as personally victorious over these forces of antagonism, by vic- tory over the master foe. The King has been attested as being in perfect har- mony with the order and beauty of the heavens, in the word that God spoke at His baptism, “This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.” But He is now to face the disorder and the ugliness of the abyss. Goodness at its highest He knows, and is. Evil at its lowest He must face, and overcome. The subject reveals Him to us in three ways: first, as perfect Man; sec- ondly, as Man demonstrated perfect
)
29
through testing; and finally, as Man
victorious, and therefore fitted for supremacy. I. In this story of the temptation,
the King is revealed as perfect Man. Turning our attention for a moment from the enemy and his method, and fixing it upon the Person of Jesus, we see in the background, not distinctly described, but most evidently present, God’s ideal of humanity. This is brought out in the threefold movement of temptation.
This temptation is an orderly tempta- tion, if we may use such a word in speaking of any method of hell; it is utterly disorderly in the profounder sense; but it is a scientific and system- atic attack upon a Man. It is this we need to see. These temptations are not the swift, sudden, subtle, insidious temptations that sweep upon men. Our Lord faced such also; but these consti- tute an organised and systematic attack upon a man in every department of his life.
- Mark in one brief glance the order of the temptations. First, an appeal to the physical nature—bread; secondly, an appeal to the spiritual nature—trust
[matt, tv, 1-11]
MATTHEW
in God; finally an appeal to the voca- tional purpose—Here are the Kingdoms of the world for which Thou hast come, take them from me.
In that glance there stands revealed in all the sombre shade, and yet .the vivid light of the wilderness, God’s’ Man. What is man? Physical and spiritual in being; yet existing, not merely for the sake of existence, but ” for a purpose. Material, spiritual, voca- tional. In this order Matthew records the temptations.
We see Jesus in this first temptation as of the earth. He is of the material order, consciously realising all the facts of the material life, its limitations and its necessities. He depends upon the material for the sustenance of the ma- terial side of His nature; He is a Man Who fasts for a long time, but after-v wards becomes conscious of His hunger. Superior, in His material nature, to all the material order; able for a period not to eat; yet needing to eat eventu- ally in order to the sustenance of His life. That is the first fact about man, any man. There are differences be- tween this Man and other men, because others are not perfect men; they are members of a ruined and fallen race. This Man is a perfect Man according to the Divine pattern, but in the essential facts of being He is our Kinsman. We
are children of the earth, and the first
thing we come into contact with, if we meet each other, is the material. We do not know the spiritual fact of the man we meet in the street. We must get nearer to him before we can know that. Here in the wilderness is Jesus of Nazareth—of the dust, but crowned and glorified; yet, dust as every man is. Man on his physical side is the highest and final fact in God’s material cre- ation, superior to everything else; ris- ing over every form of life, master of the rest, regnant in the midst of a magnificent creation, of which he is the consummation and culmination. The physical side is temporal, transient; but it is essential to this strange and mar- vellous thing which we speak of as hu- man nature. In the second of these temptations we y
see Jesus, no longer of the earth, ma- terial; but of the infinite, spiritual. In
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that spiritual nature He is conscious of God, seeks to know the will of God, is submissive to the spiritual order, yields to the law of God.
On the material side He is of the earth, and something of the earth is needed to sustain Him—bread. On the spiritual side He is of the infinite, and something of the infinite is needed to sustain Him. Thus here we see a Man, physical and spiritual, but the spiritual is the deepest fact in His life, as it is the deepest fact in every life. The physical is temporary, transient, and passing; the spiritual is the abiding and the supreme.
Then once again, in the third tempta- tion, Jesus is seen as existing for a pur- pose. He was born to serve. He was equipped in His being for service. He knew that service could only be ren- dered as He worshipped God. “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.”
Here, then, is revealed the Man Whom God ordained to be King—God’s archetypal Man, the perfect Man—and as we look at Him we see that the su- preme end of life is vocation; that the essence of life is spiritual; that the present expression of the spiritual fact and vocation is physical. ‘Temptation commences in the external, which is physical; passes to the internal, which is spiritual; attacks finally the voca- tional, which is the supreme thing in the life of every man. This is the picture of human life, according to the purpose of God.
The government of such beings is
‘placed by God in the authority of One
of them; but the King must be unim- paired in realisation of the Divine Ideal. A man who has failed at any point cannot govern men. He cannot govern those who have not failed, and he certainly cannot redeem those who have failed. A man who has prosti- tuted his physical nature to base uses; a man who has silenced and stifled and dwarfed his spiritual nature; a man who has failed to realise his vocation, cannot be king. An imperfect being cannot demand our loyalty; we cannot be loyal to inferiority; we cannot bow the knee and worship in the presence
MATTHEW
[matrt, tv. 1-11]
of anything other than perfection. That is only one side of the great story.
See it from the other side, and in view of the fact with which we com- menced this study—that the King has first to subdue to Himself a Kingdom full of anarchy and rebellion. He can- not do it if there be anarchy in His own personality. If there be failure in His own life, His arm is paralysed, His heart lacks courage, and He cannot re- deem. There must be the perfection of humanity in order to reign over humanity.
II. Therefore, in order to reign, the perfect One must be demonstrated per- fect through testing.
Here we touch the deepest mystery and majesty of human nature. The awful and yet magnificent responsibility of choice is imposed upon every indi- vidual. Man stands in his probation between two possibilities. He can use his whole nature in response to evil, or to good, both in the material and spiri- tual realms, for evil and good assault and woo him.
Again we are bound to pause and make a distinction between the perfect Man and ourselves. we are called to choose between evil and good, but we start in life, and find that when the choice is presented to us we would do the good, but evil is pres-
It is still true that |
Standing there, with a perfect Man- hood in the presence of temptation, He must be tested, and make His choice between the good and the evil.
The first purpose of the enemy is the spoiling of the instrument of expression. He appeals to the physical, he appeals to the material, he appeals to that ex- ternal fact in the Person of Jesus, through which impressions are received by the spirit, and through which the spirit for a while is to express itself. The occasion of the testing is the proper desire for sustenance. This Man felt the clamant cry of the physical, for material sustenance. Here was His infirmity.
What is an infirmity? We are told by the writer of the letter to the He- brews that “we have not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.’ What are these infirmities? A man with an atrociously bad temper says, That is my infirmity. That is not so; that uncontrolled temper is sin. A man with some evil habit, for which he blames his father, says, That is my infirmity. It is not; it is sin. An infirmity is a weakened power that requires strengthening. You go forth to toil and work, and presently there comes to you the sense of hunger. That is an infirmity. Oh, you say, I always thought hunger was a sign of strength.
ent with us; and that perpetually in our No, it is a sign of weakened strength,
life, we want to choose the good, and would choose it, but the force and pas- sion of evil and the feebleness resulting therefrom are in us, and we cannot. Some man says, That is exactly the truth. That is what I want explained in my case. What am I todo? In an- swer—“ Where sin abounded, grace did abound more exceedingly,” and while in our own unaided strength, the strength of the nature into which we were born, we cannot do good; in the strength and victory that this Man won, and the work He did, we can choose and do the good if we will, and there is no reason why any man should continue in sin. But let us get back to Jesus in the wilderness. He stood alone. There were no forces burning within Him which He could not overcome. He oc- cupied the position which was occupied by the first Adam before he failed.
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a beneficent, beautiful sign, a sign that you are in health, a sign that God is still governing your life, at least on the physical side. Your hunger is the voice that says, Supply sustenance, and the thing that makes you need sustenance is that the physical part of you is weak- ened for the moment. That is your in- firmity. That weakening is the avenue through which temptation comes; it pre- sents itself to the clamant cry of a weakened power, properly weakened through exercise. And a man who never weakens his powers is wasting his life; a man who never takes the force that is in him and uses it until it grows a little flaccid and nerves give way, is wasting his life. Yet that weakened power is the opportunity of temptation.
Now, what is the testing? It is as though the enemy had said: There is
[matt tv. 1-11]
MATTHEW
an inter-relation between the two sides
_of Thy nature. The physical is hun- gry; but Thou art the Son of God, Thou art offspring of God, Thou art kin of God; there is in Thee this spiritual en- tity. Turn Thy spiritual nature into a means of satisfying Thy material need without reference to the will of God. If Thou art the Son of God, if Thou hast a spiritual nature. use that power in order to turn stones into bread, and satisfy Thy physical need. Act for Thyself, prove Thy Sonship by Thy independence.
The perfection of the Man Jesus is y.
demonstrated in His refusal. Hunger was not wrong; bread was not an im- proper thing; but Jesus stands for ever- more in the isolated splendour of the wilderness saying to man; It is better
to be hungry than to be fed without
reference to the will of God. I cannot,
He says, take hold of a spiritual capac- | ity, and use it for the supply of a proper ©
physical need, without reference to the will of My Father. I cannot act in in- dependence as a Son; the essence of Sonship is obedience; and if for the moment the circumstances into which the Spirit has led Me necessitate My hunger, then I will do nothing to alter the Divine condition and surrounding. I do not live only by bread; man lives also by the word of God—that which conditions His life. And so in the first temptation against the physical He is victorious.
