Great Themes of the Bible
(Matt. xit. 23)—the Messiah promised, that was to spring from the loins of David? Is not this he that should come?
Yes, certainly it is. It can be no other. Such miracles as these plainly evince that the kingdom of the Messiah is now in the setting up. And they who asked that question were the people, the vulgar sort of the spectators, they drew this inference from Christ's miracles. Atheists will say, 'That was because they were less prying than the Pharisees.' No, the matter of fact was obvious and required not much search. It was because they were less prejudiced and biased by worldly interest. So plain and easy was the way made to this great truth, of Christ's being the Messiah and Saviour of the world, that the common people could not miss it: the '"'wayfaring men, though fools, could not err therein"' (Isa. xxxv. 8).
To insist that these things were done by the power of Satan is to urge the ridiculous. If Satan should come into contact with Christ it must be to his own ruin. For the manifest design and tendency of Christ's preaching and miracles was to overthrow the kingdom of Satan, as a kingdom of darkness, wickedness, and enmity to God; and set up, upon the ruins of it, a kingdom of light, holiness and love. The devil is a kingdom, a common interest, in opposition to God and Christ, which, to the utmost of his power, he will make to stand. He will never come into Christ's interests. He must be conquered and broken by Christ.
That is why the casting out of devils was a certain token and indication of the approach and appearance of the kingdom of
God (Matt. xii. 28). 'But if it be indeed that 'I cast out devils by the Spirit of God' as certainly I do, then you must conclude that, though you are unwilling to receive it, the kingdom of Messiah is now about to be set up among you." '' Therefore that glorious dispensation of the kingdom of God, which has long been expected, is now commenced; slight it at your peril."
4. THE SILENT GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM
But the evidences of the coming of the kingdom are not always as manifest and obvious. The good seed of the Gospel sown in the world (Mark iv. 27) and sown in the heart doth by degrees produce wonderful effects, but without noise. "So is the kingdom of God." So is the Gospel, when it is sown, and received as good seed in good ground.