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186 illustrations — Lessons from history, biography, and world events
Luthardt identifies seven critical aspects: God's kingdom surpasses all earthly kingdoms; amidst the collapse of human rule, men seek one that endures; it is founded upon moral goodness rather than external might; it originated in Elohim's *protē noēsis* (primeval thought);...
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Christ teaches that "sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof"—Matthew 6:34—grounding our freedom from anxiety in three essential truths.
The kingly character of the Lord Jesus will then be fully revealed—no longer bearing the attributes of suffering humanity, but displayed in unsearchable wisdom and power.
Hunger and thirst are primitive, involuntary appetites that govern survival itself; Jesus elevates moral longing to this primacy.
First, even bodily wants must be subordinated to religious purposes—we do not live by bread alone, but by every word proceeding from Adonai.
Yet beneath such plausible disguises lie spiritual impostures that demand our careful discernment.
First, it suggests the true measure of workers in the Church's progress.
Bishop Ryle offers a piercing parallel: the bankrupt cannot finance another's recovery; the imprisoned cannot liberate a fellow prisoner; the shipwrecked sailor cannot rescue his drowning comrade.
First, he framed obedience as *easy*—merely "say the word." Second, he presented *opportunity*: stones lay ready at hand.
And when thou prayest—nine things pertain to the knowledge of true prayer: I. To know what prayer is. II. How many sorts of prayer there be. III. The necessity of prayer. Four things provoke us to pray: 1. God's commandment....
His brother said, "I go, sir," but went not.
This contrast illuminates how Elohim accommodates His truth to each person's capacity to receive it.
Among all earth's creatures, man alone is the worshipper.
The preciousness of Christ's sympathy with our infirmities lies in His actual and personal union with our nature.
Bishop Butler clarifies this critical distinction: resentment becomes sinful only when it exceeds its proper end.
This truth dissolves anxiety through seven pillars of reasoning.
First, God is Father by relation to Christ as the eternal Son, the fountain of Deity itself.
Yet the passage reveals profound truth about Elohim's character toward those who trust Him genuinely.
Matthew 24:27 compares our Lord's return to lightning flashing across the sky. Joseph S. Exell's Victorian exposition unpacks two essential truths. First, Christ's advent shall be sudden. The masses will be unprepared, as unsuspecting as a city when lightning leaps...
This creature burrows deep into the soil but journeys nightly to the sea to bathe in salt water.
Some approached without special interest, moved merely by custom.
First, the *euangelion* (good news) is not merely generic proclamation but a kingdom-specific message.
The Church exists for the world's sake more than for its own comfort.
Exell, in *The Biblical Illustrator* (1887), distinguishes three dimensions of this sacred duty.