Next came the test of the spiritual. What is the purpose here? If, in the first, it was the spoliation of the in- strument, here it is the ruin of the essential,
The occasion of the test of the spiri- tual is the strain which has just been put upon the spiritual relationship by the choice made to suffer hunger by faith in God. The material victory was a spiritual victory. And in the moment of that victory what happened? A Man feeling all the pangs of hunger, all the weariness of weakness, said; I choose the hunger, and choose the weakness, because, essentially, I am not material, but spiritual. And the hunger contin- ues, and there is a strain put upon re-
again, and says, “If Thou art the Son of God.”
The suggestion is that He should make improper use of the relation be- tween the spiritual essence, and the physical mode of expression; that He should take the instrument, and venture something heroic in demonstration of the perfection of His spiritual nature. It is as though the enemy had said to the perfect Man, You have declared your allegiance in response to my first temptation; you have declared your trust in God; very well; if you do trust Him, venture something on your trust; do something heroic; do something splendid; show how much you trust in God by flinging yourself from the pin- nacle of the temple.
The moment a man begins to tempt God, to prove trust; he proves that he does not trust. The moment a man begins to do something heroic to demon- strate trust, he gives evidence that trust is lacking. Perfect trust is quiet, and waits. Trust trembling, wants to do ° something heroic to make it steady. Jesus said, No, My trust is so perfect that I need to do nothing heroic to prove it. “Thou shalt not tempt.” The spiritual nature retained its dig- nity; He refused to do anything spectacular.
Finally, the temptation moved into the last realm. Its purpose was the prevention of the accomplishment of the work of the King. Its occasion was the consciousness of victory already won, and the consequent new flaming of the supreme passion to serve. The moment you have won a great victory, in the power of the victory won, you want to be doing. Jesus had won a victory in the physical realm, and had won a victory in the spiritual realm. Now the enemy came again and said: Well, you have won, you have not failed as an instrument; now here is your work; here are the kingdoms of the world; you have come for them; give me one moment’s homage, and I will abdicate. What a lie it was!
Did he imagine for a moment. that he could deceive Immaculate Purity this way? He was a liar from the begin-
lationship; and as the strain is put W ning, and he never lied more directly—
upon relationship the tempter comes
: will give Thee the kingdoms! Never
MATTHEW
[mMatt. tv. 12-25]
would he have done so. That was the tempting bait. Jesus saw the king- doms, and their glory, but He saw all the permeating influence of evil and destruction, and He knew—had He not consented to it in baptism ?—that these kingdoms could only be won by blood and suffering, and death. And with the voice of quiet authority, He said, ‘‘ Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and Him only shalt thou serve,” which is to say, My vocational power is as- sured under the Divine Government, and I abide there. I will take these kingdoms from God, in God’s way. In His answer there is a prophecy, a flam- ing prophecy. “Get thee hence.” Thou dost offer Me the kingdoms if I will _give thee homage; I will take the king- doms by turning thee out: “‘ Get thee hence, Satan!” Thus the King is demonstrated perfect by victory.
III. The great value of all this is discovered as it is remembered that the victory was won wholly within the sphere of human life. To every assault of evil He has answered wholly as Man. There is no obtrusion of Deity into the conflict. The law He quoted was man’s law, and in human obedience to that law, He has won.
But His victory was the victory of a
Man with God. Every man by original design and creation is offspring of God, and has certain claims on God. Man can urge his claim on God if he fulfils the law of God. Jesus fulfilled the law, and urged His claim, and in communion with God, He won His victory.
And yet, thank God, His victory was won not only as Man, and as Man with God, but for men. To defeat the victor is to save the vanquished, and one reads that one brief sentence at the close, that makes one’s soul thrill with music —‘the devil leaveth Him.”
Thus the great personal conflict is over. There are other battles to be fought and won, but they will be in more direct sense representative and redeeming. Never again will the foe directly attack Him, and in the open. The attack was made against every vul- nerable point—hunger, trust, and re- sponsibility—and when these are held, there remains no other avenue through which the foe can assault the citadel of the human will. The need of material sustenance, the spirit’s confidence in God, and the carrying out of a Divine commission in a Divine way, these are all the avenues. The King has held every one. His defeated foe now leaves Him, and the King in personal life, and character, and victory, holds the field.
MATTHEW IV. 12-25
T is quite plain that between verses 11 and 12 there is a gap in the chronology. It is interesting and re- markable, that the three evangelists whom we describe as synoptists, omit a section of the public ministry of Jesus, covering twelve months. There can be no doubt that such a period of time elapsed between verses 11 and 12, in this fourth chapter of Matthew. We read, “‘Then the devil leaveth Him; and behold, angels came and ministered unto Him;” and immediately following, “Now when He heard that John was delivered up”’—that is, when John was arrested and imprisoned—“ He with- drew into Galilee.” Although we are studying the Gospel of Matthew, it will not be out of place, and certainly not lacking in interest, if
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we attempt to fill up the gap, in order that we may know what happened in the ministry of Jesus.
Coming back from the wilderness, and from His temptation, Jesus seems to have lingered in the neighbourhood of John’s ministry for at least three days. On the first day, He stood amongst the crowd unrecognized by them, but discovered by John. On that first day John said, ‘In the midst of you standeth One Whom ye know not.” On the second day, for some purpose, Jesus moved through the crowd towards John himself, and John saw Him com- ing to him, and then made his great pronouncement, ‘“ Behold, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world!” On the third day, Jesus was again seen by John, but walking away ;
e
[matt. tv. 12-25]
MATTHEW
and as He went, John cried out, “ Be- hold the Lamb of God,” and immedi- ately two at least of John’s disciples left him, and followed Jesus. On the first day, John spoke of the perfect Per- son—‘‘In the midst of you standeth One Whom ye know not, even He that cometh after me, the latchet of Whose shoe I am not worthy to unloose.” On the second day he spoke of the perfect Propitiation—“* The Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world!” On the last day he spoke of the perfect Pattern—‘ The Lamb of God.”
Immediately following this, turned to John’s disciples who came after Him, and said, “ What seek ye?” One of them replied by asking, “‘ Rabbi, where abidest Thou?” “Come and ye shall see.” And they followed Him. One of them was Andrew. The other is not named. Andrew immediately found Simon his brother, and brought him to Jesus. And Jesus “findeth Philip.” Whether He knew him before or not, we cannot tell, but He sought him and found him. And “ Philip findeth Nathanael.” That group constituted the first nucleus of disciples.
But we are not yet at the point in the history which Matthew records. The disciples and Jesus went to Cana of Galilee. Jesus went as a guest. It was a purely social function. He tarried for two or three days down in Capernaum, and then went on to Jerusalem; pré& sented Himself in the Temple; and cleansed it. This was His official pre- sentation to the rulers of His people. Then we have an account of His con- versation with Nicodemus, after which He left the metropolis and came into Judea. John was still pursuing his ministry, and “ baptizing in A‘non near to Salim, because there was much water there.” Jesus preached in Judea, and baptized (though He did not baptize personally, but His disciples for Him).
Thus He did not commence to exer- cise His definitely official ministry as King until John’s ministry ended, through his arrest. These things that John records for us are of value, but they have a peculiar relation to the message of John.
In this Gospel of Matthew all these
Jesus . ‘in this brief passage.
And He said, / a
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matters are omitted. Matthew, writing the Gospel of the Kingdom, after having presented the person of the King, takes up the story at the point where, the message of the herald having been si- lenced by his arrest and imprisonment, Jesus began His official work as King, proclaiming His Kingdom prior to enun- ciating its laws and exhibiting its benefits.
In this paragraph we have the ac- count of the initial work in the procla- mation of the Kingdom; the propaganda of the King commences.
There are three movements to notice First, Jesus came down into Capernaum, and took up His residence there, and began to utter the fundamental note of His Kingly ministry—‘ Repent ye, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Then Jesus gathered a nucleus of men, for purposes of co-operation with Him.
The rest of the paragraph is occupied with a very brief and yet beautiful statement of the remarkable success at- tending the initial ministry of the King.
His residence in Capernaum is in it- self remarkable, demanding attention. Why did Jesus come to Capernaum of all other places?) Matthew, who is per- petually tracing the connection between the ministry of Jesus and the great prophecies of the past, distinctly says that “He came and dwelt in Caper- naum, which is by the sea, in the bor- ders of Zebulun and Naphtali: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying,
The land of Zebulun and the land of
Naphtali,
Toward the sea, beyond the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles,
The people that sat in darkness
Saw a great light,
And to them which sat in the region
and shadow of death,
To them did light spring up.”
Now let us go back to the prophecy of Isaiah. In ch. ix. 1 we read:
“But there shall be no gloom to her that was in anguish. In the former time He brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time hath He made it glorious, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The
2?
Ye
v4
MATTHEW
[mMarr. tv. 12-25]
people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.”
