196
The Desire of Ages
If Christ had called attention to the Pharisees, and had extolled
their learning and piety, they would have hailed Him with joy. But
when He spoke of the kingdom of heaven as a dispensation of mercy
for all mankind, He was presenting a phase of religion they would not
tolerate. Their own example and teaching had never been such as to
make the service of God seem desirable. When they saw Jesus giving
attention to the very ones they hated and repulsed, it stirred up the
worst passions of their proud hearts. Notwithstanding their boast that
under the “Lion of the tribe of Judah” (
Revelation 5:5
), Israel should
be exalted to pre-eminence over all nations, they could have borne the
disappointment of their ambitious hopes better than they could bear
Christ’s reproof of their sins, and the reproach they felt even from the
presence of His purity.
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