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Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1887, by

 

 

J. R. GRAVES,

 

 

In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

 

 

 

COPYRIGHT, 1928, By

 

 

BAPTIST SUNDAY SCHOOL COMMITTEE

 

 

TEXARKANA, ARK., - TEXAS

 

 

Second Edition

 

 

 

403832

 

 

 

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

 

 

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

 

PREFACE  Page 7

 

 

PART 1

 

 

CHAPTER 1

 

INTRODUCTION. – THE SCHEME OF CHRIST’S

PARABOLIC TEACHINGS,  Page 9

 

 

CHAPTER 2

 

THE WHEAT AND THE TARES,  Pages 23-30

 

 

CHAPTER 3

 

THE HIDDEN LEAVEN,  Pages 33-56

 

 

CHAPTER 4

 

THE MUSTARD TREE AND BIRDS OF THE AIR,  Pages 57-66

 

 

CHAPTER 5

 

THE SOWER AND BIRDS OF THE AIR,  Pages 67-74

 

 

CHAPTER 6

 

THE LOST SHEEP,  Pages 77-91

 

 

CHAPTER 7

 

THE LOST COIN,  Pages 92-98

 

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CHAPTER 8

 

THE TREASURE HID IN A FIELD,  Pages 99-103

 

 

CHAPTER 9

 

THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE FOUND,  Pages 104-106

 

 

CHAPTER 10

 

THE GOOD SHEPHERD,  Pages 109-115

 

 

CHAPTER 11

 

THE TWO SONS,  Pages 116-119

 

 

CHAPTER 12

 

THE ELDER AND YOUNGER BROTHERS,  Pages 120-128

 

 

CHAPTER 13

 

THE LABOURERS AND THE HOURS,  Pages 129-133

 

 

CHAPTER 14

 

THE GREAT SUPPER,  Pages 134-140

 

 

CHAPTER 15

 

THE WICKED HUSBANDMAN,  Pages 141-150

 

 

CHAPTER 16

 

THE BARREN FIG TREE,  Pages 151-155

 

 

CHAPTER 17

 

THE IMPORTUNATE NEIGHBOUR,  Pages 159-163

 

 

CHAPTER 18

 

THE IMPORTUNATE WIDOW,  Pages 164-171

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CHAPTER 19

 

THE PHARISEE AND THE PUBLICAN,  PAGES 172-178

 

 

CHAPTER 20

 

THE UNFORGIVING SERVANT,  Pages 179-184

 

 

CHAPTER 21

 

THE UNJUST STEWARD,  Pages 187-196

 

 

CHAPTER 22

 

THE RICH MAN WHO WAS A FOOL,  Pages 197-203

 

 

CHAPTER 23

 

THE LAW OF BENEVOLENCE -

THE GOOD SAMARITAN,  Pages 204-215

 

 

CHAPTER 24

 

THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS

(HISTORICAL),  Pages 216-236

 

 

PART 2

 

 

CHAPTER 25

 

REMARKS INTRODUCTORY,  Pages 239-243

 

 

CHAPTER 26

 

THE TEN VIRGINS,  Pages 244-271

 

 

CHAPTER 27

 

THE ENTRUSTED TALENTS,  Pages 272-284

 

 

CHAPTER 28

 

THE ENTRUSTED POUNDS,  Pages 285-292

 

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CHAPTER 29

 

THE BLADE, THE EAR, AND THE FULL CORN,  Pages 292-300

 

 

CHAPTER 30

 

THE NET,  Pages 301-311

 

 

CHAPTER 31

 

A SUMMARY OF THE TEACHINGS OF THE PARABLES,  Pages 312-317

 

 

CHAPTER 32

 

CHRIST’S LAST GREAT PROPHECY –

THE JUDGMENT OF THE NATIONS,  Pages 318-327

 

 

APPENDIX

 

THE FOUR JUDGMENTS

(BY REV. J. F. KENDALL, D.D.),  Pages 329-351

 

 

NOTE ON THE PARABLE OF THE LEAVEN,  Page 352

 

 

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[Page 7]

PREFACE

 

 

THESE Expositions are eminently providential.  Had their author not been stricken down by a severe and protracted     affliction,* they doubtless would never have been written.  They were mainly “thought out” to beguile the long, weary months the Author was confined to his bed, the Scriptures being read to him by some member of his family.  They were “written out” for his paper in the brief intervals he was able to sit by a table and use a pencil.  They are offered to the public in this more permanent form at the urgent request of his patrons and the many friends who had read them in the paper, whose kind partiality he fears has too willingly condoned their many imperfections.

