lusions, guiding them, furnishing
them with sufficient evidence, but always allowing the evidence to do
its work, and not breaking in upon the natural process by His
authoritative utterances. But when, as in Thomas's case, it did dawn on
the mind of any that this Person was God manifest in the flesh, He
accepted the tribute paid. The acceptance of such a tribute proves Him
Divine. No good man, whatever his function or commission on earth, could
allow another to address him, as Thomas addressed Jesus, "My Lord and my
God."

In the paragraph we are considering a very needful reminder is given us
that the Jews of our Lord's time used the terms "God" and "Son of God"
in a loose and inexact manner. Where the sense was not likely to be
misunderstood, they did not scruple to apply these terms to officials
and dignitaries. The angels they called sons of God; their own judges
they called by the same name. The whole people considered collectively
was called "God's son." And in the 2nd Psalm, speaking of the Messianic
King, God says, "Thou art My Son: this day have I begotten Thee." It was
therefore natural that the Jews should think of the Messiah not as
properly Divine, but merely as being of such surpassing dignity as to be
worthily though loosely called "Son of God." No doubt there are passages
in the Old Testament which intimate with sufficient clearness that the
Messiah would be truly Divine: "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and
ever;" "Unto us a Child is born ... and His name shall be called the
Mighty God;" "Behold the days come that I will raise unto David a
righteous Branch, and this is the name whereby He shall be called,
Jehovah our Righteousness." But though these passages seem decisive to
us, looking on the fulfilment of them in Christ, we must consider that
the Jewish Bible did not lie on every table for consultation as our
Bibles do, and also that it was easy for the Jews to put a figurative
sense on all such passages.

In a word, it was a Messiah the Jews looked for, not the Son of God.
They looked for one with Divine powers, the delegate of God, sent to
accomplish His will and to establish His kingdom, the representative
among them of the Divine presence; but they did not look for a real
dwelling of a Divine Person among them. It is quite certain that the
Jews of the second century thought it silly of the Christians to hold
that the Christ pre-existed from eternity as God, and condescended to be
born as man. "No