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See the interest being shown in the reading of the Gospels, and especially the Gospel by Matthew, and we cannot go over the ground that we have already covered because of time, but suffice to say that there's a wealth of teaching, and that which will fill our baskets as worshippers and cause us to follow more devotedly his person in the reading of these opening books of the New Testament. They have been called the four gospels. Sometimes we confuse the idea of the gospel, and when we think of the gospel by Mark or the gospel by Luke, we think of the gospel that we preach, the good news.
Actually, when we read of the gospel and the four gospels, it's the good news of a visitation from heaven to earth of the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, and it's the good news in relationship to him that is the preeminent theme of these four parts of the New Testament. Actually, this gospel that we are considering is a book. It begins like that, the book of the generations of Jesus Christ. Matthew wrote a book, and it has been called the most beautiful book in the world. The purpose of the book is to attest to the fact that Jesus of Nazareth, who was born at Bethlehem of Judea, is the Messiah, the sovereign of Israel.
When we come to Mark, it is a gospel. It begins like that, the beginning of the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. When we come to Luke, it's neither a book nor a gospel, really, but it is a letter. It was a private letter that was written by the physician to a noble man whose name is given as Theophilus, a letter describing the things that are most surely believed concerning the person of Christ. And when we come to John, it's not so much a book or a gospel or a letter, but it is a thesis, and he gives us the reason he wrote.
The others don't tell us. It's only by implication we understand that Matthew is writing to attest the kingship of Christ, and Mark to present his servant character, and Luke to present his sympathy as a man. But John states why he wrote. He said, these things have I written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and believing you may have life through his name. He wrote it to prove the deity and to attest the absolute sonship of our Lord Jesus. I was asked some time ago where the roots of these gospels begin.
Where do we find the roots of Matthew? We find the roots of Matthew in the promises that were made to David and to Abraham. The promise of the land to Abraham, the promise of the throne to David. The roots of Mark are found in the prophecies of the Old Testament, in Malachi and Isaiah, as the first chapter shows. The rips of Luke are found in priesthood. It begins with the last of that priestly order standing at the altar, the golden altar, and Gabriel at the right side of that altar announcing the birth of the forerunner of our blessed law.
The roots of that beautiful gospel lie in the priesthood, but the roots of John lie in his pre-existence. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Not in promises or prophecies or priesthood, but backwards until our minds cannot understand it. In the beginning, in the bosom of the Father. I am often asked the question in relationship to the Gospels of my brethren, how do we see the Lord coming in in Matthew? All of us will immediately say, as a sovereign.
How do we see him coming in in Mark? All of us would say, as a servant. How do we see him coming in in Luke? A sympathizer. But how do we see him coming in in John? Most will say as the son, but he already was the son. He was not the sovereign until he was born. Neither was he a servant until he took humanity. Neither could he become a sympathizer without manhood. We see him coming in in John, not as the son, he was always the son, but in the gospel, which takes me back to the highest glory that was ever had in the bosom of the Father, the stupas crevengas, and you see him coming in as a stranger.
He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. When we think of the wonders of his love to enter in as a stranger, lo, we bow in adoration. So I want to turn now to Matthew and speak a little about this third mountain peak that we have here. Verse fifteen, chapter fourteen: And when it was evening, his disciples came to him saying, this is a desert place, and the time is now past. Send the multitudes away that they may go into the villages. Verse sixteen, but Jesus said unto them, they need not depart, give you them to eat. And they say unto him, we have here but five loaves and two fishes.
He said, bring them hither to me. And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed and brake and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. And they that all eaten were filled, and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full. And they that had eaten were about five thousand men beside women and children. And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship and to go before him onto the other side while he sent the multitudes away. And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into the mountain apart to pray.
And when the evening was come, he was there alone. But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves, for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them walking in the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking in the sea, they were troubled, saying, it is a spirit, and they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, be of good cheer, it is I, be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee in the water. And he said, come.
And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked from the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased. Then they that were in the ship came and, and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God. And when they were gone over, they came into the land of Gennesaret. And when the man of that place had knowledge of him, they sent out into all that country round about, and brought unto him all that were diseased, and besought him that they might only touch the hem of his garment, and as many as touched were made perfectly whole.
