Software Vault: The Gold Collection/Software Vault - The Gold Collection (American Databankers) (1993).ISO/cdr19/sco01.zip/SCOFIELD.001/V00050

Text File | 1992-09-08 | 11KB | 257 lines

00050
 [1] {kingdom of heaven}

   (1) The phrase, kingdom of heaven (lit. of the heavens), is peculiar
   to Matthew and signifies the Messianic earth rule of Jesus Christ,
   the Son of David.  It is called the kingdom of the heavens because it
   is the rule of the heavens over the earth.

 # Mt 6:10
   The phrase is derived from Daniel, where it is defined

 # Da 2:34-36,44 7:23-27

   as the kingdom which the God of heaven will set up after the destruction
   by "the stone cut out without hands," of the Gentile world-system.
   It is the kingdom covenanted to David's seed
 # 2Sa 7:7-10
   described in the prophets;
 » See note "Zec 12:8"
   and confirmed to Jesus the Christ, the Son of Mary, through the
   angel Gabriel
 # Lu 1:32,33
   (2) The kingdom of heaven has three aspects in Matthew: (a) "at hand"
   from the beginning of the ministry of John the Baptist
 # Mt 3:2
   to the virtual rejection of the King, and the announcement of the new
   brotherhood
 # Mt 12:46-50
   (b) in seven "mysteries of the kingdom of heaven," to be fulfilled
   during the present age
 # Mt 13:1-52
   to which are to be added the parables of the kingdom of heaven which
   were spoken after those of Mt. 13., and which have to do with the
   sphere of Christian profession during this age; (c) the prophetic
   aspect--the kingdom to be set up after the return of the King in glory.
 # Mt 24:29-25:46 Lu 19:12-19 Ac 15:14-17
   See "Kingdom (N.T.)"
 # Lu 1:22 1Co 15:28
   Cf. "Kingdom of God,"
 » See Note "Mt 6:33"
00055
 [2] {Pharisees}

   So called from a Heb. word meaning "separate."  After the ministry of
   the post-exilic prophets ceased, godly men called "Chasidim" (saints)
   arose who sought to keep alive reverence for the law amongst the
   descendants of the Jews who returned from the Babylonian captivity.
   This movement degenerated into the Pharisaism of our Lord's day--a
   letter-strictness which overlaid the law with traditional
   interpretations held to have been communicated by Jehovah to Moses as
   oral explanations of equal authority with the law itself.  (cf. Mt.
   15.2,3 Mk 7.8-13 Ga 1.14)
 # Mt 15:2,3 Mr 7:8-13 Ga 1:14
   The Pharisees were strictly a sect.  A member was "chaber" (i.e. "knit
   together,")
 # Jud 20:11
   and took an obligation to remain true to the principles of Pharisaism.
   They were correct, moral, zealous, and self-denying, but self-righteous
 # Lu 18:9
   and destitute of the sense of sin and need
 # Lu 7:39
   They were the foremost prosecutors of Jesus Christ and the objects of
   His unsparing denunciation (e.g.)
 # Mt 23:13-29 Lu 11:42,43

 [3] {Sadducees}

   Not strictly a sect, but rather those amongst the Jews who denied the
   existence of angels or other spirits, and all miracles, especially the
   resurrection.  They were the religious rationalists of the time
 # Mr 12:18-23, Ac 5:15-17 23:8
   and strongly entrenched in the Sanhedrin and priesthood
 # Ac 4:1 5:17
   They are identified with no affirmative doctrine, but were mere deniers
   of the supernatural.
00063
 [1] {Suffer it to be so}

   Why one who needed no repentance should insist upon receiving a rite
   which signified confession (v. 6) and repentance (v. 11) is nowhere
   directly explained.  It may be suggested: (1) That Jesus was now to
   receive His anointing with the Holy Spirit (v. 16) unto His threefold
   office of Prophet, Priest, and King.  In the Levitical order
 # Ex 29:4-7
   the high priest was first washed, then anointed.  While Christ's
   priestly work did not begin till He "offered Himself without spot to
   God"
 # Heb 9:14
   and His full manifestation as the King-Priest after the order of
   Melchizedek awaits the kingdom
 » See Note "Ge 14:18"
   yet He was then anointed, once for all.
   (2) But John's baptism was the voice of God to Israel, and the believing
   remnant responded (v.5).  It was an act of righteousness on the part
   of Him who had become, as to the flesh, an Israelite, to take His place
   with this believing remnant.
00064
 [2] {trinity}

   For the first time the Trinity, foreshadowed in many ways in the O.T.,
   is fully manifested.  The Spirit descends upon the Son, and at the same
   moment the Father's voice is heard from heaven.
00066
 [3] The temptation of Christ, the "last Adam"

 # 1Co 15:45
   is best understood when contrasted with that of the "first man Adam."
   Adam was tempted in his place of lord of creation, a lordship with
   but one reservation, the knowledge of good and evil
 # Ge 1:26 2:16,17
   Through the woman he was tempted to add that also to his dominion.
   Falling, he lost all.  But Christ had taken the place of a lowly
   Servant, acting only from and in obedience to the Father
 # Phm 2:5-8 Joh 5:19 6:57 8:28,54
 » See note "Isa 41:8"
   that He might redeem a fallen race and a creation under the curse
 # Ge 3:17-19 Ro 8:19-23

   Satan's one object in the threefold temptation was to induce Christ
   to act from Himself, in independency of His Father.  The first two
   temptations were a challenge to Christ from the god of this world to
   prove Himself indeed the Son of God (vs 3,6).  The third was the
   offer of the usurping prince of this world to divest himself of that
   which rightfully belonged to Christ as Son of man and Son of David,
   on the condition that He accept the sceptre on Satan's
   world-principles (cf.

