(For No. I, see pages 79-82, Vol. 2 Part 2.)
IN resuming the consideration of this subject, especially now in the light shed upon it by the New Testament, there are several facts and principles of God's ways which need to be borne in mind by us.
In the first place, it was in the counsels of God that Messiah should suffer ere He reigned. Nor was this a truth which had been hid in God, as one of the secret things which belong to Him alone. On the contrary, the sufferings of Messiah form the subject of many a distinct prediction, and the theme of many a holy strain of lamentation; besides being prefigured by a great part of the Mosaic sacrifices and ritual. Titus had the law, the psalms, and the prophets, borne witness to the sufferings of Messiah: so largely indeed, that for any who, like my readers, are accustomed to view them in this light, it is needless to bring forward particular passages in proof of it. But to Jewish minds, prior to the accomplishment of the event, this was the deepest mystery. It was, besides, a subject most unwelcome to the pride of the natural heart in them, just as it is still in us. Sufferings, which the holiness of God makes requisite on account of our sin, cannot but prove an unwelcome subject to hearts which have not been bumbled under the sense of sin. Thus it was with the Jews—yea, even with the disciples of our Lord themselves. Notwithstanding the plainest declarations on His part that He must suffer and rise from the dead, they seem not to have entertained a thought of it, until the event came upon them, and found them, notwithstanding all previous warnings, unprepared.
Then, further, it was foreseen of God, that the human instruments in effecting Messiah's sufferings and death, would be his own people, the Jews. It was foreseen, yea, and foretold, that instead of receiving their Messiah with open arms, they would reject and crucify (Ps. 22:16, compared with Zech. 12:1010And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. (Zechariah 12:10)) their long-promised and long-expected King. It was also foretold that on account of this, instead of the kingdom being immediately introduced, their heaviest sufferings and longest dispersion should ensue on the rejection of Messiah. (See Ps. 69:19-28. Is. 5:5; 6:9-12; 8:14-17; 28:16-22.) Other passages there are too numerous to be quoted.
Again, notwithstanding the rejection of Messiah by Israel, and the judgments which were to come on them in consequence, it was distinctly and largely foretold in the Old Testament, that eventually Israel shall repent; (see Hos. 5:15; 6:1, 215I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early. (Hosea 5:15)
1Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. 2After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. (Hosea 6:1‑2). Ps. 110:2, 3;Ezek. 20:43, 4443And there shall ye remember your ways, and all your doings, wherein ye have been defiled; and ye shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that ye have committed. 44And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have wrought with you for my name's sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O ye house of Israel, saith the Lord God. (Ezekiel 20:43‑44); Joel 2:15, 1815Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly: (Joel 2:15)
18Then will the Lord be jealous for his land, and pity his people. (Joel 2:18); Zech. 12:10-14,10And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. 11In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. 12And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; 13The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; 14All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart. (Zechariah 12:10‑14) &c.) that, confessing and bewailing their sins, they shall anxiously look for him whom they once rejected, and that then he shall return, forgive their iniquity, deliver them from their Gentile oppressors, on whom judgments the most solemn and terrific shall be executed, and that then the long-foretold and long-expected kingdom of Christ shall be actually set up; his government openly and visibly extending over all the earth. These events form the great burden of prophetic testimony; as the apostle expresses it, summing up the whole in a few words, they "testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow."
Thus far, all is plain and clear enough. But then the question arises, How is the interval between the injection of Israel's Messiahs and His return in glory to be filled up : "Known unto God are all his works, from the beginning of the world." If Christ be rejected by the earth, a place had been prepared for Him in heaven. “The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool." The sovereignty which is hereafter to be openly and publicly exercised on earth, but which could not be thus exercised then, because of Israel's unbelief and sin, was to be exercised by Jesus risen, and ascended, and seated at God's right hand in heaven. He had, while on earth, manifested the name of His Father to those who had been given Him, and after his ascension the Holy Ghost was to descend to enable them to bear witness to the name of their rejected Lord, and to preach repentance and remission of sins in His name among all nations.
The effect of this word which began to be spoken by the Lord, and was afterwards confirmed by them that heard Him, God also bearing them witness with signs, and wonders, and (livers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost, was, that then, and ever since, there have been those on earth who own the name, and title, and authority of that Christ who has been rejected by the eart h, and is now actually at the right hand of God in heaven. As a matter of fact, historically, whole kingdoms have thus owned, and do own, the name and sovereignty of Christ. It may be, and as to the mass undoubtedly is, true, that it is only in word, in profession, that Christ is owned. Still, the fact is there, thud, as the effect of Christ's first coming, whole masses of men profess to be Christians, i.e. to be subjects of Christ, recognizing His authority and governed by His laws. It is also true that amidst the mass there are many who do really know Him by the Holy Ghost; and it is of the utmost importance to see, as to all such, that there was a far deeper purpose of God than any which has yet been noticed—a purpose which He purposed in Christ before the foundation of the world, even that those who do thus really know Him during the present interval should be fellow-heirs and of the same body with Him—His bride—His body—united to Him now by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, and to be manifested with Him in glory when He returns. This subject has already been very fully treated of in "The Prospect." But, important as it is, it is not the subject of our present inquiry, though intimately connected with it. I refer to it thus explicitly here, lest any should suppose it was overlooked, or that, in distinguishing between it and the kingdom of God, its importance was in any way undervalued.
