1<et t.he 1bougbt of God and of earthly kings together. On the other he.nd, there Mver hM been 11ge or nation in which the delltcst thoughts and tenderest associations and mOl!t reverent feelings did not gathE!r round the word" father," Everywhere, even fo. benighted heAthendom, fathers have been men's idelllS of the pure, the revered, and the good. God comes nearest to men if he can be shown t-0 thetn 11,i; the "Everl&sting .Father;". Love is the supreme glory of fatherhood; but it is only primw i,nt,er pares, the equ11.le bf ., authority,"" justice," "ho\ine~s." It would not be fair t.o say of any good earthly father," He is all love, all indulgence: there is in him no justice, no reverence;·no government." We never want to bolster up the authority of our earthly father by deluding ourselves into the notion that he is B. king; and we CAD yield our fullest allegiance to God as our "Everlasting Father." We need not force·onrselves to conceive of him as that mysterious thing, a moral Governor, for which we can find no human model. What is God to you when you can fully receive the revelation that he ,is• the Father? Is there any less reverenoe for him? Is your sense of justice, righteousness, Jaw, or authority weakened when you call him "Father"? ·Let Christ teach us the true God and the eternal life. He shows us e. weeping prodigal child pressing bis face into a father's bosom, heart beating to be.art, the orie in all the anguish of penitence/the other in all the anguish of pitying, fatherly love. 'l'he father's arms are roimd; the restored boy ; and who shall say that all highest law is not vindicated .when that father wipes away the tears, and calls for music and dancing, the best robe,and.the fatted ca.\f? Who ever saw weeping rebels on kings' bosoms? Who ever saw kings sheddin.g tears over returning subjects? We must go deeper, far deeper, into the very heart of the truth about God when we say, "He is our Father." • • • • II. MESSIAH SHOWS GOD TO us AS "EVERLASTI:NG ·FATHEB.. The Epistle to tb:e Hebrews opens with a very striking statement: "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hatb •in: -these la.et <lnys spoken unto us by S()'11,." God had spoken.by creation of e. Crea.torfbY: prophets of a God, by ambassadors of e. King, and now by Son of e. Father. Messiah is representea as Son, and Son of God, to enable us to couceive of God as Father. The.very :person of our Lord Jesus Christ is itself a revelation of the Father. The gospels·sbowus that his supreme effort was to make men know and think well of the Fatbeii. •. 'H& :was I\ Jew, and yet his originality is nowhere felt more than in the word whicb:h1j'uses•for God. We find very seldom, almost never, any of the recognized Hebrew tetms--El, Elohim, Sbaddai, or Jab; .Jehovah or God; his word is always •i Father." ,On. every page we find the term recurring. Illustrate from the sermon on mount; address 'on sending the disciples forth for their trial-mission, etc. Conclude by commending this view of God as the first and foundation-truth of the Messianic revelation. We,need not be anxious to set it under limitations and restrictions. Christ never fenced it off.. ·. He never limited its applications. He never hesitated to preach it everywhere, , He expected ro we.ken a new spirit in men, the child-spirit, by telling them of thek Faitber in heaven. If we simply follow Christ, we shall show men the Father-God everywhere in Messiah's life and teaching, seen even in Messiah's death and· atonement and sacrifice. -R.T. • •... ,
Ver. 7.-The eootinuity of a kingdom founrkd on righteousness. . •• ,,A King shall reign in righteousness." "Of the increase of his government·3nd prosperity··there1shall be no end . . . To establish it with judgrnent and with justice from-henceforth even 'for ever." David's reign, 11,8 that of the first and most faitbfuli theocratic• king, is the imperfect earthly type of the ideal kingdom, founded on riihteousness, and ruled• in righteousness. Whatever may have been the personal infirmities of David, offioially ·he was thoroughly loyal and true to the Divine suprerna.cy, and, speaking 'in -human measures, it may be said of him, "Righteousness was'. the. girdle, of· his lo[ns, 1 and faithfulness the girdle of his reins." Messiah's spiritual ·reign is the complete antity,pe and realization of the righteous kingdom. His people e.re;-ideaUy,·"-aUJb.oly;-" they are called to be holy, pledged t.o strive after holiness,' and Messiah 1.·rirles them "in righteousness. ' , 1'. ,. 1 " ' ,:) 1:"
I. 'l'HE FOUNDATION OF THE BlGHTEOUs KINGDOM. That iw, the vindication and manifestation of the Divine righteousness, in the obedience, submission, life, and·deatb of the Lord JesUB. lie "magnified the Law and ma.de it'.honourable," In him 0B. Ill. l-21.] .TBE BOOK· OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH.