II.

In the second place, Adam figured Christ in the kingly part which it behoved him to act on behalf of the nations of his constituency. Such a part Adam had to act, God dealing with him as the head and representative of his constituency, committing their safety to him, devolving it on him as their captain to fight the battle necessary to their safety, to provide for them, and then to build them on a sure foundation, and so also to constitute himself a root, or stock, whence his nations might issue, and in which they should be upheld, flourishing like palm trees, growing like cedars of Lebanon. In this, however, he was but a figure of Christ, and hence God is to be regarded as dealing with him also as the head page 36 and representative of His nations, committing to him not only their safety, hut their redemption and salvation, devolving on him, as the captain of their salvation, the fight by which that salvation must be won; as their builder, to provide for them, and then to build them on a sure foundation, and so also to constitute himself such a good olive tree as that, a new being and life issuing from him to His fallen nations, and they coming to be engrafted in him, His branches may spread, His beauty become as the olive tree, and His smell as Lebanon.

Accordingly, Christ the Lord from heaven, having come as the Second Adam, and such a charge and work devolving on Him, this will be found to be the very work accomplished by Him, as made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that are under the law. His work is a work for the individual, it is still more a work for the family, laying a foundation for the gospel of salvation for a man and his house; but comprehensively and supremely Christ's work is the work of a king on behalf of a constituency of kings and their nations, as the result of which Christ has become just such an olive tree as the fallen nations require, and on the ground of which there is a gospel of salvation for every creature, and supremely for the nation. This, too, is the work that Christ is to be seen discharging, in what He does as King of the Jews, for what He is and does as King of the Jews, is but a particular manifestation of what He is as the Second Adam in relation to the nations at large, and of what He does, once for all, for all the nations of His constituency.

What then as to the kingly part which Christ is found acting on behalf of the Jewish nation, and in which He discharges the work devolving on Him as the Second Adam?

1. First of all, He is born to them for a king: 'Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be on His shoulders'—(Isa. ix. 6, 7). 'Where is He that is bom King of the Jews?'—(Mat. ii. 2). And already indicating that this is the righteous Branch to be raised up to David, who as a king should reign and prosper, and under whom Judah should be saved, and Israel should dwell safely,—(Isa. xxiii. 5, 6) His birth is immediately announced to the page 37 shepherds of Bethlehem, who find it necessary, in view of present danger, to keep watch over their flocks by night. 'Fear not, for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people—every people—for unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour which is Christ the Lord'—(Luke ii. 9, 10). Already showing, however, that being born to be king of the Jews, He has other obligations resting on Him than those of conformity with the precept of the law, as if she had given birth to something defiled and defiling, His mother had her days of purification to accomplish, while, at the same time, His birth is surrounded with every circumstance of poverty and meanness. Indicating also, we may add, that He is called on to act on behalf of a nation once already brought up out of Egypt, but under guilt calling for their being sent down thither again, even from Bethlehem, and while yet an infant, He is sent forcibly back into Egypt, fleeing from before Herod, the king, who is in present possession of His land.