The fact is, that the kingdom of God, which will exist manifestly in the millennial reign of Christ, (treated of in No. 1,) exists now in mystery, and is found wherever there is the acknowledgment, real or in profession only, of the name and authority of Christ, while He Himself is hid in God on high. It is within this kingdom, of course, that the Church has its existence at present. Nay, more; it is at present the only thing in the kingdom which is really precious to Christ, and we shall have to look at passages which, on this account, speak of the Church, or rather, of those who compose the Church, as the kingdom. Still, it is not as the Church that these passages contemplate it, and the kingdom itself is a much wider thing. For full instruction as to the special, distinct place and blessedness of "the Church," we look in vain, except in the Ephesians and other epistles of St. Paul. The kingdom of God, I would repeat, exists now in mystery, and comprises the whole sphere in which the name and authority of Christ are recognized, whether nominally or really, during the period of Christ's session at the right hand of God. There is, of course, a wide difference between a sovereignty exercised openly and visibly in the form and character of royalty on the earth, Jerusalem its center, and the whole earth its sphere, and a sovereignty exercised from heaven by invisible agency and moral means, such as Christianity is now. This latter is the kingdom of God in mystery; the former is the kingdom of God as the Jews were taught by ancient prophecy to expect it, and as it will yet surely exist in the millennial age. Modified, however, even then by the introduction and co-heirship with Christ of the heavenly saints, for which room was made by Israel's rejection of their Messiah on the earth. When He takes the kingdom, it will be as the glorified Son of man; and the heavenly body, the Church, now forming by the Holy Ghost, will be united with its Head in the administration of that kingdom, so that even then it will have the character of the kingdom of heaven.
As the open establishment of the kingdom is inseparably connected with the repentance of Israel and their reception of the Messiah, it pleased God, by the proclamation that his kingdom was at hand, solemnly to put to the test whether Israel was in a condition, morally and spiritually, to receive it. Accordingly, the preaching of John the Baptist, and the earlier preaching of our Lord Himself and His disciples, was simply this, the announcing that the kingdom was at hand, and calling upon Israel to repent and believe the good tidings. God knew, of course, that they would reject the kingdom thus preached to them, and he had arranged everything accordingly. The kingdom they hoped for was to be put off on account of their unbelief, and the kingdom which was actually at band was the kingdom in mystery, as it has existed from that time until the present. But, though God knew well that they would reject the kingdom, both in the rejection of its royal Heir and in the rejection of His forerunner-though God knew this, I say-the responsibility of Israel was not thereby diminished in the least. All was ready on God's part; "the Child was born to Israel, the Son given," whose name was to be called Wonderful, on whose shoulders the government was to be, and who was to sit on the throne of His father David, executing judgment and justice for over. He gave full proof that to Him belonged these dignities and glories; and had they received Him, His reign would doubtless have commenced. But God knew they would not receive Him. He knew they would crucify and slay Him, and he delivered Him into their hands to be thus crucified. But did that make them less guilty? Not in the least. The foreknowledge of God is one thing; man's responsibility is another. God knew men would break the law; yet He gave it, that what was in man's heart might be manifest. God knew that Israel would, by their sins, forfeit the land of Canaan, and have to be scattered, as at present. He told them that He knew this before He brought them in. (See Deut. 31:16-2116And the Lord said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them. 17Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us? 18And I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evils which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned unto other gods. 19Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach it the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel. 20For when I shall have brought them into the land which I sware unto their fathers, that floweth with milk and honey; and they shall have eaten and filled themselves, and waxen fat; then will they turn unto other gods, and serve them, and provoke me, and break my covenant. 21And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles are befallen them, that this song shall testify against them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed: for I know their imagination which they go about, even now, before I have brought them into the land which I sware. (Deuteronomy 31:16‑21).) Still, He brought them in. He knew that they would reject the prophets and messengers by whom He spake to them, and offered them forgiveness and mercy, if they would but repent. (See Ezek. 3: 7-9.) Nevertheless, he sent them, rising up betimes and sending. Was their responsibility diminished by God's foreknowledge of the manner in which they would treat those messengers of His mercy? Surely not. So when, last of all, He sent His Son, sent Him as the One born to be King of the Jews, He knew all that they would do unto Him. From the slaughter of the innocents by Herod, to the last taunt that was addressed to the holy Sufferer on the cross, God foreknew all.
But why should this binder Him from presenting the kingdom to them, and offering them its felicities and its glories on condition of their repentance, any more than the foresight of their failure under any former test should have hindered Him from applying it? God would make manifest what man, what Israel was, and so appealed to them in the most affecting way, through the medium of the hopes which, for so many generations, had been indulged by them as a nation—hopes based on the prophecies considered in our last. And they understood that Jesus claimed to be the one whose coming was the object and center of their national hopes. The superscription in Latin, and Greek, and Hebrew, placed over the cross by Pilate, told plainly enough that it was as King of the Jews He was rejected by the nation. Thank God, He did foreknow what they in the hatred of their hearts would do. Their sin has thus been overruled to our salvation; their fall has become our riches; and in due time, when the Church has been formed and perfected, and caught up to meet its Head in the air, when all the "mysteries of the kingdom" have had their accomplishment, Israel, as we have seen, humbled and broken-hearted, shall say: Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord, and the kingdom shall be established manifestly and in power. "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!”
