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- Matthew 22:41 To End. Christ Questions The Pharisees Concerning Himself.
Favell Lee Mortimer
Favell Lee Mortimer (July 14, 1802 – August 22, 1878) was a British author and educator whose evangelical writings preached salvation and moral instruction to children across the 19th century. Born in London, England, to David Bevan, a Barclays bank co-founder, and Favell Bourke Lee, she was the third of eight children in a wealthy Quaker family that moved to Hale End, Walthamstow, when she was six. Raised under evangelical influences like Rev. George Collison, she oversaw religious education on her father’s estates in Wiltshire and East Barnet, deepening her faith after a conversion in 1827. Mortimer’s preaching career took shape through her pen after marrying Rev. Thomas Mortimer in 1841, a popular London preacher whose ministry she supported until his death in 1850. Her sermons emerged in best-selling books like The Peep of Day (1833), which sold over 500,000 copies and was translated into 37 languages, delivering simple gospel truths to young minds with a stern emphasis on sin and hell. Works like Line Upon Line and More About Jesus extended her reach, blending education with evangelistic zeal, while later geographic titles like Near Home reflected her moral worldview. Widowed, she adopted a son, Lethbridge Charles E. Moore, and died at age 76 in West Runton, Norfolk, England.
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Favell Lee Mortimer delves into the wisdom of the Lord's questions, highlighting the importance of understanding who Christ truly is. While the Pharisees were knowledgeable about the term 'Christ' meaning 'anointed,' they failed to grasp that Jesus was not only the Son of David but also the Son of God. Mortimer emphasizes the mystery of God manifest in the flesh, revealing that Jesus, as David's Son and Lord, will one day make his enemies his footstool and exalt his people to his own throne.
Matthew 22:41 to End. Christ Questions the Pharisees Concerning Himself.
We have already admired the wisdom of the Lord's answers. We have now an instance of the wisdom of his questions. Though his enemies could not perplex him, yet he could easily perplex them. But his questions were not like theirs, frivolous; they were important. There is no subject more important than who Christ is. The Pharisees thought they knew, but they were profoundly ignorant on the subject. They knew, indeed, the meaning of the word "Christ." It signifies "anointed"—one set apart by the anointing of oil as priest and king. Jesus was the Christ, anointed of the Father with the Holy Spirit, the oil of gladness, to be priest and king forever. In the second Psalm there is a prophecy of this anointed one. "The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against his anointed (or his Christ.)" The Pharisees had read the Scriptures, and they knew that the Christ would come into the world, and that he would be born of the family of David. But they did not know that the Christ was the Son of God, as well as the Son of David. Therefore Jesus brought forward a passage from the Psalms, in which David calls the Christ his Lord. It is this, "The Lord said unto my Lord." (Ps. 110:1.) That is, "The Lord the Father said unto my Lord the Son." How could David's Son be David's Lord? This was a mystery hidden from the Pharisees. It is the great mystery of godliness. "God manifest in the flesh." It has been revealed to us. We know that from everlasting the Son has been with the Father in glory, and that in the fullness of time he was born into the world—the infant of a humble daughter of the royal David. Thus he is at once David's Son and David's Lord. The Pharisees did not ask him to explain the passage he had quoted; for they were contented with their ignorance, and loved darkness better than light. But they will understand it when it is too late. The prophecy shall be fulfilled. "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit on my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool." Part of it has already been accomplished. Christ is now sitting at the right hand of God, but he has not yet come to make his enemies his footstool. With what dismay will those who once rejected him behold the Son of God when he appears in his glory! "Every eve shall see him, and they also that pierced him; and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him." That is, some of all kindreds shall wail, because some of all kindreds have rejected him. It was not the Jews only who said, "We will not have this man to reign over us;" it was not the Romans only who pierced him with a spear; there are many belonging to Christian nations who have crucified him afresh and have trodden him under foot. (Heb. 6:6; 10:29.) All who do not love him are his enemies, and shall be made his footstool. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. How terrible it must be to be trampled beneath his feet! Yet those who have trodden under foot the Son of God shall, if they do not repent, be trodden under foot themselves—for he has declared, "I will tread them in my anger, and trample them in my fury." (Isa. 63:3.) In that day he will save his people, and while he makes his enemies his footstool, he will exalt them to his own THRONE, for he has said, "To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with me in MY THRONE." (Rev. 3:21.)
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Favell Lee Mortimer (July 14, 1802 – August 22, 1878) was a British author and educator whose evangelical writings preached salvation and moral instruction to children across the 19th century. Born in London, England, to David Bevan, a Barclays bank co-founder, and Favell Bourke Lee, she was the third of eight children in a wealthy Quaker family that moved to Hale End, Walthamstow, when she was six. Raised under evangelical influences like Rev. George Collison, she oversaw religious education on her father’s estates in Wiltshire and East Barnet, deepening her faith after a conversion in 1827. Mortimer’s preaching career took shape through her pen after marrying Rev. Thomas Mortimer in 1841, a popular London preacher whose ministry she supported until his death in 1850. Her sermons emerged in best-selling books like The Peep of Day (1833), which sold over 500,000 copies and was translated into 37 languages, delivering simple gospel truths to young minds with a stern emphasis on sin and hell. Works like Line Upon Line and More About Jesus extended her reach, blending education with evangelistic zeal, while later geographic titles like Near Home reflected her moral worldview. Widowed, she adopted a son, Lethbridge Charles E. Moore, and died at age 76 in West Runton, Norfolk, England.