 

* He received a stroke of paralysis while preaching In the First Baptist Church, Memphis, from which he lay in a critical condition for months, and confined to his bed or room for nearly two years.

 

 

The Author’s reasons for Expositions of Our Lord’s Parables; so variant, in so many particulars, from the many already before the public, are fully set forth in the introductory chapter, and if they are not considered satisfactory he can only cast himself upon the leniency of his judges - his readers.

 

 

He can truly say these years were spent in Beulah, in almost unalloyed spiritual enjoyment of the “full assurance of hope while he rested on the sunlit river of death for the hourly expected summons to pass over.

 

 

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[Page 8 blank. Page 9]

 

CHAPTER 1

 

INTRODUCTORY

 

 

THE SCHEME

 

OF

 

CHRIST’S PARABOLIC TEACHINGS

 

 

FROM a careful study of the parabolic and prophetic teachings of Christ, I am convinced that He designed to unfold to the understanding of His disciples the whole scheme of His redemption, from its inception onward through all its progressive stages and its mysteries (Mark 4: 11), as connected with His visible “kingdom of heaven on earth until its glorious consummation at the end of the age.

 

 

We would therefore naturally expect to meet with a parable introductory to all that are to follow, revealing to His disciples how evil was introduced into the world, through the baneful influences of which, His original design in creating the world and the human race seems to have been thwarted, and universal ruin and wreck following as a natural consequence.  Following this revelation we would naturally look for parables illustrating His redemptive work in seeking the recovery of a lost world and a lost race - the comprehensiveness of His redeeming work - whether it [Page 10] extended to one race or nation or embracing all races and all nations.  If the malignant opposition of Satan is to be continued until the end of the Gospel Ages to obstruct the progress of this merciful work, we should expect that the character of his subtle machinations and the extent of them would be also illustrated in His parabolic teachings.

 

 

And, then, the Jewish nation, having been for four thousand years God’s peculiar people, the possessors of all the covenants and the promises, we should expect He would instruct His disciples the attitude this ancient people would assume towards the newly-organized kingdom of Christ and His purposes with reference to them.

 

 

If this is a correct scheme of Christ’s parabolic teachings, it certainly would not be complete without a full development of His final dealings with His friends and His foes - the ultimate rewards of the one and the destiny of the other party, and the ultimate destiny of this once fair and beautiful, but now wrecked and ruined, earth.

 

 

Now, all these features of His gracious work in connection with His earthly kingdom are fully illustrated by the parables and prophecies he delivered to His disciples; and, as we have no certain clue to the order in which He delivered them, I shall explain them topically, classifying them in the order indicated above.

 

 

Remarks on Parabolic Interpretation

 

 

Many readers stumble at the opening comparisons of the parables, under the impression that they must find a likeness in “the kingdom of heaven” to the first person or object mentioned in the parable, while in most cases there is no comparison intended; but we must seek the proper “likeness” between the principal features of the parable and one or more of the particular phases in the administration of “the kingdom of heaven and sometimes the likeness is to be sought between the administration of the kingdom and the whole parable.  I submit the remarks of Dr. Broadus in his comments on “The Net

 

 