Let us look now at some of the passages in the New Testament which relate to this subject. We shall find them ranging themselves under one or other of these classes. 1. The passages which announce the kingdom in such a. manner and in such connections as necessarily to awaken in the heart the thought of that kingdom of Christ, which we saw in No. 1 to be the great subject of Old Testament prophecy. 2. The passages which speak of the kingdom as it now exists, in mystery, including all on earth that owns, whether truly or in mere profession, the sovereignty of Jesus in heaven. 3. The passages in which the expression is limited to that which really and truly owns the name and authority of Jesus; the kernel, so to speak, which alone gives value to the shell. There may be a few others giving the general characteristics of the reign of God apart from circumstances altogether.
"In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying" Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at band. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight." (Matt. 3: 1-3.) It is by no means certain that the pharos "kingdom of heaven" here would suggest to the mind of John the Baptist himself any other thought than that of Messiah's reign the kingdom which the God of heaven was to set up. The passage quoted by the evangelist respecting him is one which clearly has not yet received its full accomplishment; nor will it, till “the times of restitutions of all things." "Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed; and all flesh shall see it together." (Is. 40:4, 5.) There can be no mistake as to what kingdom it is that is depicted here.
It ensues on the accomplishment of the whole warfare, and travail, and chastisement of Jerusalem; (verses 1, 2;) and in it Zion and Jerusalem have the office of bringing good tidings, and crying to the cities of Judah: "Behold your God." (Verse 9.) The kingdom of heaven was really to exist in a very different form before the arrival of this blessed period; but it was Israel's sin which afforded the opportunity, so to speak, for its existence in its present manner; and before it actually took this form, it was to be seen whether there was in them the heart to respond to these joyful tidings; and hence this mission of the Baptist.
After recording the baptism and temptation of our blessed Lord, the evangelist tells us that Jesus, having " heard that John was cast into prison, departed into Galilee, and leaving Nazareth, came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galileo of the Gentiles; the people which sat in darkness saw great light: and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, light is sprung up. From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." (Matt. 4:12-1712Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee; 13And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim: 14That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, 15The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; 16The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up. 17From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. (Matthew 4:12‑17).) There is enough in the quotation here, from Is. 9 to remind any one of the kingdom to which Christ was born the heir; the well-known passage, " unto us a child is born," &c., being closely connected with the verses here quoted. It was the announcement to Israel that it was with. Him now that they had to do. Still, in the imprisonment of His forerunner there was a dark intimation of Israel's unpreparedness to receive Him; and accordingly He, not unwittingly, as it may be John had done, but in full intelligence of the meaning of the words, calls on them to repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Not simply the kingdom of David's royal Son, seated on David's throne, but the kingdom of heaven the sovereignty of that same blessed Person in the form it was to take, consequent on his rejection by Israel, and exercised first after its present mode, while He Himself, rejected by the earth, is exalted to the right hand of power in heaven, and then by and by exercised openly over all the earth, but even then with a heavenly character and heavenly associations not naturally belonging to the kingdom of the Son of David. It is a kingdom, too, which has to be preached; instead of being at once set up by power, it is proclaimed by preaching. Still, the preaching of the kingdom was accompanied by every demonstration of power. "And Jesus went about all Galileo, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease among the people." (Matt. 4:2323And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. (Matthew 4:23).) The result was, that His fame went throughout all Syria, and there followed Him great multitudes of people from Galilee and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and from beyond Jordan.
In the presence of the multitudes thus attracted to Him by His preaching and the fame of His miracles, Ito addresses to His disciples the sermon on the mount. "Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven;” and again, " Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven," would apply equally to those who shall enter into and inherit the kingdom in manifestation, (see Zeph. 8:12; 66:2, also 5, with the rest of the chapter,) and those who are true members of it now that it exists in mystery. “Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth," would only apply to the former class. Verses 19, 20 (of Matt. 5.) show what the righteousness is that entitles to either. They do not show us how the righteousness which exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees is to be obtained, but they declare such a righteousness indispensable for those who would enter the kingdom. In chapter 6:10, the disciples are instructed to pray for the coming of God's kingdom; and in verse 33, to seek it in preference to all else. Chapter 7:21 distinguishes between profession and reality, and declares that to say, Lord, Lord, is not enough. The whole discourse is a most solemn exhibition of the righteousness requisite for any to enter into the kingdom of heaven. The law of Moses described the righteousness which entitled to the land of Canaan; the sermon on the mount bears the same relation to the kingdom of heaven. Of course, it is in Christ only that either righteousness has been accomplished; and the righteousness He has accomplished in Himself is the gift of grace to poor sinners, who have no righteousness whatever to plead. Such will the poor afflicted remnant of Israel acknowledge themselves to be by and by, and they will enter into the kingdom as it shall exist, in open manifestation; the righteousness of Him who died for them, that the whole nation should not perish, being their title thus to enter. Meanwhile, individuals have been taught by grace to see in themselves the entire contrast to all that the sermon on the mount presents, and have found in Christ the righteousness without which none can enter, even while the kingdom is in mystery; that is to say, viewing the kingdom as consisting of those who really know and own the supremacy of Jesus, and call him Lord by the Holy Ghost.
