AS we have before remarked, these two chapters in Matthew (ch. 24, 25) treat of the coming of the Lord in connection with the Jew, the Gentile, and the Christian. Down to the end of chapter 24:31 The Jews are particularly in view.
The three parables that follow refer, we believe, to Christendom. In the first of these (24:42-51), we find a solemn picture of Christendom’s unfaithfulness. Her responsibility was to watch during the absence of her Lord for His return. In the parallel passage in Mark 8:32-39 the servant is bidden to watch, and pray, and work. Specially is he told to watch, for the return of his Lord might take place at any moment, “at even, or at midnight, or at cockcrowing, or in the morning.” How unlike was this to the Jewish aspect, where we are distinctly told that Christ could not come until the gospel of the kingdom had been preached unto all the nations (Matt. 24:1414And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. (Matthew 24:14)), nor until the great tribulation had come to an end (vs. 29).
These verses may present some difficulty to our reader’s mind. It is often argued from the former that it is quite a mistake for Christians to be looking for Christ’s return as an immediate or proximate hope; for, it is said, the heathen are not yet fully evangelized. But this gospel of the kingdom has nothing to do with the gospel now being preached. The gospel of the kingdom will be announced by the Jewish remnant after the removal of the Church, and “the end” here spoken of is not the end of the Christian period, but “the end” of the Jewish dispensation of law which just precedes “the age to come,” or that of Messiah’s presence with His earthly people. We get these two “ages” spoken of in Matthew 12:3232And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come. (Matthew 12:32): “But whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this age (world), neither in the age to come.”
In these opening verses of Matthew 24, the Jewish dispensation is looked at as running on without interruption from the time the Lord was addressing His disciples until His return. From other scriptures we know that there has been a parenthetical interruption of God’s dealings with Israel. This parenthesis is occupied with the Church; it began at the day of Pentecost, it will terminate at the rapture as described in Thessalonians 4:13-18. During this parenthesis the gospel of the grace of God is being preached; the present glad tidings (or gospel) is also called “the gospel of the glory of Christ” (2 Cor. 4:44In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. (2 Corinthians 4:4)). In this gospel, testimony is borne to the blessed facts that Christ came nineteen hundred years ago, that He died, was raised, and ascended to glory; and that through faith in Him as dead, risen, and glorified, sinners, whether Jews or Gentiles, are saved and justified before God from all their sins; that they are united together into “one body” by the Spirit which indwells them (1 Cor. 12:1313For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:13)).
But after the removal of the Church at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ into the air, the “gospel of the kingdom” will be preached. In this gospel, testimony will be borne to the fact that Christ is coming as King to reign, and all nations — that is, the heathen nations — will be called upon to believe in Him as the coming King, and to submit themselves to Him. This is spoken of prophetically in Psalms 2, “Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little” (vs. 12).
Many prophecies of the Scriptures will be fulfilled during the interval between the rapture of the saints (1 Thess. 4) and the time spoken of in Matthew 24:29,3029Immediately 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: 30And 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. (Matthew 24:29‑30): “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. 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.”
To return to the parable at the close of Matthew 24 Christendom here is likened to a servant that was held responsible to watch during the absence of her lord. In this she has utterly failed. She has not been the faithful and wise servant. Instead of this she has been like an evil servant that says in his heart, “My lord delayeth his coming.” In other words, that invigorating and sanctifying hope of the coming of the Lord was speedily forgotten, and along with that, the professing Church abandoned itself to a course of worldliness. The judgment of Christendom is coming, and it will be terrible. Other scriptures speak of it, and these may pass before us in due course, but in this passage we get the moral reason of it all, namely, the lost hope of the return of her Lord. Not that that hope was entirely denied, but it was put off to a far distant and indefinite future, and then lost all its operative power upon the conscience. The revival of that hope in the power of the Spirit invariably produces separation from the spirit and principles and ways of the world.
But, it may be said, individual Christians are waiting for the Lord. Yes, thank God! they are, and in ever increasing numbers. But the parable of the evil servant represents Christendom as a whole. She has been found lacking in her responsibility, and in the end is destined to be spued out of Christ’s mouth (Rev. 3:14-2214And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; 15I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. 17Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: 18I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. 19As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. 20Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. 21To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. 22He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. (Revelation 3:14‑22)). No true Christians will be, spued out of His mouth, but Christendom is made up of true Christians and mere professors. This solemn aspect of the case is brought before us in the well-known parable of the ten virgins.