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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
M A T T H E W.
CHAP. XXIV.
Christ’s preaching was mostly practical; but, in this chapter, we have
a prophetical discourse, a prediction of things to come; such however
as had a practical tendency, and was intended, not to gratify the
curiosity of his disciples, but to guide their consciences and
conversations, and it is therefore concluded with a practical
application. The church has always had particular prophecies, besides
general promises, both for direction and for encouragement to
believers; but it is observable, Christ preached this prophetical
sermon in the close of his ministry, as the Apocalypse is the last book
of the New Testament, and the prophetical books of the Old Testament
are placed last, to intimate to us, that we must be well grounded in
plain truths and duties, and those must first be well digested, before
we dive into those things that are dark and difficult; many run
themselves into confusion by beginning their Bible at the wrong end.
Now, in this chapter, we have,
I. The occasion of this discourse,
II. The discourse itself, in which we have,
1. The prophecy of divers events, especially referring to the
destruction of Jerusalem, and the utter ruin of the Jewish church and
nation, which were not hastening on, and were completed about forty
years after; the prefaces to that destruction, the concomitants and
consequences of it; yet looking further, to Christ’s coming at the end
of time, and the consummation of all things, of which that was a type
and figure,
2. The practical application of this prophecy for the awakening and
quickening of his disciples to prepare for these great and awful things,
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1 And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his
disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the
temple.
2 And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily
I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon
another, that shall not be thrown down.
3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came
unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be?
and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the
world?
Here is,
I. Christ’s quitting the temple, and his public work there. He
had said, in the close of the foregoing chapter, Your house is left
unto you desolate; and here he made his words good; He went out,
and departed from the temple. The manner of expression is
observable; he not only went out of the temple, but departed from it,
took his final farewell of it; he departed from it, never to return to
it any more; and then immediately follows a prediction of its ruin.
Note, That house is left desolate indeed, which Christ leaves. Woe
unto them when I depart,
Hos. ix. 12; Jer. vi. 8.
It was now time to groan out their Ichabod, The glory is departed,
their defence is departed. Three days after this, the veil of the
temple was rent; when Christ left it, all became common and
unclean; but Christ departed not till they drove him away; did not
reject them, till they first rejected him.
II. His private discourse with his disciples; he left the temple, but
he did not leave the twelve, who were the seed of the gospel church,
which the casting off of the Jews was the enriching of. When he left
the temple, his disciples left it too, and came to him. Note, It is
good being where Christ is, and leaving that which he leaves. They came
to him, to be instructed in private, when his public preaching was
over; for the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him. He
had spoken of the destruction of the Jewish church to the multitude in
parables, which here, as usual, he explains to his disciples.
Observe,
1. His disciples came to him, to show him the buildings of the
temple, It was a stately and beautiful structure, one of the
wonders of the world; no cost was spared, no art left untried, to make
it sumptuous. Though it came short of Solomon’s temple, and its
beginning was small, yet its latter end did greatly
increase. It was richly furnished with gifts and offerings, to
which there were continual additions made. They showed Christ these
things, and desired him to take notice of them, either,
(1.) As being greatly pleased with them themselves, and expecting he
should be so too. They had lived mostly in Galilee, at a distance from
the temple, had seldom seen it, and therefore were the more struck with
admiration at it, and thought he should admire as much as they did
all this glory
(Gen. xxxi. 1);
and they would have him divert himself (after his preaching, and from
his sorrow which they saw him perhaps almost overwhelmed with) with
looking about him. Note, Even good men are apt to be too much enamoured
with outward pomp and gaiety, and to overvalue it, even in the things
of God; whereas we should be, as Christ was, dead to it, and look upon
it with contempt. The temple was indeed glorious, but,
[1.] Its glory was sullied and stained with the sin of the priests and
people; that wicked doctrine of the Pharisees, which preferred the gold
before the temple that sanctified it, was enough to deface the beauty
of all the ornaments of the temple.
[2.] Its glory was eclipsed and outdone by the presence of Christ in
it, who was the glory of this latter house
(Hag. ii. 9),
so that the buildings had no glory, in comparison with that glory which
excelled.
Or,
(2.) As grieving that this house should be left desolate; they showed
him the buildings, as if they would move him to reverse the sentence;
“Lord, let not this holy and beautiful house, where our fathers praised
thee, be made a desolation.” They forgot how many providences,
concerning Solomon’s temple, had manifested how little God cared for
that outward glory which they had so much admired, when the people were
wicked,
This house, which is high, sin will bring low. Christ had lately
looked upon the precious souls, and wept for them,
Luke xix. 41.
The disciples look upon the pompous buildings, and are ready to weep
for them. In this, as in other things, his thoughts are not like
ours. It was weakness, and meanness of spirit, in the disciples, to
be so fond of fine buildings; it was a childish thing. Animo magno
nihil magnum–To a great mind nothing is great. Seneca.
2. Christ, hereupon, foretels the utter ruin and destruction that were
coming upon this place,
v. 2.
Note, A believing foresight of the defacing of all worldly glory will
help to take us off from admiring it, and overvaluing it. The most
beautiful body will be shortly worms’ meat, and the most beautiful
building a ruinous heap. And shall we then set our eyes upon that which
so soon is not, and look upon that with so much admiration which ere
long we shall certainly look upon with so much contempt? See ye not
all these things? They would have Christ look upon them, and be as
much in love with them as they were; he would have them look upon them,
and be as dead to them as he was. There is such a sight of these
things as will do us good; so to see them as to see through them and
see to the end of them.
Christ, instead of reversing the decree, ratifies it; Verily, I say
unto you, there shall not be left one stone upon another.
(1.) He speaks of it as a certain ruin; “I say unto you. I, that
know what I say, and know how to make good what I say; take my word for
it, it shall be so; I, the Amen, the true Witness, say it to
you.” All judgment being committed to the Son, the threatenings, as
well as the promises, are all yea, and amen, in him.
Heb. vi. 17, 18.
(2.) He speaks of it as an utter ruin. The temple shall not only be
stripped, and plundered, and defaced, but utterly demolished and laid
waste; Not one stone shall be left upon another. Notice is
taken, in the building of the second temple, of the laying of
one stone upon another
(Hag. ii. 15);
and here, in the ruin, of not leaving one stone upon
another. History tells us, that this was fulfilled in the latter;
for though Titus, when he took the city, did all he could to preserve
the temple, yet he could not restrain the enraged soldiers from
destroying it utterly; and it was done to that degree, that Turnus
Rufus ploughed up the ground on which it had stood: thus that scripture
was fulfilled
(Mic. iii. 12),
Zion shall, for your sake, be ploughed as a field. And
afterward, in Julian the Apostate’s time, when the Jews were encouraged
by him to rebuild their temple, in opposition to the Christian
religion, what remained of the ruins was quite pulled down, to level
the ground for a new foundation; but the attempt was defeated by the
miraculous eruption of fire out of the ground, which destroyed the
foundation they laid, and frightened away the builders. Now this
prediction of the final and irreparable ruin of the temple includes a
prediction of the period of the Levitical priesthood and the ceremonial
law.
3. The disciples, not disputing either the truth or the equity of this
sentence, nor doubting of the accomplishment of it, enquire more
particularly of the time when it should come to pass, and the signs of
its approach,
v. 3.
Observe,
(1.) Where they made this enquiry; privately, as he sat upon the
mount of Olives; probably, he was returning to Bethany, and there
sat down by the way, to rest him; the mount of Olives directly faced
the temple, and from thence he might have a full prospect of it at some
distance; there he sat as a Judge upon the bench, the temple and city
being before him as at the bar, and thus he passed sentence on them. We
read
of the removing of the glory of the Lord from the temple to the
mountain; so Christ, the great Shechinah, here removes to this
mountain.
(2.) What the enquiry itself was; When shall these things be; and
what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
Here are three questions.
[1.] Some think, these questions do all point at one and the same
thing–the destruction of the temple, and the period of the Jewish
church and nation, which Christ had himself spoken of as his coming
(ch. xvi. 28),
and which would be the consummation of the age (for so it may be read),
the finishing of that dispensation. Or, they thought the destruction of
the temple must needs be the end of the world. If that house be laid
waste, the world cannot stand; for the Rabbin used to say that the
house of the sanctuary was one of the seven things for the sake of
which the world was made; and they think, if so, the world will not
survive the temple.
[2.] Others think their question, When shall these things be?
refers to the destruction of Jerusalem, and the other two to the end of
the world; or Christ’s coming may refer to his setting up his gospel
kingdom, and the end of the world to the day of judgment. I rather
incline to think that their question looked no further than the event
Christ now foretold; but it appears by other passages, that they had
very confused thoughts of future events; so that perhaps it is not
possible to put any certain construction upon this question of
theirs.
But Christ, in his answer, though he does not expressly rectify the
mistakes of his disciples (that must be done by the pouring out of the
Spirit), yet looks further than their question, and instructs his
church, not only concerning the great events of that age, the
destruction of Jerusalem, but concerning his second coming at the end
of time, which here he insensibly slides into a discourse of, and of
that it is plain he speaks in the next chapter, which is a continuation
of this sermon.
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4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man
deceive you.
5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and
shall deceive many.
6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be
not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the
end is not yet.
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against
kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and
earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall
kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s
sake.
10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one
another, and shall hate one another.
11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall
wax cold.
13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be
saved.
14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the
world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end
come.
15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation,
spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso
readeth, let him understand:)
16 Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains:
17 Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any
thing out of his house:
18 Neither let him which is in the field return back to take
his clothes.
19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give
suck in those days!
20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither
on the sabbath day:
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since
the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no
flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be
shortened.
23 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or
there; believe it not.
24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and
shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were
possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
25 Behold, I have told you before.
26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the
desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers;
believe it not.
27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth
even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man
be.
28 For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be
gathered together.
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the
sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the
stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall
be shaken:
30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven:
and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall
see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and
great glory.
31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a
trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four
winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
The disciples had asked concerning the times, When shall these
things be? Christ gives them no answer to that, after what number
of days and years his prediction should be accomplished, for it is
not for us to know the times
(Acts i. 7);
but they had asked, What shall be the sign? That question he
answers fully, for we are concerned to understand the signs of the
times,
ch. xvi. 3.
Now the prophecy primarily respects the events near at hand–the
destruction of Jerusalem, the period of the Jewish church and state,
the calling of the Gentiles, and the setting up of Christ’s kingdom in
the world; but as the prophecies of the Old Testament, which have an
immediate reference to the affairs of the Jews and the revolutions of
their state, under the figure of them do certainly look further, to the
gospel church and the kingdom of the Messiah, and are so expounded in
the New Testament, and such expressions are found in those predictions
as are peculiar thereto and not applicable otherwise; so this prophecy,
under the type of Jerusalem’s destruction, looks as far forward as the
general judgment; and, as is usual in prophecies, some passages are
most applicable to the type, and others to the antitype; and toward the
close, as usual, it points more particularly to the latter. It is
observable, that what Christ here saith to his disciples tends more to
engage their caution than to satisfy their curiosity; more to prepare
them for the events that should happen than to give them a distinct
idea of the events themselves. This is that good understanding of the
time which we should all covet, thence to infer what Israel ought to
do: and so this prophecy is of standing lasting use to the church, and
will be so to the end of time; for the thing that hath been, is that
which shall be
and the series, connection, and presages, of events, are much the same
still that they were then; so that upon the prophecy of this chapter,
pointing at that event, moral prognostications may be made, and such
constructions of the signs of the times as the wise man’s heart will
know how to improve.
I. Christ here foretels the going forth of deceivers; he begins with a
caution, Take heed that no man deceive you. They expected to be
told when these things should be, to be let into that secret; but this
caution is a check to their curiosity, “What is that to you?
Mind you your duty, follow me, and be not seduced from following me.”
Those that are most inquisitive concerning the secret things which
belong not to them are most easily imposed upon by seducers,
The disciples, when they heard that the Jews, their most inveterate
enemies, should be destroyed, might be in danger of falling into
security; “Nay,” saith Christ, “you are more exposed other ways.”
Seducers are more dangerous enemies to the church than persecutors.
Three times in this discourse he mentions the appearing of false
prophets, which was,
1. A presage of Jerusalem’s ruin. Justly were they who killed the true
prophets, left to be ensnared by false prophets; and they who crucified
the true Messiah, left to be deceived and broken by false Christs and
pretended Messiahs. The appearing of these was the occasion of dividing
that people into parties and factions, which made their ruin the more
easy and speedy; and the sin of the many that were led aside by them,
helped to fill the measure.
2. It was a trial to the disciples of Christ, and therefore agreeable
to their state of probation, that they which are perfect, may be
made manifest.
