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Collected
Writings of J.N.
Darby
Expository 3
By John Nelson Darby
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Collected Writings of J.N. Darby
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Contents
Matthew’s Gospel ............................................................7
e Gospel According to Matthew .............................133
Compared View of the First ree Gospels ................145
On the Gospel of Matthew .........................................185
Matthew 1-13 .............................................................247
Matthew 14 .................................................................280
Matthew 15 .................................................................282
Matthew 16 .................................................................283
Matthew 17 .................................................................286
Matthew 18 .................................................................288
Matthew 19 .................................................................290
Matthew 20 .................................................................293
Matthew 21 .................................................................296
Matthew 22 .................................................................299
Matthew 23 .................................................................301
Matthew 24 and 25 .....................................................302
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Matthew 24 and 25 .....................................................322
Matthew 26 and 27 .....................................................348
Matthew 28 .................................................................356
Mark’s Gospel ..............................................................375
Mark 1 ......................................................................... 378
Mark 2 ......................................................................... 388
Mark 3 ......................................................................... 397
Mark 4 ......................................................................... 401
Mark 5 ......................................................................... 406
Mark 6 ......................................................................... 409
Mark 7 ......................................................................... 417
Mark 8 ......................................................................... 426
Mark 9 ......................................................................... 434
Mark 10 ....................................................................... 452
Mark 11 ....................................................................... 466
Mark 12 ....................................................................... 476
Mark 13 ....................................................................... 485
Mark 14 ....................................................................... 494
Mark 15 ....................................................................... 512
Matthew’s Gospel
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62849
Matthew’s Gospel
THE presenting of God’s grace in the Person of the
Lord, in the Gospel of Matthew, brings before us in a very
striking way, how the blessed Lord took our place, and was
a pattern of ours in the relationship into which He has
brought us by redemption, whether of blessing or conict,
only overcoming for us. Many, many passages show His
grace in it, but in this He takes the place itself. I refer to the
end of Matt. 3 and beginning of Matt. 4 e law and the
prophets were till John. en the kingdom of heaven, as
presently coming in, was announced. ere was repentance
for the people, but a new thing to be set up. e rst step
in good was receiving the testimony and coming to that
repentance; and their hearts, touched by grace, go.
e gracious Lord could not let His people take one
step alone. He goes to be baptized by John. He, I need
not say, needed no such baptism. So John receives Him:
“ I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to
me? “ e Lord answers, “ Suer it to be so now; for thus
it becometh us to fulll all righteousness. en he suered
him.” In Him it was fullling righteousness. Still He takes
the lowly place. You, John, have your part to do, I mine. “
Us “ is not, I believe, a plural of dignity, though it is not
of much moment; it refers to John as to Jesus: compare
chapter 17:26, 27, a beautiful example of the same grace,
only there He shines out as a divine Person. e Lord does
not identify Himself with rebellious and perverse Israel,
but with the path of God, and those who were walking
in it, but He makes Himself one of them when they had
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taken it. e word of God entered into the ear, and led the
heart of His perfect servant as fullling all righteousness;
the blessed Son of God. He has now taken His place
amongst the godly and upright though feeble sons of men,
the remnant according to the election of grace in Israel.
His person and personal perfectness was there, but among
them according to the will of God; and He gives us the
pattern and model of that into which we are introduced
by redemption according to the counsels of God. When
He comes up out of the water, having taken this place, He
stood according to the perfect will of God as man before
Him. Here heaven must respond. Lo, the heavens were
opened to Him, and He saw the Holy Ghost descending
upon Him.
Heaven may have been opened in glorious visions of
the judicial throne or the like, but never before had there
been an object upon earth to which they could be opened.
Divine favor might rest on Abraham, and God visit him in
grace, and Enoch who walked with God nd a lonely way
(once indeed though in a dierent form followed by Elijah)
into heaven; but never were the heavens opened before to
man upon the earth: now they were. Further, this blessed
man was sealed
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and anointed
2
with the Holy Ghost and
with power. irdly, the Father owns Him, a man, as His
beloved Son. Now this is all our place, of which He is here
the type and pattern. Heaven is open to us, the veil rent
from top to bottom, the way into the holiest open. We are
sealed and anointed with the Holy Ghost, and the Father
owns us as sons, loved even as Jesus is loved: only we of
course have it through redemption and faith in Him; He
1 John 6:27
2 Acts 10:38.
Matthew’s Gospel
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was in it personally. But He gives us the full and blessed
pattern of the place in which we stand. Our connection
with Him in it, and His own taking it, its being His place,
is not its least blessed feature.
Nor is this all. Here, in the Lord’s taking this human
place yet of full acceptance, the Trinity is rst fully revealed.
We nd indeed remarkable intimations of it in the Old
Testament, for the Son in Psa. 2 is Jehovah; people are to
trust in Him; and the Spirit, I need not say, is continually
mentioned. But it cannot be said it was clearly revealed.
at was the eect of Christianity when the Son and the
Spirit had come, and the Father was fully revealed in Him,
and to us made sons. And in connection with His person it
is so here. e Son was there as man, the Holy Ghost came
upon Him, and the Father’s voice came from heaven to
own Him Son. What a wonderful connection for us to see
Him identied with us, or rather ourselves with Him, and
that in this place, He being Son, the whole Trinity comes
out revealed, and in that He is a man. Take, as an example
of the eect, 1 John 2:28, 29; 3:1-3; where the Godhead
and manhood are spoken of in one sentence of the same
person, only taking up each side as suited; but we are so
identied with Him that, though glory be not revealed,
this much is certain as to it, that when He shall appear we
shall be like Him. Is not this a wonderful connection? If
He was Jehovah’s delight, rejoicing always before Him, His
delight was in the sons of men.
Many such cases, and even reasonings from it, may be
found in scripture. However, such is the Son’s place as man,
the model place for us. It is a blessed thought, and how
precious becomes His love. Still remark how the person
of the Lord is maintained in its glory. Heaven is opened
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to us as to Him; but when it is opened, is there any object
on which His eye is xed to give heaven its character to
Him, and form Him after it as in Stephen, and to saints
in their measure of faith? If heaven is opened, He is the
object of it. It looks at Him, seals Him, owns Him here.
He could not be on earth without heaven being opened on
Him, the supreme object of every thought there. is we
continually see. On the Mount of transguration Moses
and Elias are in the same glory as Christ, and confer
familiarly with Him of what was rst in the counsels of
God; but the moment Peter would put them on a level in
some sort with the Lord, they disappear, and the Father’s
voice owns Him as the Son, His Son who was to be heard;
and Jesus was found alone. So ever. Here then, the Lord
having associated Himself with His people, we have the
place into which He has brought them, Himself the model
of it. It is His place. He is now gone to His Father, and our
Father, His God, and our God.
But the blessed and gracious Lord has fully entered into
our case, the place of His people, and He now takes that
in which they are in conict with Satan, as well as that in
which they are in relationship with God. us anointed
as man, He was led up of the Spirit into the wilderness
to be tempted of the devil. Many things here suggest
themselves to the mind: the dierence of the position of
Adam and Eve, when they were tempted; the dierence
of the character of the forty days during which Moses and
Elias were estranged, so to speak, from the common lot of
humanity; but I conne myself here to the great fact of the
temptation, and the Lord’s undergoing it, as the other side
of our position from our relationship in Him with God.
Only remark that the temptation follows this. at is fully
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established, and it is as anointed therein of the Holy Ghost
that He enters into it. e tempter comes to Him. e
point of His temptation was to lead Him out of the place
He had taken as man, and rst out of that of obedience,
or of a servant, His perfect place as man. If ou be the
Son of God, use your authority, speak so that these stones
become bread. In a word, do an act of your own will, since
you are nothing less than Son of God. But the blessed Lord
holds fast to the simple place of obedience, of the servant,
of man, but perfect Man.
But several things are to be noted here. First, He has no
need to go farther than His own duty, no long controversy
or reasoning with Satan. e latter comes with wile; but
deceit has no place in simple duty, and the Lord, as a
servant, occupies Himself with that, and it is enough. Next,
God’s will is His motive for acting, not merely His rule.
at of course it was, but His motive also: an important
principle. It is not self-will arrested by a rule even cheerfully
submitted to. e obedience of Christ has the will of God
for the source of His actions. irdly, the word of God,
the scriptures, are the adequate, complete, and sucient
expression of this for man. He quotes a text and that is all.
But that is all God’s will expressed for man. Man lives by
every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
Wondrous expression! It is divine, absolutely so in its
source and character, out of God’s mouth, but perfectly
adapted for man to live by. ere is nothing like that; only
Christ is the living expression of it-the Word made esh.
Man may talk very high about it, as the foolish slave of
the enemy, deceived by him; but a single text is enough for
Him who is the Wisdom of God, the Lord, and enough
for Satan, so that he has no reply. It gave Christ His place
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as man, and with that Satan could do nothing. He betrayed
himself and his weakness if he suggested anything contrary
to it. Scripture is enough for the Lord Himself, for man
here below, and for the devil. It comes from the mouth of
God and man lives by it. Christ guarantees this to us.
And note the occasion. Be it so, He could not fail; but
He went through the trial. All depended on His victory. If
the second Man had failed for man, there was no hope; but
a text is sucient: by it He gains an absolute victory. ere
was no reply to it. On the authority, truth, suciency, and
suitableness of scripture, the victory on which all hope
for man depended was founded and won. e last Adam
had prevailed, and prevailed by it; Satan succumbed, and
succumbed to it: only it was justly used by the Holy Ghost.
No will was elicited by the temptation; obedience was, and
its true character and power shown.
Next, the enemy would draw Him out of condence
in God and therein too, out of the true path of obedience,
for it would have been Christ’s own will and act. Cast
thyself down. He has promised to keep you: try and see
if He will be as good as His word. Perfect condence
had no need to try, no will to exercise. Again, the word is
quoted: “ ou shalt not tempt Jehovah thy God.” Ex. 17:7
gives us the true force of the expression, often used as a
meaning pretty nearly the opposite to the true. We have
need of perfect condence to obey and to await the Lord’s
time. Anticipating the Lord’s time is one proof of want
of condence and want of obedience. See the case of Saul
waiting for Samuel. His condence fails and his will works,
and all is lost, though he thought to show faith and service
to God. Obedience and dependence, for which condence
in God is needed, were now fully manifested, and Satan
Matthew’s Gospel
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had nothing to do but to show himself, and then the case
is simple: he is Satan and may go. For “ resist the devil and
he will ee from you.” e Lord has destroyed his force, has
bound the strong man. e rst two cases are wiles. And
then, abiding in the simple place of obedience according
to the word, waiting for God’s will, obedience to the word,
and condence in what is said that God will accomplish
it, entirely frustrate every attempt of Satan. He may seek
to lead us openly from God by the word, but it is owning
the power of it. e word of God is absolute as to that. It is
still “ It is written,” but it is not now simply obedience, but
openly aance to God, and all is simple; and if the heart
be right, Satan, revealed as such, dismissed. Angels are the
ministering servants of the obedient Son of man; so for us,
as scripture shows; Heb. 1.
e way in which the Lord met the enemy is exceedingly
instructive; but that to which I desired especially to draw
the attention of your readers was the blessed way in which
the Lord took our place, put Himself in it, a model and
a pattern of ours for its simple but highest privileges,
and in the combat which belongs to it, in which we are,
and there, in the lowliness and perfectness of a servant’s
place, has shown us to our path too. But in both He really
was, and the combat now over as to the relationship and
blessing, He is only in glory, but as man, and has brought
us into it by redemption and grace. I know no more blessed
picture of our connection with the Lord, the man of God’s
counsels, and that because we see Him in it alone in His
own perfectness.
In what follows the temptation, we have the sum of
all the Lord’s ministry; not His discussions at Jerusalem,
which have another character and are chiey in John, in the
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midst of a condemned people, but amongst the poor of the
ock, spoiling the goods of him whom He had overcome.
e rejection of John was His rejection, the close of John’s
ministry the beginning of His own, and leaving Judaea He
seeks the poor of the ock, where prophecy had already
declared that the light should spring up. He was carrying
on the testimony begun by prophets, and more immediately
before by John the baptist, himself a testimony not to what
was, but what was to come. His person, Jehovah in grace,
in their midst, was the great testimony: but His ministry
followed in the train of those who had gone before, only
announcing the near approach of the kingdom and calling
to repentance, because the kingdom of heaven was at
hand. It is the same testimony as that of John Baptist, not
owning the title of the people to have the kingdom as the
people of iniquity (compare Isa. 48:2; 57:21), but calling to
repentance, separating morally those who had ears to hear,
and on the ground that the kingdom of heaven was close
at hand. But there is necessarily this dierence between
John the baptist and the Lord, that, though they may have
surrounded him as a teacher, John pointed to another,
while the Lord-and great grace it was-gathered round
Himself: proof that a divine Person was there: such alone
had title to do it. ey leave all and follow Him. He is a
commanding and binding power of attraction. e whole
of His general ministry is summed up in verse 23. is
single verse embraces characteristically His whole ministry.
e two following state the eect: His fame spread through
the country, so that sick were brought to Him, and He was
followed by multitudes from all parts.
e history of His ministry is here complete, multitudes
surrounding Him, which gave occasion to His taking
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His disciples apart to a mountain (though it appears the
multitude followed so as to hear what He said), and teach
them what were the real principles of the kingdom which
was going to be set up. Such is the sermon on the Mount.
e rst sixteen verses give the whole positive statement
of the character and position of those who belong to it in
truth, or rather to whom it belongs. It is taken, remark,
in its whole extent. First, the general character of those
to whom it belongs, the poor in spirit, not the haughty
of this world, but those who mourn in the midst of evil.
It is a characteristic of grace when evil is in the place of
righteousness. Peace-making characterizes God. It is
striking how peace is associated with God and His work.
He is the God of peace. Peace on the earth is announced
with Christ: He has made peace. “ Peace be with you “
was His twice repeated word. e fruits of righteousness
are sown in peace. Pure in heart comes no doubt rst, as
elsewhere: rst pure, then peaceable. Pure in Himself, He
is at peace, and so makes it in grace. When we are pure in
heart, the Spirit of peace seeks it in others.
In the fourth verse we see that the promises of the
kingdom rise to its highest privileges. e moral character
looked for in those who were to have part in the kingdom
having been stated, rising to its highest privileges and
activity in grace, the consequences in a world of evil, till
it was set up in power, are then pointed out; persecutions
for righteousness and persecutions for Christ’s name. e
former showed the kingdom of heaven theirs, the latter
pointed to reward in heaven itself. us, while verse 5
assures the meek of the earthly portion, this points to the
possessions of the reward in heaven itself. eir position in
the world is then stated, the salt of the earth and the light
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of the world-what is in contrast with and so far hinders
the corruption of that in which it is, and the testimony of
God’s light to those in darkness in the world around.
We have thus the character tted for the kingdom
of heaven; its earthly and heavenly portion, but its
carrying out in a state of things adverse to it, persecution,
corruption, and darkness- only that which was of God in
it. What follows is the relationship it bears to what had
subsisted up to then, and the contrast with the workings of
the human heart, which may put on the form of good, or
render external service to God, but not have purity within,
nor God for its motive in everything; which can listen to
the words of God, but not build its house in obedience to
them. e law is not referred to, save in the declaration that
it and the prophets must all be fullled. It is not obedience,
but fullling, every jot and tittle of it accomplished. What
preceded was fully conrmed, but in the person of the
Lord a new thing brought in. e lusts and unsubdued
movements of the human heart are wholly disallowed. e
Father’s name is introduced, Christ declares His name, a
very important element. e kingdom to be desired by the
disciples was the Father’s kingdom, though He, as to the
present condition, be seen in heaven, while they were on
earth. But love according to His ways was to be exercised,
goodness without motive save in itself. ey were there to
serve, not to judge, but with insolent evil not to misapply
their blessings. It was a strait gate and a narrow way, and
few would go in at it. False prophets, for Satan would have
every hindrance, would be known by their fruits.
e true character and condition of the children of
the kingdom, the Father’s name, and the contrast of this
new place in holiness, grace, and obedience, with what
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had gone before, while sanctioning fully what God had
given previously, the law and the prophets, which must
all be fullled. us the true character of the ministry of
Jesus the Lord, in grace and power, and in its bearing and
character in Israel, is fully given from chapter 4: 12 to the
end of chapter 7. Now begin the details of His personal
presentation in Israel, so that what should have acted on
the hearts and minds of those He walked amongst is fully
set before us, ending in His rejection by and through that,
for the time, of Israel, and the substitution of the church
and kingdom.
Let us then now follow the blessed character of the
Lord thus revealed, Emmanuel in the midst of His people.
A leper comes to Him on His descent from the mountain,
accompanied by the multitudes. None but Jehovah
cleansed the leper, but Jehovah was there. e leper, while
doing homage to the Lord and owning His power to heal
of which abundant proof had been given, was not quite
assured of His good will and readiness to do it. “ If thou
wilt, thou canst make me clean.” But the Man of grace was
there. Jesus put forth His hand and touched him. He is
come to the sorrows and wretchedness of man-a man with
them. One not to be contaminated, but in grace come to
those who were; not driven away by the corruption and
evil, but come to man when in them, touching him as man
to relieve and help, yet Jehovah. Wondrous truth! “ I will,”
who can say it, or say it with right or with eect? God. Why
should He say it, when sin, and misery, and delement
were there to produce repugnance? Perfect grace- the grace
man’s heart was no way sure of-was there; divine goodness
touching man as man, with the will to heal, but in power,
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man in his delement, but to remove it from him: such was
Jesus, Himself undeled.
We can hardly have a more wondrous picture or
presentation of His coming to the earth, Jehovah-Man,
touching man in grace, power, and love, good-will to heal
in grace, and present there with man. Grace is there-a word
heals-the work of Jehovah, but Man touching, laying His
hand on man. At the same time the Lord, while giving
this proof of His divine presence, recognizes the Jewish
economy as still subsisting. e cleansed leper was to go to
the priest and oer his oering for a testimony. In accepting
it, they owned he was healed, they owned that Jehovah was
there-Jehovah there in grace, but still owning Israel as to its
standing. But this divine grace manifested in Israel, being
divine, could not limit itself to Israel. A Gentile-owning
far more fully, as not shut up in Jewish thoughts, the divine
power that was in exercise, that the Lord could dispose of
all things, as he sent his soldiers hither and thither-looks for
mercy for his servant, but, with a faith which, as ever when
it realizes the divine presence, produced true lowliness of
heart, counts himself unworthy that Jesus should come
under his roof. A word from the Lord, ready as He was to
go to him, suced, and the word was spoken. Such faith
had not been found in Israel. It is for the Lord the occasion
to declare that many from all parts, Gentiles, shall come
and enjoy the promises with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob;
and the children of the kingdom, its natural heirs, Israel,
would be cast out into outer darkness. Faith and the person
of the Lord take the place of natural succession, because
God is revealed, and, as He must be if He is, in grace; and
once revealed must have what suits Himself, and acts in a
grace which is above ordinances. It was now because the
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person of the blessed One was there, As thou hast believed,
so be it done unto thee. Yet He was still subject, coming in
by the door, we have seen, to the law in Israel, yet in power,
and grace could not be limited to it. Jehovah healing in
Israel, a man amongst them, but one who must reach to the
Gentiles, going forth in grace towards them.
But we have further traits of His character in this chapter.
Not only is He Emmanuel in Israel, and the God of grace
to Gentile need, but He is come for the sorrows and evils
that sin has brought in here below. e sick mother-in-law
of Peter rises up at His word and serves them, and the evil
spirits depart at once from the possessed, and all the sick
are healed. But it was not merely power. His heart was in
it and felt it all. “ Himself took our inrmities and bare
our sicknesses.” His miracles were miracles of goodness. It
was not merely some as a testimony, but deliverance from
all the eect of sin and Satan’s power. One was there who
revealed God in goodness, able to remove all the eects of
sin in man. He was there who did it and could give power
to others to do it, not a mere conrmation of testimony, but
He who was to be testied of, present in that power. Nor
only that, but present as One who entered into them all.
But He sought no honor from men, and when His works
attracted the crowd, He left the place. It was His work, not
admiration He sought.
And this brings out another side of His character as the
Son of man. He hath not where to lay His head. Such an
one as the doer of miracles, the scribes would follow; but
He has not lost sight and would not have others lose sight
of it, that He is the rejected One, hidden and despised in
the world. “ Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air nests;
the Son of man has not where to lay his head.” If followed,
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He must be followed with nowhere in this world to go
to; followed for His own sake only. And thus it involves
following Him absolutely-with an absolute breach with
all that is of the life of the esh, however near or dear. “
Suer me rst,” will not do, though it seemed the strongest
possible claim. If Christ was there and went that road, His
disciples must follow Him and leave all behind, nor look
back. He was come into the world because the world was
far from God, and in it was gathering to Himself out of
it. His disciples did follow Him, and into a storm where
He seemed to have left them disregarded in danger, wholly
regardless of their diculties and danger. But foolish
creatures that they were, that we are, they were in the
same ship with the Lord. Was He, the center of all God’s
counsels, the Lord of glory, going to sink, and all God’s
plans, by an accident? Alas, what are we! But the Lord was
there and with the deep lesson-alas! how often to learn-
of their unbelief, a word from Him calms the winds and
waves. ere was a great calm. And the men marveled
when they had not believed.
But we are not quite at the close of this presentation of
Emmanuel, the Lord manifested on earth. He comes into
the country of the Gadarenes. ere the power of Satan
meets Him, a power which was terror to subject man: a
word from Him and all is over. e men possessed speak
under the inuence of those they were possessed by as if
themselves. Man does not know how Satan governs and
uses him when under his power; but, to show the reality of
it, the Lord suers the devils to go out into the swine, and
the unclean animals rush into ruin. But the quiet world
will not have God’s presence (Satan’s it cannot help now);
but if God’s power and presence is revealed, it cannot bear
Matthew’s Gospel
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this. ey beseech Jesus to depart out of their coasts, and
He went. So it has been with the world. In Luke we have
more details and an application to other points. Here it is
the great truth of the result of God’s revelation of Himself
in grace in this world. e world would not have Him, and
He departed out of their coasts. Terrible as will be the end
of the unclean vessels of Satan’s power, the quiet world
rejects the Lord. In general the chapter is in the midst of
Israel, but shows the dealing in grace with the Gentiles and
the judgment of the children of the kingdom; and here we
have passed over to a wider scene without leaving Israel.
God is ever the same, and the heart of man, but proved in
Israel-the world has rejected Christ. It loves its quiet and
ruin; the destruction of Satan brings with it the revelation
of his power. But it is God that the people will not have.
Our chapter gives us thus a full picture of the Lord’s
presence in the world in grace and power. He is there. In
chapter 9 we have more the principles of His dealings.
We nd in chapter 9 the work of the Lord, its character
in grace; as His person, in chapter 8 (still more denitely
in Israel), but rejected. e Lord returns to His own city
(Capernaum), but away from the scene which closed the
last chapter, which is complete in itself; the world rejecting
Him, and He leaving it. Now He is again seen in the midst
of His service in Israel. Faith brings one smitten in his body.
e Lord is still here as Emmanuel, yet Man in their midst,
but declares Himself there with the promised blessing of
Jehovah’s presence in grace. It is not here redemption,
though indeed there could be no such forgiveness without
it, but the application of forgiveness in grace in Israel as in
Psa. 103, and for present blessing Israel must be forgiven.
e Lord comes with it, and it is a direct testimony to
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forgiveness, or He might have simply healed as elsewhere.
But when Jehovah came in grace, He forgave all their sins
and healed all their inrmities. e Lord announces the
presence of Jehovah to do the former. e scribes murmur
within themselves, Who could forgive but Jehovah? But
He who knows the thoughts was there and proves by the
other part of the verse that the Lord was there in the power
of grace. He heals the inrmity at once.
We may remark that in this, as in the last chapter, He
takes the title of Son of man, His title of predilection in
love to us, wider than Christ, which though He was, He
did not come to take, and never takes in Israel. He is there
as Emmanuel Jehovah, to save His people; but as Son
of man, a title of all-importance; the One who takes the
kingdom in glory from heaven; yea has all things under
His feet. Christ never presents Himself as Christ. e
Son of man was to be strong for God (Psalm 80:17); but
now He was to suer. But God, though in the midst of
His people, must, when down here, take, in His nature
and work, His place in connection with men beyond all
relationship in law, the rejected One on earth. e Son of
man has power on earth to forgive sins; so the crowd says, “
such power to men.” Forgiveness then was there; and grace
to sinners. He was there in that character. He goes and
eats with publicans, having called Matthew who was one.
It was not the outside which governed His path. God was
there and the work was to be the eect of His presence and
grace, not dependent on what He found. And He knew
the heart, and the vessels to choose to be under the eect
of that grace as instruments of it. But the principle of the
work was the principle of grace; He came not to nd, but
to bring what was needed, and the vessels to receive it for
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service were vessels chosen, divinely known, and wrought
by grace into new and tting instruments. He is there then
forgiving sins, and eating with sinners, but it is Jehovah
who heals; Psa. 103
But the revelation as to the work goes farther. It could
not be put into old Jewish forms and take up what was
there as vessels to hold it. A publican was to be an apostle,
a Pharisee at best learn that he must be wholly born again.
And none of the old forms of righteousness really connected
with the esh, and man in the esh, could receive the new
wine; the doctrine of grace in power came by Jesus Christ.
All this belonged to esh, but could not hold divine power.
It had seemed to test man’s esh, but what was come now
was divine power in grace, and what was wholly new must
have its own vessels. Besides, the Bridegroom was there: it
was not the time for the children of the bridechamber to
fast. e time would come for that. It is striking how the
Lord always holds out His own rejection as a part of His
history. e Son of man must suer, the Bridegroom be
taken away. It was Jehovah there in grace, which could not
adapt itself to the old vessels, and only drew out the hatred
of man, and of Israel, who preferred its vessels as giving
them importance, to God Himself, and that revealed in
grace.
e following recital contains the true history of Israel.
Coming to it as just dying,
3
He has to deal with it as dead,
and can, but those who on the way with Him have faith in
Him are fully healed when all help failed. e virtue and
power of life was in Him, though in result He had to vivify
a really dead Israel. Such is the history of the ministry of
the Son of man-Jehovah in Israel. Two accessory eects of
3 Literally ‘is now at her end,’ see footnote, page 100.
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His power are added as to its special character as to Israel,
appealed to under the name of Son of David. e general
character, though manifested in Israel, yet in its nature goes
beyond it-Jehovah and Son of man-and this it is which is
of such profound interest to trace: but He was the Son
of David in Israel. And in verse 27 we enter exclusively
on Israelitish ground, where the spirit of the leaders is
fully manifested, and the patience of the Lord still goes
on in grace. e blind in Israel receive sight by faith in the
Son of David, and here He is in the house, and He opens
the mouth of the dumb there too: the attention of the
multitude is attracted and owns it was never so seen: but
if He casts out the devil’s power, the leaders of the people
call His power that of the devil. e spirit of unpardonable
apostasy was already manifested; but Jesus had not nished
His work of goodness in the midst of Israel, and He goes
around cities and villages, teaching, preaching the gospel
of the kingdom, and healing. His heart moved for Israel,
multitudes as sheep without a shepherd. For if Jehovah in
goodness, His heart could be moved by what He saw as
a man, and till that goodness found no more room for its
exercise. His time was not hindered by the wickedness of
those who were enemies; the harvest was yet plenteous, the
laborers few. Oh, how the heart may still feel this! Still
He will accomplish His work, have His sheep. Our part
is to seek from the Lord of the harvest that He will send
out laborers. In this chapter then we have the grace of His
ministry, its true character, the ministry of Jehovah come in
grace available to faith, but which must raise the dead; and
as a present thing is refused and blasphemed. His person
and His work have no place here save in grace. While
Matthew’s Gospel
25
this can work, He still goes on caring for all that may be
reached.
In chapter 10 He calls His twelve disciples and sends
out laborers, giving them power, a new proof of the divine
person with whom they had to do. It is not merely that He
works miracles, a testimony to divine clemency come into
the world, but He can give power to others to work them-
power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal
every disease.
I have remarked that Matthew gives an order in his
recital which is the mind of the Spirit as to the bearing
of the facts (that is, after the birth and before the last
scene at Jerusalem). e whole history, as such, between
these epochs we have seen given in one verse at the end of
chapter 4. We have here rst the whole number of apostles
chosen, as we see in Luke, after prayer, before the sermon
on the Mount. One nds at the outset of their commission
how the testimony as a present service is, in this Gospel,
conned to Israel as enjoying Emmanuel’s presence,
though it could not end there, closing at the same time
by Israel’s rejection of that Emmanuel. God’s presence on
earth could but be only for Jews, if He was the minister
of the circumcision for the truth of God. e twelve are
forbidden to go elsewhere. e way of the Gentiles they
were not to tread, and no city of the Samaritans was to
receive their visit. e lost sheep of the house of Israel
were to be the objects of their care. ey were to preach,
saying, e kingdom of heaven is at hand. All evil was to
be subject to them-death itself, the power of the enemy,
and the sorrows and human ills brought in by sin-leprosy
and all. And as they received gratuitously-Jehovah’s power
to use in their hands in grace-they were to use it in the
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same grace; and they were to trust His power and care
equally and take no provision for the way. It was Jehovah
who sent. ey did His service, and the laborer was worthy
of his hire. Jehovah’s care was there, and they, as we read
afterward in Luke, lack nothing. Further, they were to seek
out the godly remnant, inquire who was worthy in the city,
and abide there, and the sons of peace were to receive a
blessing. ose that refused this all but last testimony, and
here treated as practically the last (there was only partially
the seventy on His way to Jerusalem afterward), were
judged and rejected as worse than Sodom and Gomorrha.
is verse closes the direct present commission. What
follows from verse 16 continues indeed their service on the
same mission, that is, exclusively to the lost sheep of the
house of Israel, but goes on beyond the Lord’s rejection
and on to His coming again (v. 22).
e full character of their mission as thus left to serve is
gone into-persecution, death-but the Spirit of their Father
speaking in them, and a care over them which counted
the hairs of their head. But this part of the chapter shows
how deeply the Lord felt His rejection in Israel, noticed as
we have seen all through. e full power needed would be
given no doubt every moment, but the testimony would
draw out the passions of men in a way that would break
through every natural tie. Relations of nature divinely
formed would not resist the hatred of the human heart
against the testimony of God, and they would be hated
of all men for Christ’s name sake; strange feeling, which
only the hatred of man’s heart against God can explain!
ey would be brought before kings and governors, for so
the Lord would bring this testimony before the great and
before the Gentiles: the hatred of the Jews would do it,
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27
a plain testimony that we are here still in Israel. But the
hatred would be universal: they were to endure to the end.
ey were to go, when persecuted in one city, to another;
nor would have gone through the cities of Israel till the
Son of man came. It was Christ’s portion. ey had called
the Master of the house Beelzebub: He looked at it fully;
they must face it, if they were in the place of testimony;
enough for them to be as He. But they were not to fear, all
would come out and they were to be out in open daylight
in service; death might be there on the road, they were
not to fear but Him, who could judge and deal with body
and soul both. But it is remarkable how the Lord, as to
Himself and them, takes the power of evil for granted,
though God was with full care of His own above all; yet
till judgment came as to the present manifestations of
power, evil reigned (compare Rev. 2:10); for He, the power
of God, was about to be rejected, and all this power of evil
pressed upon His spirit in sending them out. Now indeed
as Emmanuel present He guarded them, but in this second
part the presence of the Spirit marks Him gone, and already
treated as Beelzebub. Such warning is not found (though
the re was already kindled) in the rst fteen verses: but
He knew His portion, and warned them of theirs. But they
were of value to God, and not to fear. He is to be confessed
before men at all cost. But nature and the esh, which, as to
power, He could have restored, were over in His rejection.
What man broke through in hatred to God they must give
up in devotedness to Christ.
e closing of the old creation is not here doctrinally
taught, but the deep feelings of the Lord, as to the practical
eect of the coming in of what was divine into the scene
of man proved apostate by its eect, are wonderfully
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portrayed. It is not only the warning to the disciples (v. 21,
22), when the enmity is spoken of, but the general eect
of His coming (v. 34-36). Peace on earth was not the word
now, but enmity in the closest relations. Owning the Lord
is intolerable to man. e closer the relationship, the greater
the hostility. But Christ came a test of everything, and as
His presence and the true confession of Him awakened
hostility, so the heart of His servant must take Him, the
new divine thing, instead of everything. e world had
proved the incompatibility of the old and the new, nature
as it was and grace, and the servant and minister of grace
must give up all (v. 37). Christ tests the heart as well as the
world. He was the rejected One. His servant must take up
the cross and follow Him. Natural life was of course the
track of nature, and that must be given up too in nature to
nd it new with God. But then they were thus associated
with Christ, and he that received them received Him. e
recognition of the testimony come into the world was the
reception of Him of whom it spake, and the reception of
Him was the reception of Him who sent Him, and whose
Witness in the world He was. is was the turning-point,
the owning Him, His name and word, if a cup of cold water
only was given. e dierence of verses 1-15, though the
principle of testimony was the same, with verses 16 to the
end is very marked; the power of the then nal testimony
with judgment on him that did not receive it, while He
was there present as Emmanuel, and the moral mark in the
world of a rejected Savior. His grace continued in patience,
but the fact that He was called Beelzebub had borne its
witness in His soul. e present was a nal testimony in
Israel; the rest, the witness of a rejected Savior; but all in
Israel, save as it brought them as guilty before Gentiles.
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29
is rejection and the entire change of dispensation and
ground of relationship with God are fully brought out in
the chapters which follow. When I say relationship, none
could really be but on the new ground of grace; but I speak
of God’s ways. e Lord as yet continued His testimony in
the midst of Israel. And thus the chapter (it) gives us a full
view of the true position of the witnesses God had sent,
and the real place Christ held; His place as founded on
His person and personal grace contrasted with His coming
after John in His service.
In the following chapter 12 we have the setting aside
the old covenant or its principles, and nature’s rest with
it, with the full iniquity and judgment of the Jews on the
other side. But in chapter 11 we have the open history
and the secret history of all that was going on. Patience of
goodness as yet continued, but all was now changing. e
provisional service of John before Christ, and his favored
position in it, are fully recognized. e Lord delights to
own His faithful servant in it: but it is over. He came after
John, was before him, and it is in this character He is now
coming out, though all the rest was true. John is in fact
in prison, man’s evil will and enmity already shown as the
unbelief of Israel towards the Lord (v. 20-24); and John
himself must believe Christ on the witness He gives of
Himself. He gives testimony to John instead of receiving it
from him. e chief point in John’s message is to show this
change, for though in prison some uncertainty doubtless
had arisen in his heart-for if Messiah, Jesus brought no
deliverance-yet his heart was all right. He did not doubt
the testimony of Him to whom he sent. e Lord throws
the answer on the testimony all had, which His word and
work rendered to Himself, yet as already the rejected One
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in whom the reasoners of the people were oended: blessed
he who was not. e Lord then proceeds to give testimony
to John Baptist, but with witness of the coming change-
change which His person brought in, for as a divine person
He receives not testimony from men, but He gives it to
His faithful servant. And John was only a forerunner of
the thing itself that was to come: the least actually in it
was greater than he. Of born of woman, of gifts to Adam’s
children, none was greater; but the kingdom set up by
Emmanuel was on the other ground, founded on the
second Adam. e law and the prophets dealing with men
in esh had reached up to John: since then the kingdom of
heaven was preached (not come). And this was no matter
of giving a law to an acquired people alive in the esh,
or recalling them to it, but set up with esh opposed and
trial brought in. e energy of faith alone could make its
way into it. is, if faith could receive it, was the Elias to
come-was he who had gone before Jehovah in his spirit
and power, this special coming of Jehovah; but in grace,
not in judgment.
e rejection of His testimony is now denitely entered
on, and the true character of what was taking place. He
shows the state of the people as to the reception of John
and Himself (v. 17-19). Warnings and grace were alike
rejected. But a remnant, wisdom’s children, justied God’s
ways in both. Such was the state of things. en the Lord
comes especially to His own testimony and the mighty
works by which it had been conrmed. It was not merely
moral warning closing the old warning, the list of prophets
owning Israel and doing
no miracles, but the manifestation of power and one
working miracles claiming attention by divine power, not
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reckoning on any present acknowledgment of Jehovah on
which the word as of the prophets could be based. It was
a Person present, Himself the subject, source, and power
of testimony, its object, and that from which it owed.
But Israel would not repent. His works left them without
excuse, His grace made the sin the greater. It would be
more tolerable for Tire and Sidon, Sodom and Gomorrha
in their day of judgment, than for these cities; such was the
testimony they had rejected.
But now we come to what was inside all this, the glory
of His person known to none, and the revelation made by
Him of that name of grace which, in the rejection of the
Son and Servant, was brought out for the soul of him that
was weary in a Christ-rejecting world. e unbelief, justly
rebuked by the Lord, found with it no gall nor bitterness
in the spirit of the blessed Lord, so that He should not be
pure with His Father, it only threw Him from man into
the fullness of the mind of God; but rst in lowliness and
submission in the place of the servant, ascribing all to His
Father, yet as Son, perfect submission, but entire condence
of love, thus intelligence clear, no delay in solving the
mystery, seeing it on the side of God. At that time Jesus
answered and said, I thank thee, O Father. en He is
owned as supreme in everything, Lord of heaven and earth,
and with the owning of this supremacy, the sense of the
tness of the dealing; human wisdom failed, it was tting,
necessary; how should it, base and earthly, understand
divine ways? ey were hidden, and hidden by the Lord of
all from the wise and prudent. He puts man’s wisdom in its
place, its true moral place. But grace revealed them to the
simple and unpretending, the unsuspecting condingness
of the babe. So it seemed good in the Father’s sight; man,
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and old things with him, had passed away; Christ, the
second Man, the Son in grace, replaced them all.
No one knows Him but the Father. e Father in grace
can be known through Him, but God come as man in the
form of a servant, none could know; and though He had
presented works and words which left them without excuse
in His service, yet His person none could know. But this
submission, and relinquishment of all as sent, brings into
His own spirit what belongs to Him in the place He now
was in His person and service. All things were delivered
to Him of the Father; the Son and faithful Servant had
now all things in His hands, in this new place where He
received them indeed, for He made Himself servant, but
as Son; for He could not cease to be that, whatever His
service; and now rejected of all, none knew, nor, in this His
personal glory, could know Him; but He knew, and in this
place revealed the Father. In this place of grace He stands
alone, unknown of all (being in His service and testimony
to them in their place rejected) and alone in sovereign grace
to reveal the Father-that is, He who sends the Son in grace,
and in such a world wholly tested, and its history, that is,
man’s and Israel’s, over in His rejection-to say, “ Come to
me.” If there were hearts weary of themselves and a world
that thus rejected Him-perhaps could not well explain
why, but weary of evil-though evil-let them come to Him.
is solitary place of Christ, in grace revealing the Father,
is very striking. Heir of all things, and the Son revealing
the Father, but the deposit-thus alone the beginning of all
anew from the Father-of all grace and perfect grace, rest
for the weary, not help, though help He does, but rest by
the revelation of this grace.
Matthew’s Gospel
33
But there is another thing that then comes, but comes
after this, though accompanying it: “ Take My yoke upon
you and learn of Me.” e rst point was He had brought
the grace and rest for him who came to Him by it, but He
had shown in His rejection the lowliness and meekness
which bowed to the Father’s will and accepted His rejection,
looking absolutely to His Father’s will and good pleasure,
and thus thanking, even in the midst of sorrow, not looking
at the evil to be vexed, but to His Father out of it working
in His wise and holy ways. Meek and lowly of heart He
gives rest to the soul; as to its state, perfect rest through
the knowledge of grace, with God by coming to Christ,
and rest of heart through lowliness and the absence of all
working of will. His yoke is easy and His burden light, the
one which He had borne.
It is interesting to see how what is stated doctrinally in
John 1 is here wrought out experimentally in the history of
Christ, as heretofore remarked, that the rst three Gospels
present Christ to men, and result in His rejection. John
begins with His rejection and presents the person of Him
who was rejected, and man must be born again, and then
the Comforter when He was gone, and an elect remnant
with others such, among the Gentiles, the Jew reprobate.
Compare too chapter 17.
Chapter 12 presents the setting aside the old system, rst
by the principles of the new, and then by the full judgment
of the wickedness of the leaders of the old, and closes with
the declaration that Christ’s connection was not with
those with whom He was naturally united according to
the esh; but with those who received His word. Judaism
was over. Judah or Israel was neither the true servant nor
the true vine, but Christ; and those who received His
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word, the branches; for John still gives in doctrine what we
learn here experimentally. e question as to the old and
new principles rested on the sabbath. Law and grace were
connected immediately with it, for the sabbath was given
as God’s rest, and a seal of the covenant; but the old as the
rest of the rst creation. e new principle owed from the
person of the Lord, Jehovah, Son of man, withal present
on earth, and the grace in which He came. But He is still
viewed as the rejected Messiah; to this the Lord refers. His
disciples rubbed and ate the ears of corn; the Pharisees
object that it is the sabbath, and they put the question, “ Is
it lawful to heal on the sabbath day? “
e rejection of God’s Anointed dissolves the bond
of legal enactment. All was common, there was no rest
in nature possible. For a fugitive David the bread was in
a manner common. And the priests in the temple itself
profaned the sabbath to maintain the command of God,
and circumcise sinful esh and accomplish the due service
of God. But One greater than the temple was there. e
setting of mercy above sacrice, moral intelligence of God’s
ways in grace, would have saved them from their mistake
in condemning even the Lord Himself. e Son of man
was entirely above the ordinances of the law. e One who
was to come in glory, set over all the works of God’s hands,
was above not only in His person and place (for He was the
Ancient of Days) but as the new head of all things, alone
seal of the old covenant. He is, as Son of man, Lord of the
sabbath too.
Another principle was, that power was there in grace.
ese hypocrites would have done more for their own
interests. It is lawful to do good on the sabbath. us with
a rejected Messiah, old things were gone, the Son of man
Matthew’s Gospel
35
was Lord of the sabbath, Jehovah wrought in grace, and old
things really had passed away. e animus of the leaders
was shown, and Jesus withdrew Himself according to the
prophetic character given to Him. He sought no rumor,
nor glory for Himself; still His power would burst forth
and bring the Gentiles under His sway, and they would
trust in Him. For the rejected Messiah the sabbath was
gone, and rest over for the world. Jehovah in grace wrought
in mercy and had not rest in man’s sorrow, and the Son of
man, the glorious One, was above the ordinances of the
sabbath, Lord of it, the head of the new creation.
But the Lord continues His work of patient grace,
destroying the power of the enemy, though seeking no
present glory nor lifting up His voice in the streets. But
the Pharisees, unable to deny the power with which He
wrought, attribute it to Satan. is brought all to a crisis.
To speak against Christ in blindness could be pardoned,
but to own the power and call the Holy Ghost Satan was
unpardonable. It was open antagonism to divine power
undenied. e Lord shows the folly of it, Satan destroying
Satan’s kingdom. It was the fruit of the abundance of their
heart, and that willful enmity against God in goodness, and
every word spoken showed what was there, and men would
be judged by such. ey are given up. e only sign they
would now have was Jonas, a rejected one in the tomb. But
men of Nineveh and a queen of the south would rise up
in judgment with that generation, for a greater was there
in testimony than Jonas or Solomon, a greater prophet, a
greater and wiser king.
eir nal judgment is pronounced. e old unclean
spirit (of idolatry and rejection of Jehovah) would return
with seven others worse, and Judah’s state be worse than
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when they went to Babylon. en they were judged for
the former sin (see Isa. 40-48), now for rejecting the
Son of man (Jehovah Emmanuel in grace) see Isa. 49-57
(though their restoration is also taught): the end would be
the giving up the nation to the worst power of the enemy.
Here the deliverance is not spoken of; it is the state of the
generation. And then the great result, present result, as to
Christ, to which I have alluded (present ties by birth in
esh as Son of David and man on the earth) gives place to
those formed by the word in the hearts of the sons of men-
of the sons of grace, who did His Father’s will. It is the
close, not of goodness even here below, but of the history of
a Christ presented to Israel and man; and the beginning of
the going forth of the fullness of grace in a divine person;
and the Word that brought the blessing in grace with it,
and sought no fruit on His vine nor reception from man in
esh. A sower went forth to sow; and all is formed on this
footing. He leaves the house, for Israel had been Jehovah’s
habitation; but, for the present at least, it was left by Him,
and He goes to the sea-side-the moving multitude of the
world-and there taught.
e rst parable then gives the general character of the
Lord’s work. He is a sower sowing the seed of the word
to bear fruit. And this parable is individual, not a likeness
of the kingdom of heaven. e great principle is that the
Lord brings with Him what is to produce fruit, He does
not seek it in the eld. It stands alone thus in the seven.
e other six are similitudes of the kingdom of heaven. It
is not on the other hand the teaching as to the eects of
grace but of sowing; as manifested in result as to the fruit
produced, one only of four produced any. Satan took away
at once what was sown in the rst. Conscience not being
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37
reached, the profession sprang up at once in the second,
and when trouble came, because of this it was given up as
lightly, and withered. In the third case there seemed more
hope, but the cares of this world and lusts of other things
choked it, and the man is unfruitful. In one the word of the
Blessed was understood, the conscience and heart, the need
of the soul awakened, received it, and various degrees of
fruitfulness followed. e rst did not understand-nothing
was awakened, it rested on the surface. e two others
seemed to receive, but it came to nothing All, I repeat, is
individual here, a constant truth, but an immense change
from seeking fruit in the nation. It is put thus to him who
has ears to hear, urgent and individual.
e disciples ask why He speaks in parables, and in
His answer He makes at once the solemn dierence of the
position of the disciples. To them who had received His
word it was given to know the mysteries of the kingdom,
but to the mass of the people it was not given. ey saw,
and saw not; they heard and heard not, nor understood;
and the judgment pronounced in Isaiah was fullled in
them, and they were not to be treated as a nation then:
all was over with them. To him that had more would be
given, and he would have abundance. From him that had
not would be taken even what he had. So with that people.
But the eyes of the disciples were blessed, for they saw;
their ears, for they heard; they saw and heard what many
favored of God had desired to see and hear, and had not.
Here we see clearly the people held as rejected and blind,
and the remnant separated to Christ for the knowledge of
the mysteries of the kingdom, but for this very reason a
kingdom with a rejected king, and which took a form that
was the consequence of this.
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38
ese similitudes of the kingdom of heaven begin with
verse 24. ere are six: three addressed to the multitude,
and three, with the explanation of one of the rst three, to
the disciples. I will not here enlarge because these parables
have been so often explained, but give some general remarks
connected with the point we are at in the Gospel.
By this rejection of the king, and His going on high,
and not taking the direct power of the kingdom till His
return (compare Mark 4:26-29), the kingdom of the
heavens had become like a man who sowed good seed in
the eld, etc. We have only had the fact of His rejection
on earth and breach with Israel and the world, and the
fact of what the kingdom was made like. e further truth
of His exaltation and what ows from it are here; it is the
kingdom such as it had become by His rejection, and I may
add the kingdom on the earth, only that in the last three
we have the thoughts of God as to it. e only allusion to
what is out of this world is the gathering the wheat into
His garner. But this is not explained. In the explanation the
Lord returns to the earth again.
On the earth the crop should be spoiled. is would not
hinder the wheat from being brought into the garner. Note,
here only we have the Son of man sowing formally armed.
It may be supposed in a general way in the mustard seed,
but it is merely the fact of a small seed sown and a great
tree produced, but ‘here we have good distinctively sown
by the Son of man, and another sowing by the enemy; and
the eect of each, though in the same eld, has its own
distinctive character, and even manifestly so to the servants
though they could not remedy it. If they meddled with the
evil plants, they would pull up the wheat with them, and so
did those who attempted it. But this was not in the church,
Matthew’s Gospel
39
it was in the eld, the world; for our individual conduct
we have other directions in the epistles, and in our church
conduct. is was a question of service towards others of the
servants personally in their place of servants, and plucking
up evil ones out of the eld, which was the world, and of
nothing else. Satan’s work in spoiling Christianity as a
result here below, called Christendom, cannot be remedied
by Christ’s servants; it is a matter of judgment and divine
power carried on by the instrument of that power, and in
part providentially. We do not reap, cut down out of this
world, either to lodge fruit in heaven, or to arrange evil in
itself on earth. God will do that otherwise by His power.
Indeed in this parable the servants do nothing at all. ey
have the intelligence of Christ as to what is going on, and
what the crop is, and how it came about. is parable is the
full and explained account of the whole scene in its sources,
their eects, the general result here, and the intervention of
God to close the scene and the eect and manner of that.
But the explanation belongs to the disciples, not to the
multitude. For them, the whole scene on earth is unfolded,
but not manifested judgment and its eects; that belongs
too to the disciples, to the communications of Jesus to them
in the house. e providential gathering of tares, God’s
judicial acts in the world (for it is part of the course of the
history of the kingdom here), and then the single heavenly
fact in the whole series-” gather the wheat into My garner
“; both which are left unexplained-that is, the bundles of
tares and the garner. It was necessary to introduce them,
or the after public eects on earth would not have had
their place, but they are no part of the parabolic instruction
in itself; that is the kingdom on earth. e end of the
present scene is the providential gathering of the wicked in
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40
corporate bodies, and the taking of the saints into heaven.
e judgment exercised on earth will have other eects.
How the evil came in is stated to the multitude, a needed
instruction for all. While men slept, Satan was active. e
irremediable consequence has often been noticed, and I do
not go farther into it here, though of all importance.
All this belonged to the public history of the kingdom
of heaven. e explanation of the next two has to be rather
limited than extended. It is the fact-not directly by the
sowing of the Son of man-that the planting of Christianity
would result in a great political power, and would ll
a limited sphere with a system of professed doctrine. I
recognize fully that leaven is always used in a bad sense;
there is no sowing of the word here that produces plants
which grow up from it, not a leavened mass; and it is
intended, I doubt not, to show it was not this. But the object
was not to show it was bad, but the mere lling a mass with
a system, not the word of life to souls. Moreover, when
individuals are spoken of, we have plants in the kingdom or
shes out of the sea. Care is taken to show it is not the word
which works eectually in those that believe, but a general
eect, and for this a word always used elsewhere for evil.
We have then the general eect of Christ’s work spoiled,
as a whole, in this world by the enemy, and irremediably
spoiled here; a great political power in the world, and a
general profession spread through a limited sphere. I do
not take the birds in verse 32 for evil spirits, but as used to
show the power to protect and shelter found in the tree,
just as in Nebuchadnezzar’s case in Daniel.
Having gone into the house the Lord explains the
parable of the tares and wheat, and gives three more
parables. Besides what I have said, there is only to remark
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41
that we have the actual judgment in this world at the end
of the age. e Son of man gathers out of His kingdom,
here on earth, all things that oend-no evil things allowed
there-and those that do iniquity; and they are cast into a
furnace of re. en the righteous shine forth as the sun in
the kingdom of their Father: I doubt not the heavenly part
of the scene, but manifested in glory, not the joy within, but
the glory without, still the Father’s kingdom; and men are
warned and encouraged to give heed. en the Lord gives
further parables, showing His true intent and the divine
mind in what was doing, however He might be rejected.
e kingdom of heaven was carrying the mind of God,
however the Christ might be rejected, or its development
on earth spoiled. e Lord had found a treasure hid in the
eld of this world. is was not Israel; Israel would none of
Him. It was Israel’s responsibility, and was over. Here He
was seeking, He was acting, and takes the world because of
what was there to be found in it, His heavenly people; and
had given up all His earthly title and place to take this. It
was worth while. Surely He shall have it more gloriously as
Son of man, but He gave all up then and took the world,
for all things are now His. But it was not only the value
of His people in His sight, but He knew and judged of
the moral beauty the nature and heart of God desired.
He was it; and the heavenly saints alone, formed into
His likeness, answered to this delight. He sought goodly
pearls-understood what was beautiful, found one very
precious one, and gave up all and bought it. ink what a
privilege, what an unspeakable privilege to be the express
and singular object of divine delight! For the treasure and
the value He had for it, He bought the whole world, has
a title to all, but with the treasure as His object; but here
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He seeks what can be the divine delight, and has one thing
which can be the satisfying object of it. It is wonderful.
We can understand why we are taught to be imitators of
God; why the beatitudes express Christ’s character; why
the exhortation in Phil. 2 is the exact portrait of what
Christ was. To have this object of His moral delight, Christ
gave up all He was entitled to as Son of David then. e
wickedness of man may reject Him, and show what he
is, and this we have learned in Matthew; but God always
pursues meanwhile His own counsels.
ere remains the parable of the shes, also connected
with the counsels of God, but carried out with intelligence
by men who serve Him. Here only we have introduced
the activity of men other than the Lord. Before, it was
the Lord who sowed and the servants were only told they
could do nothing. In the treasure we clearly buy no eld to
have Christ, nor do men naturally seek goodly pearls and
so nd Christ. Here, though the comparison be the net
itself rst, yet the shermen have their part and their object
and work when the net is full. e net has not gathered all
shes nor embraced all the sea, but gathered a net full out
of it, and of every kind; and then when full they sit down
and select the sh that are proper and put them in vessels.
e service in the beginning was of a dierent kind. Either
the Lord added such as should be saved, or the word acted
individually. All that came were received into the ock,
though soon false brethren found their way in. ey were
put into vessels, but not out of a net full of every kind. is
is at the end, when as a fact there is a net full. en comes
quiet and deliberate selection; they sat down, when it was
drawn to shore, when the gathering work had taken place,
and took out the good ones and put them into vessels. eir
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43
business was with the good ones (they were their object),
and as intelligent shermen they selected them and put
them into vessels. With the bad shes they had nothing
to do, they cast them away and put them into no vessels. It
was sucient to reject them and leave them cast away on
the shore. ey were not left in the net. By the selection
the net-ful was done with, and the bad sh rejected, but
left on the shore as they were. But their object and their
occupation was about the good sh; they put them with
deliberate care out of the net into vessels. e net full there
was no more, a solemn thought in itself.
So, when the servants came to the householder to have
his mind, there was nothing for them to do with the tares:
only there, in the public eld, as at the beginning, the Lord
having sowed, the crop was spoiled and remained so. e
Lord’s servants had nothing to do with tares as to their
service. Angels would make the separation in judgment. So
here, the servants have to do with the good and gather them
out of the net. Afterward at the end of the age the angels
have to do with the wicked. ey gather the wicked from
among the just and cast them into a furnace of re. ey
leave the just here where they were: with this judgment the
shermen had nothing to do; their business was with the
good sh, to put them into vessels; with the bad they had
only to reject and have done with them. e disciples had
thus the old things of prophecy, the earthly things of the
kingdom, and the new of the kingdom which they now
learned. But He who could with divine wisdom teach them
these things was in His own country only the carpenter’s
son. ere He could do but little.
Chapters 14, 15, seem to me of considerable importance.
In this respect, that they introduce the abiding patience and
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44
grace of Christ as Jehovah when Israel is already judged,
and the kingdom announced as coming in in mystery; so
that His person and personal grace, and that even towards
Israel, remained unchanged, only must go out beyond in
the nature of things. We have now not Israelitish dealings,
but the abiding character of the divine Person as in the
end of chapter 11, when, I repeat, the kingdom as set up
in His absence had been fully announced, as after these
chapters we have the church and the kingdom in glory fully
announced; but here Himself. John had been beheaded
by the Idumean and Roman king in Israel, but He that
satiseth the poor with bread in Israel is there. He felt the
blow of John’s death and retired, but when the need of the
people came, Jehovah was there. He satises the poor with
bread, Psa. 132; here, with a character connecting itself with
the full establishment of governmental order
4
in Israel in
man, though man would not have Him.
en Jesus goes up in His human character on high to
pray, and the disciples are sent away alone on the stormy
sea rst, and He dismisses the multitude of Israel, taking
the other place of intercession on high. When going to
rejoin the disciples He walks on the sea; I apprehend the
church’s or Christian’s place, the path of pure faith or of
power, and faith in power with no ship, no boat, as a refuge:
nothing external or human, as Israel was. e question then
and particularly at the close, as a fact, is faith, personal faith
in the Lord Himself. “ If it be thou.” en if the eye is o
Jesus, we are in no place at all for man to walk in. Peter
began to sink. We can easily understand this, but it was
4 In the number twelve, the loaves, the tribes, and all connected
with this, the twelve apostles as connected with the kingdom,
the twelve stars on the woman’s head in Rev. 12
Matthew’s Gospel
45
really folly. He saw the wind boisterous, but He could no
more have walked on a smooth sea than on a rough, and
if the Lord was there on a rough as well as on a smooth.
It was a question of faith and looking on the Lord, not on
the sea, and so of himself. But Jesus will enter into the ship,
again the earthly and human order, though gloried not
humbled; then the wind will cease, and all in that ship will
own Him Son of God, and the world that once rejected
Him will own His power and presence, and gladly.
Such is the scheme, if I may so speak, connected with
the Lord’s unchangeable faithfulness and love to Israel
as Jehovah, though leaving the remnant that had owned
Him to themselves for a time. We have now the moral and
simply divine character which cannot be hid or conne
itself to Israel. First we have Jewish or formal religion
judged, God’s commandments hypocritically set aside,
and especially by the clergy and religious doctors for their
traditions. Superstitious gifts to the clergy are specially
noticed and outward forms; but the whole result of this
teaching was, the people in general drawing near with
their lips, but their hearts far from God; where human
commandments are introduced, men worship God in vain.
If man’s tool passed on the altar, said the law, the altar was
deied. But human nakedness was equally deling. Man’s
religion was condemned, but man’s heart was condemned
with it, man was set aside as well as Israel. Not what went
into the mouth deled a man, but what came out. Soon
is stated what did; but rst the leaders of the Jews, as the
leaders of eshly religion always are and must be, were
oended at the rejection of a religion which heartless
esh and hypocrisy could fulll, and the judging of all that
came out of the heart. But all was over, though grace went
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46
on with esh and the Jewish system. e Lord dismisses
them with the short judgment, they were not plants of His
heavenly Father’s planting. Now every plant which His
heavenly Father had not planted would be rooted up. e
fallen earthly system was over, only what He planted He
would own. All else would be rooted up.
Such was the public judgment. It was not now Israel or
their hypocritical and self-righteous leaders who could pass.
Judgment was on all not planted of the Father of Christ,
characterized here as heavenly. But to His disciples He goes
farther, and shows not formal hypocrisy judged, but what
does come from the human heart, and this was evil of every
kind. Has He, full of love and goodness, nothing to say of
good that would come from it? not a word. ese are the
things which dele a man. us the moral judgment was
complete, rst of the formal systems, which Judaism now
was; the reality of heavenly planting, the only thing owned;
all human religion vain, and interiorly and spiritually the
human heart judged.
All was said as to man; but only to bring in sovereign
grace. And now Jehovah’s grace above all this appears, but
as still owning Israel-for that is a main point in these two
chapters when just going to set it aside (chaps. 16, 17) for
the church, the kingdom, and the heavenly kingdom and
glory. He is giving Israel up. Grace is going out in grace
fully, according to divine fullness and prerogative; He is
giving up His present place of Messiah there. God must
be greater than that; still Israel’s place is owned, though
not set up in strength now. He goes where the cities noted
for hardness of heart had their coasts, and a woman of the
accursed race of Canaan meets Him. She takes Him on the
ground of His place in Israel, “ ou Son of David.” What
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47
had a Canaanite to do with that? He has no answer as such.
e disciples put self rst: Get rid of her (by granting her
request), for she cries after us. e Lord in reply formally
takes His place in Israel. “ I am not sent but to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel.” en she comes up and pleads
with Him, and meets with what seems the hardest answer.
“ It is not meet to take the children’s bread and to cast it to
[Gentile] dogs.”
e woman takes this place too. She owns the promises
to Israel, Israel’s rights; she owns them to be the children,
but the felt want (through grace) drives her right to the
heart and goodness of God Himself. It was so: she had
no right, she was only a dog; Israel was in the place of
the children. But there were resources in God for even
the dogs, they might eat of the crumbs from their masters’
table. God’s appointment and purposes (the true divine
place of Israel) were owned, but the heart and goodness
of God reached; masters they might be in God’s plans, she
owned it (that is, Him). But He who gave children’s bread
to children could supply the need of those who were not,
and had but the crumbs around to look to. Christ could not
deny the goodness of God, or limit it to Israel, however as
sent He might own their exclusive title; but the sent one
was Jehovah in Israel and could not be less than Himself,
or other than God in His nature and goodness.
And now see how faith and God’s character meet. I
have thus spoken of the dispensational character of this
history. Recognizing Israel fully, the divine Person there
necessarily over-passes its limits, but the moral character
of the circumstances are of the deepest interest. Great faith
produces great humility. ere is the full recognition not
only of entire unworthiness, accepting the place of a dog,
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48
but that there is no right, no claim, no promise, but then
through grace, by reason of this, she goes right through to
the goodness of God in Himself. at is true faith; she, as
Christ, owned the dispensations of God, His right to have
a people of His own, but saw Him revealed, Himself in
Christ, and her need met the riches of the grace and love
which were in Him. It is thus need by faith meets God,
God Himself in goodness, but revealed in Christ, as part
of the goodness was so to present Himself. We may learn
afterward to joy in God, when we know Him; but here we
meet Him and as He is, as He puts Himself forth in Christ
to be met. Hence Christ, to manifest this faith, puts forth
the dispensational side in the strongest way, that faith,
going on the ground of need, might pierce through all
this up to God Himself, as the divine nature and goodness
pierced through in Christ the place of service He had taken
in Israel. And thus the simplicity of need meets the riches
of God’s goodness by means of grace in Christ on one side,
and through grace, faith on the other. In this respect it is a
beautiful scene. And this is, I think, progress.
First it is Son of David, and this was right-and true
recognition of the promise and Christ’s title to it. But then
there is no answer. en she comes more simply in her
need, and, doing Him homage, says, Lord, help us. is
brought an answer, but that He was sent to Israel, not to
Canaanites; it was not meet to give the children’s meat to
dogs. And then she takes her full place of a dog with no
title, but there was goodness enough in God, riches and
plenty enough for such. e blessed Lord could not say
there was not. He was it there, and then He recognizes the
woman’s faith. Her desire was to be met according to itself-
as thou wilt. But the woman has all the great principles of
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49
Paul’s gospel in the world. Christ was a minister of the
circumcision for the truth of God to conrm the promises
made to the fathers, and that the Gentiles should glorify
God for His mercy.
In what follows in the chapter we have the great general
truth of the position of Christ brought out. He returns
to His place in Israel where the light was to spring up;
manifests His divine power and goodness in delivering
from every evil, and the multitude glorify the God of Israel,
but it is not now the twelve baskets full. It is not in the
character of perfect ordained human power. e baskets are
seven. e perfection remains, but it is purely divine in its
spiritual character, not developed in human government. It
remains, but it remains divine.
In that which follows we have the positive preparation
for that which was going to take place before we come to
the history of the event itself. at which was to take the
place of Christ owned on earth is given, and in giving this,
the inapprehensiveness of the disciples themselves, both as
to intelligence and power, not that of Israel. Testimony to
them as under their present leaders, and in their present
state for the then mission of Christ, was closed. But with
all the incapacity of the disciples to avail themselves of the
grace of Christ then present, the revelation of what was to
be the foundation of that which was to take the place of
it, and of the coming glory, as well as what was the path
to this, was made to some or all of them. But of the whole
present position of Christ they were wholly unable to seize
the true character, or use the power which belonged to it.
is incapacity of the disciples is somewhat prominently
brought forward in these chapters (16, 17). Still the
revelation of what was needed for the new state of things
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50
coming is made to them. e Pharisees come with their
unbelieving request of a sign; but the answer now is short-
no sign but Jonas, Christ lost to Israel in the grave-and He
left them and departed: only warns the disciples against
their doctrine. But the testimony to the divine power and
presence of Christ had left the disciples still without any
intelligence which recognized who He was, so as to own
Him as testied of down here.
But here the patience of the Lord waits upon them and
recalls the testimony so that they at length understand
His warnings, but present understanding of His actual
position there was none as then come; nothing in their
state available in divine service for Him as then revealed
or even available for their own souls. ey were attached
to His person and this was real, but no intelligence, and, as
we shall see, no power by faith in what He was, but here
the want of intelligence was marked. Still the Lord’s works
had drawn attention everywhere, and the Lord asks them
the eect of this on the people.
It was various: opinions were formed, and there it ended.
Some said one thing and some another.
But unable as the disciples might be to appreciate
Christ as. then there, God revealed to Simon Peter in an
especial way that which was to be the foundation of the
new blessing. at is, we nd here, as all through, the two
things, Christ presented to Israel then, and His person
behind all that. Only here we nd besides, the disciples
unable to seize the former, and God revealing to one at least
the latter. We know that all confessed Him such. “ou
art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” e Christ of
course they owned Him, but here was a special revelation:
His divine person as Son, Son of Him in whom was the
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51
divine and eternal power of life. is was demonstrated in
the resurrection, but was there in His person: that He was
the Christ they were not to say He was any more. is was
over in Israel, His true name there; but on the name, being
the Christ, of the Son of the living God, He was going to
build His church. Here was the new thing. e Son of the
living God revealed, and the church built by Christ on this
great truth. e rst full grand revelation of the new thing,
ever in the counsels of God, but set up in Israel’s place
during their rejection, here, but forever in heaven. Against
this the gates of hades, the power of Satan should not
prevail. Based on the person of Christ, Son of the living
God, Satan could not succeed against it. is power of life
proved and exercised in resurrection victorious over death
and hades, the power of death which had prevailed against
the rst Adam could not prevail against this. Such was the
great truth, but many things require notice here.
Jesus recognizes it as a new and special revelation;
not esh and blood, but His Father who was in heaven
had revealed it to Him. It was a positively heavenly and
personal revelation, not drawn, however justly, even from
prophets and teachers; not merely that there was a Christ
or even a Son, but a direct revelation of His Father in
heaven, made to Peter, that Jesus was the Son of the living
God. e prophets no doubt spoke of Him to come, and
there was sucient evidence that Jesus was He; but here
was a personal revelation, the foundation of the new thing,
the church.
Next, it was personal to Simon. e whole ground of the
blessedness was that it was a personal revelation: “ Blessed
art thou, Simon Bar-jonas, for--”is was the ground,
though prophetically given before, why he was called Peter,
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52
but a particular special new revelation was the ground of
the whole matter. A successor to a revelation to Simon
Bar-jonas is nonsense, because he only has it. He only who
has the revelation can have the place the revelation and
it only gives. He was blessed and called Peter because he
had it. On this immovable rock, the Son of the living God
revealed and known, the Lord’s church was to be built.
But, further, who is the builder? e Lord only. “I will
build”; not “I am building.” He was going to build it. But
He only was the builder, and it is not nished yet. But His
work no power of hell can prevail against. But it is only
His work, what He builds. Hence, when Peter alludes to it
in his epistle, he has no idea of being a builder, any more
than a foundation. “ Unto whom coming [the Lord], as
unto a living stone … ye also as living stones are built up,”
1 Pet. 2:4. ey come and are built up, as living stones are
built up. ey are built on the Lord, as living stones they
come. ere is no human builder, and Christ is that on
which they are built. Whatever others did, I suppose Peter
understood as taught of God what his Master said. But
Paul, speaking of the church in the same way at the end of
Eph. 2, says the same thing: “In whom all the building tly
framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord.”
ere is no human builder, and Christ is the chief corner
stone. ere is a house of God where there are builders;
I Cor. 3. Paul was a wise master-builder. Others might
build wood, hay, and stubble, which Christ never does:
corrupters might corrupt it. Here man was builder and his
work might all be burned up.
I only notice this that by the contrast we may see the more
clearly what is spoken of here: not a corporation subsisting
at any one given time upon earth, of which scripture does
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53
speak, but of a working going on and wrought by Christ
Himself, and as yet, of course, unnished. Further, there
are no keys to the church; neither Peter, nor anybody else,
had any keys for the church. It was a building going on of
which the Lord was the builder, and that does not want
keys, nor are keys things to build with. e keys of the
kingdom of heaven were given to him, and no doubt he
used them, and to good purpose too. It is a very serious
mistake to confound the kingdom of heaven and the
church. ey are distinguished here and never confounded
anywhere. Chapter 13 has given us the kingdom of heaven.
Chapter 16 tells us of the church, and then adds a distinct
commission as to the kingdom; one is founded on the
Father’s revelation to Peter, and Christ is the builder, not
Peter: the other is Christ’s commission especially given as
a distinct thing. “ And I say also,” or more clearly, and “
I also say to thee “; the Greek can have no other sense.
e Father’s revelation had laid the foundation of the
church, and Christ was going to build it. Christ names
His servant, an act of authority, and entrusts him with
the keys of the kingdom. If we must have a wise master-
builder of the church on earth, it was Paul, if we are to
believe him, not Peter. e keys of the kingdom were surely
given to Peter, and he used them, and administered it for
Jews and Gentiles. Every Christian owns that whatever
in his apostolic ministry he did, as sent by Christ, heaven
sanctioned. Remark, he bound nothing in heaven; but what
he bound and loosed on earth, heaven held for good, and
it was sanctioned as bound or loosed there, but the things
bound or loosed were only on earth.
Having thus fully declared the new thing founded on
His person, He forbids the disciples to say any more that
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54
He was the Christ. at was the old place, now done with
as presented to Israel in promise. And He begins from this
time to teach them His suerings and death at Jerusalem,
and His new place in resurrection. But this they did not
understand any more than the rest. God had revealed to
Peter the person of Christ as Son, but his state met in no
way the necessary eect and meaning of this in the world.
In their state, even with true aection, they might rejoice:
their master was the Son of God; but that He should suer
and be rejected had no charm for them. Remark this for
us all. ere may be true divinely given faith in a truth,
without the esh being subdued, so as to receive or estimate
divinely the results of this truth in the world. Still it was just
man, what man savors and the world; and Peter is treated
as acting under the inuence of the enemy of souls and the
blessed Lord’s work, in resisting the cross. If he had had
his way, he would have hindered Christ completing His
work. But the faithful Lord treats it as Satan; to savor of
the things that be of man is so, it is not of God.
e Lord then openly warns the disciples that, if they
follow Him, they must take up their cross and follow
Him: that was His path. He then gives two reasons: rst,
gaining the world and losing one’s soul was little prot;
and, secondly, the Son of man was coming in the glory
of the Father, though now humbled, and then would
reward every man according to his works. e world was
a passing and vain thing; but our path in it would meet its
consequence in another. God and man were really opposed
in their thoughts: the rejection of Christ proved it. e
path of the Lord was to suer here and His followers to
follow Him; but He would come in His Father’s glory and
then the fruits would be judged according to the estimate
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55
of that new world to which He was hastening; and so sure
was this, that some would be given to see it before they
died. All this is the new thing taking the place of the old,
but in the proof of man’s opposition to God, and that as
still in their moral thoughts in the esh, even the disciples
were unable to enter into the mind of God. ey are really
as far from apprehending it in the revelation of the glory;
they are not out of the old things, nor able to see even the
power Christ had brought into the world. ey were really
in the esh as to their minds All in every way must be
wholly new.
e church as built by Christ we have had in chapter
16, and the keys of the kingdom of heaven conded by
Christ to Peter. We have now (chap. 17) the kingdom
in glory, which in its time is also to replace Christ as He
then was on earth. e Lord displays it to the three who
were to be pillars: Christ formally standing alone by the
authority of the Father’s voice, the law and the prophets
disappearing. is is the great point here. We have more
in Luke of the intimacy of gloried saints with Christ, and
especially more of the heavenly part, they (I suppose Moses
and Elias) entering into the cloud; but here it is more the
personal glory, and the kingdom -as Peter himself expresses
it, the power and coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. e
manifested glory of His person is more fully put here. His
countenance shone as the sun and His raiment is white as
the light. So it is said “ Till ye see the Son of man coming
in his kingdom “; in Mark and Luke, the kingdom come,
or come in power. It is a bright cloud which overshadows
them. In all, Peter would have joined the lawgiver and
the great prophet with the Son of man; but this foolish
proposal (nor is Peter alone in it) brings in the glory of the
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Father, the excellent glory, the cloud of God’s presence, and
the Son of man is owned Son of God Himself, and Moses
and Elias are gone: a testimony most distinct and express.
It has been said, that the risen and changed are seen here.
I have nothing against it, but I do not think here it is the
object of the vision, but the personal glory of Christ, and
the disappearing of law and prophets (surely all fullled)
in the glory of the kingdom where the Son of man has His
place alone, because the others are fullled, and disappear
in their service, and Christ is alone; and further, He, God’s
beloved Son, the kingdom and glory being revealed, is now
alone to be heard. Not, of course, that we do not believe
all the law and prophets have revealed, but they are what
testify of Christ; and now the thing is come, the Person
they spoke of; and further, not as the Messiah, and Christ
of promise (as such He had been rejected, and He was
speaking of this, chap. 16: 20-28, and it is what introduces
this vision), but as Son of man and Son of the Father,
testied of immediately, personally, out of the excellent
glory, as the object of delight and alone in it. It is not that
He had left, or would leave, His people in the glory; He
was talking with them in it, but as the One who appeared,
the object testied of, He was all alone, the Father only, and
we may necessarily and in His delight testifying of Him as
He could and did reveal the Father.
It is a wonderful scene. But resurrection was needed to
bring it out; a living Christ on earth could not be revealed
in this place. It was the counterpart from it from heaven
when rejected here below. e Messiah’s place was God,
and beside the Christ, it was the cross and the Son of man
in glory, Son of God alone the object of the Father’s delight.
I say the Father’s, for when He says Son, He reveals the
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Father • not Christ reveals the Father to us, but Himself in
what de could not but be with the Son. It is a great thing
to know, besides His person, that the Father’s delight is in
Christ. e Father said, “ I have found my delight,” such
as He had been on earth, though in itself eternal. He can
tell us the Father’s mind perfectly. e Lord refers to this
and similar testimonies in John 5. But it is not as in John
3: He speaks that He knows and testies that He had seen
heavenly things as Son of man who is in heaven, not what
John Baptist declares, and “what he has seen and heard
that he testies.” ere Christ is revealing from heaven.
Here the Father is testifying and chews His delight, that
He has found His satisfying delight in that which Christ
was on earth, and owns Him Son.
And now we nd, as I have remarked, the incapacity of
the disciples not merely to understand the new position
Christ was taking, but even to make use of the old. Peter,
with a forwardness which the Lord constantly used to
bring out some truth, did not go beyond the similar glory
of Moses and Elias to Christ to recognize the person of
Christ. At this, though he had owned Him Son of the
living God, so that he ought to have known better, we can
hardly be surprised; but diculties when they did know,
and incapacity to use the power already come in with
Christ, is all that marks their state. Only the Lord pursues
His own grace and His own thoughts, as we shall see.
Some other important points arise out of this chapter.
As regards this world, the coming of the Lord was a kind
of provisional or tentative coming, though for far more
important purposes. Just as He could say, till the Son of
man comes, though He was there; and this double purpose
is morally evident, because He came completing the trial
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and testing of man (compare John 15:22-24), and also to
accomplish His Father’s will, and give His life a ransom
for many. And it was His rejection in the rst form which
brought about the accomplishment of the second, so that
responsibility and grace in atonement met in the cross.
us, if they could receive it, John was Elias who was to
come. e scribes were right in expecting him, but John
was come in the spirit and power of Elias. To him they
had done what they listed. Only if Elias came, personally
he must be another; when the Son of man comes, it will be
the same, only risen and gloried. e Lord allowed the
diculty to be presented that the whole scene that was
going on might be brought out.
We then come to the incapacity of the disciples to use
by faith the power which was then present. e poor man
with the demoniac son had brought him to the disciples,
and they could not cast the demon out. is draws out
from Jesus the expression of the uselessness of His stay
with them, when even His disciples could not make use of
His power. is it is which nally leads, not to the prophecy
and declaration that He would suer, and depart, and rise
again, but to the immediate expression of what drove Him
away. “ O, faithless and perverse generation, how long shall
I be with you? how long shall I suer you? “ e unbelief
even of His disciples, hindering the ecacious testimony to
His power, led to His going away. His person remained the
same, and His personal grace, but His work was hindered
by the faithlessness even of His own. How long was He
to stay and bear with them? us we learn what closes a
dispensation and the Lord’s dealings in goodness, not the
power of evil that brought Him here, but the powerlessness
of those who follow Him, in making good the testimony
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He has given of His power and goodness. is does not
cease, but in the same sentence in which He say, How long?
He says, Bring thy son hither. It is what we have seen, the
closing of His service here, but His person and grace only
shining out the more brightly; the same yesterday, to-day,
and forever; and exercised wherever there was a want that
came to Him, the actual meeting-place between man and
God-a want, and grace in a Savior.
Two things are then brought out as regards the exercise
of this power of God by faith. First faith, unclouded
condence in Christ to do it, but, secondly, that there was
a real adverse power of Satan, and that, in cases where
that power was in its full exercise, as here, it could not
be met and overcome but by nearness to God, bringing
in His power by prayer and that self-restraint in which
the heart was separated from nature to God. I expect no
miracles in these last days, save false ones on the part of the
enemy, though many things are counted miracles which in
connection with God’s government faith ought always to
do; but for that to which faith now applies, according to
the will of God, these directions are of the last importance;
faith in God’s power, and that in exercise in grace towards
us, and this sought in prayer and separation of heart to
God. Elias, we read, was a man of like passions with us,
and he prayed, which I notice, because all we read of in the
Old Testament is his declaration, “ As the Lord liveth,”
etc.; 1 Kings 17:1. In spite of all this practical unbelief in
the disciples, the personal glory and grace of the Lord, and
the association of the disciples with Himself in grace, is
no way hidden or diminished. e close of the chapter is
a remarkable witness of this in connection with what we
have been seeing.
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e Jews come to collect the tribute for the temple,
and come to Peter with the question if the Lord paid it,
tantamount to the question, if He was a good Jew. e Lord
anticipates Peter, showing divine knowledge and divine
power. He asks him of whom the kings of the earth take
custom, or tribute- of their own children or of strangers.
Of strangers, replies Peter. en, says the Lord, are the
children free. Christ, that is, was Son of the great King of
the temple, but in this character associates poor Peter with
Himself. en are the children free: nevertheless that we
oend not,” etc. He then shows His divine power and in
the way of Peter’s natural calling disposes of the creation,
of the sh of the sea, to bring him the needed money. Son
of the most high God, knowing all things and disposing
of creation, He nevertheless subjects Himself in grace to
Jewish order; but in the title of His low place, in innite
grace He puts Peter in the same place with Himself: “that
give for Me and thee.” e lowliness of Him who came in
by the door, the divine person, and the perfect grace, are all
shown out together.
e true position at this moment too is clearly seen. In
chapters 18 to 20 to the end of verse 28 are presented to us
in a general way the principles in which they were to walk in
the new order of things, and in general what characterized
this new order in contrast with nature and Judaism, while
God’s creation is fully owned. e Lord begins with the
abnegation of self, and self-importance. We are to be as
little children; one who was not such in principle could not
enter into it, and he who was most so would be greatest
in it. e Christian received Christ in receiving such in
Christ’s name. But opposition and diculties were to be
expected. Woe to the world because of them! If they put
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a stumbling-block in the way of these little ones who did
believe, for weakness might accompany simplicity, they
had better have been hopelessly drowned in the sea. As
to oneself, if one found anything in oneself that led one
to stumble, no self-sparing; better lose the best member
one has than one’s soul. e Lord always maintains in the
strongest way the solemnity of God’s judgment of evil. e
fullest freest grace is taught us, blessed be God, but nothing
to weaken the horror of evil, but the contrary.
ere is comfort in what follows, if not professed
doctrine, as to infants, and their salvation if going out of
the world as such. e Lord’s disciples were not to despise
them: they were always present before Jesus’ Father in
heaven. I take “angel” in the common use of it in scripture, of
one who represented another without his being personally
there.
us we have the Angel of the Lord; the Malak-
Jehovah. ey said of Peter, It is his angel. It may be an
angel who does the service; but the object of the passage
is not to show who does it but what is done, and for this
purpose popular language is used. But this blessing is not
founded on sentimentality, or vague notions. It is founded
on the parable used for sinners in general of the lost sheep,
and that the Son of man was come to save what was lost;
only here, with infants, it is not said to seek. But it is not the
will of our Father who is in heaven that one of these little
ones should perish: of such is the kingdom of heaven. It is
not, I judge, to be thought that the Lord speaks of the poor
and humble in spirit; they are the greatest in the kingdom:
it would be a small and insignicant thing to say of them
that it was not the Father’s will that they should perish.
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We have then the case of a brother oending another,
not the world; and this introduces the assembly in practice
here below in the coming period. e injured person was
to tell his oending brother, and win him if he could; if
not, take one or two more, and if that failed, it would not
merely be, You say, and I say, but the whole matter before
the whole assembly with clear evidence. If he refused the
judgment of the assembly, he was to be as a heathen man
and as a publican. e assembly takes in this the place of
the synagogue. It is remarkable here that the successors to
the power given to Peter to loose and to bind, so as to have
heaven’s sanction upon it, are the two or three gathered
as an assembly. What the assembly decided, as such,
was sanctioned in heaven. e Lord adds the promise of
granting what was asked by two or three so assembled, for
He Himself would be there. But what should characterize
the disciple was grace, and, if personal forgiveness answered
the end, it was to be given constantly. Church discipline
is another thing, it comes to be judicial and needed for
clearing conscience. e spirit of forgiveness belonged
essentially to the Christian. By being forgiven he was one,
and he was not partaker of it if he had not the spirit of it.
I apprehend, in the form of the parable, that there is an
allusion to the Lord’s forgiveness of the nation, even after
killing Him if they repented (Acts 3), and their refusal of
grace, as shown towards the Gentiles, involving them in all
the consequences of their rst guilt against Christ.
e next, chapter 19, furnishes us, I think, with some
very important principles. Nature, brought up, and as God
formed it, was fully recognized, but a principle and power is
brought in which is wholly above it, and in its actual moral
state it is fully detected and judged; while the following
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of Christ out of nature’s power has blessing in this world
and in that to come. is-setting everything in its place
on the rejection of Christ, which did reveal everything,
and brought in a new power-is full, it seems to me, of the
deepest instruction. It has its occasion rst as a question
debated in the Jewish school, to which the Lord gives the
divine answer which unfolds the whole state of things: “
Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?
“ e Lord goes back behind the law to God’s original
institution: “ He which made them at the beginning …
From the beginning it was not so.” us God’s natural order,
the relationship He had formed, origin of all other human
relationships is restored by Christ’s authority. He returns
to God and God’s institution of man. It is not Jehovah, it
is not “ my Father,” but God made them-a very important
principle. e law takes its place as a provisional thing by
the bye. Looked at as a Jewish law, a law of ordinances, God
had made allowance for the hardness of the human heart,
and now returned to His own thoughts and institutions.
God’s order created order.
But besides this, another power is come in, which is
not nature but divine, as in the power of the Spirit of God,
because nature is all ruined, the power of evil is in the
world, to which nature is no answer, because it is what is
ruined; power therefore comes in, which is above nature, as
being of God, but which consequently owns nature as He
made it, and His institutions. To break them is sin, to live
above them is the gift of God. “ He that is able to receive
it, let him receive it.”
Hence also the Lord receives little children, and blesses
them. is was in God’s order, and of God’s creation, in a
certain sense unspoiled. I speak not of the root of sin, but
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of the manifestation of evil in the world. In themselves
they were the fruit of God’s natural order, as yet in a state
unspoiled and natural. And so they are. e kingdom of
heaven set up this order again in natural relationships and
nature as God made it. We are not talking of the church
here; that has its relationships spoken of in chapter 18.
But nature, however amiable and good in this sense,
has the deep root of evil in it. is we see in the young
man who runs up to the Lord. A beautiful character-his
showing desire of learning of Him, whom he saw to be the
most perfect master of good, would inherit eternal life, had
kept all those commandments which were the maintenance
of the relationships we have spoken of. But the Lord cuts
down the whole seed of man (for the young man came to
Him as a man, a Rabbi). ere was none good but one-
God; still for man the commandments were His will, and,
for man to enter into life he was to keep them in the system
of the law. Relationship to God the Lord does not speak
of, and He says life, dropping the word eternal, which the
young man had used. But the way of life for man in this
world was keeping the commandments. e young man,
like Paul, was irreproachable in conduct. e Lord puts the
test of lust and of his heart, and all was wrong. Instead of
lust judged, and all counted dung for Christ, Christ is left
for the riches which his lust clung to. is tale was told of
man’s heart; even where irreproachable, lust possessed it,
and earth, not heaven, was its desire. e new and heavenly
thing had come in which detected its state, and the fairest
remains of creation: character and qualities were nothing;
the heart was away from God. Riches-which to a Jew were
a sign of divine favor, according to the government of this
earth, now that God was revealed, and man’s state made
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manifest, that it was a question of man’s heart with God-
were the greatest hindrance. e reason was simple: they
held the desires of the natural heart.
But if one with the best qualities, and the desire of
doing good, and such an opportunity, were not saved,
who was to be? e Lord’s answer does not avoid the
consequence; with man it was impossible: plain, earnest,
and solemn testimony. But that did not hinder God; all
was possible with Him, and He could save. We have, then,
the consequence of giving up all for Christ, but not beyond
the kingdom. All here concerns the kingdom. Peter, ever
forward, puts the question, What were they to have who
had forsaken all? In the renewed world, which was coming,
they would be on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes
of Israel, the rst places in the center of the kingdom;
and every one who had left what nature loved for Christ’s
name would have a hundredfold in this world, and then
everlasting life; for in following Christ eternal life comes
in, not in doing the law.
But the principle on which it is done is also of all
importance. Many then rst should be last, and who were
last rst, but as a principle it is (chap. 20) always true. And
the principle laid down is this-laboring through condence
in Christ, and not for so much reward; grace, and not law:
reward is encouragement to endurance, not motive. ose
who agreed for their penny got their penny, those who
trusted the master of the vineyard got according to his
heart. “ What is right I will give,” and they went on his
word. e assurance of reward for sacrice is there when
Christ is the motive of the sacrice; but where the reward
is the motive of the service, it is poor pay, and indeed all is
false. But thus there are (the converse) last rst, those who,
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with perhaps later opportunity of service, have more trust
in the Lord’s heart and faithfulness, and reap the fruit of
it in Him. e sovereign grace of God is the source of true
blessing. But here service, not conversion, is the question.
Chapter 18, on to thus far in chapter 20, closes the moral
instruction of His disciples, as giving the true character
and state of things, brought in by His rejection, and the
principles the disciples were to act upon: chapter 18 more
within, among saints; chapter 19 men’s state and the
kingdom, the principle of service being shown in chapter
20. e Lord then proceeds to tell them of His rejection
as immediate in Jerusalem, where He was going; that He
could give them the cup, that was all. He was taking the
lowly place, ministering, and giving His life a ransom for
many: the high places in His kingdom were for those for
whom they were prepared of His Father. en, as in all the
three Gospels, begins the history of the last scenes with the
blind man near Jericho.
In chapter 20: 3o the Lord accepts the title of Son of
David, acting in grace where the place of the curse had
been. He is therefore now no longer with the poor of the
ock in Galilee, but drawing nigh to Jerusalem, in the
character in which He had to say to His people there as
such; a last testimony to them before His rejection by them,
and their judgment. Accordingly He enters into Jerusalem
as King, according to the prophecy of Zechariah, only the
rst part of it is omitted, the accomplishment of which
will be at another time. en He will be just, and having
salvation. He was it always; but it was not in that character
that He rode into Jerusalem now. His whole character here
is placing the Jews under the nal test of the presence of
Messiah their King, bringing on their judgment as about
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to leave them; the rejected King passes them all in review
before Him, and assigns them their place. It is the last
closing act between Messiah and Jerusalem. God put the
testimony in the mouths of the multitude, which shall be
the cry of Israel in the last days, according to Psalm
He acts as holy King and Judge, and clears the temple
of its delements.
