THE LORD OF THE SABBATH. The hungry disciples: AT THAT TIME, JESUS WENT ON THE SABBATH DAY THROUGH THE CORN, AND HIS DISCIPLES WERE AN HUNGERED, AND BEGAN TO PLUCK THE EARS OF CORN, AND TO EAT. While Jesus was engaged in the work of His ministry in Galilee, He came into conflict with the Sabbath ob... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT WHEN THE PHARISEES SAW IT, THEY SAID UNTO HIM, BEHOLD, THY DISCIPLES DO THAT WHICH IS NOT LAWFUL TO DO UPON THE SABBATH DAY. The malicious faultfinders deliberately made a mountain out of a mole-hill and construed the action with their usual intolerance. The plucking to them became reaping, and... [ Continue Reading ]
The objection of the Pharisees:... [ Continue Reading ]
But He said unto them, Have ye not read what David did when he was an hungered, and they that were with him,... [ Continue Reading ]
how he entered into the house of God, and did eat the show-bread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?... [ Continue Reading ]
Or have ye not read in the Law how on the Sabbath days the priests in the Temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? Jesus had a most disconcerting way of quoting Scripture to His enemies, which usually resulted in their chagrin and shameful rout. He has two examples for them: David, in fleeing... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT I SAY UNTO YOU, THAT IN THIS PLACE IS ONE GREATER THAN THE TEMPLE.... [ Continue Reading ]
The application of the argument:... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT IF YE HAD KNOWN WHAT THIS MEANETH, I WILL HAVE MERCY AND NOT SACRIFICE, YE WOULD NOT HAVE CONDEMNED THE GUILTLESS.... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE SON OF MAN IS LORD EVEN OF THE SABBATH DAY. Christ's argument itself could not be challenged, but He now brings out the principles involved to reveal the smallness and the uncharitableness of their hearts. In the first place: He is greater than the Jewish Law and the Temple. What was permitt... [ Continue Reading ]
And when He was departed thence, He went into their synagogue.... [ Continue Reading ]
The application of these principles:... [ Continue Reading ]
AND, BEHOLD, THERE WAS A MAN WHICH HAD HIS HAND WITHERED, AND THEY ASKED HIM, SAYING, IS IT LAWFUL TO HEAL ON THE SABBATH DAYS? THAT THEY MIGHT ACCUSE HIM.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SAID UNTO THEM, WHAT MAN SHALL THERE BE AMONG YOU THAT SHALL HAVE ONE SHEEP, AND IF IT FALL INTO A PIT ON THE SABBATH DAY, WILL HE NOT LAY HOLD ON IT AND LIFT IT OUT?... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW MUCH, THEN, IS A MAN BETTER THAN A SHEEP! WHEREFORE IT IS LAWFUL TO DO WELL ON THE SABBATH DAYS.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN SAID HE TO THE MAN, STRETCH FORTH THINE HAND; AND HE STRETCHED IT FORTH, AND IT WAS RESTORED WHOLE, LIKE AS THE OTHER. The hatred of the Pharisees was intensified with each new defeat. They had received a well-deserved rebuke based upon Scriptural grounds, but they were determined to turn the a... [ Continue Reading ]
THE ENMITY OF THE PHARISEES AND CHRIST'S ANSWER. THEN THE PHARISEES WENT OUT AND HELD A COUNCIL AGAINST HIM, HOW THEY MIGHT DESTROY HIM. Overawed for the moment, and unable to formulate an answer, their envy and malice soon leads them from finding fault to plotting against the Lord's life. They cam... [ Continue Reading ]
But when Jesus knew it, He withdrew Himself from thence; and great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all,... [ Continue Reading ]
Jesus retires:... [ Continue Reading ]
AND CHARGED THEM THAT THEY SHOULD NOT MAKE HIM KNOWN,... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT IT MIGHT BE FULFILLED WHICH WAS SPOKEN BY ESAIAS THE PROPHET, SAYING,... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD MY SERVANT WHOM I HAVE CHOSEN, MY BELOVED IN WHOM MY SOUL IS WELL PLEASED: I WILL PUT MY SPIRIT UPON HIM, AND HE SHALL SHOW JUDGMENT TO THE GENTILES.... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SHALL NOT STRIVE NOR CRY, NEITHER SHALL ANY MAN HEAR HIS VOICE IN THE STREETS.... [ Continue Reading ]