2. Having grown in wisdom, grace, and stature, through all the upward stages, to the perfected manhood of about thirty years of age, and having manifested, as He did at twelve years of age—(Luke ii. 42-52)—that conformity with the law which was appropriate to the several stages of His progress, we have Him coming to the Jordan to John to be baptized of him. And what did He come here to do? He came here at once as a perfected Second Adam, and as King of the Jews, to lay hold of the promise of the kingdom; of that promise, in particular, which was made to, but forfeited in, Adam: 'Replenish the earth and subdue it, and have dominion'—(Gen. i. 28); and of that promise also of the land which was restored to Abraham and his nation the Jews—(Gen. xii. 1, 2)—this being a particular restored manifestation of Adam's promise; and He came to lay hold of this promise, that coming under its obligations, He might have conferred on Him such a provisional standing in the kingdom as Adam had in Paradise; and as, again, the children of Israel were restored to in the wilderness, when God rained bread from heaven upon them, giving them a present foretaste and pledge page 38 of the fulness of their kingdom; or, more especially, at Sinai, when, consequent on laying hold of God's promise and covenant, and coming under its obligations, Moses, Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, as the representatives of the nation, went up into the Mount, 'and they saw the God of Israel: and there was under His feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone . . . and upon the nobles of the children of Israel He laid not His hand: also they saw God and did eat and drink'—(Exod. xxiv. 9-11). Such a restoration of the promise, or of standing in the kingdom, could not have been but in anticipation of Christ. And Christ, as the second Adam, lays hold of the promise, comes under its obligations, and attains to a provisional standing in the kingdom, in order retrospectively to justify the past, and to justify prospectively all future restorations of the promise and kingdom to the nation. In order to this (1) He had to come under the provisional cleansing of John's baptism from that guilt whose imputation to Him had already been so clearly indicated at His birth, and which came to be imputed to Him more and more as the years rolled on, and from which He must be exhibited as provisionally cleansed, and this in pledge of His being at length actually cleansed from it, in order that now He might be presented perfect as the second Adam. (2.) He had to pray—(Luke iii. 21)—He had to pray, in particular, for the restoration to Him as the Second Adam of the promise and kingdom which had been lost by the first Adam, and whose restoration to the Jews would not have been possible but for His interposition. (3.) Consequent on His baptism and His praying, the promise, and with it a provisional standing in the kingdom, were imparted to Him; for the heavens—the heavens of this earth—were opened; they 'were rent asunder' (Mark i. 10) at His call, and to give Him admission into His kingdom—(Ps. xxiv. 7-10); and the Holy Spirit descended as a dove upon Him, at once sealing His authority, and anointing Him with every kingly qualification and power called for in this His provisional standing in His kingdom. Accordingly, it is of this power, in the subjection to Him of man's heaven, earth, and sea, that we see Him making page 39 such display afterwards in His miracles; in them controlling earth's winds—(Matt. viii. 26)—treading on its waves—(Matt, xiv. 25)—making the fish of the sea and the beasts of the field to serve Him—(Matt. xvii. 27; Mark xi. 2-7); in providing food for His people; and giving them some tokens of the abundance with which He will supply them when His 'hour' and the fulness of His kingdom are come—(John ii. 2-7; Matt. xiv. 15-21)—and healing all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease, and thereby restoring His fallen people to something of the health, strength, and joy, that were originally to have been connected with, and which will yet again belong to, man's reign in, and inheritance of the earth. At His baptism, moreover, Christ was anointed not only with power, but as Teacher and Preacher for His nation. 'The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me'—(Luke iv. 18)—and it was under the anointing now received that all bare Him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. 4. In the last place, in connection with His baptism, a voice from heaven declared of Him: 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased;' the Father accepting of Him as His Son in His kingdom, in the place of the first Adam, and claiming all subjection to Him as such.

3. As yet, however, His standing in His kingdom is only provisional, and that it may be confirmed in Him, and for His nations, He must be tried. Having already, and in connection with His baptism, been duly constituted under the first table of the law, He must maintain His standing in opposition to whatever temptation, and so be duly constituted under the second table; in this, as the Captain of their salvation, fighting that battle which was necessary in order to the continued maintenance of the kingdom in Him, and for His nations.

