John v. 45, 46. Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom, ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me : for he wrote of me.
THERE is nothing more painful to a pious Minis- ter, than to reflect, that, instead of having to present all his hearers to God as his children, saying, " Here am I, and the children thou hast given me," he will have to stand at the bar of judgment as an accuser of
by far the greater part of them, and to appear as a swift witness against them. To the majority of them, the most successful minister must say, with our blessed Lord, " If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin : but now they have no cloak for their sin." But, whether they be called as accusers or not, the inspired writers will undoubtedly execute that painful office ; as our Lord here testifies to his unbelieving audience : " Think not that I will accuse you to the Father : there is one that accuses you, even Moses, in whom ye trust : for had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me : for he wrote of
me."
Let me now, in faithfulness to your souls,
I. Set before you the charge which the whole inspired volume brings against us —
Strong was that charge which Moses exhibited against the Jews —
[Much " had he written respecting Christ." The whole
ceremonial law was one typical adumbration of him
the moral law itself, as denouncing a curse against every one that should transgress it in the slightest instance, was, in fact, intended to shew men their need of Christ, and to shut them up to that way of salvation which he should open for them a. The prophecies which he revealed were many and clear : he set forth Christ as " the seed of the woman who should bruise the serpent's head ;" and as " the seed of Abraham, in whom all the nations of the world should be blessed ;" and above all, as " that prophet who should in due time be raised up like unto himself; to whom all must take heed, at the peril of their souls."
Now to these writings our blessed Lord appealed continually, in confirmation of his divine mission. But the Jews, whilst they pretended the highest veneration for Moses, actually made their regard for him their plea for rejecting Christ. But this shewed that they did not understand the writings of Moses, and that they did not, in fact, believe any one of those things which he had spoken : for if they had understood him, and believed his testimony, they would of necessity have believed in Christ, of whom he testified. We may suppose him, then, as accusing these people before God the Father to this effect : " Thou seest, O God, what a zeal they profess for me : but it
a Rom. iii. 21, 22. and Gal. iii. 22—24.