All that follows is the nal procedure in which the
dignity of the humble rejected One is vindicated against
the withered pretensions of the unbelieving heads of Israel;
in which each class, pretending to call Him in question
and perplex Him, comes to receive its sentence from His
mouth. Still, for every need His power is yet in grace. e
blind and the lame come to Him in the temple, and are
healed. When the chief priests see this done in the temple,
in public and before the multitude, and the children
crying, Hosanna to the Son of David, according to Psa.
118, they are sore displeased, and appeal to Jesus to stop
it. He answers by Psa. 8 He must be gloried; and, if He
gave Himself, still His glory must be maintained, and if
the simplicity of children did not fulll the task, as we read
elsewhere, the stones would cry out. Here we have only the
short and silencing allusion to Psa. 8, and He leaves them.
He would no longer sleep in the condemned, though loved,
city.
We have then the testimony to the nal judgment of
Israel as under the rst covenant, that is, of man in his
responsibility. He came to look for fruit; there were only
leaves, and man is judged as utterly fruitless forever. Israel
thus judged would immediately wither away. But the whole
power of the people, if the disciples had faith, would be
cast into the sea of the Gentiles; and so it was. At the same
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time the Lord insists on the power of the prayer of faith in
their service.
e chief priests and scribes came to Him, as He
was teaching, to demand His authority for what He did.
is is the common question of what is really apostate
ecclesiastical authority. at which is of God owns God’s
work: God’s work proves itself. If God’s work is done, God
has wrought it, and God’s authority to act is not a matter
of question for those who, being of God, know His work.
Man may sometimes mix that which is of himself with it,
and so far spoil and enfeeble the testimony, but that which
is of God they who are of God will own. In Christ all was
perfect, of course. Hence the Lord puts them on their
capacity to judge of God’s work, and from carnal motives
they avow their incapacity to judge of it. Why then should
He tell them by what authority He acted? ey were
confessedly unable to judge of it. It was a humbling setting
aside of their pretensions-avowed incapacity. But it is well
to remember that God’s work does not need authorization.
From whom is it to receive this? God assuredly needs
none to work, or make others work, and he who pleads
ecclesiastical authority for working proves that it is not
God who is working, for who can authorize Him?
It may seem more dicult till the proofs are there, but
that is a matter of faith. If Christ has given the talent to
trade with, the seeking another authority gives proof that
he who does so does not know his Master. He does not
know that he is sent of Christ, for then he need not seek
another. If he has another without that, it is simply naught.
But the Lord goes farther with their religious authorities,
and in the parable of the two sons shows that the repentant
sinner, not the pretended just one, was the doer of God’s
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will. e publicans and harlots went into God’s kingdom
before such. Terrible and humbling sentence! but so it was.
Nor had the bowing to John’s testimony by these repentant
sinners wrought on the conscience of these hardened self-
righteous ones.
e Lord then gives utterance to a parable which was
the divine judgment on the whole conduct of the leaders
of Israel, represented by those before Him. He had done
everything for His vineyard, and then in due season He
sought fruit- sent the prophets, who were rejected, and
persecuted, and killed-sent yet more, and they treated them
in the same way; at last He sent His Son, saying, ey will
reverence my Son. Him they cast out and slew. e chief
priests and scribes pronounce the only possible judgment
on them in reply to the Lord. It was their own sentence. e
Lord then from scripture-testimony which they could not
deny shows that what they rejected was made by God the
head of the corner. ere could not be a plainer testimony,
more immediately applicable. God, and the chiefs of Israel,
the builders, were in open contradiction. It was Jehovah’s
doing to exalt the rejected stone. It is still Psa. 118, the
special oracle of God as to these events. We have then the
Lord’s open comment and statement as to the result with
the Jews- the kingdom of God taken from them, and given
to a nation bringing forth the fruits of the kingdom. It
was to Gentiles, but that is not the special point of the
Lord’s words. It was to a nation bringing forth the fruits of
the kingdom. If that be not done, they cease to answer to
the description, whatever the patience of God; and though
that be not the subject here, they also would have to be cut
o. e same truth is otherwise told in Rom. 11.
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Further, the Stumbling-stone (Isa. 8) was there. It was
indeed Jehovah Himself in grace. Whoever stumbled on it
was oended in Him, and (this is of wider application than
the chief priests) would be broken, but those on whom He
fell, when coming again in judgment, would be ground
to powder. Such was the present and future result of the
responsibility of the Jews, to whom every advantage had
been given, and to whom the Son of God Himself had
come. Here the Lord is looking for fruit. e aspect of the
crisis from the side of grace follows.. Meanwhile the chief
priests and Pharisees would have taken Him, but feared
the people.
e Lord presents then the state of things on the side of
grace, not of seeking fruit. A king is making a marriage for
his son. is leads us on into the christian sphere of things,
though taking it up rst as to Jewish responsibility. It is the
kingdom of heaven, only the Jewish invitation here takes no
eect. e streets and lanes of the city, the poor of the ock
in Israel, are not in the scene here. We have the invitation
to the Jews as then given. ey would not come. When
all is prepared after Christ’s death, they are again invited,
but they made light of it, and went their way to their own
occupations, or treated the messengers injuriously, even to
death. is brought judgment on them and on their city
Jerusalem. ey were not worthy, and the King sends out
to such as had no claim or hope of such a privilege-sent,
as sinners of the Gentiles, and the wedding was furnished
with guests. But all this was the external thing. e title
really to partake is tested amongst those who have come
in, a single example being taken as the principle. He must
be t for the wedding: a wedding garment can alone be
allowed at the wedding, and that is Christ. Fine clothes
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might be displayed, perhaps, but the wedding garment was
indispensable. If a man has not really Christ, he cannot be
allowed there.
is, then, is the outward profession of Christendom,
tested by the possession of Christ. Judgment was exercised
as to those who, being there, were not tly there. What
suited the Ring’s mind and purpose could alone be allowed.
e oender was cast out into outer darkness. e fullest
grace that seeks the needy does not content itself with
untness for the place that grace brings into. All blessing,
the feast of God’s delight and joy, was there; but if we have
not really Christ, we cannot have part in it. One who has
not really put Christ on is in a state discordant with the
whole place and meaning of what is going on, and he must
be cast out. He had no real title there.
We have now special classes who come up, but only to
have the real state of the nation judged, and all the classes
judged; they blamed each other. All were wholly wrong
before God in the point they particularly contended for
as their pride. But all the phases of Jewish moral condition
are brought out, and the real truth of God in opposition
to them. e Jews were under the power of the Gentiles
since the time of the Babylonish captivity. is ought
not to have been, but their unfaithfulness to Jehovah had
brought it on, only God had spared a remnant to present
Messiah to them, whom they were now rejecting. Till God
gave deliverance they were to bow to the chastening. It was
God’s hand upon them. e last of the four great empires
now held the rule.
But while one party accommodated itself to Caesar, and
made nothing of unfaithfulness to God, the other, instead
of bowing to the yoke as humbled under God’s hand for
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their sins, were in constant rebellion against the empire,
insisting on their rights as God’s people, which they had
really forfeited, hypocrites with Him, and not bowing to
the yoke He had laid upon their necks for their sins. ese
two classes come together, that Jesus might be found in
fault either way. No deliverer from the Roman yoke if he
accepted the tribute easily; accused to the governor if he
forbade it. e Lord puts all in its place. He asks whose
authority this tribute-money represents: “ Caesar’s,” they
reply. Give to Caesar, He says, what is his, and to God what
is God’s-the true secret of their place. ey marveled, and
left Him.
en came the Sadducees, the indels of Israel.
Israel was the sphere of God’s earthly government, and
resurrection no express part of the law. ey gave as a
ne piece of reasoning what showed their ignorance, but
the Lord was plain on so capital a point. ey erred, not
knowing the scriptures nor the power of God. e Lord
reveals the state of the raised, showing the mere ignorance
and folly of the reasoning of the Sadducees. It is a high and
holy state where what is merely earthly will have passed
away forever. ings ordered of God, and owned here, will
have passed away there. What is spiritual alone remains,
and the body itself changed into suited glory. But the Lord
goes farther, and shows that the origin and basis of Judaism
before the law was given is God’s revelation of Himself,
the basis of all hope for them. His memorial name forever
condemned their thoughts.
If Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had ceased to exist, could
God have still taken their names, the name of naught
to characterize Himself to Israel? He might have said, I
am He who was with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, when
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they existed; and even so it would have been an utterly
unworthy relationship-the God of those who had a
mere animal existence. God characterizes Himself by
them-is not ashamed to be called their God. Could He
characterize Himself by a mere dying animal, who, when
He calls Himself theirs, did not exist at all? He is not the
God of the dead, but of the living. But this truth went
farther, for, as to separation of soul and body, Abraham was
dead, and, though living for God, was not what God meant
him to be as his God. God was not even in this sense, as an
abiding state, the God of the dead. ey must be according
to what He would have man, soul and body. Till all was
accomplished they might wait with their spirits blessed,
but this was not God’s thought as to man. He was to be
complete, and hence raised from the dead. e name of
God indicating His relationship with those, gone for the
moment, demonstrated the resurrection. For Him indeed,
as we read, all are alive; but the ground of the argument here
is God’s relationship with them. He cannot be the God of
those who do not exist. It was a living Abraham, body and
soul, of whom God could be the God. Death therefore, for
he was dead, proved the resurrection. us divine truth was
established in contradiction to the Sadducees.
is brings the Pharisees forward, who used the law as a
repertory of good deeds of dierent value to make out worth
for themselves. ey ask the Lord which is the greatest.
is was all human pretension of doing and reasoning. e
Lord goes to the root, and gives the summary and essence
of the whole law in two verses, picked out of the mass of
Moses’ writings. is gave the law of God as He saw it. us
we have resurrection, and another world, and the essence of
the law established. Next, for Christ; whose Son was He?
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David’s, they reply; and so He was according to the esh,
but that was only man’s view of Him, and not what was
being made good now. e truth that was to be fullled
now was Psalm He. He was David’s Lord too, and going
to sit on God’s right hand. is closed the whole pleading
between God and the people. ey could give no answer,
nor durst ask any more questions. e scene was closed
with Israel. Yet till judgment was executed, testimony has
its place in their midst; for the patience of grace is great.
Morally they were now fully judged.
Chapter 23 is a remarkable proof how in this Gospel,
till we arrive at the very last chapter, all refers to the Jews,
and even there it is not what actually took place among the
Gentiles in our present Gospel. e scribes and Pharisees
are still seen as sitting in Moses’ seat with the book of God
in their hand, and in the very chapter in which they are
utterly denounced (for it is the object of this chapter) in
every aspect, the disciples, moving still as Jewish disciples
among the Jews, are to follow what they say from Moses’
seat, and their testimony (v. 34) is sent to these same Jews.
No one sits in that seat now. We may nd some analogies,
which the church found early when it was corrupting itself;
but there is no seat of Moses to sit in. Father or Rabbi is
alike out of place. How completely however the testimony
is here viewed as among the Jews, is seen (v. 34) where the
apostolic and christian ministry is formally so treated, sent
to those whom the Lord was now denouncing. With this
is formally designated at once their place and ministry.
e object of the chapter is to denounce those who led the
people to reject their own mercy in Christ.
All the various sides of the Pharisaic evil are denounced.
ey impose burdens, and heavy ones, on others, but do not
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touch them with one of their ngers; to be seen of men,
and solemn ritual observers for that purpose, is their object.
To be made much of by men, set in high places, greetings,
to be called Rabbi, theological doctrinal importance in
the world, to be looked up to as having ocial religious
reputation, such were they; but all this was forbidden to
the disciples: he who set up to be great among them was to
be servant; they were to follow the lowliness of Christ, who
ever came down, yea, from the form of God to the dust
of death. Christ was their Teacher and Rabbi, and their
Father was in heaven.
en come out the various aspects of ecclesiastical
Pharisaism. First is the shutting up the kingdom of
heaven against men; not going in themselves, they seek to
hinder others; they prot by their religious profession to
get widows’ money, making long prayers; very great zeal
to make a proselyte to their superstition, making him
then worse than themselves; blind themselves, they lead
the blind, but into the ditch. With rened casuistry as to
what is evil, they show their folly to the spiritual mind;
excessively exact and zealous about the minute externals
of religion, the substantial realities of it they neglect.
ey strain out the gnat and swallow the camel; as the
chief priests bought Christ’s blood for money without a
scruple, but would not put it into the treasury because it
was the price of blood. ey clean the outside of the platter
to appear very religious and holy, within they are full of
extortion and excess; as whited sepulchers, clean without,
full of uncleanness within. ey honored the true witnesses
of God who were of old, true children of those who had
killed them, piously alleging that, had they lived then, they
would not have been guilty of their blood. ey would
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ll up the measure of their fathers. God would test them,
sending them to prophets and wise men and scribes, as He
did in the beginning of the gospel, and they would kill,
scourge, and crucify them, that, the measure being lled
up, all the righteous blood from Abel might be required of
that generation.
Ecclesiastical solemnity and superstition, and often
with the profession of orthodoxy, have been the persecuting
power and spirit of opposition to truth in every age and
in every land. Look around and see where the traits here
depicted are found, and see if it be not in hierarchy in the
measure of its inuence. Be it Jewish or Christian, it is the
same story. If we go out to Mohammedans, nay, even to
heathens, it is the same thing. But, specially in a pretended
orthodox hierarchy, persecution and all the traits noted
by Christ will be found. I appeal to every history in every
land; for Jewish and Christian I may appeal to scripture,
for though the chief priests were Sadducees, the scripture
shows the same spirit of persecution, and the Pharisees and
the doctors of the law ll up the rest of the picture, the
Lord Himself being witness. Who delivered to the secular
arm in Christendom, hypocritically asking for mercy? And
as in Jerusalem for Jews, so in Babylon for Christendom,
was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all
that were slain upon the earth. In the ecclesiastical power,
from the pope downward, will be found in the measure of
its realization what the Lord describes here.
Finally, verse 37, the Lord, though in words of tender
compassion, pronounces judgment on Jerusalem. Often
would Christ, Jehovah her Lord, have gathered her
children together as a hen her chickens under her wings,
but they would not; but now her history was closed, their
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house was left to them desolate, and, until they took up the
children’s cry, the words of Psa. 118, they would not see
their Lord again. e repentance of Israel (as proposed in
the intercession of Christ, Acts 3, but then refused) would
be the signal of His return to them. It is of importance to
see clearly what I have remarked, that the position of the
disciples and their ministry is in Israel more exactly among
the Jews. It helps us in understanding what follows.
e testimony of the Lord to the Jews was closed. eir
house was left unto them desolate, they were not to see
the Lord, the rejected One, till they repented, when the
prophecy of Psa. 118 comes to be fullled. is testimony
of the Lord could be received only by faith, and that is what
is available for the disciples and guides him out of the way
of awaited peril. But there is another key and interpreter of
prophecy, the fulllment of judgment. What is discerned
only by faith when it is matter of faith, is made plain by
events in judgment. Warning prophecies are of no avail
when the judgment is executed. It is too late. us we nd
in symbolical prophecies and parables that the explanation
always goes beyond what it explains. At any rate, making
events the proof of the truth of a revelation, while perfectly
true, is not the ground of the Christian nor of faith at all.
e believer has God’s word, and what concerns him in
the prophecy is the warning or encouragement it aords
when it is not fullled. What is a direction to ee to the
mountains worth when the prophecy is fullled? Where is
the exhortation to wait for Jehovah available in the midst
of tribulation and trial with the prophetic assurance that
He will come, but in the tribulation when He is not come?
Besides, prophecy is of no private interpretation; the
whole plan and ways of God as to earthly government are
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unfolded. is is so in a very central and important point
here, perhaps we may say, as to earth the most important of
all. e throne of God had been on earth from the setting
up of the tabernacle, and in a special way at Jerusalem from
the dedication of the temple. is ceased at the Babylonish
captivity. In the beginning of Ezekiel we see the glory on
the threshold, then on the Mount of Olives, and then depart
entirely. But a remnant of the two tribes were brought back
to Jerusalem that Messiah might be presented to them, and
He was so presented to them.
e true temple indeed was His body, as He said to
the Jews: still He owned the temple as His Father’s house,
though they had made it a den of thieves. Now the sad
word came, “ your house is left unto you desolate.” e
Lord now predicts present judgment, in the destruction
of it; and when they took this as the end of the age, and as
the same time as His coming, He unfolds all God’s ways
as to their testimony in Israel, and then of the power of
evil, and judgment at the end when He should come to the
deliverance of His servants. e Lord had merely said their
house would be desolate till He came. When His disciples,
still possessed with the thought of the temporal glory of
Israel, boasted in what they could show Him, the buildings
of the temple, He declares that not one stone of it should
be left upon another.
en, on the disciples inquiring when the sign of His
coming and of the end of the age would be, He unfolds
the whole course of events as far as concerned Jerusalem,
the disciples’ testimony amongst that people when He
was gone, and the state the Jews would get into, and the
testimony such as He then could render it in the whole
world; and, nally, in a distinct portion, the last events as
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they concerned them or those who might believe as they
did.
e disciples connect what the Lord had already said
with the end of the age and the hoped-for arrival of
Messiah in glory which they awaited-were obliged in such
case to await, and they looked for signs. is last point
He does not touch till verse 30. In verse 29 He tells of
overwhelming judgments and the subversion of all things
supposed to be regular and stable, but no previous sign
is given. ese are after the tribulation and usher in His
coming when it takes place. From Luke we learn that there
is anticipation of judgments, at least terror as to what is
coming when they take place as far as Judaea goes.
But I continue with Matthew. e prophecy divides at
the end of verse 14, which verse goes to the end of the
age. en from verse 15 we have the special circumstances
of Jerusalem and the tribulation there, closing in verses
29-31 with the coming of Christ and the gathering of the
scattered Jews. But the Lord does not begin by satisfying
their wish as a matter of curiosity, natural as it was, but
treats it as a solemn matter as to their own service. His
absence would put them to the test. e rejection by
the Jews of the true Christ exposed them to every false
pretender. Many would come in His name. So it is always;
the rejection of a truth throws it, as it were, into the hands
of Satan who gives his version of it to deceive. is is a
solemn thing, and examples are not wanting of it. But the
Lord is faithful. And here many would be deceived. Such
deceivers suit themselves to the esh, perhaps religious
esh, and the deception is great; men are religiously bad
and hardened in evil and deep in delusion. We have had an
example of it in Irvingism as to the coming of the Lord and
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the presence of the Holy Ghost, and a great and abiding
one in the pretension (foolish as to fact, yet wise as to man)
to unity in the Roman ecclesiastical body.
Further, besides the false Christs, political disturbances,
restlessness, actual wars and rumors of them would attract
attention and characterize the state of things on earth. But
the disciples were not to be troubled; all this would come
to pass, they were no signs of His coming, the end was
not yet. us the Lord is caring for what would guide and
strengthen His witnesses, keeping them calm and steady in
their places. e end was not yet. He gives such instruction
as would make them calm in service, not agitated with
circumstances or by false hopes, neither to say, Lo! here,
nor Lo! there, nor to be agitated by what agitated the
world. ey might still serve quietly on.
But besides these things judgment would come: the
contentions of nations, famine, pestilence, earthquakes in
divers places. ese were the beginning of the throes of
Jewish sorrows in the midst of which they were to render
their testimony. It was surely the heaving of the nations;
but the eect considered is on the disciples in their service
among the earthly people, though that testimony would go
farther.
But there was more. eir own immediate sorrows
and trials ‘. they would be delivered up to be aicted,
killed, hated of all the Gentiles for Christ’s sake. But
this persecution from without would produce defections
within; many would be oended, would turn against those
once companions and betray them and hate them, and,
because of abounding iniquity, many hearts not nourished
directly from the ame of Christ’s love would wax cold.
He that went through all the diculty and pressure to the
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end would be saved. is gospel of the kingdom would be
preached to the Gentiles, and then the end would come.
In this passage the Lora seems to me to overleap the
whole period in which we live, and gives the ministry of the
disciples in the testimony they then had of the near setting
up of the kingdom, in the midst of the Jews when He was
gone and the house left desolate; and resumed when the
Jews were again there to be spoken to; but especially to
have in view the testimony amongst that people at the end.
e destruction of Jerusalem interrupted this formally and
judicially, and it would again be resumed when the church
was gone, and be carried on in spite of opposition, till the
end came. On to that end it clearly goes, and the present
gospel of salvation is clearly passed over. Verse 14 comes in
as an additional element by itself. In the beginning of His
reply the Lord speaks of what would be applicable at any
time after His departure, but soon passes essentially into
what characterizes the end in Judaea, and nally they are
called to endure to the end.
Verse 14 gives us the gospel of the kingdom preached
in all the world, which additionally shows us that we are
here in the last days. It is for a witness to all the Gentiles
and then the end comes. But it is important to remark
here that it is the gospel of the kingdom. is gospel of the
kingdom was what Christ could preach then, what He had
been preaching, that is, that the kingdom was just coming,
and that men must repent to meet it, only that it was to go
out to all the Gentiles. It was to be preached, as naturally
such a gospel must, as a witness, as the word was that the
kingdom was at hand, only that then it was to come in
with judgment and power, the end was to come according
to, though then immediately and denitely, the everlasting
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gospel of Rev. 14 and Psa. 93-100. at was the end of the
age in judgment.
According to this would the judgment of chapter 25
be carried on. Hence the brethren there, are, I doubt not,
Jewish messengers of the kingdom, such as the Lord here
speaks to, and of. I do not mean personally apostles, but
His messengers to the nations, such as in Psa. 96, though
that be modied by the prophetic tone. Only the end of
the age is come when He sits to judge the nations. He
has righteously judged and made wars, destroyed His
adversaries, and sits on the throne of His glory; the whole
state of things in the old age is judged, and Messiah comes,
and sitting there. It is no longer the age to come, because
it is come; only before it, the gospel goes out to all nations
and then the end comes.
us the Lord has fully answered the question of the
disciples, rst in warnings as to their work in Judaea,
available to them, then without any particular sign,
save false Christs, and then more denitely what would
introduce the end. ere was a provisional end to service in
Palestine and among the Jews as a nation, and a half-week
of Daniel wholly unaccomplished;-for unbelief a whole
one. is is resumed or taken up again when the faithful
have to endure to the end and be saved. Other details are
given elsewhere, as in Rev. 11-13, but that is not our object
here, only we have that half-week referred to generally
here in what follows verse 15, a distinct revelation as to the
events of that closing period which in the Old Testament
is unfolded to us in Dan. 12, as it is alluded to in other
places as in Jeremiah 3o: 7, and in the word “ indignation,”
and consumption decreed, though this last refers rather to
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what arrives on the close of the great tribulation; it gives
the full guidance and instruction for service.
e Lord now gives the needed warning as to the power
of evil which would be in the time Daniel had spoken of
when the idol that brought on the desolation should be
set up in the holy place. is was not the time of their
continued testimony as His witnesses in the land of
Canaan; the testimony gone out among the heathen might
continue, but the history of testimony is closed and the
time of tribulation begins. e covenant is broken, every
claim despised, and Jerusalem trodden down. I do not
mean that there is no sackcloth testimony in spite of this;
we read there is, when the power of evil is most displayed,
but the time is not characterized by service as their then
instruction and duty. Trials and persecutions there would
have been then, but this as the natural accompaniment
of faithful testimony in the midst of evil. Now the power
of evil was dormant and characterized the state of things.
e Jews accept idolatry, that is, the great body of them
accepted Antichrist, and the power of Satan reigns for the
moment unhindered, save as God holds the upper hand
after all.
But He has shortened the days, or no esh would be
saved. And it is the time when Michael, that great prince,
stands up for Daniel’s people. But it is the time of ight for
him that reads and understands as to those who dwell in
Judaea. It is a peremptory sign of the great tribulation, the
beginning of the last half-week of Daniel’s seventy weeks.
Desolation is there caused by the setting up of idols. e
unclean spirit with seven others worse had entered in.
ey were to ee from the wonted habitations of men, and
frequented places, to the desolate mountains, not to descend
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to get anything from the house, nor return if working in
the eld to get the clothes they had left aside. Woe to those
hindered in their ight! But God can think of His people
who trust Him even at such a time, and think of everything
for them. ey were to pray that their ight might not be
in winter, dicult for the travel and sojourn of fugitives in
the mountains, nor on a sabbath when a ight measured by
a sabbath-day’s journey would give a bad hope of escape in
times such as never were nor would be; God would think
of this for them.
But here we have and are meant to have a clear proof
that we have to do with Jews, Jewish laws, as with Judaea
for the scene, and with nothing else. Further, a little
consideration shows that it is only of the last terrible time
that it speaks. e Lord refers us to Daniel, and there we
nd the unparalleled tribulation which cannot be repeated,
and the three-years-and-a-half, with seventy-ve days
added for certain cleansing. ere too Michael stands up
and the people are delivered, every one that is in the book.
Now take 1260 days or years, nothing happened at either,
after the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. at is spoken
of in Dan. 9 and then a period of continued calamity,
desolations determined; so in Luke, where no abomination
is spoken of, only Jerusalem encompassed with armies.
In a word it is the nal and terrible tribulation of the
Jews guilty of having rejected their Messiah, but whose
deliverance will then take place in grace, those who are
written in the book, for God has an elect people, and for
their sakes the days shall be shortened. But in these last days
we again nd false Christs and false prophets encouraging
the unbelieving with the hope of deliverance. ey shall
give signs and wonders so that if it were possible they would
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deceive the very elect. But these God will keep. e Lord
warns them to believe none of them. ey had His account
of His coming; it would be sudden and unsuspected as a
ash of lightning, where the object of judgment was there
it would be, as the unseen bird of prey appears unlooked
for where the carcass is. It is an allusion to Job 39:30. e
shortening of the days I apprehend to be the conning
them peremptorily to the 1260, whereas man’s will and
passions would carry them on indenitely. But the Lord
would come as a thief in the night and close it all.
Verse 28 closes that part which is warning for the
disciples as to the dangers of every kind at the time of the
great tribulation. Verse 29 is God’s intervention in judgment.
Immediately after the tribulation of those days there is a
complete subversion of governmental order. All that held
a place in the ordinances that ruled the earth would be
shaken and subverted, and then Christ would appear, for
the sign of the Son of man in heaven is His appearing. It
is not signs of a coming kingdom and then a Messiah on
earth, but the Son of man, heir of all things, who appears
in heaven. ere may be indistinctness of glory before He
is personally seen, but it is the Son of man Himself who
comes and is seen. It is Himself appearing, no premonitory
sign but Himself, and Himself from heaven who had gone
up there, not a Jewish expected Messiah, Son of David, on
earth. is shall be mourning to all the tribes of the earth
or rather land-hopes disappointed, judgment come. All
the earth will be dismayed surely, but here it is rather “ of
the land “; nor is it I conceive the mourning of Zechariah
12: 10-14. ere it is grace on the remnant, “ the families
that remain.” ey mourn for Christ. Here it is seeing Him
come in power and all the tribes mourn.
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Yet not only does the Lord deal then with those in the
land, but the elect of Israel will be gathered from the four
winds, from one end of heaven to the other. is closes the
direct revelation as to His ways with Israel. What follows
is exhortation and warning testimony as to the character of
His coming and moral details. From verse 45 we have the
estimate of conduct while He is away, in principle, state,
and service, all in reference to His coming e Lord directs
them to that by which those forewarned would know it
was at the doors. To the disciples such things as the idol
in the holy place and the false Christs would tell it was
just there. e Lord’s warnings had given them the key.
To Christians, as we now are with the Holy Ghost, such
do not apply. A man who sets up to be Christ can have no
deceiving power, for we know He is come, and when He
yet comes, will come in glory, even if we have not scriptural
intelligence to know we shall appear with Him. e whole
scene is Jewish. No mountains in Judaea are my deliverance.
I am going to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air.
e sabbath day’s journey and all the circumstances point
to a Jewish scene. To the Jew who expected deliverance a
false Christ would be a great snare. With this warning no
doubt all is plain, but in itself what the Lord warns against
would be a great snare. Even to the Christians before the
destruction of Jerusalem, profoundly Jewish as they were,
it would not have been without danger, false as it was. At
the end, to which this latter part applies, it becomes in the
highest degree applicable.
We have then the well-known word: “ this generation
shall not pass till all these things be fullled.” If we return
to Deut. 32, the expression becomes quite clear (see v. 5,
20); the last is just what is spoken of here. I attach great
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importance to the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus,
because, consequent on the rejection of the Lord, the
throne of God on the earth was nally set aside; but it is
not the subject here, though there is analogy. Indeed it was
more than an ordinary generation of men after the Lord’s
crucixion, though perhaps not suciently so to use it as
a proof that it does not apply. Nor has that unbelieving
generation passed away; we have it amongst us to this day
unmingled with the nations. e word of the Lord abides:
heaven and earth will pass, Christ’s word will not-a solemn
assertion of divine testimony. e word of the Lord abides
forever. e “ word of our God “ says Isaiah. Precious and
solemn truth! we have a testimony: God’s word, essential
truth that changes not, must be always true. ings change,
heaven and earth pass away, all is rolled up like a garment;
but truth is always truth, and God’s word is truth, has
revealed the truth blessedly adapted to us and the state
we are in; but God’s own truth, what reveals Him and
His ways, what is heavenly and divine is suited, as Jesus
Himself, to what is human and weak down here. We have
what never passes away, and faith possesses it, the believer
is sanctied by it, and Christ is the fullness of it. Grace and
truth came by Him. But of the day and hour of His coming
knows no man or angel. It is not a thing revealed. It is kept
in the secret of the Father’s counsels, the divine mind, and
is not in any wise a subject of revelation; it does not come
to expression out of the secret of that mind.
When the abomination is set up, then indeed the short
remaining time is known at any rate in general, and one
taught of God knows by the warnings we have been reading
if the end is nigh, but when that is, who can say? So Noah,
once warned, knew the judgment was then fast coming, but
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none else. Judgment came as a thief in the night. But this
judgment, sudden and unexpected as it may be, will be sure
and discriminative. e eye of God will discern those that
are His, though in identical circumstances with those who
are not. Two men may be in the same eld, two women at
the same mill; judgment will leave the one unscathed, and
take the other. To the heart that was really watching and
waiting for Him He would come as a deliverer from all the
power of evil. e disciples were to watch, they knew not
at what hour their Lord would come.
At the time of the end, when the Lord judges as a whole
the unfaithful servant, the kingdom of heaven shall take,
as to individual responsibility of those who make positive
profession, the form or likeness of ten virgins who went
forth to meet the Bridegroom, and servants to whom their
Lord entrusted talents for service: the former referring to
spiritual state; the latter to service.
e character attached to the saints at the beginning
in the rst parable is that they went out to meet the
Bridegroom; as it is expressed doctrinally in 1 ess. 1, they
were converted to wait for God’s Son from heaven. is is
all important as the living characteristic of the Christian.
“ And ye like unto men who wait for their Lord when he
shall return from the wedding “: their loins girded about,
their lights burning-a clear and manifest confession of
Christ, and all in order in the heart, and as men ready to
open whenever the Master knocked. Not a mere notion or
theological idea, but the actual waiting for Christ, and the
heart in a state ready to receive Him. It is well before we
go farther to remark that we have not the bride here. e
church is not viewed as such. If we will make out a bride
here, it is Jerusalem on the earth, and that according to the
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whole tenor of the Gospel; not Jerusalem above. Christians
are viewed as virgins accompanying the Bridegroom in to
the wedding.
e Lord had warned the disciples in the parable of
the servant, chapter 24, of the church’s losing the present
sense of His coming; that if the evil servant said in his
heart, My Lord delayeth His coming, he would begin to
persecute and fall in with the world, as it has happened.
is looks at the professed assembly as a whole. Here we
nd that in fact the Bridegroom tarried. e eect upon
all was that all slumbered and slept. True Christians forgot
it-lost their character of being gone out to meet Him, as
much as false professors. ey had gone in, moreover, into
worldly religion in spirit and principle whence they came
out, though maintaining their profession, however dimly it
shone; for the cry had to be resumed, “ Go ye out to meet
him.” is is very solemn; the whole church, the brightest
and the best, had forgotten their true place and character.
eir original calling was forgotten and lost, but the true
saints had not of course ceased to be such. ere was a
general waking up of all who made profession. e foolish
were like the others formally and had their lamps.
5
But
the cry came at an unlooked for, or as men would say, an
unseasonable, hour, “ Behold, the bridegroom cometh.”
ey were to go out again to meet Him, to take their
original calling. ey all arose and trimmed their lamps;
but, with the ve, oil was wanting, there was no living
grace, and hence nothing could last. What really showed
a right state, inward thoughtfulness of what they went out
for, the eect subjectively in what was not displayed of that
5 It seems these were rather torches, and they had oil in their
vessels to feed them with.
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which was objectively before them-this was all that was
wanting. ey were with the others; they had their lamp
or profession like them. What was to feed it, living grace
within, was wholly wanting; the profession soon began to
fail. It was not the time to get what was wanting for it.
ey were not ready. is was the great essential point.
All had been asleep; the whole church, pious and all, had
forgotten the Lord’s coming. All that made any profession
were awoke, the foolish as the wise, by the midnight cry.
Any can be aroused to activity when the Lord sends forth
the cry. ey are not rejecters or indels, quite the contrary,
but there is no oil-the inward life and grace is wanting.
Time is allowed after the awakening cry to test the reality
of profession. It was soon going out. e Lord came and
they had no part in the blessing-the Lord did not know
them. A solemn testimony for those who may make a
positive profession of Christianity! e midnight cry, the
Lord is coming, is what wakes up the sleeping professors.
Till then the whole church had lost the expectation of His
coming-were asleep to it; but only those who had the Spirit
of Christ, real living grace within, were ready to meet Him.
e points of the parable are these: the church was called
to go out to meet Christ; the Bridegroom tarries, and all
go to sleep, ceasing to expect Him. What wakes them up is
the cry of His coming; they are called back to their original
calling; but only those who had the Spirit of Christ, living
grace, were found ready to meet Him, and went in to the
marriage. e state of souls professing Christianity is in
question.
In the following parable their service is in question.
e Lord on His going away leaves talents with His own
servants. It is not here, remark, natural gifts, however
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responsible we may be for the use of them; it is what
Christ gave to His own servants when He went away. e
Lord gave spiritual gifts on His departing. What were the
talents given, and given to servants, for? To serve with.
ose who understood their Master’s mind, because they
had condence in their Master’s goodness, entered in heart
into His interests, which is the way of love-traded with
them; one did not, he waited to be authorized, and why?
He did not know nor estimate his Master. Condence
in Him was wanting, and so condence in acting grace
was not there known in the heart. e Lord is not here
unfolding dogmas or explaining how this happens, but
presenting phenomena. e servant who did not really
know his Master did not serve Him; he feared to do so.
He was in the place, had competency to act from the Lord,
but did not feel interest enough in what concerned Him to
act for Him while away; he had not heart enough to do it,
because he did not know the Lord’s heart.
e Lord does not treat the question whether there
may be gift without grace; from other scriptures, as 1 Cor.
13, we know there may; but it is not the question here,
for there they might use them, where there was grace, for
vanity. It is what renders one in the place of a servant an
unprotable one. Gifts of power are wholly distinct from
grace. One in the place of a servant with capacity to serve
(and every disciple of Jesus thus stood in that place when
He was gone), who did not serve through distrust of His
Master, proved he did not know Him, and was cast into
outer darkness. Note here that the gift is distinct from
natural capacity. is last is recognized here. e vessel was
tted and prepared, and the gift put into it. So Paul was a
chosen vessel, and was then gifted for service.
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In Luke the responsibility of man is more fully brought
forward, and direct proportionate reward. Every one
receives one pound, and he who gains ten gets ten cities.
Here all the faithful ones enter alike into the joy of their
Lord. ey had known their Lord’s character and acted
on it, and had the blessing of it as associated with Him,
were partakers of His joy, though also to be made ruler over
many things. Here it is blessedness, there reward. Nor is
the wicked person there cast into outer darkness; he loses
even what he had- the subject is reward. If he had hard
thoughts of his Master, he should have acted on it legally,
if he could not according to grace. But now under grace,
the want of the knowledge of grace takes away the sense
of responsibility. e man does nothing; under law it is
not so. A man really under it will toil and labor through
fear. e whole parable shows the spirit in which Christ’s
servant labors according to grace, and its result, not in the
kingdom, but together in the Lord’s joy, which is according
to grace, in our enjoyment of it. If this be wanting all is
gone.
Remark another thing here, which is always so. e
Lord puts His coming so as not to allow a thought beyond
a living man’s life. e virgins who fell asleep are the virgins
who awoke; the servants who got the talent are the same
that are judged. Christ was always to be looked for; and
“ which are alive and remain “ is the right word for faith.
Both parables refer entirely to the responsibility of the
saints; but there is this dierence: the rst shows to us
the universal way in which, even with true Christians, the
original calling of the church was wholly forgotten. e
Lord was not waited for. Only grace woke them up in time
when He was coming, so that those that had grace, being
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ready, went in with Him: only there was sucient interval
between the cry and the coming to test personal grace. In
the second it is individual all through, and the eect of
individual grace in that knowledge of the Lord Himself,
which made them serve with the condence of love, without
as to that referring to the Lord’s return. ey labored while
He was away, but not here in direct reference to His return.
e state of the saints of God, as a whole, depended on
that; but many have served devotedly, knowing Christ,
without knowing aught really of His coming as a present
expectation, though knowing He would return and take
account, and their service was accepted with the blessed
word, “ Well done, good and faithful servant.”
I would further remark that any application of these
parables to the Jewish remnant is a mere mistake; God’s
dealings with and by this remnant, as far as treated in this
part of scripture, are unfolded in chapter 24 to the end
of verse 31, and this connects itself as to historical events
on earth directly with verse 31 of chapter 25. Verse 32 of
chapter 24 begins personal exhortations to verse 44. ese
exhortations have their application to that remnant and
close with personal separation by judgment, the spared one
being left on earth. From verse 45 we pass over to general
christian ground-the disciples up to the destruction of
Jerusalem having both positions (though the twelve and
Paul had a dierent dispensational position), both founding
the assembly; though its place was not yet revealed as
afterward by Paul, and carrying the last testimony to the
Jewish people. us in Acts 2 you have church testimony;
in Acts 3 you have remnant Jewish testimony. is closed
morally with the death of Stephen, where we rst nd
Saul as an adversary in ignorance, and judicially in the
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destruction of Jerusalem. Stephen began the departure to
heaven, forming the heavenly company of Christians.
Matt. 24:45-51 gives us the general history of the
service willed of God, in the assembly as a whole, and the
source of it in view of the Lord’s return, and the resulting
alternative as regards the professing body upon earth; and
the parable of the ten virgins, those who went out to meet
the Bridegroom, which is not the character of the Jewish
remnant. e Lord comes to the remnant where they are.
ese accompany Him to the wedding. e parable of the
talents is the responsibility of service all the time He is
away, as to their service by the gifts of the Holy Ghost,
personal grace or knowledge of Christ being the testing
point. Now all this is a solemn warning to Christians, as
to their state and service, founded on true knowledge of
Christ.
In chapter 25:31, we have formally His coming to earth
and seating Himself there on the throne of His glory,
connecting itself immediately, as I have said with chapter
24:30, 31, which terminated the Jewish part of the prophecy
and instruction. But when coining in glory with all the holy
angels, He does not verily come as a ash of lightning, but
takes, and seats Himself on, the throne of His glory, and
gathers all the Gentiles before Him. He sits to judge the
nations on the earth, the nations then living on it, to whom
the message of the then coming kingdom, as declared in
chapter 24: 14, had come. ey were judged consequently
according to their reception of these messengers. No other
test or ground of judgment was applied to sheep or goats.
Remark further that there are three classes here, the
goats, the sheep, the brethren. ere is no reference to the
dead, nor to resurrection. When the Lord judges the dead
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at the end of the world, He does not come at all. He sits on
the great white throne, and heaven and earth ee away, and
the dead small and great are brought up before Him. ey
are judged according to the works.
And note here, that the ground of judgment in this
parable does not apply to the great body of those of the
Gentiles judged there when raised. ey had had no
messengers. e ground of their judgment is stated in
Rom. 1 and 2. What renders them inexcusable is quite
dierent from the ground of judgment here. What is here
is not mentioned there, what is there is not referred to
here. e judgment of the assembly on earth, and of special
judgment as to the state of individuals and their service,
we have already had in the three preceding parables. But
before the end God, ever mindful of His mercy, sends out
a message to warn the inhabitants of the whole world that
judgment is just coming- what in chapter 24:14 is called
this gospel of the kingdom; warning them, that is, that the
kingdom was just going to be set up. e nal character of
the testimony is found in the everlasting gospel, Rev. 14,
and Psa. 96, called, I believe, “ everlasting gospel “ as being,
not the testimony of sovereign grace taking us to heaven
and revealing Christ sitting in glory at God’s right hand,
but that which was announced in the garden of Eden,
that the Seed of the woman should bruise the serpent’s
head. Compare Rev. 11:17, 18, and chapter 12, the former
passage going on fully to the end, for the casting into the
bottomless pit is not the nal bruising of Satan which
is in Rev. 20:10. But Christ’s coming and the binding of
Satan in the bottomless pit is the close of God’s earthly
dispensational dealings, and the strange mystery of a
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disorder which God allows to go on while calling out souls
in grace; Rev. 20:2, 3.
e whole prophetic history then is contained in
chapter 24:1-31. In verses 31-44 is judgment on the Jews
when He comes. Chapter 24:45, to 25:30 is the judgment
of Christendom, of the whole state and system, their
distinctive judgment. en chapter 25:31 takes up the
consequence of the establishment of Christ’s throne upon
the earth in the judgment of the Gentiles. But for the
immensely important fact of setting up the throne of the
earth, we might say all is judgment from chapter 24:31.
But this fact is all-important, because God has a throne
of judgment on the earth again, which He has never had
since Nebuchadnezzar took Jerusalem. e Lord comes
from heaven and judges the beast and the apostasy, all that
rises up against the Lamb. But by this He establishes His
power on earth, and in fact in Jerusalem, and thus takes
His earthly throne in connection with the Jews and the
heavenly saints, to whom judgment, in the sense of ruling
government and power, is given. e war-judgment against
the beast is in Rev. 19, the sessional-judgment in chapter
20.
is judgment of the Gentiles is spoken of in the Old
Testament too. Indeed all the Psalms from 93-99 are the
full inauguration of it, in the cry of the remnant, and
then rst giving the appeal to Israel and to the Gentiles,
Psalm 100 being the call of the world up to worship after
judgment is accomplished. In a word, our parable is the
judgment of the quick only, exclusively the Gentiles (the
Jews having been judged, chap. 24:32-35), and the ground
of it their reception of the messengers who had been sent
out to announce the coining kingdom. e judgment of the
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quick is as nal as the judgment of the dead, “ ese shall
go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous
into life eternal.” e wicked have their lot with the devil
and his angels in the everlasting re prepared for these.
e kingdom will be inherited down here by the righteous,
blessed of His Father. It was prepared for them from the
foundation of the world.
We may notice here that those who have preached the
introduction of the millennial kingdom will have a place
that those born under it will not, though these enjoy the
fruit of it in peace. ey have gone through tribulation
and are before the throne of God, and praise Him with a
nearness the others cannot (see Rev. 7:9-17), though still
on earth. I am disposed to think the 144,000, Rev. 14, are
the Jewish remnant. I have so considered them habitually,
and the everlasting gospel to the Gentiles comes after
them. ese spared ones who have received the messengers
go into everlasting life. It is not merely the kingdom, but
personal salvation. ose born during the millennium are
not necessarily quickened; hence, when temptation comes,
they follow Satan. Indeed, though we know that we have
eternal life by many testimonies, yet the only passages in
which it is spoken of in the Old Testament (Dan. 12 and
Psa. 133) speak of it in reference to the millennium. We
have it in a higher and better way, with and like Christ.
Some practical details I would yet notice. We have
seen that what stamped the character and calling of the
Christian was lost while the Bridegroom tarried, and the
virgins were asleep. ey had originally gone out to meet
the Bridegroom- left the rudiments of the world and all
religious association with it, for that especially is going out.
ey had got back into worldly religion, into the world
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for ease, while still making profession. ere were living
saints there; but what stamped their calling was lost, and
therefore no separation took place. Asleep, a virgin without
oil was as good as a virgin with it. “ Awake, thou that
sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give
thee light.” But the midnight cry awoke both. Religious
activity was roused-how much we see of it! But this led to
separation, the interval between the awakening cry and the
Lord’s being there testing the reality of their state. ey did
not endure; their profession of Christ got dim and was not
maintained.
us the midnight cry restores the character of the
Christian and puts all professors into the place of their
calling. But, secondly, their getting into this tests their
real state. ey cannot go on apart from the world. eir
faith does not endure, and then comes the solemn fact: it
is now too late. just as in yatira (the papal body), she
had time to repent and did not, and now it was judgment;
she was replaced by the kingdom and the Morning Star.
So here, it was too late to get the oil now and go in to
the wedding. It was not the time of calling and supply of
grace, but of separation and testing as to the possession of
grace-a solemn thought! Who can say how soon it may
come? whether individually it may not be come for some
who have heard the cry, woke up and given up all, or gone
back to the world?
is is the point, I believe, intended by not getting oil
from the others; and no more than this; it was not the time
of calling and communication of grace, but of testing as
to possession of it. It was too late, and Christ does not
know them. If this be so, and the cry is gone out, and in
some measure I believe it has, it is a very solemn thought.
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A time does come when the calling of grace to this place
and position closes, and the time of separation begins. As
in another aspect of things it is true, the net was drawn
to shore and the good put into vessels and the bad left
on the shore, though there the tale continues to the actual
execution of judgment; here they are only shut out. But that
says all. e door was shut. A gospel to heathens who have
not heard may and will go forth, but a possessed gospel
denitely without eect there is no gospel for.
e prophetic testimony of the Lord was closed: the
immediate circumstances of His last hours now rise up
before us. Still in these moments of humiliation He remains
the same blessed object to teach us what the wisdom of
God is, and even the power of God, though giving Himself
up for a season to the will of man; and He shines only the
more brightly by passing through it.
e introduction is very striking, though simple. In
divine calmness the Lord tells His disciples what is about
to happen: after two days was the passover, and at that time
the Son of man was to be betrayed to be crucied. e true
Passover was to be sacriced, the Lamb of God that takes
away the sin of the world. Such was God’s sure purpose.
e chief priests anxiously seek not to have it then, fearing
a tumult of the people who so eagerly listened to Him and
had seen His miracles. ey need not have feared; His hour
was come, and the heart of man would be led by Satan’s
power, where alas 1 they wished. Enmity against God
was to have its full course. At the passover at which they
feared the people, the whole people would follow them
to have Jesus crucied, to bring the victim on the altar-
God’s Lamb, but a rejected people. ey would now have
their will, but God’s purpose was to be accomplished. Evil
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was to have its way, and all, save the special work of grace
attaching the heart to Jesus, and so ordering a testimony to
Him and to the heart it lled-all were to bow to the power,
and yield to the tide of evil.
e Lord is at Bethany in the house of Simon the
leper: a woman comes (we know elsewhere it was Mary
the sister of Lazarus; but here it is Jesus who is in view
and the state of mind as to Him) and spends what she had
most precious on Him-right-hearted devotedness drawn
out through grace by the growing power of evil. But the
disciples, led away by the spirit of Judas, are indignant at
what they call waste. To be sure, spending anything on
Jesus is waste in the eyes of the world. On what is useful for
man, it is not waste. Even, if worldly-wise wisdom does not
see too much encouragement of the poor contrary to the
rules of political economy, spending something on them is
not waste; but on Christ devotedness of aection to Him-
to what purpose? Man’s benet may pass, but testimony
of aection of heart to Him (be it that it only does that)
cannot pass in the world, no, nor with disciples, where
that devotedness is not. e calculations of hypocrites lead
them astray, nding ready access to their heart in the state
it is in. But the Lord owns it: care for the poor is all right
and well; the Lord owns it, but love to Him, when the
world’s ruin and eternity depend on the manifestation of
His self-sacricing love, rejected or owned, is above all. It
is not a corban to those who hold the place of priests, and
use His name to the neglect of duty to God and those He
has put us in relationship with; but a free and uncalculating
heart which shows, as best it may, its unselsh devotedness
to Him.
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I have noticed elsewhere that it is this devotedness
to Christ, to Himself; which obtains true knowledge
instinctively in doing what is right, or in the revelation of
Him and of truth. us Mary Magdalene’s watching at the
sepulcher makes her the vessel of communication of our
highest privileges to the apostles themselves. So the gospel
is rst fully brought out in the blessed Lord’s meeting the
case of the poor woman that was a sinner in the city-like
this Mary in aection, though so dierent in state; but
each brings out the suited testimony of the Lord. But the
attachment to His person draws it out, for He is the center
of all truth and blessing, and, when rejected in this world,
brings out further grace connected with Himself; for in
Him all divine riches and purposes are found and fullled,
and it is His breach with the lower position of this world
and promise, that raises us up with Him into the higher
world of purpose and glory, and it is just there we are now
in the Gospel of Matthew. It was worthy to be recorded in
all ages that one heart estimated the Savior, when the world
was gone against Him, when the disciples even had not
heart or understanding to see and know His preciousness
in that solemn moment. It was not insincerity in them but
poverty of heart; it was man’s heart that looked no deeper
than prudence and common sense: divine perception was
not there. Attachment to Christ felt what was tting in
heart and drew out divine knowledge for Him.
In Judas we have the full contrast with Mary. It may be
that the spending the precious ointment on Christ, and so
much money lost, as he would think, roused his cupidity.
It is very probable-at any rate the hour was there, and
good and evil were coming to their full crisis and contrast-
money was his motive and Satan suggested to him, blinded
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utterly by his wretched avarice, to sell the blessed Lord.
Nor is the price unnoticed by the Holy Ghost. It is fearful
to think for how small a sum he could betray the Master he
had so known; but man’s heart was to be manifested, and
here man’s heart under the leading and hardening power of
Satan. e love of money was there, this was the lust; Satan
suggested the means of gratifying it, and then hardened
his heart against even natural feeling. Many a natural man
would recoil from betraying with a kiss one known in long
kindness and grace. It is evident also that being ever with
Christ with evil in his heart and ways must have hardened
him in hypocrisy.
For my own part I believe Judas expected Him to get
o as He had so often escaped their power, blind as he was
as to the hour being come • but this only makes it more
horrible. Alas! he had sold himself, not Christ. For He
could have got free, with twelve legions of angels, or gone
away when they went backward and fell to the ground. But
therefore it was the greater sin, and man was to be shown
by his dishonoring the Lord, measured in his mind by this
goodly price. For Christ and Christ’s perfectness bring out
fully the evil of man’s heart. What thief being alongside
another would insult and outrage the companion of his
misery? but, when Christ is there, the poor criminal can
join in ribald insults against the Lord of glory. Oh, what a
test He is, and what it shows is in the human heart under
God’s searching power, the searching power of Christ’s
presence!
But another scene was to take place before all was
accomplished-the blessed testimony of grace in the
institution of the Lord’s supper. Yet here also the power
of evil was to be ripened by the presence of grace. It was
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one that dipped his hand with Christ in the dish that was
to betray Him, and as we read elsewhere, after the sop he
went out. All is prepared of God and used by the Lord in
the calmness of divine perfectness. A heart was ready to
provide the room, nay, had it ready; and the Lord sends
him word, My time is at hand (for that indeed He was
come), I will keep the passover at thy house with My
disciples. e Lord then refers to His betrayal in words
which express, what indeed other passages reveal, His
deep feeling as to its being one of the disciples who should
betray Him. His knew who it was, He told it here, but what
was on His heart in His love to His disciples was, that one
of them should do it. e disciples, I think, here show a
true and right spirit, which indeed spoke their innocence.
ey were sure the Lord knew and told what was certain.
Some of them would, and they distrusted themselves; but
their asking freely shows they had no such thought: sorrow
and honesty of heart were there. e Lord’s answer alludes
to the prophetic statement which told of His sorrow and
the cause of its being so poignant. See Psa. 41:9; 55:12.
e Son of man must go as it was written of Him, but
terrible was the doom of him who did it. In truth it was
awful:--one who had seen His miracles, been sent out to
work them himself, witnessed His grace and perfectness;
and then to sell Him for thirty pieces of silver! is drew
out unhappy Judas; who must speak like the rest, though
avoiding doing it till thus denounced. Now he would say
as all, to seem as clear as others; afraid, his doom thus
denounced, to be dierent from the rest, but only to bring
out the full testimony to his known guilt.
e Lord then institutes the supper, putting rst
Himself, then the blood of the new covenant, then its being
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shed for many, in the place of the Jewish passover, the old
covenant, and the limitation of everything to that people.
is is the distinctive character of the supper here, suited
to this Gospel. Mark’s account is essentially the same.
Luke’s is much more personal and connected with (surely
divine, but also) human aection to the disciples. But in all
it is the blood of the new covenant, or the new covenant
in His blood. In Matthew it is leaving association with
them, breaking with men, even with the disciples down
here, drinking no more of the fruit of the vine; only in
Matthew and Mark His drinking it again with them after
a wholly new sort is also spoken of. It was the simple and
blessed testimony of the displacing all that was before, man
and any previously presented ground of man’s relationships
with God.
No new covenant was yet established; but the blood
on which it was to be founded was shed, and it could
be announced so that Judaism was closed, that is, man’s
relationships with God as in esh, and on the footing of
man’s righteousness; also dosing any connection between
the Lord come in esh and man. His body, but His body
as dead, was given as meat indeed. is carried the double
testimony that there was no possible connection any
more between man in the esh and God; but also, that
redemption was wrought, the true passover oered. Hence,
as before that, death was death to man, now he lives by
death, the death of Christ. It is not here as in Luke, “ Do
this in remembrance of me,” but His separation from His
disciples is strongly marked. He does not eat or drink with
them, but gives what was the sign of His death to them,
the sign of a perfect redemption by His death, but that
His death, not His life with them was their portion with
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Him. is was a total and mighty change, the essence of
their whole relationships with Him and having an eternal
character. Death was the portion of the Son of God as man
down here, and their part with Him and with God was
founded on it.
e blood was shed for many for the remission of
sins, and the new covenant was founded on it; all was
dispensationally changed, but all was eternally founded
also as to man, the believer’s relationships with God. But
present association was wholly broken o till renewed in
a new way in His Father’s kingdom. is is an expression
of Matthew’s Gospel like the kingdom of heaven. It is the
higher and heavenly part of the kingdom. In chapter 13 we
nd it in the explanation of the tares and the wheat. We
read, “ e Son of man shall gather out of His kingdom all
things that oend … then shall the righteous shine forth
as the sun in the kingdom of their Father,” that higher part
where they shall be in the same glory as Christ Himself,
predestinated to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ
to Himself: only here it is My Father; there, “ their.”
en Christ will anew, but in a blessedly new way, enjoy
companionship with His disciples and they with Him.
Blessed place and blessed familiarity! If the Lord has given
up the companionship of His disciples, it is to accomplish
their redemption; and He waits, as we wait, to renew it in
a better place and in brighter scenes, but as truly and more
intimately than they could have it here. Nothing more
beautiful or touching than this intimation of the Lord at
the moment of His departure. He sheaved where His heart
was, His love to us. And they sung a hymn together, and
went out to the mount of Olives, His wonted resort.
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But on the way the Lord reveals to them what was
about to happen, and that immediately, but still with His
heart resting on them. ey would nd only an occasion of
stumbling in Him. With what gracious calmness the Lord
tells them of it! For it was a poor and base path, one alas!
too natural to us; but He only thinks of them to warn and
apprise them of it as those He loved. But, as it was written,
they were the sheep of His pasture, and the Shepherd was
to be smitten and the sheep scattered. He speaks of them
as those gathered to the good Shepherd in this world, the
Jewish remnant gathered to Messiah the true Shepherd of
Israel, though now to enter on brighter and better hopes
and a more blessed service; but here the sheep of His ock
already gathered, and now to be dispersed by the death of
Messiah the Shepherd.
But He would rise again and then go before them into
Galilee, the place where according to prophecy He had
been the light of Israel, and gathered these poor of the
ock around Him. As such they are looked at here, as such
His death scattered them. For Messiah, the true Shepherd,
was smitten, and cut o; and what was the ock with the
Shepherd taken away? But risen, He would go before them
again into the place where He had been associated with
them; for in Matthew we have no ascension. e Acts are
wholly founded on Luke’s mission.
But Peter, trusting as ever his own strength, declares that
he never would be oended if all were; if Jordan overowed
all its banks, he was not afraid to dip his foot in it. But self-
condence in a disciple must be corrected by abasement of
self. Humble, we are safe, for God gives grace; self-condent
and not humble, we must be humbled: so with poor Peter.
e Lord warns him, but he maintains his condence; and
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so, instead of watching and praying, he goes to sleep, and,
though he knew it not, the enemy close at hand, man’s
hour and the power of darkness. And how easily we are led
by what is wrong without exactly what is apparently evil,
but what suits human nature! All the disciples are led away
into the same self-condent assertion; so they chime in
with Judas about the ointment; so they were carried away-
even Barnabas by Peter’s dissimulation. What is of man is
contagious for men, be it false boldness, or servile fear.
But we are drawing to the last scenes of the blessed
Lord’s life. He is here, the tested but perfect victim, while
alas! the disciples again show what man is! but all only brings
out the Lord’s grace. It is not, as in John, a divine Person
above all, oering up Himself, nor the man overcoming
in dependence all that pressed upon Him. Obedience
and grace must be perfect in the true and spotless victim.
Death and the cup were there; and He must be put fully
to the proof of His obedience. But He passes through it
all with His Father and yet can think of others who can
think but little of Him; for, as to them, it is the testing of
the disciples more than what was special to Christ that is
portrayed. He looked for their watching, and they failed
Him. But we have Jesus perfect in patient obedience, Jesus
perfect in referring all to His Father, though feeling, and
when feeling, all He had to go through.
It is the perfectness of His mind when His being a
victim is in view that is here specially brought before us.
He takes all the disciples with Him to Gethsemane; and
then, telling them to tarry there while He went on farther
and prayed, He takes Peter, and James, and John, who had
also been with Him on the mount of transguration, and
afterward had the place of pillars farther on; and there all
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that was before the blessed One came upon His spirit. He
began to be sorrowful and very heavy; He felt as man what
He had to undergo, not mere pain or suering, the power
of death weighed upon His spirit, weighed upon it as man,
yet with a weight no man could fathom. Yet with what
calm simplicity He tells it out!
We ought to know it, though it may be beyond our
knowledge. “ My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto
death.” His need was there, and told out to hearts that
ought to have felt it and watched earnestly, occupied with
Him. He looked for this, some one to have compassion. “
Tarry ye here and watch with me.” Blessed Savior! what
ought a heart to have felt to whom He said it? Oh how
should it have watched, but alas! what are we?
He went on to be alone there with His Father about
that which with Him only He could enter into, and which
must be altogether with Him. He was perfect in referring
it to His Father, and referring it alone. ere the solemn
question must have its solution. ere alone it could, and
there alone His perfectness could bring it. He fell on
His face and prayed, saying, “ my Father,” in supplicating
earnestness, “ if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.”
He should feel it fully and He did: submission would
not have been perfect else, but then His obedience and
submission were perfect: “ nevertheless, not as I will, but as
thou wilt.” In the perfect sense of the cup to be drunk, and
the holy desire to avoid it, the piety of soul which desired it
(for it was all the repulsion of sin from God, and what our
wretched souls had fallen into- what man was as departed
from God, which He must take upon His soul, if indeed He
had to drink it, if He undertook our cause, and it was a holy
desire to shrink from such a judgment and being made sin,
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even as bearing it before God), yet with perfect submission
and obedience to His Father, whatever His will was, and to
His Father He brings it there where it ought to be brought,
alike perfect in desiring not to drink it, and obediently
submitting to drink it if it was His Father’s will; and this
was His second utterance, “ If this cup may not pass away
from me except I drink it, thy will be done.” e no reply
now to His rst demand leaves His soul in the unclouded
perfectness of the second and third, for He was with His
Father in full and solemn sense of what it was, but with
Him-He is occupied with it. How could it be otherwise?
It ought to have been so. e disciples sleep, leaving Him
alone with God. Where else could He have now been with
such a work, such a cup, before Him? Now it is over, one
can linger round this scene to learn His perfectness and
love, the love we shall enjoy in brighter days when we shall
see Him as He is-when He shall see of the travail of His
soul and be satised. Yes, it was well; it was only right that
He should be alone with His Father then. It could have
been nowhere else, and He went naturally there, if I may
so speak, for all His thoughts were perfect.
But where was he (let us think of ourselves) who was to
go to prison and to death? With what touching grace He
calls up to view the strange inconsistency. “ Peter, could ye
not watch with me one hour? “ Where was the strength
that was going through everything just now? yet with what
grace He warns, with what grace He excuses! “ Watch and
pray that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is
willing, but the esh is weak.” How must one have hated
oneself for such a want of earnestness and love to Him!
alas, how we have to do with it! But here so perfectly is He
with His Father for the depth of what was before Him, so
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perfectly had He had all that with Him only, that the free
unhindered grace could in all liberty be as perfect towards
His poor feeble but failing disciples: no weight on His
spirit with them; that was borne with His Father. How
perfect are all His ways! what could they be else? But He
can warn them, and warn them as to what was just going
on. To Him it was now the path of obedience; but what
was not that was temptation. So indeed with everything:
all we meet with is occasion of temptation or obedience,
only there brought out where all was brought to a crisis
with man. But this intercourse with the disciples at this
moment is a witness of a depth and calmness in His path
which is divine perfection, though in man and in human
ways and grace which calls for adoring recognition. We
struggle or faint, or hide our sorrow in pride. I have known
what it is not to know relief till I said, O my God, my
soul is cast down within me. But He has all with God, and
can state it as to the fact in perfect simplicity to man. We
cannot tell our grief, we need support; and where are we to
trust it if it be heavy? He had His resource so elsewhere-all
His heart out, looking to His Father-that He could conde
where really there was nothing to lean on, only truth of
heart-the spirit was willing.
Now this is greatness, only in perfection, yet in lowliness,
not in self-suciency, in conscious weakness of humanity,
but all told in perfect faith and dependence to God His
Father, yet never losing His human place, yea, the very
expression of it. It is here it comes out so perfectly: never a
thought that was not human indeed, but never one that was
not suited to such a place in the presence of God, that is,
to death and drinking the cup, yet, though a man’s feelings
there in view of it, not one but what was according to the
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perfectness of One in whom the fullness of the Godhead
dwelt bodily. It would not do that He should not have been
fully in conscious manhood there, for He was there for us;
nor that in that place a thought or a feeling, that was not
divine in its tness for it, should have been there, and so
it was. He was not drinking the cup, but He had to feel it
as to all that it was, and feel rightly about it; had He not
been God as well as man, that could not have been. Surely
He could not have drunk it else, but He could not have
thought about it adequately, if a divine source and measure
of thought had not been the spring of it in man’s necessity
before God.
Blessed Lord, I do not pretend to fathom what ou
vast: who could? But we may learn from it and adore in
our hearts, we may look on and learn Who was there, and
with thankfulness of heart. No man knows the Son but the
Father, but oh, what traits of paramount blessedness ow
forth from this Son being a man! And we shall see that,
very man as He is, (and who shall tell the joy of that?) yet
He is as perfect in gracious gentleness to man. What it
must have been to them, when they had the Holy Ghost,
to look back to, and when they knew themselves in their
ight from that which He was going to meet! Humbling
surely, but a great thing for the heart to have been thus
humbled; for after all, we must learn what we are where
Christ was, save of course atonement, and even there in
respect of guilt to know the perfectness that is in Him. It
is not by our minds, but in looking at perfectness in the
same place in our weakness. Who will know strength like
the weak one that leans on it? Still we know it as taught of
God, as He in the perfectness of His person.
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In verse 45, in tender words which yet sheaved them
their service was over, and how He had been alone, He says,
“ Sleep on now [watching time is nished, the power of evil
in act is here]. Arise, let us be going: he that betrayeth me is
at hand.” But they must be fully proved, He does not send
them away. ey must be with Him to the end, learn the tale
however gently they may. If there was over condence as in
Peter, yet even so it tted him to strengthen his brethren
when restored by a deeper knowledge of what human
strength came to in the things of God. But we must learn
ourselves where He was, save where He was wholly for us,
instead of us, making propitiation for our sins. ere He
was perfectly alone, alone with God. Who else could have
been? He was practically alone in Gethsemane; but He
looked for their watching with Him, susceptible of human
interest and watching with Him, though indeed He had
only to feel how man failed Him even in that. If He looked
for that watching, the sense of some one with Him, it was
to feel that there was none. But the betrayer was there-and
here man and the blessed Lord must be again in contrast.
Unhappy Judas, over whom one’s heart would draw a veil,
betrays the Lord by that which was the expression of long
intimacy and that held Him fast. It is horrible. Oh, he was
up to his work, and would show he was!
e Lord receives it with the calmness of One who,
now in the path of obedience, had perfectly bowed to His
Father’s will. “ Friend, wherefore art thou come? “ For
indeed, when He warned His disciples, He might have
gone away, for it was dark, but for that He had not come.
He could have had twelve legions of angels; but how then
should the scriptures be fullled that thus it must be? It
was now, having gone through all with His Father as to His
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path, a settled thing, not His feeling about it, but the divine
path itself. It must be: scripture, the true revealed mind
of God, had pointed out that path. What a testimony to
scripture and its authority! In that greatest and lonely hour,
that stands out from all and has none like it, it suced.
How then should the scripture be fullled that thus it must
be? It was by that the Lord conquered in the wilderness,
by that He was as to authority determined in this moment
in which He gave up all to glorify God and atone for our
sins. It is to be remarked here that there is no healing of
the servant which we know was wrought; another subject
is set forth by the Spirit here, the obedient and submissive
victim. He was going as a lamb to the slaughter. is was
His place. He ever perfectly obedient, He was learning
obedience by the things that He suered; and that path is
ours: human violence and human weapons in the Christian
will meet with human weapons and stronger ones in the
world; submission to God’s will and the cross, is the path
marked out for God’s glory, as the world is-a wondrous
lesson but a blessed one.
If we do well, suer for it, and take it patiently, this
is acceptable with God. is Jesus was now doing, and in
the most perfect sense. He could have had His legions of
angels and used no violence; but He came to obey and
suer, and do so to the full, accomplishing the work given
Him to do, not to contend or escape. But here too, as with
the disciples, yea, even with Judas, He has His word for the
multitudes. He had sat daily with them in the temple, and
they laid no hands upon Him; now they came out against
Him as against a thief. ere is tenderness and compassion
in these words toward them; and the sense that the truth
was, His hour was come as to Himself. He had been quietly
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with them in the temple, and they hanging indeed on His
lips, and they had laid no hands on Him. But so it was to
be: He was to lay down His life for the sheep, for all the
glorious purposes of atonement. ey were led by others,
but would not have been, were they not away from God.
Compassion on ignorance there might be, but this time
was to signal Satan’s power and Jesus’ submission. He is
conscious of the dierence; He expresses calmly, as to His
disciples, His sense of the state of things, and notices it in
grace, and bows to it.
He was there to submit and accomplish His work.
If such was the case, what were the disciples to do? Go
His path they could not, though not with the evil. ey
were powerless, and the enemy exercises over them all the
power he can. ey forsake Him and y; they fail utterly in
faithful love, when danger is there. ey save themselves:
it is all they think of. Fight they might have done; esh
can do it; but this path esh cannot tread. e ark must
go alone rst through those waters. It was the moment for
devotedness; with man, a friend, that might have been; but
with Christ-no-He must stand alone. e circumstances
which follow do not call for explanation unless in a very
small degree. e importance of them is not so much in the
moral elements (though their manifestations be brighter
than ever), but in the blessed and glorious work which was
now accomplished. e chief priests and council held two
meetings, but all was prepared already. ey were enemies,
accusers, and judges- had already paid the price of His
capture, making an agreement for His betrayal. ey were
awaiting His capture in a meeting gathered together for
that purpose.
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e Lord was taken rst to Annas, father-in-law to
Caiaphas, actual high priest that year, and they question
Him in the morning very early. e council was formally
assembled, but when they only ask Him the questions for
form, on His answer that He was the Son of God, they
condemn Him and take Him to Pilate. All of this is not
found in this Gospel, but will be, I think, on comparing
the Gospels together. All that is important to display the
willing victim, and on whose testimony He was condemned,
is found here. ey lead Him to Caiaphas. And Peter
follows afar o; John (we know he was known to the
high priest and went in) gives details not necessary to the
moral scene here depicted. ey may be seen in John 18:13
and following. Here we have, rst, the witness of truth in
presence of vain falsehood and violence; Peter will come in
his place. It is another scene. He sat with the servants to see
the end, a natural feeling even as to one he loved, but which
showed no sense of what was going on. I do not think the
apostles shine in all this part of the history. It teaches the
dierence between ministerial power when sent, and the
state of a soul. How the Lord could see through and judge
of tting vessels when power should be conferred, and bear
in patient grace with what man was through all! e chief
priests and assessors seek for witness to put Him to death,
but, ready as they and their followers might be, none was
to be found.
At last they bring forward what was in the main a true
statement, for we have it recorded in John; elsewhere we
learn that the testimony, as testimony failed; there must
be two for death, and they did not agree. But to man’s
testimony against Him the Lord returns no answer.
Defending Himself was not His object, nor even teaching
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now; He stood as the willing Victim, as the Lamb for the
slaughter, and as the sheep before his shearers is dumb,
so He opened not His mouth. e high priest turns and
adjures Him
6
to answer if He be the Christ, the Son of
God according, as we have seen, to His title (Psa. 2)-His
true, full, Messiah-title among the Jews. To this the Lord
at once answers, He was: for now it was His own testimony
and He must give the whole truth, and adds, “ moreover,
also I say to you henceforth [not hereafter] ye shall see the
Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming
in the clouds of heaven.”
e aected indignation of the high priest and the
willing assent of the rest I will not notice. But this is to
be remarked, and we shall see it again, that the Lord is
condemned for the truth, being the truth in what He said,
and the truth as to His own person. He was the Victim
again of insult and outrage. e truth He told was the
truth, dangerous there but specially the truth there, I mean,
which was in connection with Israel, and the point of faith
or refutation of all for them, as He owned Himself king
before the representative of the Emperor. It was the truth
itself as to His person as the object of faith for them. ere
He was the Christ the Son of God, and rejected, He takes,
as we have seen Him do, in peace, the place and title of Son
of man coming in glory.
e word “ henceforth “ is of moment. It says that place
of Messiah and Son of God, according to Psa. 2, was over
from this, and they would only see Him coming in glory
and for judgment, and so it is in fact for Israel. e end
6 Let the reader remark here that this also is an instance of
obedience to Lev. 5:1. It is just what being sworn as a witness is
now; and the Lord, who forbids all voluntary oaths as coming
of evil from ourselves, takes this at once.
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of chapter 23, though referring to the same judgment,
applies to the remnant repentant through grace; this, to
the nation in judgment. Peter’s history follows. What poor
feeble man is, is shown even where love is sincere. e
esh has no power in the presence of the world; where
it is leaned on, sincerity does not keep us. But it was the
means of knowing himself and perfect grace to man being
such, but that is not the point here. It is, as all through
these scenes in Matthew, what man is in opposition to
what Christ was, feeling the trial fully and crying to His
Father; perfect in testimony, in truth, and in meekness, not
seeking deliverance now but letting the will of God take
its course. He is the silent Victim, as the sheep before its
shearers, while man was boasting, sleeping, shrinking from
the testimony, and denying the truth and his Master, to
escape. It is a wonderful picture of a perfect Christ, and
what poor wretched man is, in every respect.
Some diculty having been felt and made current by
rationalists, and some rationalists are such by trusting their
minds on scripture, I will just briey notice it, though it be
hardly worth it. Matthew and Mark are the same. Luke has
this dierence, which is not really one: the two former speak
of what the maid in the passage said to the men. Luke their
remark on it, then all three Peter’s denial. e last is the
same in all; John is much more general, and mentions only
two instances: rst, when he was at the re, when the maid
spoke, in John it is merely, they said to him-and then he
gives a precise point not noticed by others, that a kinsman
of Malchus, whose ear Peter cut o, recognized him, which
is given generally in the three others, “ they that stood by
“; very likely several spoke and convicted him so that he
was angry, for from John 18:27 what is said in verse 26 was
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probably the last time. Peter, on whose face the re shone
(for in the original it is said in Luke “ sitting in the light
“), went out into the entrance, but it was only to fall into
the hands of another maid. I suspect he had got back into
the central court, for the last time was an hour afterward,
and the Lord would look on him from where He was. Still
the poor apostle’s heart was true and the Lord’s prayer
eectual, his faith did not fail; the Lord’s look, full of grace,
broke him down, and he went out and wept bitterly. e
sorrow of repentance, not despair, was the blessed eect in
his heart.
After the morning’s council, at which the Lord was
formally condemned (for they had bueted Him and
insulted Him as a condemned person already), they led
Him away to Pilate. But before the Lord’s answering
before the Gentile governor, we have the ways of unhappy
Judas and the priests. It is remarkable how the account
in Matthew brings out the wretched condition of man,
believers or unbelievers, what man in the esh is, even if
won by grace to Christ; but here the wretched exhibition
of those who were His enemies. Remorse seizes Judas
when the evil one has done his work by him. He seems to
have thought He would, as before, escape; but this made
his sin worse, for he knew that power then was there, but
money governed his heart, and by it Satan led him into the
horrible sin, but he could not shield him when the sin was
there. What was money to one who was in despair? e
fruit and witness of sin is no comfort to one who is lost
by it. He goes to those who ought to have led him in the
right way, his heartless companions in the wickedness, and
throws down the money in despair: “ I have sinned in that
I have betrayed the innocent blood.” He knew well now
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what he had done, for lust hides sin from the conscience,
and Satan will furnish excuses to the mind; but committed
sin is on it, it is all dark in its trail behind; and if the love
of God be not there to cling to, despair, dark, black despair,
only remains. e chief priests have gained their point by
Judas’ wickedness: what do they care about the eects for
him? With consummate heartlessness they reply, See thou
to that: what is that to us? A frightful picture of man’s
heart given up to wickedness. One can conceive nothing
more frightful than such a state- more appalling than such
a scene. Judas threw the money down on their answer.
What comfort can sin when done nd from Satan? And
he was even here to be a witness of the terribleness of his
sin; and he went and hanged himself. ere is something
strange in this part of the account which throws the money,
and Judas, and the temple, and the priests, all together. He
threw it down in the temple, naos; the word is that used for
the house. How did he throw it there? I am not aware that
the word is ever used for anything but the house itself. And
then see the religiousness of those who can buy the blood
of the Son of God for thirty pieces of silver. It was the price
of blood, and they could not put it into the treasury. To buy
the blood they had no scruple, to put such into the treasury
was deling. What a picture of man the Spirit of God
gives all through here! and they bought the potter’s eld
to bury strangers. ey were common things, but they or
any Jew was too holy to be profaned by being buried there.
e most outward ocial religion, and the most absolute
wickedness, run together; and even in a Christian, ocial
religiousness is the bane of piety.
But the Lord now stood before Pilate, and it is
remarkable that again His own testimony is the foundation
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of all. e governor asks Him if He be King of the Jews?
e Lord replies (for He was the truth) in the armative
witnessing a good confession; for before the chief priests
iris confession was to that which was dangerous there, but
the truth; before Pilate, what was dangerous there. He was “
Son of God “ before the priests, “ King “ before the Roman
governor. To the accusing Jews He answers nothing, as I
have said He was not there to defend Himself or escape,
but a Willing Victim, and He was witness to the truth.
But the heads of the Jewish people are before us here as
the enemies of God. Pilate, who saw it was all envy, seeks
to deliver Him, so much the more anxiously that his wife
had sent to press it on him, being alarmed by a warning
dream, and presses His deliverance; but the Jews persevere
in their enmity against the Lord; and, inexcusable as the
governor was, who clearly was bound to protect one he
knew to be innocent, yet the willful sin rests on the head of
the unhappy leaders of the people.
Ecclesiastical wickedness is always greater than civil; in
a persecution it is what is religious and clerical that is the
spring and mover in it. But we have the terrible testimony
from their own mouth of their part in it, their judgment
on themselves. e careless and reckless governor (to his
eyes there was nothing much to care for) ‘washes his hands
of the matter and leaves His blood on their heads, and
they take it in their folly. “ His blood be on us, and on
our children,” and so it is to this day. And he delivered
Jesus to their will, releasing a murderer whom they desired
according to Paschal custom.
And now the blessed Lord is the subject of outrage and
insult from the soldiers-accustomed as this poor world is
to revel in evil when it is congregated and can encourage
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one another in it. e Lord bows to it all with patient
endurance; He is still the Lamb led to the slaughter.
e whole scene is still the patient and perfect victim.
But man appears with his heart unveiled. Who would
be found to insult and outrage a dying man if he were a
criminal? What executed criminal would insult his fellow
on the gibbet? but when Christ is there, all this happens.
ey wag their heads and say, He saved others, Himself
He cannot save. Oh, terrible victory of sin over One who
would not save Himself because He would save others.
Yet if sin had its full display and seeming victory, it was to
meet a grace which was, in the perfect work of obedience,
accomplishing that which puts it away-a sovereign grace
which allows the sin to run to its height to accomplish that
which puts it away. e mere provision for present relief
the Lord declines accepting, the cup His Father had given
Him, that He drinks in peaceful submission, but to know
its whole bitterness. But see, as has appeared all through,
the awful state of these unhappy priests. ey quote their
part of Psa. 22 as Jesus did His afterward. ere is in that
psalm a verse (8) which is the utterance of the insulting
enemies of God, of unbelief; that they quote in utter moral
blindness, and fulll it.
To verse 44 we have the patient silent submission of
the blessed Lord, and as heretofore, what man is when it is
manifested in the light of His presence, only here ripened
into perfect manifestation. From verse 45, though we
nd man’s utter insensibility to all, a stranger to all that
was going on, yet we especially get His place with God
as the true Victim of propitiation. He was shut in from
man and all around to God, as “ made sin who knew no
sin.” Darkness was over all the land. At the close the Lord
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gives utterance to that which was going on within the veil
of darkness which hid Him from all earthly things-an
utterance which in few words declares to our souls the cup
that He was drinking, His perfectness who was drinking it,
perfectness as sinless, perfectness in reference to God. He
is the Victim of propitiation; and His voice, not to man but
for him, which alone could rightly declare it, announces
the solemn fact of what He was accomplishing. For here
He is the oering for sin, bearing our sin, made sin for us.
It is not now communion with His Father, though
perfect submission to His will, and love to Him; but
before God as made sin, yet perfect in His condence and
reference of heart to Him. It is the holy and righteous
God dealing with sin as sin, yet in Him who had none but
was made it, and had voluntarily oered Himself for it;
the wonderful work of settling the question of sin before
God, and God gloried in dealing with it, where His love
to us might be innite in dealing with sin, in divine and
absolute righteousness, and His Majesty and truth made
good: where perfect obedience and love to His Father was
found, where He stood as made sin, with no departure of
heart from condence in God. “ ou continuest holy.” It
was not, as Job, reproaching God for His dealings with
him, with a yet unbroken will. It is, “ My God,” yet with a
full sense that there was no cause in Him-” why? “ and the
absolute sense, according to His own enjoyment of that
presence, of God’s forsaking Him, that which no horror is
like. He is simply here the Victim, the oering to God in
propitiation. We can say “ why,” when brought to the cross;
rst, as bearing our sins, and then as glorifying God.
Other circumstances or words of the Lord are not
brought forward here; He stands in the solitary solemness
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of the Victim before God, perfect in that place of sin. is
there is nothing like. It is once for all; God is perfectly
gloried and sin dealt with for His glory. It stands alone
in the history of eternity and all, for divine glory depends
upon it, its results immutable; for it is done, and its value
cannot change or God’s must, which cannot be, for His
nature is gloried here as well as our sins put away. Man
understands nothing of it; they say, He calls for Elias!
en we nd that the whole accomplished, and Jesus yet
in the fullness of His strength, gives up His spirit. It is not
here as in John 19:30, “ delivered up his spirit,” nor as in
Mark 15:37, and Luke 24:46, “ expired,” breathed His last
as we say. In Luke we have also the words, “ Father, into
thy hands I commend my spirit “-words of faith in death,
when its sting of terror and anguish which He has borne
was gone. Yet death was still there, but His Father perfectly
trusted in it.
Here all these deeply interesting parts of the scene are
passed over, that the great fact of death in letting now His
spirit go away from His body, really dying yet when in full
strength, the dying but perfect and willing Victim might
stand out before us in its own majesty and force. But all God’s
dispensation and God’s creation, and the dead themselves,
felt its power; yea, the rude heart of the Roman soldier was
awed. e veil was rent, that which was the sign that man
could not approach God. e whole Jewish dispensation in
which man’s responsibility to God was tested outside was
rent from top to bottom; man’s sin complete, and man down
here had lost God forever; but the way into the holiest,
by a new and living way, fully opened. e sign of God’s
present power in creation was there; the earth quaked, and
the rocks were rent, and the graves were opened, but none
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stirred till the rst-fruits of them that slept had broken
the bonds of death, and then they appeared to many in
Jerusalem, the witness of the wondrous work that had been
accomplished. No wonder all felt its power, or that God
gave witness there even to what had gloried Him. He has
indeed suered His Son, in the accomplishment of divine
counsels, to be despised and rejected of men, but we shall
nd that in His humiliation He has always taken care to
give a testimony to His glory and what He was to Him.
e raising of Lazarus, the riding into Jerusalem, the voice
from heaven, and the dove; the dove and His own voice
when He bows to enter in by the door with John, taking
His place among the poor of the ock; the chorus of angels
when He stooped to the incarnation, all are witnesses to
His glory in the very place where He humbles Himself,
and so it was here in the closing act of all. Nor did the heart
of the centurion withstand the power of all that passed; a
poor dark heathen, but at least not hardened as the unhappy
Jews were religiously, and susceptible of these outward
signs of divine power; he and those with him, struck with
awe and fear, echoed at least with natural conscience the
testimony Jesus gave of Himself when questioned by the
priests, “ Truly this man was the Son of God.”
We cannot tell whether there was any divine and lasting
operation, in his or the other’s soul; we may hope. e
object here was the public divine testimony given to the
dying Lord that went home irresistibly to the hearts and
consciences of those who watched Him, and brought out
of their awed spirits the confession of who He was. e
testimony had been spread abroad and even they knew that
this was the thing in question-Was He the Son of God?
What unhardened heart could resist the witness?
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But what a terrible witness was this against the Jews!
When God gives testimony to His Son, so that the heart of
the poor pagan bows under it, theirs remain unmoved! It is
well to notice that, though the saints did not arise to show
themselves at Jerusalem, yet their resurrection is connected
here with the Lord’s death. ere He destroyed the power
of him who had the power of death. But all was now closed
for man and Judaism. All is to begin on a new footing,
foreknown indeed and predicted; but now, the work being
accomplished on which all was to be founded-yea, had
been in fact, though not revealed, man begins according to
the counsels of God upon the ground of that accomplished
work, wrought to put away sin, to glorify God, and lay the
foundation of immutable blessing the result of that which
could never lose its value with God. Here, as we shall
see, we go on farther than the fact of resurrection and its
power, and that in connection with the residue of Israel
though sent out to the Gentiles on this ground. So that
while historically brought out, as a present thing, yet its
realization bears on the days yet to come, when a restored
residue, not having the heavenly place, will be a testimony
to Christ’s death and resurrection in their own blessing,
but on earth, and they disciple the Gentiles on that ground,
leading them in the path of Jesus’ commandments to the
disciples when on earth.
But the Father would have accomplished the
testimonies of His word in honoring His Son rejected and
crucied; for all here is really a contrast between the blind
incredulity of the Jew and all else; even, as we have seen, a
poor ignorant Gentile. He was to be with the rich in His
death. Not only the devoted women were watching their
crucied Lord, but Joseph of Arimathea, when now He
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was surely dead, goes on to Pilate and begs His body and
it is given to him, and he lays it in his own tomb wrapped
in a linen cloth, there where never man was yet laid, and
rolled a great stone to the mouth and departed. In them all
it was respect and attachment, but in Joseph’s act God had
another purpose; not only to render due respect to Jesus,
but to give the strongest proofs that He was really risen.
e Jews remembered that He had said He would rise
again. e fears of a bad conscience without God fear what
they would not believe. Blinded they were, for what was all
this in presence of power to rise again? And the thought
of stealing His body was the suggestion of their own
wicked heart, anything but reassured, and seeking what by
self-deception might quiet the suspicious dread of a self-
condemning heart. But their plans only make the matter
doubly sure. ey would have engaged Pilate, thinking all
were to be under the powers of their restlessness, in securing
the tomb. Pilate leaves it to them to settle the matter. It was
their aair; they might make it as sure as they could. But
what were seals or guards against the power and will of
God? ey might make the ction of the apostles stealing
the body absurd and impossible, but that is all. e angel
does not quicken the Lord, nor raise Him, but shows-
acting according to the majesty of Him who had sent him-
the empty tomb. To the guards it is terror and dismay, for
such any manifestation of the unseen world is to man; to
them the angel says nothing. ey were witnesses of the
intervention of God, no guards against the working of His
power. But to those attached to Jesus words of grace and
restoring comfort come from heaven, “ I know that ye seek
Jesus; he is not here, he is risen.”
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Our Gospel here brings together in a brief statement
the hearing of Jesus’ resurrection and what accompanied
or rather followed it, on various persons-the women, the
soldiers, the Jews. As to the rst, it is comfort and grace, they
are the messengers of the good news to the disciples. e
soldiers are alarmed and as dead men. Such is the eect of
the manifestation of God’s power and intervention. ere
is nothing which man is so unused to, and which is so
strange to his heart and thoughts: A legion of devils might
be sought to be restrained, but must be borne and people be
used to it, save personal danger; but the presence of Jesus,
who drives them out by divine power and goodness, brings
the demand at once that He should leave them; and so He
did. e soldiers are as dead men. It is the simple eect on
the natural man of the manifestation of the power of God,
of the unseen world, introduced into this. With the Jews
it is deliberate hardness of heart. ey seek to destroy the
testimony they could not deny, that they had made secure
themselves by setting the guard. e women have direct
communication from God by means of the angel; they are
the Lord’s messengers to the disciples. We see, as in so
many cases, that love to the Savior for His own sake brings
us into the place where we receive the communications of
His grace.
It is these communications which must occupy us now.
ey are comforted with the assurance that He is risen; they
are to go at once to tell His disciples that He was. Here it
is still the relationship of Christ with Israel which is before
us. We have not the special communications of Jesus with
Mary Magdalene, which take us into the heavenly place of
Jesus, and His interview with His disciples on this ground.
We are not at Bethany with Luke, to see Him going up to
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heaven with hands outstretched to give a heavenly blessing,
which could begin with guilty Jerusalem and reach to the
ends of the earth. Nor are the various positions of the
women brought out, dierent and distinct in their nearness
to Christ; simply, briey, the dierent relationships to
Christ of the ignorant Gentiles, the women, and the Jews,
in presence of the resurrection and what followed it.
e ascension is not found in Matthew. e Lord
directs the disciples to go to Galilee where He would meet
them. Nor was He content to leave it to the angel only to
communiate His will to the disciples, though at the tomb
this was needed to apprise them of His resurrection; He
Himself meets these poor devoted women-ever the same
gracious Savior. He salutes them graciously, coming to
meet them as they went joyfully in haste to deliver the
angel’s message and the good news of the resurrection to
the disciples. And here with the gracious dealing of Jesus
we are not on the ground of Mary Magdalene. ere Christ
presents Himself as going to the Father (His and His
brethren’s, the disciples), His God and their God. He was
not come back to be on earth in visible and bodily presence
risen, as Mary’s heart hoped, but for what was better. Here
He presents Himself to the remnant in connection with
Israel, but calling His disciples “ brethren.”