Accordingly, this is what we have Christ proceeding to do when, immediately after His baptism, He was 'driven of the Spirit,' and hastened to the wilderness, as if moved in view of what His nation had been found to be, and of their present perilous condition. Fallen as a nation in Adam, yet they had been graciously restored to the kingdom, and even into some page 40 lengthened enjoyment of it; but, sinning after the similitude of Adam's transgression, they were fallen again, were under utter forfeiture of their kingdom, and were ready to perish as a nation. They had thus fallen in the wilderness immediately after their restoration to a standing in the kingdom, and when, coming up from that distance from its enjoyment into which Adam had brought them, they were again on the way to it, falling here by their unbelief and impatience—(Num. xiv. 1-4). Again, they had fallen in their kingdom, and when, notwithstanding of having fallen in the wilderness, they had been raised up into a good enjoyment of it under Solomon,—falling here by their pride, by sinfully presuming on their temple, on God's presence with them, and on the relation in which they stood to Him as His people. They expected safety, no matter for their unwarrantable and sinful courses, and thus mounting to the pinnacle of their temple, they cast themselves down, thinking that God would give His angels charge over them—(Jer. vii. 4-15). But, once more, they had fallen; they were fallen in Christ's day, and were ready to perish as a nation,—falling here again in connection with the chastisements that had come on them as a nation for their sins, particularly in the Babylonish captivity, and in all the oppressions to which they had been subjected as a nation since. In view, on the one hand, of all the suffering to which they had been subjected as a nation, notwithstanding of their being the Lord's people, and, on the other hand, of all the prosperity and glory manifested in heathen kingdoms notwithstanding their idolatry and wickedness, refusing to accept the chastisement of their iniquity, they suffered themselves to envy at the prosperity of the wicked, and sought that prosperity in the way and from the hands from which heathen kingdoms were seen to obtain it, that is, by a worship of the devil—(Hos. ii. 5; Jer. xliv. 15-19). Thus weak had His nation shown itself to be, and thus being in honour it abode not. Hence the task devolving on Christ now is to stand where they fell, and so, on their behalf, to maintain His standing in the kingdom, as, while constituting Himself retrospectively the cause of all their past restorations page 41 and maintenance in it, prospectively to justify the future, and procure the grace for a final and permanent restoration of the kingdom to Israel. Such, accordingly, is the very battle which Christ is found fighting in the wilderness to which He hastened. However, it included what was necessary for the individual, or for the family, the battle is here clearly and supremely that of a king for his nation, and of Christ as King of the Jews on behalf of the Jewish nation.

After fasting forty days in the wilderness, the first temptation by which He was assailed was precisely that temptation to unbelief and impatience by which, first of all, the Jews had been assailed in the wilderness. He was called on, if He was the Son of God, and in possession of the kingdom, as He had been declared to be, not to wait longer on His Father, who seemed to have neglected or forgotten Him, and unbelievingly and impatiently to make bread for Himself. But where the Jews fell, He stood, meeting and resisting the temptation out of the law, and with the words, 'Man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord'—(Deut. viii. 2, 3). The second temptation with which He was assailed, was again precisely that by which the Jews were assailed in connection with their temple and privileges as the people of God, the temptation to presumption, and unwarrantable confidence. But, again, wherein they fell, Christ stood; carried to the pinnacle of the temple, and called on to cast Himself down, in a vain expectation of safety, repelling the temptation with the words, 'Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.' But once more Christ was assailed, and with the third grand temptation of the Jews, that of envying at the prosperity of the wicked, and of seeking a short road to their kingdom by a worship of the devil. For, 'taking Him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showing Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them,' he said to Him, 'All these things will I give Thee if Thou wilt fall down and worship me.' But, again, standing where the Jews, and, indeed, all His nations fell, and willing to have the kingdoms of the world and their glory only in terms of His Father's promise, He made short work with this temptation, bidding page 42 the tempter begone, and overwhelming him with the words, 'Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve'—(Matt. iv. 10). Thus, then, did Christ, as the Second Adam, and as the King of the Jews, fight the battle of His nations, and, at least, in respect of the precept of the law, 'Thou shalt not covet,' exhibit the meritorious foundation of all the past grace enjoyed by His nation in connection with their kingdom, and of the yet greater grace to be enjoyed by them in the time to come.