A BRUISED REED SHALL HE NOT BREAK, AND SMOKING FLAX SHALL HE NOT QUENCH, TILL HE SEND FORTH JUDGMENT UNTO VICTORY.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IN HIS NAME SHALL THE GENTILES TRUST. The hour of Jesus had not yet come in which He would be delivered into the hands of His enemies, so He left the city in which He had had the encounter with the Pharisees. The spell of His personality and of His words was still upon the people, who followed H... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN WAS BROUGHT UNTO HIM. ONE POSSESSED WITH A DEVIL, BLIND, AND DUMB; AND HE HEALED HIM, INSOMUCH THAT THE BLIND AND DUMB BOTH SPAKE AND SAW. This narrative fittingly illustrates the gradual growth of opposition, hatred, enmity, malice, and calumny on the part of the Pharisees. A man was brought... [ Continue Reading ]
A demoniac healed:... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ALL THE PEOPLE WERE AMAZED AND SAID, IS NOT THIS THE SON OF DAVID? Their minds had not yet been saturated with the poison of enmity toward Christ; they were frankly overwhelmed by this new evidence of divine power, and openly declared their conviction that this man must be the Son of David in t... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT WHEN THE PHARISEES HEARD IT, THEY SAID, THIS FELLOW DOTH NOT CAST OUT DEVILS BUT BY BEELZEBUB, THE PRINCE OF THE DEVILS. This thought was provoked by the frank expression of amazement on the part of the people. Apparently, they did not voice their sentiments outside of their own circle, because... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JESUS KNEW THEIR THOUGHTS AND SAID UNTO THEM, EVERY KINGDOM DIVIDED AGAINST ITSELF IS BROUGHT TO DESOLATION; AND EVERY CITY OR HOUSE DIVIDED AGAINST ITSELF SHALL NOT STAND:... [ Continue Reading ]
Christ takes them to task:... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IF SATAN CAST OUT SATAN, HE IS DIVIDED AGAINST HIMSELF; HOW, THEN, SHALL HIS KINGDOM STAND?... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IF I BY BEELZEBUB CAST OUT DEVILS, BY WHOM DO YOUR CHILDREN CAST THEM OUT? THEREFORE THEY SHALL BE YOUR JUDGES.... [ Continue Reading ]
But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. Christ not only knew of the efforts of the Pharisees to discredit Him, but as He that searches hearts and minds He knew their very words, and therefore immediately shows the foolishness of such talk, the absurdi... [ Continue Reading ]
OR ELSE, HOW CAN ONE ENTER INTO A STRONG MAN'S HOUSE, AND SPOIL HIS GOODS, EXCEPT HE FIRST BIND THE STRONG MAN? AND THEN HE WILL SPOIL HIS HOUSE.... [ Continue Reading ]
Another illustration:... [ Continue Reading ]
HE THAT IS NOT WITH ME IS AGAINST ME; AND HE THAT GATHERETH NOT WITH ME SCATTERETH ABROAD. In case they were not yet convinced, He will attempt to establish His position by another parabolic saying. Every demoniac is a captive of Satan, bound, body and soul, in his power, to do his will. But Christ... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREFORE I SAY UNTO YOU, ALL MANNER OF SIN AND BLASPHEMY SHALL BE FORGIVEN UNTO MEN; BUT THE BLASPHEMY AGAINST THE HOLY GHOST SHALL NOT BE FORGIVEN UNTO MEN.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SIN AGAINST THE HOLY GHOST. A solemn warning:... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHOSOEVER SPEAKETH A WORD AGAINST THE SON OF MAN, IT SHALL BE FORGIVEN HIM; BUT WHOSOEVER SPEAKETH AGAINST THE HOLY GHOST, IT SHALL NOT BE FORGIVEN HIM, NEITHER IN THIS WORLD, NEITHER IN THE WORLD TO COME. The Jews were having their day of grace with manifestations of God's mercy such as had nev... [ Continue Reading ]