In chapter 8:11, the faith of the centurion, commended by Jesus as greater than any he had found in Israel, draws from his lips the announcement " that many (such as he) shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven; but the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." This must have been a solemn and startling announcement to Jewish ears. It distinctly foretells the admission of Gentiles to the privileges of the kingdom, while the natural heirs are excluded. And while this passage evidently refers to the yet future millennial kingdom, (there being a place in it for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,) we have to bear in mind that the kingdom has its heavenly as well as its earthly department. Of this we find scarcely any thing in the Old Testament; and it was, in fact, the rejection of Christ by Israel that made way for the development of this purpose of God. It is now, while the kingdom of heaven exists in mystery, that these Gentile strangers are being brought from the cast and from the west; and by and by, when the great purpose of God is accomplished, and all things both in heaven and earth are gathered together in one, even in Christ, these strangers will be seen sitting down with the patriarchs in the heavenly department of that glorious kingdom; while Israel, pardoned and restored, shall, with the spared nations, occupy the earth. The children of the kingdom who are cast out are, of course, those generations of Israel who have lived during the whole period of their rejection of Jesus.
In chapter 9:35, we find Jesus still continuing His blessed labor of preaching the Gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. In chapter 10., He associates the twelve apostles with Himself in this work, charging them to go not into the way of the Gentiles, or any city of the Samaritans, but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. "And, as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand." (Verse 7.) But while this ministry of grace is thus continued, and even extended, the twelve are distinctly forewarned that they need not expect their testimony to be received. Fearful was to be the responsibility of the rejecters. It was to be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment than for them. Still, the apostles were to calculate on rejection. “The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord." (Verses 24, 25.) It was to be their comfort amid all this, that whosoever confessed Jesus before men, should be confessed by Him before His Father in heaven. "He that findeth his life, shall lose it; and he that loseth his life for my sake, shall find it. He that receiveth you, receiveth me; and he that receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me." (Verses 39, 40.) And none such were to lose their reward.
I could not doubt that this preaching of the kingdom of heaven by the twelve, interrupted by the definite and utter rejection of Christ on the part of Israel, will be resumed in days yet to come, and that it is to this resumed testimony that much of Matt. 10. has its most definite application. See particularly verses 18, 22, 23, compared with Matt. 24:13, 1413But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. 14And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. (Matthew 24:13‑14); verses 35, 36, compared with Mic. 7:6,6For the son dishonoreth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law; a man's enemies are the men of his own house. (Micah 7:6) which evidently speaks of the final sins and sorrows of the house of Jacob. The rejection of Christ by Israel has not only made way for the existence of the kingdom of heaven in mystery, but also for a far deeper mystery, viz. the Church and its union with its Head in glory. When this is completed by the rapture of the saints, in order to the marriage of the Lamb in heaven, God will resume His dealings with His earthly people Israel and with the Gentiles, as such. Witnesses will be raised up to proclaim this Gospel of the kingdom to both Jews and Gentiles, and scarcely will they have finished their testimony ere the Son of man shall come. (See Rev. 11.; also 14:6, 7.) Any who wish to pursue this subject, I would refer to the papers already published in " The Prospect," entitled " The Testimony of the End," and "On the Gospel by St. Matthew," (particularly the remarks at the close,) which throw much light on this deeply interesting inquiry.
In chapter 11:11, John the Baptist is declared by our Lord to be as great as any that had been born of women. The Savior affirms, nevertheless, that the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. He had but announced its approach. The least of those who actually enjoy the blessedness of that reign of heaven, is in a position more blessed than John's. Our Lord then adds: “And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force."
Instead of its being an ordered, established system, into which men had been introduced at their birth, and in which all that was required of them was to walk obediently to the laws and ordinances thou existing, it was a kingdom preached as at hand, and the question was of entering into it. Such too was the total failure of man under the old system, and the rancorous opposition of his heart to the new kingdom and its accompaniments, that it was only at the risk, or even cost, of everything that anyone could enter in. It was only by bursting asunder every tie, doing violence to all the dictates and interests of nature, that anyone could enter in. It was grace, undoubtedly, that supplied the energy and fortitude thus to hate father, mother, brother, sister, houses, lands, yea, and a man's own life, for Christ's sake; still, that was the way in which grace led a man to act. And those who did not thus value Christ and the kingdom He proclaimed above everything besides, so as to abide the loss of all things for His sake, proved themselves unworthy of it, and failed to enter in.
Matt. 13. having been the subject of distinct consideration in a paper proceeding from the pen of one so much better able to expound it, (see "The Prospect," vol. i., page 121,) it requires the less notice here. It is, however, as any one may see, a chapter of the deepest importance in connection with our present subject. Israel's rejection of Messiah being fully manifested in chapter 12.,where we find that His brightest miracles were attributed by the Pharisees to Satanic power, our Lord pronounces on them the solemn sentence which closes His statements respecting the unclean spirit gone out of a man and walking in dry places, who in the end returns with seven others worse than himself, so that the last state of such a man is worse than the first. “Even so," says our Lord, “shall it be also unto this wicked generation." He further disowns all His natural links of relationship with the Jewish people, all the ties of kindred which, as the seed of David according to the flesh, united Him to them. "Who is my mother? and who are my brethren?" he inquires. “And he stretched forth his hands toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother, and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother." It is immediately after this that he speaks the seven parables, which we find in chapter 13.; the whole affording to us full instruction in the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.