4. But yet more devolves on Christ as the Second Adam, and King of the Jews, in order to the saving of His nation; for having by His work in maintaining His standing in the kingdom thus far provided the foundation on which the kingdom must rest, He must now build His nation on it; to this end bringing His nation into that faith in Him, and so into that union with Him, which is necessary to His work becoming available for them. This is the duty called for in the fourth commandment, on the part of the kings and rulers of nations, and on the part of fathers and heads of families, on behalf of their respective constituencies. Having been rightly constituted in their relations upwards themselves, and the promise being a promise for themselves and their constituencies, they are called on to make believing and diligent use of the means by which, as appointed and blessed by God, their constituencies shall come with themselves to be built on the foundation of the promise, that so God may be, at once, the God of the king and nation, or of the father and his family, and this to the effect, in terms of the fifth commandment, of binding both up in a common enjoyment of the promise. This accordingly is the work in which it would have been incumbent on Adam to have engaged, consequent on his maintenance of his standing, and in view of which, immediately, the promise, being a promise of the kingdom for himself and his great nation, would have been fulfilled in him and them. But Adam never came the length of fulfilling this duty to the nations; he fell, and not only lost the anointing necessary to it, he lost the promise itself, involving himself and his nations in a common ruin. But the duty that would page 43 thus have devolved on Adam, came again in connection with Christ and a new foundation laid in Sion, as revealed to them, to devolve on the kings and rulers of the Jews, restored to a standing in the kingdom. But here also the hearts of the fathers were not dutifully turned to the children, so, therefore, the hearts of the children were not turned to the fathers, nor the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, and hence, even now, in themselves, in their nation, and in their land, they were ready to be smitten with the curse—(Mal. iv. 6).

Here then, farther, must Christ, the Second Adam, and King of the Jews, interpose. He must fulfil this other essential part of the righteousness necessary to the saving of His kings and nations. He must diligently teach His nation. He must labour to build the rulers, and so the nation on the foundation of the promise, to this end bringing them into faith and union with Himself, and constituting them such branches as, while having standing in Him, to have, at the same time, life from Him, and so all the fruits of the promise.

That Christ has accomplished this work, and the importance attaching to it, we see already from the way in which He pleads it before His Father in Ps. xl. 8-11. But that we may look at the actual manner of its accomplishment, this being the work on which Christ, as King of the Jews, entered so immediately and so zealously after His victory in temptation :

First, it will be observed, that although the temple was about to pass away, yet that its worship was still valid, and that hence—the brazen altar typifying Christ as the foundation laid in Sion, on which the nation must be built, and by which it was necessary for it, entering into the temple there, first, to have that fellowship with Christ in His kingdom, for whose representation and enjoyment the holy place, with its table of shewbread and its golden candlestick, was constituted, and then, next, that enjoyment of God as in Christ their God and Father, in order to which God revealed Himself on the mercy-seat in the Holiest of all—it was necessary, or it was to have been expected, that some part of page 44 that work in which Christ has now to engage, would he exhibited in connection with the subsisting temple and altar.

Accordingly, what in this connection do we find? Or how, here, does Christ act the necessary part as King of the Jews?

1. First then, at the very commencement of His ministry, and again at its close, in connection with the remarkable entry into Jerusalem as King of the Jews, which He then made, we have Him cleansing the temple—(John ii. 13-17; Matt. xxi. 12, 13; Mark xi. 17). In view of it the disciples remembered that it was written of Him, 'The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up;' and we see Him using all kingly authority, as well as severity and force; driving out the buyers and sellers with a whip of cords, overthrowing the tables of the money-changers and the seats of them who sold doves, and purging the temple to the effect, not only of expelling literal thieves and robbers, but of driving out such spiritual thieves also as thought to make money and enjoy the riches of His kingdom, not in the way of building themselves on the altar, and so in faith and union with Him as their King, but on grounds of self-righteousness before God, as well as of extortion and deceit among themselves. In thus acting Christ doubtless condemned an unfaithful ministry and priesthood, and an unfaithful magistracy who permitted it. At the same time, He justified all the purgations of the temple, and reformations effected of old by such kings as Hezekiah and Josiah; and while He shows what the duty is of the kings of all ages and of all nations, as regards God's temple, which He declares to be a house of prayer for all nations, He discovers, at the same time, the source whence they may, and shall, receive the necessary grace and zeal to the saving of themselves and their nations.

