November 23

PART II.—John 3:2.

THE instructions of Jesus were all of great and supreme importance. The Jewish Rabbies were constantly engaged in giving their own glosses to the law, and in enforcing their own conceits, and wild and unmeaning theories upon the people. Jesus on the other hand taught them the will of God, and all that related to their present dignity and happiness, and their future welfare and salvation. His instructions were also of universal and individual concern. He was emphatically the teacher of all classes. All stood in need of his instructions; and his addresses were adapted to all. He came to be the teacher of all men. His truths were so truly sublime, that the loftiest intellect must have been astonished at his words and doctrines; and yet the mode of instruction he adopted, was so plain, that a wayfaring man, though a fool, could not err therein. Hence it is written, "the common people heard him gladly." His instructions were of eternal consequence:—they were not speculations merely to astonish or amaze, but truths essentially connected with man's present and eternal salvation:—truths, which, if rejected, must subject the soul to the righteous displeasure of God, and all the miseries of the second death. What responsibilities are connected then with having Christ as our teacher. If under the law, he who despised the instructions of Moses, was deemed worthy of death, of how much sorer punishment shall they be thought worthy, who despise the Son of God, and reject the sacred truths of the everlasting gospel. As a teacher, Christ came clothed with Divine authority. Belief in his message, and subjection to his laws, he implicitly demanded; to the believer he promised everlasting life: of those who unbelievingly rejected him, he declared that they were condemned already, and that the wrath of God abode upon them (John 3:36.).