PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels — St. Matthew
Ryle, J. C. (John Charles), 1816–1900 · 139,856 words · 405 reading sections
MATTHEW XXVI. 47—56.
47 And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great muhitude with Bwords and staves, from the Chief Priests and elders of the people. - 48 Now he that hetrayed liim gave them a sign, saying, AVhomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he : hold him fust. 4y And forthwith he came to Jesus, a…
282 wordsSECTION 362MATTHEW^ CHAP. XXVI. , 367
prisoner by His deadly enemies. Never surely was there sorrow like His sorrow ! Never may we forget, as we read this part of the Bible, that our sins were the cause of these sorrows ! Jesus was "delivered for our offences." (Rom. iv. 25,) Let us notice, for one thing, in these verses, what gracious condescension marhe…
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same that it was upon earth. He is ever meek, merciful, and condescending to men of low estate. Let us trust Him and not be afraid. Let us notice for another thing, how our Lord condemns those icho think to use carnal weapons in defence of Him and His cause. He reproves one of His disciples for striking a servant of t…
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to he made a prisoner of His own free will. He was not taken captive because he could not escape. It would have been easy for Him to scatter His enemies to the winds, if he had thought fit. '^ Thinkest thou/' He says to a disciple, " that I cannot pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legio…
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elude with the words, " Then all the disciples forsook him and fled." They forgot their confident assertions made a few hours before. They forgot that they had declared their willingness to die with their Master. Thc}^ forgot everything but the danger that stared them in the face. The fear of death overcame them. They …
240 wordsSECTION 366MATTHEW XXVI. 57—68.
57 And they that had laid hold on Jesus led Mm away to Caiaphas the High Priest, where the Scribes and the elders were assembled. 58 But Peter followed him afar off unto the High Priest's palace, and went in, and sat with the servants, to see the end. 59 Now the Chief Priests, and el- ders, and all the council, soug…
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office was one of peculiar sanctity, and entailed peculiar responsibilities. And yet these very men were the mur- derers of Christ ! Let us beware of regarding any minister of religion as infallible. His orders, however regularly conferred, are no guarantee that he may not lead us astray, and even ruin our souls. The …
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before they were inflicted ! Seven hundred years before, Isaiah had written down tlie words, " I hid not my face / from shame and spitting/' (Isai. 1. 6.) Let us draw from the passage one practical conchision. Let it never surprise us, if we have to endure mockery, *and ridicule, and false reports, because we belong t…
178 wordsSECTION 369MATTHEW XXVI. 69—75.
69 Now Peter sat without in the palace : and a damsel came unto him, saying, Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee. 70 But he denied before them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest. 71 And when be was gone out into tbe porcb, another ?»aj(isaw him, and said unto them that were there. This felloiv\\i\?> also with …
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So long as we are in the body we are in danger. The flesh is weak, and the devil is active. We must never think, ^' I cannot fall." It points out to us the duty of charity towards erring saints. We must not set down men as graceless reprobates, because they occasionally stumble and err. We must remember Peter, and " re…
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We see in Peter's bitter tears, the grand mark of difference between the hyp'ocrite and the true believer. When the hypocrite is overtaken by sin, he generally falls to rise no more. He has no principle of life within him to raise him up. — When the child of God is overtaken, he rises again by true repentance, and by t…
265 wordsSECTION 372MATTHEW XXVII. 1—10.
1 When the morning was come, all I people took counsel against Jesus to the Chief Priests and elders of the | put hhn to death :…
25 wordsSECTION 373MATTHEW, CHAP. XXVII.
