{Introduction}
In approaching our consideration of the New Testament, it is well to premise that there are two common errors in the present day, and found almost everywhere in Christendom:
1, That the use of the Bible is only to teach persons the way of salvation; and 2, That the Book of Revelation is too difficult for any one to understand. As to the first point, it is plainly said that the Scriptures are not only able to make “wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus,” but that every Scripture is God-breathed, or
given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works (2 Tim. 3:15-1715And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. (2 Timothy 3:15‑17)).
Thus we see that the Scriptures are the complete and all-sufficient guide of man after he has been born of God and saved from coming wrath. There is another point of all importance here. When the inspired apostle says that “evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived,” he turns to Scripture as the only resource in an evil day; and would have Timothy know of whom he had learned the things he had been assured of. If many were asked in the present day from whom they had learned this doctrine and that, they would find it difficult to reply; some would say, “Our church teaches it.” Now, true Spirit-taught and Spirit-led souls would say they learnt it from the Scriptures, and therefore they can assert its divine authority. This is the exercise of faith, and nothing short of it can be pleasing to God. And as to the expression, “Our church teaches,” it is not only unauthorized by the Scriptures, but exactly opposite to Scripture, for there we learn that, instead of the church teaching, the church is taught, and built up by various gifts from an ascended Savior (Eph. 4:11, 1211And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: (Ephesians 4:11‑12)). If any take refuge in another snare, that such and such doctrines must be true because the clergy have accepted them, we do well to remember that “the faith was once delivered to the saints,” and is therefore the common possession of all true believers. The Scriptures, not clever men, or preachers, or traditions, are our resource in these evil days; but we are enjoined to have that abiding in us which we have heard from the beginning; that is, the beginning of Christianity (1 John 2:2424Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father. (1 John 2:24)).
It has been truly said, that the church has no power to give authority to the written word, because it is the word of God; but, on the contrary, the word speaks to us of the authority of the Lord in the church, for He is Lord of all. The Scriptures call for submission, because they are God’s word; by their own moral evidence and intrinsic authority they commend themselves to the conscience. Confidence in them, as the word of God is to us of infinite value.
As to the Book of Revelation being too difficult to be understood, it is only another instance of man’s perversion of what is of God; for “Revelation” means revealing, or making known, which is surely something exactly opposite to difficult and inexplicable. Those who approach that book in unfeigned dependence on God’s teaching by His Spirit, not only will certainly have the blessing promised in the third verse, but will have an intelligence as to things around, and their hearts drawn into the path of devotedness in a way that they could not otherwise have known.
With regard to “every Scripture being God-breathed,” if they were merely the expression of the judgment of even good men, we should then have only human instead of divine authority, and have no basis for faith, no authority of God on which to rest. Those, therefore, who deny inspiration are always restless, and have nothing but uncertainty as to the eternal future.
We shall be told by some that the human element is easily perceived in the sacred writings; to which we reply, Of this there is no doubt. No one can be familiar with the writings of Paul, or John, or Peter, or James, without being struck with the style with which each sets forth his particular line of truth. The same thing is seen in the Old Testament. How different was the manner in which Moses, Isaiah, David, Jeremiah and others, communicated the instruction for which the Spirit of God employed them. No doubt God not only selected His workmen, but each at the very time, and in the state and circumstances He was pleased to appoint, as best suited to carry out His mind and will. He called into the service of inspiration a king or a fisherman, a man of wealth or of poverty, a learned man brought up at Gamaliel’s feet, or an unlearned, a mighty man or a feeble woman, just as it pleased Him. He used their tongues, tears, affections, memories, or pens. He instructed them by direct intercourse with Himself, by visions, dreams, what others had written, or by the Spirit’s teaching and revelation. He used them in a palace or a dungeon; in a shipwreck or before magistrates; in poverty, or in abundance; in distress, or in joy, or other circumstances; as well as concerning what they saw, and heard, and felt. He who had used all kinds of instruments in the history of His people to accomplish His purposes, could use any means He was pleased to select in giving us His own revelation of His will. All are His servants.
The various writers were not only enlightened, but they were inspired. In giving us their writings, they acted not according to their own will, but in so doing, carried out God’s will; so that what they communicated is over and over again called “the word of God.” For example, in the Old Testament we read, “The Spirit of God came upon Azariah,” and, “The word of God came unto Nathan saying,” etc.; and in the New Testament we read of one who had “abundance of revelations,” and of his communicating to believers what he had received, as “the word of the Lord.”
