Many years were yet to pass before the fulfilment of these promises should be commenced, through the setting up of the everlasting sovereignty of Messiah. But at last the fulness of time was come; and the Angel Gabriel appeared to the Virgin Mary at Nazareth, and after addressing her as the favoured mother of Messiah, declared of her Son, "He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David; and He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of His Kingdom there shall be no end" (S. Luke i. 32, 33). This then was the Gospel--the Gospel of the Kingdom--the Gospel of God. The good news was published abroad that the long-promised King of the seed of David was come. Messiah's Kingdom was to be set up; and all men were invited to enter in and be saved. The King Himself went forth to preach the good news, and to describe His Kingdom and the character of His subjects. But by what means could He persuade the people that He was their King? We often wonder that the Jews were so slow to believe in Him; but perhaps we do not realise their difficulties. There was one great obstacle which stopped all but a very few from accepting Him. And it was this. "The Kingdom of Heaven" which He preached as the Kingdom of Messiah was altogether different from anything which they had expected, because it was a spiritual Kingdom. No doubt the words of the Psalmist and of the Prophets ought to have led them to expect the Son of God as King. And, if they had nurtured any real love of God in their hearts, they would have been ready to become His subjects. But it was not so. They expected a conqueror to free them from the yoke of their enemies. And the enemies which He came to conquer were spiritual--the great enemy of the whole human race--not the earthly foes of the one race of Israel. They expected the glory and pomp which are the outward signs of the authority to rule; and they could not understand the position which He claimed to hold who had come in such humility that He said, "The Son of Man hath not where to lay His head" (S. Matt. viii. 20). "Tell us," they said, "by what authority doest thou these things?" (S. Luke xx. 2). And, therefore, we need not seek far to find the reason of the small success which followed the preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom. Only a spiritual power can move men in spiritual things, and a man must first give himself up to the guidance of the Holy Spirit before He can take in spiritual truths. If men resist the teaching of God, no evidence will move them. "If they hear not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead" (S. Luke xvi. 31). "The Kingdom of Heaven" could not be set up until the Holy Ghost was given[5], because the Jews were not prepared to accept Messiah as the King of a spiritual Kingdom; and only the Holy Ghost could move the hearts of men to desire spiritual blessings,