These things are directly prophetical of the events occurring in Matt. 17 which is intimately linked with Matt. 3 where John is shown in connection with Jesus as the witness against the corrupted system. Here Jesus is the link between the old and the new. The same voice being borne to Him on each occasion from God the Father, giving Him honor and glory. John's baptism is used by the Holy Spirit as the occasion of the beginning of the anointing, and on the Mount of transfiguration that unto which He was anointed is manifested, but having expressly in view the sacrifice which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem (Luke 9:31), as also at His baptism and anointing (John 1:29). By the baptism of water He was shown to be the Prophet like unto Moses, from among the people (Ishui). By the anointing of the Spirit and the witness of John He is declared to be Priest and Sacrifice (Jonathan— “gift of God"), and now on the mount He is manifested to be the King (Melchi-shuah)
In the mount of transfiguration four representatives of the family of the man of faith (Jesse— “the old man"?—Abraham) are passed in review before the Holy Spirit, of whom Samuel is a type (Samuel “given of God in answer to prayer.” Luke 11:18), namely, Moses (“the law.” Eliab— “to whom God was a father"). Elijah ("the prophets,” Abinadab.— “whose father is noble") the disciples (the remnant of Israel. Isa. 52:14. Shammah— “astonishment,” Matt. 17:4, 6, 7), and lastly, Jesus Himself. Noting the fact that Elijah appears as representing two classes of which himself and John the Baptist were the types.
There are seven representative men brought together and none chosen—Moses, Elijah, John Baptist, Peter, James, John, and Jesus who was indeed to be chosen, but being rejected of man could not be chosen of God as the one among His brethren, since as such He had another work to do; but must be brought out from keeping the sheep into the house of bread (Bethlehem), and anointed there as one not of that generation (Isa. 53:8), apart from His brethren, so that though reckoned as of Jesse's family—one of the seven (1 Sam. 16:10)—the seventh (1 Chron. 15), yet if He is to be anointed for the kingdom, it must be as the eighth man—the head of the new creation—the first begotten from the dead; for while Peter is proposing to associate Him with Moses and Elias, the voice of God comes from the excellent glory, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight hear him” (compare 1 Sam. 16:12, Matt. 17:6) so that Jesus also represents two classes. He is the last Adam and the second Man—the finish of the old and the beginning of the new creation.
1 Sam. 16:14-23 describes the state of the Jewish politico-religious system as rejected of God, our Lord's connection with it as such, and the character of His ministry to it as the one anointed to supersede it. The Spirit of Jehovah departs from Saul and an evil spirit from Jehovah troubles and terrifies him, and Saul's servants, telling him so plainly, suggest that a man who is a cunning player on a harp should be sought out and brought to him, so that, when the evil spirit from God was upon him, the man might play with his hand, and be should be well. Saul assents; and one of his servants mentions having seen a son of Jesse; the Bethlehemite, cunning in playing, a mighty valiant man, a man of war, prudent in speech, a comely person, and Jehovah was with him. Saul thereupon sends to Jesse, saying, “Send me David thy son, who is with the sheep. And Jesse took a homer of bread, a bottle of wine, and a kid, and sent them by David his son to Saul. And David came to Saul, and stood before him, and he loved him greatly, and he became his armor-bearer. And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, Let David, I pray thee, stand before me, for he hath found favor in my sight. And it came to pass when the spirit from God was upon Saul, David took the harp and played with his hand. So Saul was refreshed and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.”
So from the time that the Lord was manifested on the mount as the Son of man coming in His kingdom, He takes a place entirely distinct from the Jewish system, and through all His connection with it, from this time there is no thought of restoring but of destroying it, and the secret establishing of that which was superseding it. It had rejected the witness of God and His promised restoring grace by Elijah in slaying John Baptist. (Mal. 4:5, 6.) This had been the deed of the political power in Herod, and now it was accomplishing its rejection of God in also slaying the Son of man (Matt. 17:11, 12), and this, by the religious power in conjunction too with the political, just as God had been rejected in Samuel (the representative of the law and the prophets) through political pride (1 Sam. 8:19, 20), and afterward in Jonathan (the heir to the kingdom) through spiritual pride. (1 Sam. 14:38, 44.) So that now a new thing must be brought in, but silently and in secret until God's long-suffering had run its course.