Now the Lord will bless to us the reading of this delightful portion of the word of God. I pointed out on the first evening that in Matthew's gospel, the great truths circulate around seven mountain peaks. When we come to Mark's gospel, it's the gospel of the seashore, and we have twenty six scenes where the Lord walked along by the Sea of Galilee and the happenings by the seashore. In the gospel by Luke, it's the gospel of the highways, and there are fourteen highways that are mentioned, and the happenings of the Lord walked along the highways of life.
And then lastly, in John, it's the gospel of the room, and we see him sitting in that upper room giving the delightful ministry, which is the seed plot of the truth contained in the epistles of Paul. Now, these seven mountain peaks, they have seven great lessons for the Lord's people. But I thought you might like to know something about their location, because these seven mountain peaks not only bring before us some of the great doctrines concerning the key in the gospel by Matthew, but they also cover the whole land where he moved when he was here. It's wonderful to think that only once was he outside of that ancient land.
When he was a child, he was carried down into the land of Egypt, and there he was sheltered a- amid the pyramids, and finally he came back, and the scripture used in connection with Israel is true of him in Hosea, quoted here in Matthew, out of Egypt have I called my son. Interesting to know that in the millennial reign of the Lord Jesus, we often speak of Israel as being the center of all blessing to the world. But along with Israel will be two other nations that are oftentimes forgotten. One of them is Egypt.
The land of Egypt and the land of Assyria and Israel will be the three leading nations in the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. And I often think that God's answer to the kindness of Egypt in sheltering the king will be that they will share the glory of the king in a day that is yet to come. What an interesting thing that is to speak about. Now, whenever we think of these seven mountains, some of them are diff- difficult to locate, and only tradition would help us even to think about them. But as we would read the topography of the land and consider it a little, I believe we would have some ideas to the different places where these mountains were located.
The first one that we spoke about, the mountain of temptation, I believe was near to the place where he was baptized in the Jordan. And of course, that was almost as the Jordan enters into the Dead Sea, in the very south of the land. And there, near the place of his baptism, is a mountain that is called even today the mountain of the temptation. Then when we think of what we were looking at last night, the sermon on the Mount. There are two sermons on the Mount. The second one we'll be looking at on Friday night, when on the Mount of Olives he gave that wonderful prophetic message, the greatest prophecy in all the Word of God.
I hope you'll be able to come and listen to something about that Mount Olivet discourse. But in chapters five, six, and seven, when he went up into a mount and sat down and began to teach the people, I think that the mount that is in view is what's known as the Horns of Paton. And the Horns of Paton are simply two hills, because in Israel, most of you know there are no real high mountains such as we would be thinking about, but most of them are hills or little mountains that we see there. And the Horns of Paton is the traditional place at the base of it where he fed the five um thousand with the loaves and fishes.
What a wonderful miracle that is. You know that that's the only miracle that appears in all the four gospels. It must be of great value. And after he had fed the multitude and constrained the disciples to go into the ship, and the multitudes that had been fed, John six tells us that they desired to make him king at that point. But instead of making him king, he went up into the horns of Paton. And there on the horns of Paton, we have the intercession of our blessed Lord. What a wonderful thing that is. And so I thought you might be interested in the Mount of Temptation in the south, and then the horns of Paton on the West Bank, as we call it today.
And then we're going to look in chapter seventeen of that, eh, very interesting scene, the Mount of Transfiguration. And that mountain is traditionally Mount Hermon, which is just south of Damascus, one of the highest peaks in Israel. It was an exceeding high mountain, but no one can be absolutely sure. But if it's true, these mountain peaks not only cover all of Matthew's gospel, but they cover all of that land, and we see the blessed footsteps of the king on the mountains, and I write over it the beautiful words of Isaiah, how beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the one that publishes glad tidings.
And then, of course, we're going to think of the Mount of Olives. It was a special place of the Lord. The Mount of Olives is, eh, not what you would call a mountain. It simply arrives on the eastern side of Jerusalem, but that Mount of Olives is important in our Bible. It's the mountain of the Savior's tears. All the tears that ever he shed that are recorded in the New Testament were all shed at the Mount of Olives. And it's not only the mountain of tears, but it's the mountain of triumph. Two of the greatest triumphs of Christ are witnessed at the Mount of Olives. One of them was the triumph of his literal ascension to the Father, recorded fourteen times in the New Testament, both factual and doctrinally, Fourteen references to his ascension, the triumph of his ascension from the Mount of Olives, and then in Zechariah fourteen, the triumph of his advent, when his feet shall stand upon the Mount of Olives.