And this gives its character to the whole conclusion
of the Gospel. It puts a risen (not ascended) Savior in
connection with the remnant of the Jews, owned as
brethren, sending them, as thus owned, to bring in the
nations. e body of the nation remains in the blinded
hostility which the presence of Jesus had drawn out. We
see too how all the characteristic circumstances are drawn
together here in a brief review. As the women were going
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on their errand, some of the watch go into the city to
inform the chief priests what had happened. e elders
are gathered; the facts communicated; and they deliberate
what to do. Hostility to the Lord was the settled source of
all. Deliberation as to receiving the clear testimony of the
Lord’s resurrection there was none; how to get rid of it was
all these unhappy chiefs of the people deliberated about.
e evidence was clear, clear by their own witnesses; they
resort to bribery to engage them to give a dierent account
of the matter, assuring them, if so grave a fault in a Roman
soldier as being asleep on his post came to the governor’s
ears, they would secure them. eir desire to keep all quiet
would be a sucient motive, perhaps money for him
too, as for Festus, and the heartless indierence of the
governor would have thought as little of the resurrection
as of the death of Jesus. Such at least was their ground
as to the general result with the soldiers; and the money
suced to make them run the risk. Such is the world. “
e transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that
there is no fear of God before his eyes,” Psa. 36:1.
Yet this was but the outside of what was closed, and
passed away, though judgment yet lingered. e real and
abiding fact with God is the risen Jesus. is, wholly new
as to man, never passes away; it is the divine result, though
not in all its consequences, of the perfect solution of every
question as to good and evil; divine power being come in
to solve it, the basis laid which spoke of evil passed away,
and of the accomplishment of all God’s counsels of grace
in righteousness, and man in a position in which, guilty
or innocent, he had never been before, after all had been
settled according to God, and immutable blessing secured.
Here however we have its application, as I have said, the
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discipling the Gentiles, recognizing the Jewish disciples,
the remnant of Jews already gathered, as His brethren.
e disciples go into Galilee, to the mountain Jesus had
appointed. ere He appears; when they see Him, they do
homage, but some doubt. In the utmost simplicity of truth
we nd that if the Jews plotted to secure their indelity,
there was no plot in the disciples, for some doubted it was
He. No one would have said this who sought to compose
an account; the evidences would have made it agrantly
true, incontestable. It is made more incontestable by the
doubt, but it is not man’s way of making it so. He comes
upon them by surprise and some are not sure. A plot
arranged would have secured His acceptance; a testimony
unfounded in fact would Lot have invented a doubt. e
apostle tells us in simplicity, and guided of God, what
occurred.
e Lord addresses them on the ground of the place
which now belonged to Him, which He will fully take in
power hereafter, which belonged to the risen Lord, being
His in right of the new place into which He had entered as
man. “ All power is given to me in heaven and in earth.” All
is not accomplished, all things not yet put under His feet,
but it is His place as the risen Man who has gloried God
and accomplished the work given Him to do. Hence He
sends them forth beyond the limits of the King of Israel
in Zion, that had been set forth fully in chapter to, then
and on to the future. Here connected with the remnant
of the Jews, associating them as brethren with Himself,
having accomplished redemption, they were to disciple the
nations, baptizing them (not to Jehovah, not to Messiah or
the Son of David, but) to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, that
in which the one God of Israel was fully and completely
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revealed; teaching them to observe that which they had
learned from Him on the earth; and He would be with
them to the end of the age. It is thus before the millennium,
not the mystery of the church, nor the future gathering of
all things. e former was revealed and conded to Paul,
the latter to come in when the age was nished. Not the
mission from Bethany (which the Acts follow throughout),
not starting from Jerusalem nor beginning it as that did;
but accepting the poor of the ock as brethren to Christ;
they were to bring in, disciple all the nations on the footing
of their relationship with Him as thus risen.
It is well to notice what has been alluded to:-the ministry
in the Acts is not the accomplishment of this but of the
mission in Luke, the book itself being, as is known, the
continuation of his Gospel; nor was the ministry of Paul,
who took up by a separate divine mission the evangelization
of the nations, the carrying out of this. His was more fully
even yet a mission from an ascended and gloried Savior,
to which was added the ministry of the church. It connects
itself even much more in its rst elements with Luke.
e ministry here established stands alone. e disciples
are not sent to Jews, as in Luke coming from an ascended
Savior they were to begin at Jerusalem. Jerusalem is
rejected, and the remnant attached to Christ (His brethren,
and owned in this character) sent out to Gentiles. is, as
far as scripture teaches us, has never been fullled. e
course of events under the hand of God- another term,
so to speak, the disciples remain at Jerusalem; and a new
mission to the Gentiles is sent forth in the person of Paul
and that connected with the establishment of the church
on earth. e accomplishment of this mission has been
thus interrupted, but there is the promise to be with those
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who went forth in it to the end of the age. Nor do I doubt
it will be so. is testimony will go forth to the nations
before the Lord comes. “ e brethren “ will carry it to
warn the Gentiles. e commission was given then, but we
nd no accomplishment of it. It connects the testimony
with the Jewish remnant owned by a risen Lord of all, with
the earth and His earthly directions, and for the present it
has in fact given place to a heavenly commission, and the
church of God.
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62853
e Gospel According to
Matthew
Appendix
Some think there is an historical order in the parables,
an order which I proceed to state without making any
comment upon it, as a thought upon which every brother will
form an opinion according to the light which he possesses.
First, the general fact of the sowing of the word, begun by
Jesus Himself; then, as we have seen, the beginning of the
mysteries of the kingdom: the Son of man sows the good
seed, the enemy does his own work there. e rst eect:
the hierarchical or ecclesiastico-secular power in the world.
e second eect: nominal Christianity, a leaven which
only corrupts the whole lump. en comes the discovery
that it is the treasure hid in this eld which is precious;
those who have spiritual understanding distinguish this
treasure, although it is hidden in the eld. is would be
the Augustinian and Protestant doctrine of an invisible
church. But, beyond that, there is the perception of the
beauty and purity which become this treasure, and they are
sought by those who are led by the Spirit of Christ. Lastly,
there is the practical separation of the good sh put into
vessels by those who are concerned with that work.
is then is the idea; each Christian, I repeat, will judge
of it, according to his measure of spiritual understanding.
However it may be, there is yet something to be said on the
subject of the great tree and the leaven, in reference to what
may be discovered in them by a spiritual mind e dierence
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between that which is described in these parables, and
what is said in the three last, is very remarkable. Here there
is no trace of spiritual aection, nor of a taste for divine
things, nor of distinction between good and evil. e love
of the Spirit is completely missing, and is even lost. I say
lost, because at the beginning the servants distinguished
between the good seed and the tares, and that perfectly
well, and were astonished to nd tares in a eld where
their master had been sowing, although it did not belong
to them to execute the judgment on the tares. ey were
employed near the master, attending to the good condition
of the eld which belonged to him, but the eld could only
be cleansed by judgment. Didst ou not sow good seed in
y eld? (that was their question): from whence then hath
it tares? Afterward, a spiritual understanding perceives that
the eld is only a secondary object, fully admitting that it
was bought; it seeks for the pure and precious pearl, and
also separates the good sh and puts them into vessels.
But here it is not that; it is a picture of a dark worldly and
outward eect. e attachment to the interests of Christ
fails; it is an external matter, a common condition, where
nothing appears but what the world can see. We do not say
that there are not children of God hidden in this system,
or such as have been separated from it; but the Spirit of
God takes no account of them in these parables, nor of any
spirituality which perceives them, or which distinguishes
between that which is agreeable to Christ in His kingdom
and the contrary: the result of the work exactly corresponds
with the world. We could not (according to these parables)
distinguish them: it is “ a great tree,” a symbol, throughout
scripture, of human power and pride, the objects of God’s
judgment.
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It is only when Christ will establish His own kingdom
in power, that this kingdom will become a great tree in the
earth, according to the counsels of God in righteousness.
(See Ezek. 17:22-24.) Meanwhile the event takes place,
but as we have seen, with a total absence of spiritual
discernment, which contrasts with what precedes and
what follows. Also observe, with respect to the leaven:
this is not external and earthly power; it is the universal
diusion of a doctrine within certain limits. Here we must
remark that it is not the Son of man who sows the good
seed, that idea is lost: it is the state of the kingdom which
will bear a resemblance to the eect of a woman’s deed
who acts thus. us there is not any distinction made here
between the sowing of the Son of man, and the work of
the enemy. If there is good seed, it is quite lost sight of. e
parable of the good seed and the tares proves to us that
this distinction had been made by the servants of Christ,
but all appearance of it is lost; we cannot say that all is
good, for the tares must grow till the harvest. All spiritual
discernment is therefore completely excluded from this
state of things; all true testimony to the work of God is
lost; for one cannot say that all is good, that would be the
testimony according to the heart of God. All distinction
between the good and evil is destroyed; it is one lump, so
that this testimony to the dierence of good and evil is also
lost; and thus evil under the name of Christ is that which
presents itself as a uniform mass.
I would not here say that the Holy Spirit designed to
present this idea to the multitude. I have already said that
these parables speak of what is outward, of the external
aspect of the kingdom; but he who studies the word judges
according to the mind of Christ of that which is presented
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thus to the world. ere is that which distinguishes the true
Christian- the spiritual man discerns all things He does
not think that the lump will be changed, for the spiritual
man distinguishes and loves what is good; but the state
of the mass does not govern him: he knows for himself
that everywhere else the great tree is the symbol of exalted
man. Ought man to be exalted before the manifestation of
Christ? He knows that leaven everywhere else is the symbol
of that which is bad. Has not the history of Christendom
supplied that which fully corresponds to such a symbol? If
it is so, it is that which according to the Lord characterizes
the state of the kingdom. In that case, what ought the
Christian to do? Ought he to be contented with bearing
such a testimony as being Christ’s?
NOTE.-It is most important for us to remember, that
all that, which is the power of death in the unbeliever, is
the hindrance and blight of the fruit-bearing power of
the believer’s life, to which the energies aorded us in the
divine Persons apply themselves. is is brought out into
full light, with its specic remedy, in the graciousness of
God in this parable. ere is the case of the fowls of the
air, the stony ground, the sowing among thorns, and in the
good ground, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold. e rst of
these we know is the power of Satan-the power of death.
ere is no life in the soul. When the word of it is sown
in the unbroken heart, the devil takes it away as soon as it.
is sown; he holds it in unremoved death. e word is the
power of life. “ Of his own will begat he us by the word of
truth, that we might be a kind of rstfruits of his creatures.”
It is indeed the lie of the devil, by which he brought in
death and holds men in it, in which he is a murderer; so
on the other hand, by the truth of God are we made alive.
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But there is One (Himself indeed the WORD), who is
specically the quickening power, even the Son of God.
“ e last Adam is the quickening Spirit.” He then who
vindicates from this state of death, and makes alive, is the
Son of God. e Son of man sows the seed, but it is the
Son of God who quickens; “ for this purpose the Son of
God was manifested, that he might destroy the works
of the devil.” It is the special distinctive character of His
sonship, that He quickens with divine power, as indeed
none else could. Compare John 5:21, 24, 26. is is most
explicit, and no one acquainted with scripture can have
failed to recognize this power of life in the Son of God,
as distinctly representing His power and character. He
declares Himself, “ I am the resurrection and the life “; and
this by His word, “ Lazarus, come forth.” e results of this
we shall not follow; but we have the Son of God, by the
word, destroying the works of the devil in the state and
power of death. is is the rst case of the parable. at
which is in Him is the opposite power, which overcomes
the evil case mentioned; and a man brings forth thirtyfold,
for being really alive he must increase and bring forth fruit.
But there is another case put, not so apparently desperate,
but equally destructive-the receiving the word into shallow
ground. ere was no root. It was received supercially; it
speedily “ sprang up, because it had no deepness of earth “;
it had no searching process of power in which it entered
into the conscience and quickened the inner man It rested
in the natural aections and understanding which are after
all the esh; it is received merely by the natural feelings, and
therefore immediately acts, and with joy, since it reaches
not the conscience; and the same natural feelings were of
course as speedily acted on by trouble and persecution, and
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“ immediately they are oended.” Compare Mark 4. is,
then, is all merely the esh, and comes to nothing. To this
we know how uniformly the Spirit is opposed. “e esh
lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the esh;
and these are contrary the one to the other.” “ey that
are after the esh mind the things of the esh; and they
that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.” “If ye
through the Spirit do mortify the deeds,” etc. It needs not
to multiply passages of scripture to show the opposition of
these two.
But, we must observe that we have here in the Spirit the
antagonist power which overcomes the esh, and assuming
a man to be alive, still does so. “e natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit”; hence we know that this case
is still the natural man, and that the things of the Spirit are
what he has never received, though aections or intellect
may have been moved or delighted with the marvelous
plan of redemption. But the same point holds good in
a believer; that is, we nd when men do not walk in the
Spirit, of course they are protless and low in their estate.
It is in mortifying the esh by the Spirit, that the fruits
of the Spirit nd comparatively free growth-it produces
sixtyfold. is, then, is the contrast here-the esh and the
Spirit; and we nd in it, that the fairest form of the esh,
the apparently joyful reception of the word of the kingdom,
whether it be in aection or intellect, comes to nothing;
whatever it be occupied on, it is but “ the desires of the
esh and of the mind “
e third case, compared with other scriptures, is equally
clear I think. e hindering power is declared directly, “the
cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the
lusts of other things.” Compare Mark 4; Luke 8. Now, the
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139
world and the love of it we continually nd opposed to the
Father. “ All that is in the world, the lust of the esh, the
lust of the eye, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but
of the world.” “Love not the world, neither the things of
the world; if any man love the world, the love of the Father
is not in him “ e hatred of the world to the Son, showed
that it was not of the Father; and the children were not of
this world any more than the Father, as allied to Him, even
as Christ the Son was not of the world.
Every one familiarly and spiritually acquainted with the
Gospel of John must have noticed the opposition between
the world and the sonship of Christ; one being associated
with the Father; and the other directly opposed to the
glory of the Father, in the great question of that sonship in
which alone it was known. Our Lord thus concludes the
whole presenting of His work and His people to the Father:
“O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee, but
I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast
sent me.” e whole chapter illustrates the question. Now
we shall hence well understand the opposition between the
two, and how He “ who gave himself for our sins, that he
might deliver us out of this present evil world,” closes that
statement by saying: “ and I have declared unto them thy
name and I will declare it, that the love,” etc. But, in the
believer, even when not only quickened, but in the Spirit
exercising himself to mortify the deeds of the body, who
recognizes at once the evil of the esh (though we are little
aware how subtly and widely its beguiling and deceiving
inuence is spread, how fair a form inbred selshness may
assume), and in whom, in an ordinary sense, the esh is
habitually in a measure mortied; how often do we nd the
world holding a prevailing power and recognized title over
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the judgment or habit, and the fruitfulness, comparatively
speaking, utterly marred!
“ Herein is my Father gloried, that ye bear much fruit,
so shall ye be my disciples.” Let us then recognize, on the
sole basis of scripture (excluding the consideration of the
circumstances in which the lie of this world has power
over our mind), that the world is a positive hinderer of
fruitfulness, the much fruit in which the Father is gloried;
and for this plain reason, that our sonship, our inheritance,
the kingdom is not recognized. e devil, as he acts on us
by the esh, “ the lust of the esh,” “ good for food,” or
“ of the eyes,” and the like, is the god and prince of this
world; and the Spirit in them that are quickened, where
not dimmed and darkened by the spirit of this world, is not
only the power of the dierence of the carnal and spiritual
nature, but bears witness that we are sons and heirs. us
at liberty, we cry by it, Abba, Father; and the fruits are an
hundredfold, where we are free from the system in which we
are fettered. e energy of the kingdom is there, the Savior
of the kingdom is there, the stamp of the Father of glory,
and hence, in deadness to the world, power over it. e
whole stamp of nature is dierent; we are not of the world
as Christ is not of the world. Accordingly, as we nd the
Lord the true vine, so we nd the Father the husbandman,
purging the branches, that they may bring forth more fruit.
We may be isolated indeed, but isolated sons, upon whom
the glory of the Father shines in hope and the power of
inward association; the sons of God, though in the midst
of a crooked and perverse nation. In a word, the children of
God (the God who hath called us to “ His own kingdom
and glory,” the living God) is our distinguishing title; and,
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as the Jews were aanced to Jehovah, we are called to be “
perfect as our Father which is in heaven is perfect.”
I cannot pursue this subject farther here, though I may
touch on it, with the Lord’s permission, at a future time.
As regards the explanation of the parable, I would say a
very few words more. e inseparableness of the evils, as
well as of the gracious agents of covenant remedy, is not
in question; the devil, the world, and the esh, are too
intimately associated to need explanation of our distinct
consideration of them; and I believe more intimately than
people are commonly aware of. Of the Father, the Son, and
the Spirit, I need not speak; but while we have spoken of
them in operation as to prot, we must not forget their
unity in every act, whether of creation, or anything else:
they invariably act in one, and as invariably, as far as I see,
in the same order, that is, by the Son, through the energy
Of the Spirit.
Another remark is necessary. Although we have looked
at the love of the world, as hindering the full characteristic
fruitfulness of the children of God, and the knowledge
and love of the Father as the contrasted character, we must
remember that this knowledge in principle is the portion
of every believer. “ I write unto you, little children, because
ye have known the Father “; nor could we otherwise put
all believers under this responsibility. But I believe it will
be found that the measure of the fruitfulness of the life
that is in them much depends on their exercise in the
truths here noticed and dwelt on; and that the character
of their fruitfulness also much depends on their fuller and
deeper apprehension of the one or the other; and that the
apprehension of the Father in the full development of
the sonship glory attaches quite a new character on the
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whole course of the Christian’s life. is is our proper
calling; and, while we must watch against the neglect of
distinct reference to the Son (as administering the power
of the kingdom against the “wicked one”), to the Spirit
(as overcoming or detecting the workings and deceitful
power of the esh), to the Father (in contrast with the love
of the world), a defective apprehension of the principle
of heavenly glory will somewhere or other break down
the eciency of our christian service. e fullness of all
was in our Lord; the fullness of all help in them is our
practical responsibility; the enjoyment of fellowship
with them our privilege. Ill-proportioned Christianity,
I believe, continually springs from the power of Satan,
through neglect of, or hindering the special power of one
or another of the Persons, while indulgence of any of the
evils is apt to throw us into the hands of Satan; and here
is the wisdom of ministering to sick souls, for the source
of the evil may be one, its manifestation may be another.
How blessed to be able to refer to covenant assurance of a
threefold Almighty help for the several diculties one evil
may bring! A believer will be healthful and strong against
the enemy in proportion as he has just reference to all.
I do not say that a believer’s progress is, from knowing
the Son, to the Spirit and the Father-far from it; but I
believe the manifestation of the power and glory of their
work will gradually unfold itself, even as the quickening
by the Son will make the believer discern well the
operations of the Spirit against the esh, and both of these
nd their full development in the manifestation of the
Father’s glory, in the consciousness (if he grow healthfully)
that His kingdom is not of this world. In some cases of
unusual energy of divine life, we see by God’s calling, all
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these apprehensions promptly developed, and the man
consequently abundantly exercised, and his service great,
corresponding to the knowledge received of the Son in the
kingdom, as in the apostles Peter and Paul; but I must not
outstep the practical part of the subject.
I am quite conscious, indeed particularly so, of the
imperfection of these remarks; but I feel the importance of
the subject deeply, and the basis of the view has been given:
they are open to the correction or fuller application of
those more versed in divine life. e wondrous and blessed
grace of a developed covenant, the bright witness of the
Son, and of the Father, and of glory: the grace in which
they minister to the necessities of those who have no help
in themselves, while they are the growingly understood
and adored objects alike of communion and worship,
separating from all that is not of themselves. I feel too, that
in speaking thus, I am treading on holy ground, but ground
which our God in His mercy has opened to us, and on
which we are set to walk; freed from every fear, unless of
not justly estimating it, by the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus; cleansed from all that could oend em, by His
blood, and acquainted with the boundless love which has
brought these by it, while never reaching it, never able to
be lled with it, knowing that it has reached even to us and
lled us into its own fullness.
Let us also remember, that the indulgence in one of
these seemingly remote evils brings in the power of the
others; for God is not there. us Solomon’s indulgence
of the world brought in the indulgence of the esh, and
the consequence was the direct power of Satan in the
idolatrous worship of his wives. We might mention similar
instances; but I close for the present.
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Only one thing it is important to remark. It is not either
by speculation or knowledge these things are obtained,
though they may be ministered. “ We are sanctied unto
obedience.” e spirit of obedience is the great secret of all
the present and practical blessings of the believer; for the
Spirit is not grieved, and so becomes the minister of the
grace and knowledge both of the Father and of the Son;
and the poorest simplest believer, walking thus, enjoys the
blessings of the pledged faithfulness both of the Father,
and the Lord, and the Spirit, to the blessed purposes of
love in which we stand, and of divine glory.
We have only spoken of the parables which are found
in this chapter. ere remain still some verses which close
it: they contain the judgment formed about the Lord by
the unbelief of the Jews. He was in His own country; His
works were not denied; but the Jews stumble against the
stone of oense. He is the prophet without honor in His
own country and in His own house. He is the son of the
carpenter. In a word, He is judged even in Israel, according
to the esh.
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62870
Compared View of the First
ree Gospels
Part 1.
I APPREHEND that the Gospel of Mark, which
brings under our view the service of Christ, and particularly
His prophetic service, and, hence, records simply the
accomplishment of that service, as the events arose, is
that of the three rst Gospels, which gives generally the
chronological order of events. Luke places, in general,
events in the same order as Mark, where he follows
chronological order at all. In a large portion of his Gospel
he drops the chronological order, and gives a general series
of instructions, of which the occasions and elements are
found scattered in the other two Gospels, or are found only
in Luke 1 take Mark, therefore, as presenting, in the main,
the historical order: It is to be remarked, that, as is stated
in the end of John, very few of the events or miracles of
our Lord’s life are recorded: only such as show forth His
ministry, and specially in the earlier part in Galilee, and then
at the close of Jerusalem. In these the Gospels, in the main,
go together. Luke has a large portion of the middle part of
his Gospel occupied with general moral teaching. But the
way in which this comes in is not dicult to perceive, as
in chapter 9 it is said that the time was come for Christ’s
receiving up. In all the Gospels the common history of
the concluding events begins with the healing of the blind
man near Jericho. In Matthew the method pursued by the
evangelist is very evident; and the displacement of subjects,
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where they are found, is connected with that method. I
will begin with him. e birth of Christ itself-not found
in Mark-is treated in connection with the subject of the
evangelist, or rather of the Holy Ghost, by his pen. Luke’s
account of Christ’s birth, far more detailed than Matthew’s,
bears its own stamp too.
But I will now consider the order of Matthew and the
reasons of it, as far as God enables me. Matthew gives
us the presenting of Messiah-Jehovah, Son of David, to
the people; and the form His service took in consequence
of His rejection, with the substitution of the new thing
which took the place of Messiah’s being then received-
the church prophetically announced, and the kingdom of
glory. e residue of Israel have also their place beyond the
intervening epoch of the church, existing on to the close.
e general subject of the Gospel, what characterizes it, is
the presenting of Messiah-Jehovah according to hope and
promise, and its consequences. Hence the genealogy by
which the Gospel begins
7
is Messiah’s genealogy, traced to
David and Abraham, the two great depositaries of promise
and heads of blessing to Israel by original promise and
given royalty. Christ was heir of both. It begins also the
Gospel; for the accomplishment of this blessing, according
to promise, is its subject. Jesus Christ was a minister of the
circumcision for the truth of God to conrm the promises
7 Remark, that the Gospel of Matthew begins with this
genealogy; for, coming in the way of promise, the connection
of Christ with the stock of promise was the foundation-stone
of His position. In Luke, the genealogy is not till chapter 4 and
goes up to Adam. e connection is with man. What precedes,
is a very full and most interesting statement of every element
of the actual condition of Israel. en begins the Son of man’s
history-grace.
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made to the fathers. Luke has his genealogy elsewhere,
after the whole history of Christ’s birth has been given in
connection with Israel, but in Israel’s subject-place in the
world. From heaven only the angels announce its universal
scope. It is connected with the opening of His ministry,
and goes up to Son of Adam, Son of God.
To return to Matthew. In speaking of Christ’s birth,
Joseph is addressed as son of David, Mary being espoused
to him. e child’s name thus divinely born is to be called
Jehovah the Savior, for He is to save His people from their
sins; all coming to pass, that the prophecy of Emmanuel’s
coming might be fullled. He was the Emmanuel of Israel
who was thus born.
Next, at Bethlehem, according to the prophecy, the
Gentiles come to own Israel’s king, in contrast, moreover,
with the false one. Such is His place; but, from the
beginning, to be rejected in it. But He is to begin Israel’s
fortunes afresh, so to speak, as called out of Egypt, the true
vine. In due time He returns back, but it is to take His
place with the remnant of Israel, the poor of the ock, in
despised Galilee, and be called a Nazarene. Such was the
place in Israel of Jehovah-Messiah: fulllment of promise-
the place to which He had really a title, what He really was-
His place, in fact. Such are the three great elements of the
history of the introduction of Christ into the world, as given
in this Gospel. Of course, this is not in Mark; but it gives to
us the character of the Gospel. Matthew then passes on to
the opening of His ministry, John preparing His way. is,
and the temptation, are given in all three Gospels, as the
two opening facts, but with some characteristic dierences.
As to John’s ministry, it is simply generally introductory. In
Luke you have “ All esh shall see the salvation of God “;
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and various moral instructions to dierent classes; and the
title of “ generation of vipers “ is applied to the multitude
in general. In Matthew he is simply to prepare the way of
the Lord (Jehovah). His prophetic appearance is noticed.
e Pharisees and Sadducees only are a generation of
vipers. In Luke he preaches the baptism of repentance
for the remission of sins; in Matthew “ Repent, for the
kingdom of heaven is at hand.” As regards the temptation,
Mark only briey mentions the fact. e only point to be
noticed is, that Luke puts the temptation of the pinnacle
of the temple last, giving the moral order: Matthew, the
oer of the kingdoms of the world; after which, he sends
Satan (now fully manifested) away. Luke, consequently,
does not notice this last circumstance, not necessary for his
object. Matthew and Mark both notice that Jesus’ ministry
commenced after John was cast into prison. is makes
Him go into Galilee.
In Matthew, thereupon, a fact is noticed which casts
a light on the course of the Lord’s ministry, connecting
Him, as it does, with the poor and despised of the ock
in Galilee. He came and dwelt in Capernaum, leaving
Nazareth; accomplishing thus a remarkable prophecy of
Isaiah, directly connected with the most specic prophecy
there is, of the separation of the residue in Messiah’s time.
(See Isa. 8:13, and following.) All this is generally stated in
Luke (chap. 4:14, 15), only His preaching in Nazareth is
given
8
--of that when we speak of Luke.
e call of Andrew, Simon, James, and John, follows, as
in Mark; for here what naturally followed historically has
8 It is a common practice with Luke, to give events briey
and synoptically, and then expatiate on the details of some one
point which brings out moral principles and feelings.
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149
its place in Matthew. It is not merely preaching, but the
beginning of the gathering of the residue round His own
person. ey leave all, and follow Him. ey believed on
Him, note, already (John 10). Luke here leaves the order,
to give the character and service of Christ’s ministry, with
which the Spirit is specially occupied in that part of that
Gospel. Mark had already stated, generally, His preaching
on His going into Galilee; and then proceeds with historical
circumstances in Capernaum, etc. But Matthew opens out
here, into a large general view of His public ministry, and
the attention it drew; and then gives a full summary of all
the principles of the kingdom He was preaching, and what
characters had a place in it. Hence, after His beginning
to gather the residue, he tells us of His going all round
Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom (Mark says,
kingdom of God), healing, casting out devils, so that His
fame spread throughout all Syria. e report went abroad,
and multitudes followed him from all sides. is, of course,
embraces some considerable time, and presents, purposely,
a general view of the work, and its eects; a picture, in
a few verses, of the eects of His ministry. e gospel of
the kingdom was spread abroad, and attention universally
attracted, for it was accompanied with power.
Hereupon, the Spirit of God, without dening any
time, but merely saying that the sight of the multitudes
gave occasion to it, enters into a full statement, well known
as the Sermon on the Mount, of the great principles of the
kingdom embraced as preached, before it came in power,
by a faithful few, to whom persecution for righteousness,
and for His name’s sake, is presented as a probable part
of their lot. ese principles are the spirituality of the law,
and the revelation of the name of the Father. Israel was on
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the way to the Judge. It was not the great, wise, doctors,
Pharisees, but the poor of the ock that entered into the
mind of God about the state of things-were like Christ-
who would enter into the kingdom. It is not preaching the
gospel of salvation, but the principles of the kingdom. e
suitableness of this, after showing us how the preaching
of that kingdom had attracted the notice of all, is evident.
e comparison of Mark 3:13, and Luke 6, shows, I think,
clearly, that these are the same occasion; but Mark does
not give the sermon; and Luke, who does more briey,
shows it was when He had chosen the twelve. is last
circumstance is not given in Matthew. ey are noticed as
already chosen, at the time of their sending forth (chap. to:
which was a subsequent act.
We can hardly speak of date in Matthew for the sermon
on the mount; because, while Mark gives details of Christ’s
ministry in Galilee (of which Matthew, indeed, gives many
afterward), Matthew here gives a general comprehensive
view of that ministry as a whole. Still it was, in a general
way, at its commencement; and the sermon is introduced,
out of its historic place, before all the details of the ministry
in Galilee, in order to give the character of the heirs of
the kingdom, when the fact of its preaching in Galilee,
and the public attention it had excited, had been brought
before us. e place which these instructions have in this
Gospel is entirely determined by the subject. He gathers
the residue round Himself. e kingdom is announced
in all the prophetic country (Galilee) with power, the
report spread, the character of the kingdom given. is
closes the great introductory portion. We have then the
details of the presentation of Jehovah Messiah, and the
result gradually developed: and that at once very rapidly
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and characteristically. For the great statement, as a whole,
of what was doing as regards Israel, was closed with the
sermon on the mount.
A second portion of this Gospel closes with chapter
9: 34. Into this second part I will now enter. First, He is
Jehovah in Israel; for Jehovah alone cleansed the leper, and
the Jewish Mosaic ordinances are here owned. is miracle
is introduced out of its place. It took place after the going
into Capernaum, and healing Simon’s wife’s mother. But it
gave the rst grand characteristic of Jesus’ presence in this
Gospel-Jehovah Messiah in Israel. But Matthew teaches
us the rejection also of this, and the consequent setting
aside of Israel, and the introduction of the new thing.
Hence, on the cleansing of the leprosy by “ I will, be thou
clean,” follows the healing of the Gentile’s servant on the
Gentile’s faith in the divine person of the Christ, with the
announcement of the admission of the nations, from all
sides, into the kingdom, with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
while the children of the kingdom would be thrust out.
is, Mark does not mention. ough happening at
this period generally, when the Lord was frequently at
Capernaum, I apprehend, from the history given in Luke,
that it happened later. It is introduced here for the great
principle involved in it. What passed in the synagogue in
Capernaum, in the rst mentioned visit to it, is omitted
in Matthew. It had no place in the purpose for which
Matthew’s account is given. But he takes up the latter part of
the same sabbath visit, the healing of Peter’s wife’s mother,
and a multitude of other sick, because it gives an additional
character of Christ’s presence, in which, in grace, prophecy
was accomplished as to Him- His profound interest in
the sorrows of Israel (and, indeed, of man), that is, His
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charging Himself and His own heart with all, taking them
on Himself. is pity, note, is mentioned. His going out into
the desert is left out. is scene at Capernaum is only so far
out of place, as the account of the leper and the centurion
are introduced before it, as the great characteristics of His
position, whereas they historically come after it.
Another characteristic element of His condition, as
thus come in Israel, was that Messiah and Lord as He was,
He had nowhere to lay His head. He was just going to
cross over the sea of Tiberias, when He declared this to the
scribe: but this happened later in His service in Galilee, as
we see by comparing Mark and Luke. But it is introduced
here in Matthew, without any note of time, as an important
element in the position of Jesus. e circumstances of this
passage over the sea, aord us another element of His
history. Not only is He rejected and houseless, through
man’s hatred, and God’s love serving man in spite of that
hatred; but, if so, His disciples, the remnant, will be tossed
about while He appears to be asleep. But they are in the
same boat with Him who can calm the sea with a word,
and still the raging of the waters, though He may allow
them to rise for the trial of the faith of those that are His.
e healing of Legion comes in exact order as regards
the passage over the sea; but as to the general order, is,
consequently, displaced with it. But the picture it aords
of the character and results of Christ’s presence, tends to
complete the divine instruction of this Gospel. Power was
there to set aside wholly the most mighty, and, for man,
unbridled and irresistible power of Satan. e time was
not come for his being bound in the bottomless pit, and
the demons therefore say, “ Art thou come to torment us
before the time? “ e eect on the poor maniac is not told
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here. at is blessedly given in Luke; who, therefore, only
speaks of one in whom this eect was produced. e simple
point here was the complete power of Satan, and the power
present to set it aside. In Luke we nd the subsequent
service of the delivered remnant unfolded. Here it is the
present position of Jesus and the Jews. A word where His
power is exercised, gives complete deliverance, and thus the
remnant are set free; but, as regards the mass, the result is
gured by the unclean swine. ey hurry on to destruction.
As to Christ, He leaves their coast.
Here Matthew returns pretty much to the general order
of the history of His service in Galilee; but the bearing of
the Gospel is fully maintained. e Lord heals the sick of
the palsy in Capernaum, His own city, as it is called; for there
He had xed His residence when not going through the
country. is case begins a new series, showing the power,
character, and ecacy of His coming, always keeping in
view, and illustrative of, the general subject of the Gospel.
at coming is presented here to Israel, according to
promise; and its result as reaching far beyond Israel on His
rejection. And here the case of the paralytic is presented
with special view to this result; that is, to the place Jesus
takes as rejected by Israel, and the grace and personal power
from which that ows. Palsied as man, as Israel particularly,
was, the source of this in the government of God lay
deeper than outward circumstances. It was their sins that
had brought them there. But grace had come; one having
title to forgive, and specially here as regards God’s ways
and government, though surely in view of, and founded on,
the needed sacrice. He is really the Son of man (far more
than King of Israel); but, as such, He has brought grace and
power into the midst of the people. e Lord meets the
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whole case-goes to the heart and conscience of the suerer.
“ Son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee.” In reply
to the reasoning of the scribes in their hearts, He, who
searches the heart, replies by this wonderful truth: “ e
Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins.” us He
takes not the title of Messiah, not the righteous man of Psa.
1, nor the Son of God of Psa. 2, but of the Son of man of
Psa. 8; His full title, when rejected in the former character,
and, at the same time, of perfect grace, as entering into
man’s condition and sorrow. To prove His title, He by a
word makes the paralytic rise up and walk. is act then,
under the title of Son of man, is of the largest import. It
is grace, forgiveness so as to restore. He is Son of man-all
Israel wants-but His title much larger; and meanwhile the
Accomplisher of that which is the witness that He is the
Jehovah of Israel’s blessing (though coming as Son of man),
who forgives all their sins and heals all their inrmities. He
proved His title to one by the accomplishment of the other.
In this way it is very characteristic. Compare Psa. 103:3.
e Lord, in this Gospel, never calls Himself anything but
Son of man; others, Son of David; and the demons, Son of
God.
Next, the Lord calls Matthew, or Levi. is is still in the
historical order; but introduces most important elements
of the Lord’s history, in connection with the subject of this
Gospel. It is grace above all traditional, or even Israelitish
thoughts (for he was the expression of Gentile dominion
over Israel); but the Lord came as physician, not to call the
righteous, but sinners. Note! to call, not simply to bring
blessing to Israel (though laboring in Israel), and crown
their hopes and state. He calls, and calls sinners. It is grace;
but the Lord’s comment on this goes farther, and is more
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explicit. He cannot put the new wine of power, living power
and grace, which He is bringing in, into the old bottles.
e whole position is brought out in its double aspect.
e Bridegroom-the Bridegroom of Israel-was there. e
faithful remnant of Israel, the disciples, the children of
the bride-chamber, who recognized Him, and attached
themselves to Him, could not mourn. How should they?
Besides, the truth was, that these ordinances for esh could
not receive the new wine of grace, and of the Spirit. us,
that He was present in Israel, and the impossibility of
Israel, as it was, being the vessel of the power, grace, and
purpose of God in Him, are both here brought out. e
new wine was to be put into new bottles.
Chapter 8 gives, historically, His service, and its results.
is applies its principles, showing the grace that met Israel
in Jehovah’s presence; but, in fact, the impossibility of that
power in its energies, being introduced into the system in
which Israel then stood. In point of fact, He is rejected by
the characteristic leaders of the nation.
In what follows in Matthew, we have the Lord’s
persevering grace in Israel, though the new wine, He well
knew, had to be put into new bottles. Israel’s real state is
shown, explaining why there must be this new power-
life-giving power-introduced; but grace towards Israel is
shown, which will persevere across (however temporarily
suspended by judgment on the people) the whole church
interval of time, to resume its activity in the latter days
towards the beloved and chosen people. is is remarkably
brought out to the end of chapter 10. e disciples are
sent forth, forbidden to go to Gentiles or Samaritans;
and they would not have gone over the cities of Israel till
the Son of man will come. Chapter 11 brings out their
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present rejection, as having rejected John and Himself; the
revelation of the Father by the Son being the result-the
resource of the heavy-laden, the easy yoke in the midst of
sorrow.
I may remark here, that Matthew having, in order
to show the principles of the kingdom, introduced the
sermon on the mount, already as a great general feature
of the Lord’s teaching early in the Gospel, omits here the
choosing of the twelve; on which, after coming down to a
level place (English translation, “ the plain “) a little lower
down the mountain, the sermon seems to have followed.
See Mark 3:13; and Luke 6. e case of Jairus’ daughter, on
the other hand, and of the woman who touched the hem
of His garment, are introduced here; though this comes, I
apprehend, historically, after the parables by the sea-shore,
and Jesus’ return from healing Legion; the last Matthew
had, as we have seen, already given to complete his general
picture of Jewish history.
e bearing of the two facts recorded in chapter 9,
consequent on the teaching as to the new bottles and
before the Jewish mission of chapter to, on the course of
the Messianic history as presented by Matthew, I shall now
advert to. e real state of Israel was death. On the point of
dying as seen by others, in God’s estimate Israel was dead
before Jesus came. He visited it as dying-He really found it
dead. So it is treated here; but, come in life-giving power,
Jesus will give it life. is will be accomplished when He
comes again; but He was, at His rst coming, on the way
with Israel and the whole crowd around Him, and power
in Him where faith was in exercise through grace, to arrest
death, to give life where all else had failed. e poor woman
thus represents the residue whose faith laid hold on Jesus
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in the midst of the crowd around, and thus distinguished
from it. ese the Lord owned. ey are healed and saved
on the way. As regards the one for whom He set out, He
must, when the time comes, not heal but raise from the
dead. For God holds Israel yet as but asleep, though really
dead morally. is will be at the close. Hence He acts
in power with the blind in Israel, who own Him Son of
David. On their faith, following Him even apart from the
crowd and assured He could do it, He gives them sight.
e dumb, in like manner, receives his speech. Sight and a
voice to praise are restored to them. It was never so seen in
Israel. e Pharisees, blaspheming, ascribe it to Satan. But
we have seen that the subject here is the persevering grace
towards Israel, of which the two forms were shown in the
woman and Jairus’ daughter.
Hence, in spite of the blasphemy of the Pharisees,
which yet shows the condition of Israel as a nation, the
Lord continues His course of patient grace (chap. 9: 35),
and seeing the shepherdless multitudes, is moved with
compassion, and utters to His disciples His sense of the
greatness of the harvest and the fewness of the laborers,
urging them to pray to the harvest’s Lord to send them
out; and in this spirit sends the twelve forth. ese are sent
exclusively to the house of Israel-the lost sheep of the house
of Israel in the midst of opposition and diculty; but their
mission continues after Christ’s death, but still viewed as
exclusively to Israel, and omitting all notice of the church
or Gentiles, and overleaps all the time in which the people
are not as such in the land, and tells them to go through the
cities, which they would not have done till the Son of man
was come. He was there, but the Lord goes on till He be
come as such in power. It is, as I have said, the persevering
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grace to Israel distinguishing the remnant. is mission,
relatively to what immediately proceeds, is not out of its
historical order in Matthew; but its exclusively Israelitish
character is only in this Gospel.
In chapter 11 the Lord returns to the present position
of Israel in reference to Himself, and its results as to the
place He was about to take, the real reason of His rejection.
e preparatory message of John is closed, and he comes
to have his own personal place according to his own faith.
Great above all born of women, the least in the kingdom
is greater than he. e Lord bears witness to him, not he
to the Lord. He is rejected; Christ is rejected by the Jews:
warnings and grace alike. But the real truth of this rejection
was, not his want of worthiness, but that Christ’s person is
too glorious to be known by any but the Father; or the
Father whom He made known, by any but Him, and such
as He revealed Him to; all were dependent on this, that is,
on Christ’s revelation of the Father to them. at is the
glory of His person as Son-as Man on earth is brought
out. Next in reward of perfect submission comes full joy.
He had learned the sorrows of man; knew how hopeless
to seek good there, and presents Himself in grace as the
rest of the weary, and the spirit of submission as shown in
Him for repose of soul on the way. is is historically the
complete change of the dispensation.
Mark has not this account, and the two parts of this
discourse in Matthew (that is, the rejection of John and
Christ, and the showing what His rejection by the Jews,
while guilty as to what they did see, really came from, that
is, the divine glory of His person which none could fathom;
and the blessed remedy in Christ’s revealing the Father to
the babes) belong historically to dierent times. e latter
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part is found in Luke 10:21, where it is said, “in the same
hour,” which is precise; and it is found after the mission to
the seventy, where its connection is beautifully evident on
the joy of His disciples on their return. It is general here, in
Matt. 11:25; it was “at that epoch” or “season”: and such it
essentially was, when His rejection, now after His ministry,
took a denite form and a decided character. Luke’s
statement in chapter 8, of what the Lord says as to John,
has also a more moral character, that is, more reference to
the moral grounds of rejection, less to the dispensational.
is change of dispensation is brought out in a very
important point, in what follows in Matthew. e sabbath
was a formal seal of the covenant, “ I gave them my
sabbaths.” See Ezek. 20:12. ese were the intimation
of, and based on, the idea of rest in the rst creation, and
that by man’s obedience under law, and the connection
of Israel with God, as a people enjoying promise on the
condition of obedience. Not only they had failed, but they
had practically rejected the great Repairer of Breaches-the
obedient One. e introduction of the facts relative to the
sabbath here is only so far out of the chronological place
as the introduction of other posterior events has pushed
them forward. eir moral place, in connection with the
object of the Gospel, the change of dispensation or ground
of relationship with God, consequent on the rejection
of Jehovah Messiah, is evident. Two great principles are
presented;-the Son of man is Lord of the sabbath, and-
grace-it is lawful to do good; mercy, not sacrice, is what
God delights in. Some interesting details are connected
with it. David’s rejection opened this liberty. Sacred things
had become in a measure common. So now where David’s
Son was. e priests profaned it in the temple. e glory of
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Christ’s person was above the temple, as the duties of that,
because God was there, were above the sabbath. Had they
understood mercy, they would have had moral light, and
not condemned those who through the glory of the Son
of man were entirely guiltless. His person was above the
conventional bond He Himself had formed, His rejection
(and Son of man, compare Psa. 8 and 2, implies that), broke
it on their part wholly, giving place to this higher and wider
title. us the sign of the rst covenant with Israel, and
expression of God’s rest in creation, had found the place
in which the truth of man’s and Israel’s state set it. Only
sovereign grace took up the hope of rest; and, blessed be
His name, through the unchangeable title of His person,
above the eect of responsibility in His creation.
e closing scene is then beautifully and solemnly
brought out. e Pharisees seek to destroy Him. e
judgment of their system, and the introduction of supreme
grace, was insupportable. But Christ was not now to execute
judgment. He would show judgment to the Gentiles, but
personally then He would not break the bruised reed nor
quench the smoking ax till He sent forth judgment to
victory. Blind and dumb, healed by His power, are a witness
to the people that He is Son of David. e Pharisees,
unable to deny it, ascribed the power they cannot deny to
Satan; blaspheming the Holy Ghost. For this there was no
forgiveness. Sovereign grace may re-create and thus restore
Israel; but the tale of its responsible condition is now
told. e tree was corrupt. It was an evil and adulterous
generation; no sign would be given it but that of the Son
of man in the heart of the earth like Jonas, and all their
hopes buried with it, to be founded by grace on Him they
had rejected. Nineveh and the queen of the south would
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judge them. e unclean spirit once gone out, would return
with worse; their state and judgment would be worse than
when they went to Babylon. e Lord then denies all His
natural ties with esh, that is, with Israel, in the person of
His mother and brethren, and accepts only the fruit of the
word in the residue, as that which belongs to Him.
In Luke 8:19 the circumstance of His mother’s and
brethren’s coming is placed at the end of the parable of
the sower, bringing out the moral importance of the word
without any reference to the rejection of Israel, or mark
of date, though there be such found in the English, not
in the Greek. e teaching as to Nineveh and Jonas, and
the statement as to Beelzebub, is all given together in that
part of the Gospel of Luke which is not chronologically
arranged, but events put together in their moral bearing,
and so applied; chap. 11:14-36. e message of John
in Matt. 11, and the internal change connected with it,
to the revelation of the Father by the Son, has no place
in Mark. If Luke gives the moral change, and Matthew
the governmental one, connected with the rejection of
Jehovah-Jesus, Messiah, Mark, who shows us the service of
the Lord in testimony, does not present this dispensational
change in either form. e immediate facts leading to it are
of course given by him historically in their place.
We nd, therefore, in our Gospel, before the parables (in
which the essential service of Christ in the word is given,
and the subsequent forms of the kingdom; and in Mark,
what is peculiar to him, the entire absence of Christ’s direct
ministry when these forms arose)-before this, I say, we nd
the blasphemy of the Pharisees, and Christ’s preference
of His disciples to all natural relationship. What follows
the parables in Mark (save His being despised in His own
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country, which comes in its place in Matthew, and we will
consider farther on), we have already seen transposed in
Matthew to an earlier part of the history, where we have seen
its application to the subject he treats of. e facts I refer to
are the crossing in a storm, and the history of Legion which
follows; the raising of Jairus’ daughter, which happened on
His return; the woman with an issue of blood, which all
go together; and the sending out the twelve, which, as we
have seen, is given a peculiar importance in Matthew, and
is introduced in connection with a most general statement
of His ministry, so as to imply no date; Matt. 9:35, 36. But
Matthew introduces there, in their proper place relatively
to what goes before the displaced series just mentioned,
two facts omitted in Luke and Mark, which bore upon his
subject in a way already noticed; Matt. 9:27-34. On this
follows the general statement of His ministry and sending
out of the twelve. Luke, in the main, here follows the order
of Mark, that is, gives the history chronologically; Luke
8:22.
e parables we have frequently noticed as beginning
a new scene, taking a wholly new ground for Christ as to
His own ministry on earth, and as to the kingdom. He
comes to sow, not to seek fruit. He brings with Him the
only thing which can produce fruit; and the kingdom is not
His presence in power, at any rate until the harvest. We get
the public result in the world while He is away, and then
His aim and object, and the great result under His hand.
But the result of His teaching in Israel was to be reckoned
the carpenter’s son, and to prove, that in his own country
and house the prophet has no honor. is, in Matthew, is
in its place only by the transposition of other facts, above
noticed, to a preceding part. It is thus brought into direct
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moral connection with His rejection, and the general eect
of His sowing the word. It is not in Luke as a distinct
event. In what follows we have a development by facts of
the great change taking place, rather than the unfolding of
it in gure or teaching, until He opens out the new thing,
and then, after that, the closing history comes on. With
the evidences of the change already fully taught came the
proofs to Israel of the character of Him who was rejected.
First we have the account (chap. 14:1-13) of John’s
imprisonment and death by the wicked and apostatizing
king of Israel, identied with the Gentile power of the
west. But this does not diminish (chap. 14:14-31), though
taking His full part in the sorrow, Christ’s interest in the
shepherdless people. He shows Himself to be that very
One who in Israel’s brightest days to come will satisfy the
poor with bread (Psa. 132); but withal He dismisses Israel,
and, while His disciples are toiling in His absence, is on
high to pray; He rejoins them, and all is calm; v. 22, 23.
ere is such a thing as walking on the water by night to
meet Him; but the eye must be xed on Him. It fails for
the earth. He rejoins the ship (the remnant of Israel), and
all is calm, and He is owned Son of God. In Gennesaret,
where He had been once rejected, He is now received, and
all are healed. e death of John Baptist forms no part of
Luke’s history; he refers to His imprisonment in closing
the account of His ministry quite early in the Gospel;
chap. 3. e results follow in the same succession here as in
Mark. e greater part of them are not in Luke at all; that
is, from the feeding the ve thousand to Peter’s confessing
Christ; the whole of which forms one subject. e retiring
into the desert, in Matthew, consequent on John’s death, is,
in Mark, connected with the rest given to the disciples on
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their return from their mission. In Matthew this mission
had been displaced to show all God’s dealings with Israel
in this respect. It is found in chapter to. What I have
spoken of just above (chap. 14), evidently forms a complete
subject-a view of all His relationship with Israel from
John’s rejection to the millennium.
In chapter 15, we nd the question of a Pharisaic
righteousness, and tradition opposed to God’s law, and all
Israel’s worship as a nation, rejected on Isaiah’s authority.
God would have the heart right. To the disciples He
denounces the true character of the Pharisees. ey had
only to leave them alone; with leaders in evil they were to
have nothing to do. ey were leading Israel into the ditch.
e disciples were dull in apprehending this truth; but He
explains that truth to them in grace, showing what man,
man’s heart, is. Christ having judged thus the Pharisaic
Israel, an important event presents itself. He does not go
out of Israel, but goes to the borders of Tire and Sidon,
which He could take elsewhere as a pattern of evil and
obduracy. ere a woman of the accursed race of Canaan
meets Him. She appeals to Him in His character of Heir
and Fulller of promise: on this ground she has no title,
no answer. Christ fully recognized the people in God’s
point of view. e bread was the children’s: He is minister
of the circumcision. e woman owns it; but alleges there
was grace in God, out of pure goodness, which could reach
beyond the dogs which had no title. Hence she receives
the blessing on the ground of what God was: a principle
of immense essential importance, and at this moment
opening up a ground of God’s dealings, which was to be
the basis of all hope. Hence we see Jesus in the midst of
Israel, and owning it, but a perspective of blessing which
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was founded on what God was in Himself, and applicable
to the sorrows of one who had no title at all. In chapter
15: 3o, 31, the presence of persevering grace and goodness
in Israel, so that every ear that could hear, and every heart
that could feel, might be reached in spite of the Pharisees,
is brought out in the power of Christ in grace, so that
they gloried the God of Israel. Instead of this general
statement, the force of which is evident as regards the place
which Christ still held in respect of Israel, we nd in Mark
a special miracle of opening of ears, and loosing the tongue
of the deaf and dumb man-Christ’s personal power and its
character (for He will do this for Israel as He does for us).
Hence it is not glorifying the God of Israel there, but Jesus
has done all things well-His service and its excellency.
e second time the Lord feeds the multitude, the act is
presented in another way from the rst, though the power
be the same, and its character conrms the view we 114ve
taken. is is the case in Mark, as well as in Matthew.
e second instance of miraculous feeding is not found
in Luke. In the rst it is the power of Messiah as King in
Israel, and able to give this power to others. ere is no
need, says the Lord, to send them away, “ give ye them to
eat.” In the second it is the patient and tender compassion
towards Israel, of which we have spoken. e multitude
had been long with Him, and He would not let them go
fasting away. e number twelve, as elsewhere remarked, is
indicative of divine governmental power exercised in man;
seven, of spiritual completeness; and such, I doubt not, are
their bearings here. is patience of the Lord with Israel,
though shown everywhere in fact, was not the subject of
Luke’s Gospel; it presents throughout, after the rst two
chapters, the morally new thing. e third chapter is
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transitional. e circumstances which followed the feeding
the ve thousand, in chapter 14, and subsequent reception
when He had been rejected before; His absence on high,
while the disciples were toiling on the sea, referring to the
change which should take place in His relationship with
Israel, have no place here; for it is His patient grace where
that change has been already witnessed of and shown.
Indeed, what follows is the expression of the fact, that it is
now already brought to light. e two great classes which
composed the nation desire a sign: He refuses it; they could
discern the sky, but not this time; they should have none
but Jonas, and He leaves them; and warning His disciples
against them, brings out the witness of their dullness to
prot by their teaching. is closes this part of the history,
and introduces the witness as to the entirely new order of
things, which a rejected Savior was going to set up-the
church, and administration of the kingdom of heaven on
the earth.
In Luke the demand of a sign is found, with other similar
statements, and the Ninevites and queen of Sheba, in the
general instructions of chapter 11. e prophetic doctrine
as to the church and the keys of the kingdom of heaven is
found only in Matthew. e Father had revealed to Peter
the person of Christ, and Christ gave him his place in the
kingdom.
Here the disciples are forbidden to announce Jesus any
more as the Messiah; and the Lord henceforth tells them
of His suering, death, and resurrection; and next shows
them the glory and • character of the kingdom in the world
to come; the law and prophets disappearing and leaving
Christ to be heard as Son of God. us we have Christ-no
more to be announced-the future glory of the Son of man-
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and the Son of God to be heard now, the law and prophets
disappearing. All this is directly associated with the glory
that was to take place on His rejection. ey were not to
tell of it till He was risen. His (as to the Jews) provisional
but rejected coming is illustrated by that of Elias in John
the Baptist. What is said here of Elias, forms no part of
this instruction in Luke; for there it is more moral power
which forms the subject, and not dispensational history.
We nd, after the transguration, the anticipated display
of the kingdom in heaven, the power of Satan manifested;
the disciples were not able to cast him out. is marks the
incapacity to avail themselves of Christ’s presence here on
earth as the reason of His departure; a solemn lesson in any
dispensation of God. As yet, Christ Himself still exercises
His patient power. e promise is given of displacing the
most apparently solid seat of power if faith were there.
is is remarkable after their incapacity to do the smallest
thing when He was there. is is only in Matthew. In Luke
there follows the judgment of the various forms in which
selshness displays itself. In all the three Gospels the cross
is taught. In Matthew there follows a circumstance which
gives its character to all this part of the Gospel of Matthew
only-blessedly associating the disciples with Christ. As
children of the great King, they were free from the tribute
paid to Him (the temple Didrachma), but which then, not
to oend, He will pay. He shows divine knowledge, and
divine power over creation, but He is subject; and He puts
Peter into the same rank of son with Himself. us we
have the church and the kingdom in administration and
in glory. e matter of the didrachma had shown in what
spirit the true sons of the kingdom were to walk till it came
in power.
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ereon (chap. 18) follows a series of incidents opening
out this walk, and with a good deal of detail. e principles
which should govern this walk personally and collectively
are taught, the assembly of disciples taking denitely the
place of the synagogue as to being within and without.
is is peculiar to Matthew, as introducing here the new
institutions of God. Others are found dispersed in Luke, in
their place, as general moral instructions, which character
they also have. In particular we have the unprotableness of
esh, but the relationship God formed in it owned. ese
general instructions go to the end of chapter 15: 28. As to
the order of it in Matthew, there is no particular remark
to make. It follows as in Mark. e general instruction
of leaving all, and taking up the cross, is also found in a
similar way, put before the last part of the Lord’s history
at Jerusalem, which begins with His passing through
Jericho; Matt. 19:16; 20:19; Luke 18:15, and following.
ey naturally precede historically His own rejection; but
in Luke a mass of instruction comes in between the last
chronologically stated fact (chap. 10:17) and this, with
much as to God’s ways in grace peculiar to Him; with
parts, however, of what we nd here in Matthew, dispersed
among other matter, according to the subject spoken of.
A few of the points in Matthew call for particular
notice. e spirit of a child is the pattern of a Christian.
God has His eyes on little children with special favor. ey
are to be received in Christ’s name. It is not the Father’s
will they should perish; not that they are not lost in nature:
but Christ came to save the lost sheep. e parable of the
lost sheep is applied to them. is last part, as to God’s
dispensation as to them, is peculiar to Matthew. Next,
extreme jealousy as to occasions of falling, in oneself; care
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not to stumble the weak; the means to be taken to preserve
godly order as to wrongs done, are prescribed; and here
the church, i.e., two or three assembled in Christ’s name,
is introduced as taking its place. It thus becomes the new
center-completely takes the place of the synagogue. What is
there bound on earth is ratied in heaven, and what agreed
thus to be sought on earth given from heaven. e two
or three assembled in Christ’s name become a constituted
institution, sealed, when real, by the sanction and authority
of heaven, and the inside or outside of it takes the place
of Jew and heathen. is is peculiar to Matthew; this is
extended to the spirit of personal forgiveness as regards the
individual. Compare for both 1 Cor. 6 But the kingdom of
heaven (not the church) is hence like the King who forgives
and afterward brings all on the guilty where the principles
of His own conduct were not accepted and imitated. us
the Jews (with whom on Christ’s intercession God dealt
in grace, forgiving them the ten thousand talents, refusing
grace towards the Gentiles) came under the full guilt of
all as to God’s ways with them as to the kingdom. But the
principle is now morally true, save the general principle
stated elsewhere; this also is peculiar to Matthew.
e teaching of the Lord on marriage, is not in Luke,
referring, as it does, to the peculiar instructions of Judaism.
e latter part which introduces the special power of the
new thing, while sanctioning God’s original and gracious
institution, is in Matthew alone. 1 Corinthians 7 answers
to this. e case of the children and of the young man, in
which nature as God created it is held blessed; the law,
as applied to man (second table), shown to be the path
of life, if nature could keep it, is found in all. Sovereign
grace is needed for being saved, for esh is fallen and evil;
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and seeks, if outwardly blameless, its delight elsewhere
than in God. is is more briey stated in Luke, as a great
general principle. e answer to Peter on this point, in
Matthew, has this also in particular, that it introduces the
dispensational glory hereafter in the kingdom, and thereon
adds the parable of the householder and laborers, to guard,
by sovereign grace and goodness, against the tendency to
turn the encouragement aorded by reward into a claim of
self-righteousness. It is on the seizing of this, and through
this, and the already stated principle of the rst last, and last
rst, depends. Only grace, and because it is grace, inverts it,
and puts last rst: while the former states the shortcoming
of nature, that rst shall be thus last.
e last events now approach, and Christ sets out on His
way to Jerusalem. Here, all the three Gospels are together:
only the request of Zebedee’s children is not found in Luke.
is connects itself with the cross of which He had been
speaking; and the sovereignty of God, giving to whom He
would. Christ’s answer is the manifestation of His perfect
meekness in humiliation-His absolute subjection to the will
of His Father-His perfectness, as put to the test in motive,
and obedience, and self-renunciation. He could lead His
disciples into suering with Him, and tell them it would
be so; but for the reward, as to their place and glory in the
kingdom, He must refer them to the Father. But while the
expression of perfectness in Jesus, it gave a moral character
to the exaltation also. e least in self would be the greatest
there. He came in perfect love, not to be honored, and to
give His life a ransom for many. Nor would there be thus
merely Jews in the kingdom, according to their then hopes,
and His presence on the earth. e redemption work in
love was now about to be accomplished. is closed up the
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full character of the change, and the real work He came
to do. In what follows the Lord takes again the Jewish
character, because He was for the last time, and in order to
suer, presenting Himself to the people.
is last history is, in all the three Gospels, introduced
by His healing the blind man on the roadside by Jericho.
Jericho itself has a peculiar character in Jewish history. e
rst opposing power to Israel’s taking possession of promise;
marked with a curse as the seat of the power of evil when
the power was overcome; visited by Elijah on his way to
Jordan. and glory; healed by Elisha on his return to Israel,
when the glorifying of Elijah had been accomplished:-it
had the stamp of a certain initiatory character in God’s
relationship with the land of promise, not the direct title
of blessing, but the way of blessing, through the curse, and
the meeting the power of evil. Here the Lord, just as He
was called out of Egypt, begins His last presentation to
Israel. He heals the blind under the name of the Son of
David-heals them who under that name called on Him
for mercy, in persevering faith, in spite of the multitude.
He had compassion on them. Luke adds here mercy to the
chief publican, and the Jewish correction of the idea of the
kingdom, announcing His departure, the responsibility of
His servants, and the judgment upon His citizens, who,
when He was gone, sent after Him, to say they would not
have Him to reign over them.
e riding into Jerusalem on the ass’s colt, follows, then,
alike in all the three Gospels-His presentation to Zion as
king, according to Zechariah. Some details are given in
Mark; His survey of the temple, and going out again, and
returning the next day, when He cleanses it. e general
fact is merely stated in Matthew: that is, the result of His
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royal visitation as Jehovah the king, without holding to the
order, for the g-tree was cursed before He cleansed the
temple.
In Luke He weeps over the city; that evangelist again,
as he is wont, presenting the Lord’s moral grace and
tenderness, the kindness of Jehovah. e cursing of the g-
tree is not in Luke. is is dispensational, the judgment of
fruitless Judaism, as under the old covenant, adding with it
the power that would accompany faith in God, in the new
thing to be set up. e whole, apparently stable, power of
that system would disappear. And so it has. What follows is
common to the three Gospels: but there are characteristic
traits. e question of authority in the priest is met by their
avowed incompetency as to John. e parable of the two
sons is peculiar to Matthew. It is the Lord’s judgment as
to the fruit of His work among the Jews, His judgment of
these last.
e parable of the husbandman, and the revelation of
the rejected stone, are next in all three Gospels: the various
classes of persons in Israel come up for judgment. But this
parable is general: referring to all that were active in the
vineyard the Lord had planted. is was taken from the
Jews. Broken now by stumbling on the stone, they would
be ground to powder when He should fall on them, that
is, all on whom it should; for, indeed, they will not then
be alone, as they were in the stumbling on the stone. But
responsibility to bear fruit was not all. ey had rejected
gracious invitations to the marriage of the king’s son. is
is not in Mark. In Luke 14 there is a similar parable. I am
not quite clear whether it is the same. It is, if so, introduced
in Luke in its place, and its absence from Mark here
accounted for. It is not introduced in Matthew, with any
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connection of time or circumstance, as having been spoken
at this time. Its place, as to the judgment of the Jews, is
evident. ey are judged in it for the rejection of grace, as
they are in the parable of the husbandman for failure in
producing fruit.
Some circumstances are added in Matthew, and which
are important as to the judicial dealings of God, which are
wholly omitted in Luke: while the moral tone and pursuit
of grace, in spite of evil, is more largely delineated in Luke.
e contrast of the dealings of God with Jews and Gentiles,
with which last the house is lled, and the judgment, both
of Jews and professing Christendom, is what characterizes
Matthew. e dierence of the two parables in Luke
and Matthew will make us sensible of the characteristic
dierence of what is given of God in the two Gospels. I
will enter, therefore, into the details of each, suciently
to show it. In Matthew it is a similitude of the kingdom
of heaven. In Matthew, we have two messages; those, I
doubt not, of the apostles in the lifetime of Christ, and of
the same after His death, when all was accomplished and
ready. It is, in a general way, made light of. By others, the
servants are ill-treated and slain. ereupon the murderers
(the Jews) are slain, and their city destroyed. is is the
judgment on the Jews and Jerusalem. en the message is
sent out to the highways (the Gentiles), and the wedding
furnished. ere a person is found (many are called, but few
chosen) not having personally what belonged to and suited
the wedding, and he is cast out into outer darkness. is is,
evidently, more than an earthly dispensational judgment.
In Luke, a certain man makes a great supper: it is not for
the king’s son, nor the kingdom of heaven. e two rst
summons of Matthew come together, in general, or are
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absorbed in one; the moral details of excuse are given, and
there is no slaying and ill treating of servants. ere the
poor of the city (that is, among the Jews) are sought out; but
this does not ll the house, and the highways and hedges
are sent to (the Gentiles), and the house lled. ere is
no judgment of the Jews, nor of the unworthy guests. e
moral character in grace of the parable in Luke, is evident;
the dispensational dealing in Matthew, equally so. Only
the Jewish rejecters do not taste of the supper. We can well
suppose it to be a dierent parable, though the Holy Ghost
gives us but a very small part of what was done and said,
and even of one and the same discourse only what instructs
on the point in hand.
Next, the Pharisees and Herodians are judged, the
opposed classes among the Jews, of strict and temporizing
Jews. Christ puts the Jewish position (and, indeed, of
everyone) on the true ground; I mean as to their real
relationship to the Gentile power or empires. Next,
the Sadducees are judged, and the true nature of the
resurrection shown, and from Moses himself; only Luke, in
addition, gives here a clear statement of the connection of
the resurrection with the age to come; and, at the same time,
arms the abiding intermediate state of the soul. Next, the
essence of the law is taught. e same instruction is found
in the general teaching in Luke, not in the parallel place
to this, and the parable of the good Samaritan is annexed.
But this, I apprehend, was another statement to the same
eect, as may easily be conceived. e true substance of
the law being stated, the position the Christ was to take,
unintelligible for the Pharisee, and consequent on His
rejection, is then brought out, and silences the pretended
wisdom of the Jewish teachers. e Lord’s instruction is
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175
drawn from Psalm no. It is easy to see how this closes, with
the most perfect tness, these remarkable interviews.
But, in Matthew’s Gospel, which certainly goes over to
the future hopes of Israel, while judging its present state, as
we have seen (chap. to), we have, with the general instruction
to beware of scribes, a remarkable passage, recognizing their
ocial status and authority. ey sit in Moses’ seat. Yet the
actual practical judgment is more full and terrible; and to
this is added, that, as they excused themselves from the
guilt of the prophet’s death, such would be sent (apostles,
prophets, etc.) to them, and they would be put to the test
on this point also, that, the wickedness being come to its
height, the blood of all righteous men, from the blood
of Abel to the blood of Zacharias the prophet, might be
demanded of this generation. is is peculiar to Matthew,
and shows that a ministry was sent to the Jewish nation, as
such, in the apostles and prophets of the New Testament,
ending in the judgment of the nation. e connection of
this with God’s dealings with the Jews, as taught in this
Gospel, is evident, and important for understanding other
passages and dealings of God. In Mark this warning as to
the scribes is very generally and briey given.
e plaint over Jerusalem is not found in Mark. It is in
Luke: but when Christ was in Galilee, and warned by the
Pharisees, because of Herod. Its appositeness to Matthew’s
subject here is evident. It is, word for word, the same as
in Luke, save that Luke says, “ till [the time] come that,”
instead of “ till “: and Matthew adds “ henceforth “ after “
ye shall not see me.” I cannot doubt it is the same saying. I
apprehend that it is introduced in Matthew in connection
with the subject treated of, rather than in historical order
of time. It is introduced without any verbal connection
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with the history whatever. However, I do not speak with
any positiveness. It is in Luke, in the general, and, as to
order of time, unhistorical part of the Gospel.
Mark and Luke relate here an incident omitted by
Matthew- the widow’s mite. It naturally belonged to
Luke’s Gospel to introduce it in its place, which is the same
it has in Mark. It did not enter into the special teaching
of Matthew here, as to the destruction and judgment of
Jerusalem, and the dealings of God with the Jewish nation,
as such.
In the two following chapters of 11,1atthew (24, 25),
we have a complete view of the state of things consequent
on the Lord’s absence, and His judgment on His return,
including general directions and warnings for the conduct
of disciples during this period. In Matthew it is much
more complete dispensationally than in Mark and Luke.
e four parables added in Matthew instruct us in what
relates to Christians, and to the Gentiles on the Lord’s
return to earth; so that the whole scene is opened to us.
Luke and Mark contain only the warnings to the disciples,
viewed in connection with the Jews. In this part, also, there
is a dierence.
Mark, in the main, resembles Matthew • but there is
a less exact division into what is general, and what refers
to the nal state of Jerusalem. Much-though that nal
state is spoken of-might be applied generally; and it is
much more personally addressed for service. Hence there
is found there (what Matthew omits) a direction as to
what they are to trust to, when called up before governors,
adding details as to evil and treachery, which, in Matthew,
are found in the directions given, as we have seen, for the
whole course of the disciples’ ministry among the Jews,
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177
from beginning to end, in chapter-to. Compare Mark
13:11, seq., and Matthew 10:19, seq. Hence the question
also is dierent in Matthew. ere is added to the inquiry,
when the destruction of the temple should be, “ What is
the sign of thy coming, and the end of the age? “ Hence the
direct application of the answer in Mark and Luke, is to
the present service of the disciples: though, in both, it goes
on to the end. In Mark, similarly to Matthew; and in Luke
distinguishing very clearly the destruction by Titus and the
subsequent events. ere is more than one dierence in
Mark; verse 10 of chapter 13 does not end as Matt. 24:14:
“ then shall the end come.” (e question went only to the
destruction of Jerusalem.) Compare Mark 16:15, 20. en
the passage of Matthew to comes in. e abomination of
desolation stands merely where it ought not. ere is the
absence of precision in the epoch of the signs; “ in those
days after that tribulation.” ese circumstances show, that
though the close is certainly given, it is not the object. e
Lord’s exhortation closes with “ What I say unto you, I say
unto all, Watch.”
e present testimony is spoken of in Luke 21. ere is
no abomination of desolation; the days of vengeance come,
no unequaled tribulation. Jerusalem is trodden down and
led captive, until the times of the Gentiles be fullled. ere
is no question of an end coming. Verse 25, unconnected in
period with what precedes, introduces the coming of the
Son of man. e nearness then of the kingdom, and the
exhortation to watch, closes the passage.
In our Gospel, Matt. 24, we have the general testimony
of disciples among the Jews, with the fact of the gospel
of the kingdom, which Christ had preached, going to
all nations, bringing in the close. e bringing before
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kings and rulers, etc., belongs to chapter 10. en the
special last half-week of Daniel is entered into in detail,
the great tribulation with false Christs, etc., closing with
the immediate coming of the Son of man. e elect of
Israel are gathered from all lands. To verse 44 practical
warnings are given. In verses 45-51 we have the service of
the disciples, in their own responsible relationship within
to the household (and, hence, practically Christendom),
brought out. e result is, “ the servant is made ruler of all,”
on the one hand; or hierarchical connection with the spirit
of the world ends in his judgment as a hypocrite, on the
other. e parable of the virgins (chap. 25) gives the original
calling of Christians, and their return to it: the talents, the
liberty of divinely given ministry. e words “ in which
the Son of man cometh,” are omitted in all the best texts.
Verse 31 of chapter 25 continues from verse 31 of chapter
24, and gives the judgment of the nations who have heard
the gospel of the kingdom. us, the whole scene, from
the service of the disciples, consequent on Christ’s death-
that is, the testimony among the Jews, the responsibility of
the disciples when things took the Christian form; the last
testimony amongst, and judgment of the nations, with the
special week of tribulation, and coming of the Son of man-
are all clearly brought out.
e Lord’s preparing for death then comes on. It was
two days before the passover. Luke is much more brief here.
He leaves out the anointing by Mary; and the general fact
of the priests consulting Judas going and accepting money,
Satan’s inuence over him, and his seeking to betray the
Lord, are briey stated all together, as an introduction to
the whole scene. e local scene is much less given. All
the moral character, and incidents, and heavenly result,
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179
are much more fully stated; as the thief on the cross,
with the intermediate state, and other circumstances. It
is usual with Luke to give the historical facts briey and
synoptically, and enlarge on special moral details. Mark
and Matthew go together in order and contents. e
statement of Jesus, that He could have twelve legions of
angels, and Judas going and hanging himself; Pilate’s wife’s
message: his washing his hands, are all omitted by Mark;
as are also the opening of the graves, and the resurrection
of the saints. Otherwise, the accounts are uniform. We
nd in both the council of priests, the woman’s anointing
Christ, Judas’ going to the chief priests, the meeting to eat
the Passover (His conversation at table), the Lord’s supper
(only remission of sins is not in Mark), the going to the
mount of Olives, the warning to Peter, Christ’s prayer
in Gethsemane, His appearing before Caiaphas, Peter’s
denial, Christ’s appearing before Pilate, His mocking by
soldiers, His crucixion and death, with its eects on the
centurion and His burial. Matthew adds, at the close, the
account of sealing the stone, and setting a watch at the
sepulcher.
In Luke we have many moral circumstances added,
giving a dierent character to several points. As regards
the passover, He speaks of its fullling in the kingdom of
God, giving a present character to the eect, instead of
leading onward to the world to come. Matthew and Mark
had not this at all. So of the fruit of the vine. In Luke the
Lord does not speak of drinking it new in the kingdom,
but says, previously, He will not drink of it till the kingdom
of God be come. e desire to partake of it with them,
and the Nazarite character in connection with this (v. 16-
18) are added, and besides the institution itself, the inquiry
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who should betray Him is just stated and no more; but the
strife, who should be the greatest, is found here only, giving
a peculiar insight into their state, and the moral position of
Jesus and its consequences. e sifting of the disciples by
Satan, and its connection with Simon’s fall, is found also in
Luke only; the change in their position as to the apparent
care He would take of them also; His human dependence,
and the extreme character of His suerings in Gethsemane,
that is, the angel’s strengthening Him and His agony and
sweat as drops of blood, are carefully presented to us, while
the circumstances are very briey given, and are all much
more fully in Matthew.
e circumstances of His answer to the chief priests are
quite summarily related in Luke 22:66-71. e coming in
the clouds of heaven, the future kingdom, is also omitted.
It is the present position of Christ only which is noticed.
Note-Both in Matthew and Luke, instead of “ Hereafter
“ must be read, “ Henceforth shall the Son of man sit,”
or “ ye shall see the Son of man sitting,” that is, He was
taking now this new position. e answer before Pilate is
related briey in Luke, like the betrayal and His appealing
before Caiaphas; and in its general eect; but the sending
before Herod is found in his Gospel only. Royal apostate
Judaism comes into the scene. e daughters of Jerusalem,
and the Lord’s answer to them, are found here only also.
e intercession of Christ on the cross for the Jews,
answered in Peter’s sermon, the beautiful incident of the
thief also are found, both of them in Luke only, as well as
Jesus commending His spirit to His Father, that is, His
condence in His Father as a man. e centurion owns Him
to be a righteous man. ese are the chief peculiarities, and,
as many have been seen, not unimportant ones, of Luke.
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181
We now arrive at the circumstances attending the
resurrection, which are dierent in each Gospel, and
evidently enough connected with the object of each. For
instance, the ascension is left out in Matthew, and Christ
is associated with His disciples in Galilee, the place of
His visiting the remnant, the connection with which is
maintained all through Matthew, as in chapters 10 and 24.
e rst verse of chapter 28, I apprehend, was Saturday
evening when Sabbath was past; the second relates to an
event not in immediate connection with their visit when
they came in the morning. e stone was already rolled
away. Indeed Mary Magdalene seems to have been there
before the others, while it was yet dark, and the stone was
already gone. Matthew puts with the women’s visit, in a
general way, yet in a distinct paragraph, the eect of the
circumstances attending the rolling away the stone: how
the keepers trembled at the visiting of the tomb by the
angel to roll it away; whereas, when the women came, the
angel answered and said, “ Fear not ye.” ey are told to
go and tell the disciples He would go into Galilee, and
they would see Him there. Jesus meets them as they return,
and tells them the same thing. We are then shown the
nal and willful obstinacy of the nation in rejecting the
testimony of their own instruments, which they knew and
believed to be true. Christ joins the disciples in Galilee.
ere, in virtue of all power being given Him in heaven
and earth, they receive their commission to go and make
disciples of all the nations: the mission is now extended
to the nations, not conned to Israel; they were to baptize
them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
the great dispensational christian revelation, to teach them
to observe what Christ had commanded, and He would
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be with them to the end of the age. is mission rested
on the fact of all power being Christ’s in heaven and on
earth, and extended the previous missions of the remnant,
instituting one which embraced the nations at large. ese
were to be made disciples of. e account is very general
and brief, only adding how the stone was rolled away to
the other accounts; the whole else is the meeting in Galilee
and consequent mission. is is the more remarkable, as
Matthew must have been present at what John relates of
Jesus appearing in their midst at Jerusalem.
Mark leads us at once to the morning of the rst day,
at the rising of the sun: and we have the details, as to the
women, of what Matthew only gave the general result of.
e same message is given: but it is not followed up farther.
e meeting with Mary Magdalene, of which we have
the details in John, is stated, and that of the two disciples
going to Emmaus, of which Luke gives the details; also
the general fact of His appearing to the twelve together
at meat, of which we have details in Luke and John. We
have then, His ressurection having been recounted, the
universal mission and continuation of service in the power
of Christ Himself, the consequence of faith and public
acknowledgment of Christ on one side, and of the refusal
of the gospel on the other. e fact of His ascension and
session at the right hand of God; their going forth to preach
everywhere, according to the mission and of the power
which accompanied their service according to promise,
are then recorded. is, while connecting the accounts of
all the Gospels, as to the proofs of His resurrection, has
the character of service and testimony, which we have seen
belong to Mark.
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183
e commencement of the account in Luke is pretty
much the same as in Mark and Matthew: the women go to
the sepulcher, and are told by the angels that He is risen;
but no details are given, only it is said in general that the
women told the apostles and the rest, and that Peter ran to
the sepulcher. But we have large and interesting details as
to the two who go to Emmaus: there is nothing as to going
into Galilee. But two very important points are brought out,
not in the other Gospels. He opens their understandings to
understand the scriptures, and they are to wait at Jerusalem
until they are endued with power from on high; the two
essential and necessary means of christian service, as it has
always to go on. e apparition to Simon, mentioned by
Paul, 1 Cor. 15, is also mentioned, and, briey, the Lord’s
coming into their midst when assembled. e corporeal
reality, though it was now a spiritual body of His human
nature, is very prominently brought out: He was still a living
man with esh and bones. He explains the Old Testament
as to Himself, both on the way to Emmaus and here. His
death and resurrection are shown as in the mind of God,
and repentance and remission of sins were to be preached
to all the nations, beginning, according to the dispensation
of God, and in grace, with the “ Jew rst.” All connection
with Galilee is omitted. He begins afresh with Jerusalem as
from heaven, and so with all nations.
It is the gospel as we know it has been preached, and
(leaving out the church) as Paul preached it; and the Acts
present it to us. e account goes on as if Christ went out
that same rst day to Bethany, and that He then ascended
thence-so entirely is Galilee left out. Yet Luke is he who in
the Acts lets us know Christ rested forty days before He
ascended; but he gives, by divine wisdom, like the others,
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what the truth was he was given to teach. Christ leaves
them for heaven, blessing as He leaves. As to the rst
eect, while full of joy, they are daily in the temple. ere
Christianity had its cradle and its birthplace. e character
of the close of the Gospel is evident. Bethany was the
place Christ frequented the last week before He suered:
the home of His beloved ones in grace, where He was
anointed for death-where He showed Himself Son of God
in resurrection. is He transfers to heaven, and blesses as
He goes up. ey associate all with the temple. is was
more than tarrying at Jerusalem, or beginning with it.
What a true picture of it all! How much more we learn
here of the great truths of Christianity connected with His
resurrection than in Matthew or Mark. It is not simply
the fact, nor continuing the scene or connection in which
He had been, or merely extending it. John has as we know,
while full in this part of the Lord’s history, quite another
character. Surely this comparison of the Gospels, and of
the details as their contents, throws much light on the
purpose of the Gospels, and of each of them distinctively,
and abundantly conrms the divine inspiration of all,
because the mind of God shines all through their structure.
On the Gospel of Matthew
185
62883
On the Gospel of Matthew
MOST readers already know, I suppose, that the Lord
Jesus is presented to us in each of the four Gospels in a
dierent point of view. It is only with one of the Gospels
that I am going, with God’s help, to occupy them at present;
and if I here point out the character of each of the four, it
is to put more in relief that of the Gospel taken up. First
of all, the Gospels are divided into two classes: on one side,
the Gospel of John; and, on the other, the rst three called
synoptic. is division is just. Every one in reading feels
how dierent John is from the three others. I proceed to
point out more precisely the dierence.
In the rst three Gospels Christ is present to men, more
particularly to the Jews, for the purpose of being received,
and each of them closes with the account of His rejection.
It is not so with John. From the rst chapter we nd the
Lord rejected. He was in the world, and the world was
made by Him, and the world knew Him not, He came to
His own, and His own people received Him not. And in
the following verses we see that it is grace which causes
Him to be received by any. He is received by those who are
born (not of the esh, but) of God. In the entire Gospel the
Jews are treated as reprobate, and the sovereign grace of the
Father who draws and election are put forward. e sheep
hear His voice. e Jews do not hear Him because they are
not of His sheep. Moreover He is come from the Father,
and come into the world. ere is also no genealogy which
goes up to the stock of promise in Abraham and David, no
human genealogy which goes up to Adam (son) of God. It
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186
is God, the Word, who was with God and who was God; in
whom was life, and the life the light of men, light shining
in darkness which the darkness comprehended not; then
the Word made esh, God manifested here below. And all
agrees with that: no agony in Gethsemane, nor cry on the
cross. When the moment arrived, He delivers up His spirit,
the hour being come to pass from this world to the Father.
It is what He is that is presented to us in this Gospel; and,
whether Jew or Gentile, we must be born anew. At the
end the coming of the Holy Spirit, testimony before the
world, is to replace Him among His own, for the world
also is judged. John passes at the close to some ulterior
manifestations of His glory on the earth in a manner
designedly mysterious, and without any ascension scene.
It is Himself, Son of man, but God manifested here below.
e rst three Gospels, we have said, relate the manner
in which Christ was presented to men to be received, and
His rejection, then His resurrection; Mark and Luke add
His ascension. In Luke, after the most delicious picture of
the little remnant faithful in the midst of the corruption of
Israel, we nd the Son of man and grace toward men by
Him. e genealogy goes up to Adam; and He, the second
Man, the last Adam, ascends to heaven from Bethany,
blessing His own. e commission given to the apostles
comes from heaven and embraces all, Jews and Gentiles.
In Mark we nd the servant and prophet. is Gospel
begins with His ministry, preceded by that of John the
Baptist. We nd at the end His meeting with the disciples
in Galilee after His resurrection as in Matthew; but
besides an appendix from verse 9, in which what is found
in Luke and even in John is briey stated, that is to say,
the heavenly side of these last events, and a commission
On the Gospel of Matthew
187
given to the disciples more general and more universal. It
carries salvation or condemnation to all the creation under
heaven.
I have reserved Matthew for the last of the Gospels
because I must occupy myself with it in more detail. It
presents to us Emmanuel, the Messiah, object of the
promises and the prophecies, Jehovah in the midst of
Israel, Savior of His people but rejected as in Isa. 49 and
so,
9
and His presence on earth replaced by the kingdom in
mystery (chap. 13), by the church (chap. 16), the kingdom
in glory (chap. 17); but, whilst insinuating the substitution
of the church and of the kingdom, the principal subject is
always the Lord in His relation with His earthly people,
His meeting with His disciples after His resurrection
in Galilee. ey are sent to the Gentiles, and there is no
ascension.
Consequently we begin quite naturally with the Son of
David and the Son of Abraham. Jesus is viewed as the Heir
of the promises, as the Son of David. We nd ourselves in
the atmosphere of the thoughts and the hopes of Israel,
but of Israel’s thoughts and hopes according to God. e
genealogy is traced in the line of Joseph, from whom He
inherited royalty according to the law. But His birth really
of Mary presents facts evidently still more important, being
close to His person as far as manifested on the earth. Save
to draw the attention of the reader to them, these facts,
all-important though they be, are so well known and so
simply related that I have hardly need to enlarge on them.
9 e second part of the prophecy of Isaiah, that is, chapters
40-47, speaks of the sin of the people with respect to the
controversy of Jehovah with idols; chapters 49-58, the rejection
of the Messiah; from chapter 59 the restoration of the people is
the matter handled.
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188
His human nature (conceived in the womb of the Virgin,
without spot or stain, by the power of the Holy Spirit) is a
thing perfectly holy; also it is, according to the esh, born
of God whilst being the Seed of the woman, true man in
this world. And not this only. He was to be named Jesus
(Joshua, or Jehoshea), Jehovah the Savior, for He should
save His people from their sins. As He was Jehovah, the
people was His people.
us we have a man without sin and Jehovah manifested
in esh: a fact which is a proof of innite grace, to which
nothing is like, which abides alone in the annals of man
as in the counsels of God. It is true that redemption was
necessary, namely His death, in order that this fact should
be available for men, and that the counsels of God should
be accomplished. But all depended on the fact that God
became man, that the Word was made esh.
Never elsewhere had there been a man having perfectly
knowledge of good and evil without sin, never divine
perfection-God Himself-manifested in esh, which will
remain eternally true, and without which redemption
itself could not have been accomplished. We shall nd
in all His life the perfect obedience of man, the perfect
manifestation of God. Also He is owned of the prophecy
in Isa. 7, Emmanuel, God with us! and Joseph gives Him
the name which was assigned Him by the angel, the name
of Jesus. us according to the testimony of God He has
taken His place in the midst of His people.
But the nations were to hope in the Branch out of the
root of Jesse (Isa. 11:1-10 and Magi from the East arrive
to do homage to Him who is born King of the Jews.
Already, from that tender age, must He know what it is
to be rejected. e false king of Israel seeks to have Him
On the Gospel of Matthew
189
put to death; and Joseph, directed peculiarly by God, takes
Him to Egypt, whence He was to come up again, the true
vine, to begin afresh the history of Israel as the green tree,
the living vine; as when risen He would recommence the
history of man, the last Adam. He returns, called out of
Egypt, Son of God, but has to take His place where one
truly an Israelite in whom was no guile could not believe
anything good was to be found. He dwells at Nazareth. All
this is most signicant, but is only preliminary as a preface
which indicates the subject matter treated in the book of
His life which follows.
In chapter 3 we begin His history with the preparatory
testimony of John the Baptist, who goes before the face of
Jehovah. Such is the clear and precise declaration of Mal.
3:1, or, if we take the quotation of Matthew himself, it is
the voice of him who prepares the way of Jehovah. Such is
Christ. Jehovah in the midst of men and in particular of
the Jews, such, in a striking way, is the Christ of Matthew;
but the Son of God also has taken the form of a servant as
we are going to see.
e testimony of John did not accept the fact that one
was son of Abraham as to the esh. God could raise up
sons to Abraham by His mighty power. e judgment or
the kingdom was in view. Repentance must be in order
to bear good fruit; and for sinful man the very rst of
those fruits was repentance. His baptism, in a word,
was the beginning of repentance at the approach of the
kingdom and as a preparation for entering in. e people
not repenting could not enter in as a lump. But if he, John,
baptized for repentance, One was there who was about to
execute judgment by purifying His oor, but He baptized
with the Holy Ghost. ese three characteristics belonged
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to this testimony:-particular and separative judgment (v.
10), already the ax was at the root of the trees; He who
baptized with the Holy Ghost was there; He would purge
His oor by a denitive judgment which would gather the
good grain and burn the cha with unquenchable re.
Jesus presents Himself for baptism. It is His oor which
is going to be purged; the granary is His; it is He who
burns the cha in the judgment. But He comes to place
Himself in the midst of His people. Nothing more striking
than this juxtaposition; nothing more positive than the
declaration that He is Jehovah; nothing clearer than the
fact that He places Himself in the midst of His people in
the path where grace conducts them. Assuredly He does
not join Himself with the rebellious and intractable people,
but from the rst step taken by those who by grace listen
to the word of the testimony of God, from the rst step
in the good way, He is found with them in His innite
grace. e heart answers at once to the testimony of John
that He who came had no need of repentance: we know it.