Now concerning these deceivers, observe here,
(1.) The pretences they should come under. Satan acts most
mischievously, when he appears as an angel of light: the colour of the
greatest good is often the cover of the greatest evil.
[1.] There should appear false prophets
(v. 11-24);
the deceivers would pretend to divine inspiration, an immediate
mission, and a spirit of prophecy, when it was all a lie. Such they had
been formerly
(Jer. xxiii. 16; Ezek. xiii. 6),
as was foretold,
Some think, the seducers here pointed to were such as had been settled
teachers in the church, and had gained reputation as such, but
afterward betrayed the truth they had taught, and revolted to error;
and from such the danger is the greater, because least suspected. One
false traitor in the garrison may do more mischief than a thousand
avowed enemies without.
[2.] There should appear false Christs, coming in Christ’s name
(v. 5),
assuming to themselves the name peculiar to him, and saying, I am
Christ, pseudo-christs,
v. 24.
There was at that time a general expectation of the appearing of the
Messiah; they spoke of him; as he that should come; but when he
did come, the body of the nation rejected him; which those who were
ambitious of making themselves a name, took advantage of, and set up
for Christ. Josephus speaks of several such impostors between this and
the destruction of Jerusalem; one Theudas, that was defeated by Cospius
Fadus; another by Felix, another by Festus. Dosetheus said he was the
Christ foretold by Moses. Origen adversus Celsum. See
Simon Magus pretended to be the great power of God,
Acts viii. 10.
In after-ages there have been such pretenders; one about a hundred
years after Christ, that called himself Bar-cochobas–The son of a
star, but proved Bar-cosba–The son of a lie. About fifty
years ago Sabbati-Levi set up for a Messiah in the Turkish empire, and
was greatly caressed by the Jews; but in a short time his folly was
made manifest. See Sir Paul Rycaut’s History. The popish
religion doth, in effect, set up a false Christ; the Pope comes, in
Christ’s name, as his vicar, but invades and usurps all his offices,
and so is a rival with him, and, as such, an enemy to him, a deceiver,
and an antichrist.
[3.] These false Christs and false prophets would have their agents and
emissaries busy in all places to draw people in to them,
Then when public troubles are great and threatening, and people
will be catching at any thing that looks like deliverance, then Satan
will take the advantage of imposing on them; they will say, Lo, here
is a Christ, or there is one; but do not mind them: the true Christ
did not strive, nor cry; nor was it said of him, Lo, here! or Lo,
there!
therefore if any man say so concerning him, look upon it as a
temptation. The hermits, who place religion in a monastical life, say,
He is in the desert; the priests, who made the consecrated wafer
to be Christ, say, “He is en tois tameiois—in the
cupboards, in the secret chambers: lo, he is in this shrine, in
that image.” Thus some appropriate Christ’s spiritual presence to one
party or persuasion, as if they had the monopoly of Christ and
Christianity; and the kingdom of Christ must stand and fall, must live
and die, with them; “Lo, he is in this church, in that council:”
whereas Christ is All in all, not here or there, but meets his people
with a blessing in every place where he records his name.
(2.) The proof they should offer for the making good of these
pretences; They shall show great signs and wonders
(v. 24),
not true miracles, those are a divine seal, and with those the doctrine
of Christ stands confirmed; and therefore if any offer to draw us from
that by signs and wonders, we must have recourse to that rule given of
old
If the sign or wonder come to pass, yet follow not him that
would draw you to serve other gods, or believe in other Christs,
for the Lord your God proveth you. But these were lying
wonders
wrought by Satan (God permitting him), who is the prince of the
power of the air. It is not said, They shall work miracles,
but, They shall show great signs; they are but a show; either
they impose upon men’s credulity by false narratives, or deceive their
senses by tricks of legerdemain, or arts of divination, as the
magicians of Egypt by their enchantments.
(3.) The success they should have in these attempts,
[1.] They shall deceive many
(v. 5),
and again,
Note, The devil and his instruments may prevail far in deceiving poor
souls; few find the strait gate, but many are drawn into the broad way;
many will be imposed upon by their signs and wonders, and many drawn in
by the hopes of deliverance from their oppressions. Note, Neither
miracles nor multitudes are certain signs of a true church; for all
the world wonders after the beast,
Rev. xiii. 3.
[2.] They shall deceive, if it were possible, the very elect,
v. 24.
This bespeaks, First, The strength of the delusion; it is such
as many shall be carried away by (so strong shall the stream be), even
those that were thought to stand fast. Men’s knowledge, gifts,
learning, eminent station, and long profession, will not secure them;
but, notwithstanding these, many will be deceived; nothing but the
almighty grace of God, pursuant to his eternal purpose, will be a
protection. Secondly, The safety of the elect in the midst of
this danger, which is taken for granted in that parenthesis, If it
were possible, plainly implying that it is not possible, for they
are kept by the power of God, that the purpose of God,
according to the election, may stand. It is possible for those that
have been enlightened to fall away
but not for those that were elected. If God’s chosen ones should be
deceived, God’s choice would be defeated, which is not to be imagined,
for whom he did predestinate, he called, justified, and
glorified,
Rom. viii. 30.
They were given to Christ; and of all that were given to him, he will
lose none,
Grotius will have this to be meant of the great difficulty of drawing
the primitive Christians from their religion, and quotes it as used
proverbially by Galen; when he would express a thing very difficult and
morally impossible, he saith, “You may sooner draw away a Christian
from Christ.”
(4.) The repeated cautions which our Saviour gives to his disciples to
stand upon their guard against them; therefore he gave them
warning, that they might watch
(
v. 25);
Behold, I have told you before. He that is told before where he
will be assaulted, may save himself, as the king of Israel did,
Note, Christ’s warnings are designed to engage our watchfulness; and
though the elect shall be preserved from delusion, yet they shall be
preserved by the use of appointed means, and a due regard to the
cautions of the word; we are kept through faith, faith in Christ’s
word, which he has told us before.
[1.] We must not believe those who say, Lo, here is Christ; or,
Lo, he is there,
v. 23.
We believe that the true Christ is at the right hand of God, and that
his spiritual presence is where two or three are gathered together
in his name; believe not those therefore who would draw you off
from a Christ in heaven, by telling you he is any where on earth; or
draw you off from the catholic church on earth, by telling you he is
here, or he is there; believe it not. Note, There is not a greater
enemy to true faith than vain credulity. The simple believeth every
word, and runs after every cry. Memneso
apistein—Beware of believing.
[2.] We must not go forth after those that say, He is in the
desert, or, He is in the secret chambers,
v. 26.
We must not hearken to every empiric and pretender, nor follow every
one that puts up the finger to point us to a new Christ, and a new
gospel; “Go not forth, for if you do, you are in danger of being taken
by them; therefore keep out of harm’s way, be not carried about with
every wind; many a man’s vain curiosity to go forth hath led him
into a fatal apostasy; your strength at such a time is to sit still, to
have the heart established with grace.”
II. He foretels wars and great commotions among the nations,
When Christ was born, there was a universal peace in the empire, the
temple of Janus was shut; but think not that Christ came to
send, or continue such a peace
(Luke xii. 51);
no, his city and his wall are to be built even in troublesome times,
and even wars shall forward his work. From the time that the Jews
rejected Christ, and he left their house desolate, the sword did
never depart from their house, the sword of the Lord was never
quiet, because he had given it a charge against a hypocritical nation
and the people of his wrath, and by it brought ruin upon them.
Here is,
1. A prediction of the event of the day; You will now shortly hear
of wars, and rumours of wars. When wars are, they will be heard;
for every battle of the warrior is with confused noise,
Isa. ix. 5.
See how terrible it is
(Jer. iv. 19),
Thou hast heard, O my soul, the alarm of war! Even the quiet in
the land, and the least inquisitive after new things, cannot but hear
the rumours of war. See what comes of refusing the gospel! Those that
will not hear the messengers of peace, shall be made to hear the
messengers of war. God has a sword ready to avenge the quarrel of his
covenant, his new covenant. Nation shall rise up against nation,
that is, one part or province of the Jewish nation against another, one
city against another
and in the same province and city one party or faction shall rise up
against another, so that they shall be devoured by, and dashed in
pieces against one another,
2. A prescription of the duty of the day; See that ye be not
troubled. Is it possible to hear such sad news, and not be
troubled? Yet, where the heart is fixed, trusting in God, it is kept in
peace, and is not afraid, no not of the evil tidings of wars, and
rumours of wars; no not the noise of Arm, arm. Be not troubled;
Me throeithe—Be not put into confusion or
commotion; not put into throes, as a woman with child by a fright;
see that ye be not orate. Note, There is need of
constant care and watchfulness to keep trouble from the heart when
there are wars abroad; and it is against the mind of Christ, that his
people should have troubled hearts even in troublous times.
We must not be troubled, for two reasons.
(1.) Because we are bid to expect this: the Jews must be punished, ruin
must be brought upon them; by this the justice of God and the honour of
the Redeemer must be asserted; and therefore all those things must
come to pass; the word is gone out of God’s mouth, and it shall be
accomplished in its season. Note, The consideration of the
unchangeableness of the divine counsels, which govern all events,
should compose and quiet our spirits, whatever happens. God is but
performing the thing that is appointed for us, and our inordinate
trouble is an interpretative quarrel with that appointment. Let us
therefore acquiesce, because these things must come to pass; not
only necessitate decreti–as the product of the divine counsel,
but necessitate medii–as a means in order to a further end. The
old house must be taken down (though it cannot be done without noise,
and dust, and danger), ere the new fabric can be erected: the things
that are shaken (and ill shaken they were) must be removed, that the
things which cannot be shaken may remain,
Heb. xii. 27.
(2.) Because we are still to expect worse; The end is not yet;
the end of time is not, and, while time lasts, we must expect trouble,
and that the end of one affliction will be but the beginning of
another; or, “The end of these troubles is not yet; there must be more
judgments that one made use of to bring down the Jewish power; more
vials of wrath must yet be poured out; there is but one woe past, more
woes are yet to come, more arrows are yet to be spent upon them out of
God’s quiver; therefore be not troubled, do not give way to fear and
trouble, sink not under the present burthen, but rather gather in all
the strength and spirit you have, to encounter what is yet before you.
Be not troubled to hear of wars and rumours of wars; for then what will
become of you when the famines and pestilences come?” If it be to us a
vexation but to understand the report
what will it be to feel the stroke when it toucheth the bone and the
flesh? If running with the footmen weary us, how shall we contend
with horses? And if we be frightened at a little brook in our way,
what shall we do in the swellings of Jordan?
Jer. xii. 5.
III. He foretels other judgments more immediately sent of
God–famines, pestilences, and earthquakes. Famine is often the
effect of war, and pestilence of famine. These were the three judgments
which David was to choose one out of; and he was in a great strait, for
he knew not which was the worst: but what dreadful desolations will
they make, when they all pour in together upon a people! Beside war
(and that is enough), there shall be,
1. Famine, signified by the black horse under the
third seal,
Rev. vi. 5, 6.
We read of a famine in Judea, not long after Christ’s time, which was
very impoverishing
(Acts xi. 28);
but the sorest famine was in Jerusalem during the siege. See
2. Pestilences, signified by the pale horse, and death upon
him, and the grave at his heels, under the fourth
seal,
Rev. vi. 7, 8.
This destroys without distinction, and in a little time lays heaps upon
heaps.
3. Earthquakes in divers places, or from place to place,
pursuing those that flee from them, as they did from the earthquake
in the days of Uzziah,
Zech. xiv. 5.
Great desolations have sometimes been made by earthquakes, of late and
formerly; they have been the death of many, and the terror of more. In
the apocalyptic visions, it is observable, that earthquakes bode good,
and no evil, to the church,
Compare
xi. 12, 13, 19; xvi. 17-19.
When God shakes terribly the earth
(Isa. ii. 21),
it is to shake the wicked out of it
and to introduce the desire of all nations,
Hag. ii. 6, 7.
But here they are spoken of as dreadful judgments, and yet but the
beginning of sorrows, odinon—of travailing
pains, quick, violent, yet tedious too. Note, When God judgeth, he
will overcome; when he begins in wrath, he will make a
full end,
1 Sam. iii. 12.
When we look forward to the eternity of misery that is before the
obstinate refusers of Christ and his gospel, we may truly say,
concerning the greatest temporal judgments, “They are but the beginning
of sorrows; bad as things are with them, there are worse behind.”
IV. He foretels the persecution of his own people and ministers, and a
general apostasy and decay in religion thereupon,
Observe,
1. The cross itself foretold,
v. 9.
Note, Of all future events we are as much concerned, though commonly as
little desirous, to know of our own sufferings as of any thing else.
Then, when famines and pestilences prevail, then they shall
impute them to the Christians, and make that a pretence for persecuting
them; Christianos ad leones–Away with Christians to the lions.
