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The Spirit of Prophecy Volume 3
unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man
after that durst ask him any question.”
What the scribe needed was the touch of divine enlightenment
which would enable him to feel the need of repentance for sin and
faith in the Saviour; that no man can be saved through the law but
through repentance and faith toward Christ, the sinner’s Advocate
with the Father. The scribe was near to the kingdom of God, in that
he recognized deeds of righteousness to be more acceptable to God
than burnt-offerings and sacrifices. Yet he still needed to acknowledge
Jesus as the Son of God. All the religious service of the Jews was of no
value whatever unless connected with living faith in Christ Jesus, who
was the substance of which that service was the shadow. Christ had
repeatedly shown that his Father’s law contained something deeper
than mere authoritative commands. The moral law contains the gospel
[55]
in principle.
The Pharisees had gathered close about Jesus as he answered the
questions of the scribe. He now turned to them and them a question:
“What think ye of Christ? Whose son is he?” Jesus was evidently
testing the faith of the Pharisees in his divinity, whether they regarded
him simply as a man, or the divine Son of God. A chorus of voices
answered simultaneously, “The son of David.” This was the title which
prophecy had given to the Messiah. When Jesus had revealed his
divinity by his mighty miracles, when the sick were healed and the
dead restored to life, the people had marveled and inquired among
themselves, “Is not this the son of David?” The Syrophenician woman,
blind Bartimeus, and many others had cried aloud to him for help,
“Thou son of David, have mercy on me!” Only a few hours before,
while riding into Jerusalem, he had been hailed with joyful “Hosannas
to the son of David, Blessed is He who cometh in the name of the
Lord,” and the little children in the temple had that day echoed the
same glad shouts.
In reply to the answer of the people, that Christ was the son of
David, Jesus said: “David in Spirit [the Spirit of inspiration from God,]
called him Lord, saying, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my
right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool. If David then called
him Lord, how is he his son? And no man was able to answer him
a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more
questions.”
[56]