But as David for Saul, so the Lord has a work of power and grace to do for the evil thing which had compassed His death. The door of hope had been finally and forever closed upon the old, as to restoration by Him who was the rightful heir, before the new was manifested, for from that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He MUST BE killed (Matt. 16:21); and not only as the Christ should He be rejected, but as Son of man also. It was the religious power that rejected and slew Him as the Christ, but in His character as Son of man were His claims denied and Himself slain by both the political and religious powers. Therefore when speaking of His death as Son of man, He connects it with that of John the Baptist, who had been slain by Herod; and as Son of mall, the Lord shows that the whole world would be concerned in His rejection, that “men” would kill Him—Jew and Gentile. (Matt. 17:22.)
But the cause which lay at the root of the failure and complete powerlessness of the old thing, and the only source of power in the new, is brought out by the Lord in the case of the lunatic boy. On previous occasions it had been called by the Lord Jesus wicked and adulterous, yet one where grace could work; but now He describes it as an unbelieving and perverted one, where even grace could find no room for exercise; and He sighs for the time when He shall be delivered from it (ver. 17), and in this sweeping censure He includes all in the measure that they were bound to it—disciples, the father of the lad, the great crowd, and the scribes. (Matt. 17:20; Mark 9:14-25; Luke 9:37-41.) This character of unbelief which spread like a leprosy through the earthly system and all it attached to itself—looking upon the things which are seen and endure but for a time, and being blind to the things unseen but eternal, manifesting itself even in the remnant of faith by an averseness to spiritual exercises (ver. 21)—was the canker which ate the heart out of the Jewish system, leaving it but a shell which outwardly promised well, but which, when the time came for it to blossom into perfection, withered into dust and ashes.
In verse 19 the Lord shows that faith alone would be of value in the new thing about to supersede it, by which the grace and gifts of God coming down upon the thing powerless in itself, yet containing in itself the germs of life, would cause it to spring up and bear fruit to His glory, as even the grain of mustard seed, insignificant, apparently lifeless, fruitless, until in the earth the gracious influences of God descend upon it, when the life is manifested, and it springs up and bears fruit many fold.
When the power of Jesus in casting out the evil spirits is brought into notice, it is in connection with the kingdom and Himself as the anointed One (Matt. 4:24; 8:11, 16, 34; 10:7, 8; 11:22, 28; Acts 10:38), with power to do so with a word, while the Jewish system was quite unable to deliver its children from the terrible affliction.
The state of Saul troubled by the evil spirit from the Lord, and that of the lunatic lad possessed of a demon, are remarkable illustrations of the condition of the Jewish system at this time, restless and disturbed, and ever being driven by the powers of evil into opposite extremes of rigid formalism or skeptical laxity; and even as all Saul's servants were powerless for good, and David only by his skillful playing could deliver him, so not even the disciples, being as to their faith still connected with the Jewish system, but Jesus alone was able to cast out the demon from the lunatic lad. David's position in the household of Saul is also an exact type of the relation in which Jesus stood to the Jewish system; apparently its servant, but in the secret counsel of God anointed to supersede it, who as its servant brought it nourishment in the revelation of the mind of God, bore its armor in giving spiritual power to all who followed Him, and cured all its ills, moral or physical, by the word of truth and power. This double character of the Lord Jesus is shown clearly in Matt. 17:24-27, where the collectors of the tribute, which every Jew paid to the temple, claim it from Jesus, who at once asserts His right and that of His disciples to exemption, but notwithstanding commands Peter to obtain it from the mouth of a fish and pay it for both, as in a way still owning allegiance.
It is at this time also that the disciples come into some measure of knowledge regarding the establishment of the new kingdom, and begin to question and dispute as to their place in it, having a very vague conception of its spiritual character, and of what would befit them as subjects of it. Taking occasion upon a question asked by them as to who should be the greatest in it, the Lord very fully developer (Matt. 18) the character of its subjects, namely, little ones severed from every worldly bond, lost ones brought into the Father's presence, its constitution and governing power, His name and Himself, with its law—that of love. (Ver. 21-35.)
