We see in this prophecy of our Lord a remarkable confirmation of a great principle of God—that He never opens out the future of judgments on the rebellious, and of deliverance for His own people, till sin has so developed itself; as to manifest total ruin. Take the very first instances in the Bible. When was it said that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head When the woman was beguiled, and the man in transgression through the wiles of the enemy; when thus sin had entered the world, and death by sin. Again the prophecy of Enoch, given us by Jude, was uttered when the term of God's patience with the then world was almost closed, and the flood was about to bear witness of His judgment on man's corruption and violence. Thus, whether we look at the first prediction of Christ before the expulsion from Eden, or at the testimony of the Lord's coming to judge before the deluge, prophecy thus far evidently comes in when man has wholly broken down. So, next, we find Noah, when there was confusion and failure in his own family and in himself too, led of the Holy Ghost into a prophetic summary of the whole world's history, beginning with the doom of him who despised his father, even though it were to his own shame, and proceeding with the blessing of Shem and the portion of Japhet. So, later on, with the prophecies of Balsam and of Moses, “yea, and all the prophets, from Samuel and those that follow after;” for Samuel's is that striking epoch which the New Testament singles out as the commencement of the great line of the prophets. And why? It was the day when Israel openly abandoned God as their king, consummating the sin which their heart conceived in the desert, when they sought a captain in order to return into Egypt. It was a proud crisis in Israel, whose blessedness lay in being a people separated from all around by and to Jehovah their God, who would surely have provided them a king of His own choice, had they waited, instead of choosing for themselves, to His dishonor and their own sure degradation and sorrow, in order to be like the nations. The same principle equally and conspicuously applies to the time when the great prophetic books were written—Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the rest. It was when all present hope had fled, and David's sons wrought no deliverance, but rather at last a deeper curse through their towering iniquity and profane insults of the true God, who was thus morally forced to pronounce the nation Lo-ammi— “not my people.” Before, and during, and after the captivity, the Spirit of prophecy laid bare the sin of king, and priests, and prophets, and people, but pointed the heart to the coming Messiah and the new covenant. And Him we have seen, in our Gospel, actually come, but growingly and utterly rejected by Israel, and all their own promises and hopes in Him; and now in the near prospect of His own death at their hands, in itself their worst of deaths, He takes up this prophetic strain.
“And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple.” For what was it now? A corpse, and no more. “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.” “And his disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple. 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 which shall not be thrown down.” The hearts of believers then, as too often now, were occupied with present appearances, and the great show of grandeur in God's service; the halo of associations was bright before their eyes. But Jesus passes sentence on all that even they admired on the earth. In truth, when He left the temple, all was gone which gave it value in the sight of God. It is ever thus. Outside Jesus, what is there in this world but vain show or worse 1 And how does the Lord deliver His own from the power of tradition and every other source of attraction for the heart? He opens out the communications of His own mind, and casts the light of the future on the present. How often worldliness unjudged in a Christian's heart betrays itself by want of relish for God's unfolding of what He is going to do 1 How can I enjoy the coming of the Lord if it is to throw down much that I tun seeking to build up in the world? A man, for instance, may be trying to gain or keep a status by his ability, and hoping that his sons may outstrip himself by the superior advantages they enjoy. On some such idea is founded all human greatness; it is, “the world,” in fact. Christ's coming again is a truth which demolishes the whole fabric; because, if we really look for His coming as that which may be from day to day—if we realize that we are set like servants at the door with the handle in hand, waiting for Him to knock we know not how soon, and desiring to open to Him immediately (“blessed are those servants!”)—if such is our attitude, how can we have time or heart for that which occupies the busy, Christ-forgetting world? Moreover, we are not of the world, even as Christ is not; and as for means and agents to carry on its plans and ends, there never was nor will be a lack of men to do its work. But we have a higher business, and it is beneath us to seek the world's honors. Let our outward position here below be ever so menial or trying, what so glorious as in it to serve the Lord Christ? And He is coming?
