later, when on the cross, he should be obliged to experience, if only for a moment, the sinner's position of complete separation from the Heavenly Father, and the withdrawal of all superhuman help, at the time when he cried, "My God! My God! Why hast thou forsaken me?" As the sinner's substitute, he must bear the sinner's penalty in all its particulars, and not until all this was accomplished was his sacrificial mission finished;-not until this had been faithfully endured had he passed all the tests deemed of the Father requisite to his being made "the Captain of our Salvation," and exalted far above all angels, and principalities, and powers, to be the Father's associate in the throne of the Universe.

All of these experiences through which the Heavenly Father caused his Beloved Son to pass before exalting him to his own right hand of majesty and committing to his charge the great work of blessing all the families of the earth, were not merely tests of the fidelity of the Only Begotten, the Logos: the Scriptures assure us that they were necessary also to fit our Lord to sympathize with those whom he thus redeemed, that he might be able to sympathize with and "succor" such as would return to full fellowship with God through him;—the Church during this age, the world during the Millennial age: “That he might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God;" "in all points tempted like as we are;" one who can have compassion on the ignorant and them that are out of the way; for that he himself also was compassed with infirmities." "Wherefore he is

able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him." Verily, "Such an High Priest was suitable for us,- -one holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and exalted higher than the heavens.". Heb. 2:17, 18; 4:15, 16; 5:2; 7:25; 26,

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STUDY VI.

THE MEDIATOR OF THE ATONEMENT.

DAVID'S SON AND DAVID'S LORD.

HOW DAVID'S SON.-JOSEPH'S GENEALOGY THROUGH SOLOMON-MARY'S GENEALOGY THROUGH NATHAN.-ABASE THE HIGH, EXALT THE LOW.WHENCE CHRIST'S TITLE TO BE DAVID'S LORD.-HOW HE WAS BOTH ROOT AND BRANCH OF DAVID.-MEANING OF HIS TITLE, "THE EVERLASTING FATHER."-How SECURED AND HOW TO BE APPLICABLE.--WHO ARE CHILDREN OF CHRIST.-THE CHURCH HIS "BREThren"-Children OF THE GOD AND Father of our Lord JESUS CHRIST.

"Jesus asked them, saying, What think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? They say unto him, The Son of David. He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit [by inspiration] call him Lord, saying, The Lord [Jehovah] said unto my Lord [adon, master, ruler], Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? If David then call him Lord [adon, master] how is he his Son?"-Matt. 22:42-45.

IT

SHOULD be noticed, first of all, that the discussion of this question does not relate to our Lord's pre-existence, but merely to his relationship to the human family. He became related to the human family, as we have seen, by taking our nature, through his mother Mary. Mary's genealogy, as traced by Luke, leads back to David, through his son Nathan (Luke 3:31*), while Joseph's genealogy, as given by Matthew, traces also back to David, through his son, Solomon. (Matt. 1:6, 16.) Joseph having accepted Mary as his wife, and adopted. Jesus, her son, as though he were his own son, this adoption would entitle Jesus to reckon Joseph's genealogy; but such a tracing back to the family of David was not

*Joseph is here styled "the son of Heli," i. e., the son of Eli, Mary's father, by marriage, or legally; or as we would say, son-in-law of Eli. By birth, Joseph was the son of Jacob, as stated in Matt. 1:16.

necessary, because, as we have seen, his mother came also of David, by another line.

