We are now to look at a very serious Scripture. When we reach Matt. 24, have done with the testing of Israel. I mean, that if we discern the structure of Matthew's gospel, we shall find that the Lord is conducting thus far a very elaborate testing of Israel. He first proposes Himself to them as the Bethlehemite of Micah; then, as the light from Zabulon and Nephtali and lastly, as riding on an ass, He proposes Himself as king, to the acceptance of the daughter of Zion. So that, all through His life, read in one great light, He is testing the state of the daughter of Zion and John, in His gospel, draws the conclusion, “He came to His own, and His own received Him not." How beautiful it is to see the ministry of the Lord in such a light!
He was the patient tiller of the vineyard, to see if, at the eleventh hour, He could get any fruit. But when we come to chap. 23., the testing is over, and He gets up on the judgment throne and pronounces their guilt, and the judgment that attaches there to. Just as a judge. He sums up the evidence and pounces the verdict. Then He turns His back on them, saying, “Ye shall not see me henceforth till ye shall say.
Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." There is great exactness in all this, and we are not in a position to meditate on chaps. 24., 25., if we do not apprehend what I have said as a preface.
If I were to link Zech. 11, and Isa. 1., with this prophecy, it would be beautiful to see such distant lights forming so beautiful a constellation before the eye; and these different stars, contributed by one part and another part, all shining together.
Then, having pronounced the judgment, Messiah, being rejected, takes leave of Israel. He goes out from the Temple. Here we are introduced to thoughts that attach to ourselves. Chapter 11, of Zechariah, tells us of two staves, called beauty and bands."
Here, at chapter 28., the Lord broke the staff called "beauty." (He did not break the other till the Acts of the Apostles.) Here He withdraws Himself. Now, I ask, should we see beauty in that which Christ has rejected? It was a poor thing for the disciples to come and show Him the beauty of the Temple. They ought to have said,” If our Master has turned His back on the Temple, its beauty is gone." Instead of that nature, hangs about that, which faith has left. If the counterpart of the Temple of Solomon were here, it might be beautiful still; but we should not be giving it our admiration. You will say, Are not the mountains, the valleys, the woods, beautiful? Exquisitely beautiful: but you should accustom yourself to say, The trail of the serpent is over every bit of it. All will be revived in Millennial days; but now, do not you turn aside to mark the exquisite scenery of nature for its own sake. That is where the disciples, failed. Well, the patient Lord Jesus says, "What you are admiring, I have left?! There shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down. Then, in verse 3, their minds are restored under the correcting hand of Christ: We believe it, since Thou halt said it, and now tell us further, when shall these things be. Then the Lord pronounces the solemn prophecy that fills chaps. 24., 25., and gives the characteristics that are to mark the judgment of Israel. He begins to answer them in ver. 4, and He carries the first part of His answer down to ver. 14, and details the story of what shall be before the end comes —what He calls the beginning of sorrows. Having reached that point, in ver. 15, He anticipates the story of this Israel. who is now His subject.. And mark, the Church is not here. It was a stranger to His thoughts while He was talking of Israel. He was invited to speak of the Temple, and the end of the age, and to that He applies Himself. In verse 15 He begins to speak of the Antichrist—the abominable desolator who shall come. The moment that takes place (it will not be till the Church has gone from the scene) He begins to instruct His disciples how they are to act: “Let them which be in Judea," etc. This is the great tribulation of which Daniel, Jeremiah and the Apocalypse speak. There, there is a constellation again. Do be looking out in Scripture for such constellations. You will find Jeremiah, Daniel, Matthew, and the Apocalypse each contributing a star. A little skill and industry will constellate them, and in the glory of the light they give, we are invited to walk.
Then, down to verse 28, He is telling them how to behave themselves, and in verse 28 the judgment is executed. That is the rider on the white horse of Revelation 19., and His armies. They come down to execute judgment on the carcass. The Lord here is represented under the figure of an eagle coming down for his prey. Then in verse 29 He shows the action of judgment. And what, verses the 29th and 30th are! What a solemnity the judgment of God is! The sun and the moon and the powers of heaven array themselves in blackness. It reminds me of chapter 27 of this very gospel.