What a miracle that will be, when that mountain will be split in two, when the king will stand with pierced feet upon the Mount of Olives. And then, of course, there's Mount Calvary. Oh, what a wonderful place that is. It's just the rise, not a mountain at all, but what took place there is the greatest event in human history. Eternity past looked forward to it, and all eternity to come will look backward to it, the center of all God's purposes, Calvary, where he died for you and for me. And then at Galilee, he appointed them in a mountain in Galilee in the north. And of course, those Galilean hills and around the Sea of Galilee, they rise about three hundred feet.
Mustn't think of large mountains such as we know, but around the Sea of Galilee are these little hills about three feet. The sea itself, of course, is six hundred and fifty feet below sea level, and the Sea of Galilee itself is just like a very small lake that you would find in Massachusetts today, thirteen miles long and seven miles wide, and yet the great happenings around that Sea of Galilee and the wonders of the Savior's power to bring fish out of its depths, to walk upon its billows, as we have read, to calm its angry waves and its storms, the Sea of Galilee.
For he slept in the fisherman's boat and where he taught the multitudes from off the shore and fed them with the loaves and fishes around its beaches and called men to follow and to be fishers of men. What a wonderful thing it is to think of the Sea of Galilee, the harp, as it's called. It's like the harp. Galilee means the circle, and there right in the circle, the place of a stable where he dwelt for thirty years. We have that harp-like lake in the midst of it, and we have all the happenings of the Sea of Tiberias, or Gennesaret, or the Sea of Galilee. Now, tonight I want to speak about this mountain, and I've called it here the Mountain of Intercession.
One of the ways that I've enjoyed looking at this particular section of the Word of God, and most of you know the facts here, he had fed the multitude with loaves and fishes. He was moved with compassion. They had been with him, and the time was now past, and the evening was drawing on, and he fed them with the, the loaves and fishes, and we read those beautiful words, he had compassion upon the multitude. And then after they were fed, he constrained his disciples to get into the little ship to cross the lake. And the multitudes would have then made him a king at that point, but instead of being a king, he went up higher and higher into the mountain.
And there he was alone, and he began his intercession. Bible says he was there alone praying, and his disciples were in the sea. And as the night went on, the night was dark. Another gospel says it was a dark night. It was dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. And there on the mountain side, his keen eye looked down through the darkness, and the storm had commenced. And those storms can be furious on that Sea of Galilee, surrounded by the mountains and hills. And the waves were boisterous, and they toiled and roared, but they weren't able to make the land.
And they were out in the midst of that lake without the Lord, but his eye was upon them. It's very interesting to speak of the occasions that he was with them in the boat, and other times he was on the land. There's an occasion when there was a storm and he was with them in the boat. Here's an occasion when there's a storm and he's high on the mountain watching them, watching over his disciples with tender love. Another occasion when he was standing on the shore directing fishing operations. And so we see him around that sea, calming its waves and directing his fishing operations, but here he's on the mountain praying, and they're out in the storm.
Their hearts are fearful. He left that place. We saw the other evening that he wouldn't cast himself down from the wing of the temple to make a display, but on this occasion he came down. It's interesting in the fourteenth chapter of Matthew that we have a contrast, as it were, from the fourth chapter. Command these stones to be made bread as they lay upon the desert. But here he's in the desert, and he multiplied the loaves and the fish to feed others. He had the power to do it. And then he left the mountainside. I don't believe he walked down the mountainside and out onto the water, but he came down miraculously upon those angry bells, almost in the vicinity of where the little ship was, and he began to walk across those billows towards that little vessel.
And when they saw him, they supposed it was a ghost, a spirit in the water. It was, eh, one of the things that was often said by fishermen on the Galilean lake, that there were spirits that were on the water. And they supposed it was a ghost, a spirit, as they saw the Lord walking upon the waves, drawing near to the ship. And he called out to them, be not afraid, it is I, it is I, be not afraid. And we read those beautiful words, they willingly received him into the ship. But before they received him into the ship, one of their number, he left that ship.