2. But we have Christ making another manifestation of Himself as king of the Jews in connection with the temple. This we have in Matthew xvii. 24-27; and in His payment of the tribute money. This tribute money was the annual half shekel, payable by every Jew in support of the tabernacle and temple service, as appointed of God, and com- page 45 manded by Moses of old—(Exod. xxx. 11-16), and as we see it again authoritatively called for in the days of Joash—(2 Chron. xxiv. 9). This tribute was really paid, and payable to Christ Himself as king of the land, in acknowledgment of His supremacy, and of the nation's dependence on Him. In the meantime, however, that He may not offend them, and that also acting as an ordinary Israelite under law He may by His example at once sanction and enforce the duty, and this in the case of the poorest, He foregoes His claim and pays the tribute. But how does He do it? Fifteenpence would suffice, but having become poor, that we through His poverty might become rich, He is not at present possessed even of this small amount. He pays it, therefore, by drawing magnificently on the resources of His kingdom. As the Second Adam He has dominion over the fowl of the air, and over the fish of the sea, and 'go thou,' he says to Peter, 'and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up, and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shall find a piece of money, that take, and give unto them for me and thee.' Thus He demonstrates the truth of His claim. At the same time, at once by His authority and example, He confirmed the obligation of a national establishment of His worship, and the universal obligation of its support; while He indicates to whom the poorest may look in faith for the necessary amount, and that indeed they may on no occasion appear before the Lord empty—(Deut. xvi. 16; Mark xii. 41, 42). But while, in connection with the subsisting temple, Christ seeks thus to build the nation on the foundation which He has provided for it, the nation must now be led to look more directly to Himself, and it is here, and in this connection especially, that we are to see how, as King of the Jews, He fulfilled the part now devolving on Him.

It was to this end that we have Him now assuming the functions of a minister and preacher of the glad tidings of His kingdom; in this making Himself as King of the Jews, subservient to what He is as the Head of a spiritual house and family, and King of saints, assuming office under what He is as King of saints, and becoming a Pastor, yea, and the Chief page 46 Pastor and Bishop of souls. These two offices are also combined in the family, the father of the family being at once its king and minister. But in the nation, a separation of the two offices has been established, for, in His Church, as King of Saints Christ has established a government in the hands of church officers, distinct from the civil magistrate; nor may the civil magistrate, or outward king, in any way invade that spiritual kingdom which the Church constitutes, whether by assuming its government, or exercising the functions of its ministers. Christ, however, the King, assumed the functions of a minister under the spiritual kingdom, doing so that He might fulfil His duty under law as a king on behalf of His nation, that He may show other kings their duty in the use they are to make of the ministry constituted under the spiritual kingdom, and that by the anointing and grace imparted to Him in this capacity, He may be the scource to the Church and the nation of such an anointed ministry as kings may, and ought, to employ on behalf of their nations.

This being the function which Christ assumed, it is already evident to what great end it is to be directed, while we see what He thinks of the use and end of a nation, and what it must be, and do, that it may be saved. It must be wooed and won as a bride, and as a bride it must become a son of God, and to this end it must receive Him as its King, in order that in faith and union with Him it may be built on the necessary foundation, and finding in Him all the necessary redemption, righteousness, and life, may be restored and maintained as a Church, and so also be restored and maintained as a nation. Hence, in order to receive Him as her King, it was not enough that they were simply taken with His gracious words, or that they admired His wonderful works, or that, expecting temporal riches, or the restoration of the kingdom to Israel under Him, they were willing to make Him their King, or even that, with Nicodemus, they came the length of acknowledging Him to be a teacher come from God. No, except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. He Himself enters the kingdom, not only through righteousness, but through suffering, and it is only in faith and union with Him page 47 as thus not only a righteous but a suffering King, that they can enter in, and have fellowship with Him in His kingdom. But blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, and blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. Becoming first a Church, they shall thus become a nation, nor until Israel thus becomes a Church will the kingdom ever be restored to it.

But this being the grand end to which his ministry was directed, how do we find him carrying it on?

He went forth everywhere preaching the glad tidings of His kingdom, holding Himself forth as King, proclaiming liberty to the captive, and opening the prison to the bound—(Luke iv. 18); but demanding faith as the necessary pre-requisite to any enjoyment of Him—(John i. 12, viii. 24; Mark ix. 23); and showing at the same time, that a spiritual redemption must precede an outward one, or that there must first be the forgiveness of sin, and so redemption from the spiritual curse, in order to redemption from that which is outward and physical; granting therefore the first that there may be the second, pointing to the second as the proof of His power to give the first—(Mark ii. 5-10)—and by His possession of both, abundantly proving Himself to be the King of Israel, and a Captain of salvation in every way, able to save them out of the hands of all their enemies, and to give them to serve God without fear in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of their lives.

