WE should ever remember, in tracing this interesting subject, that the great Teacher of the Church is very patient, minute, and comprehensive, in His mode of instruction; and I think the more we trace the slow trail of our progress in truth, the less will we wonder at the dullness of the disciples, or be surprised at the apparent repetition of principles already proved. The Holy Ghost is, in this book, meeting the entire question, and practically it will be found a much more difficult lesson than many apprehend to practically take a heavenly standing with a happy conscientious rejection of all the claims an earthly one may appear to have on us.
This chapter opens with a desire expressed by the disciples to be taught to pray as John taught his disciples. They were led to this, I suppose, both from realizing, in some measure, the barrenness of present things, and from seeing what a continual resource it was to their Lord and Master. Prayer always implies circumstances of need and privation. Praise is the language of enjoyment and satiety. The latter was ever the more ostensible with the Jew, because when righteous they were in scenes of abundant blessings. Prayer therefore implies a departure from these; and John, who was to take the kingdom by violence, making a last effort in the flesh, endeavoring to produce righteousness from it by the severity of bodily exercise, taught his disciples to pray, for the wilderness was his sphere while waiting for “Him who should come.” The Lord yields to the desires of the disciples, and gives them a prayer suited to their then understandings. In fact this prayer lots us into the amount of light and knowledge possessed by them at this moment. It is evident they had not the Holy Ghost as an abiding unction of thought in their souls at this time, for “the Holy Ghost was not yet given” (John 7:39); and they are here, in verse 13, told that if they pray for the Holy Spirit their heavenly Father will give it. Well, then, this prayer was suited to their present knowledge, or else it would have been an unintelligible prayer; and indeed the sentiments generally in the prayer establish this point. The forgiveness of sin is here only contingent on their extending the same toward those who may trespass against them: not the fullest idea of the largeness of God’s forgiveness to us; though practically one may lose the sense of forgiveness when one departs from the principle of forgiveness, for (as with all God’s blessings) it has a reciprocation.. I do not think this prayer gives any leading to a heavenly hope. A faithful Jew, feeling the ruin about him, could unhesitatingly utter it, under the full conviction that when the kingdom would come, the will of God would be done on earth as now in heaven. But though the Lord gives them a prayer suited to their then circumstances and knowledge, yet He would not have them to be contented with it; but He explains to them the nature of real prayer. If we know God as a friend, no circumstance or delay on His part to answer and relieve us should cause us to discontinue seeking blessing from Him. This was a great point for a Jew, nay, for any to learn, that one is never to judge of God by what one sees of His favors, but from what one knows of His power. It was so with the example here. The needy man sought from his friend, and persisted even when friendship seemed to have gone, because he knew he could be then supplied, and his need knew no refusal. Let the disciples be prepared for any and every adverse circumstance which may arise in this world. Let them maintain their judgment of the grace and power of God, in spite of all the contradiction appearances may raise against it. Let them but ask, and continue asking.
The next occurrence, I have no doubt, is intended by the Holy Ghost to teach us the real hindrance to our utterance before God. The devil has no interest in either speaking to God or of God. When his power is dominant we must be dumb; but Jesus casts out the unclean spirit, and the dumb spake: another subject of wonder to “the people,” as all the effects of Christ’s power on us ever are, as well as another ground for misconstruction and rejection of His grace. Some of them said, “He casteth out devils through Beelzebub, the chief of the devils.” “And others” would not trust Him till they would prove Him— “tempting, sought a sign from heaven.” Their opposition increases in proportion as His grace and power are manifested. The Lord meets their thoughts first by the unreasonableness of them. “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation.” Secondly, that His work was not unusual in Israel; and whatever judgment they pass on Him, they must pass on their own children; and if they judge their act as of God, then let them recognize how near the kingdom of God had come unto them in the person of Jesus.
