248
The Desire of Ages
With a feeling that something more than usual might be expected,
they now pressed about their Master. They believed that the kingdom
was soon to be established, and from the events of the morning they
gathered assurance that some announcement concerning it was about
to be made. A feeling of expectancy pervaded the multitude also,
and eager faces gave evidence of the deep interest. As the people sat
upon the green hillside, awaiting the words of the divine Teacher, their
hearts were filled with thoughts of future glory. There were scribes
and Pharisees who looked forward to the day when they should have
dominion over the hated Romans, and possess the riches and splendor
of the world’s great empire. The poor peasants and fishermen hoped
to hear the assurance that their wretched hovels, the scanty food, the
life of toil, and fear of want were to be exchanged for mansions of
plenty and days of ease. In place of the one coarse garment which was
their covering by day, and their blanket at night, they hoped that Christ
would give them the rich and costly robes of their conquerors. All
hearts thrilled with the proud hope that Israel was soon to be honored
before the nations as the chosen of the Lord, and Jerusalem exalted as
the head of a universal kingdom.
Christ disappointed the hope of worldly greatness. In the Sermon
on the Mount He sought to undo the work that had been wrought
by false education, and to give His hearers a right conception of His
kingdom and of His own character. Yet He did not make a direct attack
on the errors of the people. He saw the misery of the world on account
of sin, yet He did not present before them a vivid delineation of their
wretchedness. He taught them of something infinitely better than they
had known. Without combating their ideas of the kingdom of God,
He told them the conditions of entrance therein, leaving them to draw
their own conclusions as to its nature. The truths He taught are no less
important to us than to the multitude that followed Him. We no less
than they need to learn the foundation principles of the kingdom of
God.
Christ’s first words to the people on the mount were words of bless-
ing. Happy are they, He said, who recognize their spiritual poverty,
and feel their need of redemption. The gospel is to be preached to
[300]
the poor. Not to the spiritually proud, those who claim to be rich and
in need of nothing, is it revealed, but to those who are humble and