Now after that John was put in prison.
Hindrances no injury
But John had been doing a good work, doing an important work, doing the very work that God had planned for him to do. Why did the Lord let him be put in prison? Just such interruptions as that to the best men’s work, and just such trials as this to the best of men, are in the Lord’s plan of the progress of his work, and of the training of His people. When old Father Mills, of Torringford, Connecticut, heard that his son, Samuel J. Mills, “the father of foreign missions in America,” had died at sea while his work was at its brilliant starting, the quaint old Yankee preacher said wonderingly: “Well, I declare! The fat’s all in the fire again.” And it did look that way, didn’t it? We can’t understand all this; but we can see its commonness. John the Baptist was a child of promise and a child of prophecy. Jesus says of him: “Among them that are born of women there hath not arisen a greater than John the Baptist.” Yet just as he was fairly inaugurating the Messiah’s dispensation, and his work seemed more important than almost anyone’s else on earth, “John was put in prison.” Until you can see just why that thing was permitted, don’t worry yourself over some of your little hindrances, or those of your neighbours, asking-as if half in doubt whether or not there is a God, or whether He cares for the interests of His cause and its best friends “What did the Lord let this happen for?” (Sunday School Times.)
The silencing of Christ’s ministers not the suppressing of Christ’s gospel
Out of the ashes of a Faithful God raises up a Hopeful; for the immortal dreamer says: “Now I saw in my dream that Christian went not forth alone; for there was one whose name was Hopeful who joined himself unto him.” Though the enemy burn a John Huss, God is able to raise up a Martin Luther to take his place: end the martyrdom of Ridley and Latimer does but “light a candle in England which shall never be put out.” The casting of the Baptist into prison signalized the commencement of that ministry which unhinged the gates of hell. (Anonymous.)
Impediment changed into new impetus
I. We see a royal ambassador silenced.
II. We see a worthier envoy substituted.
III. We see the deathless energy of truth. No power known on earth can stop her silvery tongue. (D. Davies, M. A.)
Christ’s preaching
John’s position had been one of honour. We now contemplate him as the occupant of a dungeon.
I. The history of John’s connection with Herod is very instructive. It shows-
1. The feeling of the world in certain cases towards the truth of its teachers-they “hear it gladly.”
2. The experience of the faithful reprovers of human sin-a prison.
3. A leading feature of that kingdom which John introduced.
4. This was fitted to undeceive the Jews. Are you satisfied with the gospel economy?
II. No sooner was John cast into prison than Jesus Himself began to preach the gospel.
1. When a servant of God has finished his work, he must be satisfied to retire. We think experience, etc., lost; but no.
2. The world will never succeed in suppressing the truth. Let us not be oppressed with anxiety!
III. The Evangelist records the substance as well as the fact of Christ’s preaching.
IV. As soon as Christ began to preach the gospel He called His disciples.
1. On the fact of His calling His disciples we may remark:
(1) He made provision for the perpetuity of His kingdom;
(2) He brought those who were to be main pillars in the Church under His own training-spiritually;
(3) He placed the apostles in circumstances which qualified them to be witnesses to facts.
2. On the manner of His calling His disciples, we may remark:
(1) He honoured diligence in humble employment;
(2) He chose seemingly weak instruments;
(3) He taught that we must leave all in order to follow Him;
(4) He furnished an example of effectual calling. Have you “left all”? (Expository Discourses.)
Jesus came into Galilee
The season was the spring, with its bright heaven, its fresh sweet earth, its gladsome, soft, yet strengthening air, its limpid living water. And within as without all was springtime, the season of million-fold forces, gladly and grandly creative, of sunlight now clear and blithesome, and now veiled with clouds that came only to break in fruitful showers. (Principal A. M. Fairbairn.)
The vicissitudes of a Godly life
I. That good men are often made the subject of social reproach. “John was put in prison.”
1. Because the inner meaning of their lives is frequently misunderstood.
2. Because the moral beauty of their character excites the envy of the wicked.
3. Because they are often called to rebuke the wickedness of those around them.
II. That useful men are often rendered incapable of work through the tyranny of others.
1. The power of regal authority to hinder the labours of the morally useful is only partial.
2. It is often capable of wise explanation-
(1) It proved that the Baptist was capable of suffering as well as work;
(2) That the history of the Baptist might the more easily merge into that of our Lord;
(3) To give him rest before entering the solemnities of eternity.
