SERMON XXXIII.

Christ's first Sermon after his Resurrection; or, Christ the Theme of the Prophets.

BY REV. ELIJAH HEDDING, D. D.,

ONE OF THE BISHOPS OF THE M. E. CHURCH.

"And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself."-Luke xxiv, 27.

On the day of our Lord's resurrection, two of the disciples (not of the twelve) were traveling from Jerusalem to a village called Emmaus, which lay north-west of Jerusalem about eight miles; and as they traveled they talked together of all those things which had happened; that is, of the crucifixion and the resurrection of Christ. "And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them. But their eyes were holden that they should not know him. And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad? And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering, said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days? And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people; and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and besides all this, to-day is the third day since these things were done. Then he said unto them, Ŏ fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?" Then come in the words of the text: "And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself."

I. LET US FIRST CONSIDER OUR LORD'S SERMON ON THIS OCCASION.

He explains Moses, the prophets, and the Scriptures in general, concerning himself. He probably began with Genesis iii, 15: "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." Then he proceeded to Gen. xiv, 18, and took up the character of Melchizedek, priest of the Most High God, king of Salem, king of righteousness, and king of peace, and showed how that eminent priest and king was a type of the great Messiah. Then he probably explained the promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Gen. xxii, 18: "And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed," showing that the Messiah had come to bestow benefits, in some degree, on all mankind. Then he took up the words of Jacob, Gen. xlix, 10: "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be." And, at large, he showed them how this prophecy was fulfilled in the timely manifestation of Jesus in the flesh. Next he expounded Deut. xviii, 15: "The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me." Here the Saviour showed them how Christ, in his mission, in many of the circumstances of his life, resembled Moses, and fulfilled that great promise to Israel. Then he proceeded to the types, sacrifices, and ceremonies of the law, showing how they were all intended to prefigure the Messiah, and how they were accomplished in his ministry, sufferings, and death. He then illustrated the great deliverance to the Israelites, who had been poisoned by the fiery serpents, as he had done before, in his discourse to Nicodemus, John iii, 14: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life." Here he showed how full, how free, and on what easy condition, salvation was provided for sinful man, when Christ was lifted up on the cross, and by his being further exhibited to the world by the preaching of the cross. We may suppose he next quoted Isaiah vii, 14: "Behold a virgin all conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name manuel." A miracle was here predicted, altogether ve the power of nature, and beyond the foresight of

man; yet the divine Teacher shows that it was perfectly accomplished in the person of Jesus. Again, he refers to Isaiah ix, 6: "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of peace." O, if we could have heard that sermon, or if it had been left on record, what an illustration we should have seen of that essential gospel doctrine, that the mighty God was united in one person with feeble manhood for the redemption of the world! Now he showed them that the time of Christ's personal appearance in the world had been the subject of prophecy, Daniel ix, 24-26: "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy," &c. Here the heavenly preacher, probably, informed his hearers when Daniel's term of seventy weeks commenced, and how the great events of that prophecy had been and would be accomplished. Probably he next quoted Malachi iii, 1: "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple." He took occasion to show them that the ministry of the Baptist and the preaching of Christ in the temple had fulfilled the predictions of the prophet. Let us suppose that then the holy minister showed them that in the person of Jesus the prophecies were fulfilled which declared that the Messiah should descend from Judah, and from Jesse, and from David, Isaiah xi, 1, 10: "And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots.... And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people: to it shall the Gentiles. seek; and his rest shall be glorious." The prophecy of Micah, respecting the place of the Messiah's birth, then came under consideration, chap. v, 2: "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting." What a prophecy was this, that

the Being, whose goings forth were from everlasting, would manifest himself in Israel as their ruler; and, humbling himself, would take upon him the form of a man, and be born of a virgin in Bethlehem! Singular as it might appear, this great personage, who was to be born in Bethlehem, should be called out of Egypt, Hosea xi, 1: “And called my son out of Egypt." Here, probably, the Messiah showed how this prophecy not only referred to Israel formerly, but to a particular fact in the history of Jesus. So, too, the Holy Spirit, a sure commentator, taught St. Matthew (chap. ii, 15) to understand it. The Saviour then went on to show them that the great persecution that had been raised against Christ, and that had fallen upon the innocent children of Bethlehem, had been predicted, Jer. xxxi, 15: “A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her children, refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not." Matt. ii, 18. He taught the disciples further how the Messiah's residence at Nazareth had been foretold by the Scriptures, and what Matthew meant, chap. ii, 23: “And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.” ́Authors differ very much in opinion on this text. The following, from Mr. Wesley's Notes on the passage, I think is the best I have seen: "He came and dwelt in Nazareth, (where he had dwelt before he went to Bethlehem,) a place contemptible to a proverb, so that thereby has been fulfilled what has been spoken, in effect, by several of the prophets, (though by none of them in express words,) He shall be called a Nazarene, that is, he shall be despised and rejected; shall be a mark of public contempt and reproach." Watson on this passage confirms the same opinion, as appears from the following: "No such passage occurs in the old Testament, nor can St. Matthew refer to any particular text, because he does not refer to any particular prophet; for the phrase is, "That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the PROPHETS;' in the plural, so that something was thus accomplished in Christ, to which all the prophets gave concurrent testimony. Now

is plain that they all agree that he should be despised s well as rejected of men; that he should be the object

of contumely and reproach; and therefore, as Whitby well remarks, 'the angel sent him to this contemptible place that he might have a name of infamy put upon him." He shall be called mean and contemptible, as the root of the word signifies, as well as separated. How Nazareth was esteemed, we learn from the words of the mild Nathaniel: Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" and the title Nazarene has been, by Jews and other ene-, mies, always given in contempt to our Saviour and his disciples. All the other speculations of commentators on the designation appear to be fanciful and groundless."

He next illustrated Isaiah ix, 1, 2, as quoted by Matthew, (iv, 15, 16,) to show them how the Messiah's residence, preaching, and miracles, in Capernaum by the way of the sea, were foretold by the prophet: "The land of Zebulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; the people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up." He showed them, further, that even the manner of his riding into Jerusalem had been predicted by Zechariah, ix, 9: "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass." Matt. xxi, 5. Even the contemptible price for which the Redeemer was sold, Jesus showed them from the same prophet Zechariah, xi, 12: "So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver." Matt. xxvi, 15. The treachery of Judas toward the divine Master, as pointed out by the Psalmist, was next referred to, Psalm xli, 9; "Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me." John xiii, 18. This wonderful teacher further informed them, that the circumstance of Christ's disciples fleeing and leaving him, in the hour of his trial, had been marked by prophecy, Zechariah xiii, 7: "Smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered." Matt. xxvi, 31. We may suppose that, in prosecuting his discourse, the Saviour passed on to some of the prophecies which pointed out the peculiar circumstances of the Messiah's sufferings, of which sufferings the disciples. had been eye-witnesses, Isaiah 1, 6: "I hid not my face