Matthew 12:15-21

CHAPTER 15

THE FIRST AND SECOND COMING OF CHRIST

Matthew 12:15-21. “And Jesus, knowing, departed thence [i.e., when He ascertained that the Pharisees and Herodians were counseling to kill Him, He departed from that place where He had healed the withered hand on the Sabbath]; and many multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all.” What a wonderful Physician we have! He never fails to cure the patient, our own faith being the measuring-line of His efficiency, whether for soul or body. When your work is done, and the Lord is ready to take you to heaven, though you will have abundance of faith for your soul to sweep into glory, you will have no faith for your body to be healed. That will be a glorious day, because heaven is so much better than health.

“He charged them that they may not make Him known,” i.e., the notoriety of His mighty works would excite the multitude to crown Him King, as the Jews all understood that Christ was to be their King, and they were so tired of the Roman yoke, which they had carried thirty years. O how they longed for Messiah to come and break it off their necks!

“In order that the word spoken by Isaiah the prophet may be fulfilled, saying, Behold My Servant, whom I have chosen, My Beloved in whom my soul delighteth; I will place My Spirit upon Him, and He will proclaim judgment to the Gentiles.” This is a beautiful prophetical allusion to the glorious coming of our Lord, when He shall girdle the globe with the splendors and triumphs of His Millennial Theocracy, all the nations of the earth gladly bowing down to His benignant, equitable, and heavenly administration, bringing back the bright days of Eden, which have so long lingered only in the memories of the past, while the nations will “beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning-hooks, and learning war no more.” The sad memories of the long, bloody ages, which have ground down the nations of the earth into the dust of degradation and oppression, and whitened the plains, will be forgotten, amid universal peace, prosperity, philanthropy, and happiness, all nations delighted with the mild and amiable reign of the glorious King of kings and Lord of lords.

“He shall not strive, nor scream, neither shall any one hear His voice in the streets.” Paul says, “It does not behoove the man of God to strive.” Hence, in harmony with Jesus and Paul, while we should earnestly “contend for the faith once delivered to the saints,” we should not do it in a controversial spirit, but love predominating, having no desire for self- aggrandizement, but only the glorification of God in the proclamation and vindication of truth. There is nothing in this passage against street- preaching, which Jesus and His apostles practiced all their lives. While the people of God preach on the streets, and everywhere else, they are characterized by meekness, humility, and love, in contradistinction to the selfish and uproarious manner of worldly people, shouting aloud, advertising their merchandise, and prosecuting their various secular employments. There is a quietness, resignation, and humiliation peculiar to the saints, most decisively contrastive with the rush and precipitation peculiar to the worldly rabble. This verse lucidly describes Jesus in His humiliation, contrastively with the preceding, which describes Him in His glorious dominion.

“The bruised reed, He will not break.” This is a beautiful symbolism of the humble penitent, crying to God with a broken heart and a contrite spirit. “He will not quench the smoking flax.” Here we have a vivid symbolism of the struggling soul, crying to God for the sanctifying baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire. “Until He may send forth judgment unto victory.” Here we have both works of grace in beautiful juxtaposition the former, describing the agonizing penitent under the strong figure of a bruised reed, which Satan is trying to break and destroy forever; and the hatter, under the vivid metaphor of the flax, smoking and trying to burn, and the enemy throwing on it the chilling waters to put it out, thus beautifully typifying the seeker after a clean heart, longing for the sin consuming fires of the Holy Ghost from heaven to fall. In both of these cases, it is here certified that our Savior will “send forth judgment unto victory” in the case of the poor sinner seeking pardon i.e., “the bruised reed;” since He has bled and died, and paid all the debt He owes, in the full light of heavenly jurisprudence, He can give an eternal judgment of acquittal, thus justifying Him freely through the atonement. The fact is equally pertinent in the case of the Christian seeking full sanctification by the refining fire going through the heart in sin-consuming flames i.e., “the smoking flax;” instead of extinguishing with the cold water of dead formality, He fans it into a roaring flame, wrapping the soul in the copious baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire. As the complete expurgation of every sinful taint has been abundantly provided for in the cleansing blood and the refining fire, He can, in the full light of heavenly jurisdiction, administer a verdict in favor of the entire sanctification of all who approach Him by way of complete consecration and doubtless faith.

“And in His name shall the Gentiles hope.” (Isaiah 42:1.)

He is the “Lion of the tribe of Judah,” whose roaring reverberates round the world, His tread shaking every hand, and His power breaking every chain, and liberating the captive nations whom Satan has bound through the ages.