When God was judging sin, the whole earth was darkened for three hours. There is a moral suitableness in this. When the blessed Surety for sinners was bearing the judgment of sin, the earth arrayed itself in sackcloth. God retired from the scene, and the whole creation felt the moment. So, when the rider on the white horse comes forth to execute judgment (not on sin, but on sinners, "the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light," etc. How little do I know of my spirit being arrayed in darkness when I talk of judgment, or in brilliancies when I talk of glory! Would to God one knew a little more of that! Our spirits should be in sympathy with these different things.
Then, the judgment being executed, in verse 31 we get a mere glimpse of the kingdom that is to follow; because judgment never closes the scene-it only purges the vessel which is to be filled with glory.
Having left verse 31, we have left, for a time, the prophetic part of these chapters to take up a moral parenthesis. This is style which I find constantly in the Book of God. When the prophet, Isaiah is relating historical facts, he is turned aside every now and then to look at the operations of the Spirit. That is the style of the parenthesis which we are looking at—from verse 42 of chapter 24., to verse 30 of chapter 25. Here the Lord is morally talking to our souls, and telling us that we ought to sustain two beautiful characters: we should be watchers and workers while He is absent. He turns aside to give a look at each one of us, for all this moral teaching attaches to our very selves. While He is absent His people ought to he watching and working. Do you enjoy this style in the Book of God? I would the people of God partook of His style, as well as of His spirit. We are not set together merely to pick up knowledge; but to stir up and animate one another's souls. These watchers and workers are here represented by the wise virgins and the faithful servant. Now, what I observed on verse 31 of chapter 24., I am going to observe a little carefully in this chapter. No communication I get from the Lord puts me right into the kingdom. He stops short of anything like a detail of the kingdom.
He gathers his elect who are to constitute the kingdom; but we do not see them in the kingdom. So in this chapter. Do you see the wise virgins in the kingdom? No; they are only seen at the door. So with the servant. He was to enter in to the joy of his Lord. We are not told what the marriage-supper is, or what the joy is; but they are invited to enter the one and the other.
The moral of this is deep and exquisite because it tells us what the moral material is that goes into the kingdom, and what it is that is kept out. Is not the character of your friend more important to you than his circumstances? So the Lord does not tell me the circumstances of the kingdom, but He lets me breathe its moral atmosphere. You will have glories, too, I grant but moral atmosphere is much more important. So He tells one that all that finds entrance into it is that which was waiting for Him in His absence. And in the parable of the servants we see what goes in-those who honestly owned Him as Master while He was absent. These two materials form the moral element of the place. How unspeakably blessed to go into a place that teems with love to Christ, and teems with a desire for His service! If the Lord were to take me into all the material beauties of the place, He would not gratify my heart so deeply by the scenery of the kingdom as in these few little verses.
Now, in verse 31 (chap. 25.), He resumes the prophecy, having turned aside, in the parable or the virgins, to address our hearts; and in the parable of the servants, to address our consciences. Now, He resumes the prophetic current of His thoughts. But, here again, we are not properly in the kingdom. It is a scene just at the opening of the kingdom. The kingdom has not yet arrayed itself; but, just on the Lord assuming the throne of His glory, He calls the living nations before Him to judgment.
Now, you have nothing to say to that. It is not a resurrection scene; it is not the great white throne; but it is the Lord Jesus, when He has assumed the throne of His millennial glory, coming to inquire how the living nations have treated His poor messengers; how the nations have treated those Jews who have gone out with the everlasting Gospel. The settlement of that question is given in the parable of the sheep and the goats. And let me add one thing: the moral feature of this parable is just as beautiful as that of the others. The element that gets into the kingdom is not selfishness, but those who had loving gracious care of His poor people. Do you wish to carry the selfishness of man's world into Christ's world Could you be happy if you thought the foolish virgins, the unfaithful servant, and the Hellish nations could enter there? So the Lord conducts us by the help of the wise virgins to the borders of the kingdom; and again, He conducts us there by the faithful servant,; and now, by those who sympathized; in the day of distress, with the people of an unmanifested Jesus. The Lord keep us near Himself in these thoughts, for they are holy and deeply beautiful. Oh, that we may give our hearts to the Lord Jesus, our hands to His work, and our sympathies to His people. Amen.