47
THE KING’S BUSINESS
translated “Nazarene” shows that the word is derived from a Hebrew word meaning “branch,” the same word that is so trans lated in Isaiah 11:1, and is thus a very ex plicit fulfillment of that prophecy, as well as other prophecies speaking of Him as the branch (e. g., Zech. 6:12, where a different word is found in the Hebrew). Monday, January 4. Matthew 3 :1-12. For four centuries the voice of the prophet had been silent, but now God breaks the silence of the centuries and speaks through his servant John. His message was very like that of the last prophet of the old dis pensation, Malachi. He had received his training in none of the theological semina ries of the day, the schools of the rabbis, but largely in solitude and communion with God in the wilderness. As he had received his message from God, he waited for no ordination from men before delivering it. His cry was a startling one, “Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The Jews thought their great need was deliver ance from Roman oppression. “No,” said John, “your great need is renunciation of sin. The kingdom of heaven, the hope of the centuries, is now right at your doors. Turn from your sins and it will be set up at once.” Alas, they did not turn, and many weary centuries have passed and “the king dom of heaven” on earth has not been set up yet, and it will not be until Israel re pents. There are signs that the day of Is rael’s repentance is near. John sought not the synagogues but the open air for the delivery of his message. As he rightly con sidered himself a successor of Elijah, he followed the same simplicity of life that characterized the ancient prophet. There have been those who proclaimed themselves to be Elijahs, who lived in luxury and self- indulgence, and left the simplicity of life to their followers. It is impossible to accept the claim of such an Elijah. John’s earn estness, ruggedness, fearlessness, renuncia tion of self, and stem declaration in the power of the Spirit of the message God
desperate wickedness of the human heart, and also how God overrules it to the car rying out of His own purposes of love and grace, and of the fulfillment of His sure word of prophecy. Though Herod was a man of great power and much cunning, he was guilty of the greatest mistake a man can make, that of leaving God out of his calculations. Most of the rulers of the earth today are guilty of the same mistake, as is shown so forcibly in the present war in Europe. Because of leaving God out of his calculations all his ingeniously con trived plans came to nothing. The one thing to notice about Joseph is his prompt obedience to every message of God. The Bible tells us very little about this Joseph, but what is told us shows him to have been a man who had the highest form of wisdom, that of promptly obeying God without asking any questions. So God led him on safely step by step. There are not less than three references to prophecy in this brief passage of Scrip ture. The prophecy quoted in verse IS had primary reference to Israel, but as the his tory of Israel is typical of the .history of Christ, it refers also to Him. He and He alone is the true seed of Abraham, and the Son of God ¡n the fullest sense. So verse IS and Hosea 11:1, which is quoted in it, could only find their fii/fillment in Him. We have an illustration here how “particular instances in the gospel narrative have their counterpart in Old Testament history.” The prophecy quoted from Jeremiah (vs. 17, 18) in a similar way had a fulfillment in the captive sons of Benjamin at Ramah, but Matthew taught by the Spirit of God sees another fulfillment in this instante also. One of the remarkable things about Gospel prophecies that any deep student of the Word discovers is the manifoldness of their application. The prophetic Scriptures of one age have an application to all ages. In the last Scripture quoted (v. 23) there is possibly no explicit quotation, but a refer ence to all those prophecies that declare Messiah would be a despised person (e. g., Isa. 53:3), but careful study of the word
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