Matt. 19:1, 2, presents the Lord as the one who by His skill was able to refresh and heal and dispel for the time being all the evil that oppressed those with whom His life on earth was linked. From verse 3 to 10 He substitutes the law of the new kingdom for that of the old system. From verse 10 to 12 He shows that only those who are content to be separated from every fleshly gratification should possess the fullness of blessing. In verses 13-15 the Lord declares that little children, and by implication those who like them are helpless and trustful, are the inheritors of the kingdom of the heavens. From verse 16 is shown that natural man at his very best estate, brought to his utmost perfection, is, when all is done, utterly worthless, altogether vanity, and only to be rejected, since earthly things are to him of more value than the things of God; and that of those who do leave all and follow. Him, it is not the service which He delights in and rewards, so much as the faith end obedience which is the spring of that service (10:1-16). And this being the case, there would be many go in to work in the expectation of, and right to, very little recompense, who would yet receive as much when pay-time came as those who, like Peter, would bargain to work for a certain wage, so that the last would be more blest than the first, though each would receive equal wages. From verse 17 the blessed Lord explains to His disciples that the new kingdom can only be built up on the perfect obliteration of the old, and that in the slaying of Him who was its rightful heir, and heir of all things, by those whom He had come to rule, and that therefore like Abraham they must be content to give up the only-begotten, in whom they justly expected the fulfillment of the promises of God, and to count that God was able to raise Him from the dead, and consequently to desire and look for nothing that was inconsistent with His character as the risen man—the new man Christ Jesus. But, just as on a previous occasion, Peter desired to gratify his natural affection at the expense of the will and work of God, so now John and his brother and mother wish to satisfy a natural ambition, praiseworthy as to flesh, and to do so at all risks, cost what it may, the rest of the disciples being filled with the same fleshliness. With what gentleness and love does the Lord show that they will have to drink a cup of death to all their earthly expectations, and to have their hopes and joy where He had His, beyond the grave in heavenly blessings, and that in His kingdom they should possess lordship and authority who were readiest to serve.
Verse 29-34. The Lord is seen to be still ministering to the need of those belonging to the old, but yet in answer to the cry of faith which looked out for the fulfillment of promise, and claimed blessing on that score. The two blind men illustrate the position of the faithful remnant of that time and of the time yet coming, which are but one generation, who, when the heavenly thing is gone from the earth, will be found crying to the Lord for sight and laying hold of the promises given in the Son of David (Psa. 13:3), and even as the then remnant had sight restored and were led out to follow
Jesus, so the blind but crying one of the coming time will be visited with mercy and healing, and will be led to follow Jesus into perfect blessing.
In Matt. 21 the Lord Jesus presents Himself as the king, Messiah, the deliverer promised to Israel, according to the word of the Lord by Zech. 9:9, only to be rejected by the nation as represented in the governing powers, the chief priests and scribes, though acknowledged thoughtlessly by the rabble and the children, yet meeting every need wherever it presented itself, and showing that, since the wise and strong ones had rejected Him, it was left to the babes and suckling the simple and weak ones—to receive Him, and the promised blessing. Then follows (ver. 17 -22) an incident designed to show that God's long-suffering had passed its last limit, and that now remained nothing but the irrevocable curse for the politico-religious system which had rejected and compassed the death of its Head and ruler. This was set forth in the fig-tree which, in spite of every favoring circumstance, yet had nothing but leaves, and was withered forever. The Lord at the same time takes occasion to show those who, as the vine, were to replace the withered fig-tree, as the fruit bearer on the earth to Him, the power by which alone any good could come from them, namely, faith.
The Lord had come into Jerusalem as the One of whom the prophets had spoken—the great King, anointed of God to deliver His people and bring the whole earth under His sway; ready to perform the work, subject only to one condition, namely, that the people should be prepared to receive Him. If He is to fulfill the whole word, and to have His dominion from sea to sea,) and from the river to the ends of the earth, then He must be the just and the saved one; but if He is to save Himself, He cannot save His people, neither can He come as the meek and lowly one but as the avenger. Therefore does He choose the meek and lowly part—to be Himself cut off and have nothing, in order that He may come in grace and not in judgment, in salvation not in wrath.