I suppose we could use the disciples in the little ship as a picture of a collective testimony of the Lord's people. But when we see one man leaving the ship and walking on the water, it would remind us of our individual path of faith. It would be impossible to walk upon the water, but here we have the individual believer walking a path of faith towards the Savior. And while his eyes were fixed upon the face of the Savior, he was able to triumph on the path of faith. But when his eyes be- began to look at things around him, at the storms of life, he began to sink in the waves.
Just a picture of us. When we look around at the distressing things on every hand and things that enter into our lives that distress us. We're apt to lift our eyes from him. And the path of faith is a path of watching the Savior and moving towards the Savior. He began to sink, but the Lord put out his hand and caught him. That's a delightful prayer. Lord, save me. You know, Luke is called the gospel of prayer. The Lord Jesus is seen seven times in that gospel as a praying man. It's the only gospel that tells us that when he was baptized, he prayed, and it's the only gospel that tells us that his last recorded utterance on Calvary was a prayer.
Into thy hands I commend my spirit. But the gospel by Matthew is also a gospel of prayer. I've been very interested in tracing the prayers of man in Matthew and the prayers of the Lord in Matthew, and they're all very touching. But here we have one of the shortest prayers that was ever prayed. Lord, save me. If he had been like some of our brethren, he'd have been two miles down. His prayer would have been so long. But here's a short prayer, and I remember an old preacher saying years ago that our prayers should be short, reaching the ear of God before Satan can shoot them down.
And so we have the brief distressing prayer, and in an hour of distress and need, we come to the Lord with that pressing need, Lord, save me. His prayer was immediately answered, got out his hand and caught him. And the two of them walked together over the waves, the billows together, in the companionship of Christ to that little ship, and they worshiped him, and they said of a truth of the Son of God. What a beautiful picture that is. Now I'm going to use this picture here as an illustration of believers today, and then I'm going to use it also as an illustration of believers in a day to come.
In other words, we want to make a present application of this beautiful incident, and then to make a future application, because primarily it is a dispensational picture. I suppose you could find that out, noticing where it lies in the Gospel by Matthew. In chapter thirteen we have one of the, the greatest discourses of the Lord, the seven parables of the kingdom of heaven. And then following this chapter, we have the wonderful information concerning a new thing on the earth, the church, and it's mentioned three times in Matthew sixteen and in Matthew eighteen. The church, first of all, composed of every believer, and then the local church in chapter eighteen.
the church and the churches of God. But these are two truths that are not mentioned in any of the other gospels, the kingdom of the heavens and the church. I suppose for a moment I should differentiate between them, because many of the believers don't seem to understand the difference between the kingdom and the church. What is the kingdom of the heavens? What does it mean? Twenty six times in Matthew's gospel, we read of the kingdom of heaven, and the kingdom of heaven is likened unto different things that are mentioned, the kingdom of heaven. And then in chapter sixteen and eighteen we have the only place in the Gospels where we have it named, the church, and then the local church as well.
Three times we have the idea of the ecclesia, the kingdom of heaven, and the church. And then right in the middle here, we have this dispensational picture of what is going on today. Well, the kingdom of heaven is a far greater term and a wider term than the church. The church is in the kingdom of heaven, but the kingdom of heaven precedes the church. It was in existence before the church, and after the church is complete and taken home to heaven, the kingdom of heaven will continue. So I hope I made that very, very plain without going into detail, that the church is in the kingdom of heaven, but the kingdom of heaven is a far greater thing.
It covers a long time before the church began, and it will go on after the church has gone home into the presence of the Lord. Now, the other expression is the kingdom of God. And you know, there are many believers that are absolutely confused about these two expressions, the kingdom of the heavens and the kingdom of God. And there are some that teach that they're both the same thing, that there's absolutely no difference between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the heavens. Well, I know I'm treading lightly here, perhaps on slippery places with some of my brethren, but after many, many years, forty five years of reading the Bible and the New Testament, and reading the writings of godly men that went before, and consulting with some of the men that I believe are able teachers in the word of God from time to time, and also my own conclusions are that there is a distinct difference between the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God.
The kingdom of God always existed. The kingdom of God is the place where God's authority is in control. The kingdom of God. God controlling and everything bowing to his control. But when sin entered into this world, there was one part of creation that rebelled against God's control, and that was man. And at the fall of man, he rebelled against God's control. And now we have read here this expression, the kingdom of the heavens. Now it simply means that heaven rules, that heaven is ruling, but the kingdom of God is absolute authority.