Christ had told his disciples, when he first sent them out, what hard
things they should suffer; but they had hitherto experienced little of
it, and therefore he reminds them again, that the less they had
suffered, the more there was behind to be filled up,
(1.) They shall be afflicted with bonds and imprisonments,
cruel mockings and scourgings, as blessed Paul
not killed outright, but killed all the day long, in deaths
often, killed so as to feel themselves die, made a spectacle to
the world,
1 Cor. iv. 9, 11.
(2.) They shall be killed; so cruel are the church’s enemies,
that nothing less will satisfy them than the blood of the saints, which
they thirst after, suck, and shed, like water.
(3.) They shall be hated of all nations for Christ’s name’s
sake, as he had told them before,
The world was generally leavened with enmity and malignity to
Christians: the Jews, though spiteful to the Heathen, were never
persecuted by them as the Christians were; they were hated by the Jews
that were dispersed among the nations, were the common butt of the
world’s malice. What shall we think of this world, when the best men
had the worst usage in it? It is the cause that makes the martyr, and
comforts him; it was for Christ’s sake that they were thus hated; their
professing and preaching his name incensed the nations so much against
them; the devil, finding a fatal shock thereby given to his kingdom,
and that his time was likely to be short, came down, having great
wrath.
2. The offence of the cross,
v. 10-12.
Satan thus carries on his interest by force of arms, though Christ, at
length, will bring glory to himself out of the sufferings of his people
and ministers. Three ill effects of persecution are here foretold.
(1.) The apostasy of some. When the profession of Christianity
begins to cost men dear, then shall many be offended, shall
first fall out with, and then fall off from, their profession; they
will begin to pick quarrels with their religion, sit loose to it, grow
weary of it, and at length revolt from it. Note,
[1.] It is no new thing (though it is a strange thing) for those that
have known the way of righteousness, to turn aside out of it. Paul
often complains of deserters, who began well, but something hindered
them. They were with us, but went out from us, because never truly of
us,
We are told of it before.
[2.] Suffering times are shaking times; and those fall in the storm,
that stood in fair weather, like the stony ground hearers,
ch. xiii. 21.
Many will follow Christ in the sunshine, who will shift for themselves,
and leave him to do so to, in the cloudy dark day. They like their
religion while they can have it cheap, and sleep with it in a whole
skin; but, if their profession cost them any thing, they quit it
presently.
(2.) The malignity of others. When persecution is in fashion,
envy, enmity, and malice, are strangely diffused into the minds of men
by contagion: and charity, tenderness, and moderation, are looked upon
as singularities, which make a man like a speckled bird. Then they
shall betray one another, that is,”Those that have treacherously
deserted their religion, shall hate and betray those who adhere to it,
for whom they have pretended friendship.” Apostates have commonly been
the most bitter and violent persecutors. Note, Persecuting times are
discovering times. Wolves in sheep’s clothing will then throw off their
disguise, and appear wolves: they shall betray one another, and hate
one another. The times must needs be perilous, when treachery and
hatred, two of the worst things that can be, because directly contrary
to two of the best (truth and love), shall have the ascendant. This
seems to refer to the barbarous treatment which the several contending
factions among the Jews gave to one another; and justly were they who
ate up God’s people as they ate bread, left thus to bite and devour one
another till they were consumed one of another; or, it may refer
to the mischiefs done to Christ’s disciples by those that were nearest
to them, as
The brother shall deliver up the brother to death.
(3.) The general declining and cooling of most,
In seducing times, when false prophets arise, in persecuting times,
when the saints are hated, expect these two things,
[1.] The abounding of iniquity; though the world always lies in
wickedness, yet there are some times in which it may be said, that
iniquity doth in a special manner abound; as when it is more
extensive than ordinary, as in the old world, when all flesh had
corrupted their way; and when it is more excessive than
ordinary, when violence is risen up to a rod of wickedness
so that hell seems to be broke loose in blasphemies against God, and
enmities to the saints.
[2.] The abating of love; this is the consequence of the former;
Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
Understand it in general of true serious godliness, which is all summed
up in love; it is too common for professors of religion to grow
cool in their profession, when the wicked are hot in their wickedness;
as the church of Ephesus in bad times left her first love,
Rev. ii. 2-4.
Or, it may be understood more particularly of brotherly love. When
iniquity abounds, seducing iniquity, persecuting iniquity, this grace
commonly waxes cold. Christians begin to be shy and suspicious one of
another, affections are alienated, distances created, parties made, and
so love comes to nothing. The devil is the accuser of the brethren, not
only to their enemies, which makes persecuting iniquity abound, but one
to another, which makes the love of many to wax cold.
This gives a melancholy prospect of the times, that there shall be such
a great decay of love; but, First, It is of the love of
many, not of all. In the worst of times, God has his
remnant that hold fast their integrity, and retain their zeal, as in
Elijah’s days, when he thought himself left alone. Secondly,
This love is grown cold, but not dead; it abates, but is not quite cast
off. There is life in the root, which will show itself when the winter
is past. The new nature may wax cold, but shall not wax
old, for then it would decay and vanish away.
3. Comfort administered in reference to this offence of the cross, for
the support of the Lord’s people under it
(v. 13);
He that endures to the end, shall be saved.
(1.) It is comfortable to those who wish well to the cause of Christ in
general, that, though many are offended, yet some shall endure to the
end. When we see so many drawing back, we are ready to fear that the
cause of Christ will sink for want of supporters, and his name be left
and forgotten for want of some to make profession of it; but even at
this time there is a remnant according to the election of grace,
Rom. xi. 5.
It is spoken of the same time that this prophecy has reference to; a
remnant who are not of them that draw back unto perdition, but
believe and persevere to the saving of the soul; they endure to
the end, to the end of their lives, to the end of their present state
of probation, or to the end of these suffering trying times, to the
last encounter, though they should be called to resist unto blood.
(2.) It is comfortable to those
who do thus endure to the end, and suffer for their constancy, that
they shall be saved. Perseverance wins the crown, through free grace,
and shall wear it. They shall be saved: perhaps they may be
delivered out of their troubles, and comfortably survive them in this
world; but it is eternal salvation that is here intended. They that
endure to the end of their days, shall then receive the end of their
faith and hope, even the salvation of their souls,
1 Pet. i. 9;
Rom. ii. 7; Rev. iii. 20.
The crown of glory will make amends for all; and a believing regard to
that will enable us to choose rather to die at a stake with the
persecuted, than to live in a palace with the persecutors.
V. He foretels the preaching of the gospel in all the world
(v. 14);
This gospel shall be preached, and then shall the end come.
Observe here,
1. It is called the gospel of the kingdom, because it reveals
the kingdom of grace, which leads to the kingdom of glory; sets up
Christ’s kingdom in this world; and secures ours in the other world.
2. This gospel, sooner or later, is to be preached in all the world,
to every creature, and all nations are to be discipled by it; for in it
Christ is to be Salvation to the ends of the earth; for this end
the gift of tongues was the first-fruits of the Spirit.
3. The gospel is preached for a witness to all nations, that is,
a faithful declaration of the mind and will of God concerning the duty
which God requires from man, and the recompence which man may expect
from God. It is a record
(1 John v. 11),
it is a witness, for those who believe, that they shall be
saved, and against those who persist in unbelief, that they shall be
damned. See
But how does this come in here?
(1.) It is intimated that the gospel should be, if not heard, yet at
least heard of, throughout the then known world, before the destruction
of Jerusalem; that the Old-Testament church should not be quite
dissolved till the New Testament was pretty well settled, had got
considerable footing, and began to make some figure. Better is the face
of a corrupt degenerate church than none at all. Within forty years
after Christ’s death, the sound of the gospel was gone forth
to the ends of the earth,
Rom. x. 18.
St. Paul fully preached the gospel from Jerusalem, and round about
unto Illyricum; and the other apostles were not idle. The
persecuting of the saints at Jerusalem helped to disperse them, so that
they went every where, preaching the word,
Acts viii. 1-4.
And when the tidings of the Redeemer are sent over all parts of the
world, then shall come the end of the Jewish state. Thus, that which
they thought to prevent, by putting Christ to death, they thereby
procured; all men believed on him, and the Romans came, and took
away their place and nation,
John xi. 48.
Paul speaks of the gospel being come to all the world, and preached
to every creature,
Col. i. 6-23.
(2.) It is likewise intimated that even in times of temptation,
trouble, and persecution, the gospel of the kingdom shall be preached
and propagated, and shall force its way through the greatest
opposition. Though the enemies of the church grow very hot, and
many of her friends very cool, yet the gospel shall be preached.
And even then, when many fall by the sword and by flame, and
many do wickedly, and are corrupted by flatteries, yet then the people
that do know their God, shall be strengthened to do the greatest
exploits of all, in instructing many; see
and see an instance,
(3.) That which seems chiefly intended here, is, that the end of the
world shall be then, and not till then, when the gospel has done
its work in the world. The gospel shall be preached, and that work
carried on, when you are dead; so that all nations, first or last,
shall have either the enjoyment, or the refusal, of the gospel; and
then cometh the end, when the kingdom shall be delivered up
to God, even the Father; when the mystery of God shall be finished,
the mystical body completed, and the nations either converted and
saved, or convicted and silenced, by the gospel; then shall the end
come, of which he had said before
(v. 6, 7),
not yet, not till those intermediate counsels be fulfilled. The
world shall stand as long as any of God’s chosen ones remain uncalled;
but, when they are all gathered in, it will be set on fire
immediately.
VI. He foretels more particularly the ruin that was coming upon the
people of the Jews, their city, temple, and nation,
&c. Here he comes more closely to answer their questions concerning the
desolation of the temple; and what he said here, would be of use to his
disciples, both for their conduct and for their comfort, in reference
to that great event; he describes the several steps of that calamity,
such as are usual in war.
1. The Romans setting up the abomination of desolation in the holy
place,
v. 15.
Now,
(1.) Some understand by this an image, or statue, set up in the temple
by some of the Roman governors, which was very offensive to the Jews,
provoked them to rebel, and so brought the desolation upon them. The
image of Jupiter Olympius, which Antiochus caused to be set upon the
altar of God, is called Bdelygma eremoseos—The
abomination of desolation, the very word here used by the
historian,
1 Mac. i. 54.
Since the captivity in Babylon, nothing was, nor could be, more
distasteful to the Jews than an image in the holy place, as appeared by
the mighty opposition they made when Caligula offered to set up his
statue there, which had been of fatal consequence, if it had not been
prevented, and the matter accommodated, by the conduct of Petronius;
but Herod did set up an eagle over the temple-gate; and, some say, the
statue of Titus was set up in the temple.
(2.) Others choose to expound it by the parallel place
(Luke xxi. 20),
when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies. Jerusalem was
the holy city, Canaan the holy land, the Mount Moriah, which lay about
Jerusalem, for its nearness to the temple was, they thought in a
particular manner holy ground; on the country lying round about
Jerusalem the Roman army was encamped, that was the abomination that
made desolate. The land of an enemy is said to be the land which
thou abhorrest
(Isa. vii. 16);
so an enemy’s army to a weak but wilful people may well be called
the abomination. Now this is said to be spoken of by Daniel,
the prophet, who spoke more plainly of the Messiah and his kingdom
than any of the Old-Testament prophets did. He speaks of an abomination
making desolate, which should be set up by Antiochus
but this that our Saviour refers to, we have in the message that the
angel brought him
(Dan. ix. 27),
of what should come at the end of seventy weeks, long after the former;
for the overspreading of abominations, or, as the margin reads
it, with the abominable armies (which comes home to the prophecy
here), he shall make it desolate. Armies of idolaters may well
be called abominable armies; and some think, the tumults,
insurrections, and abominable factions and seditions, in the city and
temple, may at least be taken in as part of the abomination making
desolate. Christ refers them to that prophecy of Daniel, that they
might see how the ruin of their city and temple was spoken of in the
Old Testament, which would both confirm his prediction, and take off
the odium of it. They might likewise from thence gather the time of
it–soon after the cutting off of Messiah the prince; the sin that
procured it–their rejecting him, and the certainty of it–it is a
desolation determined. As Christ by his precepts confirmed the law,
so by his predictions he confirmed the prophecies of the Old Testament,
and it will be of good use to compare both together.
Reference being here had to a prophecy, which is commonly dark and
obscure, Christ inserts this memorandum, “Whoso readeth, let him
understand; whoso readeth the prophecy of Daniel, let him
understand that it is to have its accomplishment now shortly in the
desolations of Jerusalem.” Note, Those that read the scriptures, should
labour to understand the scriptures, else their reading is to little
purpose; we cannot use that which we do not understand. See
The angel that delivered this prophecy to Daniel, stirred him up to
know and understand,
Dan. ix. 25.
