manifest . They " inquired and searched diligently ," " searching what , or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify ." What a lesson to the people of God in the Christian age , for whose benefit these prophecies were given to His servants ! " Unto whom it was revealed , that not unto themselves , but unto us they did minister ." Witness those holy men of God as they " inquired and searched diligently " concerning revelations given them for generations that were yet unborn . Contrast their holy zeal with the listless unconcern with which the favored ones of later ages treat this gift of Heaven . What a rebuke to the ease-loving , world-loving indifference which is content to declare that the prophecies cannot be understood !
Though the finite minds of men are inadequate to enter into the counsels of the Infinite One , or to understand fully the working out of His purposes , yet often it is because of some error or neglect on their own part that they so dimly comprehend the messages of Heaven . Not infrequently the minds of the people , and even of God ' s servants , are so blinded by human opinions , the traditions and false teaching of men , that they are able only partially to grasp the great things which He has revealed in His word . Thus it was with the disciples of Christ , even when the Saviour was with them in person . Their minds had become imbued with the popular conception of the Messiah as a temporal prince , who was to exalt Israel to the throne of the universal empire , and they could not understand the meaning of His words foretelling His sufferings and death .
Christ Himself had sent them forth with the message : " The time is fulfilled , and the kingdom of God is at hand : repent ye , and believe the gospel ." Mark 1:15 . That message was based on the prophecy of Daniel 9 . The sixty-nine weeks were declared by the angel to extend to " the Messiah the Prince ," and with high hopes and joyful anticipations the disciples looked forward to the establishment of Messiah ' s kingdom at Jerusalem to rule over the whole earth . They preached the message which Christ had committed to them , though they themselves misapprehended its meaning . While their announcement was founded on Daniel 9:25 , they did not see , in the next verse of the same chapter , that Messiah was to be cut off . From their very birth their hearts had been set upon the anticipated glory of an earthly empire , and this blinded their understanding alike to the specifications of the prophecy and to the words of Christ .
They performed their duty in presenting to the Jewish nation the invitation of mercy , and then , at the very time when they expected to see their Lord ascend the throne of David , they beheld Him seized as a malefactor , scourged , derided , and condemned , and lifted up on the cross of Calvary . What despair and anguish wrung the hearts of those disciples during the days while their Lord was sleeping in the tomb !
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