AFTER some four thousand years of the world’s history had elapsed, the earth at large lay under the sway of the prince of the power of the air, for Satan had subjugated the mass of the Gentile nations to himself, and men, as a rule, were worshippers of demons, or of human passions deified, and recognized, in the form of images, as gods. The people of Jehovah, with whom were the divine oracles, were at that time, as to ten of their tribes, buried and lost among the Gentiles, whilst only a remnant of Judah, with a scant sprinkling of other tribes, occupied the holy land. Then it was, “through the tender mercy of our God... the dayspring from on high ... visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.” (Luke 1:73, 7973The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, (Luke 1:73)
79To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. (Luke 1:79).) The triune God in infinite wisdom condescended that the Eternal Son should become a man. The Word was made flesh; the Son was born of a woman―a Babe upon this earth; “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son.” (John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16).)
God no longer dwelt afar off from man, in the thick darkness, but in His Son, He came down amongst men. He had spoken to the fathers by the prophets, now He spake in His Son. He had uttered His terrors out of clouds and thunders at Sinai— now, in tenderest kindness, “grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” (John 1:1717For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. (John 1:17).) The Light of the World shone amongst men, not merely to evidence the blackness of the human heart, but by the diffusion of its blest rays to express the heart of God. “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them.” (2 Cor. 5:1919To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:19)). Forgiveness, not condemnation, flowed out from Jesus’ lips. Instead of the law thundering to men, “Do this, and thou shalt live,” the still, small voice of divine grace whispered, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life.” (John 5:2424Verily, 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 condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24),)
The words of Jesus relative to the kingdom He preached were, like His works, altogether new. No one can read the fifth, sixth, and seventh chapters of Matthew’s Gospel without feeling that principles lie in those words unlike all principles before known by men. The beatitudes, which open the teaching in question, found alone in Him their true expression, His life and His ways being the living witness of His teaching. Were the world governed or governable by such principles, it would be no longer this world, but the kingdom of heaven would be fulfilled on earth indeed, and man would be like unto Jesus. As were the Lord’s words so were His works. No other man had done what He did. Sickness, disease, death fled from His touch, and demons, at his bidding, dared no longer enthrall men.
The Father, moreover, spake through the Son, and men heard and saw in Him the Father’s love―that is, where there were eyes and ears to see and to hear, for then, as now men were, for the most part, deaf and blind to Jesus.
We are taught to expect a new and super— abounding way of divine revelation to man in and by the Son. As the Prophet and the Spokesman, we are only giving Him reverence in looking for utterances more wonderful from His lips than from those of His servants, whom God had sent previously to man. As King, we may with like reverence look for things relative to His kingdom or, earth— more gracious, even, than those of which Isaiah tells, when he declares the coming King and the peace of the kingdom. Let the reader compare the eleventh chapter of the prophet with those chapters of Matthew’s Gospel already referred to, and he will surely say that, there is a greater blessing for man on the earth in the fulfillment of the beatitudes, than in the fulfillment of the promise as to the nature of the beasts being changed.
And as we seek to pursue the Lord’s steps and to listen to His words, we can only lift up our hearts and prostrate our souls before God and the Father, for His wonderful ways it sending His Son to this earth. “What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? and the son of man that thou visitest him?” (Psa. 8:44What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? (Psalm 8:4))
We need to establish our souls in the face of modern infidelity, or infidelity revived in our modern times, by breathing the atmosphere of the four Gospels and by listening to the divine yet human words of Jesus. True, the great Gentile nations when Christ was on earth made nothing of the fact— they pursued their self-fame and their idolatries; and those of Israel, save a handful of disciples that dwelt in the land of promise, despised and rejected Him, but the deadness of man’s heart to the great reality that the Son of God was among them in no way detracts from the marvel of the reality.
The four Gospels most plainly declare man’s insensibility to His advent, and man’s contempt and hatred of Him. “He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not” (John 1:11, 1211He came unto his own, and his own received him not. 12But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: (John 1:11‑12)), are words inscribed upon the first page of the gospel, which declares His glory as the eternal Son of God, the only begotten of the Father, the life, and the light. “And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up, and thrust Him out of the city, and led Him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast Him down headlong,” are the words first recorded of the reception of Him, the Son of Man, who, in a house of Jehovah’s worship, had just proclaimed His mission to preach the gospel to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to give deliverance to the captives, sight to the blind, and liberty to the bruised―the year of the jubilee of God. (Luke 4:1818The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, (Luke 4:18).) The evangelist who treats of His kingly glory, presents Him to us as the Refused One, after detailing His words in relation to the coming kingdom, and His power and grace in healing lepers, casting out devils, recovering from the palsy, giving sight to the blind, and His sending forth His heralds. (Matt. 11:17-2417And saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented. 18For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil. 19The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children. 20Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not: 21Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. 23And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 24But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee. (Matthew 11:17‑24).) The blasphemy of Israel: “He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils, casteth He out devils,” is the sequel to the story of His matchless service recorded by Mark.
From the first Jesus was unknown or rejected on the earth. From His infancy His life was sought, and His Father’s works, done by His hand, were attributed to the devil. He lived in the affections of but a few, and they were despised. These followed Him for the brief years of His sacred ministry till they fled from Him at His cross, when alone, in the power of His love, and in the unutterable wonder of His grace, He laid down His life that sinners might live. “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:1111Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. (1 John 4:11).) He was the propitiation, the sacrifice that alone could atone for our sins. The sin of idolatry, of rebellion against the word of God, and that deeper sin of rejecting Jesus, could be only expiated by one sacrifice, one propitiation, and Jesus the Son of God and Son of Man is that propitiation. In the progress of God’s ways with man we perceive in the death of Christ the most wonderful of all His ways.
The crowning act of human rebellion against God is the cross of Christ, the sin that stains this earth beyond all power of purgation, save by the blood of Jesus, is the cross. Yet such is God, that from the cross, where His holy and adorable Son was nailed by the wicked hands of men, His deepest love flows forth to man. Man’s unutterable hatred of God, and God’s untold love to man both meet in the death of His Son.
The cross is now God’s starting point in His dealings with man. Each child of Adam, not having the Son, is now either under the wrath of God, or is delivered from that wrath, by the Son who endured the judgment of God against sin on the cross. In one sense man’s history closes at the cross of Christ, that is to say, so as far as hope for obtaining divine favor by human merit is concerned. The awful guilt of man in slaying the Son of God puts man in an everlastingly hopeless position before God, unless God’s favor be obtained through Christ, who died and rose again.
Out of Christ, man lies under the sentence of death; to him no longer come the words, “Do this, and thou shalt live,” but God has brought life and incorruptibility to light through the gospel.