In the consideration of the beginning of our Gospel we saw how Matthew quoted from Isaiah with regard to the virgin birth of our Lord; “‘ The virgin
shall be with child, and shall bring,
forth a son.” The prophecy begins with the promise of the virgin conception and ends here with the Child born, and the government placed upon His shoul- ders; and constitutes a complete unveil- ing of the Divine purpose. The prophet Isaiah, standing on that mountain peak, and looking out over the mist and the darkness. of his own time, saw the com- ing of Immanuel, God with us. He saw Immanuel go down to Zebulun and Naphtali, the lands that suffered most from the Assyrians, to the place and
peoples most degraded as the result of /
their presence. This is not merely a
geographical prophecy—it is that in a | i
secondary sense—but it is a prophecy based upon a principle. When God | visits His people for redemption, He) comes where the darkness is greatest; where the peoples sit in the shadow of death. Geographically, and according to principle, He did that very thing. Capernaum was in the despised region of the country of the chosen people known as “ Galilee of the Gentiles.” And you must be a Hebrew to under- stand that, or at least must feel with the heart of a Hebrew. It was “a por- tion of the country which had been overrun more than any other by the foreign invader, and therefore known as ‘the region and shadow of death.’” That was Capernaum; and Jesus began His public ministry there. He went down and dwelt in Capernaum. There was the first Christian settle- ment. Jesus did not go down to teach them how to obtain better social condi- tions, but to bring them to God. The difference is fundamental. His first word was “Repent.” He did not com- mence where people were least likely to need it. Capernaum was His basis; His centre; the point from which He moved out to begin His preaching. The people which sat in darkness saw light; the people which sat in th
¥ rows and their sins; the Light of Truth
region of the shadow of death saw the great light; He began His initial, Kingly ministry, in Capernaum, on the fringe of things.
If we would be partakers with Christ in work, we must go to Capernaum; to the fringe of things; to the despised countries, to the helpless districts; to the regions wrapped in the pall of a great death, and a great darkness. It was not accidentally that Christ went and dwelt in Capernaum.
But what did His coming to Caper- naum mean? When He came it was a great day for Capernaum, if Capernaum had only understood it. “The people that sat in darkness saw a great light. And to them that sat in the region and shadow of death, to them did light spring up.” Think of it, that for a little at least, there dwelt in Capernaum the very Light of Life, the very Light of Love, the very Light of Truth. They became familiar with His form and the tones of His voice; for everywhere they crowded to Him from all the district, bringing unfit people in crowds. He was the prophet Who had lived in Nazareth through long years; now He made Capernaum His base of oper- ations, that neglected city living under the shadow of death. When He came, men saw Life at its highest, and its best, according to a Divine Ideal; the Light of Love flashed over their sor-
illuminated the dark corners, and re- vealed evil things. There, in the midst of the darkness and in the midst of the need, He struck the key-note of His ministry.
That key-note was the proclamation of a great fact, and the uttering of a great call! The fact—‘‘the Kingdom of heaven is at hand;” the call—“ Re- pent ye.” Jesus came into Capernaum, and men woke from their stupor, slum- ber, and degradation, and asked the meaning of the light.
He said, “the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ And while they heard Him say “the Kingdom of heaven is at hand,” His own heavenly, Kingly life revealed it. Then they heard Him say, “repent,” change your minds. They
‘heard Him say, You are wrong in your e “ surroundings because you are wrong in
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MATTHEW
your heart. The darkness is on you
because the darkness is in you. The Kingdom of heaven is come to you, and the Light is on you. Admit it by re- pentance. There was much more to say, much unveiling, much exposition, much illumination, but that was the key-note of all the message.
Then there came the necessity for something more; and we find Him calling to Himself these four men. Let us notice first, the call of the four men; secondly, the purpose for which He called them; and finally, their answer. to Him. 4
Simon and Andrew were already per- sonal disciples, as we see by reference to John’s Gospel.
Andrew was one of John’s disciples. On that third day, when Jesus had moved away and left John in order to proceed to His own work, Andrew had y followed Him, and having come to the Messiah, had called Simon. In this picture in Matthew they are all fishing. This call was not to discipleship; it was the call to fellowship in service. He saw them there at their work, and looking at them while they handled the net, He said, “Come ye after Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” It was the call to new work; to the aban- donment of everything, in order to de- vote themselves to Him and His work.
This is not a call that comes to every man. Every man was not called, even in the days of our Lord’s earthly min- istry. All men are not called now. These men were thus specially called. For a year they had been personal dis- ciples; now He called them to quit their fishing, to lay aside their nets, to go with Him for a new vocation and work. He illustrated their new work by using the figure of their old occupation—“I will make you fishers of men.”
James and John were in their father’s boat mending nets, and doing the work/ of their daily calling. It may be they had been called into personal fellowship before, but this was the call to service and work.
The King was about to enunciate His . great propaganda of the Kingdom. In order to do so it was necessary that He should have a few men gathered around Him, who were loyal to His kingship.
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He desired to utter the laws of His Kingdom, but He could only do so to men who were in His Kingdom.
When our Lord calls men away from their daily vocation into a new vocation, He calls them with infinite simplicity, and great sublimity, by sug- gesting to them that all that they have been using for themselves they can now use for Him. “I will make you fishers of men.”
The principle here is not that Jesus is going to make us all fishers of men. He is going to make us all workers, and turn any capacity we have into account. Jesus found me at my desk with boys about me, teaching them, and He passed me one day and said, Come with Me, and I will make you a teacher of men. He took hold of that which I could do, and said, Do it ‘for Me. If He had said ‘fishers,’ He never would have won me. He took fishermen, and He said, Fish. He will take soldiers if they will hear, and He will say to them, Fight for Me. He will take the teacher and say to Him, Teach for Me. What He wants, is men who will give Him the capacity they have, and let Him lift it into a higher realm, and He will use it, never mind what it is. He said to these men, Come with Me and I will make you fishers of men; I will take the training you have, and use it on higher levels.
And how beautiful is the answer! It is the same in each case. “ Straight- way” for Andrew and Simon; and “Straightway ” for James and John. Straightway they dropped their nets and went out after Him. They left their nets and their father, and went out after Him to follow Him. At His command for service, they abandoned their daily calling. They did not do this until He ordered them to. The vast multitude of Christian people are not called to leave their fishing-nets. They are called to abide in their calling with God; which is quite as honourable as leaving it. The honourable thing is
' to obey Christ, and the despicable thing
is to disobey. What He wants is men who can keep hold of the things of the daily calling, until He calls. Has He called you? If He has called you to the ministry, drop the things in your hands
MATTHEW
[mattr. v. 1, 2]
straightway; the Kingdom waits for violent hands. If He has not called you, keep hold of the fishing-nets, and you will find when the glory breaks upon your vision by and by, that the fishing-nets, and the fishing, were parts of God’s work for winning the world. He called them, and they went straightway.
That last paragraph which tells of the initial success of this ministry of the King is very beautiful. He went every- where, teaching, preaching, and heal- ing. “The report of Him went forth into all Syria, and they brought unto Him all that were sick, holden with divers diseases and torments, possessed with devils and epileptic, and palsied.” Was there ever such a crowd as that? The picture is hardly fascinating at first. Look at the crowd. Look at the fit, who are bringing all the unfit peo- ple of the district to Him. Yet it is the most beautiful picture. They brought the sick, the diseased, and the devil- possessed to Him, and He healed them. He is doing it to-day wherever He comes and exercises His ministry,
though His word be stern as the flash of Heaven’s own word—“ Repent.” They came after Him with diseased people, and broken people—those physi- cally and spiritually afflicted. They are still gathering to-day, notwithstanding the fact that people criticise certain men and methods. Some come out of idle curiosity, but deep down under- neath is the hunger to find some one Who will heal. This is a great picture! —Oh, it is a fearfully sad picture! One is always thankful as one reads it, though it seems a strange thing to say, to remember that the Master was not deceived by the multitudes. He knew perfectly well those thronging multi- tudes. He took accurate measure of the depth of their conviction, and its shal- /lowness. He knew that within a short year or two, some of these very people would hound Him to His death. He knew they would kill Him, and He stayed with them, and loved them, and died for them. Oh! matchless King! Let us crown Him anew. Let us put upon His brow some other wreath, some other chaplet !
MATTHEW V. 1, 2
T is important that. we should intelli-
gently understand the place of this Manifesto in the work of Jesus. We will therefore consider its occasion, its method, and its nature as revealed in these words; “And seeing the multi- tudes He went up into the mountain; and when He had sat down, His dis-
ciples came unto Him; and He opened
His mouth and taught them.” Its oc- casion was Christ’s vision of the multi- tudes. enunciation of the laws of His King- dom, not to the multitudes, but to His own disciples. Its nature was that of revealing to them the first value of the Kingdom as being spiritual, and its ulti- mate expression as being material.
The occasion—“ Seeing the multi- tudes.” This is a very familiar phrase. Jesus had commenced His ministry.
The days of privacy were for ever over.
