very purpose, that he might publicly appear as the promised king; and Christ's human nature was, from the period of his conception, joined in that intimate union with his divine, in order that it might be properly qualified to enter upon the august empired of the Son of God.e There are discoverable, moreover, in all those places in which Christ says that his kingdom is come, clear indications that a royal person25 is chiefly referred to. Thus, in Matt. xii. 28, he shewed

Luke i. 35. d Luke i. 32 s.

b John i. 14.

e V. 35. John i. 14.

。 Note 16.

"In propor

xviii. 37. I give to the article ☛n, the same sense which it has in Acts ix. 2, comp. xxii. 4, and Heb. iii. 3. tion to the greater honour which redounds from this house, over which Jesus presides, (v. 2,) to him who built it, than from the other, over which Moses presided." Comp. Obss. Gramm. p. 119, n. 1. [That the article, however, has in Acts ix. 2, the force assigned to it by Storr, may well be questioned. See a judicious note of Bishop Middleton, in his 'Doctrine of the Greek Article,' in loco.-Tr.]

25 The kingdom had so far come, that the king by whom it was to be administered was certainly present. Unless, indeed, as is often the case, with the words ižovσía, ágxǹ, zugiórns, the abstract βασιλεία be used for the concrete βασιλεύς. Certainly the Hebrew term, which commonly signifies king, properly means kingdom (comp. Obss. Gramm. p. 151), and was at length figuratively transferred to the signification of king. Its proper signification is to be found in Dan. viii. 21, at the beginning vii. 17; which the LXX. and Theodotion perceived in this last place, though not in the first. On the other hand the LXX. 1 Kings xi. 14, translate the Hebrew, which is

to be understood concerning the king (v. 15), by the word Bariksia. Comp. Hess, über die Lehren, Thaten und Schicksale unsers Herrn. p. 61, 178, 279 s.

C

that his kingdom was come, because such manifest proofs existed of his power over demons, that it was plain a person had made his appearance, who might properly be accounted the conqueror of the most formidable enemies. And when in Luke xvii. 20 s. he shews that the kingdom of God does not come in such a manner, that it may be easily observed by any one26 or pointed out, by this argument, that the kingdom of God was already in the midst27 of the Jews, though ignorant of it, he appears to mean nothing else than this; that he, the offspring of David about to reign, was present among the Jews. Thence he adds immediately afterwards, Luke xvii. 22, that the time should come, when the disciples would earnestly desire this presence of the kingdom of God, and would long to recover one of the days which he had passed among them; but that he was then about to cease for some time his appearance, and that those ought to receive no credit, who should represent him as being present. For although he should at some future time return, yet he should not then come μετὰ παρατηρήσεως, but suddenly, and should take many by surprise. If therefore you would trace the kingdom of heaven from its very beginning and foundation, which was laid in the conception and nativity of the king; then it embraces the whole time of the

f

e

g

26 Comp. Elsner, Obss. ss. ad v. 20.

27 See Raphel. Annott. in N. T. ex Xenophonte, ad v. 21,

d

a

Messiah,28 which Moses and the prophets foreshewed as to come, but John was able to announce as present,29b being in this very respecte superior to all the prophets, that immediately after him the last and greatest of all the prophets, that is, the Lord himself, being then just at hand, was openly to make his appearance. But if you inquire respecting that time particularly, when the person whom the prophets predicted as about to possess universal dominion, not merely was present, but, in the sense intended by them,30 entered upon his eternal kingdom; then, inπροεφητευσαν, Matt. xi. 13.

a

e Matt. xi. 10.

b svayyedilεodas, Luke xvi. 16. d V. 9, 11.

28 In this are included, besides Christ's kingdom, properly understood, all the other circumstances also, which according to Moses and the prophets (Luke xxiv. 26 s. 44 ss.), were to take place before the Messiah entered upon that glorious kingdom.