No doubt God could do without men in communicating His mind if He saw fit. An unseen hand has written it on the plaster of the wall. He also opened the mouth of an ass to speak with man’s voice. He can use any instrument He pleases. He has also put words by His Spirit into the mouth of a wicked , and allowed the foul Betrayer to work miracles as the other apostles. But He is usually pleased, in His loving kindness and tender mercy, to take up such in His service as walk in His fear. He has also caused the words and ways of Satan and wicked men to be recorded, but the writer was inspired to write so much or so little of them as suited the will of God, in exposing their wickedness, and in ministering for our warning and blessing. Faith rejoices in the perfect love and almighty power of our Savior God.
We have had the most incontestable proofs of the Old Testament Scriptures being inspired, and authenticated by our Lord and His apostles. Our Lord honored, obeyed, and used the very words of the Old Testament; and with the apostles an appeal to their authority was final. As to the inspiration of the New Testament, we are told by an inspired apostle,
which things [the things of God] also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth;
and at the same time he emphatically disallows all ability in the natural man, either to know, receive, or to communicate the things of God. So completely does the Spirit of God teach, that He alone is the source of the Scriptures of truth, that though Paul had been caught up into the third heaven, yet we never find him on this account asserting any competency for divine things apart from the Holy Spirit.
Although the New Testament Scriptures are equally inspired as the Old, and are interwoven with many hundreds of quotations from it, yet the instruments employed in giving us the sacred writings were somewhat different. Thus we find thatthe Old Testament prophets did not understand their own prophecies, and searched as to what they signified; yet they knew they were ministering to others rather than to themselves, even unto us who now have the ministry of the Holy Ghost come down from heaven. Their prophecies testified also to “the sufferings of Christ and the glories which should follow,” so that the church on earth formed no part of their ministry. We know from other Scriptures that the church was not revealed in the Old Testament, although now we can go back to it and find typical instruction concerning the church. We are emphatically taught, that the revelation of the church or assembly was “hid in God,” “kept secret since the world began,” and “not made known” till Saul of Tarsus was called by divine grace. We have, therefore, in the Old Testament, after the call of Abraham, Israel and the heathen or Gentile nations; but in the New Testament we have Jews, Gentiles, and the church of God (1 Cor. 10:3232Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God: (1 Corinthians 10:32). See also 1 Pet. 1:10-1410Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: 11Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. 12Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into. 13Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: (1 Peter 1:10‑14); Rom. 16:2525Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, (Romans 16:25); Eph. 3:3, 5, 93How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, (Ephesians 3:3)
5Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; (Ephesians 3:5)
9And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: (Ephesians 3:9)).
Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Now this rightly dividing the word of truth does not simply mean, as many say, giving to the saint and sinner each their portion, but it is cutting in a straight line the word of truth. In consequence of the accomplishment of eternal redemption, and the coming down of the Holy Ghost because of Christ being glorified, believers are brought into a totally different position and state to what could possibly have been known before. From the second chapter of Acts then, when the Holy Spirit came down to indwell believers, and abide with us forever, we have the truth flowing out by the inspired apostles, and made known as could not have been known before (1 Cor. 2:9, 109But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 10But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. (1 Corinthians 2:9‑10)). We judge, therefore, that we rightly divide, or cut in a straight line the word of truth, when we accept, as in contrast with God’s earthly people, our standing in Christ in the heavenlies, and know our union with Him by the Holy Spirit sent down by Him in ascension as Lord and Christ, and given to be the Head over all things to His assembly which is His body, the fullness of Him which filleth all in all (Eph. 1:19-2319And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, 20Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, 21Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: 22And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, 23Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. (Ephesians 1:19‑23)).
No doubt what is known as dispensational truth is also included in “rightly dividing [or cutting in a straight line] the word of truth.” Hence we find some Scriptures which apply to God’s earthly people, the Jews; and others which especially belong to His heavenly people, the church — the body and bride of Christ. We have also instruction concerning millennial saints, and other Old Testament saints, the reign of Christ, etc.
The New Testament was written after the coming of the Holy Spirit, hence the intelligence of these inspired writers compared with the Old Testament prophets. Again, we do not find apostles saying, “Thus saith Jehovah,” because their relationship was not with God as Jehovah, but with the Father and the Son. Hence they wrote, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” and the like.