So therefore, in the kingdom of the heavens, there are rebels, and there are those who profess to own the king. There is empty profession in the kingdom of heaven. I suppose the parables would show that very clearly. The kingdom of heaven is like unto a man sowing seed, and in that kingdom there's unfruitful ground, but the kingdom of the heavens, heavens, the heavens rule. But the final control will eventually be brought about, as these seven parables in Matthew thirteen show, how, how Satan has introduced that which is unreed into the kingdom, and then how God will finally purge out of the kingdom all things that offend, and when the eternal state has come, then the kingdom of heaven will be brought back into the kingdom of God, and God will be all in all.
So I have absolutely no different, no difficulty at all distance based me with this kingdom of the heavens. The heavens do rule. Now, in chapter sixteen and eighteen we have the church, a new thing on the earth. So here in between, we have this dispensational picture. And what is it? The Lord Jesus has gone up into the mountain. There's a picture of his ascension to the right hand of the Father, and there he continues all through the dark night until the morning, interceding. Now in heaven, interceding, everlasting is his love. It's the priesthood of the Lord Jesus that's in view here, and he looks down, and he sees his people toiling and rowing, and the storms of life and the trials of life, and his eye is upon them.
And thank God he comes spiritually near to us, and he whispers in our ears, it is I, be not afraid. He calms the angry bulls, and he will finally bring us to our desired haven. It's the watchful, tender care of the Lord in the interval until he returns. I want to speak about it in another way, and that is to point out that we have here a beautiful picture of the coming again of our Lord Jesus Christ. You'll notice he came here in the fourth watch of the night. Now that gave me a great deal of concern because to the Hebrews, there were only three watches in the night.
The Jewish people divide their night into three parts, the first, second, and third watch, but there's no fourth, fourth watch as far as the Hebrew calendar is concerned. But the Lord Jesus, in Mark thirteen, he did a very unusual thing. He divided the night of his absence into four watches, and he said, the master of the house may return at even. That's between nine and 12. At midnight, at cock crowing, or in the morning. And so here we have the Roman division. Something that was very unusual for the Lord to do was to turn aside from the ordinary understanding of a Jewish audience, of a night been divided into three watches, and yet he introduces four watches of the night in Mark chapter thirteen.
I didn't tell you that this is the night. There's a word in Isaiah one twenty one that reads like this, Watch man, what hour of the night? And all the time that the Lord is away until he finally returns to set up his everlasting kingdom is viewed in the Bible as a night. It's night when he's away, but he's coming someday, and the sun of righteousness will arise, and the new day will begin. It's all important that we should know the program of the night. What are the night? I wonder if you had an exercise about what hour of the night? We remember the Apostle Paul said that the hour, that the night would soon be past, and the day is nearing, and the night will soon be over.
Chapman sa- sang in that lovely hymn, the night will soon be over, and we with Jesus reign. The marriage supper of the Lamb shall banish all our pain. So the night is divided into four watches: the evening, midnight, cock crowing, and the morning, or the fourth watch. I want to point out that the evening and the fourth watch have to do with the nation of Israel. The evening and the fourth watch. The first and the fourth watch has always to do with the nation of Israel. And then the midnight watch and the third watch, the cock crowing or the day dawning, those two watches have to do with the church.
The evening and the fourth watch for Israel, the second and the third watch, or midnight and cock crowing, are always associated with the church. Now, when we think of the night, all the time he's away, we think of four great events associated with each of these periods of the night. The evening would remind us of his ascension. Here in this lovely story that I read, it was in the evening when he went up into the mountain, and it was in the evening his mercy has been rejected, his visitation to earth has been refused, and the night is about to come upon a this old world. A night.
And in the evening, we see him going up to the right hand of God. And I have linked the evening with the ascension of our Lord Jesus from the Mount of Olives. His hands are lifted up today. He was taken up, the ascension. But then, in the midnight hour, his hands are lifted up. His priesthood, and that priesthood has been carried on from the day he sat down at the right hand of God until he comes again. We call it his unfinished work at the right hand of God. And so he was taken up in the evening, a glorified man at his ascension, and his hands are lifted up for the last almost two thousand years.