The first parable is not a representation of the kingdom, but of the work by which the kingdom is formed. It is the basis on which all the other parables in the chapter are founded. "Behold, a sower went forth to sow." Israel had been the vineyard of the Lord of hosts, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant. (See Is. 5.) But now that all His care in planting and cultivating it was repaid with nothing but wild grapes, He was about to execute the long threatened judgment, and give it up to the destroyer. Hence, it is not now the care of a vineyard, but an entirely new beginning. “A sower went forth to sow." The details of the parable are well known. The seed falls on four descriptions of ground; in one only does it bring forth fruit. Striking picture of what the various results of the preaching of the word have been! How futile the hope, that because the Gospel testimony was to be everywhere proclaimed, universal blessing would be the result! It is true that the sower went forth to sow; he was not confined within the limits, nor was be occupied with the culture, of the Jewish vineyard. Gentiles as well as Jews were to hear the word of the kingdom. Yea, it was to be preached everywhere. But with what varying results! And how small, when compared with the aggregate, the, result in blessing! May we hearken to the admonition: "Who hath ears to hear, let him hear."
The disciples inquire of our Lord His reason for speaking to the multitudes in parables. His answer is most important: "Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given." He thus declares the period to have arrived which had been long foretold by the prophet Isaiah. “Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And be shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling, and for a rock of offence, to both the houses of Israel; for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken. Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. And I will wait upon the Lord that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him."
(Is. 8:13-17.) Surely, Jehovah of hosts was now beginning, in the most definite souse, to hide His face from the house of Jacob, when to the disciples it was given to know the mysteries of the kingdom, which were hidden from the multitude. “Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples." Our Lord quotes another prophecy of Isaiah, which was now receiving its accomplishment. "And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: for this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them." These words, quoted from Is. 6:9, 10, are connected there with what follows. The prophet says: "Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without may and the laud be utterly desolate, and the Lord have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land." The Savior's quotation from this passage is significant; it decides that this predicted period of Israel's desolation is the period during which the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven have their existence and development.
To the disciples our blessed Lord explains the parable of the sower, and speaks another—that of the wheat and tares. This He gives as a representation of the kingdom of heaven. "The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field." I need not quote the parable at length. The Savior explains it also (after speaking two others in the presence of the people) to His disciples. The field, He says, is the world he that sowed the good seed is the Son of man. The good seed are the children of the kingdom. The tares are the children of the wicked one. The enemy that sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age. The reapers are the angels. Let us consider these things for a moment. We have seen in the first parable that though the sowing is universal, the fruit—the result in blessing—is partial and limited. Here, in this second parable, Satan himself turns sower. Time field is indeed the world; but the scene of Satan's operations is not here so much the world at large, where the seed has been sown, but that part of it where the seed has got root and is growing up. It is the introduction, by Satan, of positive evil, where the Son of man had wrought blessing. The good seed here is not the word. It is explained to be “the children of the kingdom." The tares also are not false doctrines, (though it may be by these that Satan works,) but evil persons. “The tares are the children of the wicked one." In a word, what we have here is the corruption of Christianity. And we are assured most definitely that when this effect of Satan's enmity and man's supineness (" while men slept the enemy sowed tares") has once been accomplished, it will not be set aside till the harvest at the end of the age. Then the tares are to be gathered together first in bundles to be burnt, and the wheat gathered into the barn. This gathering into the barn I should not myself judge to be the rapture of the saints. Entirely can I concur in what has been taught by another. (See “The Prospect," vol. 1., page 100.) “The Church, I feel fully assured, will be caught up to the Lord before the week opens, before the Anti-Christ rises. How is this? it will be said. Are not the saints in this dispensation the children of the kingdom,' and has it not just been stated that they will be on earth to the end? Yes; the member's of Christ's mystical body, the Church, are surely the children of the kingdom; but this is no reason that they exclusively are such. The children of the kingdom I take to be a phrase of very general meaning, embracing all the people of God between the Lord's first coming in grace, and His second coming in judgment—between the cross and the glory. What the Lord means to say is, I believe, that the wicked one and the righteous (the latter meaning the Church of God in the first place, and then after they are caught up, the Jewish, remnant, who will then be raised up,) shall continue together on earth till the end ... ..Then there is another point. When the Lord speaks of the tares and the wheat, as thus growing together, as they are doing at present we must view this as representing the condition of things, as a whole, between his first and last coming, without taking into account the fact that, during that time, generation after generation, both of the righteous and wicked, die off-that there is constant succession-incessant fluctuation, altogether different from that from whence the image is borrowed; seeing that, in the natural world, the very same seed that is sown in one month springs up and is reaped in another. But, on the Other hand, when we actually come to the time of harvest, then we must lose sight of the past generations, rising and dying one after another, in constant succession, and look alone at the generation alive at the time. And these only will be dealt with in that day of Christ's coming. These only, I say, seeing that the wicked of former generations will not then be raised from their graves, but will be reserved for judgment after the thousand years are expired; (Rev. 20:7-157And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 8And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. 9And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. 10And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. 11And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:7‑15);) while the Church of God, on the other baud, will have been caught up to heaven before the week opens. 1 Thess. 4:16-1816For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:16‑18).) This then, I believe, quite determines who the wheat are at the time of the harvest, namely, the Jewish remnant—the righteous ones on the earth at that time."