Quite the contrary, He was fullling righteousness. But for
His own it was just the thing according to God. e life
of God, which put forth its rst breath in the atmosphere
of God but in the midst of men, took its rst step in the
divine way-the way toward the kingdom which was going
to appear. He would not leave them there alone. He takes
His place with them. Innite grace, sweet thought, full of
His love for the heart of His own!
Remark also how He abases Himself here to the
level of His messenger: “ thus it becometh us to fulll all
righteousness.” You have your part, I mine, in accomplishing
the will of God. ere He is already a servant! He is
baptized, and His place taken in the midst of His own, in
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the midst of the faithful remnant that walked under the
eect of the power of God’s word. And now where is He,
the Servant, He who humbled Himself, who has His place
with His poor people, the poorest of His ock? Heaven is
open, the Holy Spirit descends on Him, the Father owns
Him as His Son. He is the model of the position He has
taken for us by redemption. Never had heaven so opened
before; never had there been on earth an object which He
could own as making His good pleasure. Now there was.
For us too the veil is rent, and heaven is open. We have
been anointed and sealed of the Holy Spirit as Jesus was;
the Father has owned us to be His beloved sons already in
this world. Jesus was such in His own proper and full right,
worthy of being so in Himself; we are introduced by grace
and redemption. But entered into the midst of His people
He shows what is the position which in Him belongs to
them; as I have just said, He is its model. What happiness!
what grace! But, carefully remark, His divine person
remains always such, a dierence besides which is never
lost, whatever be His abasement and His grace toward us.
When heaven is open for Jesus, He has no object above
to which He looks to x His attention. He is Himself the
object that heaven contemplates. When heaven is open for
Stephen, as for us by faith, Jesus the Son of man is the
object in heaven which is open for His servant. In grace the
Lord takes a place with us; He never loses His own either
for the Father or for the heart of the believer. e nearer we
are to Him, the more we adore Him.
Remark here also another thing altogether notable. It
is in and by the voluntary humiliation of Jesus that all the
Trinity is for the rst time fully revealed. e Son is there,
the object specially conspicuous as man; the Holy Spirit
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comes and abides on Him; and the voice of the Father owns
Him: marvelous revelation associated with the position
that the Son had taken! e Son is recognized as Jehovah
in Psa. 2 e Holy Spirit is found everywhere in the Old
Testament. But the full revelation of the three persons in
the oneness of God-the basis of Christianity-is reserved
for the moment when the Son of God takes His place in
the midst of the poor of His ock, His true place in the
race in which He had His delights, the sons of men. What
grace is that of Christianity! what a place is that where our
hearts are found. If taught of God we have learned to know
this grace and Him in whom it is come to us! Here then is
our position according to this grace in Christ Jesus, before
God our Father, accepted in the Beloved.
Nevertheless, if such is our relation with God, we are in
conict here below with the enemy of our souls. Well, here
too Jesus must go into it for us. is follows immediately.
Jesus is led by the Holy Spirit to be tempted by the devil. If
He takes or rather makes our place with God, He must take
it in face of the enemy to bind the strong man that held us
captive. I know not, dear brother, if this grace strikes you
as is strikes me: but it seems to me to go beyond all the
bearing of our thoughts, as much as the eort to reproduce
it in human words for drawing the attention of souls to
it only betrays the weakness which speaks of it. However
let us pursue our essay, since it can be studied in the word
itself, once the attention is thus drawn to it.
Jesus takes our place in conict: solemn moment where
all depended on His victory! It was not possible doubtless
that He should not bear o the victory; but if the second
Man had fallen like the rst, all was ended and lost. Yes,
that could not be; but He must conquer for us and conquer
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as man. It is exactly out of this position that the enemy
wished to withdraw Him, out of the position of a servant,
of man as such. “If thou art the Son of God “ (and the
Father had just owned Him thus)-if thou art Son of God,
speak that these stones may become loaves. Act as Son.
ere is no harm in eating when one is hungry. You have
only to say this word and have the wherewithal to satisfy
your wishes. at is, do your will; leave the position of
servant you have taken. Not for a moment! He, being in
the form of God, had taken the form of a servant; and He
abides servant of His God.
And, in these days of slighting the word, it is good
for the heart to remark how He answers. A single text of
the word, of the scripture, suces for the delity and the
almightiness of the Lord, for the wisdom of the Son of
God; a single text suces to reduce to silence the devil who
wished to lead Him astray. e Son of God remains in His
position of man, the servant; and the word of God directs,
is the opening of, His ways. “It is written, Man shall not live
by bread alone, but by every word which proceedeth out of
the mouth of God.” What a beautiful and perfect example!
Not a movement of His heart toward any other thing than
the authority of His God, of whom He had made Himself
servant. e word of God issues from the mouth of God-
the words issued from His mouth, blessed be His name,
direct to man. Christ maintains Himself in the place of
man. Man shall not live by bread alone. e word is the
source of His conduct; He lives by it. It is His directory
doubtless; but it is also what puts His will in movement:
without it He does nothing He is come to do the will of
God. e words which proceed out of His mouth declare
this will and put in movement the soul of man the servant.
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Such is the obedience of Christ. e devil can do nothing
there; he is silent.
Remember here, though they be only accessory
circumstances, that this conict did not occur in the
garden of Eden, not in the midst of enjoyments which
testied the goodness of God. Christ had already passed
forty days, a solemn period of exercise and endurance, as we
know by Moses and Elijah, and in an analogous manner
by the forty years of Israel in the Wilderness. He had been
withdrawn from the ordinary state of humanity, not to
prepare Him for the presence of God, as Moses and Elijah
had been. He was in the wilderness, far from the pleasant
things which, by the goodness of God, remain to man in
this fallen world, for a struggle (not that we know that this
was with special temptations, but for a struggle), with the
enemy. His position was such as that of the world in its
moral reality as God sees it, a desert where Satan rules
(Mark 1:13). Put to the proof thus by love for us and, while
accomplishing the counsels of God, submitting fully in the
ways of God (for He was led by the Holy Spirit into the
wilderness) to the suerings which come by the power of
Satan into this world, He enters into the special conict
that He had to carry on with Satan, where we have to
follow Him, but ghting against an enemy already beaten.
He is not weary of His service of delity, He remains man
the servant in obedience, He owns the absolute authority
of the word, resting thereon as the basis of all His conduct.
It is simplicity which is absolute perfection. Satan is
vanquished. I repeat, a single text of the word-whatever
be the foolish pretensions of man-suces for the Lord,
suces for Satan. May this word suce for us! Only may
God give us grace to make use of it under the guidance of
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the Spirit of God whose sword it is, in order that it may be
eectual in our hands.
But to dare obey God in this world there must be
condence in God. is is the second trial the Lord
undergoes for us. “ If thou art Son of God, cast thyself
down.” Try if God will be faithful to His promise (Psa. 91).
is too was just out of the path of obedience. In this path
He could always count upon God; but to put God to the
proof to see if He would be faithful is not to conde in Him
as assuredly such. is is what is meant by the expression “
tempting God,” and not, to go too far in conding in Him
(Ex. 17:7). e condence is perfect like the obedience. He
waits on Jehovah. Sure that He will be faithful, that He is
so always, He has but to follow the path of obedience and
to depend on Him. His word will direct His steps and His
thoughts, and will be accomplished in His promises. Such
are the two elements of the life of the new man, of the
life of Christ in us-obedience, and dependence. Christ was
perfect in both, in an obedience which had the word, the
will, of God, as the source of His activity, not simply as its
rule. When Satan presents the word falsely as a snare, the
word suces as a perfect answer to conduct the steps and
the thoughts of man.
Remark further in these instructive answers of the Lord
that, when it is a question of the wiles of the devil, the
wisdom of the Lord connes itself to a striking simplicity,
and in this that there is no need to think save of one’s own
duty. is is enough, and Satan can do no more. Man must
live not by bread only, but by every word which proceeds out
of the mouth of God. ere is all; but it is all. His conduct
is perfectly traced. It is submission, the path marked by the
words of God. He does not enter into controversy with
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the enemy. He is found in this later with men. Here it is
the perfect path of obedient man, His walk with Him. e
word of God traces for Himself this path; and the end is
completely attained. Satan is vanquished.
Afterward Satan shows himself; it is no more a question
of his wiles. He oers the world and its glory to the Lord
if He will pay him homage. For the obedient man that
owned God it was to betray himself, and for such a man
Satan manifested has no power. Resist the devil, and he
will ee from you. e world is the bait that Satan can
oer that one should follow him. e man who wishes
nothing but his God is sheltered from every real danger
here. Nevertheless it is still by the word that the Lord
answers. It is the Spirit’s sword for man, the sword of God,
but made for man who by the Spirit makes use of it; and
if he seeks only to obey, it is enough for the certain defeat
of the enemy of souls. e devil quits the Savior; and if
man must ght and conquer by an obedience so simple,
angels of God Himself are there to render Him service.
Without being able here to bring out the instruction found
in these details, I desires particularly to draw the attention
of readers to the way the Lord made and took our place on
both sides, so to speak: on God’s side, Son, anointed of the
Holy Spirit, before the Father, with heaven opened; then
in conict with Satan when in fact He bound for us the
strong man.
e Lord, man here below, had been owned by the
Father as His beloved Son, heaven being open on Him,
and Himself anointed by the Holy Spirit. He had thus
presented in Himself the place which according to God’s
counsels those should hold whom He is not ashamed to call
His brethren. He had for them entered on the conict that
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the strong man wages with them and, having conquered
him for them, had shown them how, by His grace, they
could conquer in their turn. He must exercise His ministry
in the midst of the people, and, whilst announcing the
gospel of the kingdom, spoil the goods of the strong man
that He had bound.
But from the beginning the disposition of man manifests
itself. John the Baptist is put in prison. Jesus, from Judea
where He had wrought, goes away to Galilee amongst the
poor and despised of the people. He abides at Capernaum, a
place even called His city. It is there according to prophecy
(and Matthew always gives us Him who is the subject of
prophecy) that the light must shine: neither at Jerusalem
in the midst of the proud chiefs of the Jews, nor where
He was at home does He begin His work. e poor of the
ock, the testimony of God, the Spirit of the Lord perfect
in spiritual wisdom unite to direct His steps towards the
place willed of God. I do not say that prophecy directed
His steps; but His acts accomplished prophecy.
What Jesus announced was what John had published.
It was a call to repentance because the kingdom of the
heavens had drawn nigh. e throne of God had been
established on the earth at Jerusalem; the Eternal had
forsaken it at the time of the Babylonish captivity, and
the seat of the supreme power was transported there, and
this power conded to the Gentiles. But the heavens were
to reign and God to establish from above His benecent
power over the earth. Up to this day He has not taken His
great power and acted as king; but the king is seated in
heaven on the throne of the Father, and the kingdom exists
in mystery.
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It is important to remark here that it is not a question
only of the salvation of such or such an individual (while
the things may be bound together, and in fact are so, as John
3 proves), but of the establishment of a system of authority
by which the heavens impress their character in blessing
on the earth. e rejection of Christ has introduced better
things, and relations more intimate and more entirely
heavenly; but the kingdom will be established with a still
fuller development when the Lord returns. is however is
not the place to pursue this theme: let us follow our Gospel.
e Lord becomes the center of a people which are
attached entirely to Him: an important principle, a right
belonging to Him alone. He preaches repentance to all.
One must return to God in self-judgment, for Israel was
far from Him, and the crisis of their history arrived. But,
besides, the powerful attraction of the Lord’s call attached
souls to Him by making them leave all and break every
other tie. Emmanuel was there; and those He called were
His. e call was to be the shers of men.
After this the ministry of Jesus is summarily recounted
in chapter 4, verses 23-25, indeed in the single verse 23.
e more these verses 17-23 are examined, the more one
sees that they contain, and designedly, a compendium
of all the Lord’s ministry. Verses 24, 25, tell us the eect
of this ministry in Palestine and all the neighboring
countries. Besides it makes a ministry accompanied by a
power suited to draw their attention. He gathered disciples
round Him. e gospel of the kingdom was announced;
and the character of the miracles was as important as the
power which accomplished them: it was the power of God
manifested in goodness on the earth. Great crowds followed
Him. It was of importance that His disciples and even the
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multitude should understand what was the true character
of the kingdom about to be introduced and of those about
to have part in it. John’s ministry however had detached a
remnant from the impenitent mass of the people.
e Lord then, seeing that His teaching had attracted
the crowd, gathers His disciples and proclaims the
great essential principles which were to serve as moral
foundations for His kingdom, and to characterize those
who were to have part in it. e rst sixteen verses of
chapter 5 contain the enunciation of these principles, as
well as the character and position of the true sons of the
kingdom. What follows to the end of chapter 7 consists of
warning against the wanderings of the heart of man, and
puts the ancient sayings and precepts which had currency
among the Jews in contrast with the morality required by
the kingdom of the heavens. It was a question of having the
heart pure and clear from hatred, and the spirit submissive
in such a way that impatience should not rise up, and that
its evil should not come to light in the heart itself; it was a
question of the patience and the gentleness which is more
bent on keeping the heavenly character than one’s own
goods-of the goodness ready to give and resembling the
character of God Himself their Father who loves without
being loved.
Next, in chapter 6, the Lord would have the motives
pure, and prayer in reference to the true relations at that
time of His own with God and to the desires owing
from them. He would have the aim of the heart heavenly,
and that it should have condence in God for this low
world; then again (chap. 7) that one should not judge
when it was a question of motives, but that one should not
misunderstand when the insolent contempt of God and of
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morality manifested itself; that dependence and condence
should be diligently expressed in presenting our requests to
God, which He would hear as our loving Father: lastly, that
practical obedience should lay a solid basis for the hope of
the future.
It is evident then that the subject spoken of is not
redemption, nor the sinner, but the character which suits
the kingdom and necessary to enter it. e state wished for
precedes entrance into the kingdom. eir righteousness
must surpass Pharisaism, for God was looking at the heart.
Israel was in the way with Jehovah and must make friends
with Him. e kingdom of the heavens was going to be
established: there was what one must have for entering in.
One had to do with God. As to the disciples, opposition
is supposed to their testimony, and conicts; which gives
occasion to the revelation of the heavenly part of the
kingdom; chapter 5, verses 11, 12.
us the positive part of our Lord’s teaching embraces
the promises (as v. 5) for the earth, and for the heavens
the verses already referred to. Others apply generally to the
spirit desired by God, which, at bottom, is the character
of Christ Himself. e disciples were set as the salt of the
earth (of that which was in relation with God) in contrast
with every corruption, and as the light of the world, the
testimony of God to those who lay in the dark outside.
eir testimony ought to be clear enough for men to know
to what they should attribute the fruits manifested in
them. e place of the disciples was thus sketched clearly,
the remnant called by grace.
e sermon on the Mount is in no way a spiritualizing
of the law. ere are but two commandments one could
say that allusion is made to; and even this is not true, for
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the Lord gives a teaching which does not agree with that
which was current among the ancients, if He does not even
contradict it; and never would He have spoken thus of the
law of God. He says that every word of the law and of the
prophets shall come to pass; He Himself came not to make
void, but to fulll. Moreover to “ fulll “ has not at all the
sense of obeying, but just simply what is said of giving the
fullness. Disobedience of the law when it was in force was
not the means of entering into the kingdom. e Lord,
like the gospel, conrms fully the law as come from God.
When it subsisted, to be obedient to it was the path of
God; but here, while saying so, the Lord puts His teaching
in contrast with the discourses of the times of the law. e
narrow gate and the strait way characterized the walk of
the disciples: their fruits would show the true nature of
those who sought to make them go out of it.
e sermon is not the rich grace preached to sinners any
more than redemption, but the path traced for the faithful
who would have part in the kingdom which was going to
be established. It will be remarked that the name of Father
is very distinctly employed in this discourse of the Savior.
As it is said in John 17, “ I have declared unto them thy
name “; the Son being there, the name of the Father was
revealed. Such is the measure of conduct ordained for the
disciples with respect to others-” perfect, as your heavenly
Father is perfect.” From this name ow the principles of
their walk in this world. It is true that they were here, and
He in heaven; and they addressed Him accordingly; but
the Father was revealed. It is for the coming of the Father’s
kingdom that they were to pray.
Having presented the great principles of the kingdom
of the heavens, the Lord comes down from the mountain,
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and then begins the presentation to Israel of Jehovah come
in grace in the midst of the people, Emmanuel, God with
them, and of all the features of goodness, compassion, love,
revealed in His ways towards them up to His rejection: a
picture of every beauty and of the most profound interest!
ese features we will endeavor as much as we can to
reproduce, while feeling how much the pen, alas! the
heart also even though involuntarily, fails in it. But before
entering this divine garden to enjoy the owers and the
fruits that grow there, it will be well to say a word on the
kingdom and on the sermon, which we have just summed
up briey in reference to the kingdom.
is kingdom, as a whole, is in view in its heavenly part
and its earthly part in verses 5 and 12; and that which they
were to pray for, we have seen, is the kingdom of the Father.
But the disciples are all in the midst of diculties and of
persecutions, the salt in the midst of corruption, the light
in a world of darkness. e law and the prophets were to be
accomplished; but another thing is now introduced. Such
was to be the kingdom of the heavens. e King was there
in an adverse world, and in the midst of a people which was
going to reject Him. But the kingdom of the heavens could
not take place. For this the King was to go up to heaven;
for the kingdom of the heavens is the kingdom of God,
while the King and the government are in heaven.
In what precedes we have a sketch of the Lord’s
ministry and of the principles of His kingdom. It is a
complete whole. In what follows we see Him as He is
presented personally to the people with the result of this
presentation. He is rejected by Israel, and Israel is replaced
for the moment by the church and the kingdom, though
owned anew in grace when the kingdom shall be restored.
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For the moment it is the personal presentation of the Lord
to the people with the consequences of this presentation. As
He descended from the mountain with the crowd,
10
a leper
came to meet Him. Now Jehovah alone healed leprosy. e
man had learned that Jesus possessed the necessary power,
but was not assured of His goodwill. If ou wilt, said he,
ou canst cure it. But love and power were found there:
Jehovah was there in grace to heal. I will, said Jesus, be thou
clean. To whom did it pertain to say thus, I will, be thou?
To One only: and the thing was done. But He who said so
was also there to draw near the man, as Himself man. He
lays His hand on the man, He touches the leper. Beautiful
picture of that which was really there! God capable of
doing everything, love and goodwill to do it, but man in
the midst of a contaminated race which He has touched
in His grace without being driven back by the evil, without
being contaminated by the delement though He touched
it to heal it; and the man was healed, for Jehovah was there,
man in the midst of His people.
Such was the great fact by which this part of the Gospel
begins. It is the essential fact of everything-Emmanuel.
Another element accompanies it. He owns the authority
of the system in the midst of which He found Himself. e
healed leper must go and show himself to the priest; who,
while pronouncing him clean and accepting his sacrice,
was owning in fact the divine power of Him who had
thus healed the leper. e Man who is truly of humanity
though without delement, and whom the evil He came
into contact with could not dele, was Emmanuel, Jehovah
10 [In fact, however, we know from comparing the Gospel of
Mark that this leper was cleansed before the Lord went up the
mountain. -Ed.]
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who healed, but entering by the door and subject to all that
Jehovah had ordained in Israel.
e second fact is a fact parallel to this one. A man from
among the Gentiles, with a faith which was not cramped by
the proud egotism which conned all of it to the promises
made to the people and to the privileges which belonged to
them, but saw the divine power (if it was there) more in its
own vastness, beseeches Jesus to heal his servant. e faith
which places a man in the presence of God, which realizes
His presence, is always humble. e Gentile does not deem
himself worthy that Jesus should come under his roof. He
has only to say a word: everything would obey Him, as his
soldiers himself. Jesus owns his faith; and the word is said:
his servant is healed. But see another great truth which
comes out here: the faith of the Gentile is owned, and the
children of the kingdom according to the esh shall be cast
out. Where God is found, He cannot limit Himself to a
particular people, whilst coming into the midst of them
according to His promise; and, what is more, He cannot
deny Himself nor change His character. If those who were
of His people answered not to His character, they could
not be with Him; and now He was revealing Himself and
was the necessary center of all that which could be owned.
Afterward He is present in that power of goodness
which puts aside all the eects of sin and of Satan’s
dominion in this world. At one word from Jesus diseases
cease, and demons ee away, and those possessed are
delivered. It is not only power, but goodness. It is God who
is there, but at the same time the Man who has a perfect
sympathy with men carries their miseries on His heart and
burdens Himself with the sorrows of their inrmities. He
heals while feeling them; as we hear Him groan deeply
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at the tomb of Lazarus, though He raises Himself from
among the dead.
But it is none the less true that He is the despised and
rejected of men: the Son of man has not where to lay His
head-has not the privileges of the foxes and of the birds
in this world. He is not of this world; and to follow Him
is to break entirely with everything which is of it. God
come into this world is come because the world is without
Him, and ought to have absolute right to the heart; and
this to separate it from the world and from the esh which
has arranged itself without Him, and to attach the heart
wholly to Him who was come to seek it. And the most
powerful motives for the human heart were null before the
rights of God come in grace because man was lost. It is not
that God does not own the relations that He Himself has
formed; but that when they make good their rights against
Him who formed them, these rights are lost entirely, being
derived from His will: to resist Him while asserting them
is therefore to destroy them. Besides, if the Lord is there,
His rights rise above everything.
e Lord does not seek the admiration of the crowd; He
does His work, but a curious multitude is nothing for Him.
He goes to the other side of the lake. But to accompany
the Lord, to be truly with Him, is not tranquility, but
the exercise of faith. A tempest arose, and the ship is
covered with waves. According to appearances, the Lord
is a stranger to the peril of His own; He sleeps, and the
disciples think they will be swallowed up by the waters.
ey had a certain faith in Him if He were awake: at least
He could occupy Himself with the danger. But all the same,
what want of faith to think that the counsels of God and
the Lord Himself were going to be swallowed up together
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by a storm, or according to the world by an accident! ey
were in the same ship with the Lord, the object of all the
counsels of God. Accidents do not happen there, not to
say anywhere else. A word on His part calms the waves
and the wind. e companionship of the Lord when He is
rejected conducts us in the storm, yet He seems to let all
go without paying heed to it; but we are, thank God, in the
same ship with Him. He exercises faith and appears to be
indierent with regard to diculties; He is not uneasy, and
His grace and power awake at an opportune moment. It is
the character of the road to which the Lord has introduced
His own in quitting the multitude of this world.
But there is more. Come with power to destroy the
work of the devil, His presence manifests the power of the
enemy; it awakes and displays itself; and, just because He
acts, the Lord allows that the reality of this power should
be manifested. e impure beings which become the
vessels of this energy of the enemy hurl themselves down
to destruction. A word of the Lord delivers him whom the
world could not bind; but the world cannot endure God
so near it, and under the quiet inuence of Satan, more
dangerous than His force, gets quit of the Lord. It is not
the power of Satan which was the question (for that a
word was enough), but of his inuence over the heart, yea,
over the heart, just as the heart of man will not have God.
What manifests Him no doubt manifests Satan; but it is
the deliverance of those who are in subjection to his power.
But then it is God; and man wishes none of Him, even
when He is delivering. It is the history of the Savior, of
God, in this poor world.
Such is the summary presentation of Emmanuel, of
the path of Jesus towards the earth; the fullness of grace;
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but man will not have God. It was in Israel indeed that
all this took place, and it is thus presented here; but the
work is extended to the world in grace and in judgment.
It is a remarkable picture of the presence of Emmanuel
and of its eect: grace, goodness in power on the earth,
the manner in which it was received, and the result of its
manifestation for the heart of man. What follows, chapter
9, is His ministry.
In chapter 9 we nd the work of the Lord, His character
in grace; as in chapter 8. His person (more precisely
however in Israel), but rejected. e Lord returns to His
own city (Capernaum), but far from the scene which closes
the last chapter (which is complete in itself), the world
rejecting Him and He quitting the world.
Now He is seen afresh in the midst of His service
in Israel. Faith brings a man paralyzed in his body. e
Lord is still here as Emmanuel, yet man in their midst,
but there He is announced with the promised blessing
of Jehovah’s presence in grace. Here it is no question of
redemption (though certainly without it there could
not be such a pardon), but of the application of pardon
in grace in Israel as we see in Psa. 103; and for present
blessing Israel must be pardoned. e Lord comes with
this blessing, and it is a direct testimony to pardon: else He
would have simply healed the paralytic as in other cases.
But when Jehovah came in grace, He pardoned all their
sins and healed all their iniquities. e Lord announces
the presence of Jehovah to do the rst of these things e
scribes murmured in themselves. Who but Jehovah could
pardon? But He who knew their thoughts was there and
proves by the other portion of the verse that the Lord was
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there in the power of His grace. He heals immediately the
inrmity of the sick man
We may remark here that, in this as in the preceding
chapter, He takes the title of Son of man, His title of
predilection or love for us, of a much larger import than
that of Christ, which, though He was the Christ, He was
not come to take and never does take in Israel. He is there
as Emmanuel, Jehovah to save His people, but as Son of
man, a title of all importance. He who takes the kingdom
in glory from heaven, who even has all things under His
feet, Christ, never presents Himself as Christ. e Son
of man was to be strong for God (Psalm 80:17); but at
present He must suer. But, though in the midst of His
people, necessarily when here below God must take in His
nature and in His work His place in respect to men above
all relationship according to the law as the rejected One on
the earth. e Son of man has power on earth to forgive
sins; as the crowd say that God has given such power to
men.
e pardon then was there, and grace toward sinners.
He was there in this character. He goes and eats with the
tax-gatherers after having called Matthew who was one of
them. It was not the outside which guided His walk. God
was there, and the work was to be the eect of His presence
and of His grace, not to depend on what He found. He
knew also the heart and the vessels to choose and bring
under the eect of this grace as His instruments. But the
principle of the work was the principle of His grace: He
was come not to nd but to bring what was necessary: and
the vessels to receive this for service were chosen vessels,
known of God and disposed by grace as new and suited
instruments.
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erefore He is there forgiving sins and eating with
sinners; but it is Jehovah who heals (Psa. 103). e
revelation as to the work goes farther. It could not be put
into the old Jewish forms, nor could one take what was
found in them as vessels containing it. A tax-gatherer
was to be an apostle; a Pharisee at most to learn that he
must absolutely be born anew. None of the old forms of
righteousness really in relationship with the esh and
man in the esh could receive the new wine: the doctrine
of grace in power came by Jesus Christ. e old leathern
bottles belonged to the esh; but now was come the divine
power in grace, and being completely new, it would have
its own vessels. Besides, the Bridegroom was there. It was
not the time for the sons of the bridechamber to fast: the
time would come for that. It is a striking thing to see how
the Lord always holds His rejection as an integral part of
His history. e Son of man must suer, the Bridegroom
be taken away. It was Jehovah there in grace: this could
not adapt itself to the old bottles and could only excite the
hatred of man and of Israel who preferred their bottles, as
giving them importance, to God Himself, and that when
He was revealed in grace.
e following account contains the real history of Israel
arrived at the point of dying.
11
Christ has to do with them
as dead, and so He can; but those who in the way with
Him have faith in Him are completely healed when every
resource had failed. e virtue and the power of life were in
Him, whilst in result He had to quicken Israel really dead.
Such is the history of the Son of man’s ministry-of Jehovah
11 Literally “ is just now deceased,” Matt. 9:18; “ dead at the
moment.” We know that the father while on the road received
the news that she was really dead. Just now-the point up to
which the time was extended.
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in Israel. To this are added two accessory eects of His
power, as to His special character relative to Israel when
appeal is made to Him under the name of Son of David.
However the general character although manifested in
Israel goes in its nature beyond them-Jehovah and the Son
of man-and this it is which has a character of interest so
profound to be remarked; but He was the Son of David in
Israel.
In verse 27 we enter exclusively on the Israelitish
ground, where the spirit of the heads is fully manifested,
whilst the patience of the Lord continues still in grace. e
blind in Israel recover sight by faith in the Son of David,
and here He is in the house, and then He opens there
also the mouth of the dumb. e attention of the crowd is
drawn, and they confess that they have never seen the like.
But if He casts out the power of the devil, the heads of
the people call His power that of the devil. e spirit of an
unpardonable apostasy was already manifested; but Jesus
had not done
12
His work of goodness in Israel, and He
goes through the villages and the small towns, teaching,
preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and working cures.
His heart was touched with compassion for Israel, for
those multitudes which were as sheep without shepherds.
For if He was Jehovah in His goodness, His heart could be
moved with what He saw as man and until that goodness
could nd no more place for its exercise. His time found no
obstacle in the wickedness of those who were His enemies;
the harvest was yet abundant, the laborers but few. Oh,
how much the heart can still feel this! He wishes as yet
to accomplish His work, to have His sheep. Our part is to
pray the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers.
12 i.e., nished.
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We have then in this chapter the grace of His ministry,
its true character, the ministry of Jehovah in grace, protable
for faith, but which is to raise the dead, and which, as an
actual thing, is rejected and blasphemed. His person and
His work have no place here save in grace. Whilst He can
work thus, He continues to occupy Himself with all those
who can be reached.
e Lord, who touched with compassion for the
destitute masses, had told His disciples to ask the Lord of
the harvest to send workmen into the harvest, moved by the
same compassion, sends them Himself; for He is also Lord
of the harvest. But here it is always for searching out the lost
sheep of the house of Israel: He has always His rejection
in view, but He acts still in the circle of the promises, and
does not quit it whilst announcing that others would come
from the west and from the east. e servant accomplishes
His service in the limits of His mission; but God in His
grace cannot be thus conned. e grace of His divinity
and of His rights pierces across the humiliation to which
He subjected Himself. But He serves in these limits still
and sends His disciples into the eld where He still seeks
His sheep. ey were not to go by the way of the Gentiles,
nor to enter a town of the Samaritans. ey were to preach
the near arrival of the kingdom of the heavens, then to
exercise the power that Jesus had conded to them, that
of destroying among men all the power of the enemy up
to death itself. Remark here that not only did Jesus work
miracles, but He could confer the power of working them.
It was the divine power which was revealed in His person
whilst serving as He had been sent.
e discourse of the Lord is divided into two parts:
one referring to the mission in which the disciples were
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engaged at that moment; the other more general, referring
at the same time to the service which the disciples should
accomplish after His death, really up to His return, to the
presence of the Holy Spirit and to the return of the Son
of man, but always to a service rendered in the midst of
Israel, though the eect is extended to the Gentiles, yet by
means of the persecution excited by the Jews. e rst part
extends from verses to 15; the second from verse 16 to the
end, comprising the general principles of their position.
As the disciples went from God, invested with His
power to overthrow all that of the enemy, they were also
to trust entirely to Him, to take nothing with them, nor
to make provision of that which was necessary for their
journey. Emmanuel present disposed the hearts and took
care of them. e time would come without doubt, when it
would not be so with them. (See Luke 22:35, and following
verses.) However, in going into a city they were to ask who
was worthy, and to remain there till they went away from
the city. It was, we may say, the last testimony rendered
to Israel. ere was still that of the seventy, the last time
that He went up to Jerusalem; but there is no question of
them in this Gospel. e Lord was warning the remnant in
Israel. In wishing peace to a house, if the son of peace dwelt
there, the peace would abide there: otherwise it would
return on them. is is not the gospel sent to the world, to
sinners, but the gospel of the kingdom sent to those who
had ears to hear in Israel. Afterward, where they were not
received, they were to wipe o the dust from their feet. We
see the nal character of the testimony they were to bear.
e judgment of such a city would be more terrible than
that of Sodom and Gomorrah. Here closes the rst part
of their mission. e Lord Himself sends them with the
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213
consciousness, and He expresses it, that He was sending
them like sheep in the midst of wolves, and that they
must be wise as serpents and harmless as doves-counsel
impossible to follow but for those who are taught of God.
e world may be prudent, knowing evil; the heart
may be simple by ignorance and nd itself betrayed; the
Christian may be wise or prudent, by the wisdom of God
who directs him, and simple because he walks according
to the life which is in him, and expresses nothing else than
that which is found there. e two things are connected;
because by the positive possession of good one discerns
evil, and snares do not succeed; because the motives which
engage men to touch them exert no inuence on the heart.
One preserves simplicity in acting according to what one
is; and we are prudent because, knowing that we are in the
midst of evil, we avoid it by the intelligence which belongs
to spirituality! It is not the simplicity of ignorance, but of
good which avoids whatever should make one quit one’s
true position before God. But (terrible word for man), “
Beware of men “ says the Lord; and all are cast as such
now into the same mass-He does not say, of Israel. It was
exactly in Israel that they labored, but Israel is blinded with
the mass of human iniquity. God could think of them and
the promises, but in fact the heart of man was there as
elsewhere. ey would be forced to appear before the Jewish
authorities by their malice, and not only so but before the
Gentiles tribunals, and thus bear a witness which would
reach the high places of the earth; for it is thus God carries
His testimony into the high quarters of the world, and not
by rendering His own worldly. But God would be with
them.
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And here we see clearly that this part of the chapter
referred to the time when the Lord would be away. It
would be the Spirit of their Father speaking in them. But
the hatred of the human heart against the testimony of
God would be shown in pushing men on to break the ties
that God had formed at the time of creation; the aections
of the esh, of the human heart, would be changed into
positive antipathy. e more intimate the relation, the more
implacable its hatred. ere are rights in these relationships;
but now it would be the rights of hatred: brother would
deliver brother to death.
What a solemn eect of the rejection of Christ, the only
true tie of man with man, because the will is restrained and
God owned! God can hold the bridle, and He has done so
in mercy, but when He is rejected in grace, there remains
only the manifestation of man’s heart as it is. Nature
does not bridle nature; and the testimony of God merely
awakens the hatred of him who wishes none of His rights,
who does not wish that there should be any, because he
knows that he has abandoned Him. But His grace pursues
His work to attract souls.
If the disciples were persecuted in one city, they were
to go to another. ey should not have accomplished their
task in Israel before the Son of man was come. us we see
that this testimony of the disciples in Israel extends even
to the return of the Lord. Interrupted by the destruction
of Jerusalem, and unnished, it was to be accomplished.
Another testimony has been raised up of God in the
person of Paul, apostle of circumcision; but here we have
the mission of the disciples formally limited to Israel, and
the Gentiles excluded. ey were to expect reproach; they
were not above their Master whom their adversaries had
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already called Beelzebub. eir part was to conde in God,
whatever the concealed plots of their enemies; all should be
set in light, and they were to act as being in it already. ey
were not to fear. First, they should fear Him who could
cast body and soul into hell much more than those who
could do nothing but kill the body. But besides, without
their Father-Him who guarded them as a Father-not a
sparrow fell to the ground. ey had more value in His
eye than many sparrows. Lastly, he who confessed Jesus
before men, Jesus would confess him before the angels of
His Father. ese are the three motives that He gives for
rmness; but they were not to think that He was come to
send peace on earth. As the nal result He will, reigning
as Prince of peace; but a Savior rejected is another thing.
is would bring intestine war into the house; such the sad
eect of the arrival of God and of truth on the earth. Man
could not endure them, and still less at home; but on the
other side He was the touchstone for the heart.
It was all over with man according to nature-nature
which God owned in itself fully, but which on the rejection
of Christ, the key of the arch if it could have been blessed,
was fallen into ruin; and now all depended on Jesus alone;
and if man violated the natural relationships by hatred, His
own devoted to Him were to be above nature by grace. He
was, He is, all: when it is a question of Him, all must yield,
and this in regard not only to these relationships but to
self (and it is always self that is in question). We must take
up the cross and follow Christ. He that would nd his life
should lose it, and he that would lose it for Christ’s sake
would nd it. All depended now, in a fallen and judged
world, on the reception of the word and on the estimate
made of it, and on righteousness according to God. He
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that received a prophet in the name of a prophet, because
he was such, had in the eyes of God the usual value of the
word that he carried (for it was the word that he loved, such
as it was from God); and so with practice. Ceremonies had
come to nothing. e point was the word of God and what
He loved in a world which had broken with Him. If it were
only a cup of water given because of Christ, the soul that
gave it loved Christ and would not be forgotten. It is exactly
as to God’s ways in the midst of Israel that all these things
are displayed. To their work in Israel the instruction given
to the twelve disciples applies; but what instruction for us
all as to the eect of the rejection of Christ! e chapter
after this shows us the change that followed historically,
and the place taken by Christ when rejected by man, alone
remaining upright before God in the ruin of the world and
of Israel.
e question is raised by John now in prison if Jesus
was the Christ when no deliverance had been wrought
for Israel. is was not a failure of condence in the word
of the Lord, for John does not refer to this word; but all
is changed in the relations between John and Christ and
Israel. As to intelligence John probably as an individual
was embarrassed; but the eect of this embarrassment was
to exchange his part of prophet for a question of individual
faith, and the turn that things take and that Jesus gives
them is according to divine wisdom. Fully owned of
Him as more than prophet, John has to believe in Jesus
individually by the testimony that Jesus gives of Himself,
able to do everything, full of grace to think of the poor,
and bring them the gospel, but already rejected, and a little
remnant owned in His words, “blessed is he who is not
oended in me.”
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So that we have still Jehovah in Israel a stone of
stumbling, but a sanctuary for those who trust in Him. John
must receive Jesus on this testimony. us it is Christ who
renders testimony to John, Jehovah who owns His servant,
and not John to Jesus. e testimony of the two had been
tendered; the mournful strains of John, the attractive sound
of the ute had been heard, both in the market place; but
Israel would neither be humbled for the one nor rejoice in
the other. All that was closed. Only there was a remnant
according to grace, and the wisdom of God in the two had
been justied in the two by these children of wisdom: and
Jesus remained alone in His grace, Jehovah in the world,
in a world where man had shown that he wished none of
Him, to manifest what He was in Himself for the wants of
those who, in such a world, had made the discovery of their
wants and their miseries. e world had been put fully to
the proof, and Jesus who had done so and knew that there
was nothing there to console a tried heart, who knew that
His Spirit had been like the dove sent by Noah in that grace
which shone only with so much the more splendor that the
world was dark, presents Himself to every burdened heart
as the resource, and a perfect resource, for its wants. He
gives rest by the revelation of the love of the Father in His
person; then, by the perfect submission of a heart bowed
under the will of God, practical rest in life. But the details
demand a little more attention.
e Lord was not at all insensible to His rejection; He
felt it profoundly, although it was in a spirit of grace. We
see Him weep later over the nal obstinacy of Jerusalem;
His heart of love thought with grief of the hardening of
Jerusalem in seeing the city, beloved but wicked, reject the
last eort of God to bring her back and bless her. Here the
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feeling of His heart was a little dierent. He had displayed
His power in blessings and in testimony; and all had been
in vain. He had reproached them with the hardness of
their heart. He had spent Himself for them; but their heart
had remained insensible. Neither Tire nor Sidon, neither
Sodom nor Gomorrah, would have remained insensible in
the same circumstances; they would have repented long
ago in sackcloth and ashes. eir judgment would be so
much the more terrible; but then in the same hour He
accepts all from the hand of His Father: perfect subjection!
He had seen good to humble the pride of man, and had
hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and had
revealed them to babes. In the eye of God these ways were
good, and Jesus accepts them without question.
en in this perfect submission of man opens out
before Him all the truth of His glory, and of the relative
position of Israel and of Him, and of Himself with men.
e Son of God was there. All things had been delivered
to Him by the Father, and none knew the Son but He.
He was in the truth of His person which none knew. e
divinity of the Son is guarded in His humiliation by the
inscrutability of His person. e testimony rendered to
that which men in Israel were called to believe had been
accepted; but the full truth went much farther and came
forth out of obscurity, now that the testimony of John, of
Christ, and of His works was rejected. As for Him, He was
unknown; He revealed the Father. e sovereign grace of
God in this revelation is then manifested. One has but to
come to Him, and he will have rest. It was no longer the
kingdom in Israel, but, by the revelation of the Father, rest
for the weary soul. us it is God in grace for him who has
need of it-the Son revealing the Father.
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But there is another element in this touching picture
of grace. e perfect submission of a man humble of heart
had been the occasion of the revelation of glory and of
grace in His person. It is just the same in John 12. It is
always so. Submission to the ways of God opens the door
to the knowledge of His grace and of His glory. Now it
was thus with Jesus as man; and He engages His hearers
to take the yoke, the yoke that He had taken Himself, and
to learn of Him in this manifestation of submission and of
poverty of spirit, and they should nd rest for their souls.
It is perfect grace, the revelation of the Father in the Son,
which gives rest to hearts weary of this world of sin; it
is the perfect submission of the will which gives practical
peace to the heart, whilst one crosses it. It is Christ the Son
revealing the Father, the man Christ perfectly subject to
the yoke, which gives both.
In chapter 12 we nd the nal rejection of the Jewish
system and of those who were at its head. Christ breaks
with the system and judges the leaders of it, takes a place
above the sabbath, which was the seal of the covenant,
foretells the complete ruin of the perverse generation of
Israel, and refuses to acknowledge His words according
to the esh with that people, and will only acknowledge
disciples who were brought in by the word and who had
obeyed it. But we must examine the chapter more closely.
e Pharisees reproved the disciples for having plucked
the ears of corn and rubbed them in their hands. e Lord
answers, that when David, the anointed of God, had been
rejected, the law of Moses had lost its force. e priests
also violated the sabbath, when an occasion called for it:
and there was One greater than the temple, the living God
Himself making His temple in man. ey ought then to
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have understood the meaning of those words that mercy
rejoices over judgment. Further, the Son of man was Lord of
the sabbath; He was above the system that He had Himself
established as Jehovah, and His title as Son of man placed
Him outside and above the claims which the old covenant
had over man, and the rest which it demanded but could
not give. He besides shears their hypocrisy in these things,
in the case of the man with the withered hand. e love
and goodness of God are above ceremonies, however holy
these may be. us His person, being rejected as David’s
had been, is above the Jewish system, and the goodness of
God cannot yield the sovereign right of His divine grace
towards man. But the time of judgment was not yet. His
voice is not heard in the street till the moment comes when
He will raise it in judgment in the day of His glory, and
when He will send forth this judgment victorious over all
opposition, and even the Gentiles will trust in Him. He
casts out another demon, and the enmity without heart and
without conscience of the Pharisees breaks out. ey could
not deny the miracle, and rather than acknowledge Jesus
they attribute it to a demon; that is to say, acknowledging
in spite of themselves that power was there, but, being
enemies of God, they called the Holy Spirit, by whom the
miracle was wrought, a demon. ere was no forgiveness
for this.
After this the Lord then comes to the complete
condemnation of the Jews. Full of unbelief, they, who had
just attributed the sign to the devil rather than believe it,
ask for a sign; but the Lord gives them none other than
that of Jonas, a pre-guration of His time of being in the
grave, but a sign that it was now too late for them, that the
One whom they had already rejected was the Son of God,
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221
and that all connection with this generation was forever
at an end. He brings forward the men of Nineveh and a
queen of the south who would rise in judgment against
this generation; for a greater than Jonas or Solomon was
there.
It seems to me that a deep feeling of sorrow betrays
itself in the words of Jesus at the sight of the unbelief of
the leaders of Israel, blind men who pretended to lead the
blind. But the time of judgment was come, and the Lord
pronounces that judgment. e unclean spirit had gone out
of that people, the spirit of idolatry, I doubt not, for since
the captivity of Babylon they had not fallen into idolatry;
but the demon needed, so to speak, this people among
whom the name of God was found, but where God was no
longer, and whom they had rejected when He came into
their midst in the person of Jesus. e house was empty,
swept and garnished: religious forms and external piety
were found there; but God Himself was no longer there.
e unclean spirit would enter with seven spirits more
wicked than himself, and the last state would be worse
than the rst. e last state of the people, at least that of
the perverse generation, would be worse than its former
sins. ey have already shown themselves as the swine of
Gennesaret, after the death of the Lord; but the words
of the Lord will be accomplished at the end of the times,
when the Jews will again become idolaters, and when all
the devil’s power will be developed under the Antichrist.
It is well to understand each for himself how, if a vice is
conquered without God, nothing is really gained. A gross
vice may be given up for a more subtle sin. If there is not
really the work of God in the heart, it may be hardened,
and Satan will reign there more than ever. But here the
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Lord applies what He had said to the generation which
had rejected Him, to the unbelieving and perverse Jews
from whom God hid His face to see their end.
en those who were the expression of the bonds by
which He was attached to the Jewish people according to
the esh came pressing this claim. e Lord would not
acknowledge them, and pointing out His disciples, said,
Behold my mother and my brethren; the relationships I
acknowledge are those formed by the word of God. As to
the history of the Jews, all was at an end. Grace might
continue and take up the people in a remnant owned of
God; but as to responsibility, their history was ended. e
Lord seeks no more for fruit on a tree manifestly bad, and
shows Himself, as a sower, by the wayside, bringing that
which, when received in the heart, would produce fruit.
is, however, introduced the kingdom of the heavens in
which the Gentiles could share.
e chapter to which we are now come has been so
often handled that I shall have no need to dwell much
on the details. Only we shall need a general glance at the
position it holds in the Gospel, and some words on the last
parable. We have seen the Lord pronounce on the Jewish
people a judgment which extends even to the last days,
breaking, as come in esh, all His relations with them.
e heads of the people had blasphemed against the Holy
Spirit and brought this judgment on the entire system,
although the patience of God still sought all those who
had ears to hear. e Lord sought no more fruit in His
vineyard. ere was only verjuice after all His pains. Such
really was man; for Israel was only man placed under law
with all the advantages God could lavish on him. In the
trial to which man had been subjected two things had been
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223
proved: that he could not attain to righteousness according
to the law; and that he would not receive God come in
grace, manifested in humanity to gain man and exercising a
power to heal all the evils to which man had been subjected
by sin.
He quits the house, a sign, I doubt not, of the immense
change in the ways of God, and sits in a ship on the sea,
and presents Himself as a sower, that is, as no more seeking
fruit, but carrying with Him in this world what was to
produce it. e Lord goes no farther than the word of the
kingdom. e verses to-17 state the judgment of the people
according to the prophecy of Isaiah, of which the Lord in
His patience had so long put o the accomplishment, and
the separation of a remnant owned of the Lord-a remnant
whose ears and eyes were opened by grace.
It is well to recall that there are seven parables: the
rst is not a similitude of the kingdom, the others are. Of
these the rst three present to us the form the kingdom
took in the world; the last three, the thoughts of God in
establishing in this manner the kingdom, and then the
result of all at the end of the age. e rst is occupied
with individuals and the visible eect of the word. ere
is no question of the work of the Holy Spirit, which is
found elsewhere doubtless; but here it is the exterior
work of Christ in sowing, and in eect the consequence
as far as manifested on the earth. We have just the word
of the kingdom, but neither the kingdom nor the end of
the age. Christ sows, and there is the result in this world,
in man on the earth: the seed produces fruit in one case
out of four. In the rst the seed does not penetrate at all:
Satan takes it away as soon as it is sown. ere is levity
of heart, an indierence which receives nothing; the word
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is not understood, the heart is occupied with something
else. However it is a word adapted to man and sown in
his heart. In the second case, on the contrary, the heart is
gained as to its feelings for a moment, but the conscience is
not reached. ere is no rest: the doctrine has been received
for the joy that the message brings; and when the word
brought suerings instead of joy, the heart wished no more
of it. ere was not a true want. e Holy Spirit always
produces wants. It was not as with the apostles: “ Lord, to
whom shall we go? “ In the third case the world has choked
the good seed. Alas! there is no need to explain it: we see it
every day. However it is a subtler thing: the world, business
has not the evil look of gross sin; but the word is choken
and produces nothing.
e danger and the tendency of these things are found in
the Christian: according to the measure the world exercises
empire over him, his life suers from it. Be it he is not dead
but he sleeps, he does not understand spiritual things; he
does not see or even enjoy them. Unhappy in the presence
of spiritual Christians, he enjoys not the things they enjoy,
and suers even from reproofs of his conscience. And if
he goes with the world, he suers also in reecting on it,
his conscience reproaching him with want of faithfulness;
like a sick man who suers, he is not dead: otherwise he
would not suer; but it is a sad means of knowing that life
is there.
In the fourth case the word is understood: it penetrates,
grows, and produces fruit in dierent degrees in dierent
persons. In the rst case it is said that the word was not
understood, in this case it is said that it was; in the other
cases the point is not touched. In the rst case it was seen
that nothing had penetrated. In the two following there
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was the appearance of it, but there was nothing: the plant
perished without fruit. In the last case the seed is developed
in the interior of the heart, and fruit is produced: precious
eect according to the nature of what was sown, fruit for
Him who had sown the seed and for him who had received
it! ere is no judgment, but the patent facts stated by
the Lord in contrast with the vineyard and His g-tree
where He was seeking fruit, and in contrast also with the
kingdom or state of things in the world, and their result in
the judgment at the end.
e rst of the following parables shows the eect of
the sowing in the world up to the end of the age, but does
not take in the execution of judgment: this is found, as well
as the manifestation of glory, in the explanation made to
the disciples in the house. It should be remarked that, in
the parable of the sower, He is not named. It is the eect
of the word in the heart of man, whoever may have sown.
Here, on the contrary, we have a similitude of the kingdom,
and He who sows takes the character (not of Christ-we
have seen His work closed in His rejection, the Messiah
seeking fruit was come to be received in Israel, but) of Son
of man. He who sows is the Son of man, and the eld is the
world; but I anticipate.
We have always the general character of the work that
the Lord wrought: He sowed; but not the personal result
in the world. He has sown good seed in His eld, but the
responsibility of man is in question in the result produced;
and whilst they slept, the enemy came and sowed tares. at
did not hinder the good grain from being in the garner,
but spoiled the whole of the crop in the eld, and the evil
which had been done was without remedy. It is forbidden
the servants to root up the tares for fear of rooting up the
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good grain with them, precisely what happened when men
would do so: the two were to grow together till the harvest.
e kingdom of the heavens presented in this world a
spoiled crop, fruit, on one side of the Lord’s work, on the
other of the enemy’s work. Now in the parable we have only
what happens in the kingdom before the manifestation of
the King and the execution of judgment by Him. When He
shall be manifested and the public judgment come, there
will be no more parables, the mystery of God will be closed.
In the parables we have mysteries, that which demands a
revelation to know them; the execution of judgment is in
itself the most striking revelation. In the parable we have
then at the end in general the time of the harvest; and the
tares are gathered rst in bundles to burn them. e tares
are there in bundles on the eld of this world, and the good
grain is hid in the garner.
Afterward, before explaining the parable of the tares,
the Lord gives two other similitudes of the kingdom; and
remember that it is a question here of the kingdom. It is
well to remark that the word for likeness is not the same
in these parables and that of the tares. Here it is only the
character the kingdom will take; it is “ like “ to, etc. In the
parable of the tares, “ it is become,” or has been made, “ like.”
It is a character that it has taken in actual circumstances
considering the rejection of the King.
It is worth while also to remark in these parables those
in which the thing in itself is the subject of comparison,
and those where it is the individual or those who form the
essential part of the parable. e kingdom itself is like a
little grain of mustard seed becoming a great tree, symbol
in the Old Testament of a thing elevated in the world, of
a political power. We know well that this is come-that
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227
the birds nesting in its branches signies the protection it
aords. Compare Daniel
4: 12. It is the public appearance of the kingdom system
such as it has been for ages: here is no judgment.
Next comes the parable of the leaven. e likeness is
the leaven. e woman is not a sower; it is not the Lord
who sows what is designated as the good seed; it is not a
great tree in the world. It is a doctrine which insinuates
itself everywhere in certain limits, and forms the entire
lump according to its own nature. e whole is leavened:
it is Christendom. But in neither of these two parables
do we arrive at judgment. It is the kingdom such as it is
when the grain of mustard seed or the leaven has fully
acted and produced its eect. It is true that leaven is always
employed in an evil sense; yet I do not think this is the
aim of the parable, but the doctrine which forms all in one
sole lump where it penetrates. If it was purely the evil as
evil, we should have had some exception. is is marked
in the tares, but on another side. It is not the good that
is sown, nor the Lord who sows; so that the notion of
positive good is carefully avoided as well as of him who
does so. e point is not the word of God, but the fact of
the general profession of Christians and in a form where
no idea of good is presented; for certainly leaven is not, in
the word, an image of good. No more is the parable the
description of an individual. ere is hardly need to discuss
this point, because it is a similitude of the kingdom of the
heavens, and in no case is an individual the kingdom of
the heavens. Besides, the result in an individual is not that
which is depicted here.
ese then are the three descriptions of the kingdom
on the earth during the absence of the king, such as the
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kingdom is presented to the eyes of all: a mixture of good
and bad, the harvest thus spoiled as a whole; afterward a
great human and political power on the earth; and a general
profession of doctrine without question of the individual
state of anyone whatever. Afterward the good corn is hid in
the garner; and providence prepares the seed of the enemy
to be burnt by binding them together in bundles on earth.
en the Lord enters the house; and there, speaking to
the disciples alone, He enters more into the inner principles
of the kingdom of which He speaks, communicating not
the eect in the world, but the thoughts of God, the great
result which would explain all in judgment and glory
manifested on earth, and the real aim of what the Lord
had done as well as the action of those who enter with
intelligence into His ways.
First He explains the parable of the tares. We have
already spoken of the chief features, but the Lord adds here
what concerns the manifestation of the result in this world.
In the parable we have left the wheat in the garner and the
tares in bundles on the eld, the wicked gathered by the
angels or by the providence of God. But here appears on
the scene the Son of man to remove every scandal from His
kingdom (which He does), and He casts the wicked into
a furnace of re where is weeping and gnashing of teeth.
It is the judgment executed. e servants were to let the
tares grow. en after the judgment the righteous shine in
the kingdom like the sun-in eect like Jesus Himself. is
is the result and this the divine explanation of what was
a mystery before, for the judgment manifests what faith
discerns. Remark that all which is revealed is in the world,
rst the kingdom before, then the judgment after. e fact
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is stated that the corn is hidden; but nothing is said of the
garner nor of the state of the corn when it is there.
In the parables which follow we have, as it has been
said, the thoughts of God, the aim of the Lord in the
kingdom, but still those thoughts, without speaking of a
result in judgment, as we have seen in that of the mustard
seed and that of the leaven. e rst shows us the kingdom
as the discovery of a treasure formerly unknown, hidden in
a eld; and he who had found it renounces all that he has
to have it, and for this buys the eld. is is what Christ
did. All that He had as Messiah on earth He left to have
the treasure of His people by taking the eld where they
were found, the world, to have them. ey were hidden
in this world; but Christ knew about them, taught of the
Father as Man on the earth, and surrendered all up to His
life to have us. If in fact we renounce all to have Christ,
nevertheless it is no question (as people too much forget)
of an individual, but of the kingdom; and, further, we buy
no eld to have Him.
e second case is a little dierent. e point is not a
discovery. e merchant was in search of good pearls. He
knew what a good pearl was, he could appreciate them, he
wanted good ones. Now Christ has found in the church the
object of His search, without spot or wrinkle or any such
thing. I do not think of the church as a body or system, but
of its moral beauty. e merchant had taste for beauty in
pearls, Christ for what was beautiful in the eyes of God,
and, to have it, He left His Messianic glory and His life.
What happiness to think that He satises His heart in us,
and what perfection of beauty in God’s eyes is the thing
wrought out! Zion is called the perfection of beauty, but
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there it was earthly; here it is heavenly according to the
heart of God.
e last parable demands the most serious attention. For
my part I do not doubt that it applies particularly to these
days. e net of the gospel is cast into the sea of people and
gathers sh of every sort. e eect of the gospel is not that
all the sh enter into its meshes, but that a quantity of all
sorts, good and bad, are gathered within the net. is is the
result. en those who drew the net sit down there, on the
shore, and engage in what they have at heart, in the aim for
which they have drawn the net-to get good sh; and they
choose, separate them from the bad, and put them apart in
vessels, rejecting the bad and leaving them there. It is the
shermen who do that, and occupy themselves with the
good. at is to say, when Christianity has gathered, as it has
done, a certain mass of people who are placed altogether in
the net of Christendom, at the end of the days the servants
of Christ occupy themselves with the mass and gather the
good into vessels. ey are the servants of Christ who have
intelligence and can distinguish them, knowing what they
want. When the public government shall arrive, there will
be the inverse. e angels, ministers of the providence and
the government of God, take not the good but the wicked
on the earth and cast them into the re. e principle, I
believe, applies always when the gospel in a district has
gathered many persons: the aim of the Lord is to put His
own together in companies apart. But the parable seems to
speak directly of the result of the operation of the gospel
in gathering many persons as having part in the christian
name; then, as a second operation, on the shore they sort
them and engage in putting the good apart. e execution
of judgment is another thing. In this parable as in the two
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preceding, we nd spiritual discernment with respect to the
aim of God. In the second this characterizes the action of
the merchant; in the rst and the third the eld is bought,
the net lled, but in the two cases the treasure and the
good sh are distinguished from what is taken outwardly
and govern the action both of the merchant and of the
shermen.
It is to be remarked that four of these similitudes do not
speak of judgment, but of the outward appearance or of the
aim of God in the kingdom, and of the result whether in
the world or with God. e great tree and the leaven-such
is the result in the world; the treasure and the pearl-such
is what is acquired for God. In the rst and the last we
have the judgment; but the dierence is sensible. In the
rst, naturally, we see the Lord begin the work; and He has
done so, of course, without mixture of evil, the good corn
being all good. e enemy makes a distinct work cannot do
otherwise. ere is a harvest; but the word has produced
individual plants: the mixture is found in the harvest. But
there are two works distinct, and the two things remain
such till the end, and the preparation for judgment is the
action of God in the world, and He is occupied rst with
the wicked to prepare them for the judgment. Men do not
act; they are forbidden to act. What is produced is the eect
of the action of the Lord and of the enemy. e servants
slept: that is all. Wheat and tares were always wheat and
tares, fruit of a distinct work.
In the net the mixture was the result of the work of
man, the kind of sh distinct, doubtless, but all gathered
into the net by a single toil, and that on the part of men,
the shermen. is is not here a work of the enemy, but the
imperfect work of man. It is only the fact however which
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is stated. e net is full, then drawn on shore; and those
who have the intelligence of what is a good sh, those
whose aim (and it is that of God) is to have good sh,
sort them and put the good into vessels. e explanation,
as previously, is the judgment which shows publicly what
was true and understood spiritually before. But the angels
occupy themselves only with the bad. In the rst parable
it is a question of rooting out of the world the bad, which
was not allowed to the servants. In the last it is a question
of putting the good together into vessels, which was their
intelligent work. We must not forget that the last times
were already come in the days of the apostle.
e immediate connections then existing of the Lord
with the Jews were, as we have seen, terminated, and the
kingdom of heaven was proclaimed according to the form
which it was to take in consequence of His rejection. He
was no longer seeking fruit from His vine,, but was sowing
that He might have fruit through the word. But Jesus
continued to think of the people, showing what He was,
and alas! what they themselves were, and what was to take
the place of His connections with the Jews, such as they
would have been, if He had been received by them.
Chapters 14 and 16 show us what He was then for
the Jews, and what the remnant would become through
His absence from that people, and the rejection or setting
aside of the people. Chapter 15 brings in what He was for
them as a divine person, even when the people were wicked
and rejected; but being so, because He was God, and His
counsels could not change. is favor extended itself to the
Gentiles who had no right to the promises, although He
did not abandon His positive connections with Israel; for
the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. But
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233
we must remember that in this unfolding of the ways of
God the grace of the Lord, divine and personal grace, is
manifested in the most touching and instructive manner,
and practical lessons for us are brought out continually
from what is passing.
e rejection of the testimony of God begins to be
realized in facts. John the Baptist is put to death by Herod
through the instigation of his wife. e Lord, touched and
sensible of the violence done to His faithful servant, retires
into the desert. Elias, as it is said elsewhere, had come, and
they had done unto him whatsoever they listed; and the
Son of man was also to suer at their hands. is act of
cruelty was not only the death of the faithful proclaimer of
the Lord, but to the heart of the faithful Witness it spoke
of the state of the people. But however painful His feelings
were, as having come into their midst, divine love rises
above all, above the suerings of the Son of man..
e multitude hear that He has retired into the desert,
and hasten thither. Coming forth from His retreat He sees
the crowd, and, moved with compassion, He heals them.
His goodness did not become weary in presence of the
iniquity of man, now hastening to accomplish it. Even
being come, the multitude was there, having nothing to eat.
e disciples feel the inconvenience of their position, and
wish to send them away, the natural resource of man. But
God was in Israel and wished that His disciples, after so
many proofs, should have the consciousness of the power
that was there.
But their heart had no other resource but that which
was visible to man and according to a human measure.
Give ye them to eat, said the Savior, and I myself will give
to them. But they, instead of having faith in God, in the
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divine power of the Savior, had ve loaves and two shes.
What a dierence between faith and the esh! between
God who can do everything and the poor resources which
are in our hands. But the esh sees no farther. e disciples
could not make use of the power which was there. Alas!
they did not think of it. But here the Lord was manifesting
what He was in the midst of evil; not putting Himself
in relation with Israel, if Israel wished it, but showing
Himself above Israel, the Jehovah who blessed His people,
according to His heart. It was but a testimony to that grace,
but it was to that grace that the testimony was rendered. In
Psa. 132 it is said of the time, in which Jehovah will arise
and will remember David and will act in grace according
to His own heart, “ I will satisfy her poor with bread “;
and He does so, a testimony useless for Israel, and even
for the disciples save for grace, but not for His glory. e
rejected Christ is Jehovah, the Savior of His people, spite
of all. e prelude to His rejection and to His death leads
Him to give the proof of His divine and almighty grace,
which is above the evil and unbelief even of those who
belong to Him. But it is none the less true that this is only
a testimony, and that things take their course, and this is
intimated here in the facts.
He sends His disciples to cross the sea alone, dismisses
the people and goes up into a mountain apart to pray; a
living picture, in a few strokes, of all that has happened.
e Jewish people is sent away, Christ is on high and His
own on the sea. However, as we have seen all through in
this Gospel, the Jews or the disciples as a remnant are in
the foreground. I have no doubt but that even the number
of the baskets of fragments, however slight the indication
may be, has reference to the full blessing of the latter days
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in the reign. It is the number sacred to that, twelve tribes,
twelve apostles, twelve thrones for them judging the twelve
tribes, twelve stars on the woman. It is the idea of the
perfection of the government of God in man. is is why it
is also found in the heavenly Jerusalem. But let us pass on
to the more formal facts of this history.
e Lord makes His disciples embark in a little boat
without Him, then He dismissed the multitude of the Jews,
who had rejoiced in His presence. It is not here judgment
on the people, but Himself disappears, so to speak. ose
who belong to the Lord, the little remnant, are besides
exposed to the violence of the storm, without having the
Savior personally present with them. He is on high alone.
Mark the situation. But some other facts are brought in.
e Lord rejoins them, master of all the elements which
try them on the road. e water and the waves are the
pathway of His feet, and as soon as He joins them all is
calm, and those in the boat recognize Him as Son of God,
the world likewise. Gennesareth which had rejected Him
now joyfully receives Him, and its wounds are healed as the
remnant of Israel had found peace.
We have not yet spoken of another fact. Peter leaves
the ship to go to Jesus, before He rejoined the disciples.
He walks upon the water when Peter goes to meet Him.
is part of the history presents us, I doubt not, with the
christian position outside Judaism. Jesus has not rejoined
His disciples whom He had made embark when He had
separated from them. Christ alone is the strength and
the motive: “ if it be ou “; one must walk where there
is nothing, as Christ walked. Trouble of the waves causes
Peter’s faith to fail, but the grace and the power of the Savior
are there for the others, as for himself. He stretches out His
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hand and supports His poor servant. is is what He has
done in order that we should walk as He walked where
there is no support but Himself. Once Christ is come back
to His disciples, all is peace and the voyage ends; but there
are some precious personal instructions here.
e Christian has to walk over the water, to walk by
faith, as Jesus walked, where there is no path, but divine
power, for man cannot walk-is totally incapable of doing
so. To walk there is the fruit of the power of Christ and of
faith in the Christian, but this is not all. e eye must be
xed upon the Savior: without this, one sinks. Peter had
looked at the agitated sea and was sinking. Christ being
out of his view, there was a comparison made between
the diculties and himself. Impossible so to walk. He
was right; but the divine power was utterly forgotten. So
Israel with the spies. e cities are walled up to heaven,
the Anakims were there, we were like grasshoppers. is
was to forget God. Was He like a grasshopper before the
Anakims? And what did the walls up to heaven? ey fell
down at the sound of a ram’s horn. No, it is a question of
looking to God and the path of His will, as Joshua and
Caleb said, If the Lord take delight in us, we are well able.
Peter had said, “ If it be ou,” but then he should always
have looked to Him. And see how foolish is unbelief. He
saw the sea agitated. What if it had been calm? e reason
of the dierence was not there, but in looking to Jesus-or
not. If one looks to Him, all is possible and all succeeds,
because He can and will do all, all blessing, all the fruit of
faith, thanks be to God. He is there to sustain us even when
our faith comes short. If Jesus is the object who makes us
walk on the water, Jesus is the strength to walk there; but
the eye must be kept xed on Him. If His power is there,
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237
the storm does nothing. If His power is not there, we sink
in the calm as much as in the storm. e walk is in every
case by faith: and we need Jesus always and with Him can
do everything Storm and calm are alike.
In the next chapter the great controversy with the
people, a controversy at bottom with the heart of man, is
continued, but on moral ground; always in the midst of
Israel, but full of instruction for all ages. It is ordinance
in contrast with the morality willed by God, which is
immutable in this sense that it refers to the relations in
which man is found placed whether with God or with man,
which consists in the maintenance in walk of that which
suits those relations. Once God has found these relations,
whether of the creature with Himself or of His creatures
among themselves, the duties exist of themselves, being only
the practical expression of the relation, as a true worship
rendered to God, or piety and lial obedience with every
other consequence of those relations. Now the corrupted
heart of man loves its own will and the satisfaction of its
lusts too much to fulll its duties; and forms of piety which
feed its self-love please it more than duties and leave it free
to follow its lusts. Neither God nor His character is truly
known. God is not honored by the heart, and the heart is
not puried. To wash his hands suits such a man better
than a pure heart or approaching God really.
e Lord touches distinctly this moral plague, showing
at the same time that the worship of these hypocrites
was as far as possible from being accepted of God; that
the commandments of men could not but put God aside
and exalt man to the detriment of the divine glory. e
commandments of God were nullied. His worship
encroached on by the false authority of man, and in vain
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oered by the same persons who were dragged along in
the current (for the heart of man is easily subdued by such
pretensions to piety), and man replaced God in what acted
on the heart.
e Lord takes care to protest openly against the very
principles which led to this hypocrisy while addressing the
crowd that He called to Him. ere is nothing the Lord
detests more than human religion, the traditions of men.
Nothing shuts out God more while abusing His name and
thus subjecting consciences which do not know Him truly.
Nothing however is more simple; what issues from the
heart is what deles the man. But we see how the heart
of man is inuenced by these things, and how the simple
by this means fall under the inuence of hypocrites and
of every class of religious teachers. e Pharisees were
scandalized at it, said the disciples. And no wonder. To
have a conscience before God according to His word, and
in the light of God for itself, spoiled all their business.
But through love for us, through the necessity of what is
true and good, this is what must be. en, at the point at
which we have arrived in the history of the Savior, it was
no longer a question of minding these false doctors-these
were not plants that the heavenly Father of our Lord had
planted. ey were to be rooted up. It was needful to leave
them-a solemn thought with regard to the people and
still more for Christianity! ese were blind leaders of the
blind; both were falling into the ditch.
As to the disciples, the Lord’s answer goes much farther,
while at the same time it makes evident the apostle’s want
of intelligence; in eect, the principle is evident. But what
a picture of the heart of man followed, thanks be to God,
by that of the heart of God and of His ways in grace! at
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which went out of the heart deled the man. All is simple.
But what is it that went out from it? Evil thoughts, murders,
then a terrible list of those dark productions of a depraved
and corrupt heart. But cannot the Lord relieve a little this
gloomy picture by touches of light which are found in
these hearts! He nds none. us characterized, He leaves
the heart of man. He was not wanting in goodness, He
knew the heart-knew everything about man; but beyond
that list He is silent. It is not saying that there are not
amiable features in the natural heart (that may be so even
in animals), but morally this is what comes out of the heart,
the fruits of the root of the sin which is there, restrained,
kept in, modied, yet the fruit that man’s heart produces
wherever he is permitted to follow his inclinations.
us the Lord passes from the hypocritical customs used
by man to cover what he is and to give himself a religious
character (even though the truths which he professes may
be divine, and the system in its origin emanating from
God)--passes, from traditions of men and the vain worship
of human ordinances, to the heart which it seeks to cover,
and lays it bare. We learn what is in the heart, as God sees
it in those who are not among the plants planted by the
Father. And their religion which concealed it-what was it?
Hypocrisy, and God set aside by human ordinances. us
we see, in a people that God had brought near to Himself
and in a religion that He had Himself established, God
set aside in order to bring in man, his own traditions and
his commandments, with hands washed in the place of his
heart; and then, what the natural heart is in its fruits before
God.
Now the Lord passes in the most striking manner to
what is outside all the promises, to a race that was accursed
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according to the promises made to the people of God, to
the place that the Lord quotes as an example of hardness
of heart (chap. 11), and shows, whilst at the same time
recognizing the dispensations of God towards His people,
and His faithfulness in sending them the Messiah, what a
heart comes to that is driven by its need and by the faith
with goes right to the heart of God, and what that divine
heart is for the wants that faith brings to Him, what He
is in Himself outside dispensational rules. e Lord goes
towards Tire and Sidon. A Canaanitish woman comes
towards Him. Her daughter was tormented with a demon.
She recognizes the Lord, as the heir of the promises in
Israel, as Son of David. is was truly faith as to His person;
but what part had a Canaanitish woman with the promises
made to Israel or with the blessings that were granted to
them as the people of God? e Lord does not answer her.
Deeper lessons were to be given of what man is, but also of
what God is.
e disciples would have wished the Lord to grant her
what she asked, in order to get rid of her; but the Lord
maintains His place as Son of David. He is sent to the
lost sheep of the house of Israel. e need of the poor
woman rises above her formal acknowledgment of Jesus
as Son of David. “ Lord, help me.” Her wants are simple.
ey are plainly declared. But the Lord wishes to put her
thoroughly to the test. “ It is not meet to take the children’s
bread and cast it unto dogs.” e Lord acknowledges the
dispensations of God with respect to His people, however
wicked they might be, and the woman does so also; but
lessons far deeper are here taught. e poor woman-man as
shown in her nds his place. He is under the curse, without
promise, having right to nothing, or under the power of
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241
the demon. He must own his condition, and this is what
the woman does. She is a dog, but in need. Her hope is not
in any right that she possesses, but in the free goodness
of God. It is a need which comes face to face with God
come in grace. She fully recognizes what she is, a dog; but
she maintains that, if it be so, there is sucient goodness
in God for such beings. Could God say, No, there is not?
Could Christ represent Himself thus? Impossible. By
faith want is met across all the obstacles of Jewish rites
and of personal unworthiness, thoroughly owning them,
but placing itself outside every right in immediate contact
with the goodness of God.
Such is faith. It recognizes the state of ruin and of
wretchedness in which we are; humble and true, it brings
its need to God, but counts on what He is. Now He cannot
deny Himself. Besides, it is the key to all the Gospel.
Jesus was the Christ, the Son of David, a minister of the
circumcision; but behind, so to speak, God was there, in all
the fullness of His grace, and He passed over the strait limits
of Israel and of the promises to be Himself in grace-grace
which suced for everything. e curse might be there,
complete unworthiness; but if want was there and placed
itself by faith on the ground of the grace and goodness of
God, the barriers disappeared, want and God met together,
and the answer was according to His sovereign goodness,
the riches of His grace, and according to the faith which
counted upon it. e daughter was healed, the Canaanitish
woman happy, and God in Christ revealed.
CHAPTERS 14, 15.
I have been occupied with these chapters; for they
occupy evidently a special place between the mysteries of
the kingdom on the judicial rejection of the Jews at the
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end of chapter 12 (which goes on to the end of the age)
and the church and kingdom glory in chapters 16, 17. e
contexts are naturally special; for the kingdom is set forth
after the ruin of Judaism in chapter 13, and the church, and
the glory of the kingdom come after. What is this special
place?
It is plain that chapter 13 gives the kingdom of heaven
in the peculiar character it assumes when the King is in
heaven, not manifested, and, as Mark says, it grows and
springs up he seemingly knows not how. What then is
brought out between this and the revelation of the church
on earth? It is the actual proof of present rejection and
the incapacity of the disciples to avail themselves of His
then present power; the moral darkness of the scribes and
Pharisees, the intrinsic falseness of their religious principles;
but the disciples really got no farther. e Pharisees were
not plants of God’s planting at all; the disciples were, blind
on many things as they were. e Lord is here getting
on strong moral ground-what God has planted, and the
human heart being the source of evil. God, not Judaism or
tradition, was the spring and guide of good; man’s heart is
only evil.
But Christ, still in His own place, takes only His service
in Israel; but He goes where one of the accursed races and
of wicked Tire has access to Him, owning Him as Son
of David. As such He could not help her. But this brings
out what must go beyond these limits-the goodness of
God. is, to faith, He could not deny. us, while man’s
heart even in the Jew was only evil, God was-could not but
be-good to faith. But He had not given up Israel, though
all this was true; and the hungry multitude of Galilee are
again fed, though the disciples are not now called to do it;
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243
He takes the loaves and does it Himself. e baskets that
contained the fragments are not now the number which
is the sign of perfect government in man, but of special
or divine perfection-seven, not twelve. It is grace above
promise, and not simply divine power able to fulll it.
is leads me to say a few words more in detail of chapter
14. e work of rejection begins; John is beheaded, and
Jesus retires, but only to nd a multitude whom He meets
in grace. He then shows Himself as the Jehovah that was
to satisfy the poor with bread, let Him be rejected by the
nations as He may. He expects the disciples to understand
and use this power; but they do not-they judge by sight. “
Give ye them to eat.” “ We have here but ve loaves and
two shes! “ en He sends the disciples away while He
is on high, and joins them still in the ship, connected, I
apprehend, with Judaism which He had left to cross the
world by divine power-our part. But Peter cannot-only
but for being helped he was sinking and (like the Jewish
remnant) re-enters the ship, but with Christ. e walking
on water was in principle church position, walking simply
by faith to meet Jesus, with no known hold, only by faith.
When He rejoins the ship, they own Him, not as Messiah
in a carnal way and expectation as even the disciples had
done, but as Son of God, which was just what the nation
would not do, and the disciples practically never did, though
God taught individuals so. e country of Gennesaret
which once rejected Him now receives Him with open
arms. It is a divine Person then here, when not only Israel
but the disciples could not own, or at any rate prot by, His
manifestation to Israel.
We have then, as noted above, the moral judgment of
Israel’s state and of their teachers; but again the disciples
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are without understanding. Yet in this very chapter, where
essential divine principles of truth and grace are brought
so clearly out, there is a special recognition of Israel. e
Canaanitish woman not only called Him Son of David, but
owned Israel as the children and herself as only a dog. e
Lord takes this ground, though necessarily owning God to
be good to others. And the people glorify the God of Israel.
On the whole, we have Israel rejecting the witness of
God; Christ present as Immanuel, but the disciples unable
to prot by it, left and rejoined; moral principles, of man’s
heart, and God’s overowing goodness; but plants must be
of God’s planting or rooted up; Israel rejected but owned.
Still the Lord distinguished the disciples as possessed of
personal faith (save of course Judas)-plants of the Lord’s
planting; and when He now simply leaves the Pharisees,
He appeals to that faith; chap. 16. Ignorant as they were of
God’s ways and incapable of availing themselves of what
Christ was, yet the inquiry addressed to their personal
faith brings out the answer (given of the Father) of that on
which the church should be built. ey cling to Him-to His
person when the nation rejected Him, and when even they
could not prot rightly by His presence in Israel. But then,
when Israel was for the time rejected, that person became
the foundation of everything, and the Lord (who had put
the question to draw out this distinctive faith, however
prejudiced and buried in traditions even they were) at once
recognizes the direct teaching of the Father. Now Israel
was gone, on this the church would be built. e contrast
of verses 1-5, then 6-12, and what then follows, is very
striking. Read in verse 18, “ And I also say unto thee,” in
contrast with or addition to the Father’s revelation, and also
to Peter’s confessing. He had said, “ ou art the Christ,
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245
the Son of the living God.” Christ says, “ ou art Peter
“; but this was the authority, the really divine or divinely
given title to give a name.
e rest of the verse is a kind of parenthesis. By the
revelation of what Christ was by the Father, he partook of
the nature of the foundation, as all true believers do, though
not distinguished as Peter. But the building of the assembly
comes out as Christ’s new revelation consequent on the
setting aside of all preceding leading up to the Father’s
revelation of His Son (to Simon), triumphant by His divine
Person and nature over death, whence Satan’s power could
not prevail against it, though Israel’s (even the disciples’)
hopes were ended by His death. But the Son of the living
God would on this title build a church over which hades’
gate could have no power to prevail. Not Peter, but Christ
builds the church; but Peter does administer the kingdom.
Nothing is said to him as to having anything to do with
the church-save a name, which shows his confession, put
him into connection with it. For if the church was built on
that truth, and he had confessed it as taught of God, he
was in principle (though the church was not yet revealed
or begun) on the footing of it as to his acknowledgment
of Christ. Hence they are charged not to say He is “ the
Christ.” e Father has revealed Him in another way. e
kingdom of heaven Peter was to administer. Every scribe
instructed into the kingdom of heaven brings out of his
treasure things new and old.
e name of Christ on which the church was built was a
wholly new revelation of the Father. So in the manifestation
of the kingdom of the Son of man Moses and Elias
disappear, the beloved Son in whom the Father was well
pleased (not merely a faithful messenger) was to be Head.
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Now Peter was entrusted with the keys of the kingdom of
heaven. What was administered on that ground did not
exclude the old things thus. is again, though given in
a voice, was the Father’s revelation. Individually, Peter in
both cases was as yet fully under the prejudices of a Jew as
to the kingdom.
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247
62848
Matthew 1-13
13
IT is seldom that a chapter of the word is so isolated that
we can give the exposition of it without taking account of
the connection with what precedes and what follows. ere
are some which contain a single subject developed enough
for us to be able to consider it separately. Sometimes, even
a single verse presents some feature of the precious Savior
which may supply matter for meditation during many
blessed hours. But to unfold the ideas which are presented
in a chapter, it is always necessary to consider it in relation
to those things with which, according to the intention of
the Spirit, it is connected. is is what I shall endeavor to
do with regard to the chapter before us.
is Gospel may be called the gospel of the kingdom.
at is, it relates the history and discourses of Christ,
specially with a view to the establishment of the kingdom of
heaven. is thirteenth chapter reveals to us the mysteries
of the kingdom.
Let us consider the position in which the revelation of
the kingdom was found when the Lord pronounced it; in
other words, what were its relations to the Jewish people
at that time. With this object, let us review a little the
contents of this Gospel.
13 [e rst part of these notes was originally given as an
exposition of Matt. 13, and was so published, translated from
the French. But, as even here the exposition gives a general
sketch of the preceding chapters, and as I am enabled to add
a version of the notes on the chapters which follow, I have
ventured so to modify the title as to suit the paper as a whole.
e early part dwells only on chapter 13.-Ed.]
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In the rst chapter we nd, after the plan of Genesis,
Numbers and Chronicles, the genealogy of the royal
family, and the two great stems with which the promises
were bound up, and from which Christ descended: David
and Abraham. e promises were made to the seed of
each. e miraculous conception of Jesus, according to the
predictions of scripture, is then related.
Next, in the second chapter, we are told of this royal birth
(a subject of alarm to Herod, who was in the enjoyment of
the Jewish royalty), as well as of testimony and joy to the
ends of the earth; the ight of Jesus into Egypt and His
return; and in all these circumstances the fulllment of the
prophecies is established.
In the following chapter (3) the approach of the
kingdom of heaven is announced. e prophet warns the
people of the wrath to come, from which it was necessary
to ee; of the ax which was laid to the root of the trees;
then he announces that God was seeking fruits, and that
it would be useless to boast of being a child of Abraham,
if one produced none. Jesus subjects Himself to the
condition of the Jews and receives at the same time the
testimony that He is the Son of God. His subjection and
humiliation, and the testimony thereupon rendered, and
rendered to Himself respecting the glory of His person, are
here profoundly instructive.
In chapter 4, Jesus, thus identied in humiliation with
the Jews, and owned as the Son of God by the Father,
undergoes the temptation of the enemy who must be
conquered and bound, as the strong man, if one would
spoil his goods; a temptation suited to the circumstances
in which the Messiah stood. Satan seeks to turn the Lord
aside from the path of obedience, by urging Him to make
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249
use of His glory, or to take it according to His will, and as
being Himself in subjection to Satan; by His natural wants,
as hunger; by His privileges, that is to say, the promises
which had been made to Him (His Jewish privileges or
those of Messiah, according to Psa. 91); and by glory in the
world, a glory indeed which He will really possess as the
gift of God hereafter, even “ all the kingdoms of the world
“; and all this by prevailing upon Him to deviate from the
path of obedience on which He had entered. But in vain.
en Jesus begins, after John is put in prison, to preach the
approach of the kingdom, His abode in the place described
in Isa. 9 giving place to the foretold dierence between the
last aictions of the Jews and all those which preceded
the manifestation of the light of Messiah.
14
He preaches
the gospel of the kingdom and conrms His doctrine, and
gives testimony to the glorious truth of His presence, by
miracles of goodness which announced the visitation of
the God of Israel.
Having thus attracted the attention of the multitudes,
He unfolds the principles of the kingdom and the eect
of the testimony which was to be rendered to Him (chaps.
5-7). Observe, there is no question here about redemption.
ere is the spirituality of many parts of the law, or rather
the application made by Jesus of His ordinances to the
heart as well as to acts, and the introduction of the name
of the Father as the motive, principle and rule of conduct.
Israel is here, as it were, on the way, in danger of being
14 When Satan cannot prevail to withdraw the believer from the
path of obedience, he begins to act upon his adversaries, and to
excite them to opposition and persecution. Jesus retreats before
this rejection thus began, and hence becomes the center of light
and blessing, in the midst of the distress of Israel, according to
the passage quoted.
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given up to the judge if he agrees not with his adversary. It
is the light of heaven which shines on the conduct of men,
by means of Him who came from heaven.
In chapter 8, before the historical dealings with Israel,
we have an introductory display of the power come in and
its eects. It was Jehovah cleansing the leper or leprosy
in Israel, and sending the cleansed one to the priests. It
was, since it was Jehovah, that which reached in power over
the limits of Israel and showed that, while Gentiles would
come in from east and west, the children of the kingdom
would be thrust out. Next He was come down in gracious
participation in all their sorrows and inrmities; but hence
withal, having no place amongst men; but in the midst of
the tossings and heavings through which those who were
content to identify themselves with this rejected One for
His own sake must pass, they were secure by that very fact
in all, in the same boat with Him who was there in divine
power and counsels, however low He might be come. is
was the place of the remnant. As to the others, they would
turn Him away; but Israel, left to the power of Satan, would
rush as unclean headlong to destruction. Such is the whole
history of the coming of Messiah, Jehovah, Jesus. Note
here, we have not the demoniac sent back to tell of the
power which had healed him. For it is the ministry of the
Lord which is pointed out, and its course, reception and
eect. Hence this is the connection of these events in order
to present the history of the Lord’s presenting Himself. It
is in a certain sense complete in itself.
In chapter 9 He continues to labor personally in the
ministry of the kingdom. Acknowledged as the Son of
David by the blind men, and received by the multitudes
with admiration, He is accused by the jealousy of the
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251
Pharisees of casting out devils by the prince of the devils;
but the time of grace towards this poor people was not yet
over. When Jesus sees the multitudes, He has compassion
upon them; they were as sheep without a shepherd.
In chapter to, as the Lord of the vineyard, He sends His
disciples to “ the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” to declare
to them that the kingdom was at hand; a preguration
(so to speak) of the transmission of this ministry to His
disciples, when He should have been Himself rejected. But
there is no question of any but Israel. ey were not to
go into the way of the Gentiles. Nevertheless, on account
of this general mission, the Lord, in His directions and
encouragements, expresses Himself in a manner which
might serve them as a guide in all circumstances wherein
they might be found, whether in their actual mission, or
during His absence from the earth: still, He regards their
mission simply as a mission to Israel, whether then, or even
at the last times. ey were not to have gone over the cities
of Israel till the Son of man should have come. e capture
of Jerusalem has deferred that event until God resumes
His labors towards Israel.
e Lord, resuming His labors of love, recounts, on
the occasion of the arrival of the disciples of John, all
the history of that work among the Jews (chap. I I). John
Baptist, himself, takes the place of a disciple instead of that
of a prophet, and the Lord bears testimony to him, instead
of receiving testimony from him e kingdom of heaven,
instead of being established in power, being rejected, is
invaded by violence only, in deance of diculties and the
opposition of men; for the Jews, whether one had lamented
or piped to them, had not responded to the testimony of
God. e rejection of Jesus, a rejection which He accepts
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with entire submission, is explained by this: only the Father
could know the Son, and only the Son could reveal the
Father. e Messiah disappears, so to speak, in His glory
too pure for man to receive. But grace only springs up in
greater abundance, and all things having been delivered to
the Son, it is no longer a question about the Messiah of the
Jews. He invites all those who are “ weary and heavy laden
“ to come to Him. It is a chapter of the highest interest.
Hereupon in chapter 12 the Lord breaks with the Jews
decidedly. He is Lord of the sabbath given as a sign of the
covenant with them, the Lord in grace, but still Lord. e
Pharisees seek to kill Him. He hides Himself, and the light
of the Gentiles begins to dawn in the testimony of God.
Acknowledged anew by an astonished people as the
Son of David, the Pharisees put the seal to their iniquity
and their condemnation, in again attributing His works
to the power of the prince of the devils. ereupon Jesus
pronounces their judgment: the blasphemy against the
Holy Ghost is not pardoned. e sign asked for by the
perverse generation is refused them: there shall no other
sign be given them than the sign of the prophet Jonas. Even
the people of Nineveh and the queen of the South shall
condemn them, and at last the unclean spirit that had gone
out of the people shall return into them with other more
wicked spirits, and its last state shall be worse than the
rst.
15
Such will be the end of the generation that rejected
the Savior. ereupon He renounces the ties of nature
which connected Him, as the Messiah after the esh, with
this people, and acknowledges no other relationship than
obedience to His Father.
15 I believe this will be veried in the idolatry of the Jews under
Antichrist, in the last days.
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253
is rapid sketch of the contents of these twelve
chapters of the precious revelation of God will show us the
importance of the position of chapter 13, at which we are
now arrived, and which is to occupy us more particularly. It
is based on the rejection of the Son of man, the Messiah,
by the self-righteousness of Israel; and, in fact, on the
judgment passed on the latter in consequence of this
rejection of the Heir of the promises.
Wherefore, addressing Himself the same day to the
multitudes, Jesus appears as no more seeking fruit. It was
no longer a question of His vine or His g-tree. He sows-
He is a sower. He nds nothing. He brings with Him
that which by His grace may spring and produce fruit.
He fully distinguishes His disciples; to them it is given to
understand the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, which
is not granted to the multitudes whose heart is made fat.
He speaks to them in parables-a precious light for the
remnant led of God; darkness to the people led of their
own blindness.