When Paul wrote to the Galatians, he reminded them that he had received the gospel, which he preached from the Lord Himself, and not of man, nor by man; and so divinely-given did he know his ministry to be, that he could solemnly declare, “though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” How could he possibly use such language unless he had known it to be given him by the Lord? We may remember, perhaps, that when he was converted by a sight of the Lord Jesus in heaven, he was then told,
so there is the plainest possible evidence that the apostle Paul received his commission for the ministry of the word immediately from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
The New Testament, like the Old, is also presented to us in three parts.
1. We have first the gospels, and Acts 1, giving us the coming into the world of the Only-begotten, His birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension, and His bidding His disciples to wait for the gift of the Holy Spirit, and assuring them, by angelic ministry, that He shall so come in like manner as His disciples saw Him go into heaven.
2. From Acts 2 to the coming of our Lord for us, we have another portion of the New Testament chiefly occupied with the church of God on earth — its calling, endowments, ministry, and hope.
3. The Book of Revelation, and other prophetic writings in the epistles and gospels, which give us the divine estimate of everything here, and God’s judgment of evil, and the translation and reign of saints with Christ, concluding with the new heaven and new earth, in which righteousness will dwell.
With regard to the four gospels, they are almost entirely occupied with our Lord’s own ways, ministry, and works. We are told that the “words” He spake, He received from the Father; so perfect was He as Man in dependence on the Father, that He said, “The Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say and what I should speak.” Again, we read, “He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God,” so that nothing could be more truly of, and from God, than the words which He spake. It is no marvel, then, that He should say, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”
In reference to the inspiration of the New Testament, we must keep in mind that the Holy Spirit had come and indwelt believers before any part of it was written. Those whom He employed to write it, no longer, as in olden time, wrote what they did not understand, and greatly desired to know; but those who wrote the New Testament, though by the same Spirit, had intelligence of accomplished redemption; they enjoyed communion with the Father and the Son, and new relationships as to what they wrote, for they were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. We, therefore, as we have before observed, never find them saying, “Thus saith Jehovah”; but they speak of the Father and the Son, especially in the epistles, as addressing the children of God.
There are, however, certain true marks of the distinguishing activities of the Holy Spirit. He is the Glorifier and Testifier of the Son of God, and takes of the Father and the Son, and shows unto us. He always leads into the path of obedience to the Father’s will, and subjection to Christ as Lord of all. Now, without going farther as to the operations of the Holy Spirit, by whose power, as come down from heaven, the gospel is preached, it is clear, that every part of the New Testament abounds with proofs of His ministrations by the writers. Moreover, the Scriptures speak to us continually of holiness, truth, righteousness, the grace of God, and of His faithfullness to His own word; and all taught of Him learn that “the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God”; that He is “given unto us,” that “we might know the things that are freely given to us of God,” for “the Spirit searcheth all things, yea the deep things of God” (John 14-16; 1 Cor. 2:10, 1210But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. (1 Corinthians 2:10)
12Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. (1 Corinthians 2:12)). God hath then not given unto us “the spirit of the world,” or “the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”
Thus while we find it is said that, as to the Old Testament Scriptures, holy men of God were “moved by the Holy Spirit” to give them to us, the New Testament Scriptures were written by the same Spirit through those instruments who knew the Lord Jesus as the Accomplisher of their eternal redemption, and were intelligent by the indwelling Spirit concerning what they wrote.
With regard to the apostle Paul’s ministry, he was especially a minister of the church or assembly; to him was revealed “the mystery,” as we have seen, and only his writings give us the revelation of the assembly, or “one body” and its administration. He taught also its practical power on the life and walk of saints now, both individually and collectively, by the same Spirit, as well as the ministration of the affections of Christ in nourishing and cherishing every member of His body. Besides this, and the instructions he received of the Lord from heaven at his conversion, he received also an “abundance of revelations.” For example, as to the Lord’s Supper, when it was instituted by our Lord, the nation of Israel had not been judicially set aside, and the assembly set up, we therefore find it was taken in hope of the kingdom; hence our Lord added,
It is quite true, looking at drinking wine as a type of earthly joy, He has not since had joy in, or with, His earthly people; nor will He till He comes in great power and glory, and brings them into their promised blessing in the land as a repentant people. When, therefore, Israel was actually given up for a time, and this marvelous mystery of the church or assembly began to be built according to God’s eternal purpose, as a people on earth united by one indwelling Spirit to Christ in heaven, as the limbs of our natural bodies are united to our head, then the Lord’s Supper needed a special revelation. And what was it? Hear what the Apostle says,
I have received of the Lord, that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread; and when he had given thanks,
he brake it, and said, Take, eat; this is my body which is broken for you; this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also, he took the cup, after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood; this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as oft as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death till he come (1 Cor. 11:23-2623For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: 24And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. 25After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. 26For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. (1 Corinthians 11:23‑26)).
