Category: Devotions

The chapter we have now begun is a continuation of our Lord’s prophetic discourse on the Mount of Olives. The time to which it refers is plain and unmistakable: from first to last, there is a continual reference to the second advent of Christ and the end of the world. The whole chapter contains three great divisions. In the first, our Lord uses His own second coming as an argument for watchfulness and heart-religion: this He does by the parable of the ten virgins. In the second, He uses his own second coming as an argument for diligence and faithfulness: this He does by the parable of the talents. In the third, he winds up all by a description of the great day of judgment: a passage which for majesty and beauty stands unequalled in the New Testament.

The parable of the ten virgins which we have now read contains lessons peculiarly solemn and awakening. Let us see what they are.

We see for one thing that the second coming of Christ will find His church a mixed body, containing evil as well as good.

There are verses in this passage which are often much misapplied. “The coming of the Son of Man” is frequently spoken of as being

the same thing as death; the texts which describe the uncertainty of His coming are used in epitaphs, and thought suitable to the tomb. But there is no solid ground for such an application of this passage. Death is one thing, and the coming of the Son of Man is quite another. The subject of these verses is not death, but the second advent of Jesus Christ. Let us remember this. It is a serious thing to wrest Scripture and use it in any but its true meaning.

The first thing that demands our attention in these verses is the awful account that they give of the state of the world when the Lord Jesus comes again.

In this part of our Lord’s prophecy He describes His own second coming to judge the world. This, at all events, seems the natural meaning of the passage: to take any lower view appears to be a violent straining of Scripture language. If the solemn words here used mean nothing more than the coming of the Roman armies to Jerusalem, we may explain away anything in the Bible. The event here described is one of far greater moment than the march of an earthly army; it is nothing less than the closing act of the present dispensation — the second personal advent of Jesus Christ.

These verses teach us in the first place that when the Lord Jesus

returns to this world He shall come with peculiar glory and majesty. He shall come “in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.” Before His presence the very sun, moon and stars shall be darkened, and “the powers of heaven shall be shaken.”

One main subject of this part of our Lord’s prophecy is the taking of Jerusalem by the Romans. That great event took place about forty years after the words we have now read were spoken. A full account of it is to be found in the writings of the historian Josephus: those writings are the best comment on our Lord’s words; they are a striking proof of the accuracy of every tittle of His predictions. The horrors and miseries which the Jews endured throughout the siege of their city exceed anything on record: it was truly a time of tribulation, so as was not since the beginning of the world.

It surprises some to find so much importance attached to the taking of Jerusalem: they would rather regard the whole chapter as unfulfilled. Such persons forget that Jerusalem and the temple were the heart of the old Jewish dispensation. When they were destroyed, the old Mosaic system came to an end. The daily sacrifice, the yearly feasts, the altar, the holy of holies and the priesthood were all essential parts of revealed religion, till Christ came — but no longer. When He died upon the cross, their work was done: they were dead, and it only remained that they should be buried. But it was not fitting that this thing should be done quietly. The ending of a dispensation given with so much solemnity at Mount Sinai might well be expected to be marked with particular solemnity; the destruction of the holy temple, where so many old saints had seen “shadows of good things to come,” might well be expected to form a subject of prophecy: and so it was. The Lord Jesus specially predicts the desolation of “the holy place.” The great High Priest describes the end of the dispensation which had been a schoolmaster to bring men to himself.

These verses begin a chapter full of prophecy: prophecy of which a large portion is unfulfilled; prophecy which ought to be deeply interesting to all true Christians. It is a subject to which, the Holy Ghost says, “ye do well that ye take heed.” (2 Pet. 1:19)

All portions of Scripture like this ought to be approached with deep humility and earnest prayer for the teaching of the Spirit. On no point have good men so entirely disagreed as on the interpretation of prophecy; on no point have the prejudices of one class, the dogmatism of a second and the extravagance of a third done so much to rob the church of truths which God intended to be a blessing. Well says a certain divine, “What does not man see, or fail to see, when it serves to establish his own favorite opinions?”

These verses form the conclusion of our Lord Jesus Christ’s address on the subject of the scribes and Pharisees. They are the last words which He ever spoke as a public teacher in the hearing of the people. The characteristic tenderness and compassion of our Lord shine forth in a striking manner at the close of His ministry. Though He left His enemies in unbelief, He shows that He loved and pitied them to the last.

We learn in the first place from these verses that God often takes great pains with ungodly men. He sent the Jews “prophets and wise men and scribes.” He gave them repeated warnings; He sent them message after message. He did not allow them to go on sinning without rebuke. They could never say they were not told when they did wrong.

We have in these verses the charges of our Lord against the Jewish teachers, ranged under eight heads. Standing in the midst of the temple, with a listening crowd around him, He publicly denounces the main errors of the scribes and the Pharisees, in unsparing terms. Eight times He uses the solemn expression, “Woe unto you;” seven times He calls them “hypocrites;” twice He speaks of them as “blind guides” — twice as “fools and blind” —once as “serpents! And a generation of vipers!” Let us mark that language well. It teaches a solemn lesson. It shows how utterly abominable the spirit of the scribes and the Pharisees is in God’s sight, in whatever form it may be found.

Let us glance shortly at the eight charges which our Lord brings forward, and then seek to draw from the whole passage some general instruction.

We are now beginning a chapter which in one respect is the most remarkable in the four Gospels: it contains the last words which the Lord Jesus ever spoke within the walls of the temple. Those last words consist of a withering exposure of the scribes and Pharisees, and a sharp rebuke of their doctrines and practices. Knowing full well that His time on earth was drawing to a close, our Lord no longer keeps back His opinion of the leading teachers of the Jews. Knowing that He would soon leave His followers alone, like sheep among wolves, He warns them plainly against the false shepherds by whom they were surrounded.

The whole chapter is a signal example of boldness and faithfulness in denouncing error. It is a striking proof that it is possible for the most loving heart to use the language of stern reproof: above all, it is an awful evidence of the guilt of unfaithful teachers. So long as the world stands, this chapter ought to be a warning and a beacon to all ministers of religion: no sins are so sinful as theirs in the sight of Christ.

In the beginning of this passage we find our Lord replying to the question of a certain lawyer, who asked him which was “the great commandment of the Law.” The question was asked in no friendly spirit, but we have reason to be thankful that it was asked at all. It drew from our Lord an answer full of precious instruction. Thus we see how good may come out of evil.

Let us mark what an admirable summary these verses contain of our duty towards God and our neighbour. Jesus says, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind.” He says again, “thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself;” and He adds, “On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

This passage describes a conversation between our Lord Jesus Christ and the Sadducees. These unhappy men, who said that there was “no resurrection” attempted, like the Pharisees and Herodians, to perplex our Lord with hard questions. Like them, they hoped “to entangle Him in His talk” and to injure His reputation among the people. Like them, they were completely baffled.

Let us observe in the first place, that absurd sceptical objections to Bible truths are ancient things. The Sadducees wished to show the absurdity of the doctrine of the resurrection and the life to come; they therefore came to our Lord with a story which was probably invented for the occasion. They told Him that a certain woman had married seven brothers in succession, who had all died and left no children. They then asked, “whose wife” this woman would be in the next world, when all rose again. The object of the question was plain and transparent. They meant, in reality, to bring the whole doctrine of a resurrection into contempt; they meant to insinuate that there will be confusion, strife and unseemly disorder if after death, men and women were to live again.