Jesus then declares that He will have no half measures; that as long as Satan, “the strong man armed, keepeth his palace, his goods are in safety;” but of that there must be an end when a stronger than he comes upon him. He will overcome him, take from him all his armor wherein he trusteth, and divide the spoil. Satan has used all natural things, with which the Jew abundantly was blessed, as instrumental against God. “They waxed fat, and kicked.” All these shall be now sunk in the cross. From the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop which grew on the wall, all nature must be merged in the blood of the sacrifice. And if you are not with Christ, you must be against Him; you must not be so listlessly; you must gather with Him, or you are scattering. The mere deliverance from an unclean spirit does not ensure complete surrender to God. Israel was now much reformed, yet its future history is shortly told. It was set in “dry places;” the greatness of Canaan had departed, and yet they were “seeking rest,” and, finding none, they would return to their own home, and then and there associate with themselves a more malignant power of evil than ever, and so their last state would be worse than the first. Seeking rest in “dry places,” whether by a Jew or a Gentile convert, is ever followed by the same results. The earth is the dry place; if you seek rest, you must seek it beyond earth. May the saints remember this, or surely they will yet have to learn it! As He spake these things, a woman of the company, in the spirit of popery, in veneration for the descent of Christ, blesses not Him, but the channel through which He came. This was too truly the spirit of many in Israel, highly venerating the earthly lineage of Christ, and in doing so, overlooking the aim and object of all His labor and mission, allowing His greatness only to shed a halo around His human origin. This thought is corrected by the Lord announcing that still more blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it. No natural blessing, however great, can transcend an humble following of the word of God. Jesus came through the Jew; they were thus highly distinguished among men, but they can be surpassed by a Gentile follower of the word of God.
To those who sought a sign the Lord gives a sign, first premising that it is an evil generation which seeks a sign, because they have no faith; that there shall no sign be given but the sign of Jonas, the prophet. Ere Jonas testified to the Ninevites, he sank in the waters of death; thus was the Son of man to be a sign to this generation; and subsequently a Gentile queen shall rise up in judgment against this generation and condemn it, for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon—the wisdom of Christ in glory, as Solomon symbolizes—and yet this generation lightly esteems a greater than Solomon amongst them. In like manner, a Gentile people shall rise up in the judgment against this generation, because they repented at the preaching of Jonas, and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here. Israel would be surpassed by a Gentile, is the great fact established here. Who is to blame for this? Surely not He who lighted the candle. God has lighted His candle for light-sake, and all who come in shall see the light. It will be publicly manifested, and for public benefit. It is not kept in a secret place or under a bushel; it is not to be confined to the narrow limits of Palestine. If you do not see it, your eye is not single; you are not fully set upon it; if you were, your whole body would be luminous with the purpose of your soul, with the deep engagement of your heart, and light will increase. Not only will your body be full of light, having no part dark, but it will omit vivid light from it, as a candle by its bright shining. Such would be the blessed effect of learning the grace of Christ, which I apprehend a Pharisee assumes as descriptive of his doctrine; for, as Jesus spake, “a certain Pharisee besought Him to dine with him.” The Lord accepts the invitation, and then takes occasion to expose the inconsistent and delusive doctrine of the Pharisees. Their pretensions to light and power were hollow and limited. The Lord washed not before dinner. He regarded not one act here more clean or sacred than another; the meal needed as much to be sanctified as the person. All earth was corrupt before Him. Restriction implied that some things were better than others, but the doctrine of Christ is, “To the unbeliever is nothing pure.” If you will have all things pure, give all present things (τὰἐνόντα) in alms. If you will place yourself on the ground of merit, then here is your responsibility, here is your requirement, giving all present things as alms to those from whom you can expect no return—expecting no gain from them in this present time. But on the course and practices of the Pharisees nothing but judgment awaits. Woe unto the Pharisees, unto them who assumed to give the best expression of righteousness among Israel! Woe unto the scribes, classed with the disciples they produced, and woe also to the lawyers! The nation and their guides must now hear their sentence. Mercy towards them is exhausted. From this generation must be required the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world. Are they smitten with remorse and penitence at these awful denunciations? No; they only seek to aggravate their destiny in their fruitless efforts against the Son of God; they exposed the terrible enmity of their hearts against Him, as well as the hollowness of their professions, in that they urge Him and provoke Him expressly for the purpose that He might commit Himself, and so give them ground for accusation against Him. Alas! such teachers of the people! Watching for evil, not for God!