Now this was a most important revelation, and the Apostle declares that he had it from the glorified Lord, and for us; so that we have His own mind about it now, that instead of watching for events, and waiting for the kingdom in earth, we are to be doing it as looking up, not knowing whether the next moment we may hear the shout, and in the twinkling of an eye be taken away from the earth-changed, translated, meet the Lord in the air, and enter with Him on our heavenly and eternal inheritance.
It is also since the glorification of Jesus and His having sent the Holy Spirit, that we read in Scripture of “the Lord’s table.” Hence it is only after the formation of “one body” by “one Spirit,” that we are taught that, in breaking and eating of the “one bread” (one loaf) we express “one body,” “for we are all partakers of that one bread “(or loaf). We are also enjoined to be using diligence to “keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” These truths were specially committed to Paul as a minister of the church, or assembly (See 1 Cor. 10:16, 17, 21; 12:1316The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? 17For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread. (1 Corinthians 10:16‑17)
21Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils. (1 Corinthians 10:21)
13For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:13). Col. 1:24-2624Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church: 25Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; 26Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: (Colossians 1:24‑26)).
Again, we find as to His coming another special revelation, not given before; for while Old Testament Scriptures speak of the Lord coming to reign with His saints, His coming for us at the rapture was not known till the Apostle wrote to the Thessalonian saints. He said, “This we say unto you by the word of the Lord.” What was it? That the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, the dead saints be raised, the living changed, and all caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and so be for ever with the Lord. It is clear, then, that the Apostle had revealed to him, by the Lord Himself, many things to communicate to us for our instruction and blessing. Peter, in his second epistle, most touchingly refers to Paul’s writings being inspired, and therefore Scripture. He says,
Even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you; as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned, and unstable wrest, as they do also the other Scriptures, unto their own destruction (2 Pet. 3:15, 1615And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; 16As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. (2 Peter 3:15‑16)).
So careful was the apostle Paul in his writings to minister what he was commanded of the Lord, that when, on one or two occasions, he gave his own judgment merely, as a servant of the Lord who had the Spirit of God, he would say,
But in the same letter he says, in another part, “If any man think himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.” So absolutely was his ministration to them the word of God, that he says, “What! came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only?” (1 Cor. 14:36-3836What? came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only? 37If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. 38But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant. (1 Corinthians 14:36‑38)).
The Gospels
In turning to the Gospels, we find them written by four servants of the Lord, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. But we must dismiss from our minds at once the thought, that they were written by men who recorded what they had known as facts, each one according as his memory served him. This is how men generally write biographies; but it is quite certain that the writers of the gospels often omitted to mention facts with which they were most conversant, and recorded at length other circumstances of which they had no personal knowledge. Let us turn to a few examples. In the raising of the daughter of Jairus from the dead, we are distinctly told that no one was present with the Lord but Peter, James, and John; and yet, most striking as the fact is, and most important too in the history of our Lord’s ways, neither of them refer to it; but Matthew, Mark, and Luke, who were not present, all name it, and enter into particulars of it.
Again, at the time when the Lord’s compassion was so drawn out toward the widow of Nain, who was attending the funeral of her only son, that He then and there raised him from the dead in the presence of crowds of people, and as we might expect, would be talked of far and near, yet neither of the Apostles refer to it, and Luke only has recorded it. Whether he was present or not we are not told; but such a marvelous miracle, and so full of tenderness to a bereaved widow in raising her son to life and delivering him to his mother, if the writers were merely recording facts from memory, as people naturally would do, it would certainly not have been omitted.
In the transfiguration also, we find that only Peter, James, and John were favored to be present, to behold the pattern of the coming kingdom. But neither of them have recorded in their writings the particulars of it. Peter alludes to it in his second epistle, and says, “We were eye-witnesses of his majesty”; but neither John nor James tell us anything about it, important beyond all expression as the event was.
Then again, look at our Lord in Gethsemane. One would have thought that every one there present with the Lord in that time of bitter agony and exercise, as anticipating the sorrows of the cross, then immediately before Him, would have fully described the scene. But it is not so. Perhaps no one entered into it more feelingly than that disciple whom Jesus loved, and who leaned on His bosom at the supper; but he gives us no details of it, and only makes the briefest allusion to it. Peter, so heavy with sleep there, tells us nothing about it. James, also, is entirely silent; but Matthew, Mark, and Luke, who might not have been near enough to have seen the Lord in such sorrow bowed down to the ground in earnest prayer, each give us a detailed report of it; and yet more remarkable still, after leaving the garden, and going over Cedron with His disciples, when they met Judas and his band of men, and, as the effect of the Lord’s words, “they went backward and fell to the ground,” John only mentions this.
