XXVII.
GENERAL ACCOUNT OF JESUS' TEACHING.
aMATT. IV. 17; bMARK
I. 14, 15; cLUKE IV. 14, 15.
a17 From that time Jesus
began to preach [The time here indicated is that of John the Baptist's
imprisonment and Jesus' return to Galilee. This time marked a new period
in the public ministry of Jesus. Hitherto he had taught, but he now began
to preach. When the voice of his messenger, John, was silenced, the King
became his own herald. Paul quoted the Greeks as saying that preaching
was "foolishness," but following the example here set by Christ, he used
it as the appointed means for saving souls. While Matthew gives us many
of the earlier incidents of Christ's life, he enters upon the account of
his ministry at the time when Jesus returned to Galilee. From that
time forward he was probably an eye-witness of the events which he records],bpreaching
the gospel of God, 15 And saying, {aand
to say,} Repent ye; for bthe time is fulfilled, and the kingdom
of God {aof Heaven} bis at hand. [Jesus preached
the gospel or good news of his own advent and of the setting up of the
unending kingdom which should convert the world to righteousness and save
the souls of men. We should note that Jesus himself declares that the prophesied
time for the setting up of his kingdom was at hand. There were many general
prophecies as to this kingdom, but one which especially fixed the time
of its coming; viz.: Dan. ix. 24-27. This prophecy tells of seventy weeks
in which each day is reckoned as a year, so that the seventy weeks equal
four hundred and ninety years. They are to be counted from the date of
the decree which ordered the rebuilding of Jerusalem. The Messiah, or Prince,
was to come at the beginning of the seventieth week, or four hundred and
eighty-three years from the date of the decree. Some take the decree referred
to as to be that mentioned in Nehemiah ii. Jahn and Hales fix the date
[155] of this decree in the year 444 B. C. According
to this, Jesus would have begun his ministry in the year A. D. 39. Others
take the decree to be mentioned in Ezra vii., which was thirteen years
earlier, and which would bring the beginning of the ministry of Jesus to
the year A. D. 26. But there is much uncertainty about all ancient chronology.
Suffice it to say that Daniel told in round numbers how long it would be
until Messiah should come, and that Jesus said that this time had been
fulfilled. It would have been easy to ascertain the correct chronology
at the time when Jesus spoke, and we have no record that any presumed to
dispute his statement. Jesus announced the coming of a new dispensation.
The King had already come, but the kingdom in its organization and administration
was as yet only "at hand." Until the crucifixion of Christ and the descent
of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost the kingdom could not be fully organized,
for the blood shed upon the cross furnished the means for purification
which precedes a proper entrance into the kingdom, and the coming of the
Holy Spirit afforded that indwelling strength by which those entering are
enabled to abide therein]: repent ye, and believe in the gospel.
[That is, prepare for the kingdom by repenting of sin, and by believing
the glad news that the kingdom was approaching, for the King had come (John
i. 49). The preaching of Jesus at this time did not differ materially from
that of John the Baptist, for John preached repentance and the approaching
kingdom (Matt. iii. 2), and the gospel (Luke iii. 18), and belief in the
King (John i. 29, 36; iii. 36). The fact that repentance comes before belief
in this passage is by some taken as an indication that repentance precedes
faith in the process of conversion, but it should be remembered that the
preaching here is addressed to the Jewish people, who already believed
in God, and in the Scripture as the revelation of God. They were, therefore,
required to bring forth fruit worthy of the old faith and the old revelation
as preparatory to their reception of the new faith and the new revelation.
Thus repentance and faith appears to be the established order for Hebrews
(Heb. vi. 1), and their [156] proselytes (Acts
xx. 21), because of the spiritual standpoint or condition in which the
gospel found them. But those who have no faith in God can surely have no
repentance toward him, for belief precedes every call upon God, whether
for mercy, pardon, or any other blessing--Rom. x. 13, 14],cand
a fame went out concerning him through all the region round about.
[The miracles of Jesus and the manner in which he taught caused the people
to glorify his name.] 15 And he taught
in their synagogues, being glorified of all. [If we may trust later
tradition (and the New Testament corroborates it), synagogues were very
plentiful in that day, there being at least one in each town. In the synagogue
the people met on Sabbath and feast days. The temple at Jerusalem was used
for ceremonial worship, but the services in the synagogue were of far different
order, the study and application of the Scripture being the principal feature.]
[FFG 155-157]