He had emerged from the quietness and seclusion of Nazareth, and had com- menced to tread the pathway upon
Its method was that of the
<
which there beats a fiercer light than Yever falls upon a throne—the pathway of the public teacher. As He began there was a strange and wonderful at- tractiveness in Him, andthe multitudes ‘ gathered round Him. The unfit people of all the countryside were attracted to Him. Probably the people in that dis- trict had no idea how many unfit and incompetent people there were in their: ymidst until Jesus, moving through the towns and villages, drew them round Himself. We cannot too often read these words or too solemnly consider them and catch their meaning—“ They brought unto Him all that were sick, holden with divers diseases and tor- ments, possessed with devils, and epi- leptic, and palsied, and He _ healed ‘them.” What a gathering of unfit peo- ple! But not merely such. They crowded after Him, from Decapolis, from Galilee, from Jerusalem, from Judea and beyond Jordan. The people attracted by Jesus were
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[marr. v, 1, 2]
MATTHEW
not a people of one class or of one caste. He attracted to Himself all sorts and conditions of men; and as the King passed through that region, all kinds of people came out after Him, crowded after Him; many of them to see »His works,—the curious crowd, always at- tracted by something out of the ordi- nary, the weakest part of the crowd, always the most difficult to deal with. Other men were attracted to Him not so much by His works as by His words. But whatever the motive, they came, all sorts and conditions of men. People jostled each other who had never done so before; Pharisees side by side with publicans; ritualists side by side with harlots, and sinners; men of light and leading, and the scholarly men of the age, side by side with the illiterate, the degraded, the depraved. The presence of Jesus meant the massing of human- ity without any reference whatever to the mere accidentals of birth, and caste, and position. Pharisees dropped their quibbling for a little to listen. Pub- licans quitted their seats of custom to hear Him. Men forgot everything about their divisions. Caste never lives for five minutes in the presence of Jesus Christ. He burns it up with His coming. He is never attracted to a man because of the breadth of his phy- lactery, or the enlargement of the bor- der of his garment. He is never repelled from a man—blessed be God! —by his rags. Underneath the rags and the phylactery He sees the man, and He is after the man, not his clothes. And men know it, and they are always attracted by a man who is after men; so they gather to Him. That, then, was the occasion—“ Seeing the multitudes, He went up into the mountain ”’—leaving the multitudes in the valley.
They did not stay there; they fol- lowed Him, and there is no doubt they heard a great deal of this Manifesto. But He did not address it to them; the Manifesto was not for the mixed multi- tude. It is not for the mixed multitude to-day. “Seeing the multitudes, He went up into the mountain, and when He had sat down His disciples came unto Him, and He opened His mouth and taught them—the disciples, not the
‘
Vd
Id
‘
J
38
multitudes. You ask; Do you mean to say Jesus did not intend this enunci- ation of laws for the multitude? Do you mean to say He left the multitude, abandoned the multitude, had no care for the multitude, and gave His teach- ing to a handful? Yes; but He left the multitude in order that He might get back to the multitude. He left the mul- titude in order that He might equip the men who would obey His law, and then show the multitude what that law really meant in life. He left the multitude in order that He might begin the training of that company of men who should return to the multitude and bless the multitude.
The method of Jesus is manifested in this. The multitude cannot appreciate this-law; cannot obey it; will not be attracted by it; will rather be affrighted by it. He must give the law to some souls who can appreciate it, obey it, and then manifest it. He must give His law, not to the promiscuous mob, which is curious merely, but to the selected souls who are loyal. That is the prin- ciple. Do not forget that the multitude is in His vision and in His heart. It is that He may get back to them, that He leaves them, and enunciates the ethic of His Kingdom to the few. He saw the multitudes. How think you, He saw them? He saw them as they were, and He saw them as they might have been. Christ’s vision of the crowd is a vision of the crowd as it is, in compari- son with the crowd as it might be. He saw their ruin, but He saw the possi- bility lying behind the ruin. He saw God’s order. He was God’s King. He knew what God’s Kingdom meant in an individual life, for He was living therein Himself. He knew what God’s government meant in a social order. He knew that if God’s Kingdom were established among the multitudes, there would be none of the class bitterness and caste distinction driving man from man, brother from brother. He knew that if God’s Kingdom were established among the multitudes there would fol- low the true social order; that human- ity in the Kingdom of God would not be an aggregation of individuals fight- ing for individual existence, but a great community of men, in which every man
MATTHEW
[marr v. 1, 2]
should make his contribution to the commonwealth. He saw the possibility of a great communism. Do not be afraid of great words because they have been abused. Jesus Christ’s was the real socialism, the communism of * humanity, the great brotherhood of “men. He knew these things could only be realised as men were related to the throne of God. He knew that socialism is not anarchy. First there must be the
Who are these men to whom He is speaking? Souls loyal to His Kingdom. Jesus never gives the law of His King- dom to any save to those in His King- dom. No man can have the benefits of
is Kingdom until he has kissed the sceptre of the King. When a man has bowed to the King then he has an obli- gation to the King and must obey the law of the King.
. The late Archbishop Magee once said
relation of all men to the throne of, Athat it was impossible to conduct the
God, and then their necessary and con-? sequent interrelation among each other. And as Jesus Christ looked out over the® multitudes He saw them scattered as sheep without a shepherd; no one to fold them, no one to feed them, no one to lead them, no one to govern them. And seeing the multitudes, and know- ing that they needed supremely the Kingdom of God set up, He left them and took a few men with Him, and un- folded to them the laws of the King- dom, and began the work of coming back to the multitude with the revela- tion of that Kingdom.
He saw the multitudes. One loves to read those words, for here we see the King, God’s King, our King, the King of the whole world, looking at the disorderly multitudes, the disorganised multitudes, and we see burning in His heart the primal passion of a King.
vf God’s kings are always shepherds, and
shepherds feed the flock, rather than are fed by the flock. Shepherds fold the flock, rather than expect the flock to fold them. And the primal passion of the King is burning here. Here are the people, spoiled, disorganised, be-
cause they have lost their relation to V
the throne of God; and seeing them, seeing the multitudes, the great heart of the King yearning over His people, He went up into the mountain.
That leads us by a necessary se- quence to the second matter—the method of the Master as He sets Him- self toward reaching the multitudes with the Kingdom of God. “His dis- ciples came unto Him, and He opened His mouth and taught them.” must pause carefully, for an under- standing of that principle, and this method will help us through the study of this Manifesto.
39
Here we Vv
affairs of the English nation on the basis of the Sermon on the Mount, and there was a great commotion among the religious and irreligious papers, and he was criticised from Dan to Beersheba. But Archbishop Magee was quite right. You cannot govern the English nation on the basis of the Sermon on the Mount—because the nation is not loyal to the King. If you have any doubt, all you have to do in these interesting days is to get a seat in the legislative chambers and endeavour to introduce half a dozen principles from the Ser- mon on the Mount in a short bill, and see if you can. get them carried. You will find that to be the surest test of the accuracy of what the Archbishop said. You cannot do it, because you are not dealing with a people prepared to obey.
Let not this be misunderstood for a single moment. Has a Christian man nothing to do with Government? He has everything to do with it, or ought to have. We are to dictate the terms of righteousness to every Government. The Church of God needs to shake her- self free from all complicity with every political party in the State, and then she will be able to dictate the terms of righteousness on behalf of humanity and God. That is her business.
It is quite impossible to take the Sermon on the Mount and try to get men to obey it until they are themselves obedient to the King. Think of some of the things He said: “ Ye are the salt of the earth. ... Ye are the light of the world.” Do you suppose He meant the mixed multitude when He said that? And every benefit that He speaks of is a benefit belonging to the man who is in the Kingdom, and not to the man outside. A man comes and asks if we
ad
[mart. v, 1, 2]
MATTHEW
will not treat him as Jesus has taught us to do in the Sermon on the Mount. Certainly we will. But when a man in rebellion against the laws of Jesus asks us to give him our coat, we decline. Let him enter the Kingdom, and as God shall help us we will try and help him, suffer with him, rejoice with him. We have no right to take these benefits of the Kingdom and scatter them before a
al
to teach them that the spiritual relation underlies the material manifestation. He came to teach them, as we shall
’ see, tha§ He does not say a word about
policy, not a word about the govern- ment of property, not a single word about any of these things; but He gets down under the surface, and He cor- rects man in the realm of his character. He says “ Blessed,” but never a single
people who are still rebelling against \/ blessing does He pronounce upon hav-
the King. the law to the disciples.
The nature of this Manifesto is re- vealed in the words, “‘ He taught them.” Now the need of a Kingdom was com- mon consciousness in the days of Jesus Christ. The very crowd who crucified Him were sighing after the setting up of a Kingdom. There was no question in the mind as to the value which would have accrued if this Kingdom could have been set up in some way. That is true to-day. Men are every- where acknowledging the need of some new social order. Jesus had to teach in order to show that the ideal of the
_ Kingdom in their mind was a degraded
* ideal.
The ideal of the Kingdom, popular in the days of Jesus, was that of a Kingdom material in its concep- tion and exclusive in its application. We need not follow the subject further than to say that we have only to watch the disciples themselves to see how degraded their ideal was. Not- withstanding the teaching, it was a long time before the vision of the Kingdom broke upon them! After His resurrec- tion they came back with the same old
/ question: “Lord, dost Thou at this time
v
restore’ the kingdom to Israel?” It was purely a material question. They expected a king with an earthly policy, an earthly government, an earthly army and retainers, setting up a kingdom of the earth. That is what men were look- ing for. Even men outside the circle of His followers had hoped that Jesus Christ had come to break the power of Rome, to be the divider amongst them as to property. And Christ had to teach these men that He was not proposing to begin His government thus. The Christ does not begin in the material realm; He came to teach men that character is before conduct. He came
He begins by enunciating ing anything or doing anything; every
blessing is pronounced upon being.
When Jesus came to set up a King- dom, the first thing He said was; It is not a question of what you have, or what you do, save in a secondary sense; it is a question of what you are. And that abides until this hour in all na- tional affairs. We are bound to go on legislating in this country, of course.