Now these examples are surely enough to convince us, that the gospels were not written as men write a biography, by merely gathering all the well-attested facts they could, and putting them together, for it must be clear to every fair mind this was not the case, but that each wrote according to the direction and guidance of the Spirit who inspired him.
Instead, therefore, of regarding the four gospels as the writings merely of four biographers however true, and trying, as people say, to study “the harmonies of the gospel,” we find that each writer had a distinct and definite line of truth to convey, in no wise contradictory of each other, but each gospel written with a definite object. This, when seen, enhances each of the four gospels immensely, and our interest in them becomes largely intensified. It is intelligible enough that four architects might give us the plans of a square building, each taking a separate side; and although they were all of them different in some particulars, so that no one could understand them till he knew that each represented a different side of the same building, yet then, and not till then, would he get the true idea of what the building really was. So with the Gospels. Matthew clearly sets forth the Messiah in relation to God’s ancient people, the Jews; Mark, the Son of God as a perfect Servant; Luke, Son of God born of Mary, yet Son of Man; and John, the Son who came forth from the Father, came into the world, and went back to the Father.
Because Matthew presents Him to us as the Messiah promised to Israel, to set up His kingdom on earth, as predicted by prophets, He is at once introduced as “the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.” His genealogy is traced, not on Mary’s side, but in connection with Joseph, as legal Heir to the throne. In the first chapter He is called Jesus, meaning Jehovah our Savior; and though born of Mary, is really surnamed — God with us. In the second chapter He is said to be “born King of the Jews,” and the prophet Micah is referred to as to Bethlehem being the place of His birth into this world; and there it is added, to show the infinite glory of His Person, “whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” In the third chapter, John, His forerunner according to Isaiah and Malachi, called on the nation to “repent,” because the King was there, and ready to set up the kingdom of heaven. It was therefore “at hand.” In Matthew only we have the expression, “kingdom of heaven,” for this the Jewish people were taught to expect by the prophets; and Moses especially spoke of “the days of heaven upon earth” (Deut. 11:2121That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth. (Deuteronomy 11:21)). The expression, “kingdom of heaven,” occurs about twenty-eight times in this Gospel. John the Baptist had to seal his testimony of “the gospel of the kingdom,” first by imprisonment, and then by death. Jesus, however, takes up the same testimony, and adds to it the signs of His being the Messiah, by miraculous power, and gives in the sermon on the mount, the principles on which the kingdom must be set up, then touches a leper and by His word heals him, and also a palsied man. The healing of the one showed, that however degraded and unclean the nation might be, there was grace and power in Him beyond all ordinances, however good, for healing; and on the other hand, however helpless the people, He could not only heal the body but forgive sins. In the tenth chapter, He gives power to His apostles also to work miracles, and preach the glad tidings of the kingdom, which was a further testimony of His Messiahship. Afterward we find Him feeding thousands once and again on a few loaves and fishes, and baskets of fragments remaining after every one was filled. Now why was this? It was a further testimony to His being the Messiah, because it had been written in Psa. 132, “I will abundantly bless her provision, I will satisfy her poor with bread.” So we might go through the Gospel if our space permitted, only we cannot fail to see that it sets before us a line of instruction found nowhere else in Scripture, and yet in perfect keeping with all that had gone before or came after. It is well to notice, that in the twelfth chapter the Messiah is so entirely rejected by the Jews, that they take counsel to destroy Him (v. 14); in the last chapter of Matthew He is seen risen from the dead, but not ascended, arisen Man on the earth. And why is this? Because the Messiah’s sphere as such is not ascension glory as His church will have with Him as Bridegroom, Head of His body, and Lord of all; but His earthly people, while they will know Him as having died for that nation, and therefore risen, will know Him as reigning here on earth, before His ancients gloriously, and sitting in David’s throne; thus fulfilling all the prophecies of Him, and all the promises to Abraham and his seed. Then of the Jewish people it will be truly said, “The inhabitant shall not say, I am sick; the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.” This they will know and rejoice in, when they sing, “Bless Jehovah, O my soul, and all that is within me bless his holy name . . . Who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases” (Isa. 33:2424And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity. (Isaiah 33:24); Psa. 103:1, 31<<A Psalm of David.>> Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. (Psalm 103:1)
3Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; (Psalm 103:3)). Such a truly Jewish character has this Gospel, that here only the expression of the wicked people, “His blood be on us, and on our children,” is recorded; and in neither of the other Gospels have we such particular and prophetic instruction as to the great tribulation, the coming of the Lord to Israel, and His judging the nations.