Then His ministry having been thus a ministry of Himself as King of the Jews, His ministry was farther characterised by the continuous and remarkable prayerfulness with which it was accompanied, and by the untiring assiduity, the self-sacrificing toil, and the consuming zeal with which it was prosecuted, His followers once and again seeking to restrain Him, saying among themselves, that 'He is beside Himself'—(Mark iii. 20, 21; John iv. 31, 32).

Thus characterised by its earnestness and zeal, it was farther evidently characterised by its nationality. His was a national ministry, and which had the nation continually and supremely in view. True, He received individuals, nor did page 48 any apply to Him in vain; but that the nation was the grand object of His ministry, and that it was on the nation that He desired to bestow Himself as King, is manifest at the very commencement of His ministry by His appearance at Jerusalem at the Passover, by His repeatedly returning to Jerusalem, and remaining there as long as He could do so with safety, and by the intended and actual effect of His work in Galilee and elsewhere, which was to attract the attention to Him of the rulers in Jerusalem. The supremely national character of His ministry appears farther from His own saying, that a 'Prophet cannot perish out of Jerusalem'—(Luke xiii. 33), indicating that, as a minister, He was a Prophet to the nation, and that, by His offer of Himself to its builders and rulers at Jerusalem, there must be, whether a grand national rejection or a grand national reception of Him. It is clearly manifest also from His coming to Jerusalem, with this express end in view, in that remarkable offer which he made of Himself to the nation as its King, when, clothing Himself in the royal insignia of Zeehariah's prophecy, He rode into Jerusalem on an ass's colt; the prophecy which He exhibited Himself as fulfilling going before Him, and as with sound of trumpet pro-claiming, 'Rejoice greatly O daughter of Sion, shout O daughter of Jerusalem, behold thy King cometh unto thee'—(Zech. ix. 9). Finally, the supremely national character of Christ's ministry, and the intensity of its earnestness as such, appear from the way in which, knowing now what His reception would be, and the ruin to the nation to follow, He was moved, on His approach to the city on this last grand occasion, for 'when He was come near He beheld the city and wept over it'—(Luke xix. 41-44); from the whole style of His preaching on this occasion, as in His parable of the vineyard, and in His reference to the stone which the builders were rejecting, although it was the foundation and corner-stone of the nation—(Matt. xxi. 33-45); and, once more from that pathetic outburst, '0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would page 49 not! Behold your house is left unto you desolate'—(Matt, xxiii. 37).

Finally, Christ's ministry having been thus a ministry of Himself, and having been thus intensely earnest, and intensely national, we find that it was finished and crowned by His dying the death of a martyr, witnessing to that fundamental truth which had been the great subject of His ministry, that He was in very deed the King of the Jews.

It was in connection with this claim, so publicly made and so remarkably sustained at Jerusalem, that the rulers were so sore displeased, that they questioned His authority, that they sought to lay hands on Him, and that gathering the Sanhedrim they took counsel to take Him by subtlety and kill Him—(Matt. xxi. 15, 23, 46, xxvi. 3). It was on this charge that, brought before the council, and being blindfolded and buffeted, He was called on: 'Prophecy unto us, Thou Christ, who is he that smote Thee'—(Matt. xxvi. 28). It was on the same charge that He stood before the Governor, the Governor asking Him, 'Art Thou the King of the Jews'—(Matt, xxvii. 11; John xviii. 37). It was the same before Herod. Herod and his men of war, in derision of the claim, clothing Him in a gorgeous robe'—(Luke xxiii. 11). It was under the same accusation and character that He was, again and again, brought forth and exhibited by Pilate, till at length the chief priest answering, 'We have no king but Cæsar,' He was delivered for crucifixion; the inscription on His cross which gave public intimation of the accusation under which He died, and which was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, being also, 'This is Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.'