In the cross I see God humbling Himself—the only One of all greatness making nothing of Himself for my soul—the only One who commands all becoming a servant of the very vilest. A person cannot receive the truth of the cross without having his walk in measure in accordance with the spirit of it. Yet saints of God have regarded the cross, not so much as that power by which the world is crucified unto them and they unto the world, but rather as the remedy by which they are set free from all anxiety, in, order to make themselves a comfortable place in the world. The Christian ought to be the happiest of men; but his happiness consists not in what he has here, but in what he knows that he will have with Christ. Meanwhile, our service and obedience are to be formed according to the spirit of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Man's evil and God's grace thoroughly came out in the cross; all met there; and it is founded upon this great truth that it is said so often in Scripture, “The end of all things is at hand;” because all was out in moral ways and in dispensational dealings between God and man.
Connected with this, our Lord does not unfold here the portion of us Christians exactly, but takes up the disciples where they were. They were believing, godly Jews. Their associations connected Christ and the temple together. They knew that He was the Messiah of Israel, and they expected him to judge the Romans and gather all the scattered ones of the seed of Abraham from the four winds of heaven. They looked for all the prophecies about the land and the city to be accomplished. There was no thought in the minds of the disciples at this time of Jesus going to heaven and staying there for a long time—of the scattering of Israel, and the Gentiles being brought in to the knowledge of Christ. Consequently this great prophecy on the mount of Olives starts with the disciples and with their condition. Their hearts were too much occupied with the buildings of the temple. But the Lord, now rejected, announces that “there shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down.” This excited greatly the desire of the disciples to understand how such things were to come to pass. They were aware from the prophecies that there was a time of dismal sorrow for Israel, and they did not know how to put this together with their predicted blessing. They ask Him, therefore, “When shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world?”
“Thy coming” means, the Lord's presence with them on earth; and “the end of the age” is a totally different word from that translated “world” elsewhere: it means here the end of the time during which our Lord should be absent from them. They wished to know the sign of His presence with them. They knew there could never be such desolation if their Messiah were reigning over them. They wished to know when this time of sorrow should come, and what should be the sign of His own presence that should close it, and bring in unending joy.
“And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.” In the epistles of Paul it is never exactly such a thought as warning persons against false Christs. For there the Holy Ghost addresses us as Christians; and a Christian could not be deceived by a man's pretensions to be Christ. It is most appropriate here, because the disciples are viewed in this chapter, not as the representatives of us Christians now, but of future godly Jews. We, as Christians, have nothing to do with the destruction of the temple; it does not affect us in any way. These disciples were regarded as the godly remnant of the nation, who were looking for the Messiah to bring in glory. The Lord, therefore, warns them that if any should arise among them, saying, I am Christ, they were not to believe them. The time was come when the true Messiah ought to appear. And He had appeared, but Israel had rejected Him; they refused to bow to Him, hardening themselves in the lie that our Lord could not be the promised One. But Israel have not given up the hope of the Messiah yet, and this exposes them to the delusion spoken of here, i.e., to persons saying, I am Christ. At any rate, the rejection of the true Christ lays them open to the reception of a false Christ. Our Lord had warned them of this. “I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not. If another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.” If a Messiah were to come full of self and Satan, the nation should be given up to receive the false, as a just retribution for having rejected the true. The disciples were the representatives of godly Jews, and were warned of what should befall their nation. But take the epistles of John, and what have you there? “Beloved, believe not every spirit.” Why? Because the great thing that the Church is distinguished by is the presence of the Holy Ghost; and the deceit which we have to watch against is false spirits, not false Christs, though there are many antichrists.