Mark’s Gospel. Here the Lord is looked at more particularly as to His service. We have therefore no genealogy, no account of His birth, and His ways are traced from the baptism of John to His sitting at the right hand of God. Throughout, as the elect and righteous Servant, He is seen doing most perseveringly the will of Him that sent Him. We find the word translated “immediately,” “straightway” and “anon” much more frequently than in any other Gospel. The looks and feelings of the perfect Servant are referred to in a way we have not elsewhere. We are told that “He looked round about on them with anger”; that “He sighed”; and that “He sighed deeply in his spirit.” He went on so diligently serving with His disciples, that “they had no leisure so much as to eat”; and again, “They could not so much as eat bread,” so that His friends went out to lay hold on Him, for they said, “He is beside himself.” The sufferings of Gethsemane and on the cross are briefly recorded, and, having accomplished the work of redemption, as risen from among the dead He sends His servants into all the world to preach the gospel to every creature, and afterward, though received up into heaven, and sitting at the right hand of God, He confirms their ministry with signs following.
As has often been remarked, in Mark we have the events of our Lord put before us more in historical or chronological order, while in Matthew they are arranged more in regard to dispensational order, and in Luke they are more in moral order.
Luke’s line of things in his Gospel is clearly Jesus as “Son of man.” As born of Mary He is contrasted with John who was born of Elizabeth, the son of Zacharias. Jesus was conceived by the Holy Ghost, and born Son of God, and Son of the Highest; but John was only the prophet of the Highest, and though he was honored to be the forerunner of our Lord, his testimony was, that he was unworthy to loose the latchet of His shoe. It is in Luke’s Gospel only that we have the account of our Lord at the age of twelve years, and that He “increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.”
The genealogy of our Lord is traced in Luke to the “seed of the woman.” We, therefore, have Mary’s line through Heli brought out; through David also, for she was of the house and lineage of David; and Abraham, Noah, and Enos to Adam, because in this Gospel He is looked at as Son of man.
In Luke’s account of Him, He is not only brought before us praying on seven different occasions, but in Gethsemane also His humanity is specially marked out in His being in an agony, and praying more earnestly, when His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. Here, too, on the cross, He makes intercession for the transgressors, and comforts the penitent malefactor with the assurance of present salvation — not mentioned elsewhere. In resurrection also, when some were terrified because they thought He was a spirit, He said, “Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have. And when he had thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat? And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And he took it, and did eat before them (Luke 24). Now, why are these details as to the actual resurrection of our Lord from among the dead given us in Luke’s Gospel only? Is it not because He is there by the Spirit of God brought before us as Son of man? But further, after His resurrection, He ministered the word to them, gave commission to preach the gospel, bade them tarry in Jerusalem for the coming of the Holy Spirit to endue them with power from on high, and having led them out as far as to Bethany, and blessed them, He was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. The Man Christ Jesus, whom they had seen and known as incarnate, as dead on the cross, as buried in the sepulcher, and as risen from among the dead, they saw ascend up to heaven, till their eyes could no longer trace Him. Having now their understandings opened to understand the Scriptures, they were filled with such joy, that they were continually in the temple praising and blessing God.
