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truth of God, (b) to confirm the promises made to the fathers, and (c) that His ministry
was limited to the circumcision.
The gospel starts with the genealogy of the Lord, and establishes that He was the true
Seed of Abraham and David, both of whom were "fathers" of Israel. The title "patriarch"
is used of both Abraham and David (Heb. 7: 4, Acts 2: 29), and Mary, in her song in
Luke 1:, speaks of the Lord remembering His mercy to Israel--"as He spake to our
fathers, to Abraham and his seed for ever" (Luke 1: 55). The angel Gabriel also, when
announcing the birth of Christ, says:
"He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall
give unto Him the throne of His father David. And He shall reign over the house of
Jacob for ever; and of His Kingdom there shall be no end" (Luke 1: 32, 33).
The reader should observe that in all this there is not the slightest reference to the
calling out of a "church"; it is simply a question of the confirmation of the "promises
made unto the fathers".
Returning to Matt. 1: we learn that the birth of Christ fulfilled the promise made in
Isa. 7: 14, just as Luke 1: 32, 33 fulfils the promise made in Isa. 9: 6, 7. When the
wise men came to Jerusalem seeking the infant Christ, they did not ask where the
"Head of the Church" should be born, but "Where is He that is born King of the Jews?"
(Matt. 2: 2).
Moreover, when the Scribes referred to the prophet Micah, they quoted the promise
not only that Christ should be born in Bethlehem, but that He should rule the people of
Israel (Matt. 2: 6). So closely was Christ identified with Israel, that the passage in Hosea:
"When Israel was a child then I loved him, and called My son out of Egypt" (Hos. 11: 1)
is said to have been fulfilled when the Lord was taken by His parents down to Egypt after
the massacre of the infants by Herod. Moreover John the Baptist, the forerunner, comes
in fulfillment of the promise made in Isa. 40:, which is part of that section of the book
that has to do with the restoration of Israel. Furthermore, the prayer which the Lord
taught the disciples was a prayer concerning the Kingdom, and forgiveness of trespasses
was "as we forgive" others (Matt. 6: 12, 14). We may also note that Matt. 8: declares
that the miracles that the Lord worked were in fulfillment of the promise made in
Isa. 53:, where we read: "Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses"
(Matt. 8: 17).
In Matt. 10: we have the calling of "the twelve" and their commission:
"Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not;
but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matt. 10: 5, 6).
Such a statement, coming as it does in chapter 10:, must surely make it clear that the
Sermon on the Mount, that occupies chapters 5:-7:, is "kingdom truth" and not
"church truth".