“The opening verbal comparison of the several parables is not uniform and essential to the meaning, but incidental and varying.  In Matt. 5: 5, the kingdom of heaven is like a man seeking pearls, but in verse 44 it is compared not to the finder, but to the thing found.  In verse 24 it is like the owner of a field, i.e. the Messiah (5: 37), but in verse 47 it is compared not to the owner of the net, but to the net. So, in 22: 2, the kingdom of heaven is likened to the king, who gave a marriage feast for his son, but in verse 25 it is likened not to the bridegroom, but to the virgins who desired to attend the feast.  These and other examples show that our Lord does not in each case carefully assert a special relation between the Messianic reign and this or that particular object in the parable, but means to say that something is true of the Messianic reign which resembles the case in the parable; and, instead of speaking in vague terms of general comparison (as in 25: 14), He often sets out by saying that the kingdom of heaven is like some leading person or object of the story, or some feature that readily presents itself at the beginning. (Comp. Matt. 11: 16.)  In this parable (i.e. of The Net), then, we are not at liberty to lay any stress upon the comparison of the kingdom of heaven to the net itself.  The comparison is to the whole story, and its particular point is given by our Lord himself in verse 49.” - Commentary on Matthew.

 

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The author, after more than three years of patient study of the prophetic Scriptures since writing “The Seven Dispensations,” has modified his views set forth in that work touching two questions, viz.: 1. Will all Christians of all ages compose the Bride of Christ? and (2) will all Christians at the advent of Christ be “caught away to meet Him in the air?”  He is now thoroughly satisfied that these questions should be answered in the negative, and his reasons will be apparent to all who examine his expositions of The Virgins, The Talents, and The Pounds.  It has been said, “A wise man by investigation sometimes changes his opinion, but a fool never

 

 

If this production of a mind impaired and a body enfeebled by disease, and prepared for the press in the midst of pains and great weariness of the flesh, should prove acceptable to his brethren, stimulating them in studying and aiding them in the better understanding of the parabolic teachings of Christ, and in any respect contribute to prepare them for His glorious appearing, the author will feel that two years of his life of confinement have not been passed in vain.

 

 

SOME REASONS FOR OFFERING THESE NEW EXPOSITIONS OF THE PARABLES OF CHRIST TO THE PUBLIC

 

 

It is my conviction that no part of the word of God, unless it be the prophecies, has been more generally misinterpreted by commentators, and therefore misunderstood by the people, than the parables of Christ.  Most of them have been interpreted, by even Calvinistic writers, to teach that salvation, or the kingdom of [Page 13] heaven and its righteousness, can and must be purchased by the personal merits or endeavours of the sinner himself.  Examine the current expositions of the “Hid Treasure,” of the “Costly Pearl,” and “The Labourers,” etc.  We are told that the treasure, as well as the pearl, is salvation, or the blessings connected with the kingdom of heaven; and the sinner must not only diligently seek to find, but to sell all and PURCHASE it.  So, by the Parable of the “Vineyard Labourers,” we are taught that sinners, some young, some old, enter the vineyard - the service of God - and all work for the same reward, i.e. salvation, as the price of their work!  Take even Christ’s statement in Matt. 11: 12.  It is universally interpreted as teaching that the sinner can and must obtain the blessings of the kingdom of heaven as the result or reward of his own intense personal exertions; while everywhere in God’s word it is taught and emphasized that it is Christ himself who came to seek and to save the lost, and that salvation is of God’s free grace through Christ, and that “not of works, lest any man should boast

 

 

Certainly all Christians who believe that salvation is by grace, without works or deeds of law, will agree with me that such interpretations are exceedingly pernicious, because subversive of the fundamental principles of Christianity, and lead the sinner away from instead of to Christ.  It is a constant and surpassing wonder that Calvinistic expositors construe so many of the parables to the support of Arminianism, and make them teach that a child of God may, by an act of simple improvidence (as in the case of the improvident virgins), or slothfulness (as in the [Page 14] case of the slothful servant, in the Parable of the Talents and the Pounds), be finally lost.

 

 

I think Christ designed to teach and illustrate by His parables the great fundamental facts that underlie the covenant of redemption, and His dispensational work in the administration of His government, and His dealings with sin, until He has consummated His work in righteousness at the end of the coming or Millennial Age.