In this parable, and the explanation of it, the term "kingdom of heaven" is evidently used in its widest sense, as including all who nominally own the supremacy of Christ during his absence from the earth, whether they be wheat or tares, false professors or true subjects of Christ. At the time of the end, when the kingdom passes from its present mysterious state to that of open manifestation, all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, shall be gathered out of it After that, the righteous shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father, the heavenly department of that glorious kingdom as it shall exist after the return of Jesus, When all things shall be gathered together in one, (even in Him,) both which are in heaven and which are on earth. Blessed prospect! May the brightness of it cast a cloud upon all earthly glory in our eyes, beloved; and may we look for and haste unto the coming of that day of God, in which this heavenly luster shall crown all those who have been the companions and followers of Jesus in his tribulations.
The two parables of the mustard seed and leaven would seem to represent the kingdom of heaven in the same large and outward aspect as that in which it is viewed in the parable of the wheat and tares. There is no doubt that, to an intelligent, instructed Christian, it must appear evil that Christianity, which, in its earliest and purest clays, was the object of universal obloquy and scorn, should come to bear a. character and occupy a position in the world represented by the emblem of a great tree,—the symbol in prophecy of worldly magnificence and power. (See Dan. 4. Ezek. 31., &c.) Still, it does not seem as though it was the evil of this which the parable of the mustard seed sets forth, so much as the great external fact that what was at its beginning so small and so despised should eventually become great in the earth, and afford shelter to those who were originally its opposers. (Compare 5:32 with 5:4.) The parable of the leaven appears to be our Lord's answer to the enquiry which may well arise in the mind: By what sudden convulsion, by what unhooked for event, is this change to be accomplished? The answer is, that it is not by any mighty convulsion or sudden change, but by a process thus represented: "The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened." This wondrous transformation of what was, at its outset, the weakest and most despised thing on earth, to the state in which Christianity now exists around us, associated with everything of earthly power and glory, was to be effected by a slow, gradual, imperceptible process like the working of leaven in meal! These four parables, be it remembered, were spoken to the multitudes. They all describe great public facts which, as such, the natural mind can recognize. The preaching of the word, with its varied results—the corruption of Christianity and the continuance, to the end, of the evil when once introduced, as well as the judgment by which, at the end of the age, it will be purged out-the growth of Christianity from its once despised and feeble condition as respects the earth, to a state of earthly splendor power, and glory—the silent, gentle, gradual character of the process which this last result has been brought about—all these are historical facts which are not only capable of being recognized, but which, as far as they have gone, have been recognized by mere natural men. The explanation of the two first parables, and the three last parables themselves, were spoken to the disciples apart from the multitude,; thus indicating, as another has taught, that there were secrets in them which it required a spiritual mind—the intelligence and affection of a disciple—to appreciate. How blessedly perfect; is God's precious word!
The two unexplained parables—that of the treasure hid in the field—and that of the merchantman seeking goodly pearls-would seem to teach us, that within the external sphere to which the four parables already considered apply themselves, there was something hid which was at once so precious in Christ's estimation and so beautiful in His eyes, that for the joy of possessing Himself of this treasure, this pearl, He could gladly forego for the present all his Messiah rights and glories, and go down into the very dust of death, selling all that He had to buy it. Can we fail to be reminded by this of that wonderful word: “Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it.... that He might present it to Himself!”It is true that in the work by which He accomplished the purchase of this jewel of His heart, He also laid the foundation, and the only foundation, for the future glories of His kingdom, when He shall reign in peace over all the earth. He bought the field which contained the treasure; and thus the field is His for all the display of His glory and the accomplishment of all the purposes of God as to it. But His motive—that for the joy of which He, for the present, could forego the assertion of His titles and the revealing of His glory—was the possession of this bidden treasure, this goodly pearl! Oh! what intensity of love, what devotedness and unsparingness of service, become those who are taught of the Holy Ghost that Christ has thus loved and thus given himself for them! May our hearts better know the overwhelming power of the love of Christ thus displayed!
The parable of the net presents us with the discrimination, at the close, between all this which has really been the object of Christ's heart and of God's purposes throughout, and that which has been throughout this mysterious period outwardly associated with it. The thought of the beloved brother whose paper on Matt. 13 has been more than once referred to already, commends itself greatly to my own soul: viz. that this discrimination is of two kinds. First, as on the part of the fishermen who gather the good into vessels and cast the bad away. Secondly, as on the part of the angels who do not concern themselves about the good here at all, but sever the wicked from among time just, and east; them into the furnace of fire. Might we not gather from this that, in the intention of God, there was to be a separation, first, morally by His Spirit, and those in and by whom He acts—and there the object is to gather the good into vessels: it is separation to God, and according to His mind and heart. Then, finally, there is a process of judgment in which the angels are the executioners, and the wicked the objects, who are " cast into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth."
