Art as expression – NOT as market campaigns, will still capture our Imaginations
The information thus revealed in this verse is of the first magnitude of importance, because there are still people in the world who imagine that they have reason to be critical of God for his neglect of the pagan nations prior to the Christian era.
Having determined that Jesus was not the type of Messiah they wanted, the priestly leaders of the people exhausted their resources of cunning and deceit in an all-out campaign to convince the people that Jesus was not the Christ.
The hymns of Wesley, dramas of Shakespeare, novels of Scott, eloquence of Churchill, stories of O. Henry, philippics of Demosthenes and the scope of the ILIAD and the ODYSSEY are all surpassed and exceeded by the parables of Jesus. “The Sextette” from “Lucia di Lammermoor,” the “Hallelujah Chorus,” the “Chant of the Pagan Priestess” from “Aida,” the marches of Sousa, and all the harmonies of Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, and Handel NONE of these nor all of them are as beautiful as the parables of Jesus.
This is a prayer for Christian unity, the great reason for Christ’s desire for such unity being immediately stated, “that the world may believe that thou didst send me.”
Jesus himself used the terms “CHURCH” and “KINGDOM” interchangeably in his announcement at Caesarea Philippi (Matthew 16:18) It is mandatory to view the Lord’s words there as a reference NOT to two institutions but to ONE.
This astounding prophecy was not a mere clever prediction of Jesus, based upon political considerations, and the probabilities indicated by the rebellious nature of Israel and the character of the Roman authority.
The Elect are people who will love God and choose to serve him are “the elect” foreordained before all time to inherit eternal salvation.