379 2 And -when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor. 3 Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the Chief Priests and elders, 4 Saying, I have sinned in that 1 have bet…
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if our Lord had done any wrong, either in word or deed. A deserter from our Lord's company, a betrayer of Him into the hands of His enemies, it was his interest for his own character's sake, to prove Jesus guilty. It would extenuate and excuse his own conduct, if he could make out that His former master was an offender…
307 wordsSECTION 375XXVII. 381
— to be under strong convictions of guilt, and express deep remorse, — to be imcked in conscience, and exhibit much distress of* mind, — and yet, for all this, not repent with his heart. Present danger, or the fear of death, may account for all his feelings, and the Holy Ghost may have done no work whatever in his soul…
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Sin is, in trutli, the hardest of all masters. In its service there is plenty of fair promises, but an utter dearth of performance. Its pleasures are but for a season. Its wages are sorrow, remorse, self-accusation, and too often death. They that sow to the flesh, do indeed reap corruption. 2. Some think that the name…
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a thing as sin against the Holy Ghost. Clear knowledge of truth in the head, combined with deliberate love of sin in the heart, go a long way towards it. And now what is the state of our hearts ? Are we ever tempted to rest on our knowledge and profession of religion ? Let us remember Judas and beware. — Are we dispos…
126 wordsSECTION 378MATTHEW XXVII. 11—26.
11 AndJesus stood before the gov- ernor : and the governor asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest. 12 And when he was accused of the Chief Priests and elders, he answered nothing. 13 Then said Pilate unto him, Hear- est tliou not how many things they witness against the…
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people, — he at last condemned one whom he himself called "• a just person/' He rejected the strange and mysterious j warning which his wife sent to him after her dream. He stifled the remonstrances of his own conscience. He / " delivered Jesus to be crucified.'' Behold in this miserable man a lively emblem of man…
288 wordsSECTION 380MATTHEW, CHAP. XXVIT. 387
rather than Jesus. They clamored loudly for our Lord's crucifixion. And they wound up all by recklessly taking on themselves all the guilt of our Lord's death, in words of portentous meaning, " His blood be on us and our children." And what had our Lord done, that the Jews should hate Him so ? He was no robber, or mur…
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Let ua never be surprised at the wickedness there is in the world. Let us mourn over it, and labor to make it less, but let us never be surprised at its extent. There is nothing which the heart of man is not capable of con- ceiving, or the hand of man of doing. As long as we live, let us mistrust our own hearts. Even w…
84 wordsSECTION 382MATTHEW XXVII. 27-44.
27 Then the soldiers of the gov- ernor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers. 28 And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. 29 And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand ; and they bowed the knee before hi…
422 wordsSECTION 383MATTHEW, CHAP. XXVII. 389
They are marvellous when we remember the sufferer, the eternal Son of God ! They are marvellous when we remember the persons for whom these sufferings were endured. We and our sins were the cause of all this sorrow. He " died for our sins." (1 Cor. xv. 3.) Let us observe in the first place, the extent mid reality of o…
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scarlet robe. Tliey platted a crown of sharp thorns, and in derision placed it on His liead. They then bowed the knee before Him in mockery, as nothing better than a pretended king. They spit upon Him. They smote Him on the head. And finally having put His own robe on Him, they led Him out of the city, to a place calle…
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Surety, our Proxy, — the Divine Friend wlio undertook to stand in our stead, and by the priceless merit of His sufferings, to purchase our redemption. — Was He scourged ? It was that " through His stripes we might be healed." — Was he condemned, though innocent ? It was that we might be acquitted though guilty. — Did H…
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393 the crown of thorns. Our sins drove the nails into His hands and feet. On account of our sins His blood was shed. Surely the thought of Christ crucified should make us loathe all sin. Well says the Homily of the Passion, " Let this image of Christ crucified be always l^rinted in our hearts. Let it stir us up to th…
77 wordsSECTION 387MATTHEW XXVII. 45—56.