This closes the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. From the era of this judicial separation, whether viewed as in the parable of the wheat and tares, or as in this closing parable of the net, all is in open manifestation. The righteous shining forth as the sun in the heavenly kingdom of their Father; the Son of man openly exercising His royal power in His kingdom below, out of which all that offends and them which do iniquity have been gathered.
"Jesus saith unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They say unto him, Yea, Lord. Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe instructed unto the kingdom of heaven, is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old." The Lord grant that, by the Spirit, these things may occupy our souls; and above all, that He, Himself, whose grace and glory are so touchingly displayed in every aspect of them, may become more and more the One object of our hearts.
The next mention of the kingdom of heaven is in chapter 16:19, where our Lord says to Peter: "And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earths, shall be loosed in heaven." There are three remarks which may be made as to the connection in which “kingdom of heaven" here occurs. First, it was clearly what had not then commenced. The kingdom had been preached by all the apostles as at hand, as well as by our Lord and His forerunner. But Peter was to open the kingdom, as we know he did, at Pentecost, to the Jews, and in the house of Cornelius to the Gentiles. Secondly, the kingdom, the administration of which was thus entrusted to Peter, is clearly not the millennial kingdom treated of in No. 1, and which is still future. Thirdly, it is distinguished from the Church, by our Lord himself, in the passage before us no says: “Upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven," &c. No doubt those who entered in when the kingdom was opened, whether to Jews or Gentiles, were members of the Church of God; but " the kingdom of heaven," as we have seen in chapter 13., includes tares as well as wheat; and is likened to the mustard tree, the leaven, and the net, as well as to the treasure and the pearl.
“Verily, I say unto you, There be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of man coming in His kingdom." (Verse 28.) This is plainly another thing. This is the kingdom in which the Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father, with His angels, and reward every man according to his works. A specimen, a sample, a foreshadowing of the glory of this kingdom, Peter, James, and John were privileged to behold a few days after these words were spoken. A comparison of the passage with 2 Peter 1:16-18,16For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. 18And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount. (2 Peter 1:16‑18) will shew that this was the sense in which they saw the Son of man coming in His kingdom. It was a type or pledge, a revelation even to their senses of what the glory of that kingdom will be; not the kingdom as it exists now in mystery, but as it will exist in open display by and by.
Instead of taking the kingdom thus and introducing it at once, we have in the close of chapter 17 an affecting display of the depths of humiliation to which Jesus stooped. In chapter 18, we find this to be the rule for disciples in the kingdom as it now exists in mystery. The disciples ask: "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Jesus answers by calling a little child and setting him in the midst of them, and saying: "Verily, I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever, therefore, shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven." Wondrous, blessed lesson! That he who willingly becomes the least, is really the greatest in the kingdom of heaven! None so great as the holy One whose words we are listening to! And who can stoop so low as He did? As for us, in taking the low place, we do but take our own. He thought it not robbery to be equal with God, and yet made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant. Oh! that the mind which was in Him might also be in us.
One lesson as to the spirit and conduct befitting this kingdom of heaven we have had already in chapter 18. The close of it presents us with another. Humility at the beginning; grace and forgiveness of trespasses at the end. For another view of the parable at the close of this chapter, see the paper before referred to, page 130, vol. 1. of “The Prospect."
Matt. 19:1212For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother's womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it. (Matthew 19:12) speaks of an extraordinary measure of separation to God, for the kingdom of heaven's sake, on the part of some. It is, I suppose, the carrying out, through grace, of the principle of Matt. 11:1212And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. (Matthew 11:12) to the utmost possible limits, in certain special eases where there was not grace only, but special gift and power for this end. (See 1 Cor. 7:2626I suppose therefore that this is good for the present distress, I say, that it is good for a man so to be. (1 Corinthians 7:26); also verse 17 of the same chapter.)
Matt. 19:1414But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 19:14) would connect itself with the passage already touched upon in chapter 18:3. Verses 23 and 24 would show the need of that violence, through grace, which is the subject of chapter 11:12. It was a question of forsaking all and following Christ—a Christ who was not about at once to ascend the throne and wield the scepter of His father David, but who was first to be rejected and crucified. The riches and honors of this world were such an hindrance to anyone who had them, in thus following a rejected Christ, that nothing could overcome it, or enable any one to overcome it, but the almighty power of God. "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."
It is upon this that Peter asks a question, to which our Lord gives a twofold reply: "Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee: what shall we have therefore?” What Peter states is a fact. He and his fellow-apostles had really forsaken all to follow Christ; and this our Lord in His first answer owns. But evidently there was something of self-importance and self-gratulation at the bottom of Peter's question: “What shall WE have therefore?" It was something of the same spirit as had suggested the inquiry in chapter 18., " Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? " Peter's question would intimate that none could ever evince the self-devotion which they had evinced, or have the claim on Christ which they had. It is as though he would make Christ debtor to himself and his fellow-disciples. "What shall we have therefore?"
