General Articles by Ellen G. White

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Apr 11, 1878

General Articles.

By Ellen G. White

CHRIST PREACHING IN THE TEMPLE.

BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.

JESUS, in taking charge of the temple court, had wrought there a wonderful change. He had banished the buyers and sellers, the money-changers and the cattle; "and would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple." So sacred did the world's Redeemer regard the building dedicated to the worship of God. The priests and rulers dared not show open hostility to Jesus in the presence of the people who had witnessed his wonderful works. Though enraged and confounded by his answer, they were unable to accomplish anything farther that day.

On the following morning the Sanhedrim was assembled for the purpose of deciding what should be done with Jesus. His singular invasion of the temple was so presumptuous and surpassingly strange in their eyes, that they urged the propriety of calling him to account for the boldness of his conduct in interfering with the authorized keepers of the temple. Three years before they had challenged him to give them a sign of his Messiahship. Since that time he had wrought mighty works in their midst. He had healed the sick, miraculously fed thousands of people, walked upon the boisterous waves, and spoken peace unto the troubled sea. He had repeatedly read the secrets of their heart like an open book; he had cast out demons, and raised the dead to life; yet they still refused to see and acknowledge the evidences of his Messiahship.

They now decided to demand no sign of his authority for the bold action regarding the temple, but to confront him with questions and charges calculated to draw out some admissions or declarations by which they might condemn him. After carefully arranging their plan they repaired to the temple where Jesus was preaching the gospel to the people, and proceeded to question him as to what authority he had for his acts in the temple. They expected him to reply that God had invested him with the authority which he had there manifested. This assertion they were prepared to deny. But instead of this Jesus met them with a question apparently pertaining to another subject: "The baptism of John, was it from Heaven, or of men?" His questioners were at a loss how to reply. If they should deny the mission of John and his baptism unto repentance, they would lose influence with the people—for John was acknowledged by them to be a prophet of God. But if they should acknowledge that John's mission was divine, then they would be obliged to acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah; for John had repeatedly pointed him out to the people as the Christ, saying, "Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world." John had spoken of Jesus as one whose shoe-latchet he was not worthy to unloose.

Jesus laid the burden of decision upon them as to the true character of John's mission. "And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say from heaven, he will say, Why believed ye him not? But if we say, Of men, all the people will stone us; for they be persuaded that John was a prophet." In their hearts they did not accept the teachings of John. If they had done so they could not have rejected Jesus, of whom John prophesied. But they had deceived the people by assuming to believe in the ministry of John; and now they dared not, in answer to the Saviour's question, declare that John's mission was divine lest Jesus should demand their reason for not receiving the prophet's testimony concerning him. He might have said, If John was from heaven, so am I; my ministry and work is so closely connected with his that they cannot be separated.

The people were listening with bated breath to hear what answer the priests and rulers would make to the direct question of Jesus, as to the baptism of John, whether it was from heaven or of men. They expected them to acknowledge that John was sent of God; but, after conferring secretly among themselves, the priests decided to be as wary as possible; "and they answered, that they could not tell whence it was. And Jesus said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things." Scribes, priests and rulers stood confused and disappointed before the people, whose respect they had lost in a great degree by their cowardice and indecision.

All these sayings and doings of Christ were important, and their influence was to be felt in an ever increasing degree after the crucifixion, the resurrection and the ascension. Many of those who had anxiously awaited the result of the questioning of Jesus, were finally to become his disciples, first drawn towards him by his words on that eventful day. The scene in the temple court was never to fade from their minds. The contrast between the appearance of Jesus and the high priest, as they talked together, was very marked. The mighty dignitary of the temple was clothed in rich and gorgeous garments, with a glittering tiara upon his head. His majestic bearing, his hair and long flowing beard silverered by age, gave him a strikingly venerable appearance; calculated to inspire the people with profound awe.

The Majesty of Heaven stood before this august personage without ornament or display. His garments were travel stained; his face was pale and expressed a touching sadness; yet there was a dignity and benevolence written there which contrasted strangely with the proud, self confident and angry air of the high priest. Many of those who were witnesses of the marvelous words and deeds of Jesus in the temple, enshrined him in their hearts from that time as the prophet of God. But the hatred of the priests toward Jesus increased as the popular feeling turned in his favor. The wisdom by which he escaped the nets set for his feet, added fresh fuel to their hatred, being a new evidence of his divinity.

As they stood mortified and silent before the Saviour, humiliated in presence of the great multitude, he improved his opportunity of presenting before them their true characters, and the retribution sure to follow their evil deeds. He arranged the lesson in such a manner that the priests and elders should pronounce their own condemnation: "But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go to-day in my vineyard. He answered and said, I will not; but afterward he repented, and went. And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir; and went not. Whether of them twain did the will of his father?"