But such having been the charge, how did Christ reply to it? In view of the hostility and peril which it occasioned, might He not have hidden or withdrawn the claim? But He came as a minister and witness of the truth; and so, before the Sanhedrim being asked, 'Art Thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?' Jesus said, 'I am'—(Mark xiv. 61, 62). Again, before Pilate, being asked, 'Art Thou the King of the Jews?' Jesus said unto him, 'Thou sayest'—(Matt, xxvii. 11). And page 50 again, 'Thou sayest I am a King. To this end was I born and for this cause came I into the world that I should hear witness unto the truth'—(John xviii. 37). Thus did He 'witness a good confession before Pontius Pilate'—(1 Tim. vi. 12, 13). The rage of His enemies, however, resulted only in grander attestations of the truth of the inscription on His cross, in giving it a wider range of application than to the nation of the Jews, and in Christ's full manifestation as Prince of the kings of the earth; for having by His confession constituted Himself 'the faithful witness,' thus did He come to be 'the first begotten from the dead,' and so also to be fully installed and manifested as 'Prince of the kings of the earth'—(Rev. i. 5).

We are surprised, however, that Christ's ministry should issue in such a result, and that instead of being a savour of life, it should have been to such an extent a savour of death. But, apart from its truly spiritual and saving results, we are not to think of Christ's ministry as having failed; on the contrary, it is in its apparent failure that we are to see its success. We must remember that the Spirit was not yet given, because Christ was not yet glorified, and that His ministry was still a ministry of the law and of the letter, the effect and design of which were to discover sin, to make it even abound, and so to be a ministry of death. For these ends Christ's ministry was entirely successful, so that, as never before was the ministry that was made glorious more gloriously manifested than in Christ, so never under it has there been such a discovery made of man's need of the Spirit, of the weakness of the most magnificent and likely Letter, of the extent and intensity of man's emnity against God, and so, instead of life under the Letter, such an aggravation of sin, condemnation, and wrath. 'If I had not come and spoken to them they had not had sin; but now they have no cloak for their sin.' 'He that hateth Me hateth My Father also. If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin, but now have they both seen and hated both Me and My Father.' And to such a height was the enmity carried, that, after having killed God's prophets, and page 51 stoned His messengers, last of all they slew His Son; bringing on themselves, on their children, and on their land, dreadful exposure to the fullest infliction of the curse.

5. Happily, however, Christ's work as the King of the Jews, did not end with His ministry, and its dire results, and we now proceed to observe, in the fifth place, in connection with the kingly part He is found acting on behalf of the nations of His constituency, that He died for them.

The necessity for this is already implied in the comprehension of the nations in His original constituency as the Second Adam, it is also implied in the gospel as being supremely a gospel for kings and their nations, and that there may be a foundation for such a gospel. Moreover, if the nations, as such, are to be blessed in Christ, they can be blessed only in virtue of His blood having been shed for their redemption as nations. And was it not as dying for the nation of the Jews, that he was of old typified in such national offerings as the two lambs offered daily on the altar, and which were to be offered day by day continually, and again very expressly in the scape-goat? In connection with this last, the express appointment is, 'And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness. And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited'—(Lev. xvi. 21, 22). Was not this in anticipation of Zechariah's prophecy, 'And I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day'—(Zech. iii. 9). And do not both the type and the prophecy unite in holding forth Christ as dying, as He had lived, supremely for nations.