And we must not despair of understanding even dark prophecies; the
great New-Testament prophecy is called a revelation, not a
secret. Now things revealed belong to us, and therefore
must be humbly and diligently searched into. Or, Let him
understand, not only the scriptures which speak of those things,
but by the scriptures let him understand the times,
1 Chron. xii. 32.
Let him observe, and take notice; so some read it; let him be assured,
that, notwithstanding the vain hopes with which the deluded people feed
themselves, the abominable armies will make desolate.
2. The means of preservation which thinking men should betake
themselves to
(v. 16, 20);
Then let them which are in Judea, flee. Then conclude there is
no other way to help yourselves than by flying for the same. We may
take this,
(1.) As a prediction of the ruin itself; that it should be
irresistible; that it would be impossible for the stoutest hearts to
make head against it, or contend with it, but they must have recourse
to the last shift, getting out of the way. It bespeaks that which
Jeremiah so much insisted upon, but in vain, when Jerusalem was
besieged by the Chaldeans, that it would be to no purpose to resist,
but that it was their wisdom to yield and capitulate; so Christ here,
to show how fruitless it would be to stand it out, bids every one make
the best of his way.
(2.) We may take it as a direction to the followers of Christ what to
do, not to say, A confederacy with those who fought and warred
against the Romans for the preservation of their city and nation, only
that they might consume the wealth of both upon their lusts (for to
this very affair, the struggles of the Jews against the Roman power,
some years before their final overthrow, the apostle refers,
but let them acquiesce in the decree that was gone forth, and with all
speed quit the city and country, as they would quit a falling house or
a sinking ship, as Lot quitted Sodom, and Israel the tents of Dathan
and Abiram; he shows them,
[1.] Whither they must flee–from Judea to the mountains; not
the mountains round about Jerusalem, but those in the remote corners of
the land, which would be some shelter to them, not so much by their
strength as by their secrecy. Israel is said to be scattered upon
the mountains
and see
It would be safer among the lions’ dens, and the mountains of the
leopards, than among the seditious Jews or the enraged Romans. Note, In
times of imminent peril and danger, it is not only lawful, but our
duty, to seek our own preservation by all good and honest means; and if
God opens a door of escape, we ought to make our escape, otherwise we
do not trust God but tempt him. There may be a time when even those
that are in Judea, where God is known, and his name is great, must
flee to the mountains; and while we only go out of the way of
danger, not out of the way of duty, we may trust God to provide a
dwelling for his outcasts,
Isa. xvi. 4, 5.
In times of public calamity, when it is manifest that we cannot be
serviceable at home and may be safe abroad, Providence calls us to make
our escape. He that flees, may fight again.
[2.] What haste they must make,
The life will be in danger, in imminent danger, the scourge will slay
suddenly; and therefore he that is on the house-top, when the
alarm comes, let him not come down into the house, to look after
his effects there, but go the nearest way down, to make his escape; and
so he that shall be in the field, will find it his wisest course
to run immediately, and not return to fetch his clothes or the wealth
of his house, for two reasons, First, Because the time which
would be taken up in packing up his things, would delay his flight.
Note, When death is at the door, delays are dangerous; it was the
charge to Lot, Look not behind thee. Those that are convinced of
the misery of a sinful state, and the ruin that attends them in that
state, and, consequently, of the necessity of their fleeing to Christ,
must take heed, lest, after all these convictions, they perish
eternally by delays. Secondly, Because the carrying of his
clothes, and his other movables and valuables with him, would but
burthen him, and clog his flight. The Syrians, in their flight, cast
away their garments,
2 Kings vii. 15.
At such a time, we must be thankful if our lives be given us for a
prey, though we can save nothing,
For the life is more than meat,
ch. vi. 25.
Those who carried off least, were safest in their flight. Cantabit
vacuus coram latrone viator–The pennyless traveller can lose nothing
by robbers. It was to his own disciples that Christ recommended
this forgetfulness of their house and clothes, who had a habitation in
heaven, treasure there, and durable clothing, which the enemy could not
plunder them of. Omnia mea mecum porto–I have all my property with
me, said Bias the philosopher in his flight, empty-handed. He that
has grace in his heart carries his all along with him, when tripped of
all.
Now those to whom Christ said this immediately, did not live to see
this dismal day, none of all the twelve but John only; they needed not
to be hidden in the mountains (Christ hid them in heaven), but they
left the direction to their successors in profession, who pursued it,
and it was of use to them; for when the Christians in Jerusalem and
Judea saw the ruin coming on, they all retired to a town called
Pella, on the other side Jordan, where they were safe; so that
of the many thousands that perished in the destruction of Jerusalem,
there was not so much as one Christian. See Euseb. Eccl. Hist.
lib. 3, cap. 5. Thus the prudent man foresees the evil, and hides
himself,
Prov. xxii. 3; Heb. xi. 7.
This warning was not kept private. St. Matthew’s gospel was published
long before that destruction, so that others might have taken the
advantage of it; but their perishing through their unbelief of this,
was a figure of their eternal perishing through their unbelief of the
warnings Christ gave concerning the wrath to come.
[3.] Whom it would go hard with at that time
(v. 19);
Woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck. To
this same event that saying of Christ at his death refers
They shall say, Blessed are the wombs that never bare, and the paps
that never gave suck. Happy are they that have no children to see
the murder of; but most unhappy they whose wombs are then bearing,
their paps then giving suck: they of all others will be in the most
melancholy circumstances. First, To them the famine would be
most grievous, when they should see the tongue of the sucking child
cleaving to the roof of his mouth for thirst, and themselves by the
calamity made more cruel than the sea monsters,
Secondly, To them the sword would be most terrible, when in the
hand of worse than brutal rage. It is a direful midwifery, when the
women with child come to be ripped up by the enraged conqueror
Hos. xiii. 16; Amos i. 13),
or the children brought forth to their murderer,
Hos. ix. 13.
Thirdly, To them also the flight would be most afflictive,; the
women with child cannot make haste, or go far; the sucking child cannot
be left behind, or, if it should, can a woman forget it, that she
should not have compassion on it? If it be carried along, it
retards the mother’s flight, and so exposes her life, and is in danger
of Mephibosheth’s fate, who was lamed by a fall he got in his nurse’s
flight.
[4.] What they should pray against at that time–that your flight be
not in the winter, nor on the sabbath day,
v. 20.
Observe, in general, it becomes Christ’s disciples, in times of public
trouble and calamity, to be much in prayer; that is a salve for every
sore, never out of season, but in a special manner seasonable when we
are distressed on every side. There is no remedy but you must flee, the
decree is gone forth, so that God will not be entreated to take away
his wrath, no, not if Noah, Daniel, and Job, stood before him. Let
it suffice thee, speak no more of that matter, but labour to make
the best of that which is; and when you cannot in faith pray that you
may not be forced to flee, yet pray that the circumstances of it may be
graciously ordered, that, though the cup may not pass from you, yet the
extremity of the judgment may be prevented. Note, God has the disposing
of the circumstances of events, which sometimes make a great alteration
one way or other; and therefore in those our eyes must be ever toward
him. Christ’s bidding them pray for this favour, intimates his purpose
of granting it to them; and in a general calamity we must not overlook
a circumstantial kindness, but see and own wherein it might have been
worse. Christ still bids his disciples to pray for themselves and their
friends, that, whenever they were forced to flee, it might be in the
most convenient time. Note, When trouble is in prospect, at a great
distance, it is good to lay in a stock of prayers beforehand; they must
pray, First, That their flight, if it were the will of God,
might not be in the winter, when the days are short, the weather
cold, the ways dirty, and therefore travelling very uncomfortable,
especially for whole families. Paul hastens Timothy to come to him
before winter,
Note, Though the ease of the body is not to be mainly consulted,
it ought to be duly considered; though we must take what God
sends, and when he sends it, yet we may pray against bodily
inconveniences, and are encouraged to do so, in that the Lord is for
the body. Secondly, That it might not be on the sabbath day;
not on the Jewish sabbath, because travelling then would give offence
to them who were angry with the disciples for plucking the ears of corn
on the day; not on the Christian sabbath, because being forced to
travel on the day would be a grief to themselves. This intimates
Christ’s design, that a weekly sabbath should be observed in his church
after the preaching of the gospel to all the world. We read not of any
of the ordinances of the Jewish church, which were purely ceremonial,
that Christ ever expressed any care about, because they were all to
vanish; but for the sabbath he often showed a concern. It intimates
likewise that the sabbath is ordinarily to be observed as a day of rest
from travel and worldly labour; but that, according to his own
explication of the fourth commandment, works of necessity were lawful
on the sabbath day, as this of fleeing from an enemy to save our lives:
had it not been lawful, he would have said, “Whatever becomes of you,
do not flee on the sabbath day, but abide by it, though you die by it.”
For we must not commit the least sin, to escape the greatest trouble.
But it intimates, likewise, that it is very uneasy and uncomfortable to
a good man, to be taken off by any work of necessity from the solemn
service and worship of God on the sabbath day. We should pray that we
may have quiet undisturbed sabbaths, and may have no other work than
sabbath work to do on sabbath days; that we may attend upon the Lord
without distraction. It was desirable, that, if they must flee, they
might have the benefit and comfort of one sabbath more to help to bear
their charges. To flee in the winter is uncomfortable to the body; but
to flee on the sabbath day is so to the soul, and the more so when it
remembers former sabbaths, as
3. The greatness of the troubles which should immediately ensue
(v. 21);
Then shall be great tribulation; then when the measure of
iniquity is full; then when the servants of God are sealed and secured,
then come the troubles; nothing can be done against Sodom till Lot is
entered into Zoar, and then look for fire and brimstone immediately.
There shall be great tribulation. Great, indeed, when within the
city plague and famine raged, and (worse than either) faction and
division, so that every man’s sword was against his fellow; then and
there it was that the hands of the pitiful women flayed their own
children. Without the city was the Roman army ready to swallow them up,
with a particular rage against them, not only as Jews, but as
rebellious Jews. War was the only one of the three sore judgments that
David excepted against; but that was it by which the Jews were ruined;
and there were famine and pestilence in extremity besides. Josephus’s
History of the Wars of the Jews, has in it more tragical
passages than perhaps any history whatsoever.
(1.) It was a desolation unparalleled, such as was not since the
beginning of the world, nor ever shall be. Many a city and kingdom
has been made desolate, but never any with a desolation like this. Let
not daring sinners think that God has done his worst, he can heat the
furnace seven times and yet seven times hotter, and will, when he sees
greater and still greater abominations. The Romans, when they destroyed
Jerusalem, were degenerated from the honour and virtue of their
ancestors, which had made even their victories easy to the vanquished.
And the wilfulness and obstinacy of the Jews themselves contributed
much to the increase of the tribulation. No wonder that the ruin of
Jerusalem was an unparalleled ruin, when the sin of Jerusalem was an
unparalleled sin–even their crucifying Christ. The nearer any people
are to God in profession and privileges, the greater and heavier will
his judgments be upon them, if they abuse those privileges, and be
false to that profession,
(2.) It was a desolation which, if it should continue long, would be
intolerable, so that no flesh should be saved,
v. 22.
So triumphantly would death ride, in so many dismal shapes, and with
such attendants, that there would be no escaping, but, first or last,
all would be cut off. He that escaped one sword, would fall by another,
The computation which Josephus makes of those that were slain in
several places, amounts to above two millions. No flesh shall be
saved; he doth not say, “No soul shall be saved,” for the
destruction of the flesh may be for the saving of the spirit in the
day of the Lord Jesus; but temporal lives will be sacrificed so
profusely, that one would think, if it last awhile, it would make a
full end.
But here is one word of comfort in the midst of all this terror–that
for the elects’ sake these days shall be shortened, not made
shorter than what God had determined (for that which is determined,
shall be poured upon the desolate,
Dan. ix. 27),
but shorter than what he might have decreed, if he had dealt with them
according to their sins; shorter than what the enemy designed, who
would have cut all off, if God who made use of them to serve his own
purpose, had not set bounds to their wrath; shorter than one who judged
by human probabilities would have imagined. Note,
[1.] In times of common calamity God manifests his favour to the elect
remnant; his jewels, which he will then make up; his peculiar treasure,
which he will secure when the lumber is abandoned to the spoiler.
[2.] The shortening of calamities is a kindness God often grants for
the elects’ sake. Instead of complaining that our afflictions last so
long, if we consider our defects, we shall see reason to be thankful
that they do not last always; when it is bad with us, it becomes us to
say, “Blessed be God that it is no worse; blessed be God that it is not
hell, endless and remediless misery.” It was a lamenting church that
said, It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed; and
it is for the sake of the elect, lest their spirit should fail before
them, if he should contend for ever, and lest they should be tempted to
put forth, if not their heart, yet their hand, to iniquity.
