In answer to this prayer there came an audible response from heaven, saying, "I have both glorified it and will glorify it again." Some of those who stood by and heard the voice, said it had thundered, and others declared that an angel had spoken to him, but Jesus said, "This voice hath not come for my sake, but for your sakes." As Jesus heard the voice from heaven, he seemed to see the triumph that should follow his sufferings and death. He had met the prince of this world at the beginning of his public ministry, and had resisted his temptations, and now he saw the complete overthrow of this enemy, and exclaimed, "Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto myself." He was going to the cross, but he went there to fight the battle of his people, and to secure their liberty from the dominion of Satan. It was the crisis in the world's history. The prince of this world was coming and had nothing in him. There would be no compromise in the last struggle, the prince of this world must be cast out, and Christ on the cross would be the great center of attraction, drawing all men unto himself. He had been proclaimed the Saviour of the world; he had proclaimed himself the Light of the world, and now he declared that, if he were lifted up from the earth, he would become the great center of beneficent attraction. The Jews were bewildered by what Jesus said about being lifted up from the earth. He spoke of it before, saying that, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so the Son of man must be lifted up. They could not fathom our Lord's meaning and they said, "Who is this Son of man?" We are not left in doubt as to the meaning of words that puzzled the Jews, for the inspired evangelist inter prets them, declaring that Jesus said this to signify what death he should die. In the light of what took place a few days afterwards we cannot but see in these words a definite prophecy that Jesus Christ dying on the cross would be the great center of attraction for a lost world. Nor can we fail to see in subsequent history, and in the present condition of the world, a marvelous fulfillment of this strange prediction. Christ on the cross is to-day the great center of beneficent attraction for men of every race and nation. Millions are singing to-day, "In the cross of Christ I glory, Towering o'er the wrecks of time; Gathers round its head sublime." On the cross Jesus Christ won and established a kingdom world-wide and eternal, a kingdom built on the solid rock of self-sacrificing love. He saw his death on the cross, not as a defeat, but as a complete victory over the prince of this world. By his being lifted up on the cross, the prince of this world was cast out. Having completed this discourse and exhorted his hearers to walk in the light during the little time that the light was to be with them, Jesus was hidden from his enemies by going out into the Mount of Olives into the neighbourhood of Bethany. While he was teaching in the daytime his enemies were afraid to have him arrested, for the people, "all hung upon him listening." Had he remained in the city during the night, he would probably have been arrested. It is probable that he did not spend his nights at the home of his friends in Bethany, but on the Mount of Olives in that neighbourhood. His enemies were afraid of him in day light, and he did not put himself in their power during the night, for his hour was not yet come. LVI MONDAY OF PASSION WEEK Mat. 21: 18. "Now in the morning as he returned to the city he hungered. And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he came to it, and found nothing thereon but leaves only; and he saith unto it, Let there be no fruit from thee henceforward forever." Mat. 21: 18-22: 14; Mark 11: 12-14, 19-12: 12; Luke 20: 1-18.) T WO considerations lead us to conclude that the events treated in this chapter occurred on Monday rather than on Tuesday. First, it is evident that none of the evangelists narrate these events in the exact order in which they occurred, and we are left to determine the probable order by comparing the different narratives, and considering the circumstances. Second, if we place the events on Tuesday, we find so many events and discourses crowded into the ministry of that day as to more than fill the entire day, while we leave Christ at Jerusalem on Monday with no record of his doing or saying anything, unless we assume that this was the day of the second cleansing of the temple. Our placing the cleansing of the temple on "Palm Sunday," and these events on Monday, does no violance to any of the inspired narratives, and so distributes the incidents and discourses as to fill all the days and not unduly crowd one day while others are left unfilled. The reasonableness of this statement will appear as we proceed. At the close of the first exciting day of Passion week, Jesus was hidden from his enemies by going out into the Mount of Olives. He spent the night in the neighbourhood of Bethany, if not in the village, but it is probable that the reasons that kept him from staying in Jerusalem during the night would prevent his going to the house of Mary, Martha and Lazarus, where his enemies might expect to find him. In other great crises Jesus spent a large part of his nights alone with the Father, and it is probable that he spent this night in the same way. However this may be, Monday morning found him on his way to Jerusalem without breakfast, for "he hungered." As he came out from Bethany he saw in the distance, probably in the neighbourhood of Bethphage, "the house of figs," a fig tree having leaves. It was not the season for ripe figs but it was not the season for leaves, and the presence of leaves indicated that there might be fruit. When Jesus came to the tree "he found nothing but leaves," and he said, "No man eat fruit from thee henceforward forever." Matthew says, "immediately the fig tree withered away," while Mark says, "as they passed in the morning they saw the big tree withered away from the roots," and that Peter called the Master's attention to it. There is no real conflict between these two narratives. Mark gives the more minute and detailed account. There may have been instantaneous evidence of the beginning to wither that would fully warrant the statement of Matthew, while the complete withering of the root and branch, seen the next morning, would be adapted to suggest the remark of Peter and lead to the discourse of our Lord concerning the power of faith. This miracle of Jesus has been objected to by irreverent critics who claim that it was an exhibition of unreasonable impatience. The narratives of the evangelists do not warrant any such criticism. The tone, the manner and motive for this miracle are so evident that no one who believes the record would think of making any objection. He who refused to command stones to become bread when he had fasted forty days, would not be moved to anger by, and would not seek to wreak his vengeance on an inanimate object. No such thought is possible to the believer, or to any one who in any degree understands the mind and spirit of Jesus the Christ. The leaves on this barren fig tree, like the flowers in the field, afforded special opportunity to teach his disciples important lessons. It was not the special season for figs, but figs are found on the trees in this region at all seasons, and the presence of leaves on this tree indicated figs, so that it became a fit emblem of the hypocrite. It was an apt emblem of Israel, the barren fig tree in the garden of the Lord, and this judgment on the fig tree was adapted to impress the disciples with God's hatred of hypocrisy. The miracle was adapted and was used to teach a great lesson as to the omnipotence of faith. No possible question of Jesus' right to end the existence of the fig tree in this way could arise in the mind of one who recognized his power to perform the miracle. If the owner of an orchard can cut down the barren tree as a cumberer of the ground, if God can level the forest by the tornado, cannot our Lord, by the utterance of a word, put an end to the existence of this fruitless tree in order to teach his disciples great and important lessons? In this miracle the disciples see with astonishment their Master's power, but, by and by, they see symbolized the judgment awaiting the barren tree of Judaism, and they are taught the unlimited possibilities of the prayer of faith, and the necessity for the spirit of forgiveness. When our Lord returned to Jerusalem and was walking in the temple, a deputation of chief priests and scribes |