the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached unto them, and blessed is

he, whosoever shall not be offended in Me."

If the reader will turn to Isa. 29: 18, 19; 35: 5, 6; and 42: 1-7 he will see how

this answer would tend to confirm the languishing forerunner. Everything was being

done by the Saviour according to the Word and will of God, but unbelief was bringing

this witness of the kingdom to a close, for a little further on, in Matt. 11: 20, He began to

"upbraid the cities wherein most of His mighty works were done, because they repented

not." It is evident that if the mighty works were rejected, the gospel or good news that

the kingdom of the heavens had drawn nigh would be rejected also, and the cry, "Repent

and believe," would go unheeded.

The Lord Jesus, however, knew that this opposition was to be overruled to the

accomplishment of God's ultimate purpose, and with the words, "Even so, Father, for so

it seemed good in Thy sight," He awaited the end. It soon came, for in Matt. 12: we

reach a climax. There the Lord Jesus is seen "greater than the Temple" (verse 6),

"greater than the prophet Jonah" (verse 41), "greater than the king Solomon" (verse 42),

and in all these capacities He is rejected.

The reason for this rejection is given in

verses 43-45.

The captivity of Babylon had cured the Jews of idolatry, but they were like a room

"empty, swept and garnished," inhabited by a spirit more evil than that which bound

their idolatrous "fathers"; the last state is worse than the first, for rejecting Christ they

reached the climax sin. This leads on to Matt. 13: with its secrets or mysteries. Up to

this point nothing had been secret, but now the Saviour reveals to the hearing ear and

seeing eye that the rejection of the King and His message was foreknown, that the efforts

of the apostles themselves would meet a similar fate, and that not until the end, when the

Lord returns to take the kingdom and deliver Israel, will the sowing of the seed of the

kingdom yield its bounteous harvest.

We now approach the consideration of this initial parable. Initial, not only because it

is the first in order of utterance, but because its interpretation supplies a model for the

interpretation of all parables, "Know ye not this parables? and how then will ye know all

parables?" (Mark 4: 13).

John tells us that although he has recorded eight "signs" to support the particular

purpose of his Gospel (John 20: 31), yet the number actually wrought by the Lord far

exceeded this, so much so that "if they should be written every one, I suppose that even

the world itself could not contain the books that should be written" (John 21: 25). What

is true concerning the Lord's works is also true concerning His words; each Gospel

narrative gives a divinely inspired selection of His wonderful teaching. If this is so, what