And now comes in the repeated caution, which was opened before, to take
heed of being ensnared by false Christs, and false prophets;
(v. 23,
&c.), who would promise them deliverance, as the lying prophets in
Jeremiah’s time
xxiii. 16, 17; xxvii. 16; xxviii. 2),
but would delude them. Times of great trouble are times of great
temptation, and therefore we have need to double our guard then. If
they shall say, Here is a Christ, or there is one, that shall
deliver us from the Romans, do not heed them, it is all but talk; such
a deliverance is not to be expected, and therefore not such a
deliverer.
VII. He foretels the sudden spreading of the gospel in the world, about
the time of these great events
(v. 27, 28);
As the lightning comes out of the east, so shall the coming of the
Son of man be. It comes in here as an antidote against the poison
of those seducers, that said, Lo, here is Christ, or, Lo, he
is there; compare
Hearken not to them, for the coming of the Son of man will be as the
lightning.
1. It seems primarily to be meant of his coming to set up his spiritual
kingdom in the world; where the gospel came in its light and power,
there the Son of man came, and in a way quite contrary to the fashion
of the seducers and false Christs, who came creeping in the
desert, or the secret chambers
whereas Christ comes not with such a spirit of fear, but of
power, and of love, and of a sound mind. The gospel would be
remarkable for two things.
(1.) Its swift spreading; it shall fly as the lightning; so shall the
gospel be preached and propagated. The gospel is light
(John iii. 19);
and it is not in this as the lightning, that it is a sudden flash, and
away, for it is sun-light, and day-light; but it is as lightning in
these respects:
[1.] It is light from heaven, as the lightning. It is God, and not man,
that sends the lightnings, and summons them, that they may go, and say,
Here we are,
Job xxxviii. 35.
It is God that directs it
to man it is one of nature’s miracles, above his power to effect, and
of nature’s mysteries, above his skill to account for: but it is from
above; his lightnings enlightened the world,
Ps. xcvii. 4.
[2.] It is visible and conspicuous as the lightning. The seducers
carried on their depths of Satan in the desert and the secret chambers,
shunning the light; heretics were called
lucifugæ–light-shunners. But truth seeks no corners,
however it may sometimes be forced into them, as the woman in the
wilderness, though clothed with the sun,
Rev. xii. 1, 6.
Christ preached his gospel openly
and his apostles on the housetop
(ch. x. 27),
not in a corner,
Acts xxvi. 26.
See
[3.] It was sudden and surprising to the world as the lightning; the
Jews indeed had predictions of it, but to the Gentiles it was
altogether unlooked for, and came upon them with unaccountable energy,
or ever they were aware. It was light out of darkness,
ch. iv. 16; 2 Cor. iv. 6.
We read of the discomfiting of armies by lightning,
2 Sam. xxii. 15; Ps. cxliv. 6.
The powers of darkness were dispersed and vanquished by the gospel
lightning.
[4.] It spread far and wide, and that quickly and irresistibly, like
the lightning, which comes, suppose, out of the east (Christ is said to
ascend from the east,
Rev. vii. 2; Isa. xli. 2),
and lighteneth to the west. The propagating of Christianity to so many
distant countries, of divers languages, by such unlikely instruments,
destitute of all secular advantages, and in the face of so much
opposition, and this in so short a time, was one of the greatest
miracles that was ever wrought for the confirmation of it; here was
Christ upon his white horse, denoting speed as well as strength, and
going on conquering and to conquer,
Rev. vi. 2.
Gospel light rose with the sun, and went with the same, so that the
beams of it reached to the ends of the earth,
Compare with
Though it was fought against, it could never be cooped up
in a desert, or in a secret place, as the seducers were; but by this,
according to Gamaliel’s rule, proved itself to be of God, that
it could not be overthrown,
Acts v. 38, 39.
Christ speaks of shining into the west, because it spread most
effectually into those countries which lay west from Jerusalem, as Mr.
Herbert observes in his Church-militant. How soon did the gospel
lightning reach this island of Great Britain! Tertullian, who wrote in
the second century, takes notice of it, Britannorum in accessa
Romanis loca, Christo tamen subdita–The fastnesses of Britain, though
inaccessible to the Romans, were occupied by Jesus Christ. This was
the Lord’s doing.
(2.) Another thing remarkable concerning the gospel, was, its strange
success in those places to which is was spread; it gathered in
multitudes, not by external compulsion, but as it were by such a
natural instinct and inclination, as brings the birds of prey to their
prey; for wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be
gathered together
(v. 28),
where Christ is preached, souls will be gathered in to him. The
lifting up of Christ from the earth, that is, the preaching of
Christ crucified, which, one would think, should drive all men from
him, will draw all men to him
(John xii. 32),
according to Jacob’s prophecy, that to him shall the gathering of
the people be,
Gen. xlix. 10.
See
The eagles will be where the carcase is, for it is food for them, it is
a feast for them; where the slain are, there is she,
Job xxxix. 30.
Eagles are said to have a strange sagacity and quickness of scent to
find out the prey, and they fly swiftly to it,
So those whose spirits God shall stir up, will be effectually drawn to
Jesus Christ, to feed upon him; whither should the eagle go but to the
prey? Whither should the soul go but to Jesus Christ, who has the
words of eternal life? The eagles will distinguish what is proper
for them from that which is not; so those who have spiritual senses
exercised, will know the voice of the good Shepherd from that of a
thief and a robber. Saints will be where the true Christ is, not the
false Christs. This is applicable to the desires that are wrought in
every gracious soul after Christ, and communion with him. Where he is
in his ordinances, there will his servants choose to be. A living
principle of grace is a kind of natural instinct in all the saints,
drawing them to Christ to live upon him.
2. Some understand
of the coming of the Son of man to destroy Jerusalem,
Mal. iii. 1, 2, 5.
So much was there of an extraordinary display of divine power and
justice in that event, that it is called the coming of
Christ.
Now here are two things intimated concerning it.
(1.) That to the most it would be as unexpected as a flash of
lightning, which indeed gives warning of the clap of thunder which
follows, but is itself surprising. The seducers say, Lo, here is
Christ to deliver us; or there is one, a creature of their own
fancies; but ere they are aware, the wrath of the Lamb, the true
Christ, will arrest them, and they shall not escape.
(2.) That it might be as justly expected as that the eagle should fly
to the carcases; though they put far from them the evil day, yet the
desolation will come as certainly as the birds of prey to a dead
carcase, that lies exposed in the open field.
[1.] The Jews were so corrupt and degenerate, so vile and vicious, that
they were become a carcase, obnoxious to the righteous judgment of God;
they were also so factious and seditious, and every way so provoking to
the Romans, that they had made themselves obnoxious to their
resentments, and an inviting prey to them.
[2.] The Romans were as an eagle, and the ensign of their armies was an
eagle. The army of the Chaldeans is said to fly as the eagle that
hasteth to eat,
Hab. i. 8.
The ruin of the New-Testament Babylon is represented by a call to the
birds of prey to come and feast upon the slain,
Notorious malefactors have their eyes eaten out by the young
eagles
the Jews were hung up in chains,
[3.] The Jews can no more preserve themselves from the Romans than the
carcase can secure itself from the eagles.
[4.] The destruction shall find out the Jews wherever they are, as the
eagle scents the prey. Note, When a people do by their sin make
themselves carcases, putrid and loathsome, nothing can be expected but
that God should send eagles among them, to devour and destroy them.
3. It is very applicable to the day of judgment, the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ in that day, and our gathering together unto him,
2 Thess. ii. 1.
Now see here,
(1.) How he shall come; as the lightning, The time was now at
hand, when he should depart out of the world, to go to the
Father. Therefore those that enquire after Christ must not go into
the desert or the secret place, nor listen to every one that will put
up the finger to invite them to a sight of Christ; but let them look
upward, for the heavens must contain him, and thence we look for the
Saviour
he shall come in the clouds, as the lightning doth, and every
eye shall see him, as they say it is natural for all living
creatures to turn their faces towards the lightning,
Christ will appear to all the world, from one end of heaven to the
other; nor shall any thing be hid from the light and heat of that
day.
(2.) How the saints shall be gathered to him; as the eagles are to the
carcase by natural instinct, and with the greatest swiftness and
alacrity imaginable. Saints, when they shall be fetched to glory, will
be carried as on eagles’ wings
(Exod. xix. 4),
as on angels’ wings. They shall mount up with wings, like
eagles, and like them renew their youth.
VIII. He foretels his second coming at the end of time,
v. 29-31.
The sun shall be darkened, &c.
1. Some think this is to be understood only of the destruction of
Jerusalem and the Jewish nation; the darkening of the sun, moon, and
stars, denotes the eclipse of the glory of that state, its convulsions,
and the general confusion that attended that desolation. Great
slaughter and devastation are in the Old Testament thus set forth (as
Ezek. xxxii. 7; Joel ii. 31);
or by the sun, moon, and stars, may be meant the temple, Jerusalem, and
the cities of Judah, which should all come to ruin. The sign of the
Son of man
(v. 30)
means a signal appearance of the power and justice of the Lord Jesus in
it, avenging his own blood on them that imprecated the guilt of it upon
themselves and their children; and the gathering of his elect
(v. 31)
signifies the delivering of a remnant from this sin and ruin.
2. It seems rather to refer to Christ’s second coming. The destruction
of the particular enemies of the church was typical of the complete
conquest of them all; and therefore what will be done really at the
great day, may be applied metaphorically to those destructions: but
still we must attend to the principal scope of them; and while we are
all agreed to expect Christ’s second coming, what need is there to put
such strained constructions as some do, upon
which speak of it so clearly, and so agreeably to other scriptures,
especially when Christ is here answering an enquiry concerning his
coming at the end of the world, which Christ was never shy of speaking
of to his disciples?
The only objection against this, is, that it is said to be
immediately after the tribulation of those days; but as to that,
(1.) It is usual in the prophetical style to speak of things great and
certain as near and just at hand, only to express the greatness and
certainty of them. Enoch spoke of Christ’s second coming as within ken,
Behold, the Lord cometh,
Jude 14.
(2.) A thousand years are in God’s sight but as one day,
2 Pet. iii. 8.
It is there urged, with reference to this very thing, and so it might
be said to be immediately after. The tribulation of those days includes
not only the destruction of Jerusalem, but all the other tribulations
which the church must pass through; not only its share in the
calamities of the nations, but the tribulations peculiar to itself;
while the nations are torn with wars, and the church with schisms,
delusions, and persecutions, we cannot say that the tribulation of
those days is over; the whole state of the church on earth is militant,
we must count upon that; but when the church’s tribulation is over, her
warfare accomplished, and what is behind of the sufferings of Christ
filled up, then look for the end.
Now concerning Christ’s second coming, it is here foretold,
[1.] That there shall be then a great and amazing change of the
creatures, and particularly the heavenly bodies
(v. 29).
The sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her
light. The moon shines with a borrowed light, and therefore if the
sun, from whom she borrows her light, is turned into darkness, she must
fail of course, and become bankrupt. The stars shall fall; they
shall lose their light, and disappear, and be as if they were fallen;
and the powers of heaven shall be shaken. This intimates,
First, That there shall be a great change, in order to the
making of all things new. Then shall be the restitution of all
things, when the heavens shall not be cast away as a rag, but
changed as a vesture, to be worn in a better fashion,
They shall pass away with a great noise, that there may be
new heavens,
2 Pet. iii. 10-13.
Secondly, It shall be a visible change, and such as all the
world must take notice of; for such the darkening of the sun and moon
cannot but be: and it would be an amazing change; for the heavenly
bodies are not so liable to alteration as the creatures of this lower
world are. The days of heaven, and the continuance of the sun and moon,
are used to express that which is lasting and unchangeable (As
Ps. lxxxix. 29; xxxvi. 37);
yet they shall thus be shaken.
Thirdly, It shall be a universal change. If the sun be turned
into darkness, and the powers of heaven be shaken, the earth cannot but
be turned into a dungeon, and its foundation made to tremble. Howl,
fir trees, if the cedars be shaken. When the stars of heaven drop,
no marvel if the everlasting mountains melt, and the
perpetual hills bow. Nature shall sustain a general shock and
convulsion, which yet shall be no hindrance to the joy and rejoicing of
heaven and earth before the Lord, when he cometh to judge the
world
they shall as it were glory in the tribulation.
Fourthly, The darkening of the sun, moon, and stars, which were
made to rule over the day, and over the night (which is the
first dominion we find of any creature,
signifies the putting down of all rule, authority, and power
(even that which seems of the greatest antiquity and usefulness),
that the kingdom may be delivered up to God, even the Father,
and he may be All in all,
1 Cor. xv. 24, 28.
The sun was darkened at the death of Christ, for then was in one sense
the judgment of this world
(John xii. 31),
an indication of what would be at the general judgment.