3. It is deeply responsible.
III. That though one servant of truth may be removed another is immediately found to take his place.
IV. That the ministry called forth by the emergency is often better than the one removed. (Joseph S. Exell, M. A.)
Preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God.-
The scope of our Lord’s ministry
I. The kingdom here spoken of.
1. It was the kingdom of God.
2. It was at that time to be established.
II. What must we do to become subjects of this kingdom?
1. Repent of sin.
2. Believe the gospel. Application:
(1) Inquiry;
(2) Humiliation;
(3) Thankfulness. (C. Simeon, M. A.)
The kingdom of God
This term is used in various senses in the New Testament.
1. The presence of Christ upon earth.
2. The second coming of Christ.
3. His influence upon the heart.
4. Christianity as a Church.
5. Christianity as a faith.
6. The life eternal.
It points out sin to be turned from in sorrow: Christ to be believed in with joy. (T. M. Lindsay, D. D.)
The Kingdom of God: God reigning in men’s hearts
There is great meaning in the words that Jesus was continually using to describe the work that He did for men’s souls. He brought them into “the kingdom of God.” The whole burden of His preaching was to establish the kingdom of God. The purpose of the new birth for which He laboured was to make men subjects of the kingdom of God. Is it not clear what it means? The kingdom of God for any soul is that condition, anywhere in the universe, where God is that soul’s king, where it seeks and obeys the highest, where it loves truth and duty more than comfort and luxury. Have you entered into the kingdom of God? Oh, how much that means! Has any love of God taken possession of you, so that you want to do His will above all things, and try to do it all the time? Has Christ brought you there? If He has, how great and new and glorious the life of the kingdom seems. No wonder that He said you must be born again before you could enter there. How poor life seems outside that kingdom. How beautiful and glorious inside its gates! If I tried to tell you how Christ brings us there, I should repeat to you once more the old, familiar story. He comes and lives and dies for us. He touches us with gratitude. He sets before our softened lives His life. He makes us see the beauty of holiness, and the strength of the spiritual life in Him. He transfers His life to us through the open channel of faith, and so we come to live as He lives, by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. How old the story is, but how endlessly fresh and true to Him whose own career it describes. (Phillips Brooks, D. D.)
The kingdom of God an inward state
Many people seem to suppose this means some realm after death, where those who have done nothing but mortify themselves here shall do nothing but enjoy themselves hereafter. But what Christ meant by the kingdom of heaven was a life begun here, passing through the grave and gate of death without any breach of spiritual continuity. Unchanged in essence was the life of His kingdom-changeable only in outward accidents. Its essence depended always not on where, but on what you were. The kingdom of heaven was always a state within, not a place, though it worked itself out here below in a visible Church. (H. R. Haweis, M. A.)
The Galilean ministry
I. When. After John’s imprisonment. One witness of the truth silenced; but another raised up. After Moses, Joshua; after Stephen, Paul.
II. Where. Galilee. Where could He find work so readily as amidst the ceaseless toil and turmoil of these teeming villages?
III. What.
1. Gospel of kingdom of God. Spiritual (1 Corinthians 15:50); righteous (Romans 14:17); near (Luke 21:31); inward (Luke 17:20-21).
2. Repentance and faith: thus completing the work of John. (H. Thorne.)
Christ the Evangelical minister
I. The preacher-“Jesus.” But Jesus differed from all other preachers.
1. He was Divine.
2. He was infallible.
3. He was sympathetic.
4. He was most clear and simple. “Common people heard him gladly,” etc.
5. He was most interesting.
6. Most faithful and earnest.
7. He preached most affectionately and tenderly. One of His very last appeals-“O Jerusalem,” etc. He wept over it, etc.
II. His theme. The gospel.
1. He was the subject of His own ministry.
2. He also proclaimed the kingdom of God.
3. The near approach of this kingdom.
4. The sphere of His ministry at this time was Galilee. Now the world is the field of the gospel-“Go ye into all the world,” etc.
III. The special appeal He made.
1. He urged repentance.
2. He demanded faith. The gospel news must be heard and received as true.
Learn:
1. We have the same Saviour.
2. The same gospel-now complete by His resurrection and gift of the Holy Spirit.
3. Its blessings are ours on the same terms.
4. Men perish by not believing the gospel of Christ. (J. Burns, D. D.)