Bible Heaven/Bible Heaven.iso/online/mhcc00/v00000

Text File | 1994-03-02 | 12KB | 200 lines

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 ** Matthew, surnamed Levi, before his conversion was a publican,
 or tax-gatherer under the Romans at Capernaum. He is generally
 allowed to have written his Gospel before any other of the
 evangelists. The contents of this Gospel, and the evidence of
 ancient writers, show that it was written primarily for the use
 of the Jewish nation. The fulfilment of prophecy was regarded by
 the Jews as strong evidence, therefore this is especially dwelt
 upon by St. Matthew. Here are particularly selected such parts
 of our Saviour's history and discourses as were best suited to
 awaken the Jewish nation to a sense of their sins; to remove
 their erroneous expectations of an earthly kingdom; to abate
 their pride and self-conceit; to teach them the spiritual nature
 and extent of the gospel; and to prepare them for the admission
 of the Gentiles into the church.

 * The genealogy of Jesus. (1-17) An angel appears to Joseph.
 (18-25)

 #1-17 Concerning this genealogy of our Saviour, observe the
 chief intention. It is not a needless genealogy. It is not a
 vain-glorious one, as those of great men often are. It proves
 that our Lord Jesus is of the nation and family out of which the
 Messiah was to arise. The promise of the blessing was made to
 Abraham and his seed; of the dominion, to David and his seed. It
 was promised to Abraham that Christ should descend from him, #Ge
 12:3; 22:18|; and to David that he should descend from him, #2Sa
 7:12; Ps 89:3, &c.; 132:11|; and, therefore, unless Jesus is a
 son of David, and a son of Abraham, he is not the Messiah. Now
 this is here proved from well-known records. When the Son of God
 was pleased to take our nature, he came near to us, in our
 fallen, wretched condition; but he was perfectly free from sin:
 and while we read the names in his genealogy, we should not
 forget how low the Lord of glory stooped to save the human race.

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 #18-25 Let us look to the circumstances under which the Son of
 God entered into this lower world, till we learn to despise the
 vain honours of this world, when compared with piety and
 holiness. The mystery of Christ's becoming man is to be adored,
 not curiously inquired into. It was so ordered that Christ
 should partake of our nature, yet that he should be pure from
 the defilement of original sin, which has been communicated to
 all the race of Adam. Observe, it is the thoughtful, not the
 unthinking, whom God will guide. God's time to come with
 instruction to his people, is when they are at a loss. Divine
 comforts most delight the soul when under the pressure of
 perplexed thoughts. Joseph is told that Mary should bring forth
 the Saviour of the world. He was to call his name Jesus, a
 Saviour. Jesus is the same name with Joshua. And the reason of
 that name is clear, for those whom Christ saves, he saves from
 their sins; from the guilt of sin by the merit of his death, and
 from the power of sin by the Spirit of his grace. In saving them
 from sin, he saves them from wrath and the curse, and all
 misery, here and hereafter. Christ came to save his people, not
 in their sins, but from their sins; and so to redeem them from
 among men, to himself, who is separate from sinners. Joseph did
 as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, speedily, without
 delay, and cheerfully, without dispute. By applying the general
 rules of the written word, we should in all the steps of our
 lives, particularly the great turns of them, take direction from
 God, and we shall find this safe and comfortable.
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 * The wise men's search after Christ. (1-8) The wise men worship
 Jesus. (9-12) Jesus carried into Egypt. (13-15) Herod causes the
 infants of Bethlehem to be massacred. (16-18) Death of Herod,
 Jesus brought to Nazareth. (19-23)

 #1-8 Those who live at the greatest distance from the means of
 grace often use most diligence, and learn to know the most of
 Christ and his salvation. But no curious arts, or mere human
 learning, can direct men unto him. We must learn of Christ by
 attending to the word of God, as a light that shineth in a dark
 place, and by seeking the teaching of the Holy Spirit. And those
 in whose hearts the day-star is risen, to give them any thing of
 the knowledge of Christ, make it their business to worship him.
 Though Herod was very old, and never had shown affection for his
 family, and was not himself likely to live till a new-born
 infant had grown up to manhood, he began to be troubled with the
 dread of a rival. He understood not the spiritual nature of the
 Messiah's kingdom. Let us beware of a dead faith. A man may be
 persuaded of many truths, and yet may hate them, because they
 interfere with his ambition, or sinful indulgences. Such a
 belief will make him uneasy, and the more resolved to oppose the
 truth and the cause of God; and he may be foolish enough to hope
 for success therein.