This our Lord meets in the parable which follows. First, however, let us look at His promise to Peter and the rest. "And Jesus said unto them, Verily, I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." Peter asks, What shall we have therefore? and our Lord replies, that is what you shall have. But is it not as though he added, Do not suppose that you are the only persons who have forsaken, or who will have forsaken, all for my name's sake, and who shall be rewarded in the kingdom. "And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life." Peter was not to suppose that to sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel, was the only reward that the glorified Son of man will distribute at his coming. The fact is, that Peter himself, and the other apostles, as members of Christ's body, of His flesh, and of His bones, co-heirs with Him and with all who are His members thus, will inherit a higher place of glory than the sitting on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Peter would, as it were, have made a compact with our Lord; and had he been excluded from all that is not comprised in the promise here made to him, there are glories in which he would not have shared, which fall to the lot of us poor sinners of the Gentiles. Peter was to understand that there would be others to be rewarded besides the apostles; yea, and he was not to suppose that because the apostles were first in order of time, their reward would necessarily be greater than that of those who came after them. "But many that are first shall be last, and the last shall be first. For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder," &c. (20:1-16.) If we seek to make the Lord our debtor, we must not complain if we find that He gives us barely what we agree with Him for, and gives quite as much to others who enter the vineyard almost at the close of the day. The "kingdom of heaven" is clearly distinguished here from "the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of His glory." It is in the kingdom of heaven that the service is rendered —the labor accomplished— which meets its reward in “the regeneration," when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of His glory.
The request preferred by the mother of Zebedee's children, in verses 20, 21 of this chapter, is another expression of the same spirit which our Lord had been correcting in the parable of the laborers. The blessed Savior assures them that they shall drink of His cup and be baptized with His baptism, but the place they shall fill in His kingdom He leaves to His Father's will; taking occasion from the whole to put in contrast the ways of the Gentiles, of which these disciples so much savored, and the ways of His kingdom in its present mysterious state. He, the King, came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many; and what but to tread in His steps can become those who are the subjects, during His rejection, of the kingdom of heaven?
The beginning of chapter 21 presents us with a little pledge of that future kingdom which awaits our Lord, when the whole nation shall say, what the multitude of the disciples then said: " Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord; hosanna in the highest! “Full proof was given at once, however, that the nation was not ready for that kingdom then. The very cries of the children in the temple who said Hosanna, awoke the indignation of the chief priests and scribes: “they were sore displeased." The kingdom could not therefore be then set up in power, and the glory of it be introduced. Nevertheless, a kingdom had come nigh to them; and our Lord, by the parable of the two sons, to whom the father said, " Go, work to-day in my vineyard," presses on his hearers the solemn truth that the publicans and harlots were more ready to go into the kingdom of God than the most religious people of that day.
In the next parable, verses 33-44, Jesus takes a review of all God's dealings with that nation. He had let out His vineyard to husbandman, and sent, time after time, to receive the fruits; but of His servants they beat one, and kill another, and are now about to slay the Son and Heir whom the owner of the vineyard had last of all sent, saying: “They will reverence my Son." 'What can be done to these husbandman by the Lord of the vineyard? Even they themselves answer: "He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out His vineyard to other husbandmen, which shall render Him the fruits in their seasons." How solemn the reply of Jesus! “Did ye never read in the Scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes? Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof."
All hope of Israel's present reception of the kingdom, as promised to them of old time, being thus cut off our Lord goes on in chapter 22 to present another likeness, or comparison, of that "kingdom of heaven" which was to intervene between that crisis and the one yet future, when the Son of man shall be revealed, and sit upon the throne of His glory. A marriage feast made ready by the king in honor of His son, and His servants sent out to invite the guests, is a different thing from a vineyard let out to husband-men, and the servants sent to require the fruit. But, alas! the heart of man has no worthier answer to the grace and goodness of the one than to the just and righteous claims of the other. They make light of the invitation, and spitefully entreat and slay the servants who are the bearers of it. This fills up the measure of their iniquity, and the king sends forth his armies (the Romans) and destroys those murderers, and burns up their city. But is His grace to be disappointed, and His table unfurnished with guests? No: the servants are sent out into the highways to gather together all, as many as they find, good and bad, and in the end the wedding is furnished with guests. Precious testimony of the grace which now gathers us, irrespective of what we are, to share the feast and enjoy the blessedness which God, of His own grace, and for the honor of His Son, has prepared for us! One solemn word there is at the close of this parable, (may our hearts deeply and fully learn it!) that, even as the freeness of the invitation is all the warrant we need to enter, so surely, if that has reached our hearts and wrought effectually there, the wedding garment will be worn by us as our only title to sit at the table. Christ will be all our confidence, all our hope. It is this that distinguishes between the real and the fictitious, the true and the false, in the kingdom of heaven.
In chapter 23:13, the Lord denounces a fearful woe upon the scribes and Pharisees, because they will not enter this kingdom of heaven themselves, and because they do what they can to hinder others from entering in besides.
The remaining notices of the kingdom, and parables respecting it in chapters 24, 25, and 26 of this Gospel, have been already so fully discussed in the paper on the Gospel according to Matthew, page 121, vol. 1. of "The Prospect," that I would simply refer the reader to its contents, and here, for the present, close my remarks. It may be that, if the Lord should tarry, opportunity may be afforded of going through the other Gospels also, noticing any points of difference in the light in which they present the kingdom, as compared with this Gospel of Matthew; and touching upon the passages in the Acts and Epistles too. But this is in our Father's hands. May He, of his grace, make all our inquiries into His precious Word effectual to the sanctification of our souls, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.
W. T.