‘The Legislature must meet and do some
40
good or harm, as the case may be. They must go on. But the true im- perialist is the Christian man who rec- ognizes that Jesus was right when He said: Deal with men as to what they are first, then you can touch all the other things. Everybody else who has tried to lift the world has tried to purify a stream. He passes back to the fountain source and purifies it there. Character is supreme. The spiritual is the fundamental. These things being set right, everything else will be set right. And so Jesus left the world without a political programme uttered, without the constitution of a State given to men in detail. And yet He left having uttered the one and only political programme, the one and only State constitution—He left the world, leaving behind Him the revelation of the fact that being is more than having or doing; that the spiritual fact is the fundamental fact in all life.
The occasion of the Manifesto, then, was Christ’s vision of the multitudes, and their need, and His determination to reach them. Retiring from them, He took time to instruct a few loyal souls concerning His Kingdom in order that through them the multitudes might see the breadth and beauty and beneficence of the Kingdom of God. ;
His method was that of gathering
MATTHEW
[mMatt, v. 3-12]
loyal souls around Him, giving them
the law of the Kingdom because they
had yielded to the claim of the King, Finally, the nature of the Manifesto
is an unfolding of principle, a teaching of men, which corrects the mistaken notions of national greatness and re- veals the things which are supreme.
MATTHEW V. 3-12
N considering the first two verses of I this chapter, we dwelt upon the fact that the ultimate purpose in the mind of the King was that of bringing the multitudes into the Kingdom of God; but that in order to do so it was neces- sary for Him to gather round Him a nucleus of such as were actually sub- mitted to His Kingship, in order toy, unfold to them the meaning of that Kingdom by an enunciation of its laws.
Perhaps the best name for this enun- ciation is that given to it by Dr. Os- wald Dykes, “The Manifesto of the King.” That exactly expresses the truth concerning the nature of this great utterance of law.
In these opening Beatitudes, the King revealed the truth concerning the essen- tial nature of His Kingdom, as He made plain this one, simple, and all- inclusive fact, that the Kingdom of Heaven has first of all to do with char- acter. How strange these words of Jesus must have sounded in the ears of His disciples, if, peradventure, they were expecting Him to give them a Manifesto of the Kingdom. They had heard the herald say, ‘‘ The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Repent.” They had heard Jesus say, “Repent ye, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand,” but in all probability so far they only looked upon Him as another teacher, preparing the way, and leading them on toward the coming King.
But, supposing for a single moment, that they understood the fact that He was indeed God’s anointed King, and supposing that in their submission to Him there was an intelligent submis- sion to the Kingdom of God, focussed, and manifested, and demonstrated in a Person; then if they had climbed that mountain to listen to Him as King, they must have been strangely startled with His first words. There is not a word in these Beatitudes which appears to have anything to do with a kingdom,
according to popular conceptions of what kingdoms are, and in what the greatness of kingdoms consists. Human ideas of a kingdom gather round thoughts of race power, of mili- tary prowess, of material pomp. Even to-day we hear people, largely void of the Christian spirit, boasting of such things, imagining that greatness con- sists in armaments. Our ideals of a kingdom are still somehow strangely mixed with trust in military prowess. But they are false ideals if we under- stand the deep meaning of righteous- ness. We still think of pomp, and glitter, and tinsel, as signs of greatness.
y’ Our ideas of a kingdom are still very
much what they were in olden days. Slowly, very slowly, there is dawning on the common consciousness of man the conception that national greatness is the greatness of character.
This, however, forms the first stage in the teaching of the Manifesto of God’s great King. Both in His Person, and in His teaching, He ignored popu- lar conceptions concerning the ideas of government, and, by ignoring, denied them. When He ascended the moun- tain it was with no fanfare of trumpets, with no pomp, and no pageantry. This King, sublime in the simplicity of His Manhood, ascended a mountain, gath- ered around Him a few loyal souls, who did not perfectly understand Him, and taught them that nothing is of greater importance than the making of character. Thus He taught them; and the first things He said were the funda- mental things of the Kingdom; but ,there is not a word about race power,
/ or military prowess, or material pomp,
from beginning to end.
Let us, then, consider the words; and in doing so, we will attempt first of all to indicate the general principles ; and then we will endeavour to see the particular revelation of character granted.
41
Ematt, v. 3-12]
MATTHEW
In looking at the general principles, we notice the first word that fell from the lips of the King when He com- menced the enunciation of the laws of the Kingdom—“ Blessed.”
This word reveals God’s will -for man, and so reveals the purpose of the King in the establishment of His King- dom. How strange a thing, and yet how gracious a thing it is! The word in the original is translated in our Authorised Version as “ blessed” forty- three times, and as “happy” six times. There is a general consensus of opinion that the word most accurately expres- sing the meaning here is the word “happy ” rather than “blessed.” There is no doubt that the finer and fuller word is “blessed,” always providing we understand it in its true meaning, as indicating a consciousness and a con- dition, rather than as referring to be- stowment from without. It is true that the blessing is bestowed, but the word “blessed”? here, refers to a condition, and therefore to a consciousness. But the word “happy” more easily sug- gests the simple thought of the Greek word in its common use. “ Blessed” is correct if we understand it in the sense in which we use it of God in the phrase
A
of the King as He sat upon the moun- tain, surrounded by His disciples. But ah! His own heart was unhappy, wrung with a great anguish, moved with an infinite compassion. But why His sor- row, why His unhappiness, why the melting, moving, thrilling compassion? Because He saw all the tragedy of human sorrow. From the centre of that sorrow He said, “ Happy;” and thus revealed the Divine purpose for men.
Then we notice that happiness is de- clared by the King to depend, not on doing, not on possessing, but on being. “ Blessed are the poor.” ‘“ Blessed are they that mourn.” “Blessed are the meek.” “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst.” “Blessed ore the merci- ful.” “ Blessed are the pure in heart.” “Blessed are the peacemakers.’ Not
single word about doing or possessing. t_is what a man is that matters.
An evangelical value runs through these ‘Blesseds;” for the King de- clared happiness for such as, through sin, lack true happiness. “The poor in spirit.” Apart from the King’s Beati- tude, this is the description of a condi- tion which popular conception looks upon as unhappy. “ Poor” is a word which does not suggest happiness.
—‘“ The glorious Gospel of the blessed © “Poor” means lack, lack means sor-
God.” Yet that may be translated with equal accuracy, and perhaps with a finer sense of its real meaning, “The Gospel of the glory of the happy God.”
“Blessed ” is therefore a condition— such a condition as to create a con- sciousness, which is the consciousness of a perfect peace, and a perfect joy,
row; and yet the King said, “ Blessed are the poor in spirit.’ That is the recognition of a lack, but it is also a recognition of something that supplies the lack; and so sounding through the Manifesto we hear the music of the great evangel. There was in the mind of the King the consciousness of a
and a perfect rest. All these things are,/ great need, a great provision, and the
included in the condition of Happiness ! That is God’s will for man. That is the Divine intention for human life. Sorrow and sighing are to flee away; He will wipe away all tears. MHappi- ness and joy are never to flee away; He will never banish merriment and laughter.
“Happy” is the first word of the Manifesto. It is a word full of sun- shine, thrilling with music, brimming over with just what man is seeking after in a thousand false ways. The Manifesto is not formal and docu-
mentary. It does not begin “ Whereas,” _/
but “Happy.” That was the first word
42
possibility of a great result.
Once again, notice the peculiar form of the Beatitudes. “Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the King- dom of Heaven.” “Blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be com- forted,” and so throughout. ‘“ Blessed are... for.”g Character creates con- ditions which result in happiness. ~ Take the first, by way of illustration. Poverty of spirit results in realisation of the Kingdom of God. That is hap- piness. Jesus does not say that the Kingdom shall be given to the man that is poor in spirit. He does not say that if a man is poor in spirit, He will give
Pal aT Be
MATTHEW
him the Kingdom to make him happy. The poor in spirit is happy because he has the Kingdom of God. The happi- hess of the Kingdom is a natural se- quence, not an arbitrary reward. The King does not bestow gifts to make men happy. He creates a condition within the man, which enables him to find hap- piness everywhere. He does not create
iness b Ww creates new surroundings by happhiets. He takes a man and makes him happy by reason of his character, and then immediately this man puts his hand on everything that lies about him, chang- ing his environment by himself being changed. Happiness begins within the man, never without.——
There are thousands of illustrations of this to-day. Some one stands out- side certain circumstances of life, say- ing;—Oh, if only I were in those circumstances I would be happy. The King does not begin there. “ Blessed” is a condition consequent upon charac- ter. Happiness has its root, not in outward circumstances, but in inward condition of character.
But in order that these things may be more clearly revealed, let us pass to a particular examination of the particular character in the Kingdom which the King revealed. First, let us take the characteristics, remembering that a characteristic is always a smaller mat- ter than a character. Character is the sum and substance of characteristics. It is very difficult to describe a char- acter. Character may defy our perfect analysis. It does not defy the perfect analysis of the King. He thus described the characteristics. Poor in spirit; they that mourn; the meek; they that hun- ger and thirst; the merciful; the pure in heart; the peacemakers. These are the characteristics that go to make the perfect character, upon which the King- dom of God is to be based.
There are two sets of characteristics in the seven Beatitudes. The eighth, which is a double Beatitude, has to do with the process and not with the char- acter. But in the first seven you have a set of four which are passive, and a set of three which are active. ‘The poor in spirit; the mourners; the meek; they that hunger and thirst; these are
ae
/ he cannot of himself t
<
[matt, v. 3-12]
the passive characteristics of the char- acter. Merciful; pure—and pure here means infinitely more than clean, it means undivided, wholehearted—peace- makers; these are the active qualities in character.