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 #9-12 What joy these wise men felt upon this sight of the star,
 none know so well as those who, after a long and melancholy
 night of temptation and desertion, under the power of a spirit
 of bondage, at length receive the Spirit of adoption, witnessing
 with their spirits that they are the children of God. We may
 well think what a disappointment it was to them, when they found
 a cottage was his palace, and his own poor mother the only
 attendant he had. However, these wise men did not think
 themselves baffled; but having found the King they sought, they
 presented their gifts to him. The humble inquirer after Christ
 will not be stumbled at finding him and his disciples in obscure
 cottages, after having in vain sought them in palaces and
 populous cities. Is a soul busy, seeking after Christ? Would it
 worship him, and does it say, Alas! I am a foolish and poor
 creature, and have nothing to offer? Nothing! Hast thou not a
 heart, though unworthy of him, dark, hard, and foul? Give it to
 him as it is, and be willing that he use and dispose of it as it
 pleases him; he will take it, and will make it better, and thou
 shalt never repent having given it to him. He shall frame it to
 his own likeness, and will give thee himself, and be thine for
 ever. The gifts the wise men presented were gold, frankincense,
 and myrrh. Providence sent these as a seasonable relief to
 Joseph and Mary in their present poor condition. Thus our
 heavenly Father, who knows what his children need, uses some as
 stewards to supply the wants of others, and can provide for
 them, even from the ends of the earth.

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 #13-15 Egypt had been a house of bondage to Israel, and
 particularly cruel to the infants of Israel; yet it is to be a
 place of refuge to the holy Child Jesus. God, when he pleases,
 can make the worst of places serve the best of purposes. This
 was a trial of the faith of Joseph and Mary. But their faith,
 being tried, was found firm. If we and our infants are at any
 time in trouble, let us remember the straits in which Christ was
 when an infant.
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 #16-18 Herod killed all the male children, not only in
 Bethlehem, but in all the villages of that city.  Unbridled
 wrath, armed with an unlawful power, often carries men to absurd
 cruelties. It was no unrighteous thing with God to permit this;
 every life is forfeited to his justice as soon as it begins. The
 diseases and deaths of little children are proofs of original
 sin. But the murder of these infants was their martyrdom. How
 early did persecution against Christ and his kingdom begin!
 Herod now thought that he had baffled the Old Testament
 prophecies, and the efforts of the wise men in finding Christ;
 but whatever crafty, cruel devices are in men's hearts, the
 counsel of the Lord shall stand.
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 #19-23 Egypt may serve to sojourn in, or take shelter in, for
 awhile, but not to abide in. Christ was sent to the lost sheep
 of the house of Israel, to them he must return. Did we but look
 upon the world as our Egypt, the place of our bondage and
 banishment, and heaven only as our Canaan, our home, our rest,
 we should as readily arise and depart thither, when we are
 called for, as Joseph did out of Egypt. The family must settle
 in Galilee. Nazareth was a place held in bad esteem, and Christ
 was crucified with this accusation, Jesus the Nazarene. Wherever
 Providence allots the bounds of our habitation, we must expect
 to share the reproach of Christ; yet we may glory in being
 called by his name, sure that if we suffer with him, we shall
 also be glorified with him.
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 * John the Baptist, His preaching, manner of life, and baptism.
 (1-6) John reproves the Pharisees and Sadducees. (7-12) The
 baptism of Jesus. (13-17)

 #1-6 After Malachi there was no prophet until John the Baptist
 came. He appeared first in the wilderness of Judea. This was not
 an uninhabited desert, but a part of the country not thickly
 peopled, nor much enclosed. No place is so remote as to shut us
 out from the visits of Divine grace. The doctrine he preached
 was repentance; "Repent ye." The word here used, implies a total
 alteration in the mind, a change in the judgment, disposition,
 and affections, another and a better bias of the soul. Consider
 your ways, change your minds: you have thought amiss; think
 again, and think aright. True penitents have other thoughts of
 God and Christ, sin and holiness, of this world and the other,
 than they had. The change of the mind produces a change of the
 way. That is gospel repentance, which flows from a sight of
 Christ, from a sense of his love, and from hopes of pardon and
 forgiveness through him. It is a great encouragement to us to
 repent; repent, for your sins shall be pardoned upon your
 repentance. Return to God in a way of duty, and he will, through
 Christ, return unto you in the way of mercy. It is still as
 necessary to repent and humble ourselves, to prepare the way of
 the Lord, as it then was. There is a great deal to be done, to
 make way for Christ into a soul, and nothing is more needful
 than the discovery of sin, and a conviction that we cannot be
 saved by our own righteousness. The way of sin and Satan is a
 crooked way; but to prepare a way for Christ, the paths must be
 made straight, #Heb 12:13|. Those whose business it is to call
 others to mourn for sin, and to mortify it, ought themselves to
 live a serious life, a life of self-denial, and contempt of the
 world. By giving others this example, John made way for Christ.
 Many came to John's baptism, but few kept to the profession they
 made. There may be many forward hearers, where there are few
 true believers. Curiosity, and love for novelty and variety, may
 bring many to attend on good preaching, and to be affected for a
 while, who never are subject to the power of it. Those who
 received John's doctrine, testified their repentance by
 confessing their sins. Those only are ready to receive Jesus
 Christ as their righteousness, who are brought with sorrow and
 shame to own their guilt. The benefits of the kingdom of heaven,
 now at hand, were thereupon sealed to them by baptism. John
 washed them with water, in token that God would cleanse them
 from all their iniquities, thereby intimating, that by nature
 and practice all were polluted, and could not be admitted among
 the people of God, unless washed from their sins in the fountain
 Christ was to open, #Zec 13:1|.