Here, then, the Lord takes the place of a sower, and the
word falls, here and there, on every kind of ground. But,
having taken this character, it is no longer a question about
the Jews merely (there one would have sought fruit), but,
in principle, about every hearer of the word. However, we
have not here the unity of the church, the body of Christ,
in heaven, but His work on earth; and then, after that, the
forms which the kingdom and the judgment connected
with it, on the earth, should take. I would not say that the
consequences of that would not go further, but herein is
contained the subject of this chapter. It was sowing time,
because there was nothing. Every individual that heard
bore fruit according to the nature of the ground where the
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254
seed fell. For here we have, not the secrets of the ecacy
of the grace of God, but the responsibility of man, and
the outward eects that would follow in consequence of
the work wrought in this world. us the word was “ the
word of the kingdom,”-the testimony borne to the rights
of Christ by the grace of God-the proclamation of the
establishment of the authority of God on the earth-in grace
it might be, but still requiring the subjection of man. e
kingdom thus proclaimed had a moral character, because it
was the kingdom of God, having precious promises and a
security which was beyond all price. But it was, at the same
time, the kingdom of the heavens whose authority was to
be established over the earth, the government of God here
below, and His work in respect of this government; and not
the church united to Christ in heaven.
Still, in this rst parable the Lord does not present a
similitude of the kingdom of the heavens, although the
word was “ the word of the kingdom,” because here the
question is not about the eects and results of the seed
generally, under the government of God, but about the
fact of the sowing and the individual result, according to
the ground where the seed fell. As far as the work of the
sower was concerned, it was an aair of individuals. e
result would be a whole, which would indeed require a
work of separation, but which was nevertheless meanwhile
a whole. e work did not adopt the Jewish corporality as
its ground; it did not acknowledge the ancient vineyard.
A sower sowed, and each grain, so to speak, had such or
such an eect in the heart where it fell. Herein there was
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255
an important point in the work, or in the preaching of the
kingdom; individuality and individual responsibility.
16
is was a principle, moreover, always true, but which
the work itself brought out,-which was at the root of the
work, because God and man were fully manifested. It was
not merely a question about the government of a people;
but the rst principle, the basis of Christianity, was to be
that each one should bear his own burden. Grace unites
those who have received this seed with good eect, for the
life is common and the Spirit is one. Still, each one receives
for himself, and cannot withdraw himself from his own
responsibility in that respect; a responsibility which has
reference, not only to his moral conduct as a man, but to
the reception of the testimony which the activity of the
love of God comes to scatter, like seed among men, upon
the heart. e principle of individual responsibility was
ever true for the purpose of eternal judgment, and must be
so if God is judge! He will judge every man; nevertheless,
it was not the principle on which the Jewish system was
based here below; but, after the rejection of the Messiah by
this people, this principle was brought out, and connected
itself with the only thing which remained as a ground of
relationship between God and man; namely, the testimony
of His love and the revelation of His claims upon the heart.
I forbear to enter deeply into the meaning of this rst
parable, not because it is unimportant (far from it), but
only because I think it must have been so often dwelt upon,
16 It is a principle which Popery completely destroys, by putting
the church and the acknowledgment of its authority before the
reception of the word under individual responsibility, while
still, in the end, it leaves to every man his own burden. It is
the church making war against God, and not the fruit of the
blessing to which man is called.
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both in public and in private, in the presence of the readers
of these pages, that it is hardly necessary. e only thing
that I will repeat here is, that what we have presented is not
a doctrinal explanation of the origin of good, but the actual
work, and its actual result under the responsibility of man-
the facts of the new dispensation, and not the counsels of
God.
at which distinguishes the good ground, as far as the
reception of the word is concerned, is a man’s understanding
the word. In the contrary case, strictly speaking, he does
not understand it: in the two other cases, there is the
appearance of it, but no fruit: here one regards nothing but
fruit.
us far, we have only “ the word of the kingdom.”
In the six following parables we have similitudes of the
kingdom itself; or the forms which the kingdom takes after
the rejection of the king on the earth, and in consequence
of the word being sown.. It is easy to distinguish them into
two parts; namely, the three rst and the three last with the
explanation of one of the rst. e former are addressed to
the multitudes; the latter, to the disciples apart. e former,
it seems to me, present to us the exterior of the kingdom
in the world, its state such as the world views it, without
absolutely pronouncing the judgment of God thereupon.
ey are historical, as we have already seen. e latter give
us the thoughts and intentions of God in the kingdom
which exists here, and the result of this external whole. e
ecacy of grace is never touched upon in this chapter; it is
a history and not an explanation of doctrine.
17
17 In the three rst, it is the actual result of the seed in the world.
In the three last, it is the powerful motive which governed the
heart of him who was led by this motive according to the secret
of God.
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It will be remarked that we nd here, as in many other
places, when the Spirit would present to us some general
view of the thoughts of God, the perfect number of seven,
divided, as is generally the case, into four and three-four
parables addressed to the multitudes, and three to the
disciples.
I have said that the three rst parables present to us
the exterior, the aspect of the kingdom towards the world;
but that does not prevent a spiritual man discerning the
principles which are there at work, nor his judging them
according to the mind of God; on the contrary, it is what we
ought constantly to do, in order to walk rightly according
to the wisdom of God.
However, I shall chiey concern myself with the
explanation of that which occurs in the parable itself. e
rst idea which is presented to us of the kingdom thus
described in these mysteries, is a work done in a eld by
its owner; but all that he does now is to sow the good
seed there. e work which he has wrought may fail in
its general result, in the eld, although the seed cannot be
changed; and this is what comes to pass.
While men sleep, the enemy of Him who sows the
good seed and to whom the eld belongs, comes to sow
tares; and the eld, or the beauty of the harvest, is spoiled.
e owner of the eld leaves those two things to bear
their proper fruits. He to whom the eld belonged had
done His work; the enemy had done his, while men slept;
then he also went his way: the eect was a sad mixture in
the world, of which men might accuse the owner of the
eld; but the thing being manifested by its eects (for it
had been done in secret) the servants discover it when it
becomes public. e master explains to the servants who
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come to Him and receive their instruction from Him, that
it is the work of the enemy, and that the harvest, as far
as the world is concerned, will be spoiled. At the time of
the harvest He will apply a remedy, that is to say, at the
time of the judgment, which will make a distinction in
the eld between the good and the bad. It was not the
servants’ business to destroy the tares. ey were not the
executioners of the world’s judgment, and the time itself
was not yet come.
e kingdom only being established by sowing here
below during the absence of the king, and not in power,
and consequently by judgment, the confusion resulting
therefrom would be the sad character of the kingdom, until
it should be established in power, and the judgment should
put an end to the disorder produced by Satan.
Compare here the manner in which the Lord presents
His ways with the account of the seed in Mark 4:26. e
kingdom of God is as if a man, after having cast seed into
the ground, should sleep and rise night and day, and the
seed should spring and grow, he knows not how; for the
earth produces of itself, rst the blade, then the ear, and
then the full corn in the ear; and when the corn is ripe,
immediately they put in the sickle, because the harvest is
ready. During the time of the mixture, and while the corn
is not yet ripe, no judgment takes place; if it did, it might
root out of the world the unripe corn.
An attempt has been made to confound all this with
church discipline; but the subject is dierent. e question
is not about the church or discipline, but about the kingdom
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and about judgment to be exercised on the evil which Satan
has introduced among the good corn.
18
As for discipline, properly so called, that is always
exercised on corn, and that not with a view to rooting
it up, but curing it and even restoring it here below, if
possible. e incestuous man was given up to Satan for
the destruction of the esh, that his spirit might be saved
in the day of the Lord. In fact, he was restored on earth,
because he repented. It is not my intention to pursue this
subject, but to expound the parables. I have only referred
18 My object is not controversy, but exposition of the parables;
nevertheless, I must here add a word on the value of an
interpretation often put upon this parable. at there is a
mixture of Christians with the world is a matter of fact.Many
take advantage of this parable to justify themselves, or at least
to say that we cannot root up the tares or exercise discipline.
In the world-church this may be all very true but, in the rst
place, if any one would reason thus to prove that the world-
church system is good (for its existence is allowed as a matter
of fact), such an one professes as a Christian to be willing to
bring down the church on earth, in principle, to the level to
which Satan has reduced it in fact; which is enough to convince
me that one who has the glory of Christ at heart will not lend
himself for a moment to such an idea. Again, when I nd the
whole is bad, I do not begin by rooting out the tares from this
evil system; that is what they would do who stay there and
would try to purify it. I do not quit the eld; I cannot do it,
for “ the eld is the world “; but the evil which I did I cease
to do. I am still corn in the tare-eld, I have not touched the
tares; I have only as a Christian corrected my individual walk
in some respects, and am thus separated by the fact itself from
those who persist in the evil. If I can unite myself in peace with
others to nd the presence of Jesus according to His promise,
so much the better; it is a great blessing. But I do not enter
upon that question. My object is only to expound the parable,
avoiding what is a mere sophism.
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to it for the purpose of saying, that the two subjects have
not one idea in common. We may here observe also how the
Lord regards the kingdom and everything in it as a whole,
from the beginning to the end of it.
In ne, that which we have revealed is, that the eect
of Satan’s work where Christ had sown the children of the
kingdom, that is, this state of things on the earth, must
remain till the harvest. e tares are not simply unconverted
men; they are persons whom Satan has brought in, under
the form of Christianity, to spoil God’s harvest in the
earth-in the place where Christianity was established. It
was not the church in heaven, it was not churches gathered
in certain localities; these ideas are not found here. ey
are the children of the kingdom, regarded as plants of God
in this world, but who are found in the place where Satan
had power to sow his own seed. e eect, apparently not
to the honor of the owner, is explained for those who learn
from Him. e judgment will explain it to such as will not
be taught.
As regards the judgment, the parable states that there is
a time of harvest, and not the harvest merely. At that time
the tares are rst gathered and bound in bundles for the
purpose of being burnt, the corn is laid up in the granary.
19
Generally speaking, the judgment or the harvest, such as
it is presented in the parable itself, does not go beyond that
which is manifested in this world. e tares are gathered for
the purpose of being burnt: that is all; this is what is proper
to the earth. e only thing which goes beyond what is
external here below is the fact that the wheat is gathered
19 e rapture of the church belongs to this age, to the harvest,
to the end, but to this age, as to its time. It seems it will appear
in another age.
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into barns. It is a negative fact-the wheat no longer belongs
to the eld: that which takes place in the barn does not
appear. God interposes by means of the reapers to bind the
tares in bundles (not heathen or unconverted men as such,
but the wicked ones of Christendom, at least of the place
where the good seed was sown) and He quite removes His
own people from the scene. e natural state of the tares is
destroyed, but it is not removed from the eld. is then is
the result in this world, the eld which belongs to Christ,
the sowing which He has performed.
e second parable presents to us the kingdom during
this period. Of the small grain of seed, such as it was at the
beginning, there is formed a great power in the earth, so
that men seek its protection, sheltering themselves under
its branches. For the explanation of this symbol, compare
Ezek. 17:23, also 31; Dan. 4:10, 12, 14.
e third presents it to us, not in its outward, secular
power, but as a principle or doctrine which spreads and
completely pervades that which is submitted to its
inuence. It is not here the heart, or the world, but the
kingdom established in this world. e idea of the doctrine
of Christ, in other words, His name, must spread.
A certain denite sphere is submitted to its inuence,
and entirely lled with the profession of the name of
Christ. I see here that the particular subject in hand is the
existence within certain limits of the external profession
of the doctrine or the name of Christ. ese parables, as it
seems to me, have no reference to spiritual good, neither
is it the purpose of them to present the dark side of that
which has come to pass. ey are, as we have said, historical.
A spiritual perception, perhaps cultivated and improved by
other passages of scripture, may enable me to see that a
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secular power, like Nebuchadnezzar or the Assyrian, is not
a good thing, when the question is about what Christ has
established and about my spiritual standing; but here the
matter is presented to us as an historical fact; the kingdom.
was to receive such a character.
e word leaven, in general, does not suggest the idea
of good to one who is familiar with the scriptures; but the
purpose of the parable is to state the fact of the general
existence of the external profession of the name of Christ,
leaving it to the spiritual discernment of the child of God
to judge of that which so exists.
We now come to the explanations given to the disciples,
and to the parables which were for their ears only. Here
the seed is not properly the word; it is the children of the
kingdom brought into the world by Christ, who have their
life-their moral existence-from Him. We sow the word; but
here the great fact is, that the Son of man brings His own
into the world; it is a work which He begins. e vineyard
being rejected, He does not look for that in the world
which was not found in Israel. He introduces, but in the
world, His own, because it was all over for the time, at least
with Israel. When He has done that, Satan does the same;
active in evil, on the ground where good has been done.
Israel, the people of God, is become wicked, and, led
by the prince of this world, they reject their Savior, their
Messiah. God being thereupon active in good in the world,
Satan assumes an attitude of active hostility. To spoil
the eect here below, is all he can do. But the judgment
takes eect upon it: the harvest is the end of the age, the
reapers are the angels; for the question here is about the
government of this world by God. As to the expression “
this age,” we are accustomed to apply it to the church; but it
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is not here a question of the church, but of the introduction
of the kingdom of heaven, Messiah being rejected by the
Jews. What was the age in which the Lord was found with
His disciples? Was it the church, or the dispensation of the
church? By no means. It was a certain age of this world,
which was to end by the reception of the Messiah, and the
re-establishment of the law as a rule by the government
of this Messiah. e people of Israel having rejected Him,
this age becomes purely and simply this present evil world
(age), from which Christ delivers us, but in the course of
which God has set up His kingdom, in the way we have
just spoken of.
e nal close of the age is suspended while these
acts are in progress, but at last its end arrives. en the
Son of man (for here the world is concerned, not merely
the Jews and their Messiah) will purge His kingdom of
all things that oend, and of them that commit iniquity,
and they shall be cast into the furnace of re. at will be
the judgment of everything that is opposed to the glory of
Christ, when He will execute it. But here He appears as
the Head of the providential government of God, not as
the Bridegroom coming to seek His bride, nor as the King
coming to reign in Israel, or over the Gentiles in immediate
relationship with them. It is the Son of man, supreme
Head of the government of God, who sends the angels
of His power to purge His kingdom, long deled by the
presence of the children of the wicked one, of everything
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that oends.
20
It is an act of His own power, acting as from
on high; it is not the servants who will execute it. He sends
His own messengers to gather the tares and cast them
into the re. He does not Himself enter into the earthly
kingdom already established. He acts as from on high by
His messengers, and the righteous are not established and
blessed in the marred kingdom, but they shine as the sun
in the kingdom of their Father.
21
is, then, is the result of the kingdom having been
deled by means of the work of the enemy; the judgment is
the answer to the absence of all judgment in the kingdom,
in the interval between the sowing time and the harvest.
It is neither the joy of the church nor the establishment of
the throne of judgment over the earth, but the purication
20 e rst act here regards the wicked, the tares. In the case
of the net, the rst step was to separate the good. Because, in
the case of the tares, it is the exerior of the government in the
world, the present result; in the latter parables, the motives and
the spiritual discernment; although the judgment arrives at last
afterward.
21 e righteous shining as the sun chews us how these parables
apply at the same time to Christ and to believers. He gives up
His earthly glory, despises the shame, and endures the cross,
in view of the joy that was set before Him; but this necessarily
involves the church seen in glory according to the counsels of
God:-the righteous will shine. We see our own glory in the sun
to which we shall be like. In the two cases there is the glory.
“ e glory which thou hast given me, I have given them,” so
that He, while yet looking forward to it for Himself, gives up
all His Jewish and even personal glory, in a certain sense, as of
right, to bring the church in there; in a word, He gives it up
for the church. We, seeing that glory as ours, see it in Christ;
and so in the application of the parable, we may say, Jesus has
done it for the church as His treasure-we do it for Christ as our
treasure. e counsel of God is, that we should be together in
that glory.
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of the kingdom, the general idea of government from on
high. e servants had thought of re-establishing here
below, by rooting the wicked out of the world, the order of
things which existed then at the commencement; that the
eld here below might be in accordance with the intention
of Him who had sown; or, in other words, that the eld
that He had sown should be a just representation of His
labor and His thoughts; but this was not what was to take
place there-this was no longer possible.
It is a matter of further revelation, that then the righteous
(and it seems to me that the term is not necessarily limited
to those who had lived after the seed of the kingdom had
been sown) will shine as the sun in the kingdom of the
Father. is then is the reason why there was no question
in the meanwhile of purifying the eld here below. God
had better counsels in store for us. It is a revelation which
belongs to the disciples. e rest was the public government
of God, intelligible, or what ought to have been intelligible,
to a Jew.
e succeeding parables present to us rather the secrets
of the kingdom-that which only concerns the initiated, the
disciples. It was no longer that which was merely external
for the multitudes which surrounded Him. In what was
said to the multitudes, everything took place in the world,
that is to say, in the eld, with the exception of the one
fact that the good seed would be taken from it and hid
in the barn. All belonged, properly speaking, to this age,
unless we may except the existence of the barn. But in the
explanation of this rst parable, the Lord goes beyond
what He had said, passes the limit, so to speak, and shows
us the terrible result of the judgment of the tares in the
weeping and gnashing of teeth: then He raises the curtain
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on the other side also, and the righteous shine as the sun
in the kingdom of their Father. But this throws an entirely
new light on the principle of the kingdom. It is a motive to
action wherever this revelation is understood, and wherever
we act according to the understanding of this purpose of
God.
It is no longer a question how to establish clearly the
relations between the old system and the forms which it
took after the rejection of Christ, or on account of the
barren state of the vineyard; but how to comprehend the
eect of the counsels of God, which went much farther.
ere was something there to inuence the heart. We have
before had the eects here below of the sowing: the fact
of the mixture, and the separation, and the form which
in consequence of that the kingdom took in the world;
here we have the revelation to the disciples of the eect
outside the world, and consequently the motive which
directed him who had understanding in the kingdom (it
was this that characterized the kingdom in this respect);
lastly, the discernment which knew how to act, even in
the circumstances of this confused state of the kingdom,
and not only the fact of this confusion in the world. at
explains the order of the parables. In the two cases, the
historical part for the multitude gives the sowing and the
divine judgment at the end (this is all that the mind of
the multitude takes notice of); and after that, the great
historical facts, the tree and the leaven.
But here we have the motive which governs and
inuences the man who has the mind of Christ-in the
rst place, Christ Himself and us by His Spirit-in regard
to that which has been revealed within the veil; then the
separation made with discernment when the net is full. It
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is not a case of sowing seed, which issues in a mingled crop
left in its natural state till the time of God’s acting. It is an
activity, the result of understanding and motive, based on
the discovery of a hidden thing, or on the perception and
search of a loveliness that is appreciated, and which is worth
the giving up of all; or on the need of having separated, and
so united together, those who constituted the sole object
of all the toil, and who previously had been mingled in the
net with that which was worth nothing to the shers.
e one part presents the exterior, on which God will
certainly act at last, but which is left as a picture in its
complete character before the eyes of the world: a great
tree, a leaven which leavens the whole mass. e other, the
intelligence and activity of the Spirit of Christ, which gives
up everything, and perceives good things to seize upon
them in giving up all else.
Now, the rst principle, the general principle of the
two rst of these three parables, based, as I have said, on
the revelation of the glory of the righteous, made in the
explanation of the rst of the three former, is the energy
which renounces everything on account of the discovery of
that which becomes of inestimable value to the soul. is
would not have been the character of the kingdom, if it had
been established among the Jews; there were principles and
a conduct which would have suited it. Its authority would
have been exercised for the maintenance of good and
justice, and great happiness would have been the fruit of
its establishment. But the kingdom, once rejected by those
who were the children of it, was no longer of this world,
and it became necessary for one to give up everything that
he possessed, according to the discovery made of the glory,
which thereupon belonged to the faithful in the kingdom of
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their Father. is glory causes a renunciation of everything
in order to possess it, according to the counsels of God, of
which He has made a discovery in the revelation of this
treasure-the church, properly so called. Christ Himself did
so, and even in two dierent ways.
He gave up everything, He emptied Himself to
accomplish this work and buy the church. But again, of
how great value to Himself and for God must the church,
thus brought to glory before Him, have been, that He
should quit the glory of His Father, His bosom, to have
and to bring back His church with Him! In eect, it was
because it was innitely precious to the Father, and because
He wished to have it before Him holy and without blame,
that the Son, according to His love for the Father, gave
Himself for it, the Father having entrusted to Him this
work, and the church itself, that He might bring it to Him;
for if the Father loves the Son, and ‘has delivered all things
to Him, so also the Son has given His life, that the world
may know that He loves the Father, and that as the Father
has given Him commandment, so He does. For He came
to do His Father’s will.
Still, as royal Heir of the kingdom, lawful and perfect
Head, according to God, of the Jews, the people of God, and
heirs of the promises according to the esh, it was necessary
for Him to give up all that, even this peculiar height of
exaltation. He could weep over Jerusalem, whose children
He would so often have gathered. He could understand the
value of whatever was glorious in that situation. He could
feel all the force of those words: “ thou hast lifted me up
and cast me down,” Psa. 102 Nevertheless, for the joy of
possessing the church, this fair and precious creation of the
Father in grace and light, this jewel of the light of God, this
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expression of the thoughts of the Father in grace, witness
during the ages to come of the grace which it has received
(and that because it is the reection of it)-for the joy, I say,
which followed upon the discovery of this treasure which
was not of the world, but of God, in the light, He gave up
all He possessed among the Jews; He looked upon all else
as nothing.
Answering perfectly to the thought of God His Father,
in regard of that which was the glorious object of the love
of God, a creation not external to Himself as Creator, but
formed to be before Him, according to His nature which
He had communicated to it as far as was possible, Christ-
who had emptied Himself indeed, but who answered not
the less on that account but so much the more to the whole
thought of the Father, gave up everything to fulll the will
of the Father and to possess Himself of this treasure. So
the kingdom takes this character. It is in Christ that we see
it, even this reection of the nature of the Father, for He
is not only by grace (a creative and communicative grace)
but essentially the reection and the image of the glory of
the invisible God. He is morally the manifestation of it in
all things, and beyond that, inasmuch as all the Godhead
dwells in Him bodily. us we also, for the sake of Christ
gloried before the Father, for this glory which we shall
have with Him, when we shall be like Him, seeing Him
as He is, but which henceforth we see in Him-we also
renounce everything now. (Compare Phil. 3:7, 8.) Still it is
Christ who has given us the example of it, by devotedness
to His Father; Paul was only a weak imitator of Him who
inspired him, and had supplied him with the perfect model
of that devotedness. -
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But then Christ, however He might renounce His
earthly glory and rights could not yet possess the church all
pure and glorious as being His peculiar property, separate
to Himself. He must take it in the world; but that does not
hinder Him, He places it there and buys the whole eld.
But the treasure is His object, and is sucient to engage
Him to take the whole eld; for the subject here is not the
benecent government which shall be established over the
world, when the judgments which will have puried it will
have been executed, but of something which He takes for
the sake of the treasure which is hid there. Elsewhere, in the
prophets we see all the blessings which will ow from His
reign (the church, the new Jerusalem, being gloried, so
that the nations will walk in its light), blessings which will
be the eect of the public administration of the kingdom
of the Son of man. But here we have the mysteries of this
kingdom presented to a spiritual understanding.
But, rst of all, let us notice here: Where these revelations
of the secrets of the kingdom take place; Where this joy
which is motive sucient to cause Him who possesses it
to give up all, which causes Him to feel that all is loss in
comparison with this glory; Where this discernment which
can so perceive the beauty of the pearl of great price, as to
enable us to understand that we gain everything in giving
up everything;-this discernment, whereby the spiritual
understanding, which can judge all things, perceives that to
keep anything else is only to hinder the possession of that
which this divine intelligence tastes and appreciates, and
which decides thus in the full knowledge of the case. e
choice is made, the nature which seeks pearls has found
the pearl which suits it. Where is the place, I say, that these
revelations, which excite and satisfy this divine nature,
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take place? It is “ in the house “ they were made known
to the disciples who followed Jesus, who were attached to
Him. ey followed Him already, they followed Him in
separation; in separation they received that from which
belonged to Him, as being Himself in separation from the
world. e multitude does not receive them.
Let us come to the application, or rather to the
explanation, followed by the parable of the treasure hid
in the eld. We have here the secret thought of God.
e subject is not properly that external character of the
kingdom, but the inward thought of Him who is acting
there. Christ Himself has taken to Himself a eld, but for
one who understands His thought-is the eld His object
in taking it now? No; it is the treasure in it. ere is that
which lls His heart, and which was the motive to that
which He did. God gave Him power over all men, that He
might give eternal life to all those whom the Father had
given to Him. I would not be understood by that to say
that all men are the eld, but only to show how there could
be two thoughts in the counsels of God.
In the kingdom of heaven a eld has been purchased.
In appearance perhaps, the eld is the object which the
purchaser had in view. Christ has the right of possession
over this eld; His authority should be acknowledged
there, because He has purchased it; but the joy of His heart,
His object in all that, is the treasure (the church) which is
hid there. at which was purchased by Christ and which
belongs visibly to Him, there where His name is externally
acknowledged in the times of the mysteries of the kingdom,
that which is His right, and which the understanding of
man might recognize as the purchase which He made, that
which is as a eld which a man bought, is not what He
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has at heart, for He thinks of the treasure which is hidden
there. It is the form which the kingdom has taken.
He cannot yet possess the church, all pure, removed
to heaven to reign with Him. In the meanwhile, it is in
the world; and the kingdom takes the character of a
whole which, in appearance and by right, is a lordship, a
possession which belongs to Christ, but of which the secret
and the real object is only known to those who have the
mind of Christ. He has taken the eld for the sake of the
treasure,
22
but it is the treasure quite pure as it is known to
Himself that He has at heart. e ministry of Peter did not
yet distinguish the two, although he and all the saints after
him made part of the purchased treasure. Peter had the
keys of the kingdom. Paul was converted by the doctrine
of the union of Christ and the church attached to Him in
glory; he did not know Christ after the esh.
is is what His disciples must understand, when they
see that which is as a possession that has accrued to Christ,
that which belongs to Him. His disciples would understand
what was the real object of His heart, and would clearly
distinguish between the eld and the treasure which it
contained, although the treasure or the church being for the
22 Although the great principle of giving up all for Christ is a
true one (and we have already spoken of it), we cannot apply
the details of this parable to the history of an individual soul. A
soul is never called on to buy anything to have the treasure; but
to seek to have nothing except it. In fact, in the history of souls,
something similar often occurs; that is to say, one embraces
Christianity, true Christianity, with a joy which seizes all in
an indiscriminate manner, so to speak. e soul possesses in
eect the true treasure, but has not yet at all discerned the
whole beauty of this exquisite pearl. e joy then becomes in
appearance more subdued, but the spiritual perception of the
thoughts of God is far more real and deep.
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273
time hid in the eld, the administration of the government
of God must take this outward form.
23
Moreover, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant-
man seeking goodly pearls. Here we see the Lord judging,
according to His perfect intelligence, the moral beauty
of that which He would have for Himself at any price. It
is not here merely the joy of possessing a treasure, but of
23 All this does not by any means aect the question of the
conduct or the duty of a saint in these circumstances. e
parable only presents the thoughts of God in regard to facts.
is was the form which the kingdom would take, or rather
a gure which represents it. e purchased eld is quite an
abstract thought; we are always in danger of confounding it
with the actual state of things, while the parable only presents
to us the principle. I have endeavored to avoid this snare, but
am not sure that I have succeeded. In principle, Christ has
bought the world, and the church is in it. His authority only
extends to a very small part of the world; and one part, formerly
subject to His authority, has now even revolted from it; but the
parable does not at all touch upon these facts. It only presents
the principle, that is to say, that there is a treasure hidden,
which was not even bought but found, and something external
was bought for the love of this treasure, thus hidden there,
necessarily, and as a matter of fact; whether the treasure exists
as an individual whole, or in several pieces, is not the question
here. e purchaser takes the whole, such as it is, for the sake
of the treasure. e delight which He nds in his beauty of
(the church) is the subject of this parable. Here it is the fact
of the eld purchased as a whole, that He might possess the
treasure that was dear to Him. Neither is it a question of the
establishment of the authority of Christ in blessing in this
world, nor of His joy in the deliverance of the creation itself.
at will take place in the world to come, when there will no
longer be a question about the mysteries of the kingdom. is
mystery of God will be nished; the natural results of the reign
of the Savior will be manifested, also the beauty of the church
will be manifested on high; and its glory will shine everywhere.
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discriminating and valuing the treasure which He sought
and which He was able to prize and distinguish from every
other. us the Spirit of Christ in its actual operation only
rests denitely upon the church, and that not in the joy of
possessing it only, nor of that of accomplishing salvation
in the redemption of it, but in the accomplishment of
all the thoughts of God, of all that moral beauty which
can have its source in the heart and reproduce itself for
Him in that church which He gave to Christ. e epistle
to the Ephesians in particular presents to us this thought:
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ chose us
in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we
might be holy and without blame before Him in love. is
is its reproducing itself in grace. And what is the calling
according to which we ought to walk? It is that we are “ the
habitation of God by the Spirit.” He has given us a place
which is to the praise of the glory of His grace.
e more we examine this epistle, and the more we
comprehend the thought of God which appears there, the
more we shall perceive the pearl which is of great price
in the esteem of the merchantman who alone is capable
of estimating it. e repetition of the emphatic word
Himself, His own will, etc., which occurs in the Greek, gives
additional force to this remark.
24
What thoughts, then,
24 I give these expressions here according to their force in the
Greek: “ According as he has chosen us in him before the
foundation of the world, that we might be holy and without
blame before himself, in love, having predestinated us to the
adoption to himself by Jesus Christ,... to the praise of the glory
of His own grace.” Again, verse 8, “ Having made known to
us the mystery of His own will, according to his own good
pleasure which he purposed in himself,” and, verse 11, the “
counsels of his own will.”
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ought we to have, my brethren, of such a calling of the
church, and of the church itself, thus before God, such as
He can have before Himself; and nd satisfaction therein,
and nd again His own thoughts in it, that it may be the
delight of Him who is Himself the only source of that
which can be suitable to Him, and that it may be t to be
ever before Him! But, in order to receive it, in order to give
it to Christ, it was necessary that He should make it such.
What a thought for us! In order that we might enjoy it, He
gave us the Spirit itself, and of His own Spirit. Compare
Eph. 3:16-21; see also 1 John 4:13. In this latter passage,
the subject is an individual-his state, and the practical proof
resulting from it. But there is yet another idea for us to
bring out, and which causes this to explain the state of the
kingdom; it is, that Christ stripped Himself of everything,
in order to possess this treasure. Where is His glory, His
kingdom, His judgment, His power?
e kingdom has not one of these characters; but
we, disciples, we know Christ, who, though He was rich,
became poor for us, that we by His poverty might be made
rich. He is hid in God. e epistle to the Ephesians speaks
of these counsels of God in regard to us, of these counsels
so precious for us. Here we have the same idea, but the
idea of the kingdom lost in that of grace. Christ loves the
treasure, He prizes the pearl. He is Himself not merely the
reection, but the perfect expression of what the Father
was. He knows how to present to Himself the church,
without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. e pearl is in
His thought before He nds it as the object of His love.
But then He is presented here as a man who nds, not as
God who creates and who is the source of the beauty of the
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object found, as His thoughts are the prototype of it, of the
beauty which suits the nder and the Creator.
Although the church is of God in its existence and its
beauty, we must also take account of that which Christ
has done, according to the counsels of God, according to
the fullness of His desire, and the delight which He takes
in these counsels. He gives Himself up to that, and strips
Himself of everything, in order to possess the church,
such as it is according to the thought of God; and, to the
disciple who has understanding, this is the character which
the kingdom takes. It is Christ’s treasure in this world, in
the eld which He buys; it is the pearl quite pure, out of
whatever shell it may have come, which answers to all that
His heart seeks.
Hitherto we have the spiritual intelligence, in order to
the understanding of the principle which characterizes
the kingdom in the thought of Christ, upon which, in
consequence, the believer acts, according to the measure of
his intelligence. But there is, besides, an actual separation of
the elements which are mingled within it. In eect, the net
has gathered all kinds of persons out of the sea of peoples.
When the net is full, those who have drawn it, the shermen,
sit on the shore; they gather the good into vessels, and
throw aside the bad. Here let us pause a moment, because
important principles present themselves to our thoughts.
e shermen are occupied about the good: they put them
into vessels. As for the bad, they only reject them, and put
them aside: there is the eect of the understanding of the
sherman. What is his object? with what does he concern
himself? With the good sh. To have them according
to his desire and purpose, he must in passing, reject the
others, but it is only that he may have the good. Except
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in this respect, he has nothing to do with the bad-they
are not his concern; they are only an encumbrance to him:
the net was not cast for them. He gathers the good into
vessels. Neither is their ultimate destination his concern:
his business is to catch them, and gather them into vessels
apart. In this his capacity, his diligence, and the success of
his toils, appear. Without these, he could not do it. All this
is addressed exclusively to a spiritual mind, without which
we cannot understand these instructions. But there is one
work, the eects of which will be of necessity intelligible;
and as in the exposition of the parable of the tares, we have
the additional fact of the glory of the righteous in another
sphere-a fact which represented in a good light the seeming
negligence that had taken place in the government of the
kingdom; so in the explanation of the net, we have a fact
which is not in the parable, namely, the judgment of the
wicked.
e angels will come forth at the end of the age, and
will separate the wicked from among the righteous (they
do not here concern themselves with the righteous, as the
shermen did), and they will cast them into the furnace of
re, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. It
is quite clear that this is a procedure quite dierent from
what is related in the parable, and which goes beyond the
contents of it. e subject is not the net merely, it is a general
and denite separation of the wicked from among the
righteous at that time. e shermen were only concerned
with the contents of their net, and with the good found in
it. e angels, at the end of the age, separate the wicked; it is
a general work; and in this world, where they are mingled,
it is not the angels that have to do with the net.
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e two things, we should remark well, take place in
this world. ere is nothing about separating the good and
bad in heaven. Neither is there anything here about the
great white throne, but about the end of this age. e good
which are found in the net will be separated and put in
vessels by those who have drawn the net to shore, according
to their discernment of the good and bad; then the angels
will take the bad in this world, and separate them from
the righteous who will be found there, and will cast the
former into the furnace of re. is was not the aair of
the shermen. But the two events take place in the world;
at the end of the age. e angels have nothing to do with
the good, but to leave them; while the shermen occupy
themselves with the good, to dispose of them, in rejecting
and leaving the bad.
e disciples here are supposed to understand all these
things; the Lord looks upon them in this light; they are
wise, the understanding ones of Daniel. Wherefore, says
He, every scribe instructed in the kingdom of heaven, is
like a householder, who brings out of his treasure things
new and old. We see by these words the character of the
instructions which the Lord has just given; there is no
question about the church as the church. It is true the
disciples became part of it afterward, but He does not
look upon them in that character. What we have here is
the application of lessons on the kingdom of heaven to
knowledge acquired as by scribes in the Old Testament.
ere is nothing about the mystery hidden and afterward
revealed by the Holy Ghost to the apostles and prophets;
but we have light thrown by the kingdom and its mysteries
on the promises and the government of God, which a scribe
would have found in the law and the prophets. ese were
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new things, but they were connected with the old things;
they did not set them aside. If Paul had known Christ after
the esh, he did not know Him so any more. In his case,
the subject was things altogether heavenly, even Christ
Himself. He notices, it is true, in some digressions, in the
way of argument, that which relates to the old things; but
as far as his direct ministry is concerned, he knows them
no more.
Having completed what I had to say on this chapter,
I pause. Others may probably add much to what I have
communicated. In every passage of the word there is always
the germ of that which is innite. I only bring forward a
general explanation, but I have no doubt of its being of
God, certainly mingled with imperfection, but still of God.
Another time, if God will, I may send a continuation of the
summary of this gospel.
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Matthew 14
CHAPTER 14
But this carnal and blinded judgment of the people was
not the whole of their history. e passions of the false
king push him on to destroy the testimony of God, and
Jesus withdraws. He shows, nevertheless, by acts marked in
the Psalms, the presence of Jehovah who healed them, and
all His compassion and His tenderness toward His people
(Psa. 103:3; 132:15); but, having borne this testimony, He
sends His disciples alone in the ship, He Himself dismisses
the multitude and goes up towards God-the present
position of Christ: having fully borne this testimony to the
multitude in Israel, He separated His disciples from them
and went on high to pray. His disciples are found alone in
the midst of the tempest; the Lord rejoins them, and all
again becomes calm.
25
It is ever here, it seems to me, the
disciples viewed as Jews, though in principle Christians of
all times, ought to have identied themselves with Him,
and to take this position. A remnant of those who expect
Him (among the Jews) would also go out to Him in the
midst of this tempest of peoples, before He enters into
the tossed boat of the heirs of the promises, and the Lord
agrees to it; but their steps totter because of the trouble:
the Lord sustains them, and, calm being restored by His
presence, all those who are in the ship recognize Him as
25 In chapter 8: 23-27, where the state of the church rather is
marked, Jesus goes into the ship with His disciples. Apparently
He pays no attention to the danger; but their unbelief makes
them afraid, as if Jesus, who had identied Himself with them,
could perish, and with Him all the counsels of God.
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the Son of God. us will it be with Israel. In Peter, we
have the remnant which goes before them; and in those
who leave not the ship, we have the type of all those who
remain in the ordinary course of Judaism until Christ is
there Himself.
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Matthew 15
Chapter 15.
Having given this sketch of the position of the Jews,
as the result of their rejection, as before had been given
one of the kingdom of heaven, the Lord pronounces His
moral judgment upon the religious forms and pretensions
of the most religious among the people. It was only
outside and hypocrisy, a walk already condemned by
Isaiah: their worship was vain, their doctrines were but the
commandments of man. God wished for realities.
ence He passes to a more general thesis. Out of
the heart of man (and the Jew was but a man, as to his
heart, before God) proceed evil thoughts. Such is a man
alas! whether Jew or Gentile; but let him be of the cursed
race of the Canaanites, and from among the cities whose
repentance would have been as a miracle, he who, owning
his misery, should rest by faith upon the super-abounding
mercy of God, would be heard according to his wish, for
God is there, and He is love. Here it is not precisely the
church. e rights of Israel, at least of its lost sheep, are
owned; but this cannot hinder the grace and nature of
God; far dierent from the selshness and the ennui of
the disciples, which attaches no value to the privileges of
God’s people. e Lord avows His special mission; but He
cannot deny what God is, when faith penetrates to that
point. Having thus shown (all the while recognizing Israel)
that the poor Gentile is to be delivered, He returns to
Israel, healing the ‘people and refreshing them with bread.
He feeds the poor of the ock.
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Matthew 16
CHAPTER 16.
ese views of the kingdom and of the ways of God
toward Israel having been given; the uselessness of a
religion of forms by ordinances, however privileged,
having been declared; the principles of man’s heart, and
the impossibility of closing the heart of God having been
shown; the Spirit of God enters, in this chapter, upon
another ground. e existing generation is abandoned;
there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the
prophet Jonas. It was not so dicult to discern the times.
ereupon the Lord, amidst the uncertainty of the masses,
on the answer of the faith of Simon Peter, reveals what is to
succeed this generation, namely, the church, never named
before.
Here it is not Christ who sows, but the faith of another,
faith given to Peter, which discerns in Jesus the Son of the
living God. e Jews had only the sign of a risen Savior;
the generation was then rejected, and nothing built upon
the rst mission of Jesus (the Messiah should “be cut o and
shall have nothing”);
26
but the Son of the living God-here
is a power and a strength which the energy of the prince of
this world could not overturn, against which evidently the
gates of hades should not prevail; for in His resurrection,
on the contrary, they should be broken by Christ. e
resurrection of the Son of God, according to the power
of life which was in Him, the foundation and measure of
the life and security of the church, was sheltered, and the
26 e true translation of Dan. 9:26.
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church by it, from all the attacks of him who had the power
of death. In vain the tomb shrouded itself in darkness, out
of the midst of which came forth the life more powerful
than ever. Simon makes this confession by the revelation
of the Father, and it is upon that the church is founded.
Indeed Peter is the only one who adds this word “living” to
the expression “Son of God.” Nathaniel just owns Him as
the Son of God and King of Israel; but Peter has the secret
of the immovable security of the church of God. It will be
found in his epistles that this idea of “living,” associated
with the resurrection of Christ, forms their basis and ruling
thought.
Moreover, not only the church, more powerful than
death, like its divine Founder, should be based on the
confession of Peter; but the administration of the kingdom
here below should be entrusted to him. Not he, but Christ
builds the church upon the foundations which the Father
Himself had laid in the revelation of His life in the Son;
but the keys of the kingdom are entrusted to Peter. is
administration was to begin among the Jews, and Peter was
specially their apostle.
Here the Lord forbids them to announce Him as the
Christ-that is no more the question, and from this time
He speaks to them of His rejection and death; but the
heart of Peter, favored as he was, answered in no wise (for
he was still in the esh, not having received the Spirit) to
this revelation which had been made to him. He opposes
himself to the cross, and the Lord treats him as being
identied with Satan and doing his work. Such is the esh;
whatever may be the revelations enjoyed by him who is
not yet set free. On this occasion the Lord presents the
cross as the portion of all those who followed Him, but He
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supports them in diculty by the revelation of His coming
in glory, and there were even some there who should see
before their death the Son of man coming in His kingdom.
e church is built upon this confession of Jesus, the
Son of the living God, manifested in resurrection; this
supposes the death and cross of Christ; but one is sustained
in cleaving to the good of the soul, even though life should
be lost; for the Son of man will come in the glory of His
Father.
Here we may remark that in verse 21, it is Jerusalem,
the scribes, the chief priests who alone are presented as
culpable. It is not the question yet of the Gentiles; but their
very guilt puts Jesus in the position, not of Messiah only,
but of Son of God in power, and of Son of man, coming
in the glory of His Father with His angels, with a view to
judging all men.
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Matthew 17
Chapter 17.
e immediate answer to this revelation which the
Savior makes of His glory as Son of man, is, in the three
rst Gospels, the transguration, compared by Peter
himself to the power and coming of our Lord Jesus (2
Peter 1:16-18); the future glory of the Son of man, such as
it will be manifested to the faithful remnant of the people,
is revealed to the astonished eyes of the poor disciples. e
risen and the changed are in the same glory as the Savior,
they are with Him, and hold converse with Him; the law
and the prophets give way to the gloried Son of God, who
alone is to be heard.
From this moment Jesus speaks only of suering this
faithless and perverse generation, but He is unwearied in
doing them good. He shows to His disciples the part that
men (not the Jews only) would have in His death. e Son
of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men! e point
for the disciples is the power of faith; nevertheless it was
needful to live near to God in withdrawment from all that
belonged to the esh, in order to conquer and cast out the
power of the enemy.
At the end of the chapter, the Lord takes advantage
of His rights as Son, to identify His disciples with Him
in this same privilege; but still, not to oend, He submits
to His position as a subject Jew, which Peter was forward
to attribute to Him. In this beautiful passage He shows
His divinity in the two-fold respect of knowledge of the
thoughts, and of power over creation; but at the same time
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He identies Himself with Peter (who had made of Him a
Jew like any other), saying “lest we”; and if a sh is made to
bring the money needed for Him, it is for His poor disciple
as well as for Him-” for Me and thee.” He places them
with Him in the position of sons, and places Himself with
them in theirs, though He was the God of all knowledge,
whom every creature, save man, was eager to obey. He puts
Himself on the same footing with them, where love and
humility were happy in grace towards the poor, the poorest
of all Himself!
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Matthew 18
Chapter 18.
It is upon this basis of the humiliation of the Savior,
a principle which is linked with grace and is its perfect
manifestation, that all which follows here is founded. Jesus
would have His disciples to take this place, and identifying
themselves with what is least, as He had done Himself, to
act also in grace; for He was come (a position innitely
more glorious than that of the Messiah, whence the Jews
repulsed Him, because He spoke the truth) to seek and to
save that which was lost. And such was the case with all
men, children as well as others; for the Lord applies here to
a little child the principles of Luke 15; but if they were lost,
it was not the Father’s will that they should perish. Even
so in the church (for it is founded upon the rejection of the
Messiah) His own ought to act in grace towards a brother,
come what will.
Here is the rule, his brother must be gained; self-
humiliation raises us to this elevation, and permits us to
act in grace toward all. But this grace, pursued even to the
end by the care of the congregation, and rejected by him
who was the object of it, would place him (whether Jew or
Gentile) in the position of a publican and a pagan. On the
one hand, grace becomes the principle of action; on the
other, the church, established and acting on the principle of
grace, becomes the enclosure with reference to which one
should speak of the without and the within of a publican
and a pagan; for all that the disciples should bind on earth
would be bound in heaven. Such is the marvelous eect
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of the rejection of the Messiah and the position of those
identied with Him in this rejection; for now, where two
or three are gathered in His name, Jesus is found in their
midst. ere has He put His name for a blessing. See Ex.
20:24; Deut. 12:5, 11, etc. us the eects of His rejection
on the power of this accomplished work before the Father
are unrolled (though this was as in a shadow) before His
eyes.
In answer to Peter, who asks how far this walking in
grace ought to be carried, the Lord shows that, as it was a
principle essential to the nature which acted in grace, there
was no limit; it would be a limit to the privilege of man
and to the nature of God. In the kingdom of heaven, mercy
triumphs over judgment.
e Lord gives, notwithstanding, not only a principle,
but a similitude of the kingdom, which applies, it seems
to me, historically. e Jews being guilty of ten thousand
talents by the crucixion of the Son of God, God acts in
grace by the preaching of the gospel to the nation, in virtue
of the intercession of Jesus, to which answers the preaching
of Peter on the testimony of the Holy Ghost (Acts 3); but
they refuse the grace to the Gentiles, much less guilty
toward them than they themselves were toward God, and
the wrath came upon them to the uttermost. Luke 23:34;
Acts 3:17; 1 ess. 2:16.
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Matthew 19
Chapter 19.
e Lord pursues the principles on which the
relationships of the people with God subsist. He does not
weaken those that existed: on the contrary, He conrms
them; but He advances now and leaves the people under
the consequences of the violation of the covenant under
which they were found, and without the enjoyment of
the new blessings into which He introduced those who
accompanied Him in His rejection.
In answer to the Pharisees, who tempted Him by
questions of their schools, where the fear of God was not-
He traces things higher up than the law. He speaks, as the
Son of man. He conrms, in all their extent, the ties that
God had formed; the ordinance of Moses did but suer
the hardness of their heart. e law just recognized the
relationships which preceded it; what was more than those
relationships was only for a time.
e second principle He enunciates is the humility, the
teachableness, and the condence of a little child: such is
the principle whereby one enters the kingdom.
irdly, all goodness in man is denied; God alone is
good. (See the position that Christ takes at the beginning
of Psa. 16. He has said to God, ou art My Lord; My
goodness extendeth not to ee, but to the saints that
are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all My
delight.) en the Lord, repeating and taking up the word
of the young man, conrms the law as a condition of life,
and says to him: “ If thou wilt enter into life, keep the
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commandments.” ere was the principle of the law, and it
is also what the young man had done outwardly.
On his answer to that eect, the Lord goes farther: Give
up thy heart then-I myself am the touchstone for that- and
thou shalt have treasure in heaven: other hopes are open
through My rejection. e young man went away sorrowful.
e only answer to this diculty insurmountable for sinful
man, the only key which opened the door of the kingdom
of God, was, “ With God all things are possible.”
e chapter is remarkable in this respect, that is to say,
for the manner in which Jesus conrms for the Jews that
which was fundamental in the law, “ ese things do, and
thou shalt live.” He maintains the everlasting righteousness
of God as regards the ties of nature: He founds all this upon
that which preceded even the law, and (since the relations
on which the law was based preceded the law) He appeals
from it to what was of God at the beginning He also goes
beyond the law for him who observed it in his ordinary
relationship, and presents Himself as the true touchstone
for the heart- Him, the rejected One, who was not of the
world. What is the only means of arriving at it? e answer
is: “ With God all things are possible.” He recognizes all
that God had put in Judaism; but he ceases to be a Jew: the
young man could not live on such a footing.
ese words of Jesus excite in the spirit of Peter this
question: What shall we have therefore-we who have
forsaken all and followed thee? e answer, founded on the
glory already revealed on the mount of transguration, is,
that when the Son of man shall return in His glory, in the
regeneration, the twelve shall be in their place on twelve
thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
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is answer leaves all aside, until the restoration of
Israel, and places again the disciples in connection with
this principle, omitting what, in the interval, was for the
church; but it is also wholly outside the legal relationships
of the people with God. If the law were accomplished, life
would be the result. ose who followed Christ, when the
Jews under the law rejected Him, should judge Israel in
the day of the glory of the Son of man. ey had followed
the Lord in His rejection by Israel; they should participate
in His glory when He should be the glorious Head of His
people and of the entire world. Moreover, whoever had
acted faithfully in this relation and taken Christ for his
portion should receive an hundredfold here below, and
besides life everlasting. Nevertheless one can judge nothing
beforehand as to the relative degree of glory of individuals
by their present position.
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Matthew 20
Chapter 20.
e kingdom was established by the sovereignty of
grace, and if God called the laborers at the eleventh hour,
He could reward them as He pleased. us the last should
be rst, and the rst last. On one side, then, there was the
encouragement of the reward of labors and sacrices; but,
on the other, if one lost sight of the principle of grace, with
a view to demanding this reward as of right, and so that
others should not have it, then here is the answer: “ Is it not
lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? “ Cheered
by the prospect of an unbounded reward, we are wholly
upon the principle of grace.
Having thus set forth the motives of labor in the
kingdom of heaven, after having explained the transition,
from obedience to the law (in order to have life) to christian
devotedness, the Lord puts clearly before the eyes of His
disciples the path here below which conducts to glory. e
Son of man should be rejected, delivered to the Gentiles,
and crucied; but here still the Lord shows His profound
and entire submission to His Father. His disciples shall
drink, it is true, of His cup (it is His answer to those who
asked of Him the rst places), but as to their reward, He
left it with His Father; He pretends not to assign it to
others. An entire dependence on His Father-such was
the position of Christ. He had not even, so to speak, the
patronage of His kingdom.
is desire of the two disciples was in itself only a
manifestation of the spirit of the esh; the Gentiles so
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acted. Jesus speaks of the Gentiles, for He recognizes
the remnant of Israel in His disciples, a remnant which,
apparently, lost its place in following Him. It is in glory
that their relation with Israel should be manifested; but
let him who would be great among them be a servant. It is
what the Son of man had done; He was come to minister,
and to give His life a ransom for many.
Since the transguration, the Lord acts according to
principles which go beyond the law, while recognizing
its force according to what God had said of it-principles
which assert a rejected Messiah, and show where it is
necessary to come, that is, to accompany Him without the
camp. It was the Son of man ministering and giving His
life as a ransom, and not the Messiah crowned with the
glory of Israel: they are chapters of transition.
27
e church
is not there. ey are the relationships of the Son of man,
rejected by the Jews and taking another place, but assuring,
to those who followed Him, their true position in glory
in the age to come, when the Jews shall be restored; but,
referring to the Father, being subject, and having only to
27 e transition from the position of Messiah to that of the Son
of man is very striking in this Gospel, and this last title has
always in view the future glory of Christ, though He was the
Son of man in humiliation already. e province of His rule,
and all the thought which is bound up with it, are of a far larger
extent than that which is bound up with the title of Messiah.
We have seen the church founded on the confession of the Son
of God, because there is found the life whereby it lives and the
principle of its relations with the Father; but, as Son of man,
Christ is the heir of man, and that according to the counsels
of God as regards man, and not only according to the extent
of the dominion of Adam. It is quite another idea and another
position from heir of David, whatever may have been His glory
in this character. (See Psa. 8)
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295
suer Himself. It was the Father who should glorify them;
then those who followed Him now should act anew on the
Jews, and that from the bosom of glory.
At the close of the chapter, the Holy Ghost resumes the
thread of history: Christ presents Himself for the last time
to the people, as such; and, owned as Messiah, the Son
of David, He acts in power, in favor of those who owned
Him, namely, two blind men; and in
(continued in chapter 21)
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Matthew 21
Chapter 21
a public testimony is borne to Him, as the Son of David;
then comes the judgment of all the people in His presence.
In the gospel according to John, the testimony is borne to
the glory of Jesus as Son of God, by the resurrection of
Lazarus; to His glory as Son of David, by His entrance into
Jerusalem, which is also recounted here; and to His glory
as Son of man, by the arrival of the Greeks, who ask to see
Him, which gave Him room to announce His death. But
here, in this gospel, which is occupied with the Messiah
and His relations with the Jews-relations interrupted by
their sins, and resumed later in glory-the question is only
of His messianic glory, to which God bears a testimony
according to the word of the prophet.
And, rst, it is the Lord who announced Himself; all is
at His disposal. He sends to seek the ass, and commands
His disciples to reply to those who asked why they acted
thus, “ e Lord has need of them.” Mounted on the ass,
He enters Jerusalem as a King, according to the prediction
of Zechariah. e multitudes salute Him, according to
Psalm 118, and announce to the excited city that it is Jesus,
the prophet of Nazareth, that they thus receive as King.
Jesus, having entered into the temple, executes
judgment, puries the house of God, denouncing the
iniquity which had deled it, and heals those who could
neither see nor walk. He recalls to mind how the Psalms
showed that the Lord would vindicate His rights by the
mouth of little children, and leaves the city in order to
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repair to Bethany. He enters as Lord, King and Judge; but
He is no more of Jerusalem. By the curse of the g-tree He
shows the condemnation of Israel, full of appearance, but
without fruit, and declares to the disciples, astonished at
that which had happened to the tree, that, if they had faith,
they should cause the mountain which was before them to
disappear, all the stability of the nation, which should be
cast among the peoples.
e next day, as they demanded by what authority He
did these things, He returns the point of the question
upon the conscience of those who addressed it to Him; a
conscience too little upright to answer, and which, hiding
itself under a pretended ignorance, left Him by that very
thing the liberty of refusing to answer them. Also, it was
evident that they would not avow that which they knew
well; to answer would have been impossible, and only a
sanction given to iniquity. Besides, the Lord sounds
their conscience in place of recognizing their authority;
it is what was then tting. He is the Messiah in spite of
them, and He judges, and thereupon He presents them,
commencing with themselves, with the true picture of
their conduct, worse than that of the publicans and of the
harlots. en He describes all the conduct of the nation
toward the messengers that God had sent them, even to
His own Son, and He makes them pronounce their own
sentence, which He supports by a citation of Psa. 118:22.
Finally, He announces to them, alluding to this Psalm, the
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consequence of stumbling on this stone, and the still more
terrible lot of those on whom it should fall in judgment.
28
28 is beautiful passage, from chapter 21:28, to 22:14, depicts
with astonishing exactness all the ways of the Lord with respect
to the Jews and their ways. e second invitation to the Jews,
after the death of Jesus Himself, is there presented. When God
could say in all its force,.. All things are ready,” it is then that
they killed the messengers, as the Lord predicts to them lower
down, chapter 23).
Matthew 22
299
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Matthew 22
Chapter 22.
Up to this point the Lord had taken them on their own
ground, as Jews, citing their own scriptures, and judging
their state, considering them as the vineyard of the Lord; it
was the Son of the King Himself who sought fruit in the
vineyard which He had entrusted to the husbandmen. But
there was another point of view, the activity of His Son; and
the kingdom of heaven is presented of the love of God and
His counsels on the subject as the marriage supper of the
King’s Son, to which they had been invited and would not
come: upon that their rejection and the call of the Gentiles,
but, consequent upon that call, the judgment of those who
had not really put on Christ. e nation, in general, had
then been judged according to its actual position, and in
view of the grace which it had rejected, grace which invited
it to the wedding of the King’s Son, where it was going to
be succeeded by poor wretches collected from all sides, but
received of God. e dierent classes of Israel now in their
blindness are presented for judgment. e partisans of the
law and of the rights of the Jews, join themselves with the
impiety which sold them to the Gentiles, and ask Him if
they should own this dominion of the Gentiles over the
people of God. e Lord leaves them where their iniquity
had placed them, demanding that they should render to
God His true service. After that came the Sadducees, who
are judged by the simple but powerful testimony of the
word. e Lord Jesus gives the great fundamental principles
of all the law and the prophets-principles which, moreover,
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should be realized only in the gospel and in the renewed
man. en He presents the enigma of His own position,
according to Psalm Ito: the Jews were entirely incapable of
resolving it. From that moment no man durst ask Him any
more questions.
Matthew 23
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Matthew 23
Chapter 23.
e Lord, while quite owning the judicial authority
of that which existed among the Jews, an authority based
upon the law, pronounces a judgment, leveled at all those
who administered that authority, insisting that the form
even of it should no more subsist in the midst of His own
and that the greatest among them should be servant, for
he who exalted himself should be abased.
29
What was yet
wanting to ll up the measure of the scribes and Pharisees
was to imbrue their hands in the blood of God’s witnesses,
from which they boasted that they were pure. ey were
about to be put to the proof, and all the blood shed should
be required of that generation. Finally, the Lord, moved
with aection for the city beloved of God, declares that
their house should be left desolate, and that those to whom
He was speaking should see Him no more till they would
say, “ Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord! “
according to Psa. 118 already cited twice: testimony of their
restoration in peace at the time of the coming of Christ
and of the preparation of their heart before His advent.
29 But this passage is remarkable in showing how little, in this
gospel, the Lord withdrew His own from the position of the
Jewish remnant. Among them this direction had no place; to
them there were neither scribes nor Pharisees nor Moses’ seat’
but he desires to view them in this gospel also, as a Jewish
remnant, having, as such, relationship with the nation.
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Matthew 24 and 25
THESE chapters constitute the most distinct and
denite portion of our Lord’s service as a prophet. Strictly
speaking, they only are the prophetic part of His ministry.
e previous part of the Lord’s history was the presentation
of Himself as the object of previous prophecy, to those who
were responsible for His reception as coming in by the door,
according to that which those oracles of God had spoken
concerning Him. is character and place of the Lord is
particularly the subject of this Gospel, which bears in all its
statements on the circumstances and condition in which the
Jews were placed by previous scriptures. It closes in a very
marked way in the previous chapter. e Lord had begun
His ministry with the blessings of the character suited to
His kingdom, revealed by the introduction of His Father’s
name. He closes on the continued and willful rejection of
Him by that people, by the woes justly denounced on them
for their hypocrisy and iniquity. (Compare Matt. 5, 7, and
23.) From one evil they claimed exemption, but in terms
which showed their birthright in sin; they had not killed
the prophets as their fathers had done. Jesus, assuming the
character of Lord, hereon declares that He would send
such unto them, and they should have an opportunity of
showing the dierence of their spirit and conduct; then
they would treat them in the same way, and, the measure
of iniquity being lled up to the brim, God would dash the
cup out of their hand to ll it with His own wrath to be
poured upon them. en the Lord apostrophizes Jerusalem,
for all this He speaks as the Lord; His beloved Jerusalem
Matthew 24 and 25
303
given up for the wickedness of them that dwelt therein,
but still loved in itself and abstractedly in her children, and
rejected with a “ till,” and not cast away as not foreknown, “
Ye shall not see me henceforth till ye say, Blessed be he that
cometh in the name of Jehovah.”
Here came in the proper place of prophecy, this people
and Jerusalem the special and immediate subject. is
will be more apparent if we see the character attached to
prophecy, as originally given and brought forth to light.
Previously, as His rejection of the Jewish people and the
glories of a better hope and of a higher character began
to dawn through the veil of their prejudiced hopes and
His humiliation, the Lord had given privately to His
disciples the intimation of His rejection and deliverance
to the Gentiles, and the resurrection which was to be the
foundation of a future state of things; but they understood
it not. Nor was it to be revealed till after His resurrection; it
might be instruction to them, but was no general prophecy
of what should happen concerning God’s inheritance,
though the center on which all those counsels hung. But
here the Lord resumed the prophetic character; I say “
resumed,” for so it was. Prophecy is not the law, but the
warning testimony of judgment when the law has been
departed from, and the turning the eye of them that believe
to better hopes, and foreshewn deliverance for the remnant.
It supposes (though it may be in dierent form or extent)
apostasy. erefore we have, “ beginning with Samuel and
all the prophets,” for then Ichabod was written.
e great denite presentation of the place, end, and
character, of prophecy is in Isa. 6 (however the world might
be aected by it), as to the great object of Jehovah’s care- the
vineyard of Jehovah of hosts (for the nations He suered to
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walk in their own ways). e whole head was sick and the
whole heart faint, from the crown of the head to the sole of
the foot it was wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores.
As to the vineyard it brought forth wild grapes, its wall
was to be broken down, it was to be laid waste. is was
the state of things as to the righteousness of that people
who formed the object of Jehovah’s care, the center of His
earthly plans, the place of Messiah’s visitation; but Jehovah
was unaltered in character and purpose: in character, and
therefore He must throw down; in purpose, and therefore
He would not cast away.
But His throne is now to be set up as that from which
prophecy was to ow, so it is, and His train lls the temple;
and a man, though of unclean lips, is sent with lips purged
by a coal from the altar, and then willing to go, but still
dwelling among a people of unclean lips, having seen what
the Lord was, the holy, holy, holy, Jehovah of hosts. His soul
lled with and aected by the contrast, but touched with
the coal, it is-” Here am I, send me “; and He said, Go; but
what was His message?-” Hear ye indeed, but understand
not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not; make the heart of
this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their
eyes lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears,
and understand with their heart, and convert and be healed
“; and this till the cities be waste without inhabitant; and
there was a great forsaking in the midst of the land. But
in it there shall be a tenth, the holy seed was to be the
substance thereof.
Now Jehovah had long patience-He sent prophets till
there was no remedy; He smote and cut them short; He
let them go captive and restored them again; so that the
land was lled, and the temple built; still the word ran
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305
on, though the prophets did not live forever. Jehovah had
long patience, till having yet one Son, He said, “it may be
they will reverence my Son “; round His head prophetic
testimony and present blessing closed for a crown of glory
and witness. e word of the Lord, and the works of the
Lord; the righteousness, and the patience, and the grace
alike, with the Father’s voice, testied who He was, but the
awful knell of God’s judgment still lled the unholy air of
that favored country-” Make the heart of this people fat.”
Now it was after long patience and marvelous love that
it really came out; the sentence of God’s judgment came
to the earth, for all the patience of love had been tried.
God had nothing more than His Son to be testied of. “
How often would I have gathered “ was now the word of
reluctantly departing lovingkindness and favor, but stored
in a heart from which it could not be abstracted, which
nothing could reach to alter. If sin could drive it in there
and shut it up, there it dwelt untouched in its own blessed
and essential perfectness: no sin or failure could enter there
to mar its perfectness or diminish its power. Such is God-
such must He be known to us in Christ.
If love and favor be driven back by sin, it is but to
separate it into the power of His own essential and
unmingled perfectness, and there retired to dwell on,
and delight in itself. Judgment shall make a way for it
to break forth only in its own unhindered excellency,
and unqualied and unparalyzed blessing. Such is God,
and such is the Lord’s way; but it was now only proved
by His long patience, that well spake the Holy Ghost by
Esaias, the prophet, to their fathers (Acts 28:26), for in
them was fullled his prophecy which said, “ By hearing
ye shall hear and shall not understand,” Matt. 13:14. For
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the people’s heart was waxed gross; and what Isaiah had
prophetically pronounced, when he saw His glory, was
now fullled, when He whose was the glory came; John
12:40, 41. is, known to the Lord, was parabolically
communicated in Matt. 13, for then His patience had not
had its perfect work; now it had: and God’s dereliction, His
going and returning to His place (Hos. 5:15), was publicly
announced, and their house left to desolation. en, on this
same footing again prophecy begins, whether the vineyard,
or (in closer judgment) the house itself left desolate; the
broad foundation is the same; the remnant understand,
believed, and are comforted. Nothing can be more solemn
than our blessed Master’s word at the close of the previous
chapter. How much does a little word from His mouth!
What depth and terribleness the gentlest often convey! It
was not in severest judgment: “ make not my Father’s house
a house of merchandise.” He had left it. It was their house:
what was it worth? goodly stones, which a poor heathen
would throw down. No self-exaltation-no harsh reproach-
His heart, the Lord’s heart, yearned over Jerusalem; but so
alas! it was. Terrible might be His judgment on the leaders
of this people, who caused them to err, but of them, of
the inhabitants of loved Jerusalem, He would only say in
tenderness and sorrow, yet how terrible; “ Your house is left
unto you desolate for … ” And He went out and departed
from the temple. ence came the prophecy. One’s heart
is little disposed to turn, from the grace which lled the
Lord’s, to the sad and needful sorrows and judgment which
were the consequence of the rejection of that grace; but it
was the Lord’s portion and our path, the path in God’s
counsels, to make even that a small thing.
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307
is temple, and the circumstances of it, were then
discussed by the Lord. e previous observations will have
shown how entirely Jewish in its character this discourse
is; how Jewish is the base on which it rests. It is addressed
to them, to whom all prophecy has its burden, the remnant
who listened to the word, and here the Jewish remnant.
ey might obey the voice of His servant, but they were
here walking in darkness, and seeing no light; for the Lord
had left the house, and heavenly and resurrection glory
was not yet brought in; nay they understood none of these
things, no-nor after the resurrection, till He opened their
understandings; “ they saw and believed, for as yet they
understood not the scriptures, that he must rise again from
the dead.”
is then is the position of those to whom this
instruction or prophecy was addressed: the Jews in a rejected
state, though not cast o-in the land-the house there but
their house, not God’s; disobeying and rejecting the Lord;
a remnant ignorant of a resurrection Savior,
30
entirely as
to the truth, but obeying the voice of God’s servant, but in
the dark as to what such a state of things would be-when,
or how, to look for His coming-what sign of it-where the
end of this state of things should be, and Messiah in glory
be on the earth, even amongst them and they in the midst
of, and connected with, though separate from, the body of
the Jewish nation, and they (I do not say all Israel as well
as the remnant who were obedient) all in the land together.
is state of things is most important, I might say
essential, to the right or any real understanding of these
chapters; and to the close of them the prophetic word
30 “ We thought that it had been He who should have redeemed
Israel.”
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proceeds on this earthly basis, though it may super-induce
other things. But it is the Lord Christ speaking as a prophet
raised up from among His brethren, on and from earth,
not as afterward in Paul’s epistle to them, and elsewhere, “
from heaven,” “ partakers of the heavenly calling.” It may
leave room for other things, as old prophecy did for the
gospel; these are not the ground of the prophecy. is it
is which makes the prophecy, while it might apply to the
then condition of the disciples and direct their spirits in
the details of present evil, have its force and weight, when
the remnant should be in the condition which the disciples
were then in, Christ only being gone; and here He spoke
only as a prophet, so that it was the same thing, and that
much more fully than when they were looking for heavenly
things, seeing they were to put o their tabernacles, not to
have “ esh saved,” but to suer in it, that they might be
conformed to Him, and suering reign with Him, having
a good conscience by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who
was gone into heaven; the God of all grace having called
them to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus.
e Lord does not therefore immediately answer them
as to the time, because it would aord direction in many
details then; its accomplishment is yet future, for the end
of the age is not yet come. e Jewish remnant were still in
His mind, those with whom He had identied Himself in
their earthly sorrow (though not with them only), of which
the Psalms are so full and blessed a declaration. And as
Isaiah’s prophecy had its accomplishment in the foreseen
coming of Messiah, though it had truth in principle then,
so Messiah’s prophecy has its accomplishment at the period
of the second coming and of the trouble preceding, though
it had truth of application, while Jerusalem lasted as to
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many of its principles then, and would have guided the
saints aright at the time, though it could not have fullled
the types it created.
e chapters are clearly divided into three portions:
the Jewish, Christian, and Gentile advent of the Lord, or,
His advent as applied to these three classes, as the apostle
designates them-the Jews, and Gentiles, and the church of
God. e rst portion, which is strictly Jewish in all its parts
and exclusively so, reaches down to chapter 24:44, then the
church, or Christian part, begins, which is continued in
dierent characters to chapter 25:30. Verses 31-46 are the
Gentiles.
Let me briey recapitulate the position of the prophecy.
Prophecy is the testimony of God’s character and purpose
upon the departure of those set in relationship with Himself
from the standing in which they were originally placed by
His revealed will and power. It condemns this departure,
recalls to the original position and gives the purpose, and
therefore object of hope, out of this state of ruin to the
believing remnant, sorrowing over the evil; but it does this
by showing
future incoming of blessing and glory in a new principle
of grace and purpose. It necessarily refers therefore to
Christ’s coming, for His is the glory, and by Him comes the
grace; but it always therefore testies of abiding apostasy,
because His coming is the proof of all previous failure,
whether He come in grace or judgment; and this comforts
and sustains the remnant under the failure. us Isaiah’s
prophecy” make the heart of this people fat “-was on their
departure from God; but it had, as we have seen (Matt. 13;
John 12; Acts 28), its accomplishment in the coming of the
Lord Jesus Christ. e Lord rst comes as the presented
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object of hope to the nation, fullling prophecy and doing
every attractive work of mercy, and speaking as man never
spake; but the heart of the people was fat. en as Lord, for
such He was, that Lord whose glory Isaiah had seen, and
whence the word came, which glory was the judgment of
their state, He gives them up, and, though He often would
have gathered them,
their house is left desolate. Here the prophecy met its
accomplishment, and “ this generation “ stands the witness
of its truth on the rejection of the Son; abidingly true has
it proved the heart of the people was fat. e rst coming
of Christ, under the inuence of which they still are, was
its fulllment, true as it always was. Our Lord then, on this
state of things, takes up the prophetic character which is
to have its consummation and fulllment in His second
coming; and hence (though there are many principles true
in mediate application, just as the dullness and fatness of
Israel’s heart in the former prophecy) the prophecy treats of
what is brought out in connection with the Lord’s second
coming, involving therefore not the Jews only, but the
church and the Gentile, but as to all at His second coming.
We have nothing then to look for here as fulllment, but
what takes place then.
e relinquished temple is the thesis-the Mount of
Olives, the place whence He was to depart, and where His
feet were to stand on His return, the suited place where
His communications to the remnant of what was to be
expected are given. I shall only very briey present, after
this introduction, what the chapters themselves present,
without framing any system. It appears to me far the most
wholesome way of inquiry; we know in part, I have seen no
system which I do not believe false or extremely decient.
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311
I repeat we know in part and yet all. ese two statements
show the form of our knowledge.
What precedes the coming of Christ is divided into two
parts, general and particular, at verses 14, t5; verses 5 and 6
stand by themselves as a warning-let no man deceive you-
be not troubled-the end is not yet-there would be false
Christs-and wars and rumors of wars; then the instruction.
We must remember Jews are the subjects of it, but Jews
owning Christ as a prophet, listening to Christ as a prophet,
after He has given up Jerusalem, as Messiah, as the Lord
had ceased to present Himself as the present object of
faith. Nation should rise up against nation (v. 7). ese
were the beginning of sorrows, by which name we may
describe this period, the beginning not the end. ey were to
be aicted and delivered up to the Gentiles for His name
sake, and be killed. is in the beginning of sorrows, evil
amongst many associated with them apparently, treachery,
coldness, false prophets, and many deceived, not yet false
Christs; Antichrist being not yet distinctly revealed as a
Jewish oppressor, and they (not he) should deliver up and
kill them; the hatred was to be from the nations-Gentiles.
At the same time whoever endured unto the end should
be saved. Further, as a great general fact, this gospel of the
kingdom would be preached in all the world, for a witness
to all the Gentiles, and the end of Jewish circumstances
would not come till then; then it would. Now whatever
analogy of principle there may be in the Lord’s dealings
(and I think there is), I believe strictly this is put in contrast
with what we call the gospel. e death and resurrection of
Christ could not be preached as the gospel before He was
crucied and risen (previous to that He death was man’s
sin, though it were God’s purpose); in the resurrection it
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could, because God had received it as atonement; but even
Peter preaches it as their sin, and speaks of His return on
their repentance, until further things came in. Stephen’s
death was the point of change as to this; but this gospel of
the kingdom was, that the kingdom of heaven was at hand,
that God was going to set up His kingdom, though from
heaven, among the Jews, in the person of His Son, even
the Lord Jesus Christ; and this was to be preached to the
Gentiles before He did it, for this would be the end, and
the Lord would, as He always does, send the testimony
before He did the fact. It is this gospel of the kingdom,
then, that is to be preached before the end comes of Jewish
circumstances to Jewish disciples, and this to the nations.
e cry to the virgins is the personal approach of Christ,
the Bridegroom of the bride.
From verse 15 we have a much more precise scene, a
local scene; we have the holy place, and Daniel, and Judaea,
and denite local circumstances, and prescribed conduct,
when the abomination of desolation was seen standing in
the holy place. “ He that readeth, let him understand.” en
those in Judaea were to ee to the mountains, for then shall
be great tribulation here when this idol dishonor is set up
in the holy place; no more testimony, for they are the days
of vengeance, in Jerusalem or Judaea; they are to ee to
the mountains; for the elect’s sake, however, these days of
tribulation shall be shortened. Isa. 65:9-22 will show who
these elect are. During this period there will not only be
false prophets, but false christs, present promised deliverers
from the great tribulation, “ Jacob’s trouble “; but the elect
were told beforehand; they were to pray, being Jews, that
their ight might not be on the sabbath.
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313
is was Jewish tribulation, from which the obedient
remnant were exempt (they ed), and in which there was
therefore no immediate testimony; not a period in which
they were delivering up the remnant to the Gentiles.
Nothing now was to be done. After this (v. 29) earthly
power was to be put out in its imperial, derivative, and
subordinate character, and the powers generally should be
shaken. en the sign of the Son of man would appear,
and the tribes of the land (and indeed every eye) should
see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven; and
next, after this, He would send and gather, by His power
and providence, the scattered remnant of Israel yet abroad
in the world. ese days of tribulation were shortened, that
esh might be saved-the only salvation spoken of in this
part of the chapter; and the taking would be as the taking
in the days of Noah in judgment, the left as Noah’s family
in mercy.
From verse 45 we have another scene, the place in which
the then disciples were really going to be set, put on the
ground of responsibility in which any would so stand who
were in it, when the Lord came-Who then is a faithful and
wise servant? ey were made rulers over his household.
We are the household of God, the Son’s house; meat was
to be given; the eect of faithfulness in this, reigning with
Christ when He comes, “ He shall make him ruler over all
his goods” (v. 47).
e apostasy of the church consists in saying in heart,
as settling itself here, “ my Lord delayeth his coming.”
And so it did. e eect shown in ruling as lords over
the fellowservants (hierarchical or clerical assumption in
the absence of Christ), beating instead of feeding, and
intercourse and communion with the world, eating and
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drinking with the drunken. A portion with hypocrites (for
they never lose the profession of servants) is adjudged to
them, the Lord of that servant coming. At this coming of
the Lord, the church will be viewed and brought into its
real aspect as regards those that make profession.
It is like ten virgins who went forth to meet the
Bridegroom; the original character of the instruction is
here maintained. e bride is not mentioned; the virgins
are Christians-the bride would be earthly Jerusalem.
e virgins are called to meet Him in His coming to the
marriage. But the bride is entirely omitted and passed
over; for as yet, till the Lord came, the bride though loved,
was nothing and nobody, hidden and lost, as it were, save
to Him who, though He tarried long, still loved her. e
virgins then, in whom we nd therefore the similitude of
the kingdom of heaven
31
again introduced, present the
professing church as to its character and position in grace,
as the talents do its service and gifts; of this we have to
note some simple but very important testimony.
First, the original character and calling of the church:
“they went forth to meet the bridegroom”; the condition
they were found to be in-” they all slumbered and slept.”
When the end was coming, the godly and ungodly were
found mixed together. Nor was this all: the godly had as
much lost sight of their calling and original character as
the mere professor, they all slumbered and slept. e sense
of the Bridegroom’s immediate approach they had lost;
31 e kingdom of heaven I believe to be the setting up of
Christ’s kingdom consequent upon His taking His place in
heaven.
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315
they became all insensible to this
32
while the Bridegroom
tarried.
Christ the Bridegroom tarried in His return to earth.
e church at large, gracious or merely professing, all lost
the present sense of this as their calling. Next, that which
awoke them-awoke the professing church-was the cry,
Behold the Bridegroom [cometh], go ye out to meet Him.
e original call of the church they were aroused to, and in
language which implied that, though not nominally, they
had practically sunk into that world, out of which they had
originally been called to meet Him: “ Go ye out to meet
him.” is then, and this only, is the cry which awakens the
church to its original position. In the next place, it nds
all sleeping, and in a situation out of which they were to
go to meet Him. Further, some time elapses before the
Bridegroom comes, after the cry, so as to prove who had
grace and who had not; for the eect of putting them in
this position was to try if they had grace, which could alone
sustain awakened life-giving position. e separation of
professors from the church who join with Him is revealed
to be the eect of the cry before the Lord comes at all. e
wise only are there to meet Him. ere cannot be a more
simple, or more important parable than this, if the force of
the words, by divine aid and teaching, be simply followed.
I believe the words, “ in which the Son of man cometh,”
chapter 25: 13, should be omitted. e term Son of man
being properly always of His earthly or Jewish coming
e next parable is not the position and character of
the church tried as ready to meet Him, but the service
32 We have thus the clear scriptural statement of what has
actually taken place, and God’s judgment of the state godly
men were in, men who had oil in their vessels with their lamps.
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done in His absence.
33
e Lord called His own servants
and gave them according to their several ability, and took
His journey. Grace, we shall see, made all the dierence
in character and acceptance, though gift might meet,
according to divine appointment, its appropriate reward,
being exercised through grace. ere are three things in the
parable. First, the talents conferred by Christ on His own
servants, which shows that they are not natural faculties
or worldly opportunities, but such as are peculiar to the
servants of Christ, as such, given on His departure; next,
these are conferred according to the competency or tness
of the vessel, “ a man is a chosen vessel “ who receives the
gifts, and there is the capacity of the vessel, as well as the
extent and character of the gift. e use of it was a dierent
thing, the one talent was given according to ability as well
as the ve; the giving according to ability proved the tness
of God’s appointment, and responsibility it may be in him
to whom it was given; but the just or any use of the talent
did not depend upon this. e possession of the talent
constituted the responsibility for its use, for even men do
not light a candle to put it under a bushel. at which led
to its use is another thing, not the recognition of man or
appointment through man; on the contrary, it is rested on
33 is is characteristic of both these parables:-they suppose the
knowledge of a Lord absent, of a Bridegroom coming, with
whose coming in love to the Jews they are familiar and take an
interest in. Consequently we nd in the Jewish part previous
signs, warnings, and what would happen, given to a remnant
wanting all these things in the midst of a careless nation, “
not desired “; to the church none, for they are supposed to
know and have their direction from a known but absent yet
returning Lord. In the Gentile judgment it is neither of these,
but a fresh testimony sent out, and they dealt with according
to the manner they had received His witnesses who bore it.
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317
something which is rst framed to condemn and exclude
that. e grace which used it is personal condence in the
character and acceptance of God; the grace is proved by, and
rests for its exhibition on, that condence in the Lord, which
uses the talent by virtue of its personal acquaintance with
and trust in His character; this is the thing characterizing
the dierence between the good and evil servants. He was
a good servant who acted on his personal condence in the
Lord’s character, a bad servant who did not. is absolutely
and pointedly excludes human appointment or recognition
as the ground of the use of the gift.
However the gift may be clearly recognized, and will
be by spiritual judgment after it is used, yet faithfulness
consists in using it in condence in the Lord’s character;
unfaithfulness in waiting for something else. It cannot be
personal grace thus characterized, if human appointment
or any appointment by man be waited for.
34
e points
marked as the consequence on the Lord’s return are two.
First, there is a large reward given in government, ruler over
many things. Secondly, actual personal association with
Christ in blessing, not being blessed under Him as ruled
over, but “ Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” It does not
seem that the energy and power of the Holy Ghost is taken
away, though the scene of its exercise may be dierent
(rule and joy instead of trading as a servant), save from
the unprotable servant, who is cast outside the light and
glory of the kingdom. Let us remember that faithfulness
consists in the use of a gift upon the ground of personal
34 Some running before they are sent, and having no gift, does
not prove that they who are sent should not run; rather the
contrary, these are the counteracting good. It is not, ought to
have a talent to run, but ought they, having it, to wait for man’s
sanction, or any sanction, before they run?
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individual condence in the character of the Lord as our
master; and that this is the evidence of grace; waiting for
anything else, of the want of it. e not using the talent
when he had it owed from positively false notions of
God, thoughts of evil, the absence of grace, and a principle
entirely condemned by the Lord as the proof of evil.
Lastly. We come to the Gentiles; hitherto it has been
instruction to a remnant on the earth, the Jews previous
to His coming; then how He would deal with Christians
upon His coming, they being caught up to meet Him, and
going in with Him to the marriage (to wit, with Jerusalem
and the Jews). Here we have what is consequent on His
coming, “ When the Son of man shall come in his glory,
then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory.” is shall
not be a passing act, but He shall then sit upon the throne
of His glory, the glory of the Son of man, for now He is
spoken of as coming as such to earth; not till then shall
He sit upon the throne of the Son of man’s glory, though
divine glory be ever His. en He shall not only come in
His glory, but He shall sit upon the throne of it, and the
nations, the Gentiles, as before the Jews and the church
are brought before Him. As to them it is in elect purpose
they are spared; the kingdom was prepared for them before
the foundation of the world; they have life eternal, though
as yet it is in earthly blessings; and the evidence of their
condition was in the way they had treated His brethren, a
distinct class from both sheep and goats (the former for that
reason not being called “ children,” that is, a title peculiar in
its fullness to this dispensation, “ there shall they be called
the children of the living God “). Further, we nd that the
judgment to which the goats are subjected is previous to,
and only one as yet prepared for, the devil and his angels.
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319
ere is no association here for the blessed with the
Lord in His own joy and fellowship-the rst-born among
many brethren, but merely the enjoyment of the prepared
kingdom by reason of the way in which they had treated
certain other persons whom the Lord calls brethren. is,
then, is the session of the Son of man in the throne of His
glory, all nations gathered before Him; and the one portion
adjudged to blessing in the kingdom prepared for them,
and possessing eternal life, judged according to the manner
in which they had treated the brethren, the messengers of
the kingdom; the rest, to the place prepared for the devil
and his angels.
us the Jews, the Christians, the Gentiles, are judged
as to the position in which the Lord nds them here
(Christians, however, actually meeting Him in His return).
e judgment is taken up at the close, and none of the
statements in many of the details are specically applicable
to any but those found ready or unready then, but the
principles would apply even according to that which we
have seen at the outset, concerning Isaiah’s prophecy. It
would always apply. It did so denitely for desolation on
the rejection of Messiah; so here the principles will apply
at any time. e time of real application and fulllment
is previous, at, and subsequent to, the personal coming
of the Lord; then the words directly lay hold, and the
description simply applies, and as all those to whom it
simply applies meet with present temporal judgment, so
those to whom it applies in principle are reserved for the
day when God shall judge the secrets of men’s hearts. So
was it with Isaiah’s “ make the heart of this people fat “; in
the case of blessing, there is a dierence, because all the
saints are to be then brought into the blessing. ere the
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320
long tarrying is mentioned, and the virgins are looked at as
a corporate representation of the professing church during
this tarrying, with the eects added not of the coming
but of the cry (for they were indeed to meet Him) in
rousing them for His approach, the cry being here, and the
immediate application therefore earthly as to the rest. is
special application at the close, when the judgment actually
reached, of what was true in principle all along, while
judgment did not reach, but which shall take place as to
them at the judgment, when God judges secrets, is nothing
more than we nd to be God’s ordinary way of dealing.
us the way in which any whom Jesus is not ashamed to
call brethren are treated would be ground of judgment in
the day when God shall judge the secrets of men’s hearts;
but it has an actual manifested accomplishment in the
judgment of the quick upon earth, instruction too and the
object of faith. I mention this because it is often a diculty,
while this is the usage of God in His application of His
word.
I have now gone through as simply as I could these
passages, deriving merely from the passage, according to that
given me, what the passage actually taught. us it seems to
me most is really communicated, and most progress made,
such as can be relied upon as sure; however our minds may
work under the inuence of the Spirit of God, and connect
many passages together for our own prot. And I pray the
Lord to bless it, simple as it is, to the edication of His
people, and to teach them in heart to watch and wait for
His appearing. Having heard Him announce “ Behold I
come quickly,” may they say in guileless truth by the Spirit,
“ Even so, come Lord Jesus,” separate in the power of the
Holy Ghost, and longing beyond all thought or human
Matthew 24 and 25
321
wish for that; and if He who is the Yea and the Amen of
every promise, says “ Yea, I am coming quickly, Amen! “
answer in the power of the same Spirit, the echo of the
Spirit in His heart from Him who says it, “ Yea, Come! “
and say Amen to grace as our only, constant, and sure hope
of being with Him. Amen.
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62880
Matthew 24 and 25
Chapters 24, 25.
e nation was judged, and its restoration foretold,
when its heart should be prepared to receive Him whom
God had sent; but the disciples were not yet instructed
in the circumstances which should take place in the
interval, nor was their heart separated from the glory of
the former order of things. is chapter brings us to the
communications of Christ on this subject, and furnishes
the warnings necessary to the faithful remnant.
e rst thing that Jesus announces to them is the
judgment of God upon that which existed at that time
before their eyes, and of which the disciples had such an
exalted idea. ere should not remain there one stone on
another. e Lord being seated on the mount of Olives,
His disciples come to Him. at which the Lord had said
to them suggested this question, or rather, these questions:
When will these things take place, namely, the destruction
of the temple? What will be the sign of y coming, and of
the end of the age?
We must remember, that the age for the disciples,
was not Christianity, but, on the contrary, the state of
Judaism, until the coming of the Messiah; so that these
things were connected in their mind. e Lord had spoken
of the destruction of the temple, which has more or less
connection with the same thought; nevertheless it is rather
the revelation which the Lord had made thereupon that
gave rise to the questions which had already pre-occupied
their mind.
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323
In His answer He does not touch upon the rst of these
questions, namely, the era of the destruction of the temple.
In fact that did not concern them; for that temple was as
nothing for them now in the eyes of the Lord. He considers
their position in two points of view, namely, the general
point of view, according to which they found themselves
in a position of witness; and the special point of view, when
the abomination of desolation would be at Jerusalem. e
rst extends to the end of the thirteenth verse; the second
from the fteenth verse to the twenty-eighth.
e rst thing that the Lord points out is, that the
ruin in which His departure was to leave Jerusalem would
give place to many false Christs, which would come in
His name. e disciples must not suer themselves to be
deceived by them. ere would be also wars and rumors
of wars,
35
but they must not be disturbed by them; these
things must take place, but the end would not be yet. For
nation would rise against nation, and kingdom against
kingdom, and there would be famines, and pestilences, and
earthquakes in divers places, and all these things would
only be the beginning of sorrows. Such is the outside, the
providential events of which they would have knowledge.
Such would be the state of the world, and what would
happen there in this time of waiting for the Lord and for
the end of the age; when the time would draw near, and
that those who should have intelligence must await His
coming on the earth and for the earth, a waiting which
identied itself with the interests of the Jews in a manner,
it is true, more or less clear, nevertheless according to God.
He speaks of His disciples as of the Jewish remnant; but,
35 Here commences, it seems to me, the bearing more properly
historical.
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though they were surrounded by Jewish circumstances, the
hatred against them, while having its source among the
Jews, would extend still further; they would be hated of all
the Gentiles for the name of Christ. ere would be also
treasons, many would be oended-false prophets among
those who pretended to have the same hopes, and the
excess of iniquity would chill many of them. But, whoever
endured unto the end should be saved. All this supposes the
disciples in Jewish relations; not that the testimony of God
was limited to that; but, whatever may have been elsewhere
the extent of the testimony, the Lord speaks here of those
who were connected with the hopes, the thoughts, and the
circumstances of the Jews. e testimony of the gospel of
the kingdom would be borne eectively in all the extent of
the habitable world to all the nations, to all the Gentiles.
