THE K I N G ’ S BUS I NESS
1160 are used. . The nations are represented by the sea, and the everlasting Gospel .is preached (Rev. 14:6, 7). There has been a division of forces since Adam fell. Cain was gathered in to one company and Abel into another. The wheat and the tares are separated as the harvest goes on. It is our busi ness to proclaim the Gospel and the Spirit of God gathers to Himself His own and so it will be at the end of the millennium; another and final division will be made. As wise householders, it is our duty to do our best now in this age in this separating process. There are truths of the old dispensation relating to Is rael, and there are truths in this dis pensation relating to the church; things new and old. Find the truth and minister it. (4) THE PROPHET AND HIS PEO PLE, vs. 53-58. The Lord Jesus now returns to His home in Nazareth. Once in His early ministry they had rejected Him and sought to do Him violence (Luke 4: 23). ' “And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Phy sician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.” (Luke 4:28-30). “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 head long. But he passing through the midst of them went his way.” Miracles were used of our Lord to confirm His Messiahship, but miracles do not produce -faith. Faith comes from hearing (Rom. TO: 17). “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” Faith is of the heart. They could not deny His wisdom nor His power, but they could condemn and reject Him, and
so it is today. “The natural man re- ceiveth not the things of God, neither can he know them.” He was a carpenter’s son. He had never attended their schools of the ology, He was of the house and lineage of David (Matt. 1:20). “But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.” (Luke 1:27). “To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was 'Joseph, of the house of Da vid; and the virgin’s name was Mary.” Then His mother was just Mary, a poor woman; yet she was of royal de scent, and there were His brothers and sisters, and they knew them all. They were prejudiced against Him. God hardened their wilful hearts as He al ways does through that unchangeable law of His. When men say, “I will,” God says, “You shall.” And when they said, “We will not have this man,” God said, “You shall not. You shall have Satan as your father and master.” He could not do many miracles because of unbelief, v. 58, and so it is today. He de sires to do so, but our unbelief hin ders. Our Lord had to abandon Na zareth to its sin and to the suffering and shame which logically followed. He has fulfilled the prophecies of Scrip ture, suffered death, has risen from the grave, has ascended on high, but the people prefer a play to the Physician of souls, and go on their mad way to their eternal doom. PRACTICAL POINTS (1) By closing their ears to truth men harden their hearts. When you sow to the wind you must reap of the whirlwind. (2) Isolated Israel is God’s hidden treasure. ,(3) The Lord has hidden them so that He may have them when He sets up His earthly throne.
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