He's there as the sympathizer, the glorified man, the priest. At the cock crowing, he's going to catch up his bride. He's coming as the bridegroom at the cock crowing. Called in another part of our Bible, the appearing of the morning star. The morning star coincides with the cock crowing, and he's coming on the third watch to catch up his bride. And then he's coming on the fourth watch, right to the Mount of Olives, and he's coming to set up his kingdom. To put the four together, he was taken up, received up at his ascension in the evening.
His hands are lifted up as the priest during the midnight hour while we move in the darkness. Then he's coming at the cock crowing to catch up as the bridegroom, his blood bought church. Then he's coming to set up his everlasting kingdom and to reign over Israel when the morning dawns without a cloud. As David sang of it, the morning without cloud of sadness on his brow. He's descending to set up his kingdom. Now let us think of these, the first and the last watch in relationship to Israel. After the Lord Jesus had been here for forty days after his resurrection, and he had those many appearances.
It'd be very interesting to speak about them and the places he appeared. He appeared in a garden as a comforter to wipe away the tears of a woman. He appeared on a highway with two men in the evening to be the companion and to walk the Emmaus road beside them. He appeared in the upper room as the center of the gathering, Jesus in the midst. And then he appeared by the seashore as the commander of the operations on the sea, the director of the service of his people, and then last of all, he appeared on a mountainside.
And here in Acts chapter one, he has led a little group of his own for the last time out of the city of Jerusalem, and they have gone up the slope of Olivet, past Gethsemane, and on to the summit where once he wept over the city, and then out of sight altogether of the city of Jerusalem, over against the village of Bethany, very dear to his heart. In the gospel by Luke, it begins with the village of Bethlehem, where there was no room for him, and it ends with the village of Bethany, where he was always welcome. He led them over the summit and over against Bethany.
He lifted up his hands. The only time he ever lifted up his hands, these hands were, were bearing the wounds of Calvary in the name prints. And after he had given them his last words, they began to rise higher and higher, out of their strength, until that chicane of cloud enveloped him, and he went into the presence of the Father. What a welcome he must have received when he went home. It was the evening. But that little group standing at the summit of all of it there, they represent Israel. You know, when those two angels said, ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven?
This same Jesus that was taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as you've seen him go into heaven. It has nothing at all to do with the rapture. What is speaking about here is that he's coming in bodily form, and he's coming to men of Galilee, and he's coming right down physically to the Mount of Olives.
That little group standing there on the Mount of Olives represents the nation of Israel that will be waiting for him when he comes. In the upper room, the same man represents the church when he said to them, I will come again and receive you unto myself. On that occasion, a week before, or before Calvary, the night in which he was betrayed, they represented the church, but here, forty days later, they represent the nation of Israel. And so in the evening, Israel is without the king. The king is missing. He has gone up. And all these ages, they have had no king, and they have had no Messiah, and today they're scattered and waiting.
And while they wait, they're in the sea. That little ship going through the sea that we were looking at until the fourth, eh, watch is a picture of the nation of Israel in the Sea of Nations. And the winds have been boisterous. There's no people have suffered more. The gas chambers of Hitler, the persecutions of the Romans, and all the enmity of the world against the Jewish people tell us that the ship in the midst of the sea has been the objective of the hatred of man against that little nation. And in the fourth watch of the night, when their enemies will surround the city of Jerusalem, and all hope that they will be saved seems to be taken away, and when it is evident that all the great nations are around the carcass, the vultures.
I've always likened those vultures around the carcass to the enemies of Israel closing in from the east and from the north on the little nation to obliterate the name of the Jew forever. And in the moment of their deepest despair, he come. He walked on the water to the ship, but he's coming, riding upon the white horse, descending, and his first objective is to destroy the enemies of Israel and to gather together that ancient people around the state, and they will look upon him. And we have read here, they in the ship worshipped him, and they said, of a truth, thou art the Son of God.
It was because he called himself the Son of God that they desired his. He was crucified because of blasphemy, as far as the religious trial was concerned. He was crucified because he made himself a king, as far as the civil authorities were concerned. His kingship caused him to be crucified by a Roman emperor. But his sonship was the cause of his crucifixion, as far as Israel was concerned. And when he comes again, Nathaniel in John one is a type of it. He said, thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel.
