March 1929
126
T h e
K i n g ’ s ' B u s i n e s s
Law. (N. B. The penalty for its breach had to be paid later on Calvary.) [Cf. Gen. 3 :6 and note the similarity of the appeal in each case —1 to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life.] WITH THE WILD BEASTS—yet unhurt by them: (a) to fulfil the promise in Ps. 91:13; (b) to typify the fulfillment of the promise in Hos. 2:18. ANGELS MINIS TERED—God never leaves His tempted ones to perish, but it was after forty days; the endurance must come first, the angels’ ministration afterwards. Angels minister to the hungry Christ; He Himself ministers to His needy servants (cf. 1 Kings 19:7. The Angel of the LORD in the O. T. is always the second Per son in the Blessed Trinity; cf., also, Jno. 21:9, 12, 13). 14— AFTER JOHN WAS BETRAYED—By whom he was betrayed we do not know, but it is significant that both our Lord and His forerunner should have been betrayed. INTO GALILEE—This appears to have been the beginning of His Public Ministry. Note that it was begun in what was practically His own neighborhood; our proclamation of the Gospel should ■ begin at home. Our “own brother Simon” should be our first care. THE GOSPEL OF GOD— God's Good News, not merely that of the man Jesus. He never professed to deliver specifically His own message—a lesson for every Christian worker. 15— THE SEASON IS FULFILLED—The predestined time for preaching the Gospel is come (cf. Gal. 4:4). Man had first to learn the nature and: the result of sin, and also his own inability to save himself; till then he was not ready for the Gospel. THE KINGDOM OF GOD—i.e., His rule on earth. Hitherto the Devil had exercised the dominion (cf. Luke 4 :5; Jno. 12:31), the dominion having been delivered to him by man, when he fell. HAS DRAWN NEAR—In the person of the King. He established it upon earth and it has never left it since. REPENT AND BELIEVE—John the Baptist preached repentance only; Christ adds the necessity for faith and so strikes the keynote of Christianity; a change of mind is vain without belief in CHRIST. 16— 17—This is the calling of the first apostles. Note that they were diligently employed at the time in their usual occu pations. That is the place from which to be called to “higher” (?) service. Cf. the call of Moses, David, Elisha, etc. [There is of course NO “higher" service than doing the work which God has given us to do, anywhere and, of any kind.] Note, also, that both Peter and Andrew had become acquainted with Him before; we must know Him ere He can use us. Note further that the call did not come at the first acquaintance; they went back to their daily task—we must wait His time and not start before we are called. FOLLOW ME—In all our work we must let Him go before and choose alike our path and our methods. 18— IMMEDIATELY—There was no hesitation, no linger ing, no counting the cost. LEAVING THEIR NETS—which were their only means of living. They might well have asked, “Where are you going? How are we to live?” etc., etc. His position was only that of a begging Friar—He had no visible means of subsistence; what was to become of them? Nol They forsook all at His word and left the future to Him. This is an example for us, if and when He so calls u s; but note that we must know Him first, as they did. 19- 20—MENDING THE NETS—After the miraculous draught of fishes, which St. Marie does not mention. (This undesigned coincidence is a proof of the truth of the story.) LEFT THEIR FATHER—The call of Andrew and Simon was to leave the means of living; this is to leave relations and friends—we must be ready to do both if He calls; at any rate neither must be allowed to hinder our following Him. THE BOAT WITH THE HIRED SERVANTS— These men at any rate were not poor; there was real sacrifice on their part both demanded and made.
Matt. 3:11), probably because the Gentiles, for whom the Gos pel zvas first intended, would not appreciate the reference, which was to the purifying effects of the sacrificial flames.] 9— IT CAME TO PASS—( egeneto ) i.e., that which John had said— “He is coming.” This is the Divinely ordered proof of the Prophet, that his words should come to pass (cf. Deut. 18:21, 22). How many things foretold by Moses and the Proph ets have come to pass, yet men dare to deny their inspiration ! FROM NAZARETH—ah unknown man from a despised town of ill fame (cf. Jno. 1 :46) ! What a beginning for the Good News; how unlikely that He should conquer the world! A wild prophet denouncing sin, and a humble carpenter from such a place—yet how characteristic of the Gospel ; beginning always with the declaration of iniquity and offering means which are apparently inadequate for salvation ! [Note that Our Lord was now thirty years old ( cf. Luke 3:23), the appointed age for the Levite’s entrance into the Ministry. But what had He been doing all those, years? (cf. Luke 2:42, 49, SI). " They also serve who only stand and wait.” He probably had had to help to keep His mother; the domestic task is service as well as the public ministry.] WAS BAPTIZED—“to fulfil all righteousness” (cf. Ex. 29:4). He was to be our High Priest; hence it was necessary that He should be ceremonially washed. He came to fulfil the Law, not to abolish it, that, having been fulfilled, the ritual Law might pass away. 10— SAW THE HEAVENS RENT—typical of the fact that the fulfillment of all righteousness (i. e., of all the Law) opened the heavens to men. (The same word is used of the veil when His sacrifice opened the way to the Mercy Seat.) THE SPIRIT . . . DESCENDING—The necessary anointing for His High Priestship (cf. Ex. 40:13). Note the baptism and the anointing concerned the man, not the Son of God. We are to be “a kingdom of priests” and must therefore be both washed and anointed, though in our case the baptism must be not merely physical, but spiritual. LIKE A DOVE—emblem of innocence and peace; sign of His character who knew no sin, and who was and is the Prince of Peace. 11— A VOICE FROM THE HEAVENS—Here is the un doubted Trinity; the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; they cannot then be manifestations of one person, nor, if the history be true, can their separate existence be denied. THOU ART MY BELOVED SON—The pronoun in the original is em phatic— thou, and no other. That there was such a Son is proved by Ps. 2:7 (cf. Heb. 5:5). This was the appointment of Christ (God and man) to be our Great High Priest. The voice was the testimony to His Divine Sonship as well as the seal of Divine approval. “Beloved”—an attestation alike of the greatness of the gift and of the magnitude of the Father’s love for man. 12— IMMEDIATELY—Note the moment ; evidently temp tation does not necessarily prove that we are not Christians or that we are displeasing to God. DRIVETH—a strong emphatic word, quite fatal to the theory that the temptation was a dream or merely internal and emotional. THE SPIRIT—i. e., The Holy Spirit. He was driven into temptation that we might not be “led” into it. He had to meet and conquer the foe that we might be “more than conquerors” through Him. INTO THE DESERT—The result of the first Adam’s temptation was to turn Eden into a desert; the result of the second Adam’s was to turn the desert back into an Eden. 13— FORTY DAYS BEING TEMPTED—Probably the whole time (the three special temptations recorded in St. Matthew being the final and fiercest assault). OF SATAN—The word means an “Adversary” and clearly points to an evil Person ality. The adversary, not primarily of man, but of God; then of man, that He might trouble God. Christ met “in man, for man, the foe.” This was necessary that as the second Adam He might cqnquer where the first Adam failed, and so satisfy the broken
Made with FlippingBook Online document