Like the first rays of the rising sun after a long dark night, Matthew introduces the One promised of old in fulfilment of the prophecies that had gone before-prophecies which became clearer and brighter as one after another they pointed to Him whom Matthew presents.

Malachi had portrayed a gloomy state and condition in Israel at the time he penned his short prophecy, but he does not close without leaving a bright ray of hope for "those who feared the Lord and that thought upon His name." They are told,"Unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings." He evidently speaks, not only for that particular company of his day, but for the godly remnant in Israel which should be found waiting at the time of His appearing. In the four hundred years that intervened, God had never left Himself without a witness, dark as those years had been. Simeon and Anna who were in the temple when the child Jesus was brought in, were of the God-fearing few who believed the promises to the fathers; they ''waited for the consolation of Israel" (Luke 2:25).

Joseph and Mary also, of whom we read in the first chapter of our Gospel, were of like precious faith; and in the sovereign choice of God, Mary was the one of whom Jesus should be born. Both were descendants of David; Joseph, whose genealogy we have in Matthew i, descended from Solomon the son of David; while Mary, whose genealogy Luke gives,* was descended from Nathan, another son of David. *Jacob was Joseph's own father. " Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ" (Matt. 1:16). Heli was Joseph's father-in-law, 1:e., Mary's own father (Luke 3 :23).* Both their progenitors, Nathan and Solomon, were the sons of Bathsheba, and both were born in Jerusalem (i Chron. 3:5). Jesus was born at Bethlehem, and had indisputable title to the throne of David. (The genealogies given in Matthew and Luke clearly prove Jesus' title to the throne of David-which no Jew could do since the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans and their consequent dispersion in the world; all their genealogical records then came to an end. Ed.) This the leaders in Israel could have doubtless ascertained had they been inclined to do so. He is the One of whom the prophets had written, upon whose shoulder the government was to rest; whose name was to be called, "Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Father of Eternity, the Prince of Peace" (Isa. 9:6), for the virgin's Son was " Immanuel-God with us."

In entering upon His public service, ..He was approved of God at His baptism, foiled the devil in His temptations, announced His coming kingdom, and gave, in what is called the "Sermon on the Mount " (chs. 5-7) the principles which will characterize that kingdom when it is finally set up; we may call it the Magna Charta or Constitution of the kingdom. Then follows the official presentation of it to the nation, accompanied by its credentials of miracles and healings. Accordingly, Jesus calls His twelve disciples and sends them forth, not to the Gentiles, but to "the lost sheep of the house of Israel." The burden of their preaching was to be, " The kingdom of heaven is at hand " (ch. 10).

Their testimony, as that of their Master, is rejected, and in chapter n we read, " Then began He to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not" (ver. 20); while in chapter 12 we find the leaders of the people going so far as to attribute these mighty works to Satan-an unpardonable sin. In the end of the chapter He disowns the natural relationships (vers. 46-50), and leaving the house goes to the sea-side-significant of turning from Israel to the Gentiles. There He propounds seven parables of the kingdom.
The events from chapters 8 to 12 having made clear that Israel rejected Him as their Messiah and King, the kingdom is necessarily deferred until the time when they shall receive Him, and the present parenthetical period in which we live is running its course. During this time the word of the gospel was to go forth, and the first parable-that of the Sower-shows how the power of the devil, the flesh, and the world hinder the fruitfulness of the good seed.

The second parable (13:24-30) shows the enemy has gone further than merely to hinder the fruit-fulness of the good seed; he has sown bad seed, " tares among the wheat."This would include all the evil doctrines that afflict Christendom up to the present time, such as attack the person and work of Christ in some subtle way, or seek to undermine faith in the Scriptures as a revelation from God.

The third parable(vers. 31, 32) shows how the kingdom has become corrupted, and evil finds a lodging place in it:the world having gained entrance in all manner of ways, and practically taken possession of that which should have maintained a separate testimony for God-as the third Assembly in Rev., chap, 2, Pergamos, marks what professed to be the house of God in alliance with the world.

The fourth parable (ver.33) shows how the woman, like Jezebel in the fourth assembly of Rev. 2; 18, has corrupted that which is of God by introducing the leaven (which is always a type of evil) until finally the whole becomes leavened.