Fifthly, The glorious appearance of our Lord Jesus, who will
then show himself as the Brightness of his Father’s glory, and the
express Image of his person, will darken the sun and moon, as a
candle is darkened in the beams of the noon-day sun; they will have no
glory, by reason of the glory that excelleth,
2 Cor. iii. 10.
Then the sun shall be ashamed, and the moon confounded, when God
shall appear,
Sixthly, The sun and moon shall be then darkened, because there
will be no more occasion for them. To sinners, that choose their
portion in this life, all comfort will be eternally denied; as they
shall not have a drop of water, so not a ray of light. Now God causeth
his sun to rise on the earth, but then Interdico tib sole et luna–I
forbid thee the light of the sun and the moon. Darkness must be
their portion. To the saints that had their treasure above, such light
of joy and comfort will be given as shall supersede that of the sun and
moon, and render it useless. What need is there of vessels of light,
when we come to the Fountain and Father of light? See
[2.] That then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven
(v. 30),
the Son of man himself, as it follows here, They shall see the Son
of man coming in the clouds. At his first coming, he was set for
a Sign that should be spoken against
(Luke ii. 34),
but at his second coming, a sign that should be admired. Ezekiel was
a son of man set for a sign,
Ezek. xii. 6.
Some make this a prediction of the harbingers and forerunners of his
coming, giving notice of his approach; a light shining before him,
and the fire devouring
(Ps. l. 3; 1 Kings xix. 11, 12),
the beams coming out of his hand, where had long been the hiding of
his power,
Hab. iii. 4.
It is a groundless conceit of some of the ancients, that this sign of
the Son of man, will be the sign of the cross displayed as a banner. It
will certainly be such a clear convincing sign as will dash infidelity
quite out of countenance, and fill their faces with shame, who said,
Where is the promise of his coming?
[3.] That then all the tribes of the earth shall mourn,
v. 30.
See
All the kindreds of the earth shall then wail because of him;
some of all the tribes and kindreds of the earth shall mourn; for the
greater part will tremble at his approach, while the chosen remnant,
one of a family and two of a tribe, shall lift up their heads with joy,
knowing that their redemption draws nigh, and their Redeemer. Note,
Sooner or later, all sinners will be mourners; penitent sinners look to
Christ, and mourn after a godly sort; and they who sow in those tears,
shall shortly reap in joy; impenitent sinners shall look unto him
whom they have pierced, and, though they laugh now, shall mourn and
weep after a devilish sort, in endless horror and despair.
[4.] That then they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of
heaven, with power and great glory. Note, First, The
judgment of the great day will be committed to the Son of man, both in
pursuance and in recompence of his great undertaking for us as
Mediator,
Secondly, The Son of man will at that day come in the clouds of
heaven. Much of the sensible intercourse between heaven and earth is by
the clouds; they are betwixt them, as it were, the medium
participationis–the medium of participation, drawn by heaven from
the earth, distilled by heaven upon the earth. Christ went to heaven
in a cloud, and will in like manner come again,
Acts i. 9, 11.
Behold, he cometh in the clouds,
Rev. i. 7.
A cloud will be the Judge’s chariot
(Ps. civ. 3),
his robe
(Rev. x. 1),
his pavilion
his throne,
When the world was destroyed by water, the judgment came in the clouds
of heaven, for the windows of heaven were opened; so shall it be when
it shall be destroyed by fire. Christ went before Israel in a cloud,
which had a bright side and a dark side; so will the cloud have in
which Christ will come at the great day, it will bring both comfort and
terror. Thirdly, He will come with power and great
glory: his first coming was in weakness and great meanness
but his second coming will be with power and glory, agreeable both to
the dignity of his person and to the purposes of his coming.
Fourthly, He will be seen with bodily eyes in his coming:
therefore the Son of man will be the Judge, that he may be seen,
that sinners thereby may be the more confounded, who shall see him as
Balaam did, but not nigh
see him, but not as theirs. It added to the torment of that damned
sinner, that he saw Abraham afar off. “Is this he whom we have
slighted, and rejected, and rebelled against; whom we have crucified to
ourselves afresh; who might have been our Saviour, but is our Judge,
and will be our enemy for ever?” The Desire of all nations will
then be their dread.
[5.] That he shall send his angels with a great sound of a
trumpet,
v. 31.
Note, First, The angels shall be attendants upon Christ at his
second coming; they are called his angels, which proves him to
be God, and Lord of the angels; they shall be obliged to wait upon him.
Secondly, These attendants shall be employed by him as officers
of the court in the judgment of that day; they are now ministering
spirits sent forth by him
(Heb. i. 14),
and will be so then. Thirdly, Their ministration will be ushered
in with a great sound of a trumpet, to awaken and alarm a sleeping
world. This trumpet is spoken of,
1 Cor. xv. 52, and 1 Thess. iv. 16.
At the giving of the law on mount Sinai, the sound of the trumpet was
remarkably terrible
but much more will it be so in the great day. By the law, trumpets
were to be sounded for the calling of assemblies
(Num. x. 2),
in praising God
(Ps. lxxxi. 3),
in offering sacrifices
(Num. x. 10),
and in proclaiming the year of jubilee,
Very fitly therefore shall there be the sound of a trumpet at the last
day, when the general assembly shall be called, when the praises of God
shall be gloriously celebrated, when sinners shall fall as sacrifices
to divine justice, and when the saints shall enter upon their eternal
jubilee.
[6.] That they shall gather together his elect from the four
winds. Note, At the second coming of Jesus Christ, there will be a
general meeting of all the saints. First, The elect only
will be gathered, the chosen remnant, who are but few in comparison
with the many that are only called. This is the foundation of
the saints’ eternal happiness, that they are God’s elect. The gifts of
love to eternity follow the thought of love from eternity; and the
Lord knows them that are his. Secondly, The angels shall be
employed to bring them together, as Christ’s servants, and as the
saints’ friends; we have the commission given them,
Gather my saints together unto me; nay, it will be said to them,
Habetis fratres–These are your brethren; for the elect will
then be equal to the angels,
Luke xx. 36.
Thirdly, They shall be gathered from one end of heaven to the
other; the elect of God are scattered abroad
(John xi. 52),
there are some in all places, in all nations
(Rev. vii. 9);
but when that great gathering day comes, there shall not one of them be
missing; distance of place shall keep none out of heaven, if distance
of affection do not. Undique ad cœlos tantundem est
viæ–Heaven is equally accessible from every place. See
Isa. xliii. 6; xlix. 12.
| Parable of the Fig-Tree; Awful Predictions; The Duty of Watchfulness; The Good and Evil Steward. |
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32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet
tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know
that it is near, even at the doors.
34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till
all these things be fulfilled.
35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not
pass away.
36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the
angels of heaven, but my Father only.
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of
the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were
eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the
day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away;
so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and
the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be
taken, and the other left.
42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth
come.
43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in
what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would
not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think
not the Son of man cometh.
45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath
made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh
shall find so doing.
47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all
his goods.
48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord
delayeth his coming;
49 And shall begin to smite his fellow-servants, and to eat
and drink with the drunken;
50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh
not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion
with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of
teeth.
We have here the practical application of the foregoing prediction; in
general, we must expect and prepare for the events here foretold.
I. We must expect them; “Now learn a parable of the fig-tree,
v. 32, 33.
Now learn what use to make of the things you have heard; so observe and
understand the signs of the times, and compare them with the
predictions of the word, as from thence to foresee what is at the door,
that you may provide accordingly.” The parable of the fig-tree is no
more than this, that its budding and blossoming are a presage of
summer; for as the stork in the heaven, so the trees of the
field, know their appointed time. The beginning of the working
of second causes assures us of the progress and perfection of it. Thus
when God begins to fulfil prophecies, he will make an end. There is a
certain series in the works of providence, as there is in the works of
nature. The signs of the times are compared with the prognostics of
the face of the sky
(ch. xvi. 3),
so here with those of the face of the earth; when that is
renewed, we foresee that summer is coming, not immediately, but at some
distance; after the branch grows tender, we expect the March
winds, and the April showers, before the summer comes; however, we are
sure it is coming; “so likewise ye, when the gospel day shall dawn,
count upon it, that through this variety of events which I have told
you of, the perfect day will come. The things revealed must shortly
come to pass
(Rev. i. 1);
they must come in their own order, in the order appointed for them.
Know that it is near.” He does not here say what, but it is that
which the hearts of his disciples are upon, and which they are
inquisitive after, and long for; the kingdom of God is near, so
it is expressed in the parallel place,
Note, When the trees of righteousness begin to bud and blossom, when
God’s people promise faithfulness, it is a happy presage of good times.
In them God begins his work, first prepares their heart, and then he
will go on with it; for, as for God, his work is perfect; and he
will revive it in the midst of their years.
Now touching the events foretold here, which we are to expect,
1. Christ here assures us of the certainty of them
(v. 35);
Heaven and earth shall pass away; they continue this day indeed,
according to God’s ordinance, but they shall not continue for ever
(Ps. cii. 25, 26; 2 Pet. iii. 10);
but my words shall not pass away. Note, The word of Christ is
more sure and lasting than heaven and earth. Hath he spoken? And
shall he not do it? We may build with more assurance upon the word
of Christ than we can upon the pillars of heaven, or the strong
foundations of the earth; for, when they shall be made to tremble and
totter, and shall be no more, the word of Christ shall remain, and be
in full force, power, and virtue. See
It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than the word of
Christ; so it is expressed,
Compare
The accomplishment of these prophecies might seem to be delayed, and
intervening events might seem to disagree with them, but do not think
that therefore the word of Christ is fallen to the ground, for that
shall never pass away: though it be not fulfilled, either in the time
or in the way that we have prescribed; yet, in God’s time, which is the
best time, and in God’s way, which is the best way, it shall certainly
be fulfilled. Every word of Christ is very pure, and therefore very
sure.
2. He here instructs us as to the time of them,
As to this, it is well observed by the learned Grotius, that there is a
manifest distinction made between the tauta
(v. 34),
and the ekeine
(v. 36),
these things, and that day and hour; which will help to
clear this prophecy.
(1.) As to these things, the wars, seductions, and persecutions,
here foretold, and especially the ruin of the Jewish nation; “This
generation shall not pass away, till all these things be fulfilled
(v. 34);
there are those now alive, that shall see Jerusalem destroyed, and the
Jewish church brought to an end.” Because it might seem strange, he
backs it with a solemn asseveration; “Verily, I say unto you.
You may take my word for it, these things are at the door.” Christ
often speaks of the nearness of that desolation, the more to affect
people, and quicken them to prepare for it. Note, There may be greater
trials and troubles yet before us, in our own day, than we are aware
of. They that are old, know not what sons of Anak may be reserved for
their last encounters.
(2.) But as to that day and hour which will put a period to
time, that knoweth no man,
v. 36.
Therefore take heed of confounding these two, as they did, who,
from the words of Christ and the apostles; letters, inferred that
the day of Christ was at hand,
2 Thess. ii. 2.
No, it was not; this generation, and many another, shall
pass, before that day and hour come. Note,
[1.] There is a certain day and hour fixed for the judgment to come; it
is called the day of the Lord, because so unalterably fixed.
None of God’s judgments are adjourned sine die–without the
appointment of a certain day.
[2.] That day and hour are a great secret.
| Prudens futuri temporis exitum
Caliginosa nocte premit Deus. But Heaven has wisely hid from human sight The dark decrees of future fate, And sown their seeds in depth of nights.–HORACE. |
No man knows it; not the wisest by their sagacity, not the best
by any divine discovery. We all know that there shall be such a day;
but none knows when it shall be, no, not the angels; though their
capacities for knowledge are great, and their opportunities of knowing
this advantageous (they dwell at the fountain-head of light), and
though they are to be employed in the solemnity of that day, yet they
are not told when it shall be: none knows but my Father only.
This is one of those secret things which belong to the Lord
our God. The uncertainty of the time of Christ’s coming, is, to
those who are watchful, a savour of life unto life, and makes
them more watchful; but to those who are careless, it is a savour of
death unto death, and makes them more careless.
II. To this end we must expect these events, that we may prepare for
them; and here we have a caution against security and sensuality, which
will make it a dismal day indeed to us,
In these verses we have such an idea given us of the judgment day, as
may serve to startle and awaken us, that we may not sleep as others
do.
It will be a surprising day, and a separating day.
1. It will be a surprising day, as the deluge was to the old world,
That which he here intends to describe, is, the posture of the world at
the coming of the Son of man; besides his first coming, to save, he has
other comings to judge. He saith
(John ix. 39),
For judgment I am come; and for judgment he will come; for all
judgment is committed to him, both that of the word, and that of the
sword.
