was in perfect harmony with that purpose. Indeed, the Kingdom which He announced, and which He came to establish, depended upon His own death and resurrection. But more than this, the preaching of the Kingdom continued after He was rejected by the rulers of Israel, precisely the same as before. There was no change, and no “withdrawal” of the Kingdom. The rejection of Christ is evidenced, we are told, in the events described in Matthew 11 and 12, when the Pharisees “held a council. against Him, how