In John’s Gospel we have the Deity of the Son, and sent by the Father into the world, in richest and abounding grace to us. In it we have the endearing relationship of children of God by faith in Christ Jesus clearly set forth, so that duties and affections might be formed and maintained suitable to such relationship. There is, therefore, no genealogy in John. He was “the Word” in the beginning, before creation, with God, and was God — a person with God, and yet eternally divine, for He was God, and the Creator of everything that was made. In due time “the word was made [or became] flesh and dwelt among us.” If we have the human side of Jesus as Son of man, born of Mary, in Luke, and as Son of David, “king of the Jews,” in Matthew, we have the divine side of our Lord and of His ways in John. He is the Fountain of Life, for “in him was life “in the first chapter; the Source of eternal life to every one that believeth, in the third chapter; the One who gives an unending supply of living water in the fourth chapter. He, the Son, quickens or gives life to whom He will in the fifth chapter; and is the Bread of Life, (through His flesh, which He gave for the life of the world), in the sixth chapter. In the seventh chapter Christ Himself is the alone Source of that living enjoyment which enables testimony for Him abundantly to flow out. With all His amazing grace to man, His words are rejected in the eighth chapter; His works in the ninth chapter; and not believed on as the Good Shepherd, because they were not His sheep, in the tenth chapter. In the eleventh chapter, as has been often pointed out, He is rejected as Son of God; in the twelfth, first as Son of David, and then as Son of man; and after having shown Himself to be the Resurrection and the Life, in bringing Lazarus out of the grave to life again, He willingly goes into death as the Son of man lifted up to save sinners. The Corn of wheat must fall into the ground and die, or He would be alone. Solemn moment beyond all description. He then keeps the passover, Judas goes out, and when alone with His eleven true ones, He instructs us as to our course during the time of His absence, promises to send the Holy Spirit to abide with us forever, bids us to be without fear or care, but to believe on Him; and though the path be one of tribulation, to be of good cheer; and assures us that He will come again and take us to the Father’s house, to be where He is forever. Having said these things, He commends them and all who shall believe on Him through their word to the Father, before He goes to Calvary’s cross to glorify the Father, and finish the work that He gave Him to do. Gethsemane is only just touched on in John, and at the sound of the Savior’s voice, those who came to take Him went backward, and fell to the ground; and on the cross, He is presented as saying, “I thirst,” in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled, in bringing Him vinegar to drink, according to Psa. 69. All then being fulfilled as it is written, He said, “It is finished,” and bowed His head and gave up His spirit, according to His word in the tenth chapter, when speaking of laying down His life “no man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself; I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.” It is the Son here glorifying the Father, whose prayer, when under the shadow of the cross, had been, “Father, glorify thy name.”
In beautiful keeping with this divine side of Christ in John’s Gospel, we find only here the account of His message by Mary after His resurrection, “Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father, and to my God and your God”; He meets His disciples with “Peace be unto you,” fills them with joy, for they “were glad when they saw the Lord,” thus giving them a taste of the blessedness of His being in the midst; and communicates risen life by breathing on them, and saying, “Receive ye the Holy Spirit.” Eight days after He meets Thomas, a type of the Jewish remnant who will not believe till they see Him; and in the last chapter a striking picture is given of millennial blessing when He will formally take His place as the last Adam, and reign before His ancients gloriously.
If it be asked why we have thus glanced at each of the four Gospels, our reply is, In order that it may be clearly seen, that while each honored the Lord, the lines of truth in all differed from each other, though there was nothing contradictory, and all divinely perfect. The most positive proof is afforded by it, that all was written according to the purpose of one Master mind, and could be none other than the ministry of the Holy Spirit. When we consider how much of the Gospels is made up of our Lord’s own words, and works, and ways, how frequently the Old Testament Scriptures are authoritatively quoted, and how much of their prophetic teaching was actually fulfilled; and when we add to all this, that the spirit of them all is so manifestly according to the operations and testimony of Him who is the Glorifier and Testifier of Jesus, and Guide into all the truth, it is impossible not to discern the clearest possible proof of their being inspired, or God-breathed.
The Acts and the Epistles
In the Acts of the Apostles, we have the coming of the Holy Spirit to indwell and baptize believers into “one body,” by uniting them to Christ the Head, and to one another. This work of the Holy Spirit has been going on ever since in those who have believed on our Lord Jesus Christ to the saving of the soul. At Pentecost they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Peter too was filled with the Holy Spirit, and preached the gospel; and the remainder of the book gives us the various actings of the Holy Spirit who had come down in consequence of the accomplished redemption-work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Besides filling saints for the service and praise of God, we trace the Holy Spirit’s Godhead, personal actings, and hatred to sin; His sovereignty, power, holiness, and truth. The Gospel was preached not only to the Jews but also to the Gentiles, and the servants of God, principally Peter and Paul, were strengthened and filled with the Spirit to set forth a crucified, risen, ascended, glorified, and coming Savior with aabundance of blessing to souls. It was a time of the Spirit’s power, which gave no quarter to selfishness and covetousness. The record of it too is of the Spirit, for it magnifies God, and honors our Lord Jesus Christ, and the authority of Scripture.