Let us consider the passive chatac- teristics. ‘Poor in spirit.” It means truly subject. The man who is poor in spirit is the man who is willing to be governed. The man who is not poor in spirit: is rebellious, troublesome, creat- ing discord within the Kingdom. This is the first thing. It is very simple! It is very sublime! If this life of mine is willing to be ruled, it is ruled. If this life of mine is willing to be governed, it is governed. If I will but take this life of mine and surrender it wholly to the King, the King will take charge of it and administer it, and I shall be in myself, when every one else is excluded, a Kingdom of God; and I shall be in myself, when all others are included, a part of the Kingdom of God. ‘“ Poor in spirit ’—theirs is the Kingdom of God. We never know the breadth and beauty and beneficence of God’s humanity by looking at it from without. The poor in spirit are those in whom the pride o the will, and the pride of the intellect, and the pride of the heart, are alike bent to the royalty of the King. We obtain the Kingdom when we submit in poverty of spirit to the King.
But again, “ They that mourn.” And here the evangelistic value is at once manifest. The first matter is initial. The man poor in spirit is so because he has learned his own incompetence, his own unworthiness; because he is con- scious of his own failure, conscious that ke hold upon all the ideals that are begng represented to him by the King.A/This man mourns over his own sinf over his own failure. This is the mourning intended. Jesus says, “They shall be comforted.” The great word “comforted” is related to
¥the word that Jesus used when He
promised the coming of the Holy Spirit. The Comforter disannuls orphanage, takes hold of a man in his sorrow and assuages it, heals it. The poor in spirit, submitting to the Throne, and to the government of the King, is troubled im- mediately ; he mourns over sin, and in-
[marr v. 3-12]
MATTHEW
competence, and failure. That soul is comforted with the comfort of the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, the very life and soul of the Kingdom.
“Blessed are the meek.” The meek are those who are obedient to the rule of the King; meekness is the submis- sive spirit, the spirit of true humility, which is unconscious of humility; the spirit that rejoices in the ‘Kingdom already established, on account of the comfort already given, and waits for orders, and does not obtrude itself. As we read these words, “ Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth,” we seem to hear those other words, “Come unto Me... for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” The men, poor in spirit, mourning over failure, com- forted by the One great Comforter, are meek; and “they shall inherit the earth,” for they have partaken of the very spirit of the King Himself.
And yet again. ‘“ Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteous- ness.” This seems to be a. retro- gression, a going back. But it is a progression, a going forward. Who is the man that hungers and thirsts after righteousness but the man who himself is meek and possesses the earth, who has mourned and has been comforted, who is poor in spirit and has submitted to tule? What is hunger and thirst after righteousness? It is Divine discontent with everything unlike God. Do not make this a small and narrow personal experience. It is that, but it is infi- nitely more. It is the passion for the setting up of the Kingdom of God amongst men. It is the thing that makes you—if you are a Christly soul— hot, and restless, and angry, and. dis- contented, in the presence of all the mal-administration of the affairs of men, which results in the ruin and sor- row of men on every hand. ‘ They that hunger and thirst after righteousness
. shall be filled,” they shall be satis- fied, there shall come to such all that for which they hunger and thirst. Perchance not to-day, perchance not to-morrow ;
“The fog’s on the world to-day, It will be on the world to-morrow;
Not all the strength of the sun Can drive his bright spears thorough.
“Yesterday and to-day Have been heavy with care and sorrow ; I should faint if I did not see The day that is after to-morrow.
“The cause of the peoples I serve To-day, in impatience and sorrow, Once more is defeated—but yet,
’T will be won the day after to-morrow.
“And for me with spirit elate, The mire and the fog I press thorough ; For heaven shines under the cloud Of the day that is after to-morrow.”
These, then, are the passive charac- teristics of the character of the King- dom; poverty of spirit, which submits to government and possesses the King- dom; mourning over declension, which is comforted with the great comfort of God; meekness which is unconscious humility and willingness to submit, which possesses the earth; hunger and thirst after righteousness—a great pas- sion for the Kingdom of God, which is filled in hope and at last shall be filled in actual realisation.
Then immediately the characteristics pass from the passive into the active. “The merciful.” That is, those who give and those who serve. It is the activity of life toward the suffering. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.”
“Pure in heart.” And here, as has been already noticed, we have more than cleanness ye have wholeness, the undivided heaft, the heartsthat is ut- terly and absolutely loyal. / This is the expression toward the Kirfg of the mer- cifulness described. “They shall see God.”
And this again merges into yet an- other description—“ The peacemakers.” This is the propagative character, the man who, being all the rest, therefore brings peace wherever he comes. And the great word concerning the peace- makers is, ‘ They shall be called sons of God,” for in that they manifest the nature of the Father and the likeness of the Father more than in anything else—making peace among the soris of men,,
‘This description of character is a growth. Poverty of spirit issues in
MATTHEW
[mMatr, v, 13-16]
ee ee a ee ey aE
mourning for sin, and the twofold primary condition is answered by the Kingdom bestowed, and comfort given.
Then meekness of spirit is submis- sion to the will of God. Hunger and thirst evidence passion for the will of God, and the twofold answer to those who have submitted to His will in meekness is a present contentment. “They shall inherit the earth; and to those in whom there burns the passion for the final setting up of His Kingdom, and the accomplishment of His will, there is a promise of the ultimate satis- faction—‘‘ They shall be filled.”
Then upon the basis of that growth there follow the virtues of Christian life. Mercifulness—indicating service; purity of heart—indicating the inward condition; peacemaking—indicating the effect produced on others.
Then crowning all, there is the great Beatitude which illuminates the proc- ess of pain, and suffering, and persecu- tion, through which men pass into this great character.
This is not merely a growth, it is a unity. We can take any one of the rewards and use it after any one of the conditions, and find no lack of harmony.
_/ We may say, “ Blessed are the poor in
spirit, for they shall be comforted.” It is perfectly true. “Blessed are the merciful, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” That is equally correct. “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall inherit the earth.” That is a great philosophy. “ Blessed are the meek, for
¥
they shall be satisfied.” That is equally true. We may transpose all these an- swers of happiness to all these con- ditions. The King gave us an analysis of one character rather than a descrip- tion of different characters. All these virtues and values are to be found in the one type of character which lies at the foundation of this Kingdom.
And yet that must not be misunder- stood, for there is a great sequence. Experimentally no man enters into any of these, save in the order indicated. First, the poverty of spirit, which ends rebellion, and, submissive to the King, kisses His sceptre; then the mourning that follows; then the meekness that ensues; then the passion that flames; then the service that is merciful; then the purity of heart that enables a man to see God; and then the great, sweet, strong, influence of peace, and man be- comes a peacemaker,
The proportion in which men realise this character is the proportion in which they realise happiness. But the realisation of such character in the midst of all the conditions of worldly life which ate contradictory to that Yeharacter, will stir up opposition. How correct a picture of worldly life we have in this passage if before each promise or blessing the word not were added! Theirs is not the Kingdom of Heaven; they are not comforted; they shall not inherit the earth; they shall be hungry and thirsty, yet they shall not be filled; their hearts are corrupt, they cannot see God.
MATTHEW V. 13-16
T is at once evident that these words
were addressed, not to the promis- cuous multitude, but to the inner circle of disciples. Having declared that_the_ supreme _matfér in His Kingdom _ is. character) and having described that character in the Beatitudes; the King showed that the purpose of the realisa- tion of character, in the subjects of the Kingdom, is that they may exercise an influence upon those who are outside the Kingdom, and revealed the nature of that influence.
Influence is His ultimate intention in
ie
His present government of, and relation to, His Kingdom. To recognize this is again to be brought face to face with _that fundamental truth, that, although He spoke to His own, the multitudes were ever in His sight, and on His heart. The law of the Kingdom is for | such as have submitted to the King; ° but they are to be governed by that law in order that they may become the means of blessing to the multitudes be- yond. As the Shepherd King leaves the multitudes, for the saints, that He may instruct them, it is not for their
45
w=
[uatt. v. 13-16]
MATTHEW
sakes merely. He loves the people, the vast unheeding multitudes; and if He blesses us, it is that we may bless them. If He conditions our life, it is that we may exert among them an influence that shall be for their healing and, for their uplifting.
Christ’s estimate of the needs of the multitude is revealed by His description of the influence His people are to exert. The influence is to be that of salt and light. Salt is needed where there is corruption. Light is needed where there is darkness. Jesus, looking out over the multitudes of His day, saw the corruption, the disintegration of life at every point—its break-up, its spoli- ation; and, because of His love of the multitudes, He knew that the thing they needed most was salt in order, that the corruption should be arrested/He saw them also wrapped in gloom,‘sitting in darkness, groping amid mists and fogs. He knew that they needed, above every- thing else, the irradiatio the path- way, the illumination all things; that they needed light./
This is Christ’s estinvate of the need of the multitude of to-day, for His words were not for a day or an age, for a geographical position, a coast limitation, or a national boundary; His words were words for all ages. He did not deal with the accidentals of human life, but with the essentials, As Jesus looks out over the vast multitudes, for whom we are responsible, He knows their need, and that need is still ex- pressed in the two thoughts suggested by the description of influence; they are in circumstances of corruption and darkness.