Now this here is applicable,
(1.) To temporal judgments, particularly that which was now
hastening upon the nation and people of the Jews; though they had fair
warning given them of it, and there were many prodigies that were
presages of it, yet it found them secure, crying, Peace and
safety,
1 Thess. v. 3.
The siege was laid to Jerusalem by Titus Vespasian, when they were met
at the passover in the midst of their mirth; like the men of Laish,
they dwelt careless when the ruin arrested them,
The destruction of Babylon, both that in the Old Testament and that in
the New, comes when she saith, I shall be a lady for ever,
Isa. xlvii. 7-9; Rev. xviii. 7.
Therefore the plagues come in a moment, in one day. Note, Men’s
unbelief shall not make God’s threatenings of no effect.
(2.) To the eternal judgment; so the judgment of the great day
is called,
Though notice has been given of it from Enoch, yet, when it comes, it
will be unlooked for by the most of men; the latter days, which are
nearest to that day, will produce scoffers, that say, Where is the
promise of his coming?
2 Pet. iii. 3, 4; Luke xviii. 8.
Thus it will be when the world that now is shall be destroyed by fire;
for thus it was when the old world, being overflowed by water,
perished,
Now Christ here shows what were the temper and posture of the old world
when the deluge came.
[1.] They were sensual and worldly; they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage. It is not said, They were killing
and stealing, and whoring and swearing (these were indeed the horrid
crimes of some of the worst of them; the earth was full of
violence); but they were all of them, except Noah, over head and
ears in the world, and regardless of the word of God, and this ruined
them. Note, Universal neglect of religion is a more dangerous symptom
to any people than particular instances here and there of daring
irreligion. Eating and drinking are necessary to the
preservation of man’s life; marrying and giving in marriage are
necessary to the preservation of mankind; but, Licitus perimus
omnes–These lawful things undo us, unlawfully managed.
First, They were unreasonable in it, inordinate and entire in
the pursuit of the delights of sense, and the gains of the world; they
were wholly taken up with these things, esan trogontes—they
were eating; they were in these things as in their
element, as if they had their being for no other end than to eat and
drink,
Isa. lvi. 12.
Secondly, They were unreasonable in it; they were entire and
intent upon the world and the flesh, when the destruction was at the
door, which they had had such fair warning of. They were eating and
drinking, when they should have been repenting and praying; when God,
by the ministry of Noah, called to weeping and mourning, then joy
and gladness. This was to them, as it was to Israel afterwards, the
unpardonable sin
especially, because it was in defiance of those warnings by which they
should have been awakened. “Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we
die; if it must be a short life, let it be a merry one.” The
apostle James speaks of this as the general practice of the wealthy
Jews before the destruction of Jerusalem; when they should have been
weeping for the miseries that were coming upon them, they were
living in pleasure, and nourishing their hearts as in a day of
slaughter,
Jam. v. 1, 5.
[2.] They were secure and careless; they knew not, until the flood
came,
v. 39.
Knew not! Surely they could not but know. Did not God, by Noah,
give them fair warning of it? Did he not call them to repentance, while
his long-suffering waited?
But they knew not, that is, they believed not; they might have known,
but would not know. Note, What we know of the things that belong to
our everlasting peace, if we do not mix faith with it, and improve
it, is all one as if we did not know it at all. Their not
knowing is joined with their eating, and drinking, and
marrying; for, First, Therefore they were sensual, because
they were secure. Note, the reason why people are so eager in the
pursuit, and so entangled in the pleasures of this world, is, because
they do not know, and believe, and consider, the eternity which they
are upon the brink of. Did we know aright that all these things must
shortly be dissolved, and we must certainly survive them, we should not
set our eyes and hearts so much upon them as we do. Secondly,
Therefore they were secure, because they were sensual;
therefore they knew not that the flood was coming, because they
were eating and drinking; were so taken up with things seen and
present, that they had neither time nor heart to mind the things not
seen as yet, which they were warned of. Note, As security bolsters men
up in their brutal sensuality; so sensuality rocks them asleep in their
carnal security. The knew not, until the flood came.
1. The flood did come, though they would not foresee it. Note, Those
that will not know by faith, shall be made to know by feeling, the
wrath of God revealed from heaven against their ungodliness and
unrighteousness. The evil day is never the further off for men’s
putting it far off from them.
2. They did not know it till it was too late to prevent it, as they
might have done if they had known it in time, which made it so much the
more grievous. Judgments are most terrible and amazing to the secure,
and those that have made a jest of them.
The application of this, concerning the old world, we have in these
words; So shall the coming of the Son of man be; that is,
(1.) In such a posture shall he find people, eating and drinking, and
not expecting him. Note, Security and sensuality are likely to be the
epidemical diseases of the latter days. All slumber and sleep, and
at midnight the bridegroom comes. All are off their watch, and at
their ease.
(2.) With such a power, and for such a purpose, will he come upon them.
As the flood took away the sinners of the old world, irresistibly and
irrecoverably; so shall secure sinners, that mocked at Christ and his
coming, be taken away by the wrath of the Lamb, when the great day
of his wrath comes, which will be like the coming of the deluge, a
destruction which there is no fleeing from.
2. It will be a separating day
(v. 40, 41);
Then shall two be in the field. Two ways this may be
applied.
(1.) We may apply it to the success of the gospel, especially at the
first preaching of it; it divided the world; some believed the
things which were spoken, and were taken to Christ; others
believed not, and were left to perish in their unbelief. Those of
the same age, place, capacity, employment, and condition, in the world,
grinding in the same mill, those of the same family, nay, those
that were joined in the same bond of marriage, were, one effectually
called, the other passed by, and left in the gall of bitterness. This
is that division, that separating fire, which Christ came to
send,
Luke xii. 49, 51.
This renders free grace the more obliging, that it is
distinguishing; to us, and not to the world
(John xiv. 22),
nay to us, and not to those in the same field, the same mill, the same
house.
When ruin came upon Jerusalem, a distinction was made by Divine
Providence, according to that which had been before made by divine
grace; for all the Christians among them were saved from perishing in
that calamity, by the special care of Heaven. If two were at work in
the field together, and one of them was a Christian, he was taken into
a place of shelter, and had his life given him for a prey, while the
other was left to the sword of the enemy. Nay, if but two women were
grinding at the mill, if one of them belonged to Christ, though but a
woman, a poor woman, a servant, she was taken to a place of safety, and
the other abandoned. Thus the meek of the earth are hid in the day
of the Lord’s anger
(Zeph. ii. 3),
either in heaven, or under heaven. Note, Distinguishing
preservations, in times of general destruction, are special tokens of
God’s favour, and ought so to be acknowledged. If we are safe when
thousands fall on our right hand and our left, are not consumed when
others are consumed round about us, so that we are as brands plucked
out of the fire, we have reason to say, It is of the Lord’s
mercies, and it is a great mercy.
(2.) We may apply it to the second coming of Jesus Christ, and the
separation which will be made in that day. He had said before
(v. 31),
that the elect will be gathered together. Here he tells us,
that, in order to that, they will be distinguished from those who were
nearest to them in this world; the choice and chosen ones taken to
glory, the other left to perish eternally. Those who sleep in the dust
of the earth, two in the same grave, their ashed mixed, shall yet
arise, one to be taken to everlasting life, the other left to shame
and everlasting contempt,
Dan. xii. 2.
Here it is applied to them who shall be found alive. Christ will come
unlooked for, will find people busy at their usual occupations, in
the field, at the mill; and then, according as they are vessels of
mercy prepared for glory, or vessels of wrath prepared for ruin,
accordingly it will be with them; the one taken to meet the Lord and
his angels in the air, to be for ever with him and them; the other
left to the devil and his angels, who, when Christ has gathered out his
own, will sweep up the residue. This will aggravate the condemnation
of sinners that others shall be taken from the midst of them to glory,
and they left behind. And it speaks abundance of comfort to the Lord’s
people.
[1.] Are they mean and despised in the world, as the man-servant in the
field, or the maid at the mill
(Exod. xi. 5)?
Yet they shall not be forgotten or overlooked in that day. The poor in
the world, if rich in faith, are heirs of the kingdom.
[2.] Are they dispersed in distant and unlikely places, where one would
not expect to find the heirs of glory, in the field, at the
mill? Yet the angels will find them there (hidden as Saul among the
stuff, when they are to be enthroned), and fetch them thence; and well
may they be said to be changed, for a very great change it will
be to go to heaven from ploughing and grinding.
[3.] Are they weak, and unable of themselves to move heavenward? They
shall be taken, or laid hold of, as Lot was taken out of Sodom
by a gracious violence,
Those whom Christ has once apprehended and laid hold on, he will never
lose his hold of.
[4.] Are they intermixed with others, linked with them in the same
habitations, societies, employments? Let not that discourage any true
Christian; God knows how to separate between the precious and the vile,
the gold and dross in the same lump, the wheat and chaff in the same
floor.
III. Here is a general exhortation to us, to watch, and be ready
against that day comes, enforced by divers weighty considerations,
&c. Observe,
1. The duty required; Watch, and be ready,
v. 42, 44.
(1.) Watch therefore,
v. 42.
Note, It is the great duty and interest of all the disciples of Christ
to watch, to be awake and keep awake, that they may mind their
business. As a sinful state or way is compared to sleep,
senseless and inactive
so a gracious state or way is compared to watching and
waking. We must watch for our Lord’s coming, to us in particular
at our death, after which is the judgment, that is the great
day with us, the end of our time; and his coming at the end of all
time to judge the world, the great day with all mankind. To
watch implies not only to believe that our Lord will come, but to
desire that he would come, to be often thinking of his coming, and
always looking for it as sure and near, and the time of it uncertain.
To watch for Christ’s coming, is to maintain that gracious temper and
disposition of mind which we should be willing that our Lord, when he
comes, should find us in. To watch is to be aware of the first notices
of his approach, that we may immediately attend his motions, and
address ourselves to the duty of meeting him. Watching is supposed to
be in the night, which is sleeping time; while we are in this world, it
is night with us, and we must take pains to keep ourselves
awake.
(2.) Be ye also ready. We wake in vain, if we do not get ready.
It is not enough to look for such things; but we must therefore
give diligence,
2 Pet. iii. 11, 14.
We have then our Lord to attend upon, and we must have our lamps ready
trimmed; a cause to be tried, and we must have our plea ready drawn and
signed by our Advocate; a reckoning to make up, and we must have our
accounts ready stated and balanced; there is an inheritance which we
then hope to enter upon, and we must have ourselves ready, made meet to
partake of it,
2. The reasons to induce us to this watchfulness and diligent
preparation for that day; which are two.
(1.) Because the time of our Lord’s coming is very uncertain. This is
the reason immediately annexed to the double exhortation
(v. 42, 44);
and it is illustrated by a comparison,
Let us consider then,
[1.] That we know not what hour he will come,
v. 42.
We know not the day of our death,
Gen. xxvii. 2.
We may know that we have but a little time to live (The time of my
departure is at hand,
2 Tim. iv. 6);
but we cannot know that we have a long time to live, for our souls are
continually in our hands; nor can we know how little a time we have to
live, for it may prove less than we expect; much less do we know the
time fixed for the general judgment. Concerning both we are kept at
uncertainty, that we may, every day, expect that which may come any
day; may never boast of a year’s continuance
(James iv. 13),
no, nor of tomorrow’s return, as if it were ours,
[2.] That he may come at such an hour as we think not,
v. 44.
Though there be such uncertainty in the time, there is none in the
thing itself: though we know not when he will come, we are sure
he will come. His parting word was, Surely I come
quickly; his saying, “I come surely,” obliges us to expect
him: his saying “I come quickly.” obliges us to be always
expecting him; for it keeps us in a state of expectancy. In such an
hour as you think not, that is, such an hour as they who are
unready and unprepared, think not
(v. 50);
nay, such an hour as the most lively expectants perhaps thought least
likely. The bridegroom came when the wise were slumbering. It is
agreeable to our present state, that we should be under the influence
of a constant and general expectation, rather than that of particular
presages and prognostications, which we are sometimes tempted vainly to
desire and wish for.