29 I think that that more comprehensive sense of the kingdom of heaven, by which it is made to include the whole of Christ's history, obtains universally in those places where the gospel (message) of the kingdom of God is mentioned (note 7, 8;) since it is evident, that in the gospel are included not only Christ's sitting down at the right hand of God, and the administration of his divine government, but also all the transactions of his former life. (John i. 29; vi. 51. 1 Cor. xv. 1 ss.) Hence there is sometimes substituted for the phrase above mentioned (comp. Acts xix. 8; xx. 25 with v. 21,) sometimes there is subjoined in the same context (xxviii. 23, 31; viii. 12,) an explanation to inform us that Christ was intended. Add Luke xviii. 29, ivenev rñs Baoiλeías roũ Deo, for which in Matt. xix. 29, is vexev Toũ XpioToũ, and in Mark x. 29, iveney Toû Χριστοῦ καὶ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, shewing the reference to be to Christ (or the kingdom of God.)

30 The ancient prophecies respecting Christ may be said to have their accomplishment, as soon as he had begun to reign in

deed, the time of the Messiah had arrived (Tλngwrai 0 xaigos), at that period when Jesus, and before him John, published the gospel ;-in such a manner, how~ ever, that his divine kingdom was rather at handTM than come, and was as yet to be looked for, and sought by prayer.31 c On which account, John, however superior to the prophets, who were able neither to point to a present king, nor to announce the approach of his kingdom, was judged by our Lord himself to be less than the apostles,32 though these latter,

a Mark i. 15.

cxi. 2. Matt. vi. 10.

b

xv. 43. Luke xxiii. 51. d Matt. xi. 11. Luke vii. 28.

the manner predicted by the prophets. For all the events, which afterwards took place, or which shall yet happen, as, for instance, the joyful extension of the gospel, are included in that very empire (§ vii.) which was then present. Jesus, therefore, towards the end of his life, when his sitting down at the right hand of God (Luke xxii. 69,) was just at hand (note 22), shews that the things which had been written concerning him had their accomplishment, v. 37.

31 It is not to be hence inferred, that this prayer (Luke xi. 2,) is not proper for use in our own day. For although the kingdom of God was come, as soon as Christ had ascended into heaven; yet we shall presently see that, in another sense, the kingdom of God may be not yet arrived. For, to say nothing of that most glorious manifestation of the kingdom of God which is yet to be made (§ viii.,) how many nations are there to whom this heavenly kingdom has not yet come, (Matt. xxi. 43?) how many Christians are there, who are not yet within the kingdom (Col. i. 13,) of the Son of God! Comp. Luther's Larger Catechism (p. 516 s. ed. Rechenberg.)

32❝ Those who are less; yet in the kingdom of heaven, when it shall have commenced, are greater than he (John.”) · The article does not forbid, either that the singular pixgórıges should be taken collectively, (comp. Diss. de sensu vocis díxatos in

as having been formerly the disciples of John, were in this respect certainly his inferiors. The latter exercised their public duty and ministry,33 not only during that happy34 period when Christ sojourned among men, but actually in the midst of the supremely happy days35 of his heavenly empire; they having lived to see these, which was a privilege denied to John. Whence also, during that period which preceded Christ's death and ascension into heaven, the right of citizenship in the heavenly kingdom,36 which Comp. Mark ix. 1.

a

N. T. note 49,) or that, out of many disciples, inferior to their teacher, certain individuals, i. e. the apostles, should be understood, comp. Apoc. viii. 2.

33 That it is to this that the declaration of our Lord refers, is shewn by the circumstance, that John is considered, through the whole of this passage, with reference to his public ministry, v. 9. 34 Comp. Luke x. 23.

35 There were many things, which could not be proclaimed even by our Lord himself (John xvi. 12, much less by John, which were afterwards published and diffused far and wide by the apostles; while, on the contrary, John's sphere was circumscribed by the limits of Palestine. Comp. Mosche Bibelfreund, P. i. p. 380 s. and add John vii. 38 s. xiv. 12.

36 As the word woλurua, which signifies both the administration of a free state (see, for example, Demosthenes, Vol. ii. ed. Reisk. p. 1396, [Demosth. et Aesch. Op. Ed. Lond. 1827, Vol. iv. p. 420.—Tr.] and in many other places,) and any form of government whatever, as in Eschines, Vol. iii. Orat. Græc. p. 29, 389, [Demosth. et Aesch. Op. Ed. Lond. 1827, Vol. viii. p. 9.-Tr.] is transferred to the signification of the right of citizenship (see Wetstein, at Acts xxii. 28 : so also βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν means not only the empire or government of the Messiah, but the right of citizenship in the Messiah's kingdom, and all the felicity and duties connected with it, as