EITHER MAKE THE TREE GOOD AND HIS FRUIT GOOD, OR ELSE MAKE THE TREE CORRUPT AND HIS FRUIT CORRUPT; FOR THE TREE IS KNOWN BY HIS FRUIT.... [ Continue Reading ]
Kindred warnings:... [ Continue Reading ]
O GENERATION OF VIPERS, HOW CAN YE, BEING EVIL, SPEAK GOOD THINGS? FOR OUT OF THE ABUNDANCE OF THE HEART THE MOUTH SPEAKETH.... [ Continue Reading ]
A GOOD MAN, OUT OF THE GOOD TREASURE OF THE HEART, BRINGETH FORTH GOOD THINGS; AND AN EVIL MAN, OUT OF THE EVIL TREASURE, BRINGETH FORTH EVIL THINGS.... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT I SAY UNTO YOU, THAT EVERY IDLE WORD THAT MEN SHALL SPEAK, THEY SHALL GIVE ACCOUNT THEREOF IN THE DAY OF JUDGMENT.... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR BY THY WORDS THOU SHALL BE JUSTIFIED, AND BY THY WORDS THOU SHALT BE CONDEMNED. These words no longer describe the sin against the Holy Ghost, but they characterize the conduct of such as may be in danger of hardening their hearts against the benign influences of Christ and His Gospel-message. I... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SIGN FROM HEAVEN AND A WARNING. A request: THEN CERTAIN OF THE SCRIBES AND OF THE PHARISEES ANSWERED, SAYING, MASTER, WE WOULD SEE A SIGN FROM THEE. The emphatic manner of speaking which Christ had been employing may not have been without influence upon some of His hearers. Some of those that... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT HE ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO THEM, AN EVIL AND ADULTEROUS GENERATION SEEKETH AFTER A SIGN, AND THERE SHALL NO SIGN BE GIVEN TO IT BUT THE SIGN OF THE PROPHET JONAS.... [ Continue Reading ]
The refusal:... [ Continue Reading ]
For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. An evil brood and adulterous He calls them. He saw into their hearts and judged them accordingly. He knew what their purpose in asking a miracle was, s... [ Continue Reading ]
THE MEN OF NINEVEH SHALL RISE IN JUDGMENT WITH THIS GENERATION AND SHALL CONDEMN IT, BECAUSE THEY REPENTED AT THE PREACHING OF JONAS; AND, BEHOLD, A GREATER THAN JONAS IS HERE.... [ Continue Reading ]
A warning call:... [ Continue Reading ]
The queen of the South shall rise up in the Judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it; for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here. The mention of Jonas brings on the further thought. The Ninevites heard and... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THE UNCLEAN SPIRIT IS GONE OUT OF A MAN, HE WALKETH THROUGH DRY PLACES SEEKING REST, AND FINDETH NONE.... [ Continue Reading ]
A comparison:... [ Continue Reading ]
Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.... [ Continue Reading ]
Then goeth he and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation. The last words give the key to the entire passage. The people of that g... [ Continue Reading ]
WHILE HE YET TALKED TO THE PEOPLE, BEHOLD, HIS MOTHER AND HIS BRETHREN STOOD WITHOUT, DESIRING TO SPEAK WITH HIM.... [ Continue Reading ]
CHRIST'S RELATIVES. Matthew 12:46... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN ONE SAID UNTO HIM, BEHOLD, THY MOTHER AND THY BRETHREN STAND WITHOUT, DESIRING TO SPEAK WITH THEE.... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT HE ANSWERED, AND SAID UNTO HIM THAT TOLD HIM, "WHO IS MY MOTHER? AND WHO ARE MY BRETHREN?... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE STRETCHED FORTH HIS HAND TOWARD HIS DISCIPLES AND SAID, BEHOLD MY MOTHER AND MY BRETHREN!... [ Continue Reading ]
For whosoever shall do the will of My Father which is in heaven, the same is My brother, and sister, and mother. This interruption is not to be explained as vanity or a desire to interfere with the Lord's work. Mary had not learned her lesson in vain, Luke 2:49; John 2:4. And His other relatives, wh... [ Continue Reading ]