How are we to do God's will? How are we to be directed to what will honor Him? The Holy Ghost alone can guide us in a right path, and He acts by the word of God. I must find myself meeting according to the Scriptures, where what is of man is disallowed, and what is of God is freely and fully acknowledged. We are bound to see whether all that we are doing will bear the full searching of the Scriptures; if not, let us stop at once. Never do a single thing which you believe to be contrary to the written word. “Cease to do evil.” “To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” Supposing I only know that what I am doing is wrong, but that I see nothing further, I must stop. God gives me no fresh light before me if I am doing what is wrong. I may have to remain in my chamber, and not see what to do; but wherever I see evil, I am bound by it. We never can go on in evil, hoping for more light. What is the walk of faith? A believer may seem to go blindfold, but he has God for his guide. He does not see before him, but he has the eye and heart and hand of One who does. It is God who guides. He shows me His will for that one step, and when I have taken it, He will show me the next. It is a question of honoring God. When we have done that in any particular step, the Lord opens a further path for us.
Our Lord does not warn against false spirits here, because He is not speaking to the disciples on the ground of Christianity. By a Christian, I mean a believer since the Holy Ghost was poured out from on high. He is not a bit more a saint than a man called to the knowledge of God before; but he has entered more fully into the truth of God as revealed in Christ. The disciples did not enter into this yet; and the Lord takes them as examples of a believing remnant in the latter day. The danger of Christians is grieving the Holy Ghost—nay, listening to false spirits. “Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God, because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” These are persons in whom an evil spirit wrought. There are false prophets now, and evil spirits work in them. In these days, faith either in the Holy Ghost or in Satan's power is very much weakened. People only look at the man; whereas Scripture makes a great deal of God and of Satan. What gives Satan power over a professor of the name of Christ is the allowance of sin. Satan has not one atom of power against a child of God who is looking to Jesus; but where self is allowed, Satan can come and make a resting-place for a season. A believer could not be a false prophet, but there might be a temporary power of the enemy over his soul.
Here it is a question of false Christs, because our Lord was going to speak to the disciples about Jewish circumstances and hopes, though He afterward turns to Christian subjects. The prophecy consists of three great parts. The Jewish remnant have their history thoroughly described; then comes the portion of Christians, and after that of the Gentiles. The prophecy divides itself into these three sections. Why are the Jews, we may ask, first brought forward? The disciples were not yet taken out of their Jewish position: only when Christ was crucified was the wall of partition broken down. Our Lord's intention was to take up a Jewish remnant and show that there would be a company in the latter day on the same ground as these disciples—the Christian would come in between. This we have described in the latter part of the chapter, and in chapter xxv. And then we have the Gentiles, “all nations,” gathered before the Son of man. Such is the thread of connection between the parts of this great discourse.
“Many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that ye be not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.” Observe, there are two great moral warnings given by our Lord. First, they were to beware of a true hope falsely applied. He guards them against the attractions of a false Christ, who would take advantage of the fact that the Jews ought to be looking for Christ, and they would pretend to be Christ. But, besides, there is the fear that would be excited by the enemy, who knows how to bring in a new deceit suited to another set of circumstances. Verse 6, therefore, guards them against alarms: “Ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars.” We have nothing to do with these. Where do you find that the Holy Ghost warns the Christian about trouble from wars and rumors of wars I Do we find anything about it in the Epistles, where the Christian Church is properly brought out? Am I then denying the importance of the Lord's prophecy? God forbid! But the portion we are looking at does not refer to Christians as they now are, but to Jewish disciples as they then were and as they will be. Our calling takes place after our Lord went to heaven and before He returns in glory; whereas the Jewish remnant will be found in the latter day on similar ground and with hopes like those the disciples had whom our Lord was here addressing. We do not arrive at a clear knowledge of anything by denying the great landmarks of God. If we want to put things rightly together in the word of God, we must notice what and to whom He speaks. If I, a Gentile, take up the language of a Jew, a great mistake is made; or if a Christian adopt the language of either Jew or Gentile, there is again an equal mistake. Therefore it is that such stress is laid on “rightly dividing the word of truth.” We find various ways of God according to His sovereign will about those with whom He is dealing, and we must take care to apply His word aright. Here we have disciples having a peculiar calling in a particular land, the land of Judea; and if they heard of wars and rumors of wars, they were not to be troubled. “For all these things must come to pass; but the end is not yet.” Mark the difference in the language of Scripture. Do we ever find the apostles saying, The end is not yet, for us? On the contrary, it is said of us (1 Cor. 10), “Upon whom the ends of the world are come.” So again, speaking about the cross of Christ, it is said (Heb. 9:2626For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. (Hebrews 9:26)), “Now once, in the end of the world;” whereas, when the Lord is predicting about the Jewish remnant, “the end is not yet.” And this, because many things must yet be accomplished before the Jews can come into their blessing. But for Christians, all things even now are ours in Christ; the blessing is never put off, though we await the crown at His coming. Again, many parts of Scripture speak of scenes of anguish before the Lord's coming; others make Christians to be expecting Christ at any time. These Scriptures cannot be broken nor contradict one another; and yet they must do so, if they are applied to the same people.