In the last three parables (vers. 44-50), we have, first, the "treasure hidden in the field." This represents the nation of Israel for whose redemption the purchase-price has been paid. "The field is the world." The divine Purchaser has bought it, and with it the treasure hidden there. "Ye shall
be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people" (Exod. 19:5). "The Lord hath chosen Jacob unto Himself, and Israel for His peculiar treasure" (Ps. 135:4). When Christ came, He found that part of the nation that had returned from the Babylonish captivity, under the Roman yoke; while the ten tribes were in a way lost among the nations, and will be until "there shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob":" so all Israel shall be saved" (Rom. 11 :26).

There has been much erroneous teaching as to the "pearl of great price ;" some making Christ the pearl, and the sinner the merchantman seeking for Christ. It is rather that Christ is the seeker; and viewed in this light all becomes plain. The merchantman is Christ, and the "pearl of great price " is the Church, to purchase which our Lord laid aside the form of God, took the form of a servant, and laid down His life for our redemption. The Church is now being gathered from among the Gentiles (Acts 15:14), while the false profession is going on at an ever increasing pace toward apostasy and open rebellion against God (2 Thess., ch. 2).

When the Church is complete and caught up to heaven (i Thess. 4:15-18),a new testimony will go out to all the world, which the parable of the " net cast into the sea" represents. This is called the "Gospel of the kingdom" (Matt. 24:14); it was preached by John the Baptist, and by Jesus and His disciples while announcing the kingdom to Israel. This kingdom has been deferred because of the rejection of the King; it shall be published throughout the world, however, and multitudes out of the nations will receive it and be spared for blessing in Christ's kingdom on the earth. The "net" gathers of every kind, good and bad, true and false. The separation takes place at the appearing of Christ when the nations shall be gathered before Him (ch. 25:31-46). This time is called "the end of the age," and is the subject of chs. 24 and 25 of Matthew. While this " gospel of the kingdom" is proclaimed to the world at large, Palestine and Jerusalem will be passing through great and increasing troubles. The armies of the nations will be gathered there, and the great battle of Armageddon will be fought (Joel 3:9-16; Zech. 14:2, 3).The resurrection of Israel to a national existence after nineteen centuries of deadness is what the prophet Ezekiel foretells in his wonderful prophecy of the dry bones (ch. 37), and this resurrection is now beginning to take place. God has given them power in the lands of their exile to get wealth, and they will be brought back under Gentile protection, "their silver and their gold with them" (Isa. 60:9).Their aggressiveness has made them the objects of hatred and persecution in the centuries past, and when they have attained a national existence in their own land, the envy and hatred of the Gentile nations will again break out against them, and Palestine will become the world's greatest battlefield. This will be the "time of Jacob's trouble," the "great tribulation" of which the Lord speaks in Matt. 24:21-a time without a parallel in the world's history. Let those who dream of the disarmament of the nations and the world's speedy conversion by the preaching of the gospel consider what the Scripture of Truth reveals as to the future.

In the moment of their greatest crisis the Lord will suddenly appear from heaven, to the astonishment and dismay of the armies of the nations gathered against Jerusalem (ch. 24:29, 30). He will deliver the remnant of Israel that is left, and establish His kingdom which at His first coming had been presented, but refused. After His appearing the whole nation of Israel will be summoned to return to the land of their fathers (Matt. 24:31; Isa. ii:12).

The kingdoms of Judah and Israel, divided since the death of Solomon, will be reunited (Ezek. 37:15-28). The temple, which Ezekiel describes in the last chapters of his prophecy, will be rebuilt, and Christ shall reign, first in Davidic character, subduing His enemies; and then as "King of Peace," typified in Solomon.

By His death in atonement for sins, Christ laid the righteous foundation upon which the future blessing of Israel and of the earth depend. The prophets who foretold the advent of a glorious, reigning Messiah-king, prophesied also of a suffering, bleeding, dying Saviour. That which the blood of bulls and goats of Jewish sacrifices could not do, He by the sacrifice of Himself has accomplished. The One who has fulfilled the Scriptures speaking of His death will as surely fulfil the prophecies concerning His coming power and glory. Happy they, who in confession of their sinful and ruined state, yield themselves now to Him before whom every knee must bow, "and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." R. B. Eames