With these preliminary positions in mind, let us consider the passage before us in three ways. First, the character of the influence which Jesus declares will be exerted by such as are in His Kingdom; secondly, the influence of character; thirdly, the solemn, and earnest, and urgent teaching of Jesus concerning the responsibility of the subjects of the Kingdom with relation to the exertion of such influence.
First, then, the character of the in- fluence which is to be exerted.
According to the teaching of Jesus, the character of the influence is the
ye dispen
y ought to be.
influence of character. “Ye are salt,” “Ye are light;” not, Ye have salt, or, Ye have light. Much less does He say, the salt, or, Ye dispense the light/ There is all the difference between a living influence and a dead, official, attempt at influence. If Christ had said, Ye dispense the salt, then we might have looked upon our position as official. There is no such thought. The _ King began with the fundamental ne~ cessity of human nature, and He saj; “Ye are.” It is only as a man is Salt in his character that he can exercise the influence of salt in his age. It is only as a man is light in him< that he can scatter light upon the pathway of others.“ Jesus always takes hold of human nature as it is according to Divine intention, and bases His whole philosophy of life and influence upon the first Divine thought in the creation of man: The influence you exert is , always the influence of what you are/— No-man exerts upon other people a } influence by what he says to them, save only as what he says is the outcome of what he is in the deepest fact of his being.
As the father of a family, the in- fluence you exert upon your boys and girls, is the influence of what you are and not of what you tell them y It is the influence of your own personality in its deepest fibre that is going to make or mar your bairnsy’ There is no escape from this. We may tell our boys to be good; and, if we are bad, by the grace of God they may be good—some other hand may mould them, some other life may win them— but if we are going to win our boys for goodness, we must be good. Our in- fluence comes out of what we are. “Ye are salt,’ and if you are not salt, you lack the power to exercise the aseptic function.
“Ye are the light of the world,” and if we are not light we cannot shine.
As one studies the teaching of our Lord, one is more and more impressed with the fact that He never tarried upon the surface of things, but that He got down to the depths. We shall fiever exercise the influence of salt, or the in- fluence of light in our family, in our church, or in our city or nation, unless
Vege
MATTHEW
[matt. y. 13-16]
“we are right ourselves. One of the most damnable heresies that has ever been foisted upon the thinking of any age is that a man may be pure in public influence if impure in private life. He cannot be. What we are, determines the character of our influence in the world, whether we will or no. Thus the character of the influence to be exerted by those who are in the King- dom, is the influence of character.
Secondly, what is this influence of character? The Lord made use of two figures, “salt” and “light.” Here, again, He was careful with the infinite care of an infinite wisdom, and He made application of each figure in a natural sphere, and not carelessly. He did not say, Ye are the salt of the world. He did not say, Ye are the light of the earth. He said, “ Ye are the salt of the earth,” “Ye are the light of the world.”
We will look in each case at the property described, and at the sphere of its activity.
First, salt and its sphere—the earth; secondly, light and its sphere—the world.
“Ye are the salt of the earth.” The one value of salt is aseptic. In the presence of the fact, of corruption, it prevents its spread. /Salt never changes corruption into incorruption; it has no power to so, but it prevents it spreading foorere it reveals sound- ness, and creates the opportunity for its continuance.
There is not a believing man, woman, or child, who is able to take hold of any corrupt man and make him pure. That is not our work; we are not equal to it. Thank God, the Master is equal to it. Thank God, the King at the wicket-gate of the Kingdom can take hold of the vilest man and make him pure as He is pure. Our influence is of another value. Salt takes hold of that which is not yet corrupt, and pre- vents its becoming corrupted; it holds
/back the corrupting forces, and creates ee opportunity for the exercise of
goodness, and the continuity of sound-
ness. Jesus never made a mistake in / His figures. The intellectual supremacy of Jesus is such as to enable us to take the smallest figure He made use of, and
ca
if
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base on it a whole philosophy that is suggested by its use. “Salt” we are to be, men and women, who by our life and presence in the world check the spread of corruption and give goodness its opportunity.
Do not forget that the Beatitudes closed with the affirmation of persecu- tion. Do not be surprised at that. But we want “salt” men and women in the stores, in the offices; we want men and women everywhere, who, by their liv- ing, check corruption—young men in whose presence no man dare tell a ques- tionable story ;/young women to whom other young“women in their sin will come, and ask for help and advice, that the good desire that has been hindered by evil power may blossom into beauty.
Now let us notice the sphere in which salt operates. ‘Ye are the salt of the earth.” The word which Jesus made use of here marks the distinctly ma- terial side of things—the earth, literally the standing place; primarily the soil. It is a purely material word. But, of course, here it is used With reference to the people, the people viewed as of the earth. Men and women are of the earth. It is impossible for us to escape from the material, while we are in the material, and of the material; and we need have no desire to escape from it.
esus said you are to be the salt of the earth. You are to live in the midst of men and women who live in earthly conditions, and are material, in order to influence that side of things with an aseptic influence. You are to save men, render possible their salvation by hin- dering corruption on that side of their nature that is distinctly of the earth.
To go back to the first of the Beati- tudes, ‘‘ Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” Now, look at those people poor in spirit. Theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. The government of heaven, the touch of heaven, is upon their life, dominating, thrilling, and impulsing. Ye are the people who have the Kingdom of Heaven; ye are the salt of the earth, the medium through which the heav- enly government shall operate in ma- terial things. The earth divorced from heaven is corrupt. Live in it as heav- enly people, and check the spread of
He
[mart. v. 13-16]
the corruption. The earth divorced from heaven has in it unrealised ca- pacities. Realise in it the heavenly order, so that the capacities may be realised.
But again, “Ye are the light of the world.” Here our Lord takes another figure, with a different note. of light is illumination, and that is at once a positive principle of life, and the condition for intelligent activity. Light is a reyélation of how life ought to be lived Zand wherever you get a revela- tion“of how life ought to be lived, there is in the revelation that which begins to help men to live it. Example is not
enough to save a man, but example is a ~
great force in the growth of the man who is saved. It is a great force aiso in luring a man toward salvation. We are not called upon in any sense to save men. We are called upon to shine on men, revealing to them the truth con- cerning human life, the possibilities of human life, the principles that under- lie human life, giving them to see what
life maybe; we are called upon to be light 27 Ndw; notice the sphere of its oper-
ation—the world. “ Ye are the light of the world,” not the age, but the world, the cosmos. A great word, which in-
The value V
MATTHEW
the Throne of the Most High. Every truly Christian life, every life sub- mitted to the King, in loyal surrepder lights up the order of the universg@, and from such life light will flash* which will hely men who are groping in dark- ness, And trying to find out secrets. The*“ Riddle of the Universe” will never be solved by examining the proto- plasmic germ, or by careful examina- tion of natural phenomena. Men living in the will of God are the light of the world.
But notice two. things here. We are not to try to illuminate the universe; we are to live in loyalty to Christ; that is all. It is not by effort after illumina- tion of the problem; but by quiet simple abiding in His will in the world, tha character will flash its light abroad.
But, then, do not forget,another mat- ter. We hear a great deal about re- flected lighf"" We have heard it said that Jesus is the infinite Sun, and that we take the place of the moon. True, the great allegorical~passage in the Song of Solomon says “shé is fair as a moon,” but it also says she is “clear as the sun,” and she will only be fair as the silver moon, which kisses the night with softness and beauty, as she is clear as the sun. It is not reflected
cludes not merely the life, but the whole. fight merely ; it_i is
created order. Here Jesus declares that His people are to illuminate other men as to their relation to the whole order, of which they form a part, and as to the necessary laws which govern it. All about us are men and women living not merely on the earth, but having relation to the infinite spaces, having relation to
‘ all created things, and therefore having
necessary, even if unconfessed, relation to the Christ Himself. The cosmos is a word which speaks of the infinite order, and presupposes the intelligence which caused and controls the infinite order. Every man loyal to the law of Jesus Christ, and living in His Kingdom, is in himself a revelation of the unity of the universe of God, of the perfection of the harmony of all its parts, and of that unity and harmony as consisting in relationship to the Throne of God.
To live on Christian principles is to show men what would result if all the /
world were obedient to the whisper of
the light of our own life, communicated — to_us_ from the Es-
sential ‘Light. When we received the Esséntial Light it was not merely that we might reflect it; it_w. was. that at it might ignite us and burn_ in us. “Tt is only when Christian men are burning, as well as shining lights, that the world knows they are the light of the world. Finally, what did Jesus say about the responsibility of the subjects-of the Kingdom as to’ being the salt of the earth? “If the salt have lost its sa wherewith shall it be salted? It is thencéforth good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men.” This has nothing to do with the question of a man’s ultimate salvation.
yIt has everything to do with the ques- “tion of a man’s present influence.
We have no right to take things out of the context and say that Jesus says, if Christian people do not exercise the _Christian influence of salt He will cast “them out and they will be lost. This is
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MATTHEW
[matt v. 13-16]
a question of influence. The Master) says, “If the salt have lost its savour.’’} It is difficult to find a word that seem to catch and carry the real value of thi word “savour.” Of course, there is 2 simpler translation, “If the salt hav lost its taste.”