Practically, too, the difference is immensely important; for the Christian is not of the world, even as Christ is not, which could not be equally said of the Jewish body yet to be called in the latter-day. For us “wars and rumors of wars” ought not to be a source of trouble, any more than of interest on either side of this world's combatants. Surely they should be an occasion of holy concern and intercession in the spirit of grace, and this for all engaged. The Jewish remnant, on the contrary, will not be separated after this heavenly manner; and the earthly struggles which will then rage in and round the land cannot but affect them nearly: so that they will need especially to cherish confidence in the Savior's words and not be troubled, as if the issue were a doubtful one, or themselves forgotten in that dark day. They must wait patiently; “for nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famine, and pestilence, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.”
It is evident that the language is only applicable in its full force to Jews—believing ones, no doubt, but still Jews in the midst of a nation judicially chastised for their apostasy from God and rejection of their own Messiah.
Besides, the Lord prepares the Jewish disciples or remnant for their own special trials, partially true after His own departure till Jerusalem disappeared, and once more to be verified before Jerusalem is fully owned after the destruction of the antichrist. “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you; and ye shall be hated of all nations (or the Gentiles) for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.” (Ver. 9-11.) There should be false profession among them, and hatred of the true even among themselves, and not only troubles without. And many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold; but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” Thus there is a certain defined period of endurance—an end to come as truly as there was a beginning of sorrows. But what trial, and darkness, and suffering, and scandal before that end come! When our Lord speaks, as in the gospel of John, of the Christian's lot, He never names either a beginning or an end, but rather implies that tribulation should be expected throughout his career. “In the world ye shall have tribulation.” And such is the constant language and thought in the epistles, where beyond question our calling is supposed.
Then follows a final sign. “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” (Ver. 14.) The gospel of God's grace is not the same as the gospel of the kingdom. Both should be preached—that God is saving souls of His mere favor now through Christ; and that there is a kingdom which He is going to establish by His power shortly, which is to embrace all the earth. Before the end come, there will therefore be a special testimony of this coming of the Lord, as He here intimates. So in Rev. 14 an angel is seen by John in the prophetic vision, having the everlasting gospel to preach to the dwellers on earth and to every nation, and saying with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come; and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” Now it cannot be so said that the hour of His judgment is come; for it is, on the contrary, and expressly, the day of His grace and salvation. Clearly, therefore, the inference is that, just before the close of this age, there will be a remarkable energy of the Spirit in the midst of the Jews; and from that very people who rejected Jesus of old, messengers of the kingdom shall go forth touched by His grace to announce the speedy fall of divine judgment and establishment of the kingdom of the heavens in power and glory. Who so suited, in God's mercy, to proclaim the returning Messiah as some of the very nation who of old had nailed Him to the cross, among all the proud Gentiles whose then representative inscribed it with “This is Jesus the King of the Jews?” The testimony shall go forth universally. How humbling for Christendom! What has become of the East? What of the West? Mahometanism! Popery! with Paganism too still prevalent over vast tracts of Asia and Africa. And yet Christian men close their eyes to the plainest and most solemn facts and boast of the triumphs of the gospel! No: the Gentiles have been wise in their own conceits, though grace has wrought where God has pleased, spite of all; but it is reserved for other witnesses, when the falling away shall have been complete in Christendom and the man of sin revealed, to proclaim the coming kingdom in all the habitable earth.