This abrupt question threw them off their guard; they had followed the parable closely and now immediately answered, "The first." Fixing his steady eye upon them, Jesus responded in stern and solemn accents: "Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not; but the publicans and the harlots believed him; and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him."

These terrible truths struck home to the hearts of the hypocritical priests and rulers. The first son in the parable represented the publicans and harlots who at first refused obedience to the teachings of John, but afterwards repented and were converted. The second son represented the Jews who professed obedience and superior virtue, but insulted God by rejecting the gift of his Son. By their wicked works they forfeited the favor of Heaven. They despised the mercies of God. The most thoughtless and abandoned are represented by Jesus as occupying a more favorable position before God than the haughty and self-righteous priests and rulers.

They were unwilling to bear these searching truths, but remained silent, hoping that Jesus would say something which they could turn against him; but they had still more to bear. Jesus looked back upon the past, when his ministers, the prophets of God, were rejected and their messages trampled upon by the ancestors of the very men who stood before him. He saw that the sons were following in the footsteps of their fathers, and would fill up the cup of their iniquity by putting to death the Lord of Life. He drew from the past, present and future to compose his parable:—

"Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. And when the time of fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first; and they did unto them likewise. But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?"

Jesus addressed all the people present; but the priests and rulers, not anticipating that the parable was to be applied to them, answered at once, "He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons." Again they perceived that they had pronounced their own condemnation in the presence of the people who were listening, with rapt interest to Jesus. The Saviour referred to the messenger after messenger that had been sent in vain to Israel with reproofs, warnings and entreaties. These faithful bearers of truth had been slain by those to whom they were sent, even as the faithful servants were slain by the wicked husbandmen. In the beloved son whom the lord of the vineyard finally sent to his disobedient servants, and whom they seized and slew, the priests and rulers suddenly saw unfolded before them, a distinct picture of Jesus and his impending fate. Already they were planning to slay Him whom the Father had sent to them as a last and only appeal. In the retribution visted upon the ungrateful husbandmen was portrayed the doom of those who should slay Christ.

In the parable of the vineyard Jesus brought before the Jews their real condition. The householder represented God, the vineyard the Jewish nation hedged in by divine law which was calculated to preserve them as a people separate and distinct from all other nations of the earth. The tower built in the vineyard represented their temple. The Lord of the vineyard had done all that was necessary for its prosperity. So God had provided for Israel in such a manner that it was in their power to secure the highest degree of prosperity. The lord of the vineyard required of his husbandmen a due proportion of the fruit; so God required of the Jews a life corresponding with the sacred privileges he had given them. But as the servants who demanded fruits in their master's name were put to death by the unfaithful husbandmen, so had the Jews slain the prophets who had come to them with messages from God. Not only were these rejected, but when he sent his only Son to them, the destined Heir to the vineyard, thinking to preserve the vineyard to themselves, and to secure the honor and profit accruing therefrom, the haughty Jews, the unfaithful servants, reasoned among themselves, saying, "This is the heir; come, let us kill him." Thus Jesus revealed in his parable the dark purposes of the Jews against himself.

After Jesus had heard them pronounce the sentence upon themselves in their condemnation of the wicked husbandmen, he looked pityingly upon them and continued: "Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected the same has become the head of the corner; this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes? Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind them to powder."

The Jews had often repeated the words of this prophecy while teaching the people in the synagogues, applying it to the coming Messiah. But Jesus connected the heir so cruelly slain with the stone which the builders rejected, but which eventually became the principal stone of the whole building. Christ himself was the originator of the Jewish system, the very foundation of the costly temple, the antitype to whom all the sacrificial services pointed. The Jews had watched with apparent anxiety for the coming of Christ. The scribes, who were learned in the law and acquainted with the declarations of the prophets regarding his coming, knew from prophetic history that the time of looking and waiting for his advent to the world had expired. Through the parables which Jesus spoke to the Jews, he brought their minds to prophecies which had foretold the very things which were then being enacted. He sought by every means within his power to awaken their consciences and to enlighten their understanding, that they might consider well the steps they were meditating.

In these parables he laid the purposes of the Pharisees before them, together with the fearful consequences resulting. A solemn warning was thus given to them. And to leave the matter without a shadow of doubt Jesus then dropped all figures and stated plainly that the kingdom of God should be taken from them and given to a nation bringing forth fruit. At this the chief priests and scribes were so enraged they could scarcely restrain themselves from using violence against him; but perceiving the love and reverence with which the people regarded him they dared not follow out the malice of their hearts.