In a little pamphlet containing the Gospel of Matthew in broad Scotch, the reading is “The saut o’ the yirth are ye, but gin the saut hae tint its tang.” Perhaps that gets nearer to it than any- thing one can find. “Tang” is that
Have you lost the “tang” of your Christianity? Do men know that you are a Christian? If there is no “tang” then listen to Jesus. AHe says youare good for nothing exéept to be ca¢f out and trodden under foot of man.//There are thousands of Christian men who have lost their “tang” and men tram- ple them under foot; laugh at them, make fun of their Christianity. It is not enough to recite the Beatitudes. We must live in them, in order that the savour of them may tell among men. As to the other responsibility for light, the King declared that there is a twofold influence of light—a city, and a lamp. “A city cannot be hid on the top of a mountain lying.” Take out the affirmation that it cannot be hidden, and observe the description, “A city on the top of a mountain lying.” That is the element of the Church influence of light. No individual Christian can ex- ert that. One may be a beacon on the top of a mountain, but one cannot be a city. By the way of those who are in the Kingdom there will be the illumina- tion of vast expanses. A city on a mountain lying, is seen from all the
~ the city is that, when wi
lie; a city in which all things of beauty, and order, and light, and delight, are gathered; all that, the Church ought to be,/and consequently she should guard tne gates of entrance againgt all likely to corrupt and harm her.f And when in her bor- ders there is the realisation of the social ideal, so that when one weeps, others weep; and when one laughs, others laugh; when to the poor saint there is given of the world’s substance,
//and to the needy, of spiritual help/ and quality in taste which is pungent, keen. ’
when no man says anything belongs to » him, but they have all things common g
when that is realised, then the Churc “is the “city on the top of the mountain
lying,” flashing her light over far places of the earth.
That is not all. “A lamp.” The King passes from the city to the house. “A lamp that shineth unto all that are in the house f the figure of the city illustrates thé light as illuminating vast expanses, the figure of the lamp illus- trates the light as irradiating private places. One cannot be a city lying on a mountain/but one can be a lamp in the house That is the other exercise of the influence, so that all the family order is illumined by the presence of one Christian soul, one peak burning for Jesus in the house./ “ Neither do men light a lamp and put it under the bushel, but on the stand, and it shineth unto all that are in the house.” Do not forget this negative application. The exposition of Dr, Alexander Maclaren makes others unnecessary. He says, “No man lighteth a lamp and puts it under the bushel; but supposing he does, what will happen? One of two
,things: Either the bushel will put the
distant valleys; its flaming glory is “,lamp out, or the lamp will set fire to
caught from peaks far off and near. This is the picture of an influence th
the Church has almost entirely lost; it is the picture of the Church’s social order flashing its light upon the age/ This is no careless figure. A city in which God is the Governor; a city in which there is nothing that defileth, nor worketh an abomination, nor maketh a
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the bushel.”
Lastly, the King said, “‘ Let your light shine before men that they may... glorify your Father.” And thus He summarized, employing in the final ut- terance—the last part of His figure— the whole truth, that in His King- dom, character counts, because it exerts influence.
[matt. v. 17-20]
MATTHEW
MATTHEW V. 17-20
AVING thus declared the neces- sity for character; and indicated its issue in influence; the King pref- aced His enunciation of laws, by a prologue on the general subject of law. Let us carefully examine this pro- logue. Let us first analyse it, that we may discover its revelation of the rela- tion of the King to the law; and the re- lation of His subjects to the law; and, secondly, let us notice two great prin- ciples, which are all-inclusive, and must be understood and remembered as we proceed to consider the law as He enunciated it.
When He said, “Think not that I came to destroy the law or the proph- ets,’ what did He mean by “the law,” and “the prophets”? What did the phrase mean to the men who heard it? If we can put ourselves in their place, and find that out, we shall have the true thought.
They were men born in Hebraism, brought up in the atmosphere of the Hebrew economy; and there can be no doubt that they understood Him to refer to the Scriptures of the Old Testament. ‘These consisted of three sections—the Law, the Prophets, and the Hagiographa, or Writings. men, therefore, certainly understood Him to say: I have not come to destroy the ethical code under which you have been living; I have not come to minimise morality; I have not come to loosen bonds which are intended to hold you to everything that is high and true and pure and noble; I have not come to destroy the law and the proph- ets, but to fulfil. These men thought of the law and the prophets as giving the economy which conditioned their life in the minutest particular and detail. They were governed by the law and the prophets; or they knew they ought to be governed by the law and the proph- ets; and that the measure in which they were sinning men, was the mea- sure in which they were breaking the law, and disobeying the voice of the prophets.
The King ruthlessly swept away all the traditions of the elders; denying, by
These w”
wh
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ignoring, the method of the Pharisee, the tithing of mint and anise and rue and cummin, the constant washing of hands. All this is of no value; the matters of importance are, the law, a Divine conditioning of life; and the prophets, a Divine call to obedience. Thus He brought these men face to face with the ethical requirement, and declared, “Think not that I came to destroy the law or the prophets ”’—I have not come to minimise morality ; within the sphere of My government there will be no license; none of these laws will be destroyed in My Kingdom ; nothing will be abrogated by My com- ing—“I came not to destroy, but to fulfil.”
There ate various interpretations of the King’s meaning when He said He had come to fulfil the law. All of them may be correct, but most of them are partial. In my own study of these won- derful.sayings of Jesus, I am more and more impressed that one of the surest methods of true interpretation is to get back and stand with the men who heard them.
Did He mean He had come to estab- lish that great Kingdom wherein the law would be realised and obeyed? Yes, He meant that. But when the men heard Him, what did they under- stand Him to mean? On the eastern sky, so long grey and dark, the glory of a new morning was flashing. These men who had lived so long in the cold wintertide heard “the voice of the tur- tle in the land,” and felt that spring- time was coming whenever He spoke. Their hope was for the coming of the golden age, the dawning of the great day, of which the Psalmist sang, and which the prophets foretold. When He said, “I came not to destroy, but to fulfil,” He meant: I have come to real- ise all that the law attempted to realise. It is not likely that they saw the Cross in His programme; although He knew it to be so. What they understood Him to mean was that He had come +6 fulfil the law personally, communicatively, universally,
And yet again. This was not merely
MATTHEW
[mMarr. v. 17-20]
Se ee ene ee
the declaration of a personal determina- tion; it was an official proclamation. “For I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle
which affrights us, into the warm life which energises. That is what we are living for, and working toward. If you want to know how God is getting on, do
shall in no wise pass away from the law yw not look around you to-day. Fight to-
till all things be accomplished.” Here again one is tempted to ask, What did our Lord mean; “ Till heaven and earth pass away”? The answer which comes most easily is that this was a figure of speech ; that it was an indefinite way of saying that the law can never pass away. But it was not so. It is a most matter-of-fact utterance on the part of Jesus. When He said those words, it is as though He stood at the centre of the cosmos; of Heaven, which was ever the supreme place with Him; of Earth, the things which are patent to the senses; and said: The law cannot fail in the tiniest accent, in the minutest matter; it cannot be set aside, it can- not be abrogated, it cannot be trifled with as mnon-important while these
things last as they are; “Till heaven -
and earth pass away;... till all be accomplished.”
If we interpret the words by the con- : stant law of Scripture we shall find that °
the words were not carelessly chosen. Is heaven to pass away? Yes, He says so; “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.” Is the material order in the midst of which the Son of God and Son of Man stood, in the midst of which we live, to pass away? He says so. The law, which is the statement in words of God’s ideal, cannot pass, cannot be done away, cannot be abrogated in one jot or tittle, until heaven and earth pass. It must last while the cosmos as it is, lasts.
But when heaven and earth pass, does the law pass into non-existence? Until righteousness, the ultimate of law, be realised, law cannot pass; and that will not be till the heaven and earth pass. But beyond the heaven and earth that shall pass away, Peter saw “new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2 Peter iii. 13). Then righteousness will bg un- hindered, dynamical, masterful. / Then the law will pass. It will not then be destroyed; it will have passed from word into spirit, from the cold letter
day, but look on to the new heavens and the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
Do not let us read these words of Jesus as though they were merely hu- man rhetoric! I have not come to destroy law. I have not come to de- stroy the prophets./I am come to fulfil them. The law will abide; the prophets will remain until this sin-scarred earth and sullied heaven pass; and there come the new heavens and the new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. That is the King’s official declaration.
. Underneath that declaration, and in the presence of that manifesto, we who have seen Him and love Him are to live and fight and serve, God helping us.
Now, what does Jesus say of the re- lation of His subjects to law? I am not referring to the law of Moses—the ten commandments; but to the under- lying principles which the law of Moses and the ten commandments imperfectly portrayed. We need not attempt to discover the relation between the Mo- saic economy and that of the King; all that He will presently explain. He will show us how far the law of Moses is binding on us still. It is a deeper, pro- founder matter with which He was now dealing—“ Whosoever shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, shall be called least in the Kingdom of heaven.” This was a word of warning for the men inside the Kingdom. Notice carefully, ‘“ break” and “teach.” You never find a man teaching that any commandment of God
Vis unimportant, but that behind his teaching is the fact that he himself is breaking that commandment. ‘‘ Whoso- ever shall break, and teach men so.” That is a close connection, and the issue for that man is that he is to be least in the Kingdom. It is not a ques- tion of being cast out of the Kingdom; it is a question of his losing the hon- ours and the rewards; the sense that he is co-operating<