It is not a question here of salvation and of the union of
the church in a single body with Christ, but of the gospel
of the kingdom: “ this gospel of the kingdom “ (the gospel
which Jesus preached to the Jews; not His death, which
was not a gospel to the Jews, for it was an eect of their
unbelief with regard to the gospel which He preached; but
the testimony that the kingdom was at hand) would be
announced to the Gentiles.
If the ground of all that abides, for the Christian, there
is a specialty which is proper to the testimony of John the
Baptist, of Christ on earth, and of the disciples in the latter
days.
is fourteenth verse is taken quite alone as a fact which
is to happen before the end of this age is come on earth.
Here then the Lord, though He may have given warnings
useful for His disciples, as Christians, in those days, takes
the same starting-point as they take in their questions, and
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325
returns to the point whither their thoughts tended, without
correcting anything as to this tendency. He interests
Himself as to the same things; He does not own, it is true,
the nation and the temple as they then existed; but He
does not seek to raise their hopes to heaven. He supposes
that their connections always subsist with the earth, with
Israel, but according to God; as a remnant, and as having
the testimony of God in the midst of all that. It is just what
happened during part of their life; then that was, as it were,
eclipsed by the church, but it will be fully accomplished in
the latter times, at the beginning of the travail of bringing
forth, which will introduce the end of the age.
erefore, at the fteenth verse, the Lord determines
the thing plainly by a date, or at least by an event which
is local, and which has a known relation with the end;
and here is the second part of His discourse, where all is
marked with precision. e abomination of desolation, of
which Daniel has spoken, will be placed in the holy place;
and here we must refer entirely to Daniel (“ whoso readeth,
let him understand “), that is to say, that this has reference
to what will happen at Jerusalem and in those countries,
in this locality denitely, and to nothing else, and that
in the latter days. When this will happen, the disciples,
instructed by the prophecy, are to ee. Here the hope is
entirely Jewish. It is evident that it is not for me to save my
life in ying from Jerusalem; that the aim of the Christian
is no more that esh should be saved, that is to say, that
his life here below should be spared. In a word, they are
Jews, having faith, but in Jewish circumstances, thoughts
and intelligence. ey were to pray to God that their ight
might not be on the Sabbath day, etc.
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326
Meanwhile, dear reader, see what tenderness, of God
in the midst of these scenes of horror, which, if the hand
of God was not extended in grace, should spare no esh!
See the majesty of the heavens, which deigns to think of
the time that He will provide for the ight of His poor
creatures and of the Sabbath which might shackle them!
But here there is a very important remark to make, which is
that the Lord says, Your ight, and When ye shall see, that
is to say, that, although the circumstances might alter, He
always regards His disciples under their Jewish character.
From the fteenth verse of chapter 24, it is evident that
the Lord addresses Himself to them as to the same as those
of whom the question is in the preceding verses: “ Take heed
that no one deceive you” (v. 4); “ when ye, therefore, shall see
“ (v. 15); that is, He views His disciples as Jewish disciples
in connection with the nation, as He had done towards
the nation itself in the preceding chapter, verse 37, where
He identies it with the nation in the latter days, “ Ye shall
not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that
cometh in the name of the Lord.” Nevertheless, there is in
the circumstances a suciently important dierence. He
supposes the death of many during the rst period without
date. When the abomination is there, it is a question of
saving one’s life. In these beginnings of sorrows, which
have no xed date, but which suppose Jewish disciples
in Palestine, betrayed by one another and hated by the
Gentiles, the hope of many is to be founded still more
upon the resurrection than upon the deliverance wrought
by the advent of the Messiah. e Psalms (which present to
my mind the relations with the Jews, of Christ considered
either as the just man, or as the King on Zion) speak
either of Himself prophetically, or of the faithful remnant,
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327
animated by His Spirit with more or less intelligence, and
of His circumstances in the latter days.
Now, the book of Psalms is divided into ve parts,
which treat each of a dierent subject. In the rst the hope
of resurrection is very frequently found there; in the others,
almost more; in all is seen the expectation of deliverance;
but in the rst this expectation is passed beyond which has
hardly place in the others. Now, from the beginning of the
second part, the Spirit of Christ, in the remnant, speaks
as having been forced to abandon Jerusalem, of which
the remembrance is precious to Him. He appeals from it
to God against the Gentiles in Psa. 42; and against the
ungodly Jews in Psa. 43.
It is very evident that the disciples, to whom Jesus
addressed Himself, while they had, at the moment of
His speaking with them, Jewish hopes, enjoyed at a later
period the hope of the resurrection, and more beyond; but
He speaks to them here according to their actual position
before Him, and, as Prophet, He declares to them what
concerned the faithful remnant of the people called to
bear testimony, as in the preceding chapter He had shown
them the fate of the nation. e disciples were those “ of
understanding,” of Dan. 11 and 12, who are called here
to understand that of which the intelligence is promised
them in those chapters.
e warnings for the time of testimony are then given to
the end of the thirteenth verse, and, having announced the
preaching of the gospel of the kingdom among all nations,
at least among all those of the prophetic (habitable) earth,
we have from the fteenth the instructions of Jesus for the
time of the last twelve hundred and sixty days. en will
the false Christs seduce, if it were possible, even the elect;
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328
but the coming of the Son of man will be like the lightning,
for where the carcass is, there, as the ight of the eagle, will
fall the judgment of God.
Here ends the second part, which treats of the great
tribulation at Jerusalem, and of the dangers which
accompany it even for the very elect, dangers to which the
advent of the Son of man puts an end. e circumstances
of that time, when it shall come, will furnish a date and
signs. Moreover, and as a general result, immediately after
the tribulation of those days, all the powers of heaven shall
be shaken; and then shall appear the sign of the Son of
man in heaven. Many warnings had been given to the
disciples, but no sign to the people on earth; it had even
been refused: the sign of the Son of man would now be in
heaven at His coming. e generation having been already
rejected, it would have been out of place to have given it
a sign; it was too late, for it was about to be judged: as
the tribes of the land (of Israel) shall mourn, according to
Zech. 12, and shall see the Lord come in the clouds of
heaven. Every eye shall see Him; but here I believe that
Jesus restricts Himself to Israel, I do not say to Jerusalem:
they are all the tribes of the land of Israel who are called to
mind here. But this will not be all: He will gather together
the elect
36
of this people from the four winds, from all the
countries where they will be scattered in those days. Two
things, as to the epoch, are here distinctly marked by the
Lord:
Firstly, the circumstances of which He has just been
speaking. When all these things shall come to pass,
36 See Isa. 65:22-a passage, however, which seems to conne
itself to the elect already in the country; here they are sought
from afar. I only quote it for the force of the word “ elect “ here.
Matthew 24 and 25
329
His coming and the end of the age will be at the door;
secondly, the actual generation of the Jews shall not pass
away till all these things should be accomplished. ere are
circumstances for them that understand. As to dates, if the
day or hour be inquired of, the Father alone knew them.
37
As to the generation, I doubt not but that the Lord
uses this expression morally, which is constantly done in
the word. “ He shall go to the generation of his fathers,
they shall never see light,” Psa. 49:19. “ A seed shall serve
him, it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation,”
Psa. 22:30. See specially Deut. 32, which precisely treats of
this subject, in verses 5 and 20.
If the day is not known save to the Father alone, that
accords, I think, with what is said in Psalm 110: “Sit thou
at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool.”
e Lord, who expects all here below as servant of His
Father, has received but this word at His mouth, “until.”
Nothing shall fail, no uncertainty in the events, not one
word that has proceeded out of His mouth shall fall to the
ground. As to the moment, it would be as in the days of
Noah; that is to say, a sudden judgment, and unexpected on
the earth; they should be overtaken by it, when they should
least expect it. Yet the Lord will know how to distinguish
them, and to leave those whom He should think worthy,
37 For my part, I believe that all the calculations that have
been made are without foundation. ere may be many very
interesting things in the works in which they are found, as I
have often found; but the calculations themselves are baseless.
I believe there have been analogous things, wherein the
principles of evil, which shall break out in the last days, have
been more or less developed; but as to the exact calculations,
they are based on a false principle, because these dates, in their
exact application, apply to the Jews of the last days.
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330
even though two men should be in the same eld, or two
women at the same mill.
It was then for the disciples, instructed beforehand,
to watch, for they did not know in what hour their Lord
would come.
But it may be asked, how it is that the Lord identies
His apostles with the rebellious Jews, who will be overtaken
by the judgment; and since the church is to ascend to Him
in the air, how can it happen that two shall be found in
the same eld in the day of the Son of man? It is true,
this will not happen for the church, as it is very certain that
it did not happen for the apostles to whom these words were
addressed; but in this discourse the Lord speaks to no one
individually, but to classes, to certain categories of people.
We have an evident proof of it in verse 39 of chapter 23
touching the Jews, and in verse 15 of chapter 24 touching
the disciples. “ When ye shall see the abomination of
desolation,” etc. It is certain that the disciples had never
seen it; it is even certain, from the book of Daniel, that it
refers to the last days. e comparison of the twenty-rst
verse with the commencement of chapter 12 of Daniel,
then the date attached to this event at the end of this last
chapter, demonstrate it with the plainest evidence.
us then, in the twenty-third chapter, as here, the Lord
speaks of certain classes of persons: and here, of the faithful
remnant of the Jews. It is true that those who composed
this faithful remnant at that time were in the enjoyment of
privileges far superior to the position here in question; but
the Lord is not speaking of this now. He is occupied with
the remnant, and He could speak to His apostles under
this aspect, because they were in that moment the remnant,
and put by the nation in the presence of the rejection of the
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331
Messiah, whatever may have been the superior privileges
which afterward they may have individually enjoyed.
All this supposes a gospel of the kingdom, specially
preached in the last times; as moreover it supposes persons
who will be persecuted for Christ’s name’s sake, but who,
at the same time, will be more or less identied with
Jewish hopes, who will even be of the Jewish remnant; and
I believe the word tells us so. I see, at the end of Isaiah
and of Daniel, chosen ones distinguished from the mass of
those who shall be spared; but they are Jews, they occupy
themselves with Jewish interests, and they will enjoy the
deliverance of this people and the blessings which will
result from it on earth. See Dan. 10; 11; 12 Isa. 65; 66 It
appears that some will be put to death, whether during the
period called the beginning of sorrows, or during the last
tribulation.
It is evident that these two classes will have part in
the rst resurrection; which is also what the Apocalypse,
chapter 20, shows clearly. Also, as a principle, this ought
to be suciently clear. We have said that the same thing is
repeatedly found in the Psalms, only much more (as least
as a hope) before the great tribulation of the last half-week.
But this changes not the destiny of the greater part of these
saints. It seems to me (but here I do not go father than that),
that those who have been at this epoch faithful witnesses,
but without being put to death, will be particularly
identied with the Lord Jesus, as King of the Jews upon
earth. ey will have been, according to the measure given
them, that which He Himself was upon earth; that is, a
witness in the midst of a people who rejected Him. Of
this the Psalms bear the imprint. Only we must add, as a
fact, the testimony of the kingdom to the Gentiles; for, if
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332
there is place for mercy, the Lord could not strike without
a testimony having been previously borne. Until now this
preaching has not been assigned to the remnant; it was
given only as a sign, as that which is to happen before the
end of the age comes, and the Son of man comes down
upon the earth; but it is not said that it should be the work
of the Jewish remnant. It is a sign which is given them.
Denitively we have the commencement of the sorrows,
and the counsels and warnings proper to this period; the
time of the great tribulation when the abomination of
desolation should be set up in the holy place, and the
special dangers of that terrible moment; the overthrowing
of all the powers of the heavens, the appearing of the Son
of man, and the gathering together of the Jews dispersed in
all the world. Or, if you will take the thing farther back, the
Jews are put aside, and the principles on which the relations
of God, whether with them or with the Gentiles, shall be
renewed, are in chaps. 14, 15; then in 16 the church; in 17
the glory of the advent of the Son of man; the position of
grace and lowliness that Christ took, and that His were to
take in the meantime, end of chapter 17, 18; and in general
all the principles of the kingdom established by faith, and
the ways of God in this respect, to the twenty-eighth verse
of chapter 20. It is in this part (and therefore I have made
this summary) that we have the individual portion of the
apostles, that is, at the end of chapter 19; then the judgment
of the nation, or if you will of that generation, in chapters
21 to 23; the exposition of all that concerned the remnant,
in chapter 24.
But this leads our divine Master to consider the remnant
under another aspect, that the disciples scarce understood
then, that is, its relations no longer with Israel and the
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333
hopes of this people, but with Himself; in other words,
to consider this remnant as charged with His service, as
the retinue of His joy, come forth to await His return, or
nally, as charged with His interests here below in His
absence. is is what follows from chap. 24:45, to 25:30.
In the rst case, it does but present the position and the
eect of delity during His absence, and the manner in
which unbelief would identify itself with the state of heart
which puts o the thought of His return. If, during the
absence of the Master, a true service is yielded by the wise
and faithful servant (it is not a question here of “good”)
who keeps his place to accomplish, in care bestowed upon
those who compose the household,
38
that which was
entrusted him in the house, blessed is that servant; at the
time of the return of the Master, he will be made ruler
over all His goods. Here this is a great principle of service
to which the apostles were called-true for their service in
Christianity, and applicable also for each of us in his place.
But the position and the principle only are laid down here.
If there was indelity, if the servant put o the thought of
the return of the Master, and went on his way with those
who made themselves drunken in the world, he should be
counted among the hypocrites and taken in an hour when
he least expected it.
38 We may remark here that the service refers to the house or
to those who compose the Master’s household, and the care
which ought to be bestowed on them. If it is to those who
formed the church, it is at least to them and to their service
in its Jewish character, whether as to a body, or in an interior
appropriated to the Lord, as this people was in the world. In
the parable of the virgins, it is the expectation of grace, the
state of those who went forth to meet Him. e third parable
is the activity of service with His goods.
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But the Lord pursues farther this general principle,
and brings us back to the kingdom of the heavens. At
that time here is that to which it would be like. It is not
here the church, properly so-called, for the Lord could not
present the church as the church in this manner; that is,
He could not, in presenting the church as such, compare
it to virgins who were in the attitude of waiting, as the
retinue of the marriage supper of the Lord, with a bride
quite dierent from the church, and the latter acting no
other part than that of the companions of the marriage
supper. But the state of the kingdom at this time may very
well be compared to such circumstances: in eect, when
the Lord will come as Son of man, to execute judgment
against the wicked servant, and against Israel, and to
receive Jerusalem and the Jewish people as His own, then
the kingdom of heaven might be regarded in this point of
view; there will be persons who will go out to meet Him;
there was that which represented the kingdom. It was not a
question of sowing, nor of buying elds, nor of separating
good sh; nor was it any more a question of the activity of
the kingdom, but of the conduct of those who, having been
called, were gone out to meet the Bridegroom. e matter
in hand here is not a bride, but the condition of those who
wait for the return of the Bridegroom.
39
And this is what
had become of it; the expectation of the Bridegroom was
lost: the virgins, at rst, had acted after this principle; they
could not abandon this position, however unfaithful they
might have been to that which they had taken.
39 I believe that if one absolutely wishes to introduce the bride
here (and the Lord does not) it is a question about Jerusalem
on earth.
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335
Here it will be asked, Does the Lord speak of the
church? Is it meant by that, Do these exhortations and
these parables apply to you who are members of it? I answer,
assuredly so. But the explanation of the word does not stop
here. Church is a word which is of all importance. If we
search out the use of it in the epistles, we shall see that it is
not found in those of Peter, and only accidentally in that of
James, and once in 3 John 3, in speaking of the conduct of
an individual here below. In the Apocalypse, it is a question
of particular churches but never of the church, save in the
expression “ e bride says, Come.” In a word, Paul alone
treats of this subject and employs this word, applying it to
the unity of the members of Christ, to one sole church, or
to one only body. Here we have: e kingdom of heaven shall
be like, etc.
e church presents always the idea of a body, on earth
during the period of her trial, but united to Christ on high;
entirely for Him alone, separated to be His, as a wife to
her husband. e kingdom of heaven supposes men on
the earth, the government of God exercised over a certain
state of things, the reign of heaven which continues the
course of government of things here below, although in
new circumstances; not in the same manner as in Israel:
a government limited in its application, which puts on a
particular form, until Christ comes, because He does not yet
judge; and this is what gives place, He having been rejected,
to the specialties contained in these parables. Nevertheless
all those who recognize the authority of Christ are here
under their responsibility. Perhaps, in certain cases, they are
the same persons as those who compose the church; but
they are looked at in another point of view.
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Here then the kingdom would be like virgins gone
forth to meet a bridegroom who comes to the house of his
bride. He supposes them gone forth; but alas! while the
bridegroom delays His coming, they sleep and are awakened
at midnight by this cry: “ Behold the bridegroom.” What
characterized the state of the kingdom, is, that all had
forgotten their vocation; it was not that there were no
faithful ones; the wise virgins had their oil in their vessels.
But all, wise or foolish in the kingdom, whether the sincere
and pious, or whether they deceived themselves, all had lost
the sense of their vocation. is great truth, the coming of
the Master, had its inuence; they are awakened, but to be
separated by the arrival and the judgment of the Master.
Time enough had been given for the trial of their state,
but it was no longer the time to get provided with oil. e
return of the Lord, as to our service, is always judgment,
and not grace. And here we see that it is not the church as
bride, for He takes us with Himself at His advent, as His
bride; crowning the work of His grace in power of life and
fullness of acceptance.
But we shall nd that the return of Christ here below,
His manifestation, is always matter of judgment and
responsibility for Christians as for others. Our rapture
whensoever it may come to pass (I am not discussing that
now) is always grace and full favor common to the whole
church. And it is because His return is judgment that He
adds “Watch”; for when He shall be there, it will no longer
be the time of grace.
In the rst parable we have the contrast between him
who served the master humbly, and the heart which said,
He delayeth His coming; in that of the virgins, the eect
of this delay which should eventually take place, an eect
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337
which should be manifested even with the faithful; namely,
that the kingdom should be characterized by the complete
forgetfulness of the Master’s return. However, the great
dierence was the possession of the oil of grace hidden in
the heart, the Spirit of God.
For, in fact, all this would be like a man who, going to a
distant country, trusts his goods to his servants, according
to their ability; then, after a long interval, he returns. at
is to say, the question is as to the delity of the servants,
when they are left (to outward appearance) to themselves,
and that during a long time, so that their heart is put to the
proof to see whether it is truly the Master’s, if they identify
themselves with His interests when there is no appearance
of His return; or if they forget Him, as Israel at Sinai,
who believed that it was all over with Moses. But here
pay attention, that it is not simply the fact of being ready
in grace, but the activity which condence in the Lord
inspires, the activity of service in love of persons identied
with the interests of Christ, seeking but that, and seeking
it with the zeal imparted by that love, not in His presence
directed by His eye, but in His absence; in the intelligence
and activity which the Spirit gives, and with a knowledge
of His thoughts suciently intimate to be able to act in
His absence. e servants are left to themselves; I do not
mean by this that they can do these things without grace.
e contrary is suciently demonstrated by the case of the
wicked servant. But they are placed under responsibility;
their condition is put to the trial; all that the Master does
is to trust His goods to them. We shall see what they are by
the result. Moreover, the question here is not of the moral
conduct of the servant, as in the rst parable (chap. 24:45),
nor of delity to a position in which he was actually placed;
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but of intelligence, of activity, of the good-will of a servant,
who has for his spring of action nothing but the mark of
condence which His Master gives him in committing
His goods to him.
40
Let us say a few words more on the parable of the
talents. Here the servant is called “ good and faithful.” It
is that which occurs during the absence of Christ. He has
delivered His goods to His servants; if they have understood
His grace, if they have been touched by this mark of His
condence, they will have labored with that which was
given them, or else they will have wronged the character of
their Master, not to have had an entire condence in Him.
ere was only faithfulness, it is true, in the conduct of the
two who had traded; for, why commit goods to them, if it
was not to improve them? But the Lord keeps account of
it; what He had conded was but a little thing in His eyes;
but they had known Him and had been faithful. ere was
but one heart between Him and them, and now, at His
40 e dierence between this parable and Luke 19, which
in the main is the same, is, that there the principle of man’s
responsibility is brought much more forward; here, the
sovereignty and the wisdom of the Master. ere are other
things which pertain also to the character of this Gospel, but
that is the principal. In Luke each receives cities according to
his work; here, all enter into their Master’s joy. at is necessary
where individual responsibility is in question. What was
important here was to show that disciples left as Jews would
be in the same joy as their Master, when He should return in
glory as Son of man, being no longer a Jew, though fullling
the promises made to the fathers. But His servants should be
in the same position as Himself, not as He had left them when
He went away, and His joy would be the glory. Yet it would
be found also in accomplishing His promises to His people,
however it might have been. But the question was not exactly
about possessing cities.
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339
return, they must enter into His joy; one heart in service,
and one heart in joy. Also, “ many things “ were conded to
them in His kingdom at the hour of His glory.
It is a sweet picture; the heart of the Lord trusts in them
for His glory in His absence, and their hearts trust in Him
for the result; and at His return their hearts are united in
the joy. e heart of a servant on one side, and that of a
Master on the other, doubtless, yet of a Master one-hearted
with them, whose joy was to bless them, and to extend the
sphere of their condence according to the glory which He
will have then acquired. As to His joy, they are to share it.
e third servant does not lose the inheritance only; he is
cast outside; he had never known his Master. is is what
was wanting to him. e circumstances of the service might
be the means of proving it, but there was the ground of the
aair. Alas! for the details; it is that which happens too
often to real Christians, and there is always the history of
our failures in our service-we have not known the Master.
Condence in Him was wanting; now, can one know Him
without conding in Him? Nevertheless, to have to do
with Christ takes away even the intelligence of ordinary
duty from those who do not love Him, because the heart is
soured by the consciousness of and only regards Jesus as a
severe judge. He will have acted toward us according to our
faith. Alas, how little it is! but at least the Master is good.
In these three parables we see the history of what
occurs as regards those who profess to be His, during
His absence and at the time of His return, with respect
to their responsibility. Next, I will only add here, that I do
not believe that these three parables can be applied to the
special testimony of the kingdom which will be borne at the
end. e rst only speaks of the charge and responsibility
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in the house towards the people whom the Master had
left there. e second does not at all speak of this activity
of grace, but of the condition of persons already called to
wait for the Lord, the Bridegroom who was to come. e
third speaks of those to whom the Lord delivers His gifts
when He goes away, telling them that He will return after
a long interval: then they will enter into the joy of their
Master Himself. is last is not a likening of the kingdom
of heaven, because it is not a state of things, a complete
whole, the object of the care or of the judgments of God;
but an individual responsibility, according to that which had
been entrusted to each, and in which each also will receive
according to what he had done under this responsibility,
and according to the condence that his Master had in
him, and that which he himself had in the goodness of his
Master.
ere is no more a question here of the Jews in the latter
days, at least in these two last parables; in the last, above
all, this is evident; for it is about those to whom Christ
entrusted His goods on His departure, and during the long
interval which elapses before His return. As to the second,
it is a likening of the kingdom of heaven; and the Jews
will not go out with intelligence to meet the Lord, nor
afterward slumber in the midst of aiction, forgetting-
even the wise-that He may come. Such is at least what
it seems to me to be, and its connection with the parable
that follows conrms this thought. at there is something
analogous, in certain respects, I believe; that is, there will be
those of greater intelligence, who will be morally separated
from the others, and who will understand. But I do not
think that the conditions of the parable can be coherently
applied to them. eir state had already been the subject
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341
of the Lord’s instructions, in speaking of Jerusalem and of
the latter days.
We come now to the third part of the discourse: the Lord
arrived. is is what our precious Master announces. When
the Son of man
41
(for it is always in this character that He
is presented, when He speaks denitely of His presence
here, and not merely in that of Messiah, a title in which He
had been rejected), when the Son of man, I say, shall come
in His glory,
42
it will not be merely an instantaneous act of
appearing. “ He will sit upon the throne of his glory “; there
will be something permanent there; “ and before him shall
be gathered all the nations, and he shall separate them, as a
shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats.” e Gentiles
will be thus judged. I do not believe that it is necessary to
prove at greater length that what is called the last judgment
is not the question here. e Son of man is returned in His
glory; He is not sitting on the great white throne, from
whose face the heavens and the earth ee away; Rev. 20:11.
He is King now; He is about to reign, and not to give up
the kingdom. He judges only the living Gentiles, for here
there is no question of resurrection. He judges them on
a principle inapplicable to the immense majority of those
41 Perhaps I have not suciently brought out this distinction
as Messiah, He came into the midst of the Jews to accomplish
the promises made to the fathers, to the family of David, and
to the Jews therein; but later on He takes the kingdom in all
the extent of His rights as Son of man, to whom the Father
had subjected all things. e transition from the one of these
positions to the other is often perceptible in the gospel.
42 All the verses, from verse 31 of chapter 24 to verse 31 of chapter
25, are a parenthesis, and contain moral instructions, based
upon preceding revelations: the history, or the continuation of
the prophecy, is resumed at verse 31, “ When the Son of man
shall come,” etc.
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who will appear when God will judge the secrets of the
heart; namely, according to the manner in which they shall
have received certain messengers of Christ whom He calls
His brethren. It is clear this does not apply to those who
have lived in paganism before Christ, nor to the immense
majority of those who have lived between His advent and
His death. In a word, it is Christ who, as King here below,
judges the Gentiles that shall be then on the earth-the
nations.
Let us observe by the way here His tenderness to the
Jewish nation. We have trouble to nd the judgment of
this nation in these chapters!
43
He speaks indeed of the
end of the age, but rather of tribulation than of judgment,
of shortening those days for His elect. At His appearing
all the tribes of the earth mourn, and He gathers together
the elect (Jews) from the four winds. ere is chastisement,
it is true, but it terminates in blessing: the heart of Christ
is busied with the remnant. He had said to the Jews, “ Ye
shall not see me henceforth until ye shall say, Blessed is
he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” His heart turns
in blessing towards the chosen people. Ungodly Jerusalem
had lled His eyes with tears, but here He puts an end
to her chastisement. ere is one who has known to say, “
43 In Luke, which is not so much occupied with the Jews, the
Lord shows clearly the judgment which will come on the
nation and which He Himself will execute (Luke 19:27). e
truth, as a warning, had been already given in this Gospel,
chapter 21: 44.
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343
How long? “
44
Compare Psa. 74:9. e fact is, that the gifts
and calling of God are without repentance, that is to say,
that God does not change in His counsels with Israel. “
In measure, when it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with
it; he stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind.”
44 It is not that He indicates the day. As Jehovah had said to the Lord,
“ Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool
“; so the Lord said, “ Ye shall not see me henceforth until,” etc. e
repentance of the Jews is for His heart the sign that He can see them
again and that they also can see Him again. Peter gives them the
same sign, in Acts 3. “ Be converted... so that the times of refreshing
may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send Jesus
Christ.”We see here the importance of the repentance of the Jews as
a nation, for thousands since that time have repented as individuals.
is repentance is to have respect to the sent One of God, for it is
to be repentance for the sin which has caused their ruin and their
rejection. ey will say, “ Blessed is He that cometh! “ a word which
follows these, “ e stone which the builders rejected is become the
head-stone of the corner. is is Jehovah’s doing, it is marvelous in
our eyes,” Psa. 118. is explains also why the Lord, at His coming,
has yet a great deal to do to place the Jews in full peace and prosperity,
according to the gure of Solomon. is is because He takes up
the Jews where He left them, not such as they were in the days of
Solomon, or onward to the captivity of Babylon as with Judah. But
He can identify Himself with them; this is what He could not do at
His rst coming, because they would not. He had besides other things
to accomplish according to the counsels of God. Now, when they have
repented of their last national fault, and they say, “ Blessed is He that
cometh,” He can undertake their cause; and this is what He does, and
it is not a small thing. e indignation will have ceased; but the thing
is to put the remnant-nation in the possession of all their privileges
and all their country. It is the work of Messiah when He is there, and
of none other. Zechariah, Joel, Isaiah, and Jeremiah, speak of these
things. ere is then the action of the word of God by the Spirit, on
the hearts of the Jews, as Jews, before the appearing of Jesus, which
action will leave them Jews; and on the other hand, the acts of power,
He having recognized the nation, to put them in possession of all
their privileges after the appearing. Read Isaiah 50 and 51 for the rst
of these things and the transition. See Psa. 42 to 49, and Zech. 9. e
moment of transition is found in chapter 12. See also Jer. 51:20; Isa.
41:15, 16; Mic. 4:13; 5 Isa. 40:10-14.
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Read the whole passage, Isa. 27:6-9; for “ this is all the fruit
to take away his sin.”
Will there then be no cutting o? Not in the absolute
sense. is is what will happen, as may be seen in the last
chapters of Isaiah and elsewhere (compare the end of Zech.
13); the majority of the nation will join itself to the Gentiles
and will be idolatrous. e unclean spirit which had gone
out will return with seven other spirits more wicked than
himself, and the last state of that generation shall be worse
than the rst. ey will be joined with Antichrist, and will
receive him who will come in his own name. ey will thus
be the cruel nation (and not the godly or holy nation) of
Psa. 43, and they will perish with the apostate Gentiles.
e indignation and the chastisement having, along with
the testimony of God, separated the remnant, they will no
more be counted as the nation, and He will “ make of a
remnant a strong nation.”
Where then, in that which the Lord says here, is found
positive judgment? It is contained, almost concealed, in
these words: “ For wheresoever the carcass is, there will
the eagles be gathered “; a passage which makes allusion,
I think, to an expression of the book of Job 39:30, and
treats the Jews, who have thus united themselves with the
enemies of God, as lost and dead, without wishing to name
them anew. It is but a corpse united with the Gentiles,
who, haughty as they are, will be judged on earth; for as
it is said elsewhere of Babylon: “ Strong is the Lord God
who judgeth her,” likewise strong is He who judgeth them,
however they may have despised Him.
Here, in order to make the application of the passage
precise, Christ does not merely come, but it is told us that,
when He will come, He will sit upon the throne of His
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345
glory; whilst it will be as lightning that He will come to
put an end to the tribulation and the desolation which the
abomination has caused. He had set the faithful servant
over all His goods: those who have their portion with the
hypocrites, the wicked and slothful servants have been cast
outside when they waited not for Him; but here Jesus takes
His place upon His throne. ere is no more a question nor
a doubt about His rights nor about the submission of all to
the ends of the earth. He is now “ the King “ (v. 34).
ere are in this scene three classes of persons: the
goats, the sheep, and His brethren. e judgment of the
two rst classes depends on their conduct toward the third.
To have done these things to one of His brethren is to
have done them to Himself; not to have done them to one
of the least of these is not to have done them to Himself.
e “ brethren,” I have no doubt, will be the remnant who
will have preached the gospel of the kingdom among the
Gentiles; the reception given to those messengers decides
the lot of those who appear now in judgment. No more
do I doubt that they are Jews who will bear this testimony,
and whom Jesus calls His brethren, at this time; as those
to whom He spoke, and that, after His resurrection, He
calls His brethren, according to Psa. 22 I know very well
that the Gentiles were grafted in later, but the Lord speaks
according to that which resulted already from the fact that
the disciples followed Him at that time rejected; and He
employs this expression to mark those who among the
Jews should be in the latter days in a kindred position
of testimony. In principle, the disciples might apply it to
themselves, and the Lord would have them know well that
one day He should be King, and all the Gentiles should
be forced to appear in judgment before Him, the rejected
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Messiah, and that they should enjoy all that which the
Jews hoped as to the glory of their Messiah.
e brethren of Jesus, according to the constant language
of the passages where this expression is employed, are the
believing Jews, the remnant that believed in the Messiah
(it is clear that all the Gentile believers have been admitted
to the same privilege); but in this passage Jesus occupies
Himself with those who surrounded Him, to encourage
and direct them. As King He judges on earth. ose among
the Gentiles who received well the brethren of Jesus enjoy,
as blessed of the Father, the kingdom He had prepared for
them from the foundation of the world; having received
the gospel of the kingdom, they enjoy the eect of their
faith, namely, the kingdom itself. ose who preached it,
having been in the position of Jesus in testimony, will be
recognized as His brethren in the blessing. But He is now
King come on earth, so that His brethren are recognized
here below; those put to death will have part in the rst
resurrection, but such is not the subject treated of here.
e King is on earth, the nations on earth; so that there
is nothing which can make it supposed that the brethren
spoken of here are of heaven.
45
ere will be those, but
here it appears to me that they are rather the messengers
45 ere will be heavenly brethren, our hope and joy: if men
will insist on the idea that it is they who are in question here, I
contest it not. I express my conviction, formed on the study of
all the chapter, and of all the Gospel itself, with the instructions
which refer to it; but since there is but the word brethren
here, and we all admit that the members of the church bear
this name in principle, and that thus it depends on spiritual
discernment to apply it, each will judge of it according to what
is given him; it is not that I doubt; but I do not insist on the
thing in comparison with others. See the last chapter.
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347
of the kingdom, who have been preserved in spite of all the
diculties of the time.
is kingdom is in the counsels of the Father from the
foundation of the world; the church is chosen to be the
spouse of Christ before the foundation of the world. e
sheep are not called children, but only blessed of the Father.
ey enjoy eternal life, as those who refused to receive the
brethren suer everlasting pains. It is the nal judgment
of the Gentiles who will be on earth when Christ shall
have established His throne there. Once more, it is not a
question here of the resurrection.
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62881
Matthew 26 and 27
Chapters 26, 27.
After having given us the future prospect of the remnant
in all respects, the Spirit resumes the history of the events,
and presents us with the recital, at once painful and
touching, but for us innitely precious, of the suerings
and of the resurrection of the Savior. I do not think, dear
brethren, of entering into many details of these chapters,
because that which is here demanded is adoration, is the
heart, rather than exegesis. I will only point out some
particular points which belong to the character of this
Gospel. And, rst, some words on what the Lord says
in giving the cup. It is good to remember that we eat the
given body of Christ. One with Him in His glorious state,
it is not of that we partake in the supper. Enjoying vitally
this position innitely exalted, we remember the suerings
which have purchased it for us; our hearts, our consciences,
our souls, are nourished with the broken body; it is to Jesus
dead that our thoughts recur, and to a love more powerful
than death. If the body had not been broken, as Gentiles
we should even have remained strangers as regards the
promises, and sinners destitute of all hope.
A living Messiah was the crown of glory for the Jews;
but, if He is lifted up from the earth, He draws all men. His
broken body is the door for sinners from the Gentiles. On
this the heart of the Christian is nourished, not merely as
on manna come down from heaven, which typies Jesus, a
man upon earth, nor on Jesus in the heavens (where we are
one with Him)-it is there the hidden manna; but on this
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349
devoted victim of propitiation which I see brought to the
altar, and there sacriced, slain for us-a victim full of love
and of devotedness.
I pause before this mysterious scene, where He all
alone (for no man could be there save to bend his head
and adore) where the victim of propitiation, the man Jesus,
presents Himself before the face of Him who, in His
oended majesty, comes out to take cognizance of sin, in
order that we might nd on the tracks of the righteousness
of God, which has burst forth and is accomplished,
nothing but an innite and immutable love: the love of
the Father, enhanced by the accomplishment of the eternal
righteousness to His glory. It is then the precious Savior,
humbled to death, that we have here, His body given (and
one could not go lower down), and His blood shed out of
His body. In that manifestly it is not a question of Jesus,
such as He is at the present time; for He is gloried. is
natural life He has left for us. He only presents it to God
as a thing already given elsewhere; but He speaks here
of a double eect of this blood which He has shed; rst,
He speaks of it as the foundation, or at least the seal, of
the new covenant; and, secondly, as the foundation of the
remission of the sins of many. at is, the basis of the new
covenant is now laid, and, moreover, it is not a question of
an act which relates to Jesus only to show His obedience:
this blood is ecacious for the sins of others. at does
not merely secure new privileges, which one enjoys as a
Christian, but procures the pardon of the sins of many of
the Jews-not only so, but, in a general manner, of many. As
to the new covenant, I will say some words here.
e old covenant, it is clear, is the covenant made with
the Jews at Sinai. e Gentiles are not there for anything.
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e new one refers to the old; it will be established really
with Judah and Israel, according to the prophecy of
Jeremiah (chap. 31:31-34). What then have we to do with
the new alliance, we other Gentiles, may we ask ourselves?
is is the answer. It is clear that the covenant itself treats
with the Jews and with Israel, but upon principles of grace,
and based upon blood of perfect ecacy before God. Now,
for the moment, Israel is put aside as a nation. It enjoys no
covenant.
What then is the state of things with respect to the
covenant? It is that the Mediator of the covenant has shed
His blood, and thus the basis of the covenant is laid: it is
conrmed and established immutable before God. Christ
is ascended on high, and we are one with Him, enjoying
all the eect which is essentially attached to His person
and to His position. We have the blood of the covenant.
ose who are called to it exercise the ministry of the new
covenant. Our position is to be united with the Mediator
of the new covenant, and to enjoy all the privileges which
He enjoys Himself, as having it established in His blood;
though the covenant is not formed with us, it is established
in Him before God, and we, we are in Him here below.
What is the consequence of it? We drink of blood. If a
Jew had drunk of blood under old covenant, it was death:
could a man be nourished on death? It is the fruit of sin, it
is his condemnation, it is the wrath of God, as the blood
in the body was the life; and a Jew had no right to that.
But Christ has suered death. And can the Christian be
nourished on death? Yes; it is salvation, the death of sin, the
innite proof of love. It is his life, the peace of his soul, the
deliverance from sin, before God. What a dierence! We
drink of His blood, the proof of salvation and of grace, and
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the source of life. Nevertheless it is Jesus dead, of whom it
is a question here.
ere is in Heb. 13:20, another expression to which
allusion may be made: God has “ brought again from the
dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep,
through the blood of the everlasting covenant.” is
shows us that Christ Himself is above, and has been raised
according to the ecaciousness of the blood that He has
shed to satisfy the glory of God. He, the only and beloved
Son of the Father, charged Himself with our responsibility
and our sins, and thus with the glory of God in this respect;
and if this glory had not been completely satised, He
could not evidently either rise again, or appear before Him
whose majesty required that nothing should fail to the
work. But He accomplished this work gloriously, and in
that the Son of man has been gloried, and God gloried in
Him; and He is ascended on high, not only as Son of God,
but according to the ecaciousness of His work, in virtue
of which He appears before the Father, the everlasting
covenant being thus established in His blood. e question
here is not of an old or a new covenant, which refers to
particular circumstances, but of the intrinsic and essential
worth of the blood of Christ. But perhaps I go too far away
from our Gospel; I allow myself to be drawn away by the
importance of the subject, and also by the precious worth
and glory of the work of Him who has so much loved us.
I return now to the more humble precincts of my labor.
We see here that the Spirit declares the value of the blood
in a general way; it is shed for many for the remission
of sins. e Gospel which treats of the kingdom, and of
the Messiah in the Jewish point of view, must necessarily
show that the death of Christ had another aspect. In Luke,
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where this distinction was not obligatory, because of the
non-Jewish character of his Gospel, it is said: “ My blood
which is shed for you.” We have then the blood of the new
covenant and the remission of sins. e disciples were to
drink of it, as they were also to eat of His given body. Such
is their portion: to be nourished on the death of Jesus, and
to show it till He come.
Until then, He would drink no more with them of the
fruit of the vine. ey would be nourished on Him, but He
would not be nourished with them. e fruit of the vine
is the sign of social joy, “ wine which cheereth the heart
of God and man,” which they continually sprinkled in the
burnt-oerings and the peace-oerings, that is to say, of
a sweet savor. (See Num. 15:5, 7, 10 where the question
is not of oering for sin.) Now, of this fruit of the vine
He would drink no more, whilst His disciples should
drink abundantly of His death, the true drink, but a drink
of separation from sin, and of Christ also, as regards His
personal presence; the heavens must receive Him until the
time of restitution of all things of which the prophets had
spoken. us His social life with His disciples here below
was closed; it would no more even be renewed after the
same manner. ey would enter spiritually into the power
of His death, and would be one day anew with Him in joy
in the kingdom of His Father.
In Luke, this is expressed in a manner a little dierent.
It is said: “ I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until
the kingdom of God shall come “; and of the passover: “
I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fullled in the
kingdom of God.” Here the things are much more left in
general forms, because it is not occupied with the order
of the dispensations of God on earth, but with the moral
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353
principles which are bound up with the introduction in
grace of the new man
In Matt. 26:53 we have a circumstance which belongs
particularly to this Gospel; it was just the right of Jesus, as
Messiah, the Son of God, to have angels at His disposal.
In chapter 27: 25 we have the solemn and frightful
execration which this poor blinded people pronounces
on itself, and which still weighs upon it to this day-an
execration which will nevertheless be blotted out by grace,
and the power of this same blood which they shed in their
blindness, and which refers specially to the subject of this
Gospel: “ His blood be on us, and on our children!” Terrible
words! O what then the heart of blinded man! eir entire
apostasy from their position is more plainly delineated in
John, who, besides, always presents them thus, “We have
no king but Caesar,” say they. Here it is their chastisement,
as a nation, from the hand of God, which they invoke upon
their head. ey are owned in chastisement. Compare Isa.
40.
If the reader compare the account Luke gives us of
this moment so solemn to us all, he will nd that there
they are the moral circumstances which are related; here,
those which refer to the degradation of the Messiah. e
daughters of Jerusalem lament over Him; His prayer
for His murderers, the conversion of the thief are found
in Luke. If we examine John, we nd the details of the
suerings omitted. e Spirit has there kept that which
brings out the dignity of Him who traversed in grace, and
according to the glory of His person, whatever might be
otherwise His humiliation, those painful but precious
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moments,
46
precious for the present, as well as for eternity;
for it is with the glory of His person, as Son of God, that
the Gospel of John is specially occupied.
I will not pause longer on these circumstances, but I
invite my brethren to meditate upon them. e more we
are penetrated with them, the more also our poor and
feeble hearts will appreciate the Savior whom we love,
but whom no one knows as He is worthy of being known.
ere are yet, in this chapter 27, the circumstances of
verses 52, 53; circumstances important in this respect, that
they bear testimony to the manner in which the Spirit of
God treats Jerusalem, as being the holy city, when it is
completely abandoned as regards the judgment of God. It
may be forgotten for a moment, trampled under the feet of
the Gentiles; but if the eye of God takes cognizance of it,
in His eyes it is ever the holy city. e bodies of the saints
come out of their graves after the resurrection of Jesus, and
enter into the holy city. e death and resurrection of Jesus
had abolished for heaven the middle wall of’ partition; but
this does not hinder it (though, as regards His government,
God had given up to chastisement the holy city, because
it was not holy) from always keeping in His eyes that
position; for He has chosen Jerusalem, and He will not
46 ere is not what is found in Matt. 26:37-45, nor verse
67, etc., nor chapter 27:46, nor verses 39-44, or the parallel
passages in Mark and Luke. In place of that, we have John
18:11, 4-9; 19:28, 30, or in place of “ expired,” Mark 15:37,
we have “ delivered up his Spirit,” John 19:30; it was the act
which He did (according to John 10:18), knowing that all was
nished.Compare also chapter 19:7, 8, and the character of all
the discourses of the Lord, whether before the high priest, or
before Pontius Pilate, in the two Gospels.
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repent of it. e same thing is seen in Daniel (compare
especially chapter 9): faith thinks and speaks always thus.
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62882
Matthew 28
Chapter 28.
We have in this chapter the account of the service
which the angel renders to the Messiah, as also some
remarkable circumstances to point out. e evangelist in
no way occupies himself with the greater part of the details
of the forty days that ran out after the resurrection. Each
Gospel is the deposit of what refers to a special aim of the
Holy Spirit, for the glory of Christ is diverse.
e only thing recounted by the Lord here is His
interview in Galilee with His disciples, an interview which
sets them in the position of testimony which He left them
as Messiah, now the depository of all power in heaven and
on earth. e invention of the unbelief of the Jews to keep
their minds still in blindness is related to us. is is all that
remained to tell of the Jews as a nation, so that if we take
away the last feature, we have only this: the angel says to
the disciples to go into Galilee, that they may there see the
Lord. Jesus says the same thing to the women, in order that
they might tell it to the disciples, now “His brethren.” ere
had He been continually with them during His life; there
the light was to have appeared for the time of distress;
there the Messiah found a refuge at the time of the pride
of Jerusalem (compare John 4 and all the history of the
Gospels); the disciples were themselves of that country. All
the associations of Jewish ideas, as regards the relations of
the disciples with Christ in the midst of the Jewish people,
were there. He had acted on Jerusalem, but this was now
closed. He had been rejected. e law will go out from
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thence, when He shall have returned in power. “ ere shall
come out of Sion the Deliverer “; but for the time He had
done with Jerusalem as regards His Messianic testimony.
Further, it must be remarked that the ascension of Jesus is
not related here, but solely His relations with His disciples,
relations continued after His resurrection and upon this
principle, that all power is given unto Him in heaven and
on earth.
e Lord has already renounced Jerusalem, saying that
it should see Him no more till it repented. Jerusalem, or at
least its chiefs, had cried, His blood be on us, and on our
children. He takes no more cognizance of it here for the
moment; in principle, His disciples were the remnant of
the people. As acting from on high, He sends the gospel to
Jerusalem; but it is the subject of Luke’s Gospel, and of the
book of the Acts, which is the continuation of it (see Luke
24:46-53); it is there the grace of heaven, which kept to the
promise of the Holy Spirit. Compare Acts 1:1-9.
Here it is the power of Messiah already rejected at
Jerusalem. e apostles were to go and instruct all nations,
baptizing the disciples in the name of the Father, of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe
all that He had commanded, and He would be with the
apostles even unto the end of the age. Let us examine a
little their mission according to these words, comparing it
with those which were given them in the other Gospels.
Here are the terms of these diverse missions. In Mark,
who bears testimony to the ministry, to the service of
Christ in the gospel, it is said to them, “ Go ye into all the
world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” Here is
the most simple, the most general mission, and it is added,
“ He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he
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that believeth not shall be damned.” It was quite simply the
preaching of the gospel for the salvation of souls, and the
judgment of those who would not believe.
Here is the mission in Luke, the gospel which gives us
grace, which introduces the new man and Christ in this
character, “ en opened he their understanding, that they
might understand the scriptures, and said unto them, us
it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suer, and to
rise from the dead the third day: and that repentance and
remission of sins should be preached in his name among
all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of
these things. And, behold, I send the promise of my Father
upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be
endued with power from on high.” Here it is intelligence
and power, this last being the consequence of the exaltation
of Jesus on high, and the disciples being bound to tarry at
Jerusalem until they were endowed with it. As witnesses of
Jesus, the disciples could not depart from the place of His
rejection until they were linked with Jesus at the right hand
of God, and thus, by the power of the Holy Ghost, bore
testimony from Him, as being there above. A thing wholly
new! it was the Son of man proceeding from Adam in a
certain sense, but a new man and near to God: also, a new
testimony is borne and recommences with Jerusalem-a
testimony which thence shall reach men in all nations,
according to the power of the Holy Ghost. It is a heavenly
testimony. is, as we have said, is resumed in the Acts,
God having been forced to recommence it with Paul at
Antioch, because of the incredulity of Jerusalem once more
reiterated.
In John 20:21, we nd their mission. Jesus says to them, “
Peace be unto you! As my Father has sent me, even so send
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I you; and when he had said this, he breathed on them and
saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: whosesoever
sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosesoever
sins ye retain, they are retained.” Here the thing is closer.
Jesus is not yet ascended on high, but He has, according to
the power of the resurrection, the life of God in Him; put
to death as to the esh, quickened according to the power
of God in Spirit, He communicates to them life according
to the power of the Spirit. Vitally they are one spirit with
Him; for it was as man that He possessed it, although He
was the power of God. us God breathed into the nostrils
of Adam, and he became a living man. Now the last Adam
is a quickening Spirit, but as He, according to the power
of this life, has been sent of the Father, administrator, as
man, of the pardon that man quickened by Him needed to
possess to be in relation with God (compare Luke 5:20, 24),
so now He sent His disciples, made partakers by Him, and
with Him of this life, to discharge from Him this oce,
to bear this pardon to men, and to render them partakers
of it; a pardon which, by His death and resurrection, was
now completely eected before God, and administered on
earth according to the power of the Spirit of life, whether
in receiving into the church those who should be saved,
and who, being thus received, possessed this pardon; or
whether, in the second place, in administering discipline.
is administration of pardon received and possessed,
following the exercise of this discipline, by him who is the
object of it, is in the hands of every man in whom Christ
has breathed His Spirit according to the degree of the
power of this Spirit in him. And the pardon here spoken
of is not a pardon looked at as granted in heaven, but a
pardon administered on earth and ratied in heaven.
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e apostles did that according to the perfection of the
gift of God which was granted them; but we have in the
word the revelation of this so important administration,
according as it has been communicated to all the saints
by the order of God. First, individual charity covers thus
a multitude of sins; that is, in pardoning the wrongs in
my brother, his sins no more exist, with regard to the
government of God, as scandals and oenses in the church:
before His eyes love has completely displaced them. Such
is the individual privilege; but this is not yet the ocial
administration of the thing; on the contrary, it anticipates
the exercise of it.
In the examples of Ananias and Sapphira, and even
of Simon the magician, sins were retained. ey were
remitted-I say not in the same manner, but de facto-
to three thousand persons on the day of Pentecost. In 2
Cor. 2:10 we have the sins remitted by the apostle and by
the church, ocially, in the exercise of discipline. at is,
we have, as to this pardon, the apostolic mission, distinct
from the church-a mission specially conded to the
apostles, as delegated of Christ with His authority; and the
administration of this pardon, communicated to a church
without intermediary, the church counseled and directed in
this administration, but accomplishing the act herself.
I should not have enlarged so much on this subject, if
this passage did not present a diculty which often pre-
occupies the mind, and of which adversaries lay hold while
the faithful do not very well know how to answer. It is
then not only the pardon of sin granted by God Himself,
according to a truth revealed by the Holy Spirit; it is an
administration of this pardon conded to man, a pardon
thus revealed on earth, conrmed perhaps, and sometimes
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demonstrated, by miracles, or accompanied by a deliverance
or a chastening sent from God. It was an administration
conded to the apostles, who were sent to gather the
church introduced into her privileges by this pardon; and
afterward exercised by the church herself to maintain her
members in the holy enjoyment of these privileges, and at
the same time to sustain the glory of God. In the fact of
chastening, where the question is neither of pardon in the
sense of which we speak, nor of the ocial act of pardon,
but simply of the ecacy of prayer; compare James 5:14,
15.
I do not in any wise touch the question, What has
been the eect of the actual state of the church on this
administration? Apostolic delegates of this kind, there
are absolutely no more. As to all the rest, it is a question
of intelligence and spiritual power; but it is important to
understand enough of these things to be ready to answer
the pretension to forgive sins, of men who would allege,
perhaps without scruple, the verses of James, of which we
speak, which do in no wise belong to them.
Doubtless, God, by His grace, will keep the simple from
such pretensions, and that from other motives; but it is well
to have an answer. e Lord has meant to say something,
and if we know what He meant to say, men cannot lead
us astray and shut our mouths to make us fall into their
snares. ere is pardon administered here below, whether
by apostles, or by the whole body; and a priest or a minister
has nothing at all to do therein. If he is wise enough to
give spiritual counsels, it is well; but it is not he who acts.
e Holy Spirit is needed for this act. “ Receive ye the
Holy Spirit; to whomsoever,” etc. e judgment of a body
which ows not from that is perhaps a very suitable act for
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a human society, but which is not pronounced on the part
of God; and if one speaks of acting by the Holy Spirit, this
will be demonstrated in other things also.
I return now to the mission given in Matthew, having
only considered the others in order the better to seize the
dierence. It is not here then the Son of God, sent from
the Father, who sends, according to the power of life which
is in Him, disciples to whom He can communicate the
energy of this life, that they may accomplish their mission
according to His heart of love lled by the Father. Neither
is it Jesus, minister of the gospel, servant of all, sending
those who are to replace Him, that every creature may hear
the good news, which can now be addressed to them in His
name who has fullled all things-such is the Jesus of Mark.
Neither is it the Son of man, raised to the right hand
of the Father, who is about to give the Holy Spirit of
power, in order that His sent ones may answer, in their
work, to the exalted position that man occupies in His
person (compare Psa. 68; Eph. 4), and who has already
47
opened their understanding that they may understand the
scriptures, or the revelation of the thoughts of God, in the
economies and dispensations on which this work and this
47 It appears to me that an example of this is found in the choice
of Matthias, before the gift of the Holy Spirit-a choice based
on the explanation of Psalm 109; an explanation of which, it
would seem to me, the disciples would have been incapable
before that time, but the act itself had nothing in it of the
power of the Holy Spirit. ey draw lots, as Jews, after having
understood this Psalm. ough we have received the Holy
Ghost, it is of importance for us to distinguish between the
understanding (though it were a gift) and power. It is evident,
from the end of Luke and the commencement of the Acts, that
a person may have the one and not have the other.
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presence of the Holy Spirit will cast their light. at is the
exalted Christ of Luke, giver of the Holy Spirit.
But here, in Matthew, we have a rejected crucied
Messiah, who, for the moment, abandons Jerusalem to its
folly and its sin, and who, now risen, sends to the nations
the message that His death, His resurrection, and the gift
of the Father to Him risen, have enabled Him to put into
the mouth of His disciples a message (no longer suitable to
the Jews, who have already rejected the subject of it, their
Messiah). It is no longer simply the only true God in His
unity, surrounded by a people which should have kept this
good and precious deposit. Now, other things in God had
been put in the light for men, things which opened the
door to the Gentiles, or rather which could be sent to them.
Christ could not be there without the Son being named,
and if the Son, then the Father and the Holy Spirit (the
Holy Spirit, who acted with ecacy in the communication
of the knowledge of the Father and of the Son); and, on
the other hand, both the Father and the Holy Spirit had
been necessarily manifested in Christ and His acts, while
He lived and acted on earth; for in being Messiah, He was
also Son, and it was because He called Himself such that
the Jews rejected Him.
rough the death and resurrection of Jesus, all this
could be sent in grace to the Gentiles. e disciples were to
make them know the Messiah and the God of the Jews in
this manner, or to make them enter into relation with God
under this name, as by circumcision the Jews were put in
relation with the Eternal or Jehovah; and this because all
power was now given to Jesus in heaven and upon earth.
Here is then (the rights of the Messiah being rejected by
the Jews) not the establishment of the throne of David,
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whose inuence should spread over all the earth, but He
who, depository of all governing power in heaven and on
earth, sent His disciples to put the Gentiles (nations) in
relation with God, according to the revelation of that which
was no longer hidden behind the veil from the eyes of the
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blind Jews, the Trinity of persons which faith recognized
by means of Jesus: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
48
But this mission depends on the power of Jesus as
being given, and is to subject the nations that they may
be His disciples, according to the claims that this power
48 ere was, in this, a revelation evidently much clearer, and relations
dierent from those which the Jews enjoyed, as the people of Jehovah.
ese terms were not entirely unknown to the Jews; but they were
always employed by the prophets in the prospect of the times when
there would be this clearer revelation to call the Gentiles, and when
blessing would be manifested for the Jews in a new measure. “ Kiss the
Son “ is a summons to the kings of the earth in Psa. 2, and the promise
of the outpouring of the Spirit, whether upon the Jews and their
posterity or upon all esh, is suciently known. See, amongst others,
in Joel; in Isa. 44:3; see also chap. 48: 16. Before the accomplishment
of these things, or at least before they are fully accomplished to the
letter, the revelation has been made of what is their foundation in
God, and this name of Father, of Son, and of Holy Spirit has been
proclaimed amongst the Gentiles. I do not think that it is here the
unity of the Son with the Father, and of the church with Jesus by the
Holy Spirit (that is taught elsewhere); but the revelation of the name
of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, for the submission of the Gentiles by
faith, in anticipation of that day when the Son will be manifested in
power, and the Holy Spirit fully shed abroad. But this is very precious
for us, because it shows us these things in God, and makes us see
that there are not only certain acts of manifestation which will take
place hereafter, but the truth of God, of which one can speak before
these manifestations take place. For the knowledge which the Jews
and the earth will have of the Son, for example in His reign according
to Psa. 2 is very inferior, it seems to me, to the knowledge which
we have of Him, as being in the Father and the Father in Him, one
with the Father, hidden in God. It is the same person, undoubtedly,
but we have a much deeper knowledge of what He is. Further, we
learn, in thus comparing Psa. 2, that the preaching of the name of the
Son does not necessarily suppose the blessings of the church: now it
does, because God gathers the church in Him; but the call made to
the kings to submit to the royalty of Christ in the last times is made
in the name of the Son, “ Kiss the Son, lest he be angry.” We have
acknowledged Him before through grace, and we know Him as one
with the Father. In this Psalm it is spoken of Him as presented to the
world in time, “ To-day I have begotten thee.”
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conferred on Him. It was a mission belonging yet to the age,
which, though the Messiah had been rejected, was not yet
terminated; it looked consequently at the submission of the
Gentiles to the Messiah, in a new way, it is true, and left
Jerusalem aside, because it had rejected the Messiah; but it
supposes a going forward in the ways of God towards the
end of this age, before which the gospel is to be preached in
the whole habitable world. ose who carried this message
might have higher privileges, which would be made evident
when the Lord would be removed, and their rst testimony
rejected; those same messengers, individually, might be
charged, from the commencement, with the message of the
grace which was in Jesus, according to the other forms of
mission that we have seen in the three other Gospels: they
might preach the gospel to every creature, beginning at
Jerusalem as representatives of Him who was exalted at the
right hand of God, or remit the sins, on the part of Him
who said, “ Peace be unto you “; but it is none the less true
that the specialty of the mission found in this Gospel is a
mission to the nations from Jesus, speaking as the rejected
Messiah, who has now all power, leaving aside Jerusalem,
and mentioning the continuation of this age; promising
to be with the witnesses to the end of this age, and saying
nothing, either of the church, or of heaven, or of the Holy
Spirit given, or of the deliverance from this present evil
age, or of the privilege of not being of this world as the
Son of God was not of it; but speaking of subjecting the
Gentiles to the ordinances of Christ, in the name of the
Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, to bring the age
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to its close, according to the promise of Him who should
be with them till then.
49
Chapter 49, the Gentiles are summoned by Israel as called
of God to be a servant, in whom God should be gloried.
ereupon the Messiah says, “I have then labored in vain”;
nevertheless His judgment and work were with God. e
Spirit answers that it was a small thing to raise up Israel,
that He should be a light to the Gentiles. From that time it
is Christ, the true vine, who holds the promises as a faithful
servant. Chapter 50 explains the dismissal of Israel for the
rejection of Christ, Jehovah God who had made Himself
a servant; and thereupon is brought out the distinction of
the remnant who fear Jehovah and obey the voice of His
servant, not here the church in the joy of the Son, though
that has been true of a certain number from among the
remnant. In these passages the church nds itself only as
hidden in the person of Christ Himself; which will be seen
in comparing Isa. 50:8, 9, and Rom. 8:33, 34, where the
apostle applies to the church the substance of those verses
which speak of Christ in Isa. 1 will observe, by the way,
that the Lausanne translation, in general very faithful to
49 One may examine Psa. 95 (and also Psa. 91 to 100), which
treats of these times, as well as Dan. 11:33 and 12:3, 9; Isa.
65:13, etc., where, however, the testimony is rather practical
than in word. Here is the connection of this subject in Isaiah,
which may interest those who search the word; and it is only
for such that I give it. God desires to comfort His people (Isa.
40); and in the midst of present deliverances (pledges of better
ones to come), the servant, Christ, is introduced, chap. 42. Israel
should have been so, but was blind; nevertheless he should
be delivered, being forgiven. Cyrus and Babylon pass then
before our eyes, to the end of chapter 48, the pledge of better
deliverances, as we have said. God announces, notwithstanding,
that He distinguishes the wicked: there is no peace for them.
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the letter, has spoiled these verses in the form it has given
to them. Here, I believe, is the true contrast. God justies;
who shall condemn? Christ is dead, etc.: who shall separate
us from the love of Christ? e Old Testament does not
take up the union of Christ and the church: here it is the
remnant that obey the voice of the servant of God, of Christ,
come as Messiah here below. Nevertheless the obedient
walk in darkness. Consolation is given them, a consolation
properly Jewish, by calls (chap. 51: 1-4, 7), in which there
is progress in their position (v. 9). ey themselves call, by
the Spirit of prophecy, the arm of Jehovah to awake. He
answers at last (v. 17), summons Jerusalem to awake in her
turn, and (chap. 52) to clothe herself with glory and honor.
is passage, ending at verse 12, is all beautiful. Chapters
52: 13, and 53 give the expiatory character of the work of
the “ servant,” recognized by the Jews in the latter days.
en come the details of blessings (chaps. 54, 55, 56, 57),
and of the ways of God, and of what hinders, namely, the
deep iniquity of the people in the latter days.
From chapter 58, testimony is strongly borne to this
iniquity, which nally forces Jehovah to arise (chap. 59:
15, 16, etc.), and the Deliverer comes to Sion according
to Rom. 11:26. en in chapter 60, Jerusalem is gloried,
and the same subject (introducing, in order to identify
His person in the two advents, what Christ was at His
rst, chapter 61:1, and the rst half of verse 2), and the
judgment of the Gentiles, are treated to the end of chapter
63: 6. en, upon the touching call of the prophet, there
is a detailed explanation of all their ways, how grace had
seized the occasion, given by the folly of Israel, to be found
of those who sought it not, whilst He had ever stretched
out His hands towards rebellious Israel (quoted by the
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apostle, Romans so: 20, 21), which explains these same
points. And here, nally, we nd a special remnant (all
those who are spared; see Isa. 66:19, 20), treated as the “
servants “ to whom the blessing of all the nation would
be a particular subject of joy. Such is what has led us to
this summary of the latter part of this prophetic book: the
special remnant owned of God, but having all its aections
in the well-being of Jerusalem and of Israel. One may, for
the last testimony to the Gentiles, compare Psa. 97 and
Rev. 14:6, 7.
e key of this summary of Isa. 40-48 is Israel the
servant:--nevertheless, no peace for the wicked. Christ,
the true servant, is rejected. e remnant, true servants, are
owned in that; they obey the voice of the “ servant,” but in
prospect of Jewish interests. Translate chapter 49: 3, “ ou
art my servant, O Israel, he in whom I will be gloried.”)
at this might have an application to the unreported
labors of the apostles, I doubt not; but the Bible furnishes
us with no tokens on that head, at least if it be not, in the
most indeterminate manner, in the last verse of the Gospel
of Mark. at which the detailed history of the Acts
presents us with is the fulllment of the mission given in
Luke, the rejection of the messengers at Jerusalem, where
they nevertheless remained; then the labors of Peter in the
midst of the Jews, and a new apostle raised up of God, to
carry the word to the Gentiles by a new revelation of Jesus,
so new indeed that he says, if he had known Jesus as the
others had known Him, he knew Him no more after that
manner. e salvation preached remained ever the same,
without doubt, but with new light which God accorded.
What is the conclusion which one should draw from
all this? It is, that there will be an accomplishment of this
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mission before the end of the age, and that the message of
the gospel, here entrusted to the remnant, to the disciples,
will be carried from Christ, of whom it remains always true
(whatever be the state of things) that all power is given
unto Him in heaven and on earth. From Christ, I say,
acting in this character, the message of this same gospel
will be carried to all the nations, and Christ will be with
the messengers even to the end of the age.
e testimony to Jerusalem will be dierent, it seems to
me; we have already said some words on it in chapter 24.
I do not speak of the conversion of such or such a Jew to
make part of the church, which is another thing far more
precious; it is the duty of each day to teach them, according
to what is given us, as it is also to preach the gospel to every
creature. But as there will be a testimony at the beginning
of the sorrows (as there was one in the Jewish nation at
the beginning of the gospel), a testimony which will be
particularly addressed to the Jewish people; so there will
be a special testimony borne to the Gentiles at the end,
according to the principles of the mission here entrusted to
the disciples. For the promise of the presence and succor of
the Lord is not only bound up with the idea of the age, but
it extends to its end, and we must always remember that
here, as in chapters 13 and 24, “ the age “ in no way applies
to Christianity as an epoch. ough Christianity might
happen, and did happen, before the end of the age, the age
already existed at that moment, and was in a great measure
run out; it was a period of the world’s history in the Jewish
point of view, which the presence of the Messiah was to
terminate.
Perhaps, employed in all the force of the term according
to the circumstances in which the Lord spoke, this
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expression supposes Jerusalem existing but rejected, and,
though rejected, the object of the thoughts of God, but
of His thoughts in judgment, God going to put an end to
all that, and after great tribulations, to restore the city in
blessing by the coming of the Messiah in glory. e gospel,
sent to the Gentiles, might run independently of all that,
for Jesus entrusts it to the disciples outside Jerusalem, and
as having abandoned it. Nevertheless, till it was judged
and restored by the coming of the Messiah, and after the
repentance of its inhabitants, the age could not end; so that
when we have well considered the passages, we have here a
gospel or mission of the disciples, independent of Jerusalem,
from Messiah rejected here below, but having received all
power in heaven and on earth; a gospel addressed to the
Gentiles, Jerusalem being abandoned, to make of these
nations disciples of Christ in the name, not of Jehovah, but
of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; a mission,
nevertheless, which (though independent of Jerusalem and
coming from Christ, who had quitted it until it repent)
is identied with the course of an age here below, which
supposes, before its end, Jerusalem the object of God’s
thoughts and judgments (that is, Jerusalem under the
Jewish point of view), and the center of all His thoughts,
in judgment or in blessing, whilst this same gospel is
propagated among the nations. For before the end of the
age (supposed here by the Lord to be still in existence)
Jerusalem will be all that anew (as it was so at the time
the Lord was speaking), and yet more. It is a gospel, then,
which may subsist among the nations at the same time that
Jerusalem is the object of God’s thoughts, and anew the
center of all His ways.
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One may suppose that the preaching of this gospel
begins before that is manifested. Nevertheless these were
the circumstances in which the Lord already was speaking.
Jerusalem standing, abandoned,
50
the object of the thoughts
and judgments of God, and afterward of His blessing; and
Christ awaiting the time of this end of the age, sending
the gospel to the nations by His disciples, independently
of Jerusalem, but by the side of its existence in this state,
and transporting Himself, as to the term of the testimony,
to the epoch which should terminate this state of things in
Jerusalem, by the manifestation of the judgment of God
and the blessing which should thence ensue and ow out.
50 Perhaps there may be trouble to reconcile these two ideas, “
abandoned,” and yet “ the object of the thoughts and judgments of
God “; but it is precisely the position of Jerusalem in the latter days,
when His work recommences with the earth. It will be desolate and
abandoned until it says, “ Blessed is he that cometh in the name of
Jehovah! “ But God acts with it in testimony, in chastisement, in
indignation. Such was already the case in the time of the apostles.
In chapter 23 of this Gospel, it was abandoned. Nevertheless the
testimony and indignation are there. See upon that, in Zechariah,
specially the end of chapter tr and the beginning of chapter 12, and
all his prophecy; the end of Dan. 9; 11 and 12 also, and Isa. 65; 66 see
also Jeremiah 3o: 4, 8, etc. In these chapters, and in so many others,
Jerusalem is not owned, but it is the object of God’s thoughts and
ways; according to the expressions as to Ephraim Jer. 31:20, and as
to Jerusalem itself, Isa. 49:14, etc. e fact is that Jerusalem is chosen
as the Jewish people. Psa. 132:13, 14.We have a principle which is
bound up with this, and which is very precious in its analogy for us.
God, at the time of the Babylonish captivity, had written, Lo-Ammi,
not my people. Notwithstanding that, in Hag. 2:5 we nd that the
Spirit remained with them, as when they came out of Egypt. What
encouragement for us, whatever may be the state of the church! If
they had said, No, we are not in this state of Lo-Ammi, it would
have been unbelief; if they had been discouraged, as if the Spirit was
not with them, as at the departure from Egypt, it would have been
practical unbelief also under another form. In the two cases, faith in
the goodness and in the chastisement of God would have been lost.
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We have already seen (chap. 25) the Gentiles judged on
earth, according to the manner in which they shall have
treated the messengers which Christ calls His brethren,
as Jesus here calls His disciples, and we have seen the
preliminary and nal circumstances in Palestine and at
Jerusalem (chap. 24), accompanied by a declaration (by the
side of all that) that this gospel of the kingdom should be
preached in all the world, as a testimony to all the Gentiles,
and that then the end will come-the end of the age which
is in question here. I invite my brethren to think of this
testimony, which is to be borne in the latter days; it would
be to explain prophecy rather than the gospel to pursue
this subject farther here. I desired to point it out, as this
Gospel does so.
Here is the result of my researches at this time upon
this Gospel; a result very imperfect, I feel, and researches
which have made me feel how far we are still ignorant of all
the ways of God; but which may aid my brethren to make
others, perhaps, more happy and better followed up; and,
if they are led to make them and are as happy as I in thus
sounding the ways of God, I shall not have lost my trouble
in communicating to them these, such as they are.
In the main, I do not doubt that the great principles,
the thread of the ways of God (in this part of His ways)
are found in these pages, and that, as a whole, it was given
by Him. It is very possible that in some details my own
mind has wrought, and that thus I may have overstepped
the measure of what was given me; in this case there will
certainly be error, or at least obscurity, even when all I have
said is understood. On the other hand, those who have
not yet taken the trouble to sound the scriptures ought
not to be astonished if they nd some things still dicult
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and obscure for them in these pages. ey ought not to
be discouraged, like a child who should plunge into the
middle of a book which he ought to begin, and which he
might judge too dicult; but they should set about the
work, beginning with the beginning. ey will nd, let
them be assured, many proofs of their ignorance, and very
humiliating proofs; but they will also nd the Lord with
them, and a joy and a satisfaction of which they have not
even the idea, not in the things only, but in the fact of being
taught of Him; a joy and satisfaction which sanctify and
attach to Him who deigns thus to be busied about our
instruction, to endure with patience our ignorance, and to
instruct us Himself in the truth. And how sweet is this
converse with Him, in which He gently leads us on in the
knowledge of His ways and unveils for us in His word all
the goodness and wisdom of His counsels! Is it not evident
that such converse, pursued in such a spirit, must sanctify
the soul?
Let us remember that all this belongs to children, to
those who, by the power of the good news of the pure grace
of God, are grounded in the work which this grace has
accomplished, and rejoice in the condence which His love
inspires; the communications of His ways being for them
daily proofs of this love, which nourish and maintain this
condence, and make them to know better Him, who is
its object and source. May His Spirit and His grace direct
all those who read these pages in the enjoyment of the
everlasting salvation which He has accomplished for us!
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Mark’s Gospel
Introduction
IF we wish for a better understanding of the Holy
Ghost’s thought about Mark’s Gospel, we must briey
examine His teaching in the four Gospels. ese present
Christ to us, but Christ rejected: and, at the same time,
they present the Savior in four dierent aspects. Again,
there is a dierence between the three rst and the last.
e three rst present Christ as the One whom the world
ought to receive, although in result He be put to death. In
the fourth we nd the Lord Jesus rejected already, from
the rst chapter; and again, too, the Jews considered as
cast o: those who are born of God are the only ones who
receive the Lord: consequently we nd in this Gospel the
principles of grace more deeply unfolded-”No one can
come unto me except the Father, who hath sent me, draw
him”; and the sheep are distinct from the world before they
are called. e rst three Gospels present Christ to men
in order that He may be received; then they give us the
history of the increasing enmity of man against Him, and
nally His rejection and death.
As regards the character of each Gospel, in Matthew the
Lord is considered as Emmanuel the promised Messiah,
Jehovah who saves His people from their sins. “Jehovah the
Savior” is the meaning of the name Jesus. Consequently the
genealogy descends from Abraham and David, the heads
and vessels of the promises from whence the Messiah was
to descend. In this rst Gospel, when Christ is manifested
in His true character, and in the spirit of His mission, He
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is morally rejected; and the Jews are set aside as a nation.
e Lord seeks fruit in His vineyard no longer, but shows
that He is really the sower; He reveals the kingdom, but
in mystery (that is, in the manner in which it would exist
in His absence); He reveals the church which He Himself
would build, and the kingdom in its glorious state, which
things should be substituted for His presence upon the
earth; then the last events and discourses of His life.
Mark depicts the Servant-Prophet; and hence we have
not the history of His birth; the Gospel begins with His
ministry. We will speak afterward of its contents. In the
Gospel of Luke the Lord is presented to us as the Son
of man, and in it we have a picture of grace, and of the
work which is now going on; and the genealogy goes up to
Adam. e two rst chapters however reveal to us the state
of the small though godly remnant amongst the Jews; a
most exquisite picture of the working of the Spirit of God
in the midst of the wicked and corrupt nation. ese pious
souls were well known to one another, they looked for the
redemption of Israel; and the aged and godly Anna, who
had seen the Savior presented in the temple according to
the law, announced to all who expected Him, the coming
of the longed-for Messiah. In all the remaining part of this
Gospel Christ is the Son of man for the Gentiles.
In the Gospel by John we have no genealogy at all. e
Word of God, which is also God, appears in esh upon
the earth-He is the Creator, the Son of God. e world
does not know Him. His own (the Jews) received Him
not, but those who receive Him have the right to take the
place of sons of God, being really born of Him. And since
Christ is here presented as the manifestation of God, it is
for this very cause that we nd Him immediately rejected.
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is Gospel presents Him to us in His own person; then
He putteth forth His own sheep, and gathers those of the
Gentiles, and gives to them all eternal life, and they can
never perish. At the end of this Gospel the coming of the
Holy Ghost is explained to us: but let us begin to consider
the Gospel by Mark.
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62852
Mark 1
Chapter 1.
We have already said it begins with the Savior’s
ministry. It is preceded only by the testimony of John. e
latter prepares the way of the Lord, preaches the baptism
of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, and announces a
more glorious Servant of God, the latchet of whose shoes
he is not worthy to unloose: He will baptize with the Holy
Ghost. e baptism of re is not mentioned here, because
the subject is the Lord’s service in blessing, and not that
of exercising His power in judgment. Fire always signies
judgment.
e Lord submits to John’s baptism; this is a fact full
of importance and blessing for man. Here He takes the
place of His people before God: I need not say that the
Lord could have no need of repentance; but He wishes
to accompany His people in the rst good step they take,
that is, in the rst step they take under the inuence of the
word. For Him it was the fullling of all righteousness.
Everywhere where sin had brought us, love and obedience
led Him for our deliverance. Only here He comes with His
own: in death He took our place, He bore the curse, He
was made sin. Here He takes His place as a perfect man in
relationship with God- with the Father; that place which
He acquired for us by redemption in the which we are
placed as sons of God.
e heavens are opened: the Holy Spirit descends upon
man. e Father recognizes us as His children; Jesus was
anointed and sealed by the Holy Ghost, even as we are; He,
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because He was personally worthy of it; we, because He
has made us worthy by His work and by His blood. For us
heaven is opened, the veil rent, and we cry, “ Abba, Father!
“ Marvelous grace! Innite love! e Son of God has
become man in order that we also should become sons of
God, as He Himself said after His resurrection: “ I ascend
unto my Father and your Father, unto my God and your
God.” Glorious unspeakable purpose of God to place us in
the same glory, in the same relationship as His own Son: in
the glory to which He has a right by His own perfection as
being God’s own Son. “ In order that he might show in the
ages to come the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness
towards us, in Christ Jesus.” is will be fully accomplished
when that which the Lord Jesus has said shall come to pass:
“ And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them …
that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast
loved them as thou hast loved me.” Oh! what ought to be
the love of Christians for the Savior, who by His suerings,
even unto death, has acquired such a position for us, and
the blessed assurance of being with Him and like Him for
all eternity!
It is also important to remark that here the Trinity is
fully revealed for the rst time. In the Old Testament we
read of the Son and of the Holy Ghost; but here, where we
have the position of the second Man according to grace,
the Holy Trinity is fully revealed. At the same time the
revelation is clear, and the three persons appear together;
the Son is revealed as a man, the Holy Spirit descends like
a dove, and the Father’s voice owns Jesus in whom He is
well pleased. We may notice here the dierence between
man’s responsibility and the purpose of grace. God’s
purpose was xed before the world was created, but it was
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xed in the last Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ. In the book
of Proverbs (chap. 8) it is shown that Christ, as Wisdom,
was with God, that He was the object of God’s delight,
and that His own delight was found in the sons of men.
But before revealing His counsels, or accomplishing the
work which was to produce all the eects of this love, God
created responsible man-the rst Adam. But Adam failed
to accomplish his duty, and all the means that God has
employed have only brought out the wickedness of man,
until the second Man should come. us the delight which
God had in man has been manifested.
Nevertheless man has not been willing to receive it;
there remained only the personal object of the perfect
satisfaction of God; and thus in His person He has taken a
position which we nd revealed in this passage; that of Son
of God, with the heaven opened, being sealed by the Holy
Spirit. But He was alone. Upon the cross He did all that
was necessary as regards our responsibility; and has done
more-has fully gloried God in His love, in His majesty,
in His truth, and has acquired for us the participation in
His own position as man in the glory of God; not indeed
as the right of God, that is, His own right as Son, but
to be like Him in glory, in order that He might be the
rstborn among many brethren. is is God’s purpose: and
when the work of Christ was accomplished, this purpose
was brought to light. As to its being fullled in us upon
the earth, we have an example of it in the passage we are
considering. Compare 2 Tim. 1:9; Titus 1:2, 3.
But this is not all. As soon as Jesus had taken His place
before God as man, and when He had been manifested as
Son of God in human nature, He is led by the power of
the Holy Ghost into the wilderness, and there undertakes
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the struggle with the devil in the which the rst Adam had
been conquered. It was necessary that He should conquer
in order to set us free; and notice too that His circumstances
were very dierent from those in which the rst Adam
found himself. e rst Adam was surrounded with God’s
blessings, of which He had full enjoyment; they were a
present testimony of His favor. Christ, on the contrary, was
in the desert with the consciousness that Satan was now
reigning over man, and all outward comforts are wanting;
outwardly there was no testimony of God’s goodness:
indeed all was contrary to this.
In Mark the details of the temptation and the Lord’s
replies are not given, but only the fact is recorded (a precious
fact for us) that the Lord has passed through this trial. He
presented Himself according to the will of God, led of
the Holy Ghost to meet the powerful enemy of mankind;
immense grace! He rst showed our place before God,
having taken it in His own person; and then He entered
into conict with the devil who held us captive. e third
fact that we observe is that the angels have become the
servants of those who shall be heirs of salvation. Here,
then, are the three testimonies in connection with the
manifestation of Jesus as man in the esh;-our position as
sons of God, Satan conquered, the angels our servants.
e Savior (v. 14), having taken His place in the world,
begins the exercise of His ministry, but not before John’s
imprisonment. After that this forerunner of the Messiah
was cast into prison, and not before, the Savior began to
preach the gospel of the kingdom. e testimony of John
was very important to draw the people’s attention to Him;
but it would not have been right that he should have borne
testimony to the Lord after that He Himself had begun
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to bear testimony to Himself. “ I receive not testimony
from man,” saith the Lord, speaking of John the Baptist;
John 5:34. He bore witness to John! He was the Truth in
His own person, and His words and His works were the
testimony of God in the world. “ What sign doest thou? “
said the people; “ our fathers did eat manna in the desert … ”
And the Lord replied, “ I am the bread come down from
heaven.”
e preaching of Jesus announced the kingdom,
showed that the time was fullled, that the kingdom of
God was at hand, that the people must repent and believe
the gospel. We should distinguish between the gospel of
the kingdom and the gospel of our salvation. Christ is the
center of both; but there is a great dierence between the
preaching of a kingdom which is drawing near, and that
of an eternal redemption accomplished upon the cross. It
is quite possible that the two truths should be announced
together. And indeed we nd that the apostle Paul
preached the kingdom, but he certainly also proclaimed
an eternal redemption accomplished for us upon the cross.
Christ prophesied of His death, and announced that the
Son of man should give His life for the ransom of many;
but He could not announce an accomplished redemption
during His life. Men ought to have received Him and not
to have put Him to death: hence His testimony was about
the kingdom which was drawing nigh.
is kingdom in its public power has been delayed,
because Christ has been rejected (see Rev. 11:17); and this
delay lasts all the time that Christ is sitting at the right
hand of God, until the time when He shall arise from the
throne of His Father to judge. God has said, “ Sit thou at
my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool,”
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Psalm He. It is nevertheless true that the kingdom was
already come in mystery according to Matt. 13; this goes
on during the time that Jesus is seated at the right hand of
God. But when God’s appointed moment shall come, the
Lord will arise and set up the kingdom, and with His own
power will judge the living; and peace and happiness shall
be established upon the earth. And we who have received
Him, whilst the world has rejected Him, shall go to meet
Him in the air, we shall be forever with the Lord, and shall
come with Him in glory when He shall appear before the
world, and shall reign with Him; and, what is still far better,
we shall be like Him and always with Him in the heavenly
places in the Father’s house.
e development of these truths and of these events is
only found in the word of God after the Lord’s ascension,
after that the foundation for the accomplishment of God’s
purpose had been laid in the Savior’s death. Here He
announces only the drawing nigh of the kingdom, for men
should have received it. But although Jesus taught in all the
synagogues, there were not only those who heard Him, or
who believed what He taught, but some who also followed
Him. It is of the greatest importance to notice this: many
in the present day profess to have received the gospel; but
how small is the number of those who follow the Lord in
the path of faith, in that humility and obedience which
characterized the Lord’s steps in this world! Let us try to
follow Him: perhaps we cannot literally forsake all, as the
rst disciples did; but we can walk in the spirit in which
they walked, and esteem Christ as the all for our souls; and
that all other things are but as dung in order that we may
win Christ in glory. e Lord here calls men to make them
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shers of others; let us also seek others, that they too may
be able to enjoy the ineable
and glorious happiness which the Holy Spirit gives. We
may not be apostles perhaps, but whoever is full of Christ
will give testimony to Christ; out of the abundance of the
heart the mouth speaketh. Rivers of living water shall ow
from the belly of him who comes to Christ and drinks;
John 7.
e Gospel by Mark does not present the person of
Emmanuel, and then the grace of His mission, as that
by Matthew; but sets forth rapidly His ministry in its
application to men. Necessarily the ministry is the same,
but the development is dierent. His word and His works
testify equally to the authority with which He taught
the people. While He was speaking, the audience in the
synagogue was astonished, for His speech was not like
that of the scribes who insisted upon opinions, but He
announced the truth as One who knew it and could present
it from its very foundation. Even evil spirits were afraid of
His presence, and prayed that they might not be destroyed.
Nevertheless they were obliged to leave the wretched men
whom they held as their prey under their power: so that
the people said, “ What is this? what is this doctrine? “ A
testimony was raised that God had intervened to set man
free, and to communicate His perfect truth to him. Grace
and truth had come by Jesus Christ.
His fame spread all over Galilee. Leaving the synagogue
He enters into the house of Simon and Andrew: the apostle
Peter had a wife, and her mother was sick of a fever. e
Lord takes her by the hand; the fever disappears, and the
woman begins to serve them in a perfect state of health.
As soon as the sabbath is ended, all the city is gathered
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together at the door of the house: the Lord heals the sick
and casts out demons; the demons recognize Him although
men have not. Still He remains the Servant of God, and
gets up before sunrise to go into a solitary place to pray.
Peter seeks Him and, having found Him, says, “All seek
thee”: but Jesus, always the Servant, does not seek numbers
and fame for Himself, but goes away elsewhere to preach
and to bring freedom from the yoke of Satan.
It is important to remark that here the Lord’s miracles
are not simply a sign and proof of power, but also of the
goodness which was acting in divine power. It is this which
gives the true divine character to the miracles of Jesus. All
His works are the fruit of love, and bear witness to the
God of love upon the earth. ere is only one apparent
exception, which, after all, is a proof of the truth we are
remarking. is exception is the cursing of the g-tree;
but this was a gure of the people Israel, and one may say
of human nature, under God’s cultivation, which did not
produce fruit-there were only leaves, that is, hypocrisy.
Hence it was judged and condemned, and will never bear
fruit again; the gardener dug about it, and dunged it, but all
was useless; and then it was given up of God. Man must be
born again-must be created again in Christ Jesus.
Of the love manifested in the works of the Lord Jesus
we have a beautiful proof in that which follows. A leper
comes to Jesus well persuaded of His power, having seen
His miracles, or heard tell of these mighty works; but he
was not certain that he would nd willingness in Him
to heal him. He says to Him, “ If thou wilt, thou canst.”
e Lord, not content with being willing and with doing,
touches the leper. Now leprosy-terrible disease!-was a
gure of sin, and he that was ill of it was shut out of the
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camp as unclean; and even a man who might have touched
him was shut out too, because he became contaminated
by it. No means could be employed to cure the leper; it
was Jehovah alone who could cure him; and then, when
cured of Jehovah, the priest pronounced him clean, and he
could, after certain ceremonies, partake of divine worship.
Here the Lord comes in with this divine power and the
love of God. “ I will, be thou clean.” e willingness and
power of God were there, and were exercised in favor of
the poor excommunicated man. But there is something
more-He touches the suerer. God is present; Jesus cannot
be contaminated; but He has come so near to the unclean
man as to be able to touch him-true Man amongst men,
God manifest in esh. God, but God in a man, love itself,
the power which can do all necessary to deliver man from
the eect of Satan’s power. Undelable purity is found
upon earth-but love as well, that is, God is here, but Man
also-and works for man’s blessing. e leper is healed
immediately, the leprosy disappears.
But although God be manifested in His work of power
and love, He does not leave the servant’s place, now that
He has taken it; He sends away the healed man, saying,
“ See that thou say nothing to any man; but go thy way,
show thyself to the priest, and oer for thy cleansing those
things which Moses commanded.” We may remark another
circumstance in this history-that the Lord was moved with
compassion when He saw the leper. God, in His love, is man
touched with pity in His heart for the wretched state in
which He nds man: we often nd this fact in the Gospels.
Now the cleansed leper spreads abroad the fame of Jesus all
around, so that the testimony of the power of God present
with His people makes itself felt in men’s minds. Jesus did
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not seek human glory, but to accomplish the will of God
and the work He had given Him to do. Surrounded by all,
He cannot enter into the city, where the astonished crowd
would have assembled itself around Him.
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Mark 2
Chapter 2.
But after some days, when the expectation had lessened
a little, the Lord enters again into the city. It was soon
noised abroad that He was in the house, and so many came
together that there was no room to receive them, not even
about the door. Jesus preached the word to them, because
this service was always His rst object. He was the Word,
He was the Truth, He was Himself that which His word
announced, of whom man had need. His word, too, was
conrmed by His works, and the people knew that He
possessed the power that could deliver them from every
evil.
ey bring a paralytic man, carried of four; but not
being able to get as far as Jesus, hindered as they were by
the crowd, they uncover the roof-easily done in the East-
and let down the paralytic man to the place where Jesus
was. is was an evident proof of their faith; it was the
deep sense of need, and condence in Jesus, in His love, in
His power. Without an urgent desire to be healed, and a
full condence in the power and love of Jesus, they would
have been discouraged by the diculty presented by the
crowd, and would have gone back, saying perhaps, “ We
will come again, we may be able to get at Him another
time.” But there are no diculties for faith; its principles
are these-the need of nding the Savior, of feeling our
misery, and of feeling that Jesus alone can heal us-that His
love is strong enough to look upon us in our wretchedness.
It is of course the work of the Spirit which reveals Jesus
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to us; but He produces such a sense of our wretchedness
that we are impelled to go to seek the Lord, and diculties
do not drive us back, because we know that Jesus alone
can heal us, that His love is enough; not indeed that we
are already sure of being healed, but enough to attract us
to Himself in the assurance that He will do it. And if we
have already come to Him, faith always produces need in
the soul, and the assurance that the Savior will respond to
our need. And Christ never fails to answer to it; He may
allow diculties to prove the faith, but faith that perseveres
nds the answer; and that which if we know the Lord’s
suciency, produces this perseverance is the sense of our
need. e source of all is the operation of the Holy Spirit
in our heart.
e Lord takes occasion by the wretched state of the
paralytic man to point out the true root of all evils-sin.