In verse 15 the Lord goes back in point of time, and shows us not general tokens of the approach of the end and that which should distinguish the end in general from the earlier throes of Israel; but here we have circumstances of the most definite character, which may be applied perhaps partially to what occurred before the fall of Jerusalem under Titus, but which can only be fulfilled in the future of Israel if we duly heed the peculiarity of the scene, the connection of the prophecy, and above all, the consummation in which all is to terminate.
First, then, our Lord points to a Jewish prophet. “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),” &c. The parenthesis warns that the prediction might be misunderstood—at any rate demanded attention. Two passages of the prophecy (chap. 11:31 and 12:11) speak of this abomination; but I have no hesitation in affirming that the former was a foreshadowing of the doings of Antiochus Epiphanes centuries before Christ, and that the latter is the one referred to here and still unaccomplished. Entirely distinct from the epoch of Antiochus, Dan. 12 speaks of another idol which brings desolation in its train, and this expressly “at the time of the end.” “Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.” In this we have another link of connection with our Lord's words” whoso readeth, let him understand.” “And from the time that the daily [sacrifice] shall be taken away and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand, two hundred and ninety days.” Thus, beside the idolatrous evil imposed by the notorious king of the north long before the Lord appeared, Daniel looks onward, to a similar evil at the close of Israel's sorrows, the destruction of which immediately precedes their final deliverance. “Blessed is he that waiteth.” As to this last, our Lord cites the Jewish prophet, and casts further light on the selfsame time and circumstances, when Daniel himself shall re-appear in his lot. The conclusion is clear and certain: our Lord in this verse 15 of Matt. 24 determines the allusion to be to that part of Daniel which is yet future, not to what was history when He stood on the Mount of Olives. I am aware that some have confounded the matter with what we read in Dan. 8 and in Dan. 9 But “the transgression of desolation” is not the same as “the abomination of desolation;” nor can we absolutely identify “the last end of the indignation” with “the time of the end.” The distinctions of Scripture are as much to be noted as the points of resemblance and of contact. (Comp. Isa. 10) The last verse of Dan. 9 might seem to have stronger claims. There we have a covenant confirmed for one week; and then in the midst of the week sacrifice and oblation are made to cease; after which, because of the protection given to abominations or idols, there is a desolator “even until the consummation and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate;” i.e., Jerusalem. I have thus given what I conceive to be the true sense of this important passage, because when it is stated with precision, the supposed resemblance to “the abomination of desolation” disappears. A desolator who comes because of the wing, i.e., protection of abominations, is very distinct from the abomination that makes desolate, or the idol which is yet to stand in the sanctuary. With the setting up of this abomination, the date of 1290 days is connected. Even for those who understand this of so many years, it is impossible to apply the prophecy to the destruction of Jerusalem, or its temple by the Romans. Had it been so, the period of blessing must long ere this have arrived for Israel. Has the prophecy then failed? No; but readers have failed in understanding it. We must correct, not the language of Scripture, but our interpretations: we must go back to God's word again and again, and see whether we have not mistaken our bearings.
The truth is, that the understanding of Dan. 12 is of all moment for reaping due profit from Matt. 24 In its first verse we have a plain landmark: “At that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people.” There can be no just doubt that Daniel's people mean the Jews, and that a mighty intervention on their behalf is intimated; but, as usual, not without the severest trial of faith. For “there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time.” This our Lord has unquestionably in view in verse 21: “then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no nor ever shall be.” There cannot be two tribulations for the same people, each of which is greatest: both statements refer to the same trouble. Now Daniel is positive—that “at that time thy people (the Jews) shall be delivered.” Who can pretend that Michael stood up for Israel against Titus any more than Nebuchadnezzar? Does not everybody know that at that time, far from being delivered, they were completely vanquished by the Romans, and that those who escaped the sword were sold as slaves and scattered over the world? God was then against, not for, Israel; and, as the king in the parable, he was wroth, sent forth his armies, destroyed those murderers, and fired their city. Here, on the contrary, the unequaled hour of sorrow is just before their deliverance on God's part, not before their captivity.