But apart from these considerations, which make the fact of the national character of Christ's death so certain and so obvious, we have it expressly stated. For this is the very truth whose expediency and necessity Caiaphas was so remarkably employed, and overruled at once to counsel and declare, 'Ye know nothing at all,' he says, 'nor consider, that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and that the whole page 52 nation perish not the evangelist adding, 'and this spake he not of himself; hut being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation, and not for that nation only, but that also He should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad'—(John xi. 49-52). When he says, 'Not for that nation only,' it is evident that he means to add, 'but for other nations also,' and so that, 'the children scattered abroad,' must be national children, to be in due time constituted with Israel national sons of God; as we know they shall be, in terms of the prophecy: 'In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt, and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land: whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, 'Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance'—(Isa. xix. 24, 25). 'But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations?—(Jer. iii. 19). In giving His Son to die for the Jewish nation, God remembered His covenant made on their behalf with their patriarchal kings, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and had it in view to give them that full exodus from under the kingdom and power of darkness, of which their exodus from Egypt, and their baptism in the Bed Sea, was the sign and seal. At the same time, however, He remembered His covenant with Noah on behalf of His nations, and had it in view to restore them also from their long apostacy. Hence Christ died not for that nation only, but for the scattered nations, scattered because of their apostacy from Noah's covenant, and scattered so as not only to be driven forth from the tower of Babel, but so as to be driven forth from God, and to be scattered and divided among themselves. In fact, He had been in type exhibited as already dying for these scattered nations, and already they had participation in the redeeming virtue of His blood. He had been thus exhibited in that sacrifice of Noah which was laid as the foundation of the covenant made with him—(Gen. viii. 20-22). It is to Christ's sacrifice there represented that we owe the earth's continued preservation from a second deluge; it is to its virtue that we must ascribe the continued maintenance of the ordin- page 53 ances of heaven, and that, under all the apostacy of the nations, God has continued to give them rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts with food and gladness—(Acts xiv. 17). But He who died for them in type, and to the effect of procuring for them such temporal blessings as these, has died for them in reality, and to the effect not only of withholding a deluge of wrath, but of procuring for them a deluge of blessing. 'For it will come to pass afterwards, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh'—(Joel ii. 28),—and 'The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea'—(Hab. ii. 14).

Adam had but to live to secure the safety of his nations. A harder task devolved on Christ in order to the safety of His. His nations are under guilt; and not only are they under the guilt of Adam's fall, but, besides everything else, under all that guilt that must be implied in such a rejection of Christ as is consummated in His crucifixion. This guilt the Jewish nation had brought on itself; but it is to be observed that, in this respect, the Gentile nations are not less, but more guilty, than the Jews. They, in terms of the fourteenth Psalm, where in contradistinction to the foolish nation and unwise, they are spoken of as the sons of Adam—(compare Deut. xxxii. 6-8)—have come to be searched and tried, and repeating over again, in circumstances of greater knowledge, the sin of the Jews in their slaughter of Christ's two witnesses—(Rev. xi. 7-9)—they have certainly brought on themselves a measure of guilt far transcending that of the Jews. Thus, therefore, in their earth, in their persons, in body and in soul, and in all their relationships, whether as regards God, or among themselves, the nations are fallen, and under an aggravated curse; and in their earth, in their persons, and in all their relationships, they require to be redeemed. Hence there must be not only the exhibition of an adequate righteousness, but the shedding of adequate blood. Christ, therefore, must not only live for His nations, He must die for them; and, accordingly, when Christ,—who, at His birth as King, and again at His baptism, and all through, had been so clearly manifested as labouring under an imputation of guilt, not His own, but that of page 54 His nations, and which must all yet he duly and fully expiated—came at length to die on the accursed tree, what must He be regarded as then doing? Then by one offering of Himself He made an end of sin, once for all He expiated the guilt with which He had been burdened; and then, too, while even dying by the guilty hands of His nations, He took occasion so to die for them, as even to bear and expiate the very guilt of His crucifixion. Hence, to go no farther, as indicating the already effected redemption of the Jewish nation, and the certainty of their restoration to their own land, there to rest and reign a holy and a happy people, we have Jerusalem, Jerusalem the city of the crucifixion, and immediately after that event, still carefully designated 'the Holy City;' and which now, purged from guilt and redeemed by blood, we are to regard as worthier of the name than ever before—(Matt, xxvii. 50-53). But, to the same effect also, as regards the nations and their restoration to a holy and happy reign upon the earth, we have God laying claim to the world at large, and already designating it as 'my holy mountain,' on which, therefore, when the time comes for giving effect to its redemption, 'they shall no more hurt nor destroy' (Isa. xi. 9).

Thus, then, did Christ finish the work given Him to do. Thus did He act out to the uttermost the kingly part devolving on Him on behalf of His nations. His redemption is supremely, like His gospel, a national redemption, a redemption of nations; and having thus also ratified the covenant of their salvation, and there being now in Him a fulness of redeeming blood, and of all the righteousness and life required for their restoration, we see not only how all nations and families of the earth may, but how they shall, be blessed in Him. Hence we come.