 

 

While some of His parables had, without doubt, application to His hearers, and were spoken for their personal instruction in righteousness, yet we know the principal ones were pregnant with the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven for the instruction of His disciples, and all who, with honesty of heart, desired to be instructed.  Christ himself declared this:

 

 

“He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.” - Matt. 13: 11.

 

 

And one of the greatest mysteries of the administration of the kingdom of Christ,* Paul tells us, was that in the fulness of time the Gentiles were to be made partakers and fellow-heirs, with the Jews, of God’s grace in Christ Jesus:

 

[* See Rev. 3: 21.  The Millennial Kingdom of “a thousand years,” is primarily ‘the kingdom of Christ/Messiah: and this coming “Kingdom” must be distinguished, in the minds of His disciples, from His Eternal Kingdom in “a new heaven and a new earth” (Rev. 21: 1).]

 

“How that by revelation He made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles, that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel.”- Eph. 3: 3.

 

 

From this standpoint, we see the introduction of Sin into the world, and the world lost through sin, and Christ’s long forbearance with a race of sinners, illustrated by the Parable of the Tares; and from it we learn that sinners will abound in the earth, and oppress the good until the day of judgment, when they will be judged, and the earth purged of them and made the glorious abode of the righteous only.

 

 

In the Parables of the Wandering Sheep and the Lost Coin we see illustrated God’s love, not only for a lost sinner, and the lost of the house of Israel, but for a lost world, and the amazing, self-sacrificing, seeking love of Christ in leaving all that He might seek and save it, and return it in sweet subjection to the possession and government of the Father. (See 1 Cor. 15: 24-29.)  And in the Parables of the Hid Treasure and the Costly Pearl, what it cost Him to purchase the salvation of His people, and the redemption of a lost world.

 

 

In the Parable of the Labourers we are taught the sovereignty of God, coupled with His goodness, in calling the nations by His gospel, at different periods, to enter His service, in connection with the Jews.  And we also see in this, as in the Parable of the Prodigal Son, the deep-seated prejudice and envy of the Jews in seeing God’s favour extended to the Gentiles as well as to themselves.  Our readers are aware that this parable is universally interpreted to illustrate either the conversion of a profligate sinner, or the restoration of a backslidden Christian to the divine favour.  But the trouble has ever been to say whom the elder brother represented; for he is and ever will be quite as important a personage as the younger son.  Christians rejoice with “exceeding great joy” when they witness [Page 16] the conversion of a sinner, however old he may be, or however wicked he may have been; and equally so in witnessing the restoration of a backslidden Christian.  Neither of these interpretations will do.

 

 

From the Parable of the Hidden Leaven we see the disastrous effect of the introduction of false teachings into the doctrine of Christ, which is the bread of life, or into a church of Christ; and, unless purged out, even a little leaven is sufficient to leaven “the whole lump  The Parable is universally interpreted to teach the permeating influence of the gospel, and that the whole world is to be converted to God by it.  Leaven is nowhere in God’s word, unless here, used as a symbol of the gospel, or of anything pure or good - and we can not believe it is so used here.  And to teach that the gospel is to convert the whole world, or the greatest mass of its population, is to contradict other and plain teachings of the Scriptures, as will be fully demonstrated in this Series of Expositions.

 

 

That the Parables of the Rented Vineyard (Matt. 21: 33), the Great Supper (Luke 16: 16), the Barren Tree and the Cursed Fig Tree, generally interpreted as applicable to sinners or barren Christians, will be found to refer solely to the Jewish nation, and God’s dealings with it.  The Pharisees saw and felt their force when Christ delivered them, and yet these have been and indeed are generally applied to individual sinners!

 

 

I have intimated enough to convince the intelligent reader that the parables of Christ demand new and different interpretations, if it is necessary that their teachings should accord with the other plain and unfigurative teachings of Christ.

 

[Page 17]

The candid reader will agree with me that the parables of Christ, if rightly interpreted, will not conflict with the unfigurative teachings of Christ and His apostles.  Of this I am confident, however widely my