Carrying this back to our chapter, the sight of the desolating idol in the holy place is the signal for flight. “Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains.” There is no thought of a sign to Christians as such, but to Jewish disciples in the holy land; and this that they may instantly retire from the scene of danger. “Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house; neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days.” (Ver. 17-19). It has been tried to find in this the warning on which some fled to Pella in the interval after the Roman lieutenant surrounded the city, and before the final sack under the victorious emperor. But this arises from confounding Luke 21:20-2420And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. 21Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto. 22For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. 23But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. 24And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. (Luke 21:20‑24), with Matt. 24:15-2115When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) 16Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains: 17Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: 18Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. 19And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! 20But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: 21For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. (Matthew 24:15‑21); whereas they are demonstrably distinct, spite of a measure of analogy between them. It perfectly fell within the province given of the Spirit to the great Gentile evangelist, to notice the past Roman siege, as well as the present supremacy of the nations which tread down Jerusalem till their times are fulfilled. Matthew, however, had his own proper task in giving the grand future crisis, at least from verse 15. And it is evident that as the abomination in the holy place differs widely from armies compassing Jerusalem, so there was ample space for the most leisurely departure from the menaced city, yes, for the most impeded and infirm of either sex to go, after Cestius Gallus withdrew. I conclude, therefore, that by Matthew our Lord gives us what bears on the time of the end; by Luke what refers to the past, and the present too, cursorily, as well as the future. Matthew, for instance, could not speak like Luke, of Jerusalem being trodden down of the Gentiles, because he is here occupied only with the horrors which immediately precede Israel's blessing and deliverance. Luke has both an earlier and a later time of trouble: Matthew, from verse 15, leaves that and confines himself to this.
“But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath-day for there shall be great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” How considerate the Lord is. And how surely His disciples in that day may count on His care, that their petitions will be answered, so that, urgent as their flight must be, neither the inclement season nor the day of Jewish rest shall hinder! Here again is another proof that not Christians but His Jewish followers are here contemplated. Holy as is the Sabbath, I have no hesitation in saying that the Lord's day, with which the Church has to do, is founded on a deeper sanctity. The believer has now to beware, on the one hand, of confounding the Sabbath with the Lord's day: and, on the other, of supposing that, because the Lord's day is not the Sabbath, it may therefore be turned to a selfish or worldly account. The Sabbath is the holy memorial of creation and of the law; as the Lord's day is of grace and the new creation in the resurrection of the Savior. As Christians we are neither of the old creation nor under the law, but stand on the totally different ground of Christ dead and risen. The Sabbath was for man and the Jew, the last day of the week, and one simply of rest, to be shared with the ox and the ass. This is not the Christian idea, which begins the week with the Lord, gives the best to Him in worship, and is free to labor for Him to all lengths in the midst of the world's sin and misery.