And so these men on the ship, they worshiped him. They said of a true God, the Son of God. What a day it will be in the fourth watch of the night when he comes to the Mount of Olives and the son of Righteousness will be here, the Prince of Peace will have come, and the nation of Israel will gather around him and look upon him, and they will see the wounded hands and feet of Emmanuel, and they will say, Thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel. He's going to be crowned in the city of Jerusalem with Israel's die. And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David.
This beautiful gospel by Matthew, dispensation and all these pictures, view the fourth watch. This chapter is the key to the understanding of the fact that the king that was rejected, and the king that was crucified, and the king that rose is coming back in the fourth watch of the night, when the night is over, and as the sun rises, come to that ancient people. And so the evening of this night is linked with Israel and is going away, and linked with Israel and is coming again. But the midnight has to do not only with Israel, but with us.
At God's right hand, the Lord Jesus is interested in that ancient people. The Bible says his eyes are upon the land. There are two things that the Lord looks at from heaven, the land and the city. And then he looks with tender eyes upon the bride for whom his blood was shed. A new thing in the earth. This gospel by Matthew is the gospel that introduces me to these beautiful things. Shows me a kingdom that is now in advance, a kingdom that has been held over until the king returns. But while the king is absent, there is one pearl of greatest price.
There is the church for which his blood was shed, and as he yonder at God's right hand, he looks upon his little flock, and he looks upon Israel that is yet to be brought in and saved and brought back. These are his two interests, his earthly people, his heavenly people, those that will yet be restored as the wife of Jehovah, and that which will be linked to him as the bride of the Lamb, and he's waiting in heaven. The midnight hour. This is the midnight hour. Been passing through the midnight hour. He's been going on and on now for almost two thousand years.
But the cock crowing is near. What's the cock crowing, you say? The cock crowing is he's coming back secretly. When the world is sleeping, like that morning star we heard of the other on Lord's Day that will rise silently just before the break of day. Maybe tonight it will be the cock crowing, the third one step out of heaven. Angels will stand aside in wonder. There'll be no angels with them. The Bible says the Lord himself. No angels. When he comes to reign, he's bringing angels with him, and they'll worship him.
Hebrews one said, when he bringeth again his only begotten son into the world, all the angels will worship him. They didn't worship him when he came to Bethlehem, all the angels, there were a number. But when he comes to earth, all the angels will follow after him, and all heaven will worship him if he comes to reign. But when he comes for us, he's coming like Isaac, who went out alone to meet us. Alone, came out, and he was praying, and he looked down and he saw the bride coming. And the bride said to the servant that was with her, type of the Holy Spirit, what man is this that comes to meet us?
But haven't you noticed that Isaac didn't say, what woman is this that comes up out of the desert? Humanly speaking, the Lord always knew his people, but humanly speaking, as Isaac looked, he had no need to ask anyone who she was. Why? She was wearing the raiment that he had sent. She was wearing the evidence of the fact that she had listened to the voice of the servant, and in her hands was the jewel box, the jewels of silver, redeeming love, the jewels of gold, the person of Christ, the raiment, his rich provision.
They could see that she had received, and she had traveled through the desert, through the desert to me. And so the servant said, it is my master. To me, that's interesting. For seventeen times in Genesis twenty four he always referred to Abraham as being his master, and Isaac, my master's son. But at the end of the road, what man is this that comes to me? The servant said, but it doesn't matter. What can it mean? I've written over it the lovely words of the Lord Jesus.
I and my father are one. I and my father are one. Here's my master. And he took her into his mother's son's tent. He loved her. Isaac is the man of love in Genesis. Abraham is the man of faith. Jacob is the man of service. Joseph is the man of dreams. But Isaac is the man of affection. First time we have the word love in the Bible. Take now thine own relationship for my love. There he was the object of love. But in this lovely passage, he who was the object of his father's love became the bestower of his own love upon a bride.
In Genesis twenty seven, he who was the object of the father's love and the bestower of love upon his bride became the receiver of love from a son. Make now some venison such as I love. So we draw near to the lover of our soul with some refreshment. Oh, may the Lord bless his word and keep us wa- watching and waiting for the cup cold. It may be very needed. Shall we pray? Appreciate the exercise of heart that the