He had come because sin was in the world, and with what
object then but that sin might be forgiven? It is true that,
since God is just, it is needful that a perfect atonement
be made for sins in order that they may be forgiven. But
Jehovah, who knew everything, could administer the
pardon by means of the Son of man in that manner which
now makes all believers participate in a perfect pardon
by means of the gospel. As to His government also He
could pardon or leave under the eects of His punishment
both individuals and the whole nation. Now He who was
present had the right and power to forgive sins upon earth:
and He gave the proof of it. In Psa. 103 He is celebrated as
the One who would forgive all Israel’s iniquities, and heal
all his inrmities.
e great need of guilty Israel was this forgiveness:
Christ announces it. As to the government of God itself,
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Israel could not be re-established in blessing, if he did not
possess God’s pardon. “ y sins be forgiven thee,” said the
Lord: the scribes cry out against the blasphemy. But God,
the Jehovah of Psa. 103, was there present in the person
of the Son of man; and He gives the proof that this right
belonged to Him by fullling that which is said in that
very Psalm: “ who healeth all thine inrmities.” “ But that
ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to
forgive sins, He saith to the sick of the palsy, Arise, and
take up thy bed and go thy way.” e man gets up, takes
up his bed and goes away. Pardon and power to heal were
come upon earth in the person of the Son of man, of Him
who, having divine rights and power, was down here in
humiliation upon earth to bring the love and the power of
God to the wretchedness of man, to the fatal miseries of
the soul, giving a proof of it in freeing the body from the
suerings which sin had introduced.
God was present in love. e power to heal was there,
but the important truth was that forgiveness was come
upon earth. is is the rst great truth of the gospel. at
which is here announced by Christ is now proclaimed in
the gospel which is the means of reconciling God’s justice
with free pardon, with the full lasting pardon of sins clearly
shown forth before men in the Lord’s words. e remission
of sins is announced, founded on the Savior’s work. But if
this be the spirit of the gospel, if this be the work of Jesus,
He must come to call sinners, He must make Himself their
friend, in order that they may have condence, and may
believe in this grace, and that the world may know the
Savior’s true character.
at which follows in our history makes us understand
clearly the mission and the ministry of Jesus. He calls
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Matthew who was sitting at the receipt of custom. e
tax was hateful to the Jews, not only because they had to
pay it against their will, but much more because it was the
proof of their being in slavery to the Gentiles. ey had
lost their privileges as the free people of God; and when
their fellow-countrymen took this oce, as they were
wont to do, under the Roman knights, their bitterness was
very great, and the man who took such a situation became
hated as a perdious traitor of the religion and the nation.
us these tax-gatherers were despised and detested. Now
Matthew invites the Lord, and many other publicans were
at table with Jesus and with His disciples.
e scribes and Pharisees raise the question as to how
it could be possible that a righteous teacher should sit and
eat with unclean men and sinners. Jesus hears this, and
answers with divine wisdom. e simplicity of the answer
equals its force. “ ey that are whole have no need of a
physician, but they that are sick; I came not to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Here it is grace that
is working; and the work of Jesus presents a full contrast
to the law. e law demanded human justice from man;
Christ and the gospel announce divine grace which reigns
and reveals God’s righteousness. Here we have grace; as
to divine righteousness, it should be fully revealed when
Christ should have accomplished His work upon the cross:
truth as important as it is precious!
Christ, the Savior, came to seek sinners, and does not
seek righteous persons; even were there any such, there
would be no need to seek them, but in His sovereign grace
and perfect goodness He came to seek sinners; He does
not send them away but seeks them, and can sit and eat
with them whilst being Himself altogether holy. is is the
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manifestation of God in love in the midst of sinners to
win the hearts of men, and to produce condence toward
God in these hearts, and to bind all the faculties of the
soul with the power of a perfect object, and to form it
according to the image of that which leads it, and which
it contemplates; whence to inspire this condence, since
good was come into the midst of evil, and had taken part
in the wretchedness in which fallen man lay- a goodness
which did not drive away the sinner on account of his sins,
but which invited him to come.
Man’s ruin began when he lost his condence in God:
the devil had succeeded in persuading Eve that God had
not permitted man to eat of the tree of knowledge of good
and evil, because He knew that, if he did it, he would be as
God, knowing good and evil; that God had forbidden him
to touch the tree from jealousy; and, if He did not wish
that we should be happy, we must make ourselves happy.
And this is what Eve sought, and what all men seek who
do their own will. us man fell, and thus man remains
in all the wretchedness which is the fruit of sin, awaiting
God’s judgment upon the sin itself. Now, before executing
judgment God came in love as Savior to show that His
love is greater than sin, and that the worst sinner can have
condence in this love that seeks sinners and adapts itself
to their wants, which does not demand righteousness
from man, and brings him salvation and grace by which to
present him nally to God as His righteousness through
the work of Christ: but He comes in love to sinful men to
reconcile them with Himself. Instead of punishing them
for their sins, He nds occasion to manifest the immensity
of His love in coming to those who were lying in sin, and
in giving Himself as a sacrice to put it away.
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In His life Christ presents this love of God, God
Himself manifested in love to man; in His death He is as
man before God, made sin for us in order that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him, and that the
righteous God, the God of love, never might remember our
sins. In the history which we are considering He manifests
God’s love towards man. e law was the perfect rule of
that which man ought to be as son of Adam; it demanded
of man that he should be such, and pronounced a curse
upon the man who did not do that which it required. It
added God’s authority to that which was tting to the
relationships in which man nds himself, and gave a perfect
rule for conduct to man in these relationships; a rule easily
forgotten or broken in the fallen state of man. It did not
give life, nor strength, nor objects to attract and rule the
heart; but it established the relationship of man with God
and with his fellows, and cursed all those who had not kept
it, that is, all those that were under it.
e esh does not submit, nor can it submit to the law
of God: grace then, whilst it establishes the authority of
the law and the curse itself, since Christ the blessed Savior
has borne it, must needs change everything in the ways of
God. Forgiveness is not the same as the curse, and paying a
debt is very dierent from demanding the money. It is quite
just to demand payment, but, if the debtor has nothing to
pay, he is ruined; whereas, if he pays, he is set free. Christ
has done more; not only does He pay the debt, but He
has acquired glory for those that believe. Not only has He
freed the debtor from his debts, but He has given him an
immense fortune in God’s presence.
But then the change is complete and perfect, and the
Lord’s words which follow show us this. John’s disciples
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and the Pharisees used to fast, and the Lord gives motives
why His own could not do it. e Bridegroom was present
and so it was not the time for fasting, but the time would
soon come when the Bridegroom would be taken away;
and then they should fast. e joy of His presence would
be turned into sorrow by His absence, by the need which
this absence would create in the heart. e other reason
is this: it was impossible to mix the two systems; the new
wine (the truth and the spiritual power of Christianity)
could not be put into old bottles, into the old institutions
and ceremonies of Judaism. If this were done, the new wine
would destroy the bottles, and both would be spoiled, the
wine would be lost and the bottles destroyed. In like manner
a piece of new cloth does not suit an old garment: the
garment would be torn, and the rent would only be greater.
Indeed it is not possible to attach the spiritual power of
Christianity to the carnal ceremonies which human nature
loves, because it can make of them a religion without a
new life, and without the conscience being touched. e
unconverted man, if he wishes, may thus do as much good
as the converted man. No, the new wine must be kept in
new bottles: it is important for us to remember it. e
dispensation was changed, a new order was coming in,
and all was altered; the nature of the things was dierent-
they could not exist at the same time; eshly ceremonies
and the power of the Holy Ghost could never go together.
ink of it, Christians! Christianity has tried to embellish
itself with these ceremonies, and often even under Pagan
forms; and what has it become? It has adapted itself to the
world of which these forms were the rudiments, and has
become really pagan, and its true spirituality can hardly be
found at all.
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But there was an institution founded by God, that is,
the sign of His covenant with Israel-the sabbath-and it
was too the sign of God’s rest in the rst creation. Now,
in Israel man was put to the proof, to see whether, with
a perfect rule, and with means oered by the law (God
Himself being present in the tabernacle or temple), he
could serve God and fulll righteousness as a son of Adam
in the esh. e sabbath was not “ a “ seventh day but “
the “ seventh day, in the which at the end of creation God
ceased creating, and rested. e question then arose as to
whether man could share God’s rest: and the answer is,
that he has sinned, and therefore can never have any part in
this rest. Under the law he was again put to the proof; and
then he made the golden calf before Moses came down
from the mountain. God then exercised patience with the
people until they rejected Christ. But it was impossible to
establish a covenant between God and man after the esh;
man could not enjoy God’s rest. More than this; the sabbath
of the rst creation was for man, and He who enjoyed all
the rights of man according to God’s counsels was Lord of
the sabbath: thus these two principles are unfolded.
First, as when David, the anointed of the Lord, had
been rejected, everything was common and profane; so
when Christ, the last proof oered to man in the esh,
was rejected, nothing was holy for man; the seal of the
rst covenant had lost all its meaning. en, when Christ
renounces for a time His position in Israel as Messiah, He
becomes (as we see often in the Gospels, Luke 9:21, 22,
etc.) the Son of man. us He is the Lord of the sabbath
which was made for man; thus the sign of the old covenant
disappears through man’s sin and his rejection of Christ.
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Christ’s resurrection is the beginning of the new
creation, the foundation of the new covenant founded upon
His blood. is is the sign of God’s rest for us. Satised,
gloried by the death of Jesus, God has raised Him from
among the dead and has found a resting-place for His love
and His righteousness; and we, the objects of this love, are
made the righteousness of God in Christ.
us the Lord’s day is a most precious gift from Him,
and the true Christian enjoys it with all his heart; and, if
he is faithful, he nds himself in the Spirit to enjoy God,
happy to be freed from material labor to adore God as his
Father, and to enjoy communion with the Lord. It is always
a bad sign when a Christian talks of his liberty and makes
use of it to neglect the Lord, in order to give himself to the
material work of the world. However free a Christian may
be, he is free from the world and from the law, in order to
serve the Lord. How much good may he not do on the
Lord’s day! And this is a third principle which is found in
chapter 3 in this Gospel.
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Mark 3
Chapter 3.
Grace had come (John 1:17), God Himself was present
in grace; and this grace was free to do good on the sabbath.
e Lord’s true rest is the exercise of His love in the
midst of evil. e Pharisees thought nothing of doing evil
provided that their traditions were observed. God held
Himself at liberty to do good; and for this reason the Lord
heals the withered hand, calling the Jew’s attention to this
great principle in a formal way.
e Pharisees consult with the Herodians (who were
their enemies) to nd out how they might put Jesus to
death; and the Lord departs. So the dispensation of the
law is set aside by Christianity, which cannot be introduced
into the old Jewish forms; and at the same time the rights
of divine love, that is, the rights of God Himself are
maintained. us the true character of the Lord’s service
is clearly set forth. Here the direct unfolding of the Lord’s
ministry ceases. at which follows consists of parables and
facts, which develop it and show clearly the relationships
in which the Lord found Himself with the Jews. He
withdraws Himself from the hatred of the rulers of the
people, in order to carry on His service of love.
A great multitude from all parts of the country follow
Him, having heard of the marvelous things that He did;
we have here a living picture of the eect of His ministry.
e Lord nds Himself obliged to have a little ship upon
the lake, so large was the crowd that pressed upon Him
wishing to touch Him to be healed. Also evil spirits when
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they saw Him, fell down before Him, saying, “ ou
art the Son of God.” Remark here, that which we often
nd in the Gospels, that evil spirits possessed people so
completely, that their acts are attributed to the spirits; and
the demoniacs said that which the spirits made them say,
as it were of their own accord. e mind and body were so
completely in possession of the spirit, that the possessed
person thought that that which the spirit inspired was his
own thoughts. e possession was complete. “ ou art
come to torment us before the time … I know thee, the
Holy One of God “-it is often thus. But the Lord would
not receive the testimony of demons, nor allow them to
make Him known.
He goes up a mountain that He may get away from
the crowd for a little, in order to be alone; and calls to
Him those He will, who come to Him. In Luke’s Gospel
we read that He passed all the night in prayer before
naming the apostles. In Luke we nd much more of the
Lord’s humanity, most important in its place. He prayed
when heaven opened to Him; He prayed when He was
transgured; and when in agony in the garden, He prayed
more earnestly. Here we have rather the progress of His
ministry: He associates with Himself other servants to
continue and extend His work. ey were to be with Him,
and then they are sent to preach the gospel with power, to
heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils. Remark here, that
Christ not only does miracles Himself, but that He can
give others the power of performing them. e apostles
could lay their hands on a man that He might receive
the Holy Ghost; but they could never give to others the
power to perform miracles, and to cast out demons. is
is something much more than performing miracles; it is
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the power and the authority of God. He gives names also
to some of His disciples-mark of supreme authority-and
according to the knowledge He had of their character,
before He had had any experience of it.
At the same time we see how the Lord’s testimony is
received; His own friends think Him mad; and the leaders
of the people ascribe His wonderful works to the power of
Satan. O what a world we live in! Man can see nothing in
the activity of divine goodness but madness and the work
of the devil. But surely Satan does not cast out Satan: it is
this that is real folly. If a strong man’s goods are taken from
him, it is clear that a stronger has come and has bound
him. May God be praised! But this sin-blasphemy against
the Holy Ghost-cannot be pardoned. Whilst they said, “
We do not believe: this man does not keep the sabbath, he
deceives us,” although it was bad enough, it was pardonable;
but the scribes recognized the power-a power greater than
that of demons, and, instead of owning there the nger of
God, they ascribed it to the prince of the demons-called
the Holy Ghost a demon. It was the end of all hope for
Israel, as regards his responsibility. Grace could forgive the
nation, and will do it when the Lord shall return in glory;
but now, as a responsible people, their story is ended.
It is for this reason the Lord renounces all relationship
with the people according to the esh. His mother and
brethren come to call Him, but the Lord will not recognize
them. He brings in the word to form new links with souls,
but every link with Israel is broken. His mother has no
claim upon Him, He refuses to own her call: “ Who is my
mother or my brethren? “ He says; and looking round upon
those about Him, “ Behold my mother and my brethren:
for whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my
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brother, and my sister and mother.” Here we nd the
break between the Lord and the people. e patience of
the Lord continued to show forth God’s goodness, until
the last Passover; but all was really over for the people;
its condemnation could not fail to be pronounced; He no
longer seeks fruit in His vineyard.
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Mark 4
Chapter 4.
Seated in a boat at the lake side, the Lord presents the
parable of the sower, who went forth to sow that which,
if received in the heart, should bring forth by grace the
fruit desired of God. e fruit was not to be found in the
vineyard where man was to be tried just as he was in the
esh, under the old covenant, the law being written upon
tables of stone. It is on this account that the Lord cursed
the g-tree which did not bring forth fruit, but leaves only;
He had digged about it and dunged it, but in vain; therefore
it was to be cut down. Solemn truth! Grace raises us above
sin, but man in himself is lost as regards his responsibility.
e Lord begins to teach the crowd in parables: saying “ a
sower went forth to sow.” As we have said, He no longer
seeks for fruit from man upon the earth, nor in His people,
but sows that which ought to bring forth fruit.
As the sower sows, some falls by the way-side, some on
stony ground, some in the midst of thorns, and some on
good ground. It is no question here of doctrine, but the
facts which follow the sowing of the word of the kingdom
present themselves; it is a question of outward facts. ree
parts bear no fruit. When the word is sown in the heart,
in the rst instance, it rests on the surface of the ground,
it does not penetrate the heart; the devil takes away the
word, and no fruit is left. In the second instance the word
is received with joy; the hearers are glad to listen to the
sound of grace, of pardon, of the kingdom; but when this
brings with it aiction or persecution, they leave it. e
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hearer had received it with joy; he leaves it when aiction
comes: the conscience is not brought into God’s presence;
the need of a troubled conscience is not felt. It is in the
conscience that the word of God xes its roots; because the
presence of God is revealed and awakens the conscience.
God Himself is revealed to the heart, and one nds oneself
in His presence with the consciousness of being there.
Self-judgment follows, the darkness passes away, and the
light of God shines in the heart. When the conscience has
already been exercised, then the gospel brings joy at once,
and God’s answer to the soul’s need. Whatever the grace
and the love of God may be, when they are rst revealed,
they do not produce joy, because the conscience is reached;
the light penetrates, because God is light. Love (for God is
love) inspires condence, the heart is attracted and trusts,
like the sinful woman who washed the Lord’s feet with her
tears; but the conscience, not being yet purged, has no joy.
If the announcement of pardon gives joy, there is reason to
fear that the conscience is not awakened. e understanding
(perhaps also the natural aections) has understood the
beautiful story of love and pardon told in the gospel, but
the work is only surface-deep and disappears.
Another part of the seed fell amongst thorns, and the
thorns, growing up, choked it, and it did not bear any fruit.
Last of all, that which fell on good ground brought forth
fruit in dierent proportions. e object of this discourse
is not to show how this takes place; it speaks only of the
eect manifested. Doubtless it is grace, but the fact alone
is told. We see the activity of grace in the heart in this
last case, because it grows and bears fruit, and keeps on
growing. He who has truly received the word in the heart
is tted to communicate it to others. He may not have the
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gift of preaching, but he loves the truth, he loves souls, and
the glory of the Savior; and the light which has been lit in
his heart is to light all around him. He too sows according
to his strength, and is responsible to do so. All will be
manifested, faithfulness and unfaithfulness, with regard to
this, as in everything else. God sends light into the heart
in order to give it to others, and not to hide it. We shall
receive more, if we are faithful in communicating what we
possess; and, if there is love in us, this cannot fail. Truth and
love both came in Christ, and unless the heart be full of
Christ, the truth will not be manifested: if the heart be full
of other things, or of itself, Christ cannot be manifested. If
Christ-truth and love-be in the heart, the truth will shine
out for the blessing of others, and we ourselves shall be
blessed, and more will be given to us; and there will be
liberty and joy in the soul. at which he already possesses
will be taken away from the man who does not let others
prot by the light he has.
We see here again that the Lord’s ministry amongst the
Jews was ended. “ To you it is given,” He says to the disciples,
“ to know the mysteries of the kingdom, but to those that
are without all these things are spoken in parables, in order
that seeing they may not perceive, and that hearing they
may not understand, lest they be converted, and their sins
be forgiven them.” ey are under the judgment of God.
e Lord does not mean to say here that a soul might not
believe in Jesus individually, and thus be forgiven; but that
the nation, having rejected the testimony of Jesus, was
now deserted of God, left outside, and exposed to His
judgment. He reproves the disciples because they too could
not understand the parable, nevertheless He explains it to
them in His grace.
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After this explanation and the respective warnings of
which we have spoken, the Lord gives another parable
which presents His ways very clearly. e kingdom is like
unto a man that casts seed into the ground, who, rising
and sleeping day and night, allows it to increase without
taking any notice of it. e earth produces thus fruit of
itself, rst the blade, then the ear, and then the full grain in
the ear. Now when the fruit is ripe, the sickle is put in at
once, because the harvest is come. us the Lord worked
personally, sowing the word of God upon earth; and at the
end, He will return, and work again in person, when the
time for the judgment of this world shall have come; but
now in the meantime, He remains seated at the right hand
of God, as though He did not occupy Himself with His
eld, although in secret He does work by His grace, and
produces everything. But it is not manifest. Without being
seen, He works to make the seed grow in a divine way by
His grace, whilst apparently He allows the gospel to grow
without having anything to do with it until the harvest.
en He will appear and will Himself work openly.
He teaches the people again with another parable. We
do not nd here the whole story of the kingdom as in the
thirteenth chapter of Matthew, but only its great principles,
and the Lord’s work in contrast with His manifestation and
the establishment of the kingdom by His own presence.
It grows during His absence, no one knows how, at least
as regards human knowledge. e kingdom, then, is like
a grain of mustard seed, the smallest of all seeds; but as
soon as it is sown it grows, and becomes a large plant,
even a tree large enough for the birds of the air to rest
upon its branches. us Christianity, a little seed, that of
a man despised by the world, has become a great power
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upon the earth, and extends its branches everywhere. Here
the Evangelist repeats that the Lord spoke to the crowds
in parables, and that He did not address them without
parables; then He explained the whole to His disciples,
when they were alone with Him.
In that which follows, we have, I think, a picture of
the departure of Jesus, and of His power; the security
of His own even when He seemed to be indierent to
their diculties; then the relationship in which He stood
towards the Jews. Jesus, having sent away the multitude,
gets into a boat and goes to sleep whilst a tempest arises
upon the lake, so that the waves ll the boat. e disciples,
full of fear, come to Jesus to awaken Him; Jesus arises,
rebukes the wind, and says to the sea, “ Peace, be still,”
and all is quiet. But then He reproves the unbelieving fear
of the disciples; and indeed, reader, do you think that the
power of the Son of God, God’s counsels, could have failed
because of an unexpected storm on the lake of Gennesaret?
Impossible! the disciples were in the same boat with Jesus.
Here is a lesson for us: in all the diculties and dangers
of the christian life, during the whole journey upon the
waves, often agitated by the tempestuous sea of life and
of christian service, we are always in the same boat with
Jesus, if we are doing His will. It may seem to us that He
is sleeping; nevertheless, if He allows the tempest to rise in
order to prove our faith, we shall not perish since we are
with Him in the storm; evidently neither He nor we can
perish. He may seem sometimes to be indierent to our
fate; but I repeat we are with Him; His security is our own.
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Mark 5
Chapter 5.
If calming the winds and the sea shows the Lord’s power
over creation, that which follows shows it over demons; He
casts out a Legion by His word. But now we nd the eect
of the manifestation of His power upon the world, even
where it worked for the deliverance of men. ey beseech
Jesus to depart, and He goes away. Poor world! the quiet
inuence of Satan upon the heart is more disastrous than
His outward and visible power; this is sad enough, but
the power of the Lord is quite sucient to drive it away:
whereas, on the other hand, the quiet inuence of Satan in
the heart drives away Jesus Himself. And remark that, when
the presence of God is felt, it is more terrible than that
of Satan; man would wish to free himself from the latter,
but cannot; but the presence of God is insupportable when
it makes itself felt: and indeed man has driven God (in
the person of Christ) out of this world. Jesus gave Himself
for us, it is true; but, as regards man’s responsibility, he has
driven out the Lord. I do not doubt that all this scene is
the representation of the end of the Lord’s history; and
that the swine present to us the end of the Jews, who were
hurried into perdition as possessed of the devil at the end
of their history. e world did not wish to have Jesus; the
Jews are cast down into hopeless ruin.
e man who is cured is quiet; he wishes to be with Jesus
who is going away, but this is not allowed him. He must
go and announce to others what God has done for him.
Here is the position of the disciples and of all Christians
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after the Lord’s departure from this world. ey desire to
go and be with Him, but are sent again into the world to
declare the blessed work that the Lord has done in their
own persons; they can by their own experience say what is
the grace and the power of Jesus. But how deplorable is the
state of the world and of man! e presence of the devil is
more tolerable for him than that of God. He would wish
to check the violent manifestations of the power of Satan,
but cannot-the bands are burst asunder, and the man is as
bad as ever. God is not a tyrant like Satan; He is good, full
of grace, and frees men in Christ from Satan’s power; but,
this being the proof of the presence and power of God,
man shows that His presence is insupportable to him, even
when God manifests Himself as the deliverer from all the
evils which sin and Satan’s power have introduced.
e history which follows reveals the true relationships
between Jesus and Israel. Jesus came to heal Israel; but
Israel was in fact dead, speaking spiritually; when Jesus
arrived, it was necessary to raise him, if it were God’s will
that he should live; the Lord could do it, and will do it for
this nation in the last days. But then being in the way with
the people, the crowd of Israel surrounded Him; and, if
individual faith touched Him, the person was healed, and
this is what happened to the poor aicted woman.
Let us notice some of the details of the story:-the
Lord distinguishes between true faith and the eagerness
of the crowd which was attracted by His miracles and by
the benets it had received. Sincerity was not wanting in
the crowd, the people saw the miracles and enjoyed their
eects, but they had not faith in the person of Jesus. But
there was good in the woman, by grace, that which is
always found in faith, a felt need and the perception of
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the excellence of His person, and of the divine power that
was in Jesus, accompanied with true humility with regard
to herself. e poor woman is sure that, if she touch only
the hem of His garment, she shall be healed; and in fact
it is this that takes place. As soon as the woman is healed,
Jesus perceives that the power which is in Him, and which
has gone out from Him to the woman, has worked with
ecacy. And it is always thus: many can hear the gospel
and delight to listen to it, but faith is another thing; and
faith always receives the Lord’s answer to the need which
it presents to Him. He may make one wait, if He nds it
good to exercise the faith, but He always answers in love:
the woman is perfectly healed. Faith makes the believer
humble about his wretchedness; the woman wished to
remain hidden, but the Lord encourages the believer,
saying in this instance, “ Daughter, be of good comfort,
thy faith hath saved thee, go in peace.” However timid and
fearful the soul may be in the Lord’s presence in spiritual
things, and however much it may feel its wretchedness,
when the call is true, it opens out and confesses His grace,
not the misery which had rendered this grace needful. It
is then that the Lord encourages and speaks peace to the
heart. Personal faith is here plainly distinguished from the
eagerness of the crowd which followed Him, whether for
curiosity, or for the benets which Jesus conferred upon
it. But the power of resurrection was found in Him and
through Him. Israel, though dead, was only sleeping: the
Lord’s voice will call him into life in His time.
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Mark 6
Chapter 6.
But however great His divine power, He was manifested
in a form that could lend nothing to the pride and vanity
of human nature. Man was responsible to receive Him
because He manifested the character of the Godhead: He
would not atter and give support to human passions, nor
to those of the Jews as a nation. If man is to receive God,
he must receive what God is; but this is just what his fallen
nature will not do. e divine character was much more
fully manifested in the humiliation of Jesus, than if He
had come as a glorious King; but He was not that which
man’s heart desired. He was the carpenter’s son, and that
was enough to cause His rejection. ey judged according
to the esh: the kindred of Jesus were in their midst; and
they did not look any farther. Astonished at their unbelief,
He leaves them after having done that which the wants
of some of them demanded, for His grace never failed. A
prophet is not without honor but in his own country; for it
is there that he is known according to the esh. So it was
with Jesus, not only in Nazareth, but also in Israel. Remark
what an obstacle unbelief is to the exercise of the power
of God. e faith of the sick woman who touches His
garment causes His power to come out, but the unbelief
of the inhabitants of His own country hinders its exercise.
We nd, “ He could not do any mighty work there,” etc.
May God grant that we may not put any obstacle to the
activity of His grace, which is always ready to act; but, on
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the contrary, may we know what it is to prot by His power
by causing it to act towards us by faith; chap. 6:1-6.
Now the Lord sends His disciples to preach, and we
have a proof of His power more remarkable than that of
His own miracles. He gives them the power to perform
miracles themselves, power to cast out all demons. is is a
power evidently divine; God makes man capable to perform
signs and wonders; but what man can give this power to
another? Christ gave it, and His disciples, capacitated
by His gift, cast out demons in reality: Christ was God
manifest in grace upon the earth. We have already called
attention to the fact that all the Lord’s miracles, and those
of His disciples are not only the results of power, such as
the miracles of Moses, of Elias, etc., but they are the fruits
of divine goodness. One may except the cursing of the
g-tree, but this after all is a proof of the same thing. e
testimony of the Lord, stamped as it was with love, and
conrmed by His miraculous works, had been rejected; and
Israel-man’s heart-under the inuence of this goodness, of
the manifestation of God, of all the care which God had
lavished upon it, had not brought forth any fruit. erefore
the bad tree is judged forever, so that it can never bear fruit
again. us man, having shown himself to be nothing but
guilty, and so guilty, that all the means employed by God,
even to the gift of His only-begotten Son, have been found
to be unable to awaken a single good sentiment towards
God, as to his state in the esh, he is nally rejected of
God. God can save him in giving him a new nature by the
Holy Spirit, but in himself he is without hope. Who will
do more than that which God has done?
More than this; the Lord has not only power to give
to His disciples authority over evil spirits, but He can also
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dispose of human hearts. e disciples were to start without
taking anything for their journey; and nevertheless, as we
read in Luke, the disciples bore witness, in answer to the
Lord, that they had wanted for nothing. Sustained by the
power of Emmanuel, whose power extended everywhere,
and armed with His authority, they were to stay in the
house into which they had entered until their departure
from each place. us they were to conform themselves
to this mission; possessing the Lord’s authority for their
message, they were to act accordingly. And wherever their
message should not be received, they were to shake the
dust o their feet as a witness against that city, whose fate
should be worse than that of Sodom and Gomorrha. It
is true that the Lord, full of goodness and patience, sent
seventy disciples again before His face when He went up
to Jerusalem at the end of His career upon earth, and these
were to preach the gospel. But as to the principle of the
mission, that which we nd in Mark was the last testimony
given to Israel before the judgment of the nation. is was
to be a last appeal to the conscience and heart of the people,
in order that it might receive the Savior and repent and
turn to God and escape the terrible judgment that awaited
it; and that there might be at least a remnant which, moved
by the powerful word of God, might return to God to enjoy
His goodness in the Savior, and a better hope than Judaism
had been able to give them.
e disciples went forth preaching that men were to
repent. What grace there is in the sending forth of the
gospel! Not only does God give us to enjoy salvation
and His love, but employs men as the instruments of the
activity of His love. O how we ought to bless God that
He condescends to make use of us to carry the testimony
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of His ineable love and of His truth to men’s hearts-at
least to their ears, in order that He Himself may cause it
to reach their hearts in His grace! May we know at least
what it is to have our hearts full of love, whether we preach
or not, so that they may be a true expression of that grace
which seeks men. us the power of God accompanied the
disciples; they cast out devils and healed the sick.
At this time the report of the works and power of the
Lord reached the king’s ears; his conscience was troubled
at it because he put John the Baptist to death. Here
begins the history of the facts which show practically the
opposition of man’s heart to the testimony of God. e
enmity against the truth and the light which was fullled
in the death of Jesus, manifested itself already in the death
of His predecessor. Herod’s natural conscience had induced
him to listen to John; the fear that he had of the holy man
who had been faithful in rebuking him caused him to have
some regard for him, and to keep him from the enmity
of Herodias; but that which is natural is not enough to
form a barrier to the esh. e excitement of a banquet and
royal pride are enough to cause the prophet’s death. Painful
instance of the manner in which man deceives himself; and
when he imagines himself strong enough to show forth
his power, all he can do is to reveal his weakness and his
slavery to his passions. All this does but accomplish the
will of God; this enmity of man’s heart must show itself,
and must introduce, by the rejection of John the Baptist
and of Jesus Himself, things innitely better, through the
sovereign grace of God.
e disciples come back and relate to Jesus all that they
have done and taught; it was natural that they should be
full of it. But the Savior does not say anything about it;
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for Him power was a natural thing, and He wishes the
disciples to come apart in a desert place to rest a little in
solitude. It is always a good thing, even necessary for us
whatever the blessing may be-all the more the greater it
is-for us poor creatures who are so incapable of bearing the
eect of power when the work is by our means, so ready
are we to attribute it to ourselves without perceiving it; it is
necessary, I say, to retire into God’s presence, and there in
His presence to nd out what we are in truth, to enjoy in
safety His perfect love: but to be occupied with Him and
not with ourselves. is is what the Lord did in His tender
consideration for His own.
But the love of God does not nd repose in this world;
and man, nding but little love in human hearts, is afraid
of wearying the Lord when He is present there; but divine
love never refuses to attend to man’s wants. e people
recognized Jesus and ran together from every city, coining
out of their solitude to see Jesus; and He, seeing this great
multitude, was moved with compassion, because they were
as sheep without a shepherd. He begins to teach them: this
is the rst and true need of the people abandoned of their
human shepherds; but the Lord still thinks of all the needs
of His hungry people. e disciples would have wished
to have sent away the crowd, but Jesus wishes to feed it.
is miracle has a great meaning in itself, from the place
it holds in this Gospel. Jehovah was the true Shepherd of
Israel and was there present in the person of Christ, who in
truth was rejected. Nevertheless His compassion and His
love were not weakened by the ingratitude of the people.
To show that He is really Jehovah, He acts according to
Psa. 132:15; “ I will satisfy her poor with bread.” is is a
psalm which predicts the time of the Messiah, which will
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be fully accomplished in the latter days; but He who shall
accomplish it was there present, and though He be rejected,
He gives the proof that Jehovah has visited His people-He
satises the poor with bread. His love was far superior to
the malice of His people. He had already said that the Son
of man would be put to death, and that the people would
not receive their Savior-God. With all this, Jehovah does
not abandon His love; if the people do not want Jehovah,
Jehovah wants the people. He gives the precious testimony
that Jehovah’s love does not grow weary, but remains
superior to all the folly of man. May His name be praised
and adored for it! We can all the more count upon His
unfailing goodness not to allow us to fall into negligence,
but to sustain us in our weakness; for His love is greater
than all our failings, so that we can adore His patience.
But there is another important truth which we nd here.
e Lord does not say, “ I will give them to eat,” but, “ Give
them to eat.” e Lord wishes the disciples to know what
it is to use His power for the good of others, and that they
may know how to use it by faith. Oh, what a thought that
true faith employs Jehovah’s power, and in circumstances
which show that His love is above our unfaithfulness and
failure! How important a truth for us, that Christ is the
expression of this love, of the superiority of God’s grace
over all our sins; for “ God commendeth his love toward us,
in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” is
was the proof of it; but that which was manifested in His
death is always true for us in His life. “ Much more,” says
the apostle, “ being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.”
Faith, therefore, counts upon the unfailing faithfulness of
this love, and uses the strength which is made perfect in
weakness. e esh in the disciples sees nothing but carnal
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means, and does not look at God’s love and power but at
that which is seen. But the Lord gives food in abundance
to the hungry multitude, and shows Himself to be both the
God and Savior of Israel.
e story which follows gives us the picture of the
separation caused by the Lord’s rejection, and the welcome
which will be given to Him at the end of the history of
this world which has rejected Him. He does not speak of
the judgment of His adversaries, but of the change of the
world itself. e Lord constrains His disciples to depart
alone, whilst He sends away the multitude; and when
they are gone, He departs into a mountain to pray. is
is exactly what the Lord has now done: the disciples are
tossed upon the tempestuous sea of the world; Jesus has
sent away Israel, and has ascended to heaven to intercede
for us. In the meantime the wind is contrary, and we toil
in rowing with diculty and trouble, being outwardly left
to the Lord; but He intercedes for us always, and obtains
mercy and grace for us in the time of need. Israel had been
dismissed.
More exactly, the disciples upon the sea represent the
Jewish remnant, which in fact has become the church: but
here it is considered in its character of the Jewish remnant.
Jesus overtakes the ship, walking upon the sea, for He
can walk calmly upon circumstances which cause us great
trouble. e disciples are afraid, but Jesus comforts them,
assuring them that it is Himself, their well-known friend
and Savior. us it will be at the end of the times: Jesus
will appear superior to all the circumstances by which
His people are troubled; and He will be the same meek
and humble companion who walked upon earth with His
disciples “ in the days of his esh.”
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“ Now when he entered into the ship, the wind ceased.”
I repeat that the judgment of His adversaries is not
mentioned here, but that which will happen to His people
amongst the Jews, when He shall return. en the world
will be again full of joy. e land of Gennesaret, which had
sent away the Savior after He had healed the demoniac,
receives Him now and owns Him, and all the people
everywhere enjoy His presence with delight.
Are our hearts ready to receive this teaching? Have we
learned that to carry one’s cross is the true position of the
Christian, the path into which the Lord has led us? To
walk thus we have need of an object which can rule the
heart, which can possess its aections, and can x them
on what is on before, and lead them on; an object to which
too the cross is united- that is, Christ who has loved us, and
who gave Himself upon the cross for us; Christ who is now
in glory to which He is leading us, and who shows us what
the path of the cross is, in order that we may be with Him
and like Him, following the path which the Lord has trod
for us in His love. “ If any man serve me, let him follow me:
and where I am, there shall also my servant be.”
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Mark 7
Chapter 7.
is seventh chapter is full of the most interesting
teaching. First, the Lord’s judgment upon the outward
piety of the heads of Judaism, which was altogether external
and nothing less than hypocrisy, and which set aside the
law of God. All these washings are despised by God; the
Pharisees had set aside the commandment of God to keep
their own tradition. Secondly, the Lord shows that that
which comes out of a man’s mouth deles the man, because
it arises from the heart; not that which enters into the man.
en having thus judged Israel and man, He shows forth
in the most touching manner the sovereign grace of God
which passes by every barrier to reach man’s need: outside
of all rights founded upon the promises, demanding only
that the heart should recognize it in order that it may be
entirely the pure grace of God in love which does the good;
revealing itself as love when man is bad, and without any
hope outside of this sovereign grace.
Outward things are easy to do; man likes to make his
religion of them, for they do not need a pure heart; man
likes to do them, and to exalt himself and to distinguish
himself from others in doing them. By them man boasts of
great piety before other men, and gains a great reputation
for it; but he can be bad at the same time; these outward acts
do not bring him into the presence of God who searches
the heart. Man by these acts is religious without possessing
holiness, and he nds that this just suits him. One does
not nd Pharisees only in our Lord’s time; they are to be
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found in all times. is system always attaches itself to the
inuence which a man exerts over another by means of a
position outwardly holy; it is not the faith which possesses
truth and grace for itself (which truth and grace came by
Jesus Christ, and which produce holiness and communion
with God who reveals Himself in them), but the ocial
inuence that a man uses to his own advantage, carelessly
leaving on one side the will and the commandments of
God. us it was amongst the Jews; they washed their
hands, but not their hearts; they were very scrupulous
about that which entered their mouth, and careless about
that which came out of their heart.
us is man’s religion always; he can observe such a
religion as this, and deck himself with it as with a glory.
But he cannot get real holiness in this way, and this is
evident to the eyes of God, who sees all that goes on in
the heart. True holiness shows itself in the practical walk;
one may fail, but the soul sustained by grace only seeks
the approbation of God; it has the consciousness of failure,
and rejoices in God, for it is He who dwells in the soul,
and keeps it humble. But the Pharisees and Sadducees
amongst the Jews proted by their reputation and position
to induce the pious to give many gifts to God, whom they
represented. us duties towards parents were slighted,
and God’s law countermanded. ey honored God with
their lips, but their heart was far from Him. ey drew near
to Him with their mouth, but not with their heart; this was
full of covetousness and iniquity. God refuses altogether
this kind of honor. “ In vain do they worship me,” says the
prophet Isaiah, and the Lord repeats it. God wants a pure
heart sanctied by the Spirit and by the truth; and He
wants a worship which is to be rendered in spirit and in
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truth: the Father seeketh such to worship Him. He wants
grace, but the truth is required to be able to draw near to
God, a heart where the divine life exists. All this human
religion, outward, Pharisaical, priestly, is judged of the Lord
once and for all times. God demands a pure heart and true
obedience. Men put on this kind of religion, giving honor
in it to antiquity and to the traditions of their ancestors, to
which man’s imagination attributes great value. All that is
seen through the shades of antiquity is imposing enough;
but with God it is a question of the heart, and it was the
same then as it is now with us: we are before God, and He
sees us just as we are. Man’s actual state is the question.
But what are these poor hearts in their natural state? is
is the second question the Lord takes up. He has already
torn the veil of the hypocrisy by which the Pharisees and
priests tried to conceal the impurity of their hearts, and to
turn to their own account the external piety which they
taught; the motives of their hearts are manifested, and the
eorts which they make to cover the impurity and avarice
of their heart appear; their hypocrisy is manifest. e Lord
does not only rend the veil of hypocrisy, but discovers also
that which the heart produces. is is what God does; He
searches our hearts and manifests them, and then reveals
His own. is is the uncovering not merely of the hearts
of the Pharisees, but of the hearts of all men; that which
goes out of the mouth deles the man, because it proceeds
from the heart. What a picture! e product of the human
heart consists of malice, corruption, envy, … in a word, of
nothing but vices.
Was the Lord wanting in benevolence or love toward
man? His coming is the proof of God’s love. Did He wish
to hide the good that might be found in man? Was He the
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only one capable of discovering the evil? Could He wish
to slander the being He had come to bless, to save, and to
whom He would give a place with Himself? Impossible:
this could not be. But instead, knowing man’s heart, He
was obliged to say the truth. It was love which discloses the
utter perversity of the human heart, in order that man may
not remain in this state. It is indeed better that it should
be disclosed now in the presence of grace than in the day
of judgment, when all that is manifested will be punished,
and man condemned.
Observe also that, when practical holiness and obedience
are no longer to be found in the life of the leaders, a
religion founded by God becomes the power of sin and of
hypocrisy, and tends always to pervert the mind, to destroy
the conscience and uprightness in all; because that which
is looked upon as God’s authority encourages hypocrisy
and iniquity, and also tends to produce unbelief, because
men see that religion attaches itself to that which even the
natural conscience condemns. Oh how sad a story is that
of the human heart and of the church of God, such as men
have made it! Observe also the inuence of the corrupt
religious authority to blind men and to destroy spiritual
intelligence. What can be clearer than that which the Lord
says? But the natural conscience does not recognize the
truth that it is not that which entereth into a man’s mouth
that deleth the man, but that which comes out of it, for it
proceeds from the heart. e thing is simple enough.
e disciples do not understand, and ask for an
explanation of it; their natural intelligence had been
blinded by the tradition of the elders. e manner of
reasoning acquired by the authority of the latter had
spoiled their understanding. And indeed, do we not nd
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many who believe that that which entereth into a man’s
mouth deleth him? And yet they are sincere souls; and
not only so, they believe also that to eat a certain kind of
food one day deles, and that another day it does not: and
this because of the tradition of the elders. is really is what
the disciples did substantially; and the Lord reproves them,
saying, “ Are ye so without understanding also? “ Here we
see the judgment of the Lord against many things which
keep many souls in bondage, and sincere souls even, like
those of the disciples.
But let us turn to the precious display of God’s love in
the words of the Lord to the poor woman. We nd that all
the privileges of the Jews are recognized rst; but we nd
also the truth of God which rises far above such privileges
to manifest grace and love wherever a need may be found;
not indeed where there is a right to the promises, but
towards an accursed race, towards a woman from a country
notorious for its hardened state. God manifested Himself
in rising above all the barriers that man’s iniquity and the
exclusive system of Judaism had set up, even the system
which He had Himself established, which was shown to be
abolished by the rejection of Christ.
e Lord goes into the borders of Tire and Sidon; He
wishes to be quiet, but goodness joined with power are too
rare in the world to remain unnoticed; and the need felt
awakens the soul and makes it clear-sighted. A poor woman
had a daughter subject to the power of an unclean spirit;
feeling her own wretchedness and believing in Jesus’ power,
she goes to seek Him. e weight of misery that oppressed
her made her hope in His goodness. e Lord keeps to
the promises made by God to the Jews, and in His answer
puts forward the rights of God’s people; He could not take
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the children’s bread and give it to the dogs. Observe that
the woman herself was of the accursed race; if we look at
the ways of God in the midst of Israel, there was not a
single promise for her; and she had no right belonging to
her in common with the people of God. According to the
Jews and the legal economy, she was nothing more than a
dog: but present needs were there, and the power of God,
always employed as it is for His own good purposes, was
there too, and this inspires her condence.
It is always thus; need and faith in the goodness and
power of the Lord give perseverance, as in the case of those
who carried the paralytic man when the crowd pressed
around Jesus. But there is something in the woman’s heart
besides condence which grace had produced there. She
recognizes the rights of the Jews as God’s people; she owns
that she is but a dog with regard to them; but she insists
upon her demand, because she feels that, even though
she be but a dog, the grace of God is sucient for those
who had no rights. “ Even the dogs,” she says, “ eat of the
children’s crumbs “; she recognizes what she is, but also
what God is. She believes in His love towards those who
have neither rights nor promises; and in the manifestation
of God in Jesus outside of and above all dispensations.
God is good, and the fact of being in misery is a claim with
Him: could Christ say, “ No, God is not good as thou dost
suppose? “ He could not say this: it would not have been
the truth.
is is great faith, faith which recognizes our own
wretchedness, that we have right to nothing; but faith
which believes in the love of God clearly revealed in Jesus,
without any promise, yet fully revealed. God cannot deny
Himself and say, “ No I am not love.” We have no right to
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expect the exercise of this love towards us, but we can be
sure that coming to Christ, impelled by our wants, we shall
nd perfect goodness, love that heals us, and the healing
itself. Let us remember that true need perseveres because
it cannot do without the aid of the power which was
manifested in Christ; nor without the salvation which He
has brought; nor is there salvation without the help which
is to be found in Him for our weakness. And that which
is in God is the source of our hope and of our faith; and if
asked how we know what is in God’s heart, we can answer,
“It is revealed perfectly in Christ.” Who put it into God’s
heart to send His own Son to save us? Who put it into the
Son’s heart to come and suer everything for us? Not man.
God’s heart is its source. We believe in this love, and in
the value of that which Christ has done and accomplished
upon the cross, to put away sin by the sacrice of Himself.
Besides He does all things well, He makes both the deaf to
hear and the dumb to speak.
e grace of God was fully shown towards the poor
woman, who had no right to any blessing, nor to any
promise; she was a daughter of the accursed Canaan; but
faith reaches even to the heart of God manifested in Jesus,
and in like manner the eye of God reaches to the bottom
of man’s heart. us God’s heart and man’s heart meet, in
the consciousness that man is altogether bad, that he has
not a single right; indeed he owns truly this state, and in it
gives himself up to the perfect goodness of God. But the
Jewish people, who pretended to possess righteousness and
right to the promises, is set on one side; and, as to the old
covenant, is shut out from God’s favor. Only Jesus opens
the eyes and the ears of the remnant brought to Him in
faith. And it was not only the Jewish people which was to
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be set aside (and as to the rst covenant forever), but man
also was set aside on the ground of righteousness, which is
the principle of the rst covenant.
en the Lord leaves again the borders of Tire and
Sidon and returns to the country of Galilee; where He
found Himself in the midst of the people of Israel. But, as
we have said, He was virtually rejected by the people. Jesus
has the consciousness that the beloved people is lost, and
all that He does is to expect its ruin. ey bring to Him
a man who was deaf with an impediment in his speech,
and beseech Him to put His hand upon him to heal him.
en Jesus takes the man and leads him aside from the
crowd:• and then puts His ngers in his ears, and, having
spit, touches his tongue. en He looks toward heaven:
power is always present in Him, but sorrow oppresses His
heart, because the people were really deaf to the voice of
the Good Shepherd; their tongue was tied and incapable
of praising God. e Lord’s sighs are the expression of this
feeling; inasmuch as the state of the poor man represented
the state of the beloved people. Nevertheless they were
happy in that the love of Him whose counsels never change
rested, in spite of all, upon them. And indeed the Lord
was there, and worked according to this love and these
sighs; He looked up to heaven, the source of love and of
power, and never grew weary until the people in favor of
whom He exercised this power, would no longer support
His presence. It is true they would not have been able to
put Him to death, if He had not given Himself up of His
own free will, but the time would come in which He would
give Himself up to accomplish redemption; and until that
moment arrive, He shows Himself always as the God of
goodness towards the aicted, and for all people’s need.
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In verse 33 we see that He separates Himself from the
mass of the people in healing the deaf man. In chapter 8:
23, we have the same thing; He leads the blind man out
of the town, but He heals him; only there the state of His
disciples is shown. It is touching to see this look that the
Lord gives toward heaven, and the sigh of His heart as He
sees the people deaf to God’s voice, and incapable of blessing
His name; and to see the Lord’s heart for hardened men,
and how this heart was in harmony with the heaven which
He always manifested. ere He found the certainty of
this love that man rejected; and rested in the same feelings
that reign in heaven, and of which He was the expression
upon this ungrateful earth. e Lord’s power showed itself
the very moment; the ears were opened, and the tongue
was loosed. e people could not hold their peace, but
published everywhere that which Jesus had done, saying,
“ He hath done all things well; he maketh both the deaf
to hear and the dumb to speak.” e Lord’s work opens
the ears, and gives cause to humble hearts to praise God,
and to recognize His love. But alas! how many remain deaf
to the voice of God’s love! “ ey are like the deaf adder
that stoppeth her ear; which will not listen to the voice of
charmers, charming never so wisely.”
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62860
Mark 8
Chapter 8.
e Lord continues to manifest divine goodness. It is the
chief thing to be noticed in this part of the Gospel. He had
already given the hungry people to eat, a manifest sign of
Jehovah’s presence, as we have before remarked-a sign that
should accompany His presence. Here it is more simply the
divine power, without alluding to the kingdom which was
to come. e number seven is the expression of perfection
in spiritual things. e Lord’s compassion makes Him
think of the needs of the poor, whilst the disciples think
only of human and visible means to satisfy themselves. is
is the case only too often with real believers.
en the Lord leaves the crowd, and goes into the parts
of Dalmanutha. ere the Pharisees ask for a sign from
heaven, although they had already seen enough; but unbelief
is never satised. But now the time of trial was passed, it
was too late; the Lord leaves them. But observe the Lord’s
spirit towards the perverse generation; He sighed deeply in
His spirit, saying, “ Why doth this generation seek after a
sign? ere shall no sign be given to it.” e end had come
morally; it was useless to give proofs to hearts who had
resolved not to believe. Perfect patience, love, deep pity,
and sorrow in thinking of the unbelief of the leaders of the
people were all there in Him, and manifested themselves
all the more clearly as their hearts were hardened; and signs
were useless for hearts who would not believe, and also it
was not suited to God’s majesty to give any to men who
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would not receive Him. It would be casting pearls before
swine.
Now we nd that the disciples themselves were really
blind, not willfullya, but in fact. e Lord warns the
disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of
Herod. e disciples had forgotten to take any bread, and
alas! also the power of Jesus manifested in the miracles, by
which He had fed thousands of people with a few loaves.
e Lord reproves them, saying, “ Perceive ye not, neither
understand? Have ye your heart yet hardened? “ ey were,
as it were, hardened at seeing so many miracles, and had
understood nothing of Jesus’ miracles in the multiplying of
the loaves.
But the fact which follows chews the state of the
disciples in contrast with the people. e latter did not
see anything at all, and would not receive the light; the
disciples saw indistinctly; they saw men as trees walking.
ey really loved the Lord, but Jewish habits prevented
them from grasping fully His glory. ey believed indeed
that He was the Messiah, but the Messiah for their hearts
was something else than the Christ of God, the Savior
of the world. ey had attached themselves by grace to
the person of the Lord, but they did not understand that
divine glory which was, as it were, hid in that person,
which revealed itself in His words and works. ey had
left all to follow the Lord; intelligence was wanting, not
faith, however small it might be. e spirit was willing but
the esh was weak, as we have already remarked. e Lord
leads the blind man out of the city, separating him from
Israel. First of all the man only sees partially: men seemed
to him like trees walking. But the Lord’s patience, as great
as His power, gives a picture of the state of the disciples’
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heart, and also a picture of His untiring goodness, which
does not leave the blind man until he sees clearly. us He
did to the disciples, only here He does not speak of the
means: when Jesus had ascended to heaven and had sat
down at the right hand of God, He sent the Holy Ghost
who led them into all truth. en they saw clearly.
But the Lord forbids the blind man to enter into the
town, or to tell it to anyone in the town, not only because
He did not seek the vain glory of men, but also because He
wished to avoid a large concourse of curious persons who
were but an obstacle to His real work in consciences and
hearts; and also because He wished to show that the time
of testimony in Israel was at an end. Rejected by the world,
He commands the man who has been delivered from the
power of the devils to return to his house, and there to
proclaim that which God had done for him. e disciples
would have done that- would have proclaimed His work-
when Christ should have left this world; but here it was a
question of Israel who had rejected the Lord, and God’s
testimony had no longer any place in their midst.
e Lord’s discourse which follows touches upon this
in the question which He asks His disciples, “Whom
do men say that I am? “ And they answered, “ John the
Baptist; but some, Elias; and others one of the prophets
“: dierent opinions, but no faith. en He asks them, “
But whom say ye that I am? “ Peter answers, “ ou art the
Christ “; and the Lord forbids the disciples to tell it to any
man, in the most positive manner. is is the dearest proof
that the testimony in the midst of the people was entirely
at an end. He was nevertheless the Christ, but He was
rejected by the people, which showed itself to be its own
enemy in rejecting the wondrous grace of God. Now He
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begins to teach His disciples openly that He must suer
as Son of man: a much greater position and title, both as
regards the extent of His power, and the greatness of the
dominion which belonged to Him; for all things will be
subjected to the sway of the Son of man. But in order that
the Son of man might take His place in glory, He must rst
suer, be put to death and rise again; it was necessary that
redemption should be accomplished, and that man should
enter into a new position, into an entirely new state, in
which he had never been even when innocent. Christ’s
position as Messiah was now set aside for this time, and
He enters into one greater where old things are left behind
beyond death, and all that is founded upon Christ’s work,
upon His death-enters upon a state altogether new and
eternal.
Here the subject is treated more with regard to His
suerings; He puts the cross before the disciples, but He
always speaks of death and resurrection. “ And he spake
that saying openly.” is was a stumbling stone for Peter
who did not wish that his Master should be despised
in the eyes of the crowd; but the cross is the portion of
those who wish to follow the Savior. Peter in saying this
placed a stumbling block on the disciples’ path; the Lord
thinks of this, and, turning about and looking upon His
disciples, He reproves Peter, who had confessed Him but a
moment ago, by the grace of God, and says to him, “ Get
thee behind me, Satan, for thou savourest not of the things
that be of God, but of the things that be of men.” We have
here an important lesson, indeed, more than one lesson.
First, the Christian needs to understand well that the way
of salvation, the way which leads to glory and to heaven,
the way in which Christ Himself walked, and in which He
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wishes us to follow Him, is a way in which we must deny
ourselves, suer, and conquer. Secondly, let us learn that a
Christian can have true faith, and be taught of God, as in
Peter’s case here, without having the esh in him judged
so as to render him capable of walking in the way into
which this truth brings him. It is important to remember
this; sincerity may exist without knowing oneself. e new
position of Christ, that of Son of man which embraced the
heavenly glory of man in Him, and the supremacy over
everything, rendered the cross absolutely necessary. But
Peter’s heart was not ready for the cross; when the Lord
announces its practical eect, he cannot bear it.
How many hearts there are in this state! Sincere, no
doubt; but they have not the spiritual courage to accept the
consequences of the truth they believe. See the dierence
in Paul, made strong by the presence of the Holy Ghost
and by faith. He says in the presence of death, “ To know
him [Christ] and the power of his resurrection, and the
communion of his suerings, being made conformable
unto his death,” Phil. 3:10. But there was in him the power
of the Holy Ghost, and he bore always in his body the
dying of Jesus in order that the life of Jesus should manifest
itself in his body. Happy man! always willing to suer
everything, rather than not follow fully the Lord Jesus, and
to confess His name whatever the consequence might be;
and, having walked faithfully, by grace to obtain at last the
prize of his heavenly calling.
But the Lord does not conceal the consequence, nor
does He wish to do so. He warns the crowd, and He warns
us also that if we wish to be with Him, if we wish to follow
Him, we must deny ourselves and take up our cross. Let
us receive the Lord’s words: if we wish to be with Him
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forever, we must follow Him, and if we follow Him, we
shall nd upon the road that which He found. Of course
it is not a question of expiatory suerings, of that which
He suered from God’s hand for sin, but of His suerings
from man, the contradiction of sinners, the opposition of
men, abuse and even death. We know but little what it is to
suer for the name of Jesus; but remember, Christians, that
which the Lord says rst, “ Let him deny himself “; you can
always do this by grace. It is by doing this that we learn to
suer with Him, if God should call us to it. And what shall
we give in exchange for our soul? is leads us to a third
lesson, which requires a little more development.
at which nourishes the esh and self-love is the
great system which is called the world. Man wishes to be
something in his own eyes; he would like to forget God, and
make himself happy, if possible, without Him. us Cain,
when he was driven out from God’s presence, after Abel’s
death, went away from before His face, judged in such a
manner by God, that he could not hope to be admitted
again into His presence to enjoy communion with Him;
for God had made him to be a vagabond and a wanderer
on the earth (a striking type of the Jews at this time, after
having put to death the Lord Jesus, who had become, so to
speak, their brother). But Cain was not willing to remain
a poor vagabond; at all events he did not wish to leave his
family in such a state; he wished it to escape his own proper
lot; and to this end he built a city in the land of Nod (“
Nod “ is the Hebrew word translated vagabond in the rst
instance); he desired that his family should be established
in the country where Gad had made him a vagabond. He
names the city after his son, as do the great people of this
world. ere is to be found the father (that is, the inventor)
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of music, the father of them that work in brass and iron;
there the riches of this present age were heaped together,
much cattle. is is the world!
Man’s heart, alienated from God, tries to make the
earth, where he was set at a distance from God, as pleasing
to himself as possible; and, in order to accomplish this,
he uses God’s gifts and creatures to be able to do without
Him. It is said that there is no harm in these things:-this
is true, but this is not the question. ey are good as being
created things; it is said (as a gure) that there will be
music in heaven also; but in heaven it will not be employed
in order to divert the mind without God. It is a question of
the use we make of these things. For instance, there is no
harm in strength, but in the manner of employing it; with
it one does harm to one’s neighbor. Is it not true that the
world which knows not God uses all kinds of pleasures to
enjoy itself without Him? e heart which has not God in
it endeavors to amuse itself, and for this it employs all the
things which are seen, heard, and invented; as for instance,
the theater, music, and every kind of thing, because it is
empty and sad and cannot satisfy itself; and after a few
years, during which it has kept up its natural spirits, it nds
itself tired and weary, even of trying everything, and says
with Solomon after having essayed all, “ All is vanity and
vexation of spirit.” God is neglected, and the soul lost.
For the Christian too, amusements only lead him away
to a distance from God, and destroy his communion with
Him. All that is in the world, the lust of the esh, the lust
of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father but of
the world. e world and its lust pass away, but he that does
the will of God abides forever. e prince of this world is
Satan, who seduced Eve with these things, having rst of
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all destroyed her condence in God; and it was with these
things that he
tried to seduce the Lord also, although, thank God, in
vain. But with little trouble he succeeds but too often to
seduce the hearts of men and of Christians; and to cause
the pleasures of the world to have more power upon the
soul than Christ Himself, than the love of a dying Savior.
It was thus with poor Peter! It is true, he had not yet
received the Holy Ghost, but this does not change the
nature of his desires. He wished for this world’s glory, and
that under the appearance of love for the Lord. Notice
here too the Lord’s love for His disciples and how great
is His tender care for them; He turns round and sees
how great a stumblingblock Peter’s words may be for the
other disciples, and reproves him as severely as his words
deserved. en the Lord puts two principles before the
disciples, rst, the soul is worth more than everything, it
is not to be exchanged for anything; secondly, the Lord is
about to come in glory, and whosoever shall be ashamed
of Him in this corrupt world where He is rejected, of him
will the Son of man be ashamed when He shall come in
the glory of His Father with the holy angels.
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62861
Mark 9
Chapter 9.
Now the Lord nds the occasion to manifest this
personal glory of His to establish the disciples’ faith, and
also to show that His presence in grace as Messiah, in the
midst of Israel, was soon to come to an end; and that the
new glory of the Son of man with His own was soon to be
inaugurated, although it would be necessary to await the
time when all the co-heirs should be gathered together. “
Verily I say unto, you,” says the Lord, “ ere be some of
them that stand here which shall not taste of death, till
they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.”
Six days afterward the Lord went up into a mountain
with Peter, James, and John, and was transgured before
them; His raiment became shining and exceeding white as
snow; Elias and Moses appeared with Him gloried in like
manner, speaking with Him. We know that this apparition
was the manifestation of Christ’s glorious reign over the
earth.
We read in 2 Peter 1-16, “ For we have not followed
cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you
the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were
eyewitnesses of his Majesty. For he received from God the
Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to
Him from the excellent glory, ‘ is is my beloved Son
in whom I am well pleased ‘; and this voice which came
from heaven we heard when we were with him in the holy
mount.” ese are the words of the apostle Peter when
he relates that which happened to him when he saw the
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wonderful vision of the mountain of the transguration.
From this we learn what the kingdom is as regards its
manifestation upon earth, for they were upon earth. e
bright cloud which covered them was the Father’s dwelling-
place, whence the voice came and into which, according to
Luke, they had entered.
What a privilege for poor mortals, for sinners to have
been able to gaze upon the Son of God in glory, and to
have been manifested with Him in the same glory upon
earth; to be His companions, to converse with Him; to
possess the testimony that they have been loved as He has
been loved (John 17:23); to be with Him, and like Him
in everything as Man, for His own glory; wonderful proof
of the value of the redemption He has accomplished! And
the nearer we shall be to Him, the more shall we adore
Him, being with Him as we shall be in the Father’s house.
But here our evangelist does not speak of their entering;
comparing however Luke 9 we nd it nevertheless true
that they entered into the cloud out of which came the
Father’s voice.
It was according to God’s counsel that we should
be with Christ, the second Man, the last Adam, and in
the same glory with Him. We are predestinated to be
conformed to the image of His Son in order that He may
be the rst-born among many brethren. It is for this that
He became man: He that sanctieth and they that are
sanctied are all of one, for which cause He is not ashamed
to call us brethren. What would a Redeemer be without
His redeemed? It is most certainly a far better thing to be
a companion of the Lord Jesus in the Father’s house, than
co-heir of His glory before the world: yet both the one
thing and the other are wonderful for poor creatures like
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ourselves. Elias and Moses are in the same glory; and we
shall be like Him when He shall appear.
But the Lord’s personal glory is always maintained;
Peter wishes to make three tabernacles, putting Christ,
Moses, and Elias upon the same footing-the three grand
characters of Israel’s history. But Moses and Elias disappear
immediately, and the Father’s voice recognizes Jesus as His
beloved Son; it is to Jesus’ testimony that we must listen.
All that Moses and Elias said is the truth, God’s word,
and by their means we learn God’s thoughts; but they give
testimony to Christ, not with Him. It is from Him alone
that we learn fully the will of God, and His truth fully
revealed. Jesus is the truth, and grace and truth came by
Him. e death of Christ, His resurrection and completed
redemption have put everything upon a new footing for
men.
e believers who lived before the Lord’s coming,
believed in the promises and prophecies which announced
His arrival; and they were accepted by faith; their sins
committed during the time of God’s patience, and which
He bore with because He knew what He would do later
on, are forgiven; and God’s righteousness in forgiving
them is manifested, now that Christ has died. But now
God’s righteousness is manifested, and the power of divine
life is shown forth in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. All
is new in our relationship with God; the veil is rent, and
we enter freely into the holiest. “ e righteousness of God
without law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets.” Behold Moses and Elias; but the glory in
which both Moses and Elias appeared is the fruit, not of
the law nor of the prophets, but of the work of Jesus Christ;
and one can only possess it in the resurrection state. e
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Lord’s resurrection too was absolutely necessary, as being
the power of life beyond death, and as a proof that God
had accepted the death of Christ as having answered to
the question of sin. e glory belonged to another world,
gained for those who believe by the sacrice of Christ, the
Son of God, although this had to be fullled in this world.
It belongs, therefore, to the state into which Christ, the
second Adam, has entered by resurrection, and is based
upon accomplished redemption.
us, although this was well-suited to strengthen the
faith and increase the intelligence of these three, columns
of the future church, it was not to be talked about before
the Lord’s resurrection, and Jesus forbade the disciples to
tell the things they had seen until the Son of man should
be raised from among the dead. Notice the expression, “
e disciples kept these words to themselves, asking one
another what the rising from the dead should mean.” is
indeed throws quite a new light upon the resurrection.
Christ rose alone from amongst the dead, and left all the
others in the grave; and His resurrection is a proof that the
God of righteousness has accepted His work-His sacrice-
as a full and entire satisfaction given to His righteousness
and His holiness; and the man who believes in Him is
accepted according to the value of Christ’s sacrice.
e resurrection of the faithful also takes place, because
God is fully satised as to them because of Christ’s
work. ese alone will be raised when the Lord comes,
to be forever with Him. All the disciples believed in the
resurrection of the dead, having been taught thus by the
Pharisees; they were not like the Sadducees, but believed
that all the Jews would be raised at once; and they did not
understand the meaning of a resurrection which should
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separate the good from the bad, and should leave the latter
behind for a certain time. Christ is the rstfruits of the
resurrection of the saints, not of the wicked. ose who
are Christ’s shall rise at His coming, and their vile body
shall be changed and made like unto His glorious body.
ere are many Christians who, like the disciples, do not
understand the Lord’s words. One nds many Christians
who have a faith like that of the Pharisees; they believe
indeed that there will be a resurrection, and, like Martha,
that all will rise at the last day. e only dierence is that
Martha and the Jews believed in the resurrection of the
Jews only; and these Christians believe in a resurrection
where good and bad will be raised together.
It is quite true that all will rise, but true faith in Christ
(notice, dear reader), true faith makes the distinction
already. e unbeliever remains in his sins, and will rise
for the judgment, and the true believer will rise for the
resurrection of life; he will rise (as we nd in 1 Cor. 15)
in glory. When the Lord comes, He will change our vile
body and fashion it like unto His glorious body. Christ
is the rst-fruits of the resurrection, but certainly not of
the wicked: in no part of the word do we nd a common
resurrection of good and bad: we nd in Luke 14:14, a
resurrection of the just, and again (20: 35), “ they which
shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the
resurrection from among the dead.” us we nd expressly
in 1 Cor. 15, “ Every man in his own order, Christ the rst-
fruits, afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.”
us also in 1 ess. 4, “ e dead in Christ shall rise
rst “: it is always thus. People quote Matt. 25, but in that
chapter it is no question of resurrection, nor of raised bodies;
it is not a universal judgment, but a judgment of Gentiles
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upon the earth, of those to whom the everlasting gospel of
Rev. 14 had been sent at the end of the age. ere are not
two classes only here, but three; the sheep, the goats, and
the brethren of the Judge. e principle of the judgment
here is not the principle of a universal judgment. It is just
according to the manner in which they have received and
esteemed the Judge’s brethren; that is, the messengers of
the everlasting gospel, called in Matt. 24:14, “ this gospel
of the kingdom.”
e principles of the general judgment of the nations
are explained in Rom. 1 and 2; these are quite dierent.
I speak of Matt. 25 because it is the only passage that is
quoted as a reply to the uniform testimony of the Holy
Scriptures to a distinct resurrection of believers, according
to the declaration of John 5:24: “ Verily, verily, I say unto
you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that
sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into
judgment; but is passed from death unto life.” We shall
all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, certainly,
and every one will give account of himself to God. But
when the believers shall stand before the judgment-seat of
Christ, they will have been gloried already, raised in glory,
and made like unto the glory of Christ, as man. “ When he
shall appear, we shall be like him “-it is for this that “ every
one who hath this hope in him, purieth himself, even as
he is pure.”
e rst coming of Christ put away sin as regards
judgment; for believers He will appear the second time
unto perfect salvation to receive them to Himself, to
glorify them. eir spirits are with Him in heaven, whilst
they await this hour- the resurrection of their bodies will
take place when He shall return, and then we shall all be
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forever with the Lord. When gloried however, we shall
give account of everything; we shall know as we have been
known. ere is thus a resurrection from among the dead.
e diculty of which the scribes talked (that Elias
ought to come before the Messiah) presents itself to the
disciples. Now the scribes still exercised great inuence over
the disciples. And in truth, this is to be found in Malachi’s
prophecy; it will be surely fullled, whatever the manner
of fulllment may be, before the Lord’s coming in glory.
But He came rst in humiliation, and hidden, as it were,
as to His external glory; He entered by the door as the
shepherd of the sheep, in order that faith seeing through
the darkness of His position and of His daily life, might
discern not merely a Messiah, come to Israel according to
the promises, but the love and power of God Himself-and
might nd itself in the presence of His holiness.
e Jews would have received with joy a Messiah
who should liberate them from the Roman yoke; but the
presence of God is unsupportable for men, even when He
appears amongst them in goodness. To the coming which
is still future, the Lord alludes when He says in Matthew
10:23, “ For I tell you ye shall not have gone over the cities
of Israel until the Son of man be come.” But now He
appears in humility,’ made a little lower than the angels for
the suering of death; that is, in order to be able to suer.
us also John the Baptist comes in the spirit and power
of Elias, according to Isa. 11 and Mal. 3, to prepare the way
of the Lord. us the Lord answers; John must come; the
scribes are right; John shall come and restore all things.
But it was necessary too that the Son of man should suer,
and that He should be thoroughly despised. “ But I tell you
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that Elias hath already come, and they have done unto him
whatsoever they listed.”
But if the Lord was manifested in His glory before the
disciples’ eyes in the transguration, He occupies Himself
now with the misery of the earth; and that which took
place is very remarkable for the display of His patience,
and of the ways of God. When He comes down from the
mountain, He nds a great crowd, and the scribes reasoning
with His disciples. It is blessed to notice that if the Lord
is recognized as Son of God, and will be manifested in
glory, and we with Him, He nevertheless comes down into
this world-as He does still by His Spirit-and meets with
the crowd and the power of Satan for us; and again (it is
well for us to notice it) He speaks as intimately with His
disciples as He does with Moses and Elias. Oh, how great
is His grace! But the exercise of this grace develops the
position and state of man and of the disciples.
A poor father has recourse to the Lord for his suering
son, who is possessed of an evil spirit, and cannot speak.
He tells the Lord that he had brought him to the disciples,
and that they could not cast out the unclean spirit. is is
their position; not only does the Lord encounter unbelief,
but although divine power be in the earth, believers even
do not know how to use it; it was in vain then that the Lord
was present in the world. He could work miracles, but man
did not know how to prot by this, or to use it by faith. It
was a faithless generation; and He could not stay down
here. It was not the presence or the power of the devils
that drove Him away, for indeed it was this that brought
Him down here; but when His own do not know how to
prot by the power and the blessing which He has brought
into the world and placed in their midst, the dispensation
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characterized by these gifts must be drawing to its close.
And this, not because there is unbelief in the world, but
because He own cannot realize the power placed at their
disposal; and in consequence the testimony of God falls to
the ground destroyed, instead of being established; since
the followers of this testimony meet with the power of the
enemy and cannot do anything-the enemy is too strong
for them.
“ O faithless generation,” says the Lord, “ how long shall
I be with you? How long shall I suer you? “ His service
upon earth was nished. But see the patience and goodness
of the Lord; He cannot deny Himself. All the time He is
down here upon earth He works according to His power
and grace, and that notwithstanding the unbelief of His
own. He nishes the sentence in which He reproves their
unbelief in this manner-” Bring him to me.” Faith, however
small it be, is never left without an answer from the Lord.
What a consolation! whatever be the unbelief, not only of
the world, but of Christians-if only one solitary person
were left in the world who had faith in the goodness and
power of the Lord Jesus, he could not come to Him with a
real need and simple belief without nding His heart ready
and His power sucient.
e church may be in ruins, as was Israel, but the Head
is sucient for everything, knows the state of His own,
and will not fail to supply their needs. e child’s state was
very dangerous, and the devil had possessed him from his
infancy. e father’s faith was feeble, but sincere; he says to
the Lord, “ If thou canst do anything, have pity upon us,
and help us.” e Lord’s reply is remarkable: If thou canst
believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.” Power
connects itself with faith; the diculty is not in Christ’s
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power, but in man’s believing; all things were possible if
he could believe. is is an important principle; Christ’s
power never fails to accomplish all that is good for man;
faith, alas! may be wanting in us to prot by it. However
the Lord is full of goodness; the poor father says with tears,
“ I believe, help thou mine unbelief “: sincere words from
a moved heart in which the Lord had already awakened
faith. It was the anxiety for his son that weakened this faith.
Now the Lord, avoiding the empty curiosity of the
people, thinking rather of the needs of the father and son,
commands the unclean spirit with authority to come out
and not to enter again into the child. And he comes out
of him, sheaving at the same time his power (tearing the
child, so as to leave him as dead), but absolutely subject
to the Lord’s authority. It is very beautiful to see that the
Lord upon leaving the glory went to meet the unbelief of
the world and of His own, and the weakness of the faith
of those who have need of it, and that too in the presence
of the enemy’s great power. e Lord does not keep
at a distance from us, He takes part in our sorrows, He
encourages our weak faith, and with a single word drives
away all the power of the enemy. Neither His own glorious
state, nor the unbelief of the world which rejected Him,
prevented Him from being the refuge and the remedy for
the poorest faith. He interests Himself in us, thinks of us,
and helps us.
Although the Lord be placed in glory according to His
rights, these do not weaken His love for poor human-kind.
But again we nd an important lesson at the end of this
history. Energetic faith which works (whether the miracles
which happened at that time or the great things of the
kingdom of God) is sustained by intimate communion
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with God, by prayer and fasting. e heart comes out
from God’s presence to drive away the enemy’s power; but
whatever might be the Lord’s grace, whatever His power,
a greater work had to be accomplished, a great work for
the Lord Himself, a work of which He alone was capable-
dicult indeed for the heart of man to learn, but absolutely
necessary for the glory of God and for our redemption and
salvation: a lesson which one must learn in order to walk
in the Lord’s ways. is is the work of the cross; and the
wholesome lesson it teaches us is this-that we must bear
our own cross.
Now that the future glory, the glory of the kingdom,
has been revealed;-now that the Lord has shown forth His
power and His perfect goodness in spite of the unbelief of
the world, and of His departure after having been rejected
by the world-He takes His disciples aside, passing through
Galilee to make them understand that the Son of man
would be given into the hands of men who would put Him
to death. He speaks of His title as Son of man, because He
could not any longer remain upon earth as the promised
Messiah, but He must accomplish the work of redemption.
However after that He should have been put to death, He
would rise again on the third day. Behold then redemption
completed and everything made new: man is put upon an
entirely new footing, at least the believer in Jesus.
Risen man does not stand upon the same footing as
Adam in his innocence. I do not speak now of the lost,
although it be true for them, but it is quite a dierent
thing. Adam was in the natural blessing of a creature, but
his faithfulness was put to the proof, a proof in which he
failed. True enough the sinner is not in the condition of
the redeemed; but in Adam’s case all depended upon his
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responsibility. In Christ risen man had been fully tried
and shown to be perfect, proved even unto death, where
He gloried God Himself. Further, He bore our sins and
put them away forever; He submitted to death, but has
conquered it, and has come forth out of it; He has borne
the stroke of God’s judgment against sin. Satan had already
employed all his power as the prince of this world, in the
death of Jesus, although it was not possible that He should
be holden of death: so that instead of being under trial
where He had placed Himself in His love for us and in
order to glorify His Father, Jesus risen (and we in Him by
faith and by the hope which the Holy Ghost who unites
us to Jesus inspires) is beyond the reach of all these things.
Death, to which Adam subjected himself through sin,
is conquered, our sins are abolished before God; we are
perfected forever as to our conscience; a new state of life
has begun for us, a life which is entirely new and heavenly;
and heavenly glory at the end, already realized for Christ
there where He was with the Father before the foundation
of the world. “ As He is,” says John, “ so are we in this world
“ (that is, as in the presence of God’s judgment)-and we
await the resurrection of the body. But Christ’s position as
a gloried man, is the fruit of having fully gloried God;
and we, sharing His life by the operation of the Holy Spirit,
participate in the fruit of His work already at this present
time, as to our position before God; and later we shall be
like unto Him perfectly. Adam’s state when innocent was
happy, but it depended upon his obedience. Christ’s state
as man is the fruit of an obedience perfectly complete, after
it had been proved even to the point of drinking the cup
of death and of malediction, when He was made sin for us.
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e rst state was exposed to change, and complete
ruin came in by the fall; the other remains unchangeable,
established upon a work that can never lose its value. We
are already brought, by participating in the life of Jesus,
into the relationships into which He introduces us with
the Father. “ I ascend,” said He after His resurrection, “
to my Father and to your Father, to my God and to your
God.” Only in order to accomplish all this it was necessary
for Him to pass through death, to bear the cross, in order
to drink the sup which His Father had given Him. He
engages them then with the cross, and teaches them to
expect it. But what a thing man is! We learn it in what
follows.
e Lord, having the consciousness of His glory in
which the Father had recognized Him a little while ago as
His beloved Son, and knowing at the same time that this
glory made the cross absolutely necessary to bring many
sons to glory, speaks of it to His disciples; He insists that it
will he necessary for them to carry it. Such was the path of
the glory of which His own death was the foundation. e
Lord’s heart was full of the thought of the suerings which
accompanied it; of the cup He had to drink, and of the
necessity of His disciples’ understanding this path, and of
taking up their cross. But of what were the disciples’ hearts
full? ey were thinking who should be the greatest. Alas,
how incapable our heart is to receive God’s thoughts, to
think of a Savior humbled unto death for us! It is true that
the Spirit of God puts in contrast here the reign of Messiah
which the Jews expected, and the glorious heavenly reign
which the Lord was establishing, and for which His death
was necessary; but the contrast comes out strongly thus in
the heart of man. He would like to be great in a kingdom
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established according to man’s glory and man’s power;
he esteems it a good thing that God should condescend
to this; but that His glory should be morally exalted and
established, and the vain glory of man brought to naught,
the manifestation of what man is; the love, holiness, and
justice of God brought to light-all this is what man neither
seeks nor desires; and when the Lord’s heart, full of these
solemn truths and of the suerings by which He must
needs pass to fulll them, speaks of them to His disciples,
the latter dispute as to who shall be greatest. How poor and
wretched a thing is man’s heart!
What incapacity to understand God’s thoughts, and to
feel the tenderness and faithfulness of the heart of Jesus, and
the thoughts passing through it; divine love manifesting
itself in the heart of a Man, and as a Man in the midst of
men, in which is found a moral incapacity to enter into His
thoughts; but this opens the way at the same time to the
manifestation of our thoughts which are in full contrast
with those of Jesus. May God grant us in His grace to hold
the esh so entirely subject, that the Holy Spirit may be
the source of all our thoughts and of the movements of our
hearts. Nevertheless the conscience does not keep silence
if the Lord’s word touches us: we know well that the desire
of vain glory is a bad thing, that it is not meet for Christ,
for Him who speaks, and we are ashamed. e disciples are
silent because their conscience speaks.
Now the patient love of the Lord sets itself to teach
them; He sits down (v. 35), and calls the twelve: He
always thinks of us. He then teaches several principles, in
which we see the consequences of the world’s opposition
to Christ, and the introduction of a new relationship
with God in Christ risen; these principles demand some
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explanation. e important point here, the foundation of
all the Lord’s exhortations, and of all He says is this, that
the glory of the kingdom to come has been revealed, and
with this revelation comes the cross. It is the end of all the
relationships between God and Israel, and indeed between
God and man, except indeed that of sovereign grace, and
the principle of a new and heavenly relationship by faith.
But Christ, the Messiah according to the promises in Israel,
God manifest in esh, the last hope for man as he was upon
earth, was rejected. e relationship between God and man
was broken. Could one seek glory upon an earth of this
kind? What kind of disposition is tting for a disciple of
Christ? Humility: he who would be rst shall be the last
and servant of all. en He takes a child and declares that
he who receives such an one in His name receives Christ;
and he who receives Christ receives the Father who sent
Him. e name of Christ is the touch-stone, the only thing
upon earth really great by faith.
en we nd a reproof for a thing which in itself was
love, though rough and coarse, but which dresses itself in
very deceitful forms, and seems to consider Christ’s glory;
for love in itself is not upright: it is quite disposed to
maintain the glory of Christ’s name, if it can attach itself
to this glory. “ We saw one casting out devils in thy name,
and he followeth not us, and we forbade him because he
followeth not us.” See here the word “ u s “ betrays the
most subtle love of self: subtle, it is true, but none the less
dangerous. But the Lord’s answer shows how absolute is
His rejection: “ He who is not against us is on our part,”
because the whole world in its natural state was against
Christ, and is still against Him; and no one could perform
miracles in His name and at the same time speak evil or
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lightly of Him. e name of Christ is everything. Let us
avoid this wretched “ us,” and hold fast to Christ.
Verse 41 shows how the name of Christ is everything in
a world which has rejected Him.
But what a testimony to man’s state, and to his inward
opposition to God revealed in Christ! If any one was not
against Him, he was for Him, otherwise he was completely
God’s enemy. Some important consequences follow this
state: rst of all the least manifestation of love for Him,
which interested itself in Him, having the power of His
name at heart, should not be forgotten before God. What a
picture of the state of things and of the patience of Christ,
who humbled Himself even to being rejected and despised,
yet does not forget the least token of aection for Him, and
of desire for His glory! Now we see another consequence
of this position. e Lord does not wish that a little child
who believes in Him should be despised; He esteems
these, because their hearts recognize His name, believe in
Him; and hence they have a great value before God. Woe
be to him who despises them and who places a stone of
stumbling before their feet; it would have been better for
such an one to have been drowned in the depth of the sea.
And nevertheless, as regards themselves, all depends upon
the faithfulness of Christ; and on this account they need
free themselves from all the things which tend to separate
from Christ, which lead into sin, and bring on apostasy
in the heart as well as outward apostasy. God will keep
His own, I believe, but He will keep them in making them
obedient to His word.
However much it may cost us, if it should be an eye
that oends us, we must pluck it out; if a hand, we must
cut it o; in a word, the most valuable thing possible; for
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an eternity of blessing with Christ is better than to keep a
right hand and to nd oneself in eternal torments, “ where
their worm dieth not and the re is not quenched.” Besides
this, God puts all to the proof: the re of His judgment is
applied to all, both to saints and sinners. In the saints, it
consumes the dross, in order that the pure gold may shine
in its true luster; in the case of sinners, the re of God and
the eternal pains according to His just judgment, re that
is not quenched. “ Every sacrice must be salted with salt
“; this refers to Lev. 2:13. e salt represents the power of
the Holy Spirit, not exactly to produce grace alone, but to
keep us from all that is impure, and to produce holiness in
a heart devoted to God, and which introduces God into its
path; and in the heart there is a link with Himself which
keeps us from all
corruption. We are called to keep this in the heart, and
to apply the sense of His presence to all that passes within
us, and to judge by this means all that is within us.
But observe that the believer is the true sacrice oered
to God. “ I beseech you,” says the apostle in Rom. 12, “
then, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your
bodies a living sacrice, holy and acceptable to God, which
is your reasonable service.” Here we see the true sacrice,
a reasonable service: and besides, this holy grace, which
keeps us from all that is evil and impure, makes good its
inuence within us; and the Christian lled with practical
holiness is a witness in the world. is indeed is the true
state of Christians in this world; a witness in the midst of
the world of a power which not only puries but which
keeps from the corruption in it. Salt inuences other things
and is apt to produce this eect; but if the salt itself lose
its savor, wherewithal can it be seasoned? If Christians lose
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their practical holiness, what can they be good for? “ Have
salt in yourselves,” said the Lord. He wishes us to exercise
diligence in order that our souls, in our walk, may be thus
sanctied before God, and then manifest themselves before
the world; that we should judge in ourselves all that might
diminish in us the clearness and purity of our testimony;
and that we should walk with others in peace, governed by
the spirit of peace in our relationships with them.
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62862
Mark 10
Chapter 10.
We nd some important principles in this chapter,
which terminates the history of Christ’s life. In the rst
three Gospels the account of the circumstances attending
His death begins with the healing of the blind man near
Jericho, which we nd in verse 46 of this chapter. e rst
principle we nd here is the corruption and ruin of that
which God created down here; and in the relationships
which He has established sin has entered and exercises its
pernicious inuence. e very law of Moses was obliged to
permit things in the relationships of life down here, which
are not according to the thoughts and the actual will of
God, for the hardness of the heart of man.
But if God bears with men, incapable as they are to live
up to the height of their relationships with Him, in things
which are not according to His will and the perfection of
the relationships which He has established, He does not
condemn them, nor does He ever cease to recognize them
as being that which He had established in the beginning
at which was established from the beginning by God
Himself always holds good, and He maintains these
relationships by His authority. Creation itself is good, but
man has corrupted it; nevertheless God recognizes that
which He has made, and the relationships in which He
has placed man, who is responsible in maintaining their
obligations. It is true that God has brought in a power after
the death of Christ which is not of this creation (that is,
the Holy Spirit); and by means of this power, a man may
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live outside all the relationships of the old creation, if God
calls him to this: but then he will respect the relationships
where they exist.
e Pharisees, drawing near, ask Jesus if it is permitted
that a husband should put away his wife. e Lord takes
the occasion to insist upon this truth, that that which
God had established from the beginning of the creation
was always valid in itself. Moses had allowed a man to put
away his wife in the law; but this was only the patience
of God with the hardness of man’s heart; but it was not
according to God’s own heart and will. In the creation
at the beginning God made that which was good-weak,
but good. He allowed other things when He ordered
provisionally the state of His people, of fallen man; but He
had made things dierently when He created them. God
had united husband and wife, and man had no right to
separate them. e bond is not to be broken.
Again they bring little children unto Him; and the
disciples forbid those who bring them. But Jesus is
displeased at this. Although the root of sin be found in the
children, nevertheless they were the expression of simplicity,
of condence, and of the absence of the craftiness and of
the corruption caused by the knowledge of the world, of the
depravity of nature. ey present to the heart the simplicity
of uncorrupted nature, which has not learned the deceit
of the world. And the Lord being a stranger in the world
recognizes in them that which His Father has created.
Now is there really any good in man? e remains
of what God created are found in that which is purely
creature; that which is beautiful and pleasant; that which
comes from God’s hand is often beautiful and should be
recognized as coming from Him. Nature around us is
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454
beautiful; it is God who created it, although thorns and
thistles be found in it.
We nd that which is lovely sometimes in,a man’s
character and also even in the disposition of an animal.
But it is a question of man’s heart, of his will, of what
he is toward God- and not of what is natural, the fruit
of creation: there dwelleth in him no good thing ere
is nothing for God; but all is against Him; and this was
manifested in the rejection of Christ.
is is the lesson we learn in the account which follows
of the young man who runs and kneels at Jesus’ feet, asking
Him, “ Good master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
“ He was amiable, well disposed, and ready to learn that
which is good; he had witnessed the excellence of the life
and works of Jesus, and his heart was touched at what he
had seen. He had all the ne ardor of youth, he was not
depraved by the habit of sin, for sin depraves the heart.
Outwardly he had kept the law, and believed that Jesus
could teach him the highest precepts of the law; for the
Jews even believed that some commandments were of
greater value than others.
e young man neither knew himself; nor the state in
which man really was before God. He was under the law;
and Jesus sets forth the law rst as the rule of life, given by
God as the measure of righteousness for the sons of Adam
e young man does not ask how he may be saved, but
how he may inherit eternal life. e Lord does not speak of
eternal life, but takes up the young man at the point where
he places himself; the law said, “ Do these things, and thou
shalt live.” e young man declares that he has kept all
these things from his youth up: the Lord neither denies
nor disputes it; and we read that He looked upon him, and
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loved him. We see here that which is amiable and loved
of the Lord. But what is the true state of this young man?
e Lord draws the veil, and man stands before God in his
nakedness; and God stands before man in His holiness.
Doing anything is out of the question: how to be saved is
another thing.
Let us examine what the Lord says about the state of
man. e young man addressed the Lord not as Son of
God, but as a rabbi, that is, as a teacher in Israel: he calls
Him “ Good master.” e Lord will not admit that man is
good; not one righteous man can be found amongst men-
no, not one. He says, “ Why callest thou me good? No one
is good except one: that is God.” Certainly Christ was
good, but He was God, although He made Himself man
in His perfect love.
He was always God, and God became man without
ceasing to be, or being able to cease being, God; only He
had hidden His divinity in human nature (at least His
glory) in order to come nigh unto us; for by faith -divine
power and love are more clearly manifested than ever.