45 Now from the sixth hour there ■was darkness over all the land iinto the ninth hour. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sahachthaui ? that'^is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou for- saken me ? 47 Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man c…
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There is a deep mystery in these words, which no mortal man can fathom. No doubt they were not wrung from our Lord by mere bodily pain. Such an explana- tion is utterly unsatisfactory, and dishonorable to our blessed Saviour. They were meant to express the real pressure on his soul of the enormous burden of a world's s…
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love of God to sinners, when He sent His own Son to make the atonement. Never, in fact, was there, or could there be again, such a death. No wonder that the earth quaked, when Jesus died, in our stead, on the accursed tree. The solid frame of the world might well tremble and be amazed, when the soul of Christ was made …
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praise God for tlie view it gives us of the sympathy of Jesus with all His believing people. He can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He knows what suffering is. He is just the Saviour that an infirm body, with a weak heart, in an evil world, requires.…
51 wordsSECTION 391MATTHEW XXVII. 57-
57 When the even was come, there came arichmanof Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple : 58 He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesas. Then Pilate com- manded the body to be delivered, 59 And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60 And laid it in his ow…
334 wordsSECTION 392MATTHEW, CHAP. XXVII. 399
of His death ? Might there not have been imposition or deception, as to the reality of His resurrection ? — All these, and many more objections, would doubtless have been raised, if opportunity had been given! But He who knows the end from the beginning, prevented the possi- bility of such objections being made. By His…
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gained by confessing His discipleship, — at such a time as this Joseph comes boldly forward, and begs the body of Jesus, and lays it in his own new tomb. This fact is 'full of comfort and encouragement. It shews us that there are some quiet, retiring souls on earth, who know the Lord, and the Lord knows them, and yet …
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remembered he had said, about " rising again." They resolved, as they thought, to make His rising again im- possible. They went to Pilate. They obtained from him a guard of Koman soldiers. They set a watch over the tomb of our Lord. They placed a seal upon the stone. In short, they did all they could to " make the sepu…
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do the people of God at this very day ? It only drives them nearer to Christ. It only makes them cling more closely to the throne of grace, the Bible, and prayer. Let all true Christians lay these things to heart, and take courage. We live in a world where all things are ordered by a hand of perfect wisdom, and where …
214 wordsSECTION 396MATTHEW XXVIII. 1—10.
1 In tiie end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepul- chre. 2 And. behold, there was a great earthquake : for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. 8 His cou…
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fill truth of our religion is so clearly and fully proved. It is a striking circumstance, that of all the facts of our Lord's earthly ministry, none are so incontrovertibly established as the fact that He rose again. The wisdom of God, whoknov/sthe unbelief of human nature, has pro- vided a great cloud of witnesses on …
308 wordsSECTION 398MATTHEW, CHAP. XXVITI. 405
the appointed time, and it shall not be able to hold them. • — A glorious angel was a witness of His rising, and glorious angels shall be the messengers who shall gather believers when they rise again. — He rose with a renewed body, and yet a body, real, true, and material, and so also shall His people have a glorious …
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What fears and terrors will possess their souls, when they find they can no longer avoid God's presence, and must at length meet Him face to face ? Oh ! that men were wise, and would consider their latter end ! Oh ! that they would rememher that there is a resurrection and a judgment, and that there is such a thing as …
309 wordsSECTION 400MATTHEW, CHAP. XXVIII. 407
Let us notice, finally, the gracious message which the Lord sent to the (Hscij)les after His resurrection. He appeared in person to the women who had come to do honor to His body. Last at the cross and first at the tomb, they were the first privileged to see Him after He rose. And to them He gives commission to cany ti…
251 wordsSECTION 401MATTHEW XXVIII. 11—20.
11 Now when they were going, he- hold, some of the watch came into the city, and shewed unto the Chief Priests all the things that were done. 12 And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken coun- sel, they gave large money unto the soldiers,…
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13 Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept. 14 And if this come to the gov- ernor's ears, we will persuade him and secure you. 15 So they took the money, and did as they were taught ; and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day. 16 Then the eleven discipl…
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It is very difficult to conceive when we read this last command of our Lord's, how men can avoid the conclu- sion that baptism is necessary, when it may be had. It seems impossible to explain the word that we have here of any but an outward ordinance, to be administered to all who join His Church. — That outward baptis…
336 wordsSECTION 404MATTHEW, CHAP. XXVIII. 411
Let US observe, in the fourth place, the ohedience which Jcsiis requires of all who profess themselves His disables. He bids the apostles " teach them to observe all things, whatsoever He has commanded them." This is a searching expression. It shews the useless- ness of a mere name and form of Christianity. It shews t…
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Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost. And yet these Three are One. This truth is a great mystery. Let it be enough to receive and believe it, and let us ever abstain from all attempts at explanation. It is childish folly to refuse assent to things that we do not understand. We are poor crawling worms…
587 wordsSource & rights
Public-domain historical edition (1857). Text from OCR of an original Internet Archive scan; OCR may contain recognition errors.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.