Thus we have, at every step, a fresh testimony to the real bearing of the prophecy. For us the holy place is in heaven, not in Jerusalem; for us it is no question of escaping some unexampled tribulation, but of being prepared for and rejoicing in it always; for us, gathered out of all nations and tongues, the mountains round Judea are no suited hiding-place; nor could the winter or the Sabbath-day be a just source of alarm. Every word is for us to ponder and profit by; but the evidence unmistakably points to a converted body of Jews in the latter day, not standing in Church light and privilege, but having Jewish hopes, and, while awaiting the Messiah, warned how to escape the deceits and overwhelming trouble of that day. It is a question of flesh being saved (ver. 22), and not of fellowship with Christ's sufferings and conformity to His death, so as, whatever the cost, to have part in the resurrection from among the dead. Hence, too, there is no thought here of Christ's coming to receive us to Himself, and to give us mansions where He is in the Father's house, but of His presence in glory to destroy enemies, to judge what was dead and offensive to God, and to deliver the scattered elect of Israel. For their sake, those days of terror should be shortened. With this agree the warnings in ver. 22-28: “Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there: believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders,” &e. Could such a delusion be addressed even to the simplest Christian who waits for the Son of God from heaven? Yet is it very intelligible if we think of these future Jewish disciples, who might expect something akin from a prediction such as Zech. 14, where we find that the Mount of Olives is the appointed spot on which Jehovah-Messiah is yet to stand. We can well conceive rumors for such saints that Christ was in the desert or in the secret chambers: they might deceive those who expected to meet the Lord on earth, not those who know that they are to join Him and the risen ones in the air. (1 Thess. 4; 2 Thess. 2) The manner of His presence for delivering the Jews is then made known as the guard against their deceits. “For as the lightning cometh,” &c. The figures (ver. 27, 28), which illustrate the presence of the Son of man, convey the thought of sudden, terrible manifestation, and of rapid, inevitable judgment, on what is then but a lifeless body before God, whatever may have been its pretensions. Nothing similar appears wherever, beyond controversy, Scripture describes the descent of the Lord to receive His risen saints. And what is the result of thus misapplying these verses? The revolting interpretation that “the carcass” means Christ, and “the eagles” the transfigured saints, or the converse, calls for censure, not comment. Nor is it needful to refute the claim set up for the Roman standards. Applied to Israel, all is simple. The carcass represents the apostate part of that nation; the eagles or vultures are the figure of the judgments that fall upon it. It is not only, then, that there will be the lightning-like display of Christ in judgment; but the agents of His wrath shall know where and how to deal with that which is abominable in God's sight. The allusion is to Job 39:3030Her young ones also suck up blood: and where the slain are, there is she. (Job 39:30).
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened,” &c. (Ver. 29-31.) I can hardly be asked to notice the old effort to apply these verses to the Roman triumph over Jerusalem. On the face of it, could this be said to be “immediately after the tribulation,” or was it not rather the crowning of Jewish sorrow, not the glorious reversal of their sufferings by a divine deliverance? Whatever prodigies Josephus reports were rather during the tribulation he records; whereas the signs spoken of here, literal or figurative, are to follow “the tribulation of those days,” i.e., the future crisis of Jerusalem. No; an incomparably greater than Titus is here; and an event is announced in connection with that poor people, which will change the face and condition of all nations. “Then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the coming of the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 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 elect throughout are the chosen out of Israel. (Ver. 22, 24, 31. Compare Isa. 65) Others elect there are, no doubt; but we must ever interpret by the context; and this in the present case seems to me clear and conclusive. The Son of man in heaven, and seen there, is, I conceive, the sign to those on earth. This fills all the tribes with mourning; and Christ visibly comes to judgment. Other Scriptures show that the heavenly saints have been already translated, and are then to accompany their Lord; but here nothing of this appears. It would have been premature. Besides, the object of this portion of the prophecy is to show His coming for the relief and ingathering of His elect out of Israel. Hence, it is as Son of man (that is, judicially, see John 5:2727And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. (John 5:27)) that He is present; and hence, too, His angels He sends with loud trumpet sound. “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem.” (Isa. 27:1313And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem. (Isaiah 27:13).) It is the proclamation, not alone of the acceptable year of the Lord, but of the day of God's vengeance. “And ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel.” The four winds in connection with Israel are no difficulty, but rather the contrary. (See Zech. 2:66Ho, ho, come forth, and flee from the land of the north, saith the Lord: for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heaven, saith the Lord. (Zechariah 2:6).) As the Lord had scattered and spread them abroad “as the four winds of the heaven,” so now are His chosen ones to be gathered in.