 # Joh 18:36
 » See Note "Re 13:8"

   Christ defeated Satan by a means open to His humblest follower, the
   intelligent use of the word of God (vs.  4,7).  In his second
   temptation Satan also used Scripture, but a promise available only to
   one in the path of obedience.  The scene give emphasis to the vital
   importance of "rightly dividing the word of truth"

 # 2Ti 2:15
00070
 [1] {sanctify}

   In the N.T. one Greek word, \\hagios\\, in its various forms, is
   rendered, "holy," "holiness," "sanctify," "sanctified,"
   "sanctification." Like the heb. \\qodesh,\\ it signifies "set apart
   for God."  The important references follow Mt 4.5, marg.
 » See Note Mat 4.5
00073
 [2] {world}

   The Greek word \\kosmos\\ means "order," "arrangement," and so, with
   the Greeks, "beauty"; for order and arrangement in the sense of
   system are at the bottom of the Greek conception of beauty.

   When used in the N.T. of humanity, the "world" of men, it is
   organized humanity--humanity in families, tribes, nations--which is
   meant.  The word for chaotic, unorganized humanity--the mere mass of
   man is thalassa, the "sea" of men (e.g.)
 # Re 13:1
   For "world" (kosmos) in the bad ethical sense, "world system"
 » See Note "Re 13:8"
00082
 [3] {At hand}

   "At hand" is never a positive affirmation that the person or thing
   said to be "at hand" will immediately appear, but only that no known
   or predicted event must intervene.  When Christ appeared to the
   Jewish people, the next thing in the order of revelation as it then
   stood, should have been the setting up of the Davidic kingdom.  In
   the knowledge of God, not yet disclosed, lay the rejection of the
   kingdom (and King), the long period of the mystery-form of the
   kingdom, the world-wide preaching of the cross, and the out-calling
   of the Church.  But this was as yet locked up in the secret counsels
   of God.
 # Mt 13:11,17 Eph 3:3-10
00086
 [1] {James}

   Two persons are called by this name in the N.T.  (1) James the
   son of Zebedee, an apostle
 # Mt 10:2
   and the brother of the apostle John, apart from whom he is never
   mentioned, and with whom, together with Peter, he was admitted to the
   especial intimacy of our Lord.
 # Mt 17:1 Mr 5:37 9:2 14:33
   He was martyred by Herod.
 # Ac 12:2
   (2) A son of Alphaeus (or Cleopas) and Mary the sister of Mary the
   mother of Jesus
 » See note "Mt 1:16"
   and brother of Joses.
 # Mr 15:40
   He was, therefore, a cousin of the Lord Jesus.  He is called James "the
   less"
 # Mr 15:40
   lit. little, i.e. of shorter stature than James the son of Zebedee).
   He was an apostle.
 # Mt 10:3
   It has been conjectured that "Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus"
 # Mt 10:3
   was identical with the Juda of
 # Lu 6:16
   who is there called "of [i.e. 'son' or 'brother' as is has been
   variously translated] James."  A Juda is mentioned with a James and
   Joses and Simon in
 # Mr 6:3
   as "brother" of our Lord (see Mt. 13.55, marg.).  The Gospels mention
   no other James who could be called the brother of the Lord Jesus, but
   James the less was certainly the son of Alphaeus and Mary the sister of
   our Lord's mother.  The conclusion seems, therefore most probable that

 # Mt 10:3 13:55 Mr 3:18 6:3 Lu 6:15 Ac 1:13 12:17 15:13 21:18 Ga 1:19
 # Ga 2:9,12 Jas 1:1
   refer to James the less, son of Alphaeus and Mary,
   and cousin, or, according to Jewish usage, "brother" of the Lord Jesus.
   He was the author of the Epistle of James.
00092
 [2] {And he opened his mouth}

   Having announced the kingdom of heaven as "at hand," the King, in
 # Mt 5:7
   declares the principles of the kingdom.  The Sermon on the
   Mount has a twofold application: (1) literally to the kingdom.  In this
   sense it gives the divine constitution for the righteous government of
   the earth.  Whenever the kingdom of heaven is established on earth it
   will be according to that constitution, which may be regarded as an
   explanation of the word "righteousness" as used by the prophets in
   describing the kingdom (e.g.)
 # Isa 11:4,5 32:1 Da 9:24
   In this sense the Sermon on the Mount is pure law, and transfers the
   offence from the overt act to the motive.
 # Mt 5:21,22,27,28
   Here lies the deeper reason why the Jews rejected the kingdom.  They
   had reduced "righteousness" to mere ceremonialism, and the Old
   Testament idea of the kingdom to a mere affair of outward splendour and
   power.  They were never rebuked for expecting a visible and powerful
   kingdom, but the words of the prophets should have prepared them to
   expect also that only the poor in spirit and the meek could share in it
   (e.g.)
 # Isa 11:4
   The seventy-second Psalm, which was universally received
   by them as a description of the kingdom, was full of this.  For these
   reasons, the Sermon on the Mount in its primary application gives
   neither the privilege nor the duty of the Church.  These are found in
   the Epistles.  Under the law of the kingdom, for example, no one may
   hope for forgiveness who has not first forgiven.
 # Mt 6:12,14,15
   Under grace the Christian is exhorted to forgive because he is already
   forgiven.
 # Eph 4:30-32

   (2) But there is a beautiful moral application to the Christian.  It
   always remains true that the poor in spirit, rather than the proud, are
   blessed, and those who mourn because of their sins, and who are meek in
   the consciousness of them, will hunger and thirst after righteousness,
   and hungering, will be filled.  The merciful are "blessed," the pure in
   heart do "see God."  These principles fundamentally reappear in the
   teaching of the Epistles.