But here the young man comes as to a human teacher, a
rabbi; and the Lord answers him in the same manner as
he asks; but He establishes this important principle, that
no one amongst the sons of fallen Adam is good; it is a
humiliating truth, but one of immense weight. We cannot
now nd a man who is good by nature; we have seen
that certain qualities remain of the rst creation; but that
which God had created good and declared to be good has
been corrupted by the fall. Man goes in quest of his own
pleasures, of his own interests, and not of God and His
glory; he may seek these things honestly or dishonestly in
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the quagmire of sin, but he always seeks to satisfy his own
will; he has lost God, and looks after himself.
en the Lord, after having presented to him the
commandments of the law, in which a man has life whilst
he keeps them, adds in an exhortation the commandment
which made Paul feel what the law produced, in the state
in which man was-in death. “ One thing thou lackest,” says
the Lord: “ Go, sell that thou hast, and come and follow
me.” Here we see the lust of the heart exposed, the young
man’s true state laid bare by the Lord’s powerful but simple
word, which knows and tries the heart. e ne owers of
the wild tree are worth nothing; the fruits are those of a
heart alienated from God: the sap is the sap of a bad tree.
e love of riches ruled this young man’s heart, interesting
as it was as to his natural disposition: the base desire of
gold lay at the bottom of his heart; it was the mainspring
of his will, the true measure of his moral state. If he goes
away grieved and leaves the Lord, it is because he prefers
money to God manifested in love and grace.
How solemn a thing it is to nd oneself in the presence
of Him who searcheth the heart! But the thing that governs
the heart, its motive is the true measure of man’s moral
state, and not the qualities which he possesses by birth,
however pleasing these may be. Good qualities are to be
found even in animals; they are to be esteemed, but they
do not at all reveal the moral state of the heart. A man who
has a hard and perverse nature, who tries to control his
bad disposition by grace, and to be amiable to others and
pleasing to God, is more moral and better before Him than
a man who, amiable naturally, seeks to enjoy himself with
others in a pleasant way, but without conscience before
God; that is, without thinking of Him; loved by men, but
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displeasing to the God whom he forgets. at which gives
moral character to a man is the object of his heart; and it is
this the Lord shows here in so powerful a manner, that it
touches to the quick the pride of the human heart.
But then the Lord goes father; the disciples, who
thought that men could do something to gain eternal life,
like all the Pharisees of every age, and that man ought
to gain heaven for himself, although they recognized the
need of God’s help, were astonished. What! a rich man
of a very good disposition, who had kept the law, and
who only sought to know what was the most excellent
commandment from their Master in order to perform it-
could such an one be far from the kingdom of God? Could
it be extremely dicult for such an one to enter into it? If
we do not understand that we are lost already, that we need
to be saved, that it is a question of the state of the heart,
that all hearts are naturally at a distance from God, and that
they seek an object, the object of their own desire far from
Him, that they do not wish Him to be present, because the
conscience feels that His presence would hinder the heart
in following this object; if we do not learn this truth by
grace, we are altogether blind.
At the moment at which we have arrived in this passage,
it was too late to keep concealed from man (at least from
the disciples) the true state of his heart. is state had been
manifested; man had been unwilling to receive the Son of
God. us it had been proved that with the best natural
disposition, man, even whilst preserving outward morality,
preferred to follow the object of his desire, rather than the
God of love present upon earth, or a master whom he had
recognized as having the highest knowledge of the will of
God. Man was lost; he had shown this fact in rejecting
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the Son of God; and he must learn it, and that with all
his most excellent qualities he cannot save himself. “ Who
then can be saved? “ e Lord does not hide the truth: “
With men it is impossible.” Solemn words, pronounced by
the Lord, pronounced by Him who came to save us. He
knew that man could not save himself, that he could not
emerge from the state into which he had fallen, without
the help of God. With men it is impossible; but then God
comes in His boundless love to save us, not to conceal our
state, and the need of this free salvation.
We must know our state ‘ • it is not a thing to be lightly
esteemed that the glorious Son of God should have made
Himself of no reputation, and have died upon the cross:
the only means of redeeming and saving lost man. We
must know ourselves, and know that we are condemned,
in our hearts, in order to be able to understand that Christ
has borne this condemnation in our place, and that He has
accomplished the work of our salvation, according to God’s
glory: let the state of condemnation and sin be proved; and
let the love, the perfect righteousness, and the holiness
of a God who cannot tolerate the sight of sin (however
patient He may be) be brought out clearly and gloried.
“ With men it is impossible … with God all things are
possible.” By the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by this
work alone, a work which the angels desire to look into,
all this can be done; salvation is obtained by faith-by faith,
because all is accomplished. To God be the praise! e
Lord is gloried as man in heaven, because this work has
been done and because God has recognized its perfection;
it is on this account that He has placed Christ at His right
hand, because everything has been done. God is satised,
gloried, in the work of Christ.
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With men it is impossible, but with God all things
are possible. But what an immense grace which shows us
what we are and what God is! “ Grace and truth came by
Jesus Christ.” ink of this, brethren. is means that we
must expect a cross in this world. Be ready to receive the
Lord’s words, to take up the cross, in order to have the
true knowledge of yourselves; that is, that you are lost in
sin, that salvation is purely of grace, impossible for man;
but that the work of salvation is perfect and complete, and
the righteousness of God is upon all men who believe in
Him who has accomplished it. In no part of scripture is the
fundamental truth of the need of God’s salvation and of
man’s state more clearly stated.
Now the Lord adds His teaching about the path of the
cross, and the promises which accompany it: let us look at
these. It is easy to see how much this story resembles that
of the apostle Paul; only grace had changed everything in
him.
As to the righteousness which is by law, he was
blameless; but when the spirituality of the law had operated
in his heart, lust was discovered. en he found out that in
him, that is, in his esh, there dwelt no good thing. But
being convinced of sin, God revealed His Son in him, and
then he understood that what was impossible with man
was possible with God; God had done for him that which
he could not do himself (that is, to gain a righteousness
according to the law); and this sin in the esh is found to
be condemned in the cross of Christ, and a sacrice for sin
accomplished by Him. Instead of nding himself to be lost
in this state of sin, he becomes a new man.
But the young man remains in his former state, and
abandons the Lord in order to keep his riches; whilst in
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Paul’s case the things which he counted gain he counted
but loss for Christ. “ Yea, doubtless, and I count all things
but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord; for whom I have suered the loss of all things,
and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.” See
here the dierence between the eect of grace and human
nature. ere was wisdom to be found in Paul; and, notice,
he did not only count all things as dung for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ from the outset, when rst
Christ was revealed in him, but he continued, whilst
walking in communion with Him, to count all things as
dung for Him.
Now follow the promises made to those who have
walked thus, and the path itself, as the Lord Himself
represents it. Peter suggests that they had left all in order to
follow Him, as He had proposed to the young men: what
should they have? e Lord declares in His answer that no
man who had left house, or brethren, or sisters, etc., for His
sake and the gospel’s, but should receive an hundredfold
such in this life, and in the world to come life everlasting.
ey should enjoy much more than the wretched things
of this life, but with persecutions; and thus they have the
promise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is
to come; not of riches, perhaps, but the true enjoyment of
all that is in the world according to God’s will, and as gifts
from God; but they will have to do with the opposition of
a world that does not know God. But those who were the
rst in Judaism shall be the last amongst Christians.
e Lord now sets Himself in the way going up to
Jerusalem.
e heart of the disciples was full of presentiments of
the danger which awaited them in this city. ey followed
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the Lord in fear and trembling, because the esh fears the
malice of a world, which, if it cannot do anything against
God, can persecute those who serve Him down here. Here
again we see the dierence of the eect of grace in Paul,
who, having given up everything for the love of Christ,
rejoices in the thought of the fellowship of His suerings,
being made conformable unto His death, knowing and
wishing to know the power of His resurrection. is the
disciples did not know, and the esh can never understand.
But the Lord does not wish to hide the truth; He wishes
the disciples to understand the place He was just going
to take, and which they would have to take. He begins to
tell them the things that should happen to Him, and what
should be the lot of the Son of man. He should be given
into the hands of the priests, condemned, and delivered
into the hands of the Gentiles, who would treat Him with
the greatest ignominy, and would put Him to death; but the
third day He would rise again. us ends the story of the
Son of man amongst men. His own people were the rst to
condemn Him; and the Gentiles, by their indierence, were
ready to complete the terrible act of the Savior’s rejection
in this world. e people of God (the Jews) joined with
sinful man to cast out the Son of God, come down here
in grace. It was important for the disciples to know what
should be their Master’s end. e Son of man must die.
is is the teaching, the foundation, of all blessing; but it
was a foundation which destroyed all the hopes and all the
expectations of the disciples; which showed also that man
was bad, and God innitely good.
Now these thoughts of the disciples manifest themselves
at once, and are put in contrast with that which the Savior
solemnly announces. Indeed the disciples seemed to be
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impenetrable to the truth up to the last; by grace they loved
the Savior, they rejoiced in the thought that Jesus possessed
the words of eternal life (for even the Pharisees’ system
spoke of eternal life). Now all this was not enough to drive
away thoughts of a kingdom which they believed would
be established upon earth, nor a carnal desire of a high
position close to the Lord’s person in this kingdom. e
Lord could not nd a single person who could understand
Him, who could enter into the thoughts of His heart, and
could be touched by His suerings; or could comprehend
what He was explaining to His disciples about His death
at Jerusalem, when He had led them by themselves apart.
James and John ask to sit, one at His right hand, and
the other at His left, in His glory. ere was faith in this,
for they believed that He would reign; but the desire of the
esh was always at work. But the answer of the Lord, who
is always full of goodness for His own, turns the eshly
question into an occasion for instruction for His disciples.
He was not the only one who was to bear the cross. He alone
could accomplish redemption by the oering of Himself:
the Son of God who gave Himself in His love to be the
Lamb of God. But as to the path, it was necessary that
the disciples should enter into the same path in which He
was going, if they wished to be with Him. Here the Lord
shows His deep humility and submission to the place He
had taken. He had made Himself of no reputation; and He
accepts this place with a willing heart, not insensible to the
humiliation and the suerings of the cross, but accepting
everything from the hand of His Father, and submitting to
all that should be found upon this path.
“ To sit at my right hand and my left is not for me to
give, but for those for whom it is prepared.” He does not
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possess the right of preferment in His kingdom. He leaves
to the Father the right of choosing, and gives the special
glory appointed to special work to those for whom it is
prepared, and whom grace has prepared for this glory. His
portion is the cross; and the cross can give the glory, if any
one will follow Him as His disciple: this is now the lesson
which His people must learn. He was subject to His Father,
and received from His hand all that was prepared for Him
according to His will; and if the disciples wished to follow
Him, they must take up the cross which was in this path,
and which is always in it. Besides, to follow the Lord Jesus,
the disciple must humble himself like the Lord; not to be
like the great of this world, which makes itself great apart
from God, but to be the servant of all in love, as the blessed
Savior was, although by right the Lord of all. Love is the
most powerful of all things, and loves to minister, not to be
ministered to. It is thus that God manifested Himself, in
the Man Jesus, in this path: it is our duty to follow Him.
He who is smallest in his own eyes is the greatest.
Here ends the history of the Savior’s life upon earth:
the account of the events attending His death begins. He
presents Himself again, and for the last time, at Jerusalem
both as Son of David, the object of the promises made
to Israel, and also in order to be received by His people,
and by the beloved city: but in fact to be rejected, and put
to death. Up to this time (v. 45) He spoke of “ the Son
of man who had come to minister, and to give his life a
ransom for many.” But now He presents Himself in the
only relationship in which He could be with His people
according to the prophecies.
He enters by Jericho, the cursed city, but He enters it
according to the grace which surpasses the curse; indeed
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He was going to bear it Himself. e Son of David comes
in grace, with divine power, able to accomplish all things,
but in humility and lowliness. He answers, therefore, to
this name of Son of David, showing forth His power in
grace in healing the blind man. e crowd accompanying
Him does not wish Him to be disturbed, but He stops and
listens to the needs of His people in His grace. He orders
Bartimaeus to be brought, who runs to Him with joy. His
felt needs make him run to Christ, who is just the One to
meet his needs, and to apply an eective remedy.
e blind man was a speaking picture of the dark state
of the Jews; but in that which took place we see the Lord’s
work in producing by His grace the feeling of need in the
heart of a Jew at that time. No doubt it is true for every
time, but especially in this case, of the Jews in their state at
that moment. e crowd, when Bartimmus asked what the
noise was, said to him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing
by. is was a name which did not convey any idea to the
Jews; Nazareth was rather a name with which reproach was
connected. But there was faith to be found in the blind
man’s heart, according to the place that Jesus took with
regard to His people: the man says, “ Son of David.” He
recognizes the truth that Jesus of Nazareth had the right
to that title. Jesus responds to his faith, and heals the blind
man. He receives his sight, and follows Jesus in the way.
is is a touching picture of Israel’s position, and of
the work which was going on in the midst of this people.
e Son of God, the Son of David according to the esh,
the fulllment of the promises was come in grace, and
was able to heal Israel. ere, in the place where the Son
of David was recognized, the power which He brought
with Him, and which was in Him, took away blindness.
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Israel was totally blind; but divine power was present to
heal; and if there was faith enough to recognize the Son
of David in Jesus, the blindness vanished. It is beautiful to
see grace enter there where the curse had fallen; but it is
grace which works there where Jesus is recognized as Son
of David; grace which opened the eyes of the blind man,
from henceforth made His disciple.
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62863
Mark 11
Chapter 11.
We have already seen that the Lord assumes here
the title of Son of David, a name which spoke of the
accomplishment of the promises and constituted Him true
king of Israel. e name which He took habitually and by
preference was that of Son of man. is name had a much
wider signication and announced the right to a power
and a lordship much more extensive than those of the Son
of David; it put Christ into strict relationship with all men,
but asserted His right to all the glory that belonged to the
Son of man according to the counsels of God. In Psa. 2 we
nd the two titles, of the Son of God-the one which was
given to Jesus as born down here in this world, and that
of King of Israel, though in rejection. en in Psa. 8 (after
sheaving forth the state of His people in Psa. 3; 4; 5; 6; 7)
we see His glory, the extent of His power, as Son of man,
who is set over all things In Dan. 7 we nd again the Son
of man brought before the Ancient of Days, from whose
hand He receives dominion over all nations.
In chapters 11 and 12 of the Gospel by John, Christ
being rejected by man, God wills that a full testimony
should be rendered to Him in the three characters of
Son of God, Son of David, and Son of man. e rst is
the resurrection of Lazarus; the second at the entry into
Jerusalem, seated upon the ass; the third when the Greeks
come to ask to see Jesus: then the Lord says, “ e hour
is come that the Son of man should be gloried. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, except a grain of wheat fallen into the
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ground die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth
much fruit.” In order to take possession of these titles, He
must have His co-heirs with Him;-He must die.
In our chapter He takes the second title, and presents
Himself to the Jewish nation for the last time upon earth
according to the prophecy of Zechariah. He will present
Himself later in the glory and take possession of the throne
of His father David; but now all He does is to present
Himself to His people as the One who fullls all the
promises made to them. He knew well what would be the
result, and that He was about to take the larger title of Son
of man; and this in order to have His co-heirs with Himself;
when, according to His Father’s counsels, He should take
His great power and reign. But it was necessary that this
last testimony should be rendered to the people on the one
hand, and to the Lord on the other, on God’s part; that is,
by the mouth of little children and sucklings He would
take His glory, anticipating thus the establishment of the
kingdom in power.
Now this king was Emmanuel, the Lord Himself, and
Jesus acts here in this character. He sends His disciples
to bring an ass’ colt from a neighboring village, and when
its owners asked what the disciples were doing in taking
it, they answered according to the Lord’s command: “
e Lord hath need of him “; and the man sent him at
once. All was done in order that the word of the prophet
might be fullled; because in this Gospel we have always
facts presented not only as the eects of sovereign grace,
as indeed they were, but as the accomplishment of the
promises made to His people. Notice that a part of the
verse quoted is left out; that is, two expressions which have
to do with the Lord’s coming in power to take possession
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of His kingdom. ese are the words, “ just “ and “ having
salvation “; as the “ just,” Christ will execute vengeance
upon His enemies: as Savior, He will deliver the remnant;
it was not yet time for these two things.
e disciples therefore brought the colt to Him; and then
the Lord Jesus entered into Jerusalem as king. A very great
multitude, moved by the power of God, having also seen
His miracles, and especially the resurrection of Lazarus,
go before and surround Him, spreading their garments in
the way, and cutting down branches from the trees in order
to cast them upon His path, giving Him the place and
glory of a king, and in fact recognizing Him as the royal
Messiah. An admirable scene in which it is not the cold
reasoning of man’s intellect which is in question-nor is it
merely the eect of His miraculous deeds, although a fruit
of this-but the mighty working of God upon the minds of
the crowd, compelling it to give testimony for a short time
to the despised Son of God. e testimony also of Psa. 118
is cited; a remarkable prophecy of the last days in Israel,
often quoted. e Lord Himself spoke of the verses which
precede those which God put into the mouth of the crowd,
“ e stone which the builders rejected is become the head
of the corner.”
ere the crowd used the verse which announced the
recognition of the Son of David by the remnant of the
people Israel: “ Hosannah! “ (a Hebrew word meaning “
Save now! “ which becomes a kind of formula for asking
the Lord’s help when the true Christ or Messiah is
recognized), “ Hosannah to the Son of David: blessed
is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; hosannah in
the highest.” Now this cry recognized Jesus as the Son of
David, the Messiah. Such was the will of God; that His
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Son should not be left without this testimony, without
being honored in this manner. Now He acts in Jerusalem
according to this position.
All the city was moved, asking who this could be; and
the crowds said that He, Jesus of Nazareth, was the prophet
who was to come. Jesus enters the temple, and puries it
with the actual authority of Jehovah, driving out those who
profaned it. He judges the nation and its rulers, saying, “ It
is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer, but ye
have made it a den of thieves.” But if He is Jehovah present
in the temple, He is always Jehovah present in grace for
all the needs of His people: He heals the blind and the
lame. But no testimony is sucient to penetrate the hard
covering of unbelief which envelopes the hearts of the
chief of the people, when they see the miracles. Hearing
the children crying “ Hosannah! “ they become indignant.
e Lord teaches here that the time for convincing them is
past, and appeals to the testimony of Psa. 8 as to this. God
had foreseen and foretold these things: “ Out of the mouth
of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained praise.” If the
people refused Him, God took care that He should have
the praise which became Him.
But all is over for the people, until the sovereign grace
of God shall act to awaken a part of it in the midst of the
tribulation which its unbelief will have brought upon it;
and this remnant, awakened to repentance, will cry like the
children, “ Hosannah to the Son of David! “ but then all
will be grace.
According to man’s responsibility all was over, and the
people judged: and this is what the Lord shows in the
incident which follows. He will not stay in rebellious and
unbelieving Jerusalem, but goes to Bethany where the
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power of the resurrection had been manifested; where He
can nd an object and a refuge for His heart amongst men,
after that His people have rejected Him.
en when He returns to the city, He is an hungred,
and seeing a g-tree upon the roadside, He seeks fruit but
nds none at all upon it-nothing but leaves. He curses the
tree, saying, “ No man eat fruit of thee hereafter forever “;
and the g-tree is dried up at once. is is Israel according
to the old covenant, man according to the esh; this is
man in the place where God has spent all His care and
employed all His means-man for whom God could give
up even His onlybegotten Son, in order to get some good
from his heart, and to reach him to gain him over to that
which is good, and to Himself. All was in vain; He had
spared the tree this year also, upon the intercession of the
dresser of the vineyard (Luke 13); He had digged about it
and dunged it, but it had produced no fruit. What could
He have done to His vineyard which He had not done?
It is not all that we are sinners; we are still sinners after
that God has done all that is possible to gain man’s heart.
is shows us the importance of Israel’s history, and our
history as told by God, and that of His patience and of
all His ways, except that we have afterward the supreme
testimony of His love in the death of Christ, so that we are
still more guilty. Plenty of leaves, but no fruit; pretense to
piety-religious forms, but the true fruit according to God’s
heart, that which He seeks in His own, is not to be found
in man.
Israel according to the old covenant, that is, man
according to the esh, cultivated by God’s care and set
aside forever, will never bear fruit for God. It has shown
itself to be useless and to have been unable to repay all the
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care God bestowed upon it. Man, naturally, is condemned
to everlasting barrenness. is miracle is all the more
remarkable, as all Christ’s miracles were not only signs of
power but a witness of the love of God. Divine power was
there, but to heal, to cure, to free from the power of Satan
and from death, to destroy all the eects of sin in this world.
But all this did not change man’s heart; on the contrary,
by the manifestation of God’s presence, it awakened the
enmity of his heart against Him-too often hid from man
himself in the depths of his heart. Here only do we nd a
miracle which bears the character of judgment.
Now all is brought out clearly; man can be born again,
can receive the life of the second Adam. Israel can be
restored by grace according to the new covenant; but man
in himself, man in the esh who is judged, after all that has
been done to bring forth fruit, is shown to be incapable of
bearing anything good. God saves men, God gives them
eternal life. Man in receiving Christ receives a life which
brings forth fruit; the tree is grafted, and God seeks fruit
on the grafted branch; but He has done with man in the
esh, except as concerns the judgment which must come
upon him for his sins; and thanks be to God, He is free to
liberate him from this state by grace, to save him by the
blood of Jesus Christ, to beget him again, to reconcile him
with Himself, to adopt him as His child, and make him the
rst-fruits of His creatures. Israel is left, and man judged;
but the grace of God remains, and Christ is the Savior of
all those who believe in Him.
But what a scene is this in which Christ, the Messiah,
the Son of David, Emmanuel upon earth, enters His house,
there with His holy eyes looks upon all that which man
does in it, and shows His indignation against the sacrilege
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which had made it a den of thieves. He vindicates the glory
and the authority of Jehovah in driving out those who
desecrate the temple. en He nds Himself face to face
with all His adversaries, who come, one set after another, to
condemn Him: but they nd the light and wisdom which
show clearly their position; so that, in wishing to condemn,
they nd themselves all condemned; and the Savior is left
free to follow up His work of grace and redemption in the
presence of His adversaries now reduced to silence. But
before judging them by His answers, each class of the
people shows forth the fundamental principle which would
give His disciples the power to overcome the obstacles
which these condemned classes of Jews would bring up
against them; since outwardly the power and established
order were in their hands.
“ Have faith in God,” says the Savior, when Peter
wonders that the g-tree is so soon dried up. All the power
which presented itself to the weakness of the disciples
would vanish before faith. A most important principle
in a Christian’s walk and service: only this faith must be
exercised without any doubt at all, bringing God into the
scene; and must not be the motion of the will, but the
consciousness of the presence and of the intervention of
God. us it happens that, where faith is found, and that
requests are made by faith, the eect follows surely. Yet
with all this, the presence of God is the presence of a God
of love; and when we pray asking that our desire may be
accomplished, we must be in communion with Him, and
then we realize His power in answer to faith, and then the
spirit of forgiveness towards others is found in the heart.
For example, if I were to cherish revenge upon my enemies,
I could not hope that my prayers should be answered; and
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even if I were heard, I should be punished. God would not
intervene in this manner, for He would refuse such an evil
desire; or even if He found it well to answer the prayer,
we should draw down the chastisement upon, ourselves.
For God in His government always acts according to His
character.
51
Now He enters again into Jerusalem; He will not lodge
in the city now given up by God. Here He begins to pass
in review, to examine all the heads of the people, of which
I have spoken; and rst of all we nd the examination of
the authority which sets itself up against His own. He
walks in the temple, where the chief priests, the scribes,
and the elders come, and ask Him by what authority He
does these things, and who has given Him this authority.
us we see them set one against the other; the authority
of either is questioned. e ocial authority, that which
is outward, was in the hands of the priests; the truth and
obedience to God were in Jesus. If His power had been
manifested already, it showed no sign of avenging itself at
present: it was useless to show any more signs of power;
they were already condemned; having seen sign after sign,
and having hardened themselves in unbelief, it was now
51 As this thought may be a little obscure for some, it may be
presented thus in other terms: “ Faith, which nds an answer
to its prayer, must have found God, and be in the enjoyment
of communion with Him; but then God is love; and in order
to realize His power to get the answer, one must know what
it is to be in His presence, which faith has discovered; but this
communion cannot be known if there is no love. Consequently,
when we present ourselves in faith to ask for the fulllment of
our desire we must forgive our brother that which we may have
against him; otherwise, we are in God’s presence as regards His
government and thus subject to the eect of our sins.”
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high time for judgment, not indeed of its execution, but of
moral judgment; they were left without an answer.
e heads of the people ask by what authority He had
puried the temple. ere was no zeal for the holiness
of God to be found in them, plenty of zeal for their own
authority; and this is characteristic of prelates-they think
about their own authority and not about God. e Lord
Jesus thought only about the authority of God; and that
which He did was the eect of it. If the conscience of the
rulers had not been hardened, even though they had not
been pleased with that which the Lord had done, they
would have kept silence, ashamed of the state in which the
temple was found to be whilst under their care. Having
rejected the Lord, they could not recognize His authority;
proofs were useless, from this time forth. But the Lord’s
divine wisdom makes them recognize their own incapacity
to resolve questions relating to authority and divine
testimony.
He asks if John the Baptist’s mission were divine. If
they said, Yes, then John had witnessed to Jesus; if no, their
authority was compromised before the people. Where was
their right to ask, “ What is the truth? “ ey knew it; yet
they were glad enough to have the honor, long lost, of
having a prophet in the midst of Israel. To own their sins
did not suit them; and so the light was soon put out for
their hearts; but the people always accounted John to be a
prophet. us they dared say neither Yes nor No. is was
their confession, that they were not able to judge of the
claims of a man who professed to have a mission from God;
because they could not say whether John was a prophet
or not. If this was the case, Jesus need not answer them,
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nor satisfy them about His mission, as persons armed with
God’s authority, to which one is bound to tell the truth.
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62864
Mark 12
Chapter 12.
e incapacity and incompetency of the governors
among the Jews is clearly shown forth. ey had pretended
to judge the Lord, but the word of divine wisdom in His
mouth had judged them and compelled them to confess
their incompetency. Now the Lord begins in His turn to
show all the classes of the Jews the state in which they were,
and rst that of all the people. Israel had been Jehovah’s
vineyard; He had let it out to certain husbandmen in order
to receive its fruit in due season. He had done all He could
for His vineyard; it was impossible to do more than He
had done. Israel enjoyed all the privileges which a nation
could enjoy. At fruit-time, the Master sends His servant to
receive the fruit of the husbandmen.
e prophets sought these fruits from the people on
God’s part, for He was Master of the vineyard; but the
husbandmen took one servant and beat him, they killed
another, and rejected all of them. us Israel treated all
God’s servants sent by Him to call them back to their duty.
At last, having yet one Son, His well-beloved, He sent
Him also to them, saying, “ ey will reverence my Son.”
But they took Him, killed Him, and cast Him out of the
vineyard. ey wanted to take possession of the vineyard
by killing the rightful heir.
Let us look a little into this parable. With what dignity
and calmness the Lord exposes the past conduct of
the people of Israel, and also their conduct at that very
moment! He was ready to suer, He had come to die; but
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His enemies’ acts must be clearly shown forth; they lled
up the measure of their iniquity with their eyes open. Poor
Jews! God in His sovereign grace will have compassion
upon them, and will restore His people (by a new covenant)
to its place of the people of God owned by Him. Mark
always narrates everything rapidly. e consequence of
Israel’s sin is shown; but we know from the other Gospels
that the Jews in their answer were obliged to pronounce
their own sentence; and that they understood well what
the parable meant. Here the simple fact of their ruin is
told, and that of the rejection of the Christ, the Son of
God. e Master of the vineyard, the Lord of Hosts, would
come and destroy the wicked husbandmen and would give
His vineyard to others.
en He quotes once more Psa. 118, and asks the chief of
the people (a question which applied directly to Himself),
“ Have ye not read this scripture?-e stone which the
builders rejected is become the head of the corner: this was
the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.” What
a plain prophetic declaration of the position of Israel and
its consequences! All Israel’s history, presented in brief,
perfectly described in a few verses: all their conduct from
Moses’ time till the cross set forth in a few words; their
sin towards Jehovah, towards Christ, towards the prophets,
and the fearful consequences for the nation, and God’s
ways towards it. God takes away all its privileges, and
gives over His vineyard (where He would seek for fruit)
to others. us with this great fact of man’s sin and Jewish
unbelief-that is, with the rejection and crucixion of the
Lord-He would be exalted to the right hand of God, and
would become the head of the corner. Here also we have
the key of Old Testament scripture by prophecy; for with
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a single glance we see all God’s ways communicated to
spiritual intelligence. It is only divine wisdom and divine
revelation which can reveal to us God’s thoughts and man’s
deeds, and which can announce them to us.
We have seen that all classes of the Jews come, one after
the other, to judge the Lord; but in fact to be judged. e
Pharisees and Herodians present themselves rst to catch
Him in His words. ey did not dare to lay hands upon
Him, although they would willingly have done so, because
they had fully understood that the parable of the vineyard
and husbandmen had been spoken against them; but the
people were still under the inuence of His words and His
works. e rulers feared the people, slaves not merely to
their own passions and unbelief but to the people itself;
and they feared still more to do anything against the Lord,
believing that the people would favor Him, since they had
neither the power of faith, nor the freedom which is the
result of uprightness; but they were dependent on the favor
of the people.
e Lord’s hour was not yet come. ey sent certain
spies to catch Him in His words. e Pharisees, lled with
pride as to the privileges of the people, and ever ready to
stir up it against the Romans, attered its passions. ey
were subjected to the Gentile yoke on account of their
sins, and were no longer recognized as God’s people. e
promised Messiah had been sent in the person of the Lord,
and they had not been willing to receive Him, because He
manifested God upon earth, and their hardened heart
did not wish for God; they wished to possess the glory
of being God’s people, but not to receive God and submit
themselves to Him. e rebellion of their heart against
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God was united to the rebellion of their national pride
against the Gentiles.
e Herodians, on the contrary, accepted the Roman
authority, and did not trouble themselves about Israel’s
privileges: but they were ready at all costs to seek the good
favor of that powerful people, who held the people Israel
under its heavy yoke by God’s judgment. Now if the Lord
had said that they ought not to pay tribute, He would show
Himself hostile to the Romans sway, and the Herodians
would be ready to accuse Him; if He said that they ought
to pay, He was not the Messiah who should free His
people from the hated Roman yoke. ey did not think
of any other deliverance: and hence He would have lost
the favor of the people. e Herodians and Pharisees were
reconciled for the purpose of getting rid of the Lord: but
divine wisdom answers to every diculty.
e Jews ought to have submitted to the yoke which
God Himself had placed upon their neck until the time
when grace should free them, and they should receive the
Deliverer who should come according to God’s promises;
and until these should be fullled they must humbly render
to God His due,, always accepting their chastisement at
His hands. But they did neither the one thing nor the
other; they were hypocrites before God, and rebellious
towards men. e Lord asks them to give Him a coin with
the Emperor’s head upon it, and asks, “ Whose image and
superscription is this? “ e Jews reply, “Caesar’s”: and Jesus
says, “ Render to Caesar the things which be Caesar’s, and
to God the things which be God’s.” And the Jews go away
astonished. A just reply, which not only answered their
accusation, but which recognized at the same time Israel’s
true state and the judgment of God.
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Next come the Sadducees, another sect of the Jews,
which did not believe in the invisible world, nor in angels,
nor in the resurrection: God had given a law to His people
Israel, that was all. Accustomed to the arguments of men,
they did not expect to meet with divine wisdom, nor the
irresistible force of the word of God. ey present a case
which (supposing that to be true which their folly imagined)
rendered the resurrection ridiculous and impossible: for
they suppose that the relationships and state of this world
continue in the other. is is what men do: they mix up their
thoughts with God’s word, and since these thoughts do not
agree with it, they think it unintelligible and reject it. But
in this case a vital and fundamental truth is in question:
and the Lord not only reduces His enemies to silence by
the wisdom of His answer, discovering their hypocrisy, but
clearly reveals the truth itself which is taught in a hidden
manner in the Old Testament, and furnishes it with His
own authority.
Everything depends upon this truth; it is the evidence
that Jesus is the Son of God, and that God has accepted
His sacrice. It is the victory over death: all that belongs
to man’s wretched condition is left behind; it is the
entry into man’s new estate according to God’s counsels;
the introduction into the eternal state of glory and full
conformity of Christ. It is true that the wicked will be
raised for judgment, but the Lord looks upon His own and
their state, as also does 1 Corinthians 15. e Lord means
to say that the Old Testament contains the revelation of
this truth. As to His person it is clearly taught in Psa. 16;
but it is said that the Sadducees only received the law of
Moses; now this law rst of all has to do with that which
God had established upon earth for His earthly people:
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and life and incorruptibility have been brought to light by
the gospel and by the resurrection of the Lord Himself.
And although this light was clouded in Old Testament
times, nevertheless it was not wanting to those who,
pilgrims and strangers upon earth, sought a better country
and a heavenly city. e immediate teaching referred to
God’s government upon earth, but by faith the hearts of
the faithful could amply nd in it that which they needed
to point them towards an eternal and heavenly country.
e Pharisees believed in the resurrection, and, as to
this, they had the understanding of the truth; but the Lord
wished to show that if the Sadducees only received. the
law, the law itself, God had at all times given that which
was enough to lead the spiritual understanding to expect
better things than the earthly, and by faith to bring it into
closer relationship with God than could be enjoyed in His
government either of the world or of His people, however
real this government might be. e Lord then condemns
the Sadducees entirely; they were quite ignorant of the
scriptures and of the power of God. e Lord rst reveals
the truth; as soon as a person is raised from the dead, he is
like the angels and it is no longer a question of marrying or
giving in marriage. en he shows that in its rst elements
the rst expression of the relationships of God with men
(when God spoke to Moses) contained a life beyond death,
and consequently the resurrection; since man consists of
body and soul, according to God’s counsels. Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, had been dead a long time, but God was
always their God; and yet they were still alive; and they
would not consequently remain always under the power of
death, but would rise again.
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e Sadducees, who only believed in the law, needed
a clear proof of the truth taken from the law itself. And
whatever may be the truth as to the Sadducees, it is
important for us to understand that from the beginning,
when God enters into relationship with man, sin and
death having entered, God always takes resurrection
ground. ere is no other true foundation of blessing. e
very promises made to Israel are founded upon this truth;
at least the fulllment of them (Acts 13:34). us the
rst thing which the gospel reveals is rooted in the rst
distinct manifestation of God in relationship with men, a
relationship founded upon redemption (an external thing
in Israel, it is true, but eternally accomplished in Christ).
But as the great truth of Christianity, the new state of man,
is established by the Lord’s word, so also the perfection of
the law, as the standard of man’s duty, is brought into light.
One of the scribes, who had heard the Lord’s reasoning
with the Sadducees and perceived that He had answered
with true and divine wisdom, drew near and asked Him,
“ Which is the rst commandment of all? “ e scribes
believed that the commandments diered in value, and that
some were worth more than others to make up the sum of
righteousness to which a man ought to attain. e Lord
answers again in this instance without turning back the
question upon those who asked it to their confusion, but
He establishes the two great pillars of man’s responsibility:
the unity of God, and man’s duty towards Him and towards
his neighbor. is was Israel’s faith, and his duty towards
all. e Lord does not quote the ten commandments, but
the great principles of the law as to the whole duty of man.
e Lord knew how to bring them out, divinely hidden as
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they are in the books of Moses; Deut. 6:4, 5; 10:12; Lev.
19:18.
e sense of duty was perfect in Him, as also grace and
divine love; One greater than these. It is beautiful to see
this perfection in the Lord: the grace and the love of God
were manifested in all His life; we have seen them. But
here we nd also the perfect rule of walk and of the duty of
man upon earth according to the law; not that which was
evident to all men (that is, the ten commandments, which
are the rst thing to come to mind), but principles scattered
here and there throughout the books of the Old Testament,
which shone out everywhere for Him-for a heart which
understood and possessed the perfection of manhood
before God; for He showed forth divine perfection before
men. His heart saw the one, and understood it, whilst the
expression of the other sprang naturally from the same
heart. e conscience and heart of the scribe are touched;
he gives testimony to the perfection of the Lord’s reply,
adding that to do thus was worth more than sacrices and
burnt-oerings. He was not far from the kingdom of God.
A heart which understands God’s thoughts about man
loves that which God loves; the moral dierence of that
which is good is far removed from the capacity of receiving
that which God reveals for the blessing of His people. Now
from this time forth they durst ask Him no question. e
Lord’s wisdom was too great for their hearts.
But the Lord in His turn asks them a question, and
all the truth relating to His and to their own position
depended upon its answer: “ Whose son is Christ? “ e
Jews said, “David’s.” It was true, but then the Lord said, “
How then doth David call him his Lord if he is his son? “
Jesus was the Son of David, but He must sit upon the right
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hand of God as Lord in man’s nature. is was the key to
the situation. But the Lord’s relationships with the Jews
were at an end; each class had presented itself before Him
and had been judged.
Verses 31-40. Here the Lord denounces the scribes
who corrupted the word of God which they pretended to
explain; they took the form of godliness, and sought their
own glory and other people’s money, even that of widows,
to whom they obtained access under the pretext of piety.
For this cause their judgment would be all the more
terrible; but God does not forget His own in the midst of
the hypocrisy of the seeming religious.. ey may make
mistakes: perhaps the widow’s mite helped to pay Judas;
but it was given to the Lord, and the widow’s heart which
was occupied about the mite did not escape the Lord’s
eyes, nor the notice of His love. e rich had given much,
but the widow oered herself as a living sacrice to the
Lord; she gave all her substance. Perhaps she might have
employed better means, but she gave her mite from the
bottom of her heart to the Lord, and it was received on His
part: we should think of this.
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Chapter 13.
We have seen the people judged, each class brought
by God’s hand into the Lord’s presence to receive their
judgment; we have seen them morally condemned by the
word of God and by the blessed Lord’s wisdom. But the
iniquity which drew forth the execution itself must cause
many diculties to the disciples. ey would have to walk
in a way full of dangers, and they are warned themselves
here how they may escape the judgment which was about
to fall upon the beloved people for their sins. e Lord
would no longer be present to guide them; but His heart
could not leave them in ignorance either as to the path
or as to the diculties they would have to encounter.
And the testimony which Jesus gave of it would make the
diculties and dangers a proof of the truth of His words,
and an encouragement for their hearts when they should
nd themselves in the trouble.
But the Lord does not stop at the fulllment of the
judgment soon to be realized, but opens up the ways of
God up to His coming, when Israel shall be blessed again
after having passed through such a judgment that a little
remnant only of the people will be left; and the power of
the beasts (that is, of the Gentile empires) will be destroyed,
Satan bound, and the world will rest in peace. Nevertheless
it is more as a warning to His disciples that the Lord speaks
here than as an announcement of the peace and rest of the
world after the execution of judgment.
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e disciples, accustomed to see in the temple the house
of God and the glorious center of their religion, full of
wonder, point out to the Lord the beauty of the buildings
and the size of the stones, and, as often happened, they
give to the Lord the opportunity to communicate God’s
thoughts to them about the times and the state of the guilty
nation. He announces to them clearly the destruction of the
temple as a certain fact; but when the disciples asked when
that should happen, He speaks of the people’s state up to
His coming, as far as this history has to do with the service
of His disciples. In general that which is said is similar to
that contained in Matthew’s Gospel; but the Holy Spirit
here presents the Lord to us as being more occupied with
teaching His disciples.
As in Matthew we have general teaching here, which
goes on to the end of the period of the proclamation of
grace; then the especial sign of the nal ruin of Jerusalem,
which immediately precedes the Lord’s coming in glory.
is interest in the disciples as to their testimony and
service answers to the character of this Gospel, which gives
us a history of the service of the Lord Himself. e Lord
does not immediately answer the disciples’ question, but
warns them of the dangers they would encounter in their
service, after His departure. Satan would raise up false
Christs to deceive the Jews, and many should be deceived.
ey would have to be on their guard. Wars and rumors
of wars would take place, but they were not to be troubled
about this; these things must happen, but the end should
not be yet. ese were the beginning of sorrows, but not
the end.
He does not speak of the mission of the apostle Paul,
but of that of the twelve in the midst of the Jews; only the
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gospel must be preached to all the nations before the end.
e fact is asserted, without its being said how it ought
to be fullled. We know that it will be the gospel of the
kingdom, as it might have been preached during the Lord’s
lifetime. Here is the simple announcement of a testimony
of the gospel sent to the nation before the end should
come. But the consequence of this testimony, as far as the
disciples were concerned, would be persecution; they would
be beaten in the synagogues and accused before kings and
governors for a testimony to them. is is the means which
the Lord uses to carry the gospel to kings and to the great
of the earth. e preachers are not the great of the earth,
and His disciples would have always to preserve their true
character; in this they would appear before kings and rulers
as prisoners to give an account of their faith.
us the apostle Paul appeared before the Jewish council,
before Festus, Agrippa, and nally before Caesar. But the
possible result of the preaching of the gospel was not all.
e revelation of God in the person of Christ, or in the
preached word, awakens the enmity of the human heart.
So long as God is not revealed, everything is tolerated;
but when He is revealed, man’s will rises up against His
authority, and against the pressure which this revelation
exerts upon a conscience not at rest; and the closer the
relations are, the greater is the hatred. is hatred breaks
all the ties of nature: brother would give up brother to
death, and the father his son; the children would rise up
against their parents and would put them to death; and the
disciples would be hated of all men for the Savior’s name.
What a testimony to the state of man’s heart! If one
speaks of the name of Jesus and of His love, of the love of
Him who came to save us, the hatred of man’s heart breaks
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all barriers; it refuses to recognize and tramples down all
natural aections. But the time of deliverance will come,
and here it is an earthly deliverance that is in question. It
is still better for us; if we are killed, we go to be with the
Lord; if He comes, we shall be gloried with Him. But
here the Lord speaks of the testimony and service of the
apostles in the midst of the Jews. In whatever way we look
at it, there remaineth a rest for the people of God. But
there is more; God would be with them in the way. When
the disciples should be in the presence of the magistrates,
they were not to meditate upon that which they ought to
say; it would not be necessary to prepare discourses; the
Holy Spirit would be with them; and it should be given
them what to say at that very moment.
Here is the picture that the Lord draws of the service of
His people in the midst of the Jews up to the end; He adds
that the gospel shall be preached to the ends of the earth.
But now in verse 14 He comes to a more precise and denite
notice of the events which should happen in Jerusalem at
the end. “ When,” He says, “ ye shall see the abomination
of desolation standing where it ought not (let him that
readeth understand), then let those who are in Judma ee
to the mountains.” Here we must look at Daniel’s prophecy
which speaks of this abomination: we nd it in chapter
12. e word “ abomination “ simply means idol; and it is
called abomination of desolation because it is the cause of
the desolation of Jerusalem and of the Jewish people.
e Jews will receive the Antichrist. e Lord said, “ I
have come in my Father’s name, and ye have not received
me; if another come in his own name, him will ye receive.”
en under the inuence of Antichrist they will turn to
idolatry again. e unclean spirit which came out of them
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after the Babylonish captivity will enter into them again
with seven spirits worse than itself, and the last state will
be worse than the rst; Matt. 12:43-45. ey will then set
up an idol in the most holy place, where it ought not to
be placed, and God’s judgment will fall upon the people
and city. e desolation will be complete: “ ere shall be
trouble such as never was.” And Daniel says, “ At that time
Michael shall stand up, the great prince which standeth
for the children of thy people, and there shall be a time of
trouble such as never was … ” is trouble must last for a
time, times and a half, that is, three and a half Jewish years,
or 1,26o days, or 42 months. en those who are written
in God’s book shall be saved-those who shall have endured
to the end in spite of the diculties, suerings, and the
oppression of the Antichrist and Gentiles as the Lord had
foretold.
In the meantime, during the time of their general
service, the Holy Ghost would give them all wisdom, and
even the very words they would need. e Lord’s goodness
here is very remarkable; we nd the Lord thinking even
of the weather in the midst of this terrible judgment, so
terrible indeed that nothing like it has been known in the
world’s history. He tells them to pray that their ight be
not in the winter. He does not speak here as in Matthew
of the sabbath, because Jewish things are not so much in
view here as in that Gospel. He thinks of those who are
with child and of those who give suck in those days. Ah!
how great is the Savior’s compassion; nothing escapes His
gracious memory. Whilst warning His disciples of the
most terrible judgment, He thinks of all the diculties
they would meet upon the road He teaches them to take.
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But the Lord has shortened these days, or no esh could
be saved; but He has shortened them for His own elect’s
sake. en to give a hope of deliverance and of escape from
suerings, false Christs and false prophets would arise and
would perform miracles and signs (so great is Satan’s power
when God permits) to seduce if possible the very elect. But
they had been warned; and now after this unparalleled
tribulation which should come upon Jerusalem, the end
of the dispensation would come; all established authority
should be overturned by God’s judgment. e order which
He had established for the government of the earth shall be
thrown into confusion. e signs of His judgment appear.
en shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds
with great power and glory. e Lord appears to take
possession of the earth, which He not only has created, but
which He has acquired as His own as Son of man by His
death. But that which is specially announced here is that
He will send His angels to gather together His elect from
all parts of the world. It is always a question here of the
land and of Israel: the blessing of the Gentiles and of the
whole world will take place, but it is not the question here.
Our place is a far higher one: when Christ shall appear,
we shall appear with Him; Col. 3:4. e Lord will have
already gathered us to Himself in the air, He will have
gloried us already and made us like Himself, according
to His boundless grace which has acquired this glory for
us according to the eternal counsels of a just God; we shall
be like His Son and with Him forever, the rstborn among
many brethren; but here He speaks of the elect in the midst
of Israel, dispersed amongst the Gentiles.
All here has to do with the earthly people. “ is
generation,” of which verse 31 speaks, is the perverse and
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unbelieving generation of the Jews, which indeed remains
even to our day a race separated from all the others. ey
dwell amongst the nations, but they remain ever a separate
people, kept for the fulllment of the counsels of God. We
nd this fact and the force of the word “ generation “ in
Deut. 32:5-20: “ It is a perverse and crooked generation.”
And as regards the judgment under which the nation lies,
after that the Lord has pronounced these words, it is said
in verse 20, “ I will hide my face from them, I will see what
their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation,
children in whom there is no faith.”
e three times and a half make up the time which the
goodness and mercy of God have shortened, the last half-
week of Daniel which remains still unfullled. After that
the abomination shall have been set up in the most holy
place, where it ought not to be, there shall be three years
and a half; and after that, some days to purify the temple.
us the remnant of the Jews will have the consolation of
knowing in the midst of the great tribulation that it will
only be for a short time. But we are quite ignorant as to
when this solemn moment will come; it is not revealed;
God alone knows when it will be. e Lord sends out
the disciples in connection with the Jews; and when they
should see that these events were beginning to be fullled,
then should they know that the time was drawing near.
“ Heaven and earth shall pass away; but my words
shall not pass away.” e destruction of Jerusalem under
Titus the Roman emperor was something like this, but
the Lord’s prophecy was in no wise accomplished. First
of all, the Lord did not come after this event; then also
that about which Daniel had spoken had not come to pass.
Whether we count 1,260 days or 1,260 years after the
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destruction of Jerusalem, nothing happened at that time;
and then there cannot be two tribulations “ such as never
were.” In Luke’s Gospel we nd rst of all the destruction
of Jerusalem and the present state of the Jews; nevertheless
he does not speak of the abomination of desolation; but he
distinguishes very clearly the siege under Titus from the
coming of the Lord much later on. Mark’s Gospel speaks
rst of all the disciples’ service up to the end, and then of
the nal tribulation, beginning with the fact of the setting
up of the abomination of the desolation where it ought not
to be; this begins at verse 14.
We nd this time of tribulation in Jeremiah 30:7; but in
the trouble which came upon the nation at the destruction
under Titus the Jews were not saved. In Dan. 12 we nd
again deliverance and the intervention of God by means of
Michael; and this will happen at Christ’s second coming.
e only passages which speak of the great tribulation such
as never was are Jeremiah 30:7, Dan. 12:1, Matt. 24, and
Mark 13; all these refer to the last days terminated by the
manifestation of Christ.
Lastly the Lord exhorts them to watch and pray, for
they know not the hour when this time should come. He
was like unto a man going upon a journey, who left His
house (we see that the earth and Jerusalem are in question),
and who gave authority to His servants, and to every man
his work, and commanded the porter to watch. is is
a picture of the manner in which the Lord has left His
disciples in the midst of the Jews. But that which He said
unto them He says unto all, Watch. is is the exhortation
for us; we are called to wait for the Lord, not knowing
when He will come back, lest He nd us sleeping. May
grace work in our hearts, so that we may be expecting His
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coming with real desire to see Him; may we walk in such
a manner as to be able to rejoice always at the thought of
His coming! May it never be too soon for us!
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Chapter 14.
Let us go back to the history of the Lord’s life, and to
the last days of this blessed life. Two days after was the
passover, and the chiefs of the Jews sought to kill Him;
nevertheless they feared to stir up a tumult amongst the
people, because they felt that His doctrine and miracles had
produced a powerful eect in their hearts; they said, “ Not
on the feast day, lest there be a tumult among the people.”
is was their opinion, but not God’s. e Lord must die
as a true paschal lamb slain for us. Besides, He must die the
very day of the passover, to surpass the sacrice of the law,
which commemorated the deliverance from Egppt, and
which pregured an innitely more precious deliverance;
that is, the deliverance from guilt before God, and from the
dominion of sin.
e Savior’s death drew near, and feelings of aection
and of iniquity developed themselves on one side and the
other. Here we see Mary, who used to sit at Jesus’ feet to
listen to Him and to understand His words. ere her heart
had drunk in the instruction which owed from Jesus’ heart;
and Jesus, the source of all blessings, was the object which
had xed her heart, and she had felt it in her aections.
e grace and love of Jesus had produced love for Him,
and His word had produced spiritual intelligence. Now
this love for the Savior made her sensible of the increasing
hatred of the Jews. e disciples knew that these sought to
kill Him, but Mary felt it; not that she was a prophetess,
but her heart felt the presentiment of that which man’s
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hatred desired, and she did what she could as a witness of
her contrary sentiment; and the Lord makes this act of love
speak wherever the gospel is announced in the world.
It is sweet to enter into the house where this family
dwelt (here this was done in the house of Simon the leper),
this family beloved of the Lord, for it was the refuge of
His heart when, rejected by the people, He could no longer
recognize the city which He had loved so long: He was
accustomed to live with this beloved family. Martha, who
seems to have been the eldest of the sisters, occupied with
much serving, faithful and beloved of the Lord, but not
very spirituallyminded, understood but little of that which
lled His heart. Mary used to sit at His feet to hear His
teaching; and the Lord had raised from the dead their
brother Lazarus. us Mary’s heart attached itself to the
Lord, and became the expression of the little remnant
which, united to Jesus Himself, followed the progress of
God’s ways; it did not stop at the hopes or thoughts of the
Jews, but although the intelligence which the Holy Spirit
would give was still wanting, it followed the Lord closely,
and thus was ready to receive all when the revelation should
be made.
It has been remarked that this Mary was not at the
sepulcher seeking a living Savior among the dead. It is
always thus; hearts attached to Jesus for the love of being
near Him receive from Himself the revelation of His
wisdom and glory, when the time comes for it. It is blessed
to remark also that the Lord, although He were God
Himself (all the fullness of the Godhead dwelt in Him) was
really a man, perfect and holy in everything, and in every
thought; nay, He was the source of every good thought.
He was not on this account insensible to these intimate
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aections; there was the disciple whom Jesus loved, and
He loved to speak of it; the Lord loved Martha, Mary, and
Lazarus, and their house gave a rest to His heart when an
ungrateful world and a rebellious people had rejected Him.
A fruit of His grace without doubt, but none the less dear
to His heart on that account.
But alas! that which is a savor of life unto life is a savor
of death unto death. at which Mary expended in love
to the Lord awoke the avarice of Judas, for it was a loss to
him. Others also fell under Judas’s inuence, led away by
his evil thoughts; but the Lord justies the woman. “ She
hath done what she could,” says the Lord, full of grace;
and her devotedness to the Lord should be recognized in
all ages. When the Lord in His divine love gave Himself,
she by grace did all that a heart consecrated to Him could
do, and her name must accompany the Lord’s in the act
which is the most powerful testimony to His eternal love.
Although that which she could do were but little, a little is
never forgotten of the Lord when the heart is faithful.
Verses 10-12. Now all hastens on to the end. Judas,
urged on perhaps by the force of the bribe, but in reality
urged on by the devil, goes away to betray the Lord. Good
and evil are accomplished; they are accomplished at the
cross. No conscience, no fear of God arrests the chiefs of
the Jews on their way of iniquity and opposition to the
Lord of glory; they consent together with Judas to give
him money to betray the Lord. He seeks occasion to give
up the Lord into the hands of the priests without too much
noise-a wretched employment truly!
Verses 12-16. But in the meantime the Savior must
explain to His followers the manner in which He gave
Himself for them, and He institutes the precious memorial
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of His death, in order that we may always think of it; and
that not only we may believe in the eciency of this sacrice
accomplished once and forever for us upon the cross, but
that our hearts may be attached to the Savior who loved
us and gave Himself for us; thinking of Him and chewing
forth His precious death till He come. We Christians are
placed between the cross and the Lord’s coming, securely
founded upon the nished work of the former, and looking
forward always anxiously to the moment when the latter
shall take place.
Although the Lord had now arrived at the time of
His deepest humiliation, the glory of His person and His
rights over all things remained always the same. He tells
His disciples to enter into the city, where they should nd
a man bearing a pitcher full of water. In the house where
he would enter, they would nd a heart prepared by grace
to receive the Lord. To him they should say, “ e Master
saith, Where is the chamber where I shall eat the passover
with my disciples? “ He knows all circumstances and all
hearts: the disciples nd the man as He had told them, and
prepare the passover.
Verses 17-21. e Lord, when it was evening, came with
the twelve. It was the commemoration of the deliverance
of the people out of Egypt; but the Lord was going to
accomplish a better redemption, and He institutes an
innitely more excellent memorial. But for this He must
die. ey were all at the table together, and the Lord Jesus,
full of love, looking upon His disciples felt deeply the fact
that one of them who had lived in His holy presence should
betray Him. He knew well who would be the traitor, but
He expresses the anguish of His heart when He says, “ one
of you shall betray me.” He wished to prove their hearts
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again and to bring to light that which was within. ey
believed the Lord’s words, and each one full of trust in
Him and of holy distrust of himself said, “Lord, is it I?”
A ne testimony of upright and tried hearts thinking of
the fact and of the possibility of such a crime with more
condence in Jesus’ word than in themselves.
But the Lord must suer all these sorrows--He does
not proudly hide them, but desires to lay His sorrows
as a Man in human hearts; love counts upon love. ere
were sorrows which could not be poured into the hearts
of men, and nevertheless it was God’s will (blessed be His
name forever!) that we should know the suerings of His
Son; which, although beyond our reach, are nevertheless
presented to our hearts. us we hear the Lord crying,
“ My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? “ And
if we cannot reach the depths of His suerings, we can
understand that they were innite. Now at the table the
Lord announces to them His departure from the world
according to the scriptures and the terrible judgment of
Judas; for the accomplishment of God’s counsels does not
take away the iniquity of those who fulll them; otherwise
how could God judge the world? For all work together
to accomplish His counsels. Men’s evil will too is always
active in doing. evil. e Lord’s object, as we nd written
in this gospel, is not to point out the person who should
commit the crime, but to make them feel that it was one of
the twelve who should do it.
Verse 22. Now the Lord institutes the supper, a precious
sign and memorial of His love and of His death. Up to
that time, the passover had been the commemoration of
the deliverance of the people out of the captivity in Egypt,
when the blood of the Lamb was put upon the doors of
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the houses where the Israelites were. Now the blood of a
more excellent Lamb has been sprinkled upon the mercy-
seat in heaven, before the eye of God; when Christ, the
Lamb of God, accomplished everything for the glory of
God and for the salvation of all believers. e work has
been done: in the sacrice of the cross Jesus drank the cup
of malediction and cannot drink it again; He perfectly
gloried God about sin; it is impossible to add anything, as
though anything were wanting to complete the perfection
of this work. He has borne the sins of many, and can never
bear them again; He cannot oer Himself again, He is
forever seated at the right hand of God; Heb. 9:24-26. He
would have had to suer often, if His one oering upon the
cross had not taken away forever all the sins of all believers;
without shedding of blood there is no remission.
e forgiveness of sins for believers is full, perfect, and
eternal through the work of Christ. If we sin after having
received the forgiveness of our sins, Christ prays for us and
is our Advocate in virtue of this propitiation and appears
in God’s presence for us, as our righteousness (1 John 2:1,
2); and the eect of His intercession for us, is that the Holy
Ghost works in our hearts; we are humbled, we confess our
faults to God, and our communion is re-established with
the Father and the Son. But the sin is not imputed as a
crime, for Christ has already borne it-it has been imputed
to Him. As was the case in the passover in Egypt; God said,
“ When I see the blood, I will pass over you.” e blood of
Christ is ever before the eye of God, ever present to His
memory. us Christ washes our feet with the water of the
word, as He has saved us by His blood, when by grace we
have believed. But if God does not ever forget the blood of
Christ shed once forever, He does not wish us to forget it.
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e Lord Jesus in His boundless grace wishes us to think
of Him, to remember Him. Precious manifestation of love
for us, that the Savior should delight in our remembrance
of Him, and that He has left us a touching memorial of
Himself and His love. Oh, happy thought that Jesus wishes
us to think of Him, because He loves us! e sacrice
cannot be repeated, but its value is ever the same before
God; and Jesus is seated at God’s right hand awaiting the
time when His enemies shall be set as a footstool beneath
His feet; and we await Him until He come to take us with
Him to the Father’s house; and in the supper we show
forth His death till He comes.
It is important to remark that there is no sacrice in the
present time, and that the Lord is not personally present
in the bread and wine. e church of Rome says that the
Lord’s supper (or rather the mass, as they call it) is the
same sacrice as that which was accomplished upon the
cross. But when the Lord said, “ is is my body … do this
in remembrance of me,” He was not yet upon the cross.
His blood was not yet shed, and when He broke the bread
He did not hold Himself in His hands, still less Himself
crucied, for He was not yet upon the cross. ere is no such
thing now as a crucied Christ; He is seated at God’s right
hand, and there is no shedding of blood now. It is a blessed
fact that there is a sign, a commemoration of this, but that
it should be so really and substantially is impossible; there
is no such thing now as a dead Christ.
We show forth in the supper His death and His blood
shed for us: but a gloried Christ cannot be a sacrice;
cannot come down from heaven to die; and if the bread
be changed into His body, and there be a soul in it, it must
be another soul; this is absurd. ey say that the Godhead
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is everywhere, and that the substance of the body is there;
but the soul is individual: this lives, feels, loves, is a single
individual soul. According to Romish teaching the soul of
the Lord Jesus leaves heaven; but it cannot be the same
soul, and if it is another, it is absurd. e Lord says in
Luke, “ is cup is the new covenant in my blood “:-that
is, it represents the blood-for the cup itself is not the new
covenant. us the bread presents to us in the most striking
way the body of the Lord crucied upon the cross, and the
wine His blood shed for us.
Lastly, the Lord gives to His disciples of the fruit of the
vine to drink; and it is called this after that the Lord had
said in verse 24, “ is is my blood of the new covenant.” It
is quite clear that when he says, “ I will drink no more of it,”
He speaks of wine in its natural sense. After Supper they
sing a hymn, the Lord being perfectly calm in spirit. ey
go out to go to the Mount of Olives. e Lord warns His
disciples that this night they shall all be oended because
of Him, and that they would leave Him according to
Zechariah’s prophecy, “ I will smite the shepherd, and the
sheep shall be scattered.” But He announces to them His
resurrection, and that “ after he is risen, he will go before
them into Galilee.” We nd a dierence between the Lord’s
appearing in Galilee and in Bethany: the latter is related in
Luke’s gospel. It was from Bethany that He ascended to
heaven. In Galilee the Lord is always looked upon as being
on the earth, although risen from the dead; and He gives
to His disciples the commission to preach the gospel to,
and baptize all nations. is service was not accomplished
by the apostles-later on they left it to Paul (that is, the
preaching the gospel to the nations) having recognized the
Lord’s election and sending out for this work.
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We see that the commission in Mark is still dierent;
it is connected with the Lord’s heavenly power. e Lord’s
own work was done chiey in Galilee; and the Jewish
remnant is recognized as gathered together and accepted;
then it is sent out to bring the Gentiles into the blessings
which were expected from God. e announcing of
heavenly blessings, salvation revealed by the Holy Ghost
sent down from heaven when Christ ascended there, is
quite another thing. But whether the blessings be earthly
or heavenly they cannot be brought in by the rst man; the
second Man is the only possible foundation of everything.
Now the Savior must be quite alone in His work and
suerings, and man must show what he is when he is not
kept by God. e disciples were warned, but Peter, full of
condence in his faithfulness (and he was sincere), trusting
to his own strength, would not believe the Lord’s words.
But the esh cannot resist the power of Satan. e Lord
would nd Himself abandoned and denied; and man,
however sincere he might be, would have to recognize his
utter weakness: a humbling lesson, but a very useful one,
and one which makes the Lord’s grace and patience shine
out. It is very important to recollect-and we learn it clearly
here, that sincerity is not enough to keep us right; it is quite
a human quality! and we need as well the Lord’s strength
against the wiles of the devil, and the fear of the world. If
the Lord be not there, a young girl can upset an apostle.
e fear of man is a dreadful snare for the soul; and this
fear worked mightily in Peter’s heart. Even when he had
received the Holy Spirit, he dissembled at Antioch, when
some Jewish believers had come from Jerusalem.
Remark how the Lord prepared the two greatest
apostles for His work! Paul tried to destroy the name of
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Christ from o the earth, and Peter denied Him openly
after having known Him, and after having done miracles
in His name. us it was not possible for them to talk of
anything but grace: and all the false condence in self was
destroyed in their hearts. ey could strengthen others by
the consciousness of the Lord’s grace which had borne
with them and forgiven them; also they had learned by
experience what the evil of the human heart is, and how
weak man is, even the Christian, without the help of
divine grace. us the Lord says to Peter, “ When thou art
converted [that is, repented of thy fault], strengthen thy
brethren.” He failed again afterward in such a manner that
Paul had to resist him to the face; and Paul himself had to
have a thorn in the esh, a messenger of Satan, to buet
him, lest he should be exalted. e esh is never improved:
how necessary then is it for weak Christians to watch, to
have ever present the consciousness of their weakness, and
to seek that strength which is made perfect in weakness,
that precious grace of the Lord which is sucient for us. It
is not necessary that we should fall, for God is faithful and
will not allow us to be tempted above that we are able; but
we must watch, that we enter not into temptation.
In the scene before us, whilst the Lord was praying
in agony, Peter was sleeping; when the Lord submitted
Himself like a lamb which before her shearers is dumb, Peter
used the sword to strike; when the Lord confesses the truth
calmly and rmly before His enemies, Peter denies Him.
is is what the esh is, and the fruit of false condence in
self! Peter, too, had been fully warned. e Lord had said
for the second time that, before the cock should crow twice
he would deny Him thrice. But Peter trusts in himself: “If
I should die with thee, I will not deny thee in any wise.”
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We know that Satan’s wiles were there, for Satan wanted to
sift Peter like wheat; but the Holy Ghost here directs our
attention to the false condence of the esh of the human
heart. But let us turn our attention towards the blessed
Lord, the example of perfect faithfulness, just as Peter was
that of false condence and of the weakness of the esh.
We see in Jesus a true Man, although divine power were
necessary in order that the human nature should endure all
that He suered without lling.
e Lord desires three disciples (those who were
especially with Him and who were to be pillars in the
church later on) to be with Him and to watch while
He prays. e anticipation of the cup which He was to
drink, weighed upon His spirit; death, the expression of
the judgment of God against sin, was before His eyes, and
Satan made all this to lie heavily upon Him in order to
prevent His accomplishing the work of salvation, if it were
possible. e Lord felt all, and was faithful in everything;
He began to be sore amazed and to be very heavy. ere
was no agony in Stephen’s death; it was a triumph full of
peace and love; he goes to his Lord who was expecting him
at the right hand of God in heaven, praying all the while,
like his Lord, for his enemies. e Lord is full of anguish
at the prospect of death; and here we see what death was
for Him; the reality of His work, when He bore our sins in
His body upon the cross. At this moment (in the garden of
Gethsemane) He was not yet bearing them, but the feeling
of that which was before Him weighed upon His heart; the
weight of sin and of the curse was being felt by His spirit
with God, for He was still in communion with His Father.
He must not only submit Himself to the righteousness of
God as made sin for us before Him, and bear the penalty
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of it; but also He had to suer “ for His piety,” in that
the anticipation of the penalty weighed upon Him before
He bore it. He oered Himself willingly but in obedience,
for the glory of His Father, and for us in grace; He was
obedient unto death. His name be praised! and it shall be
eternally praised.
Stephen rejoiced, because Christ had suered and had
opened the way into heaven for him by bearing the judicial
punishment of death for him; and He has done so for us
also. We can understand the value of His death in the eyes
of God, and we can look up to Him as Stephen did when
full of the Holy Ghost, looking steadfastly into heaven.
e Lord had left the disciples, except Peter, James and
John, at the entrance into the garden; but He had taken
these three with Him, and told them to watch whilst He
prayed. He prays that the hour may pass from Him, if it be
possible. He had borne all the cups of suering from the
hand of sinners without complaining of them. His Father’s
favor was sucient for Him! But this cup, was the being
made a curse; the just One made sin, the nding Himself
(who had always been in the Father’s bosom the object of
an innite love) forsaken of God. On account of His piety,
He wished to draw back from this if possible. But if we
were to escape the penalty of sin, He must bear it for us.
is penalty, however, was but an occasion and a proof
for the Savior of perfect submission and obedience. But
still He says, “ Not that which I will, but that which thou
wilt.” He felt all, He lays everything before His Father, so
that He goes through all as a trial in perfect submission
to His Father. As a trial, all was over: the will of God was
manifested, and the Lord’s obedience was perfect, although
the work itself was still to be accomplished. e disciples
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were unable to cross even the shadow of the trial; and all
men His enemies. Satan was there in all his power, and
above all, there was the curse to be borne for sin, before
Him. All was trial, but He, in subjection to His Father’s
will, showed forth His love to Him.
We are allowed to witness the exercise of heart of the
Savior, and to take part, in our weakness, in the anguish
of His heart, although He was alone in the trial itself:
immense grace! In the work He must be quite alone: and
here too He is alone, but with adoring hearts we can listen
to the Savior’s cry when He opens His heart to the Father
about His suerings. Ah! may our hearts be kept watchfully
attentive by the Holy Spirit to the holy sighs of the Savior!
We are invited to look upon Him, to understand what He
has done for us, to enjoy the feelings of His human heart
and His perfection, as a true Man for us. us, in John 17
we are permitted to hear Him when He presents Himself
to the Father, placing us in His own position of favor before
Him, and of testimony before men. If the peace which we
possess belonging to this new position founded upon His
nished work is so great, the privilege of hearing His cry
of anguish is no less so.
Remark with what gentle words the Lord reproves His
disciples. He shows Peter in the kindest way the dierence
between fervent courage when the enemy was not present,
and the incapacity to watch one hour with his agonized
Master; and He excuses the disciples with loving words-”
the spirit is ready but the esh is weak.” At the same time
being full of the solemnity of the moment, He warns them
also to watch and to pray lest they enter into temptation.
We never nd the Lord’s own suerings preventing Him
from thinking of others. On the cross He can think of the
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thief, just as though He were not suering Himself: If He
had not time to eat, still He always had time enough to
announce the truth to the crowd which followed Him; tired
at Jacob’s well, His heart does not grow weary of speaking
of the living water, nor of looking into the poor Samaritan
woman’s conscience. He was never tired of doing good; and
He is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever.
But the time was come: the last time He nds them
sleeping like the other times. He must experience that
moral solitude in which He found Himself amongst
men even in the midst of His own disciples. ere is a
solitude in the which one is quite alone morally, although
others be there actually. e traitor was coming near;
“ Sleep on now,” says the Lord. “ Rise up, let us go, he
that betrayeth me is at hand.” e Lord must receive the
last witness to the weakness of man’s heart when left to
itself, and hardened by Satan. Judas betrays Him with a
kiss, so terrible is the hardness of his heart! “ Take him,”
says he, “ and lead him away safely.” But the Lord, who
had gone through all in His soul with God, is in perfect
peace before men in these unparalleled circumstances. He
speaks to the crowd which had come out to seize Him: He
had been with them daily in the temple, and they had not
taken Him-but the scripture must be fullled. e Lord
wishes to bear witness to the authority of the scriptures;
if these announced His death, He must die. e scriptures
are the revelation of God’s counsels and purpose as well
as of all His thoughts. e Lord too, as a man upon earth,
took them as the rule and motive of all that He did and
said, although He was always in unspeakable communion
with His Father. ey are the revelation of God’s thoughts
for the earth and for man upon the earth; and they reveal
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too, his heavenly destination, and what heavenly things are.
What an immense blessing to possess them!
e disciples all forsake Him, and ee. Later on, Peter
followed Him afar o, and was brought into the high
priest’s palace. e Lord submits in perfect calmness; all
had been weighed already in His Father’s presence; His
will made everything simple for the Lord; but no one could
follow Him into the valley of death, nor stand up before
the enemy’s power, except the faithful Savior Himself. It
was the hour when the wicked one was allowed to have
power, that the Lord might give Himself into the hands of
the impious for us. e disciples ed, a young man wished
to follow Him, but the more the will ventures in this path,
the more it is obliged to retreat with shame. ey wished
to lay hold of the young man, and he ed naked. Poor Peter
went further, to fall still lower, learning at the same time
for his own good, what we all are. It is a good thing to
think of the Lord’s anguish before God, when He opens
all His heart to His Father; and we see His deep suerings,
His perfect calmness before men, the fruit of His perfect
submission: men counted as nothing in it; Satan could do
nothing-for the Lord had taken the cup from His Father’s
hands. is is most important teaching for us.
We must understand that the Lord’s condemnation
was a determined thing: the chiefs of the Jews sought but
the means to consummate iniquity and murder under the
show of justice. ey sought witness against Him to put
Him to death; but it was false, and the witnesses did not
agree together. Many were ready to give witness, but their
testimony availed nothing: the Lord must be condemned
upon His own witness. It is grievous to look upon the
enmity of the human heart against the Lord, who had
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never done anything but good to men; who had healed
the sick, given the hungry to eat, raised the dead, cast out
devils, and manifested divine power in doing good.
When the Son of man came, divine power, which was
sucient to drive out all the consequences of sin upon
earth even to death itself, was manifested; Christ worked
according to this power: He bound the strong man in the
wilderness, and plundered his house: there was a power
upon earth sucient to drive away all the eects of sin;
for the power of God manifested itself in goodness. But
this only awakened the natural enmity of the human heart
against Him: there was no motive for the death of Jesus:
this enmity was the only cause. at which took away the
grievous eects of sin, did not take away the sin itself from
man’s heart, but manifested God enough to awaken the
natural enmity of the heart, and thus to show what this
heart is.
In Luke it is said also (chap. 4: 13), that “ the devil
departed from him for a season “; but then he comes back
again as the prince of this world; he had nothing in the
Lord, but that the world might know that He loved the
Father, and as the Father gave Him commandment, even
so He did; John 14:30, 31. e devil could say to Jesus, ‘ If
thou dost persevere in sustaining the cause of men, I have
the right of death against thee.’ Indeed the curse of God
weighed down upon them, and the Lord must pass through
death, and drink the cup of God’s curse upon sin, if He is to
liberate man. Did He draw back from this terrible penalty
of death and the curse? He felt it, but He drank it for love
to His Father and us, and in perfect obedience. He entered
where we were in sin and disobedience, in obedience and
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grace; He who knew no sin was made sin for us; the Lamb
without blemish oered Himself to God for us.
Here in this chapter we nd the Lord as a lamb who
is dumb before her shearers. He does not answer to the
accusation of His enemies; they were there with the
intention of putting Him to death and He knew it; and
He was there in order to give His life a ransom for many.
He does not answer the accusations full of malice and
falsehood, but when the chief priest asks Him if He is the
Christ the Son of the Blessed, He gives full testimony to the
truth. He is rejected and crucied for His own witness to
the truth; but although He recognizes the truth according
to the high priest’s question, nevertheless He does not go
beyond His position of Messiah amongst the Jews.
He added again His testimony to His position as Son
of man, the position He was just going to assume at that
time. We have seen that He had forbidden His disciples to
say that He was the Christ, telling them that the Son of
man must suer. Now we nd the fulllment of this, for
Christ is recognized as the Son of God according to Psa.
2, but from this time forward He takes the new position of
Son of man according to Psa. 8 ey should see-no longer
the promised Christ amongst them in grace, rejected as He
is in Psa. 2, but-the Son of man sitting at the right hand of
God, coming in the clouds of heaven, and manifesting His
power in judgment. Only He waits, seated at God’s right
hand according to Psalm 11o, until His enemies be placed
under His feet as a footstool.
We now see Him in heaven, having accomplished the
work which the Father gave Him to do; we see Him at
God’s right hand, our sins abolished, waiting until His
enemies shall be made His footstool.
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e Lord confesses the truth when superior authority
demands it, He is absolute perfection-the truth itself.
Satan can do nothing in this case, except indeed to bring
the truth into evidence in the Lord’s mouth, and to be
the instrument of accomplishing the work of redemption
which God wished to be done: eternal thanks be to Him!
As to men, the Lord is held to be guilty of death because
He speaks the truth, and the truth as to the work of God’s
love in the sending of the Son. God’s truth, as well as the
person of the Son of God, and God Himself are the objects
of hatred of man’s heart; but the truth came by Jesus Christ,
and grace in the sovereign power and wisdom of God was
fullled by means of this hatred, a hatred in which man
showed himself to be a slave of Satan. What a contrast
between religious, ecclesiastical man, and the truth and
grace of God!
But let us think of the blessed Savior who submits as a
sheep which is dumb before her shearers, to the outrages
which men heap upon Him without oering any resistance;
He might have had twelve legions of angels, but He
did not use His power. He was in a state of patient love
and obedience. e most painful thing for Him was to nd
Himself denied by His disciple, and this was far more so
than the outrages heaped upon Him by brutal and ignorant
men. But whatever His suering might have been, the
weak disciple’s failure did but draw down upon him the
Lord’s look to encourage his faith, to sustain his condence
in Him, and to produce in his heart tears of repentance
instead of despair. e Lord’s suerings, however great
they were, did not hinder the action of His wondrous heart.
May His name be eternally blessed!
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62867
Mark 15
Chapter 15.
e Gospel by Mark relates very briey the
circumstances of the Lord’s condemnation: this is an
important fact. As soon as He has been rejected by the
Jews, Mark speaks of that which took place before Pilate,
to relate again that which is necessary, and to show that the
Lord is condemned here too for the testimony which He
bore Himself to the truth (although it was really through
the malice of the principal Jews); for indeed Pilate strove
to set Him at liberty, but having no moral strength, and
despising the Jews and all that belonged to them, he gives
the Lord up to their will without conscience. When Pilate
asks, “ Art thou the king of the Jews? “ Jesus answers, “
ou sayest.” To the accusations of the chief priests, He
answers nothing: His testimony had been given.
e Lord Jesus was soon to be a victim. All these
accusations were nothing, and Pilate knew it; but the Jews
must manifest the spirit which animated them. Pilate tried
to get rid of Jesus and of the diculty, by a custom which
seems to have been introduced at that time, to set free a
prisoner at the Passover, to please the Jews. He also sought,
in making this appeal to the people, to ward o the blow
of envy and malice of the priests: but in vain, for the Lord
must suer and die. e priests incited the people to ask
that Barabbas should be released, and the Lord crucied.
Pilate tries again to save Him, but to satisfy the people he
gives Him up.
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In all this the Jews are guilty; of course the Roman
governor ought to have been rm, and to have acted justly,
and not to have left the Lord exposed to the priests’ hatred;
he was careless and without conscience, and despised a poor
Jew who had no friends; also it was important for him to
satisfy the turbulent populace. In Mark’s Gospel however,
all the hatred and animosity against the Lord are found in
the priests; they are always and everywhere the enemies of
the truth and of Him who is Himself the truth personally.
Pilate’s resistance had no eect; it was God’s will that Jesus
should suer: He had come for this, and it was for this that
He gave His life a ransom for many. In that which follows
we nd the story of the brutality of the heart of man which
nds its pleasure in outraging those who are given up to its
will without being able to defend themselves. Besides, the
Lord must be despised and rejected of men, both by the
Jews and Gentiles. is proves that man would not have
God in His goodness.
Again, the Jewish nation had to be humbled-and the
soldiers mocked the whole nation in mocking its King. e
Lord was dressed in purple as a king, smitten and mocked
with pretended honors, and then led away to be crucied.
Upon the cross was written “ King of the Jews “; the Lord
was numbered too amongst the transgressors. What is
especially brought out here is the humiliation of the king
of Israel. “Let the Christ, the king of Israel, come down
from the cross,” say the chief priests, “and we will believe.”
ose who were crucied with Him railed upon Him: we
know that one of them was converted afterward, and that
he confessed Jesus to be the Lord.
Up to verse 33 we see the Lord’s humiliation and the
apparent triumph of evil. Man generally, and Israel as a
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nation, show their joy in being able to get rid of God’s
faithful witness, of His presence, and of the true King of
Israel: but they lowered themselves in trying to degrade
the Lord, whose love continued to accomplish the work
which the Father had given Him to do, in the midst of
the outrages, the blindness, the folly, and the wickedness
of men and of His people Israel, which alas! lled up the
measure of its iniquity. e Savior’s love was stronger than
man’s perverse hatred-blessed be His name for it! But. from
verse 33 we nd a deeper work than the Lord’s outward
suerings, however real and profound they were to Him.
He was left alone; there was no one to have compassion
upon Him; we nd nothing but desertion and cruelty. But
there is a great dierence between the cruelty of man, and
the penalty of sin executed by God.
At the same hour all the country (or perhaps the
earth) is covered with darkness. Christ is alone with God,
hidden from things visible, in order to be entirely with
God. He bears the penalty of our sin, He drinks the cup of
malediction for us; He who knew no sin is made sin for us.
In Psa. 22 we see that the Lord, feeling fully the pressure
of man’s hatred and malice, turns to God; He had foreseen
what was to happen, and His sweat had become, as it were,
drops of blood in thinking of it. He turns to God and says,
“Be not thou far from me!” but to the anguish of His soul
He is forsaken of God. And never was He more precious
to God-He who was eternally precious to Him-than in
His perfect obedience! But this obedience was fullled
in His being made sin for us. Never had He so gloried
His Father in His righteousness and love; but being made
a sin-oering, and feeling in the depth of His soul that
which God is against sin, He bore the penalty of it.
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us God had to hide His face from Him who was made
sin for us. is was necessary for the glory and majesty of
God, as well as for our salvation. But who can sound the
depths of the Savior’s suering? He who had always been
the object of the Father’s delight is now forsaken of Him!
He who was holiness itself nds Himself made sin before
God! But all is over, all God’s will about the work which
He had given to Jesus to do has been accomplished. Blessed
thought! the more He has suered, the more He is precious
to us: and we love Him as we think of His own perfect
love, and of the perfection of His person. All suering was
over for Him at His death; and in His resurrection all is
new for us! all our sins are forgiven, and we are with Him
in God’s presence, and when He comes we shall be like
Him in glory. But though He died it was not because His
vital force was exhausted. He cried with a loud voice and
gave up the ghost. All was over, and He gave up His spirit
into the Father’s hands; He really died for us. He oered
Himself without spot unto God, and God laid upon Him
the sins of many. He must die, but no one took away His
life; He had the power to lay it down, and to take it again!
He gave it up Himself when all had been accomplished.
en the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the
top to the bottom; and here we see the way of the holiest
opened to all the believers who were under the law. e
curtain between the holy and most holy places signied
that man could not enter into God’s presence (Heb. 9); the
death of Christ has opened a way of entry into the holiest
by His blood; Heb. 10:19, 20. Immense dierence and
precious privilege! By this blood we can enter into God’s
presence without fear, as white as snow, to rejoice in the
love which has brought us into this place. Christ has made
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peace by the blood of His cross, and has brought us to God
Himself-He, the just One, who died for us unjust ones.
And again by one oering He hath forever puried
them that are sanctied; He cannot oer Himself again:
if all our sins had not been canceled by this one oering,
they could never be, for Christ cannot die again. It is not a
question of sprinkling-” Without shedding of blood there
is no remission.” e apostle demonstrates this solemn
truth, saying, “ Otherwise he must often have suered
since the foundation of the world, but now once in the
end of the world he hath appeared to put away sin by the
sacrice of himself,” Heb. 9:26. When a man believes, he
enters into the possession of this blessing, and he is forever
perfected in Christ before God: sin cannot be imputed to
Him, because Christ, who has borne and expiated it, is
always in God’s presence for him, a witness that his sins are
already put away; and that he who comes to God through
the Savior is accepted in Him.
People say, “ en we may live in sin.” is was the
objection which was made to the gospel which the apostle
Paul preached: the answer to it is found in Rom. 6 If we
really have faith in Christ, we are born again, we have a
new nature, we have put o the old man and put on the
new one, we are dead to sin, dead with Christ by faith;
crucied with Him, so that we live no more, but Christ
liveth in us. We are new creatures: there is a divine work in
us, as well as a work for us. If Christ is our righteousness,
He is also our life, and then the Holy Spirit is given to us,
and we are responsible to walk as Christ walked; but this
does not interfere with the work of Christ for us-a perfect
work, accepted of God, in consequence of which He sits at
God’s right hand as a man in that glory which He had as
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Son with the Father before the world was. Before Christ
came, God did not show Himself, and man could not enter
into His presence. Now God has come out and come to us
in love, and man has entered into His presence according
to righteousness in Christ.
en the centurion’s conscience speaks, whilst all stand
afar o (v. 39); all, except the disciples who have ed, are
enemies. But the loud voice of the Lord without the least
sign of weakness, and the fact that He gives up the ghost
to the Father at once, act powerfully upon this man’s soul;
and he recognizes in the dying Jesus the Son of God. Now
the work is nished, and God takes care that if His death
has been with the transgressors, He should be with the
rich in His burial, honored and treated with all reverence.
e women who followed Him occupied themselves with
Him, looking upon Him afar o when He was crucied:
and some of them, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary,
the mother of Joses, saw the place where His body was
laid in the sepulcher. For Joseph of Arimathea had gone
to Pilate to ask for the body of Jesus: more courageous at
His death than during His life. is often happens; the
greatness of the evil forces faith to show itself.
But the women, notice it well, have a more blessed
position still; they had followed him-from Galilee, and had
ministered to Him of their substance; and we nd them
near the Lord when His disciples had left Him. ey had
not been sent to preach: but their devotedness to the Lord,
their faithfulness and constant love for Him when dangers
present themselves, shine forth in the Lord’s history. We
nd another proof that the Lord gave up His life, and that
it was not taken from Him, in that Pilate wondered that
He was already dead, and that he called the centurion to
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assure himself of the fact. When he knew it, he gave the
body to Joseph, who put it in his own new tomb till the
sabbath should be past.
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Mark 16
Chapter 16.
e history of the resurrection in Mark is very short
and simple. ere is no doubt that more than one troop of
those women who followed the Lord visited the sepulcher,
one after the other. It is clear that Mary Magdalene arrived
before the others, and that the other Mary and Salome
were together; then came the others. Each Gospel gives us
what is necessary for our faith, and that according to the
special teaching which God desires to be presented in that
Gospel. For instance, in John’s Gospel we have the story of
Mary Magdalene, and that beautiful story is tted to the
doctrine of that Gospel. Verse 9 of this chapter speaks of it
also; she came whilst it was yet dark; here in Mark we see
her at sunrise. Other women had bought spices to embalm
the Lord; perhaps they had already bought some before the
sabbath began, in order to rest during the sabbath day; and
certainly after the sabbath was over, that is, at six o’clock,
they waited till the morning to embalm Him.
But when Mary Magdalene came to the sepulcher, the
stone, which was very large, had been already rolled away
from its mouth by an angel come down from heaven; and
the Lord was no longer there. He was risen, in divine power,
in perfect calmness; all the grave-clothes which were left in
good order in the sepulcher. at which God did to awaken
men’s attention is related in Matt. 28:2-4; but Jesus was
not there. e great stone did not present any obstacle to
the Lord’s egress; the divine power which raised Him from
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the dead and the spiritual body which He then possessed,
made His disappearance from the sepulcher easy.
Mark only speaks of Mary Magdalene’s rst visit to
the sepulcher in verse 9; in verse 2, the other Mary and
Salome are spoken of. Mary Magdalene had already gone
away from the sepulcher to announce to Peter and John
the fact of the sepulcher’s being empty. ese enter into the
sepulcher, nding the stone rolled away from its mouth;
they nd an angel seated on the right hand of the place
where Jesus lay, who encourages these timid but faithful
women, “ Fear not, ye seek Jesus … he is not here … ” and
then he shows them the place where He had been. It is
blessed to see the goodness of God: there was still some
unbelief in the women, for they ought to have understood
that Jesus was risen; the angel had told them so. But this
was too much for their faith; they believed in His person,
and that He was the Son of God, but His resurrection was
as yet too glorious a truth for their faith. eir heart was
sincere, but they sought the living amongst the dead: and
here the grace of God, full of compassion, reassures them.
ese women did not nd Jesus dead, but the blessed
testimony that the beloved Savior was alive. ey are made
the messengers to the disciples of the word of the Lord
from the mouth of the angel. It is the consecration of the
heart to the Lord that brings light and intelligence to the
soul, if we are seeking the truth and Jesus Himself. Mary
Magdalene shows more consecration of the heart to Christ
than the others; and this is why she is seen at the sepulcher
before sunrise, and is the rst of all of them to see the Lord.
Moreover, a more excellent message is conded to her; she
was to go to the apostles themselves to announce to them
our more excellent position, our higher privilege. e Lord
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says to her, “ Go to my brethren and tell them, I ascend
unto my Father and your Father; and to my God and your
God.” e disciples are here called the brethren of Christ
for the rst time, brethren of the risen Christ. His God is
our God; His Father is our Father.
ese women, although honored of the Lord, have not
yet so great a privilege; another message is conded to them.
e risen Christ assumes two characters: His relationship
with the remnant of Israel, and His new position as a
gloried Man before the Father. In the rst He appears to
His disciples in Galilee, where He used to be with them
habitually; in the second relationship He ascends to heaven
from Bethany. e mission of the disciples too is dierent.
Matthew presents to us the rst; and, in consequence, we
do not nd there the history of the ascension; Luke gives
us the second, where the Lord ascends and is received into
heaven. e message to the disciples is given to Mary and
Salome; they are commanded not to depart from Galilee.
at which happened there is not told here: the women go
away afraid.
en this Gospel gives a summing up of the other part
of the story of Jesus risen, of that which is found in John’s
and Luke’s Gospels; of Mary Magdalene’s case, and of the
two disciples who went to Emmaus; after that, the general
mission of the apostles, who were to go and preach to the
whole world. Whoever should believe and make public
confession of Christ should be saved. Miracles should be
performed, not only by the apostles, but also by those who
should believe by their means; they should manifest, by the
wonders they should perform, the power of Him in whom
they believed.
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Finally the Lord is received up into heaven, and sits
at God’s right hand. e apostles go out to preach in the
world, and the Lord works with them, conrming the word
with the signs which accompanied it. Salvation depended
upon faith and the confession of Christ, and the Lord,
when the word had been planted, bore witness to His truth
by powerful signs; this facilitated faith, and left unbelievers
without excuse.
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