Outline of the Gospel of Matthew - Part 7
The Bible Treasury, New Series
Volume 13 (1920)
When there is no longer the
testimony of God
that pierces the obdurate heart,
when they who
render it are no longer there,
the names of these
departed saints or prophets
become a means of
gaining religious reputation for
themselves. Present application of the truth is
lacking, the sword
of the Spirit is no longer in
the hands of those
who wielded it so well. To
honour those who have
passed away is the cheapest
means, on the contrary, for acquiring credit for
the men of this
generation. It is to swell the
great capital of
tradition out of those that once
served God, but
are now gone, whose testimony is
no longer a
sting to the guilty. Thus it is
evident, that as
their honour begins in death, so
it bears the sure
stamp of death upon it. Did they
plume themselves on the progress of the
age? Did they think
and say, If we had been in the
days of our fathers,
we would not have been partakers
with them in
the blood of the prophets? How
little they knew
in their own hearts! Their trial
was at hand.
Their real character would soon
appear, hypocrites
though they were, and a serpent
brood: how
could they escape the judgment
of hell? “Wherefore, behold,” says He,
after thus exposing and denouncing them, “I
send unto you
prophets, and wise men and
scribes: and some of
them ye shall kill and crucify;
and some of them
shall ye scourge in your
synagogues, and persecute
them from city to city.” It is
most eminently a
Jewish character and
circumstance of persecution
as the aim was the retributive
one, “that upon
you may come all the righteous
blood shed upon
the earth, from the blood of
righteous Abel, unto
the blood of Zacharias, son of
Barachias, whom
ye slew between the temple and
the altar, Verily,
I say unto you, all these things
shall come upon
this generation.” Yet, just as
the blessed Lord,
after pronouncing woes on Chorazin, Bethsaida,
and Capernaum, that had rejected
His words and
works, turned at once to the
infinite resources of
grace, and from the depth of His
own glory
brought in the secret of better
things to the poor
and needy; so it was that even
at this time, just
before He gave utterance to
these woes (s0 solemn
and fatal to the proud religious
guides of Israel),
He had, as we know from Luke
xix., wept over
the guilty city, out of which,
as His servants, so
their Lord could not perish.
Here, again, how
truly was His heart towards
them! “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that
killest the prophets,
and stonest them which are sent
unto thee, how
often would I have gathered thy
children together, even as a hen gathereth
her chickens under
her wings, and ye would not!
Behold, your house
is left unto you desolate.” It
is not “I leave,”
but your house is left unto you
desolate; “for
I say unto you, ye shall not see
me henceforth
[what bitterness of destitution
theirs—Messiah,
Jehovah Himself, rejecting those
who rejected
Him!] till ye shall say,
Blessed is he that cometh
in the name of the Lord.” Thus we have had our Lord
presenting Himself
as Jehovah the King; we have had
the various
classes putting themselves
forward to judge Him.
but, in fact, judged themselves
by Him.
There remains another. scene of
great. interest
linking itself on to His
farewell to the nation
just noticed. It is His last
communication to the
disciples in view of the future;
and this Matthew
gives in a very full and rich
manner. It would
be vain to attempt an exposition
of this prophetic
discourse within my assigned
limits. I will, therefore, but skim its surface now,
just enough to indicate its outlines, and
especially its distinctive
features, It is evident that the
greater completeness here exhibited beyond what
appears in any
other Gospel is according to
special design. In
the gospel given by the other
apostle, John, there
is not a word of it. Mark gives
his report very
particularly in connection with
the testimony of
God, as I hope to show when we
come to that
point. In Luke there is peculiar
distinctness in
noticing the Gentiles, and their
times of supremacy during the long period of
Israel's degradation, Again, it is only in
Matthew that we find
direct, allusion to the question
of the end of the
age, The reason is evident. ‘hat
consummation
. is the grand crisis for the
Jew. Matthew, writing under the Holy Ghost’s
direction for Israel,
in view both of the consequences
of their past
unfaithfulness and of that
future crisis, furnishes
alike. the momentous question
and the Lord’s
special answer to it, ‘This,
too, is the reason why
Matthew opens out what we do not
find in either
Mark or Luke, at least in this
connection, We
have here very comprehensively
the Christian part,
as it appears to me (i.e., what
belongs to the
disciples, viewed as professing
Christ's name when
Israel rejected Him). This suits
Matthew's view
of the prophecy; and the reason
is plain. Matthew shows us not only the
consequences of the
rejection of the Messiah to
Israel, but the change
of dispensation, or what would
follow on their
fatal opposition to One who was
their King, yea,
not only Messiah, but Jehovah.
The consequences
were to be, could not but be,
all-important; and
the Spirit here records this
portion of the Lord’s
prophecy most appropriately to
His purpose by
Matthew. Would not God turn the
Jewish rejection of that glorious Person
to some wondrous
and suitable account?
Accordingly this is what
we find here.” The order, though
different from
that which obtains elsewhere, is
regulated by perfect wisdom, First of all, the
Jews are taken up,
or the disciples as representing
them, where they
then were. They had not got
beyond their old
thoughts of the temple, those
buildings that had
excited their admiration and
awe.
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