We have referred already to the epistles of the apostle Paul, and have given instances in proof of the inspiration of God in his writings. It is well, however, to remember, that our Lord Jesus repeatedly spoke to him from heaven as to what he should minister to the saints; but we may notice on other occasions the way in which he so constantly points to the Lord and honors Him as such. For instance, in the second brief Epistle to the Thessalonian believers, he speaks of Him as the “Lord Jesus Christ “ten or eleven times; in Phil. 1 he speaks of Him as Lord or Christ seventeen or eighteen times, and always with reverence and honor; and he seems in all his epistles to write in such a Christ-exalting way, that he is not able to write many verses without turning to Him. Can anything more clearly demonstrate the work and inspiration of the Holy Spirit?
Though Peter’s line of instruction to the saints is very different from Paul’s, yet when Paul addresses the Ephesian saints, or Peter the converted Jews when scattered, they are both so filled with the love of God, that before they begin their communications to them, they lift their hearts in praise, and say, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Peter’s line as well as Paul’s is Christ; but Peter, especially in his first epistle, points to an unseen Savior as the fountain of “joy unspeakable and full of glory”; though such too “greatly rejoice” in Him, who has accomplished such a work in His death and resurrection, as gives us title to an incorruptible inheritance reserved in heaven for us, while we are kept for it.
John, however, who recognized the workings of infidelity even in his day, is so conscious of the apostolic ministry being the word of God, that he declares it to be the true test of vital Christianity. He says, “We are of God; he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us” (1 John 4:66We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error. (1 John 4:6)).
Though James addresses his letter to the twelve tribes, he recognizes “beloved brethren “among them, and ministers to them as such, ascribing their being begotten of God to “the word of truth”; and though not entering upon the special truths of Christianity, he instructs, quotes from the prophets, and enjoins them to practical piety in the prospect of the coming of the Lord. With James, the man who says he has faith can only show it by his works. The more the epistle is pondered, the more clearly the Spirit’s teaching can be recognized in it.
Jude, though he treats of the apostasy, tracing it from its root to its full development and judgment, of which Enoch prophesied, exhorts the faithful to contend earnestly for the faith which was once delivered to the saints, to keep themselves in the love of God, praying in the Holy Spirit, and building up themselves on their most holy faith, while seeking the good of others, and looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.
All these Epistles, though written at different times, and by different instruments, tell us of unity of purpose and object.
The Revelation
When we look into the Book of Revelation, every precaution seems to be taken to guard souls from hesitating to accept it as a God-breathed or inspired writing; so much so, that it appears as if the present widespread thought of its being a Book of such obscurity and difficulty that no one can understand it, and that it was never intended to be read very much, had been anticipated. We are therefore not only told it is “the Revelation of Jesus Christ,” but so thoroughly divine in its origin that it is what “God gave unto him to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass.” John also was commanded by the Lord, saying, “Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter [or after these].” Nothing then as to inspiration can be clearer; and as if this would be to some not enough, John was “in the Spirit,” in order to see the visions, and having seen them, he is told twice in the first chapter to “Write”; and write too not only what he had seen, but the things that are now going on, and the things that will be after these things. In the second and third chapters, which show us the things which are, we are seven times told to hearken to “what the Spirit saith unto the assemblies”: so fully are we in the region and sphere of the Holy Spirit’s activities on earth.
And further, the Apostle was by the Spirit taught to distinguish between what was of Satan and what of God in the visions which passed before him. In ch. 17 he was in the Spirit, and saw the harlot in all her worldly attire and luxuriousness, and self-complacency in the wilderness: in chapter 21 The Spirit also showed him the bride so dear to our Savior’s heart, the Lamb’s wife, but he had to go up in the Spirit for that blessed vision. He says the angel “carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God,” etc. At the end of the Book of Revelation we are told that “the Spirit and the bride say, Come” in response to our Lord’s presentation of Himself as “the bright and morning star.” So that whatever we may think, the Bible does not close its communications to us without assuring us, that those led and taught of the Spirit will look up to our Lord Jesus Christ where He is, and say, “Come.” Till that moment, His grace will be with us in all its sufficiency and reality.
But if the opening of the Book gives such encouragement to the reader of it, and to any who hear it read, the close is solemn beyond all thought in proof of its being divinely given truth: truth too which harmonizes and is interwoven by lines running all through Scripture, and this makes it so very solemn. It is said, “If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book; and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” How solemnly all this admonishes us not only to read and hear what the Book saith, but to receive its sayings into our hearts and minds in all simplicity as it is written; for if our Lord sends this Book to us from heaven, we may be sure that He would say of it no less than when He spake on earth saying, “Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.” We have then in reading Scripture to do with God, “not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe” (1 Thess. 2:1313For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe. (1 Thessalonians 2:13)).