The God-Man 265 ished at His doctrine; for verily “He taught them as one hav ing authority, and not as the scribes” (Matt. 7:28, 29). But the tone which pervades the Sermon on the Mount runs through the whole of the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth. He ever speaks as if He were the Author and Giver of the law; as if He had the power to modify any of its provisions accord ing to His own ideas of fitness; and as if He were the Supreme Lord of human consciences. His style is utterly unlike that of any inspired teacher before or after Him. They appealed to the law and to the testimony. (See Isa. 8:20.) But Jesus claimed an inherent power to modify and to alter both. The Sabbath was the symbol of the entire covenant made by God with Israel through the ministry of Moses. (See Exod. 31:12-17.) But Jesus asserted His complete supremacy over this divine institution. These were His emphatic words: “For the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath day ” (Matt. 12:8; Mark 2:28; Luke 6:5). He could, of His own will, relax the terrors of the Jewish Sabbath, and even supersede it alto gether by the Christian “Lord’s Day.” He was Lord of all divine institutions. And in the Church He claims the right -to regulate her doc trines and her ordinances according to His will. The apostles He commissioned to baptize in His name, and charged them to teach their converts to observe all things whatsoever He had commanded them. (Matt. 28:19-20.) Thus John was pre pared for the sublime vision of the Son of man as “He that holdeth the seven stars in His right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks” (Rev. 2 :1 ) ; and as “He that hath the key of David, He that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth” (Rev. 3:7). And the authority which Jesus claimed extends into heaven, and to the final state of things. He alfirmed that H e .would ascend to share His Father’s dominion, and to sit in the throne of His glory. (See Matt. 19:28.) The counterpart to which announcement is found in His declaration to John in Patmos: •
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