[3.] That the children of this world are thus wise in their generation,
that, when they know of a danger approaching, they will keep awake, and
stand on their guard against it. This he shows in a particular
instance,
If the master of a house had notice that a thief would come such a
night, and such a watch of the night (for they divided the night into
four watches, allowing three hours to each), and would make an attempt
upon his house, though it were the midnight-watch, when he was most
sleepy, yet he would be up, and listen to every noise in every corner,
and be ready to give him a warm reception. Now, though we know not
just when our Lord will come, yet, knowing that he will
come, and come quickly, and without any other warning than what he hath
given in his word, it concerns us to watch always. Note, First,
We have every one of us a house to keep, which lies exposed, in which
all we are worth is laid up: that house is our own souls, which we must
keep with all diligence. Secondly, The day of the Lord comes
by surprise, as a thief in the night. Christ chooses to come
when he is least expected, that the triumphs of his enemies may be
turned into the greater shame, and the fears of his friends into the
greater joy. Thirdly, If Christ, when he comes, finds us asleep
and unready, our house will be broken up, and we shall lose all we are
worth, not as by a thief unjustly, but as by a just and legal process;
death and judgment will seize upon all we have, to our irreparable
damage and utter undoing. Therefore be ready, be ye also ready;
as ready at all times as the good man of the house would be at the hour
when he expected the thief: we must put on the armour of God, that we
may not only stand in that evil day, but, as more than conquerors, may
divide the spoil.
(2.) Because the issue of our Lord’s coming will be very happy and
comfortable to those that shall be found ready, but very dismal and
dreadful to those that shall not,
&c. This is represented by the different state of good and bad
servants, when their lord comes to reckon with them. It is likely to be
well or ill with us to eternity, according as we are found ready or
unready at that day; for Christ comes to render to every man
according to his works. Now this parable, with which the chapter
closes, is applicable to all Christians, who are in profession and
obligation God’s servants; but it seems especially intended as a
warning to ministers; for the servant spoken of is a steward.
Now observe what Christ here saith,
[1.] Concerning the good servant; he shows here what he is–a
ruler of the household; what, being so, he should
be–faithful and wise; and what, if he be so, he shall be
eternally-blessed. Here are good instructions and encouragements
to the ministers of Christ.
First, We have here his place and office. He is one whom the
Lord has made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due
season. Note,
1. The church of Christ is his household, or family, standing in
relation to him as the Father and Master of it. It is the household
of God, a family named from Christ,
2. Gospel ministers are appointed rulers in this household; not
at princes (Christ has entered a caveat against that), but as stewards,
or other subordinate officers; not as lords, but as guides; not to
prescribe new ways, but to show and lead in the ways that Christ has
appointed: that is the signification of the hegoumenoi,
which we translate, having rule over you
as overseers, not to cut out new work, but to direct in, and
quicken to, the work which Christ has ordered; that is the
signification of episkopoi—bishops. They are
rulers by Christ; what power they have is derived from him, and none
may take it from them, or abridge it to them; he is one whom the
Lord has made ruler; Christ has the making of ministers.
They are rulers under Christ, and act in subordination to him;
and rulers for Christ, for the advancement of his kingdom.
3. The work of gospel ministers is to give to Christ’s household their
meat in due season, as stewards, and therefore they have the keys
delivered to them.
(1.) Their work is to give, not take to themselves
but give to the family what the Master has bought, to dispense
what Christ has purchased. And to ministers it is said, that
it is more blessed to give than to receive,
Acts xx. 35.
(2.) It is to give meat; not to give law (that is
Christ’s work), but to deliver those doctrines to the church which, if
duly digested, will be nourishment to souls. They must give, not the
poison of false doctrines, not the stones of hard and unprofitable
doctrines, but the meat that is sound and wholesome.
(3.) It must be given in due season, en
kairo—while there is time for it; when eternity comes,
it will be too late; we must work while it is day: or in
time, that is, whenever any opportunity offers itself; or in the
stated time, time after time, according as the duty of every day
requires.
Secondly, His right discharge of this office. The good servant,
if thus preferred, will be a good steward; for,
1. He is faithful; stewards must be so,
He that is trusted, must be trusty; and the greater the trust
is, the more is expected from them. It is a great good thing that is
committed to ministers
(2 Tim. i. 14);
and they must be faithful, as Moses was,
Christ counts those ministers, and those only, that are
faithful,
1 Tim. i. 12.
A faithful minister of Jesus Christ is one that sincerely designs his
master’s honour, not his own; delivers the whole counsel of God,
not his own fancies and conceits; follows Christ’s institutions and
adheres to them; regards the meanest, reproves the greatest, and doth
not respect persons.
2. He is wise to understand his duty and the proper season of it; and
in guiding of the flock there is need, not only of the integrity of the
heart, but the skilfulness of the hands. Honesty may suffice for a good
servant, but wisdom is necessary to a good steward; for
it is profitable to direct.
3. He is doing; so doing as his office requires. The ministry is
a good work, and they whose office it is, have always something to do;
they must not indulge themselves in ease, nor leave the work undone, or
carelessly turn it off to others, but be doing, and doing to the
purpose–so doing, giving meat to the household, minding their
own business, and not meddling with that which is foreign; so
doing as the Master has appointed, as the office imports, and as
the case of the family requires; not talking, but doing.
It was the motto Mr. Perkins used, Minister verbi es–You are a
minister of the word. Not only Age–Be doing; but Hoc
age–Be so doing.
4. He is found doing when his Master comes; which intimates,
(1.) Constancy at his work. At what hour soever his Master comes, he is
found busy at the work of the day. Ministers should not leave empty
spaces in their time, lest their Lord should come in one of those empty
spaces. As with a good God the end of one mercy is the beginning of
another, so with a good man, a good minister, the end of one duty is
the beginning of another. When Calvin was persuaded to remit his
ministerial labours, he answered, with some resentment, “What, would
you have my Master find me idle?”
(2.) Perseverance in his work till the Lord come. Hold fast till
then,
Rev. ii. 25.
Continue in these things,
1 Tim. iv. 16; vi. 14.
Endure to the end.
Thirdly, The recompence of reward intended him for this, in
three things.
1. He shall be taken notice of. This is intimated in these words, Who
then is that faithful and wise servant? Which supposes that
there are but few who answer this character; such an interpreter is
one of a thousand, such a faithful and wise steward.
Those who thus distinguish themselves now by humility, diligence, and
sincerity in their work, Christ will in the great day both dignify and
distinguish by the glory conferred on them.
2. He shall be blessed? Blessed is that servant; and Christ’s
pronouncing him blessed makes him so. All the dead that die n the Lord
are blessed,
But there is a peculiar blessedness secured to them that approve
themselves faithful stewards, and are found so doing. Next to the
honour of those who die in the field of battle, suffering for Christ as
the martyrs, is the honour of those that die in the field of service,
ploughing, and sowing, and reaping, for Christ.
3. He shall be preferred
(v. 47);
He shall make him ruler over all his goods. The allusion is to
the way of great men, who, if the stewards of their house conduct
themselves well in that place, commonly prefer them to be the managers
of their estates; thus Joseph was preferred in the house of Potiphar,
But the greatest honour which the kindest master ever did to his most
tried servants in this world, is nothing to that weight of glory which
the Lord Jesus will confer upon his faithful watchful servants in the
world to come. What is here said by a similitude, is the same that is
said more plainly,
Him will my Father honour. And God’s servants, when thus
preferred; shall be perfect in wisdom and holiness to bear that weight
of glory, so that there is no danger from these servants when they
reign.
[2.] Concerning the evil servant. Here we have,
First, His description given
(v. 48, 49);
where we have the wretch drawn in his own colours. The vilest of
creatures is a wicked man, the vilest of men is a wicked Christian, and
the vilest of them a wicked minister. Corruptio optimi est
pessima–What is best, when corrupted, becomes the worst.
Wickedness in the prophets of Jerusalem is a horrible thing
indeed,
Here is,
1. The cause of his wickedness; and that is, a practical disbelief of
Christ’s second coming; He hath said in his heart, My Lord delays
his coming; and therefore he begins to think he will never come,
but has quite forsaken his church. Observe,
(1.) Christ knows that they say in their hearts, who with their
lips cry, Lord, Lord, as this servant here.
(2.) The delay of Christ’s coming, though it is a gracious instance of
his patience, is greatly abused by wicked people, whose hearts are
thereby hardened in their wicked ways. When Christ’s coming is looked
upon as doubtful, or a thing at an immense distance, the hearts of
men are fully set to do evil,
Eccl. viii. 11.
See
They that walk by sense, are ready to say of the unseen Jesus, as the
people did of Moses when he tarried in the mount upon their errand,
We wot not what is become of him, and therefore up, make us
gods, the world a god, the belly a god, any thing but him that
should be.
2. The particulars of his wickedness; and they are sins of the first
magnitude; he is a slave to his passions and his appetites.
(1.) Persecution is here charged upon him. He begins to smite his
fellow servants. Note,
[1.] Even the stewards of the house are to look upon all the servants
of the house as their fellow servants, and therefore are forbidden to
lord it over them. If the angel call himself fellow
servant to John
(Rev. xix. 10),
no marvel if John have learned to call himself brother to the
Christians of the churches of Asia,
[2.] It is no new thing to see evil servants smiting their fellow
servants; both private Christians and faithful ministers. He smites
them, either because they reprove him, or because they will not bow,
and do him reverence; will not say as he saith, and do as he doeth,
against their consciences: he smites them with the tongue, as they
smote the prophet,
And if he get power into his hand, or can press those into his service
that have, as the ten horns upon the head of the beast, it goes
further. Pashur the priest smote Jeremiah, and put him in the stocks,
The revolters have often been of all others most profound to make
slaughter,
Hos. v. 2.
The steward, when he smites his fellow servants, does it under colour
of his Master’s authority, and in his name; he says, Let the Lord be
glorified
(Isa. lxvi. 5);
but he shall know that he could not put a greater affront upon his
Master.
(2.) Profaneness and immorality; He begins to eat and drink with the
drunken.
[1.] He associates with the worst of sinners, has fellowship with them,
is intimate with them; he walks in their counsel, stands in their way,
sits in their seat, and sings their songs. The drunken are the merry
and jovial company, and those he is for, and thus he hardens them in
their wickedness.
[2.] He does like them; eats, and drinks, and is drunken; so it
is in Luke. This is an inlet to all manner of sin. Drunkenness is a
leading wickedness; they who are slaves to that, are never masters of
themselves in any thing else. The persecutors of God’s people have
commonly been the most vicious and immoral men. Persecuting
consciences, whatever the pretensions be, are commonly the most
profligate and debauched consciences. What will not they be
drunk with, that will be drunk with the blood of the saints?
Well, this is the description of a wicked minister, who yet may have
the common gifts of learning and utterance above others; and, as hath
been said of some, may preach so well in the pulpit, that it is a pity
he should ever come out, and yet live so ill out of the pulpit, that it
is a pity he should ever come in.
Secondly, His doom read,
The coat and character of wicked ministers will not only not secure
them from condemnation, but will greatly aggravate it. They can plead
no exemption from Christ’s jurisdiction, whatever they pretend to, in
the church of Rome, from that of the civil magistrate; there is no
benefit of clergy at Christ’s bar. Observe,
1. The surprise that will accompany his doom
(v. 50);
The Lord of that servant will come. Note,
(1.) Our putting off the thoughts of Christ’s coming will not put off
his coming. Whatever fancy he deludes himself with, his Lord will come.
The unbelief of man shall not make that great promise, or threatening
(call it which you will), of no effect.
(2.) The coming of Christ will be a most dreadful surprise to secure
and careless sinners, especially to wicked ministers; He shall come
in a day when he looketh not for him. Note, Those that have
slighted the warnings of the word, and silenced those of their own
consciences concerning the judgment to come, cannot expect any other
warnings; these will be adjudged sufficient legal notice given, whether
taken or no; and no unfairness can be charged on Christ, if he come
suddenly, without giving other notice. Behold, he has told us
before.
2. The severity of his doom,
It is not more severe than righteous, but it is a doom that carries in
it utter ruin, wrapt up in two dreadful words, death and
damnation.
(1.) Death. His Lord shall cut him asunder, dikotomesei
auton, “he shall cut him off from the land of the living,” from
the congregation of the righteous, shall separate him unto evil; which
is the definition of a curse
shall cut him down, as a tree that cumbers the ground; perhaps it
alludes to the sentence often used in the law, That soul shall be
cut off from his people; denoting an utter extirpation. Death cuts
off a good man, as a choice imp is cut off to be grafted in a better
stock; but it cuts off a wicked man, as a withered branch is cut off
for the fire-cuts him off from this world, which he set his heart so
much upon, and was, as it were, one with. Or, as we read it, shall
cut him asunder, that is, part body and soul, send the body to the
grave to be a prey for worms, and the soul to hell to be a prey for
devils, and there is the sinner cut asunder. The soul and body of a
godly man at death part fairly, the one cheerfully lifted up to God,
the other left to the dust; but the soul and body of a wicked man at
death are cut asunder, torn asunder, for to them death is the king
of terrors,
Job xviii. 14.
The wicked servant divided himself between God and the world, Christ
and Belial, his profession and his lusts, justly therefore will he thus
be divided.
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