The Holy Spirit therefore, in quoting the word of the prophet, only quotes so much as the Lord took upon Himself to fulfill at that time. Jesus then enters into the temple as prepared to fulfill the promise of the Lord by Isaiah (chap. 56.), which was made conditional upon the keeping of equity and the doing justice, but finds that, instead of being fit for a house of prayer for all people, into which place of honor and glory He would then have brought it, they had made it a den of robbers, according to the word of the Lord by Jeremiah. (Chap. 7: 11.) They had refused to amend their ways and their doings—had refused to execute judgment between a man and his neighbor—had continued to oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow had trusted in lying words while keeping up all the outward forms of religion, coming into the house of God as though it were their place, yet all the while filling their hearts with their covetousness: thus making it in truth in God's sight, and treating it in their own hearts, as being a den of robbers, laying themselves and the Sanctuary open therefore to the Curse which Jehovah had pronounced upon it in such a case. The Lord, however comes in in this extremity of evil, casts out all that sold and bought, and makes what had been a den of robbers a place of healing and blessing; but this only brings out a more determined rejection of Him and the salvation He brought, for the scribes and Pharisees were indignant, and shew how utterly they denied His chains by drawing attention to the acknowledgment of them as a thing worthy of rebuke, even though it proceeded from the mouths of children; so sensitive had jealousy made them. Replying to them, Jesus shows to them from Psa. 8 that God had expressly revealed His purpose to bring in the promised universal salvation and blessing upon the acknowledgment of His glory by the weak and ignorant ones, choosing the foolish and the weak things of the world to put to shame the wise and strong.
The next day, when teaching in the temple, He proves to them that their wisdom was the cause of their ignorance, their foresight the reason of their blindness for questioning Him as to His authority for doing the things He did, He agrees to tell them, providing they tell Him from whence came the baptism of John. They, instead of replying upon the facts of the case, reason among themselves in order to make their answer fit their policy, and, this being impossible, they profess ignorance. Since therefore they are willfully blind as to John's mission, He leaves them willfully ignorant as to His authority, but lays bare their state of heart, and convicts them of hypocrisy in the parable of the man who commanded his two children to go work in his vineyard: the one who refused, but, afterward repenting, went, and the other who said, I go, sir, but went not.
In the two succeeding parables the Lord most powerfully brings before them the utter desolation which should overtake them and theirs in consequence of their unfaithfulness and terrible sin as servants and fruit-bearers to God; causing them to convict themselves out of their own mouth, and proving to them from scripture (Psa. 118) that their work as builders of the Lord's house was without avail and vanity, since they refused to build on the stone which God had appointed for a foundation: going further, to show that the stone which they rejected would become to them a rock of vengeance and destruction.
The death of Jesus is now a thing thoroughly settled and determined, only delayed until the plan of carrying it out is matured. The Lord having declared the utter rejection of the Jewish system because of unfaithfulness as servants under responsibility, He next proceeds to hew their refusal and contempt of the bounty of God, and consequent rejection as the guests of grace.
This plain speaking stirs up all the powers of the enemy, who comes against Him in the threefold manifestations of evil, namely, the world, the flesh, and the devil: the political, the sensual, and the religious: the Herodians; the Sadducees, and the Pharisees; and they each attack Him upon ground of their own choosing, each to be utterly discomfited in turn, and in proportion to the strength and artfulness of the attack, routing the first by showing what was due, as a matter of right, to God as Supreme; the second, by what was consistent, as a matter of reason, with God's nature as the Eternal; the religious enemy He takes upon the ground of religious obligation to the God of Covenant the Jehovah God; answering in each case, not the direct question of the lips, but the thought of the heart; the motive, of which the question was but a blind. Then, gathering all their attacks into a single focus, He with one question meets and confounds them forever, presenting Himself as the complete answer to everything: for if the Christ were. David's Son, then He is the true King to whom everything must be rendered; the true Resurrection and the Life, the God of the living; and the Jehovah God, commanding the obedience of love.
(Continued from page 818)