But, be it noticed that our Lord's claim to the throne of Israel does not rest upon his mother's relationship to Joseph, as some have inferred. On the contrary, had he been the son of Joseph, he would have been debarred from any ancestral right to David's throne, because, although David's successors in the kingdom came through the line of his son Solomon, and not through the line of his son Nathan, nevertheless certain Scriptures distinctly point out that the great heir of David's throne should not come through the royal family line of Solomon. If we shall demonstrate this, it will be an effectual estoppel of the claims made by some, that our Lord must have been the son of Joseph, as well as of Mary. Let us therefore carefully examine this matter.;

The divine proposition, clearly stated, was, first, that unequivocally and unquestionably the great heir of the throne of the world, the great King of Israel, should come of David's line. Secondly, it was also declared that he should come of the line of Solomon, of the reigning family, only upon certain conditions. If those conditions were complied with, he would come of that line; if those conditions were not complied with, he would come of some other line, but in any event must come through David's line and be both David's son and David's Lord. Note the Scriptural statement:—

"The Lord hath sworn in truth unto David; he will not turn him from him: Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne. If thy children will keep my covenant, and my testimony that I shall teach them, their children shall also sit upon thy throne forevermore.”—Psa. 132:11,

12.

"And of all my sons (for God hath given me many sons) he hath chosen Solomon my son to sit upon the throne of the Kingdom of the Lord over Israel. And he said unto me, Solomon thy son shall build my house.

Moreover, I will establish his kingdom forever,

he will be constant to do my statutes and my judgments as at this day."-1 Chron. 28:5-7.

"If thy children take heed to their way, to walk before me in truth, with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail thee [be cut off from thee, from the ir throne-margin] a man from the throne of Israel.”—I Kings 2:4.

The promise of the Messianic Kingdom in Solomon's line, and in the line of his posterity according to the flesh, is thus made clearly and specifically conditional, contingent upon a certain faithfulness to the Lord; and by all rules of interpretation of language, the implication of this is that unfaithfulness to the Lord would assuredly bar the posterity of Solomon and his line from the throne of Israel, as related to the Messianic Kingdom, according to the flesh. The question therefore arises, Did Solomon and his successors upon the throne of Israel "take heed to their way, to walk before me [God] in truth, with all their heart and with all their soul?" If they did not, they are barred from being of the ancestral line of the Messiah, according to the flesh.

We must go to the Scriptures to ascertain the answer to this question. There we find most unmistakably that Solomon and his royal line failed to walk after the divine precepts. Hence we know of a surety that that line was cut off and abandoned from being the Messianic line, and that it must come through another ancestral line, from David. Hear the word of the Lord:

"And thou, Solomon, my son, know thou the God of thy father and serve him with a perfect heart. If thou seek him he will be found of thee, but if thou forsake him he will cast thee off forever.”—1 Chron. 28:9.

"And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel. Wherefore the Lord said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee. .. Nevertheless in thy days I will not do it-for David thy father's sake;

but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son. Howbeit, I will not rend away all the kingdom, but will give one tribe to thy son, for David my servant's sake and for Jerusalem's sake which I have chosen." -1 Kings 1I: 9-13.1

In harmony with this, the record is that the ten tribes were rent away from the Solomonic line, directly after Solomon's death-ten of the tribes never acknowledging allegiance to Rehoboam, Solomon's son and successor. But let us hearken to the word of the Lord respecting the tribe of Judah, and its consort Benjamin, which remained for a time loyal to the line of Solomon, and thus apparently associated with the promised antitypical Kingdom, and Messiah, the great King. The last three kings of Solomon's line who sat upon his throne were Jehoiakim, his son Jehoiachin (called also Jekoniah and Coniah), and Zedekiah, Jehoiakim's brother. Let us mark the testimony of the Lord's Word against these men, and his assurance that none of their posterity should ever again sit upon the throne of the Kingdom of the Lord-actual or typical. We read:-

“As I live, saith the Lord, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee hence. Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol? Is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? Wherefore are they cast out (he and his seed), and are cast into a land which they know not? О earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord: thus saith the Lord, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah. Jer. 22:24-30.

"Thus saith the Lord of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, he shall have none to sit upon the throne of David.”—Jer. 36:30.

Concerning Zedekiah we read:

"Thou profane and wicked prince of Israel, whose day is coming, when iniquity shall have an end: Thus saith The Lord God, Remove the diadem, and take off the