“Is Not This the Carpenter’s Son?”
193
of that maddened throng. They shut Him in from His enemies, and
conducted Him to a place of safety.
So angels protected Lot, and led him out safely from the midst of
Sodom. So they protected Elisha in the little mountain city. When the
encircling hills were filled with the horses and chariots of the king of
Syria, and the great host of his armed men, Elisha beheld the nearer
hill slopes covered with the armies of God,—horses and chariots of
fire round about the servant of the Lord.
So, in all ages, angels have been near to Christ’s faithful followers.
The vast confederacy of evil is arrayed against all who would over-
come; but Christ would have us look to the things which are not seen,
to the armies of heaven encamped about all who love God, to deliver
them. From what dangers, seen and unseen, we have been preserved
through the interposition of the angels, we shall never know, until in
the light of eternity we see the providences of God. Then we shall
know that the whole family of heaven was interested in the family here
below, and that messengers from the throne of God attended our steps
from day to day.
When Jesus in the synagogue read from the prophecy, He stopped
short of the final specification concerning the Messiah’s work. Having
read the words, “To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,” He
omitted the phrase, “and the day of vengeance of our God.”
Isaiah
61:2
. This was just as much truth as was the first of the prophecy, and
by His silence Jesus did not deny the truth. But this last expression
was that upon which His hearers delighted to dwell, and which they
were desirous of fulfilling. They denounced judgments against the
heathen, not discerning that their own guilt was even greater than that
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of others. They themselves were in deepest need of the mercy they
were so ready to deny to the heathen. That day in the synagogue, when
Jesus stood among them, was their opportunity to accept the call of
Heaven. He who “delighteth in mercy” (
Micah 7:18
) would fain have
saved them from the ruin which their sins were inviting.
Not without one more call to repentance could He give them up.
Toward the close of His ministry in Galilee, He again visited the home
of His childhood. Since His rejection there, the fame of His preaching
and His miracles had filled the land. None now could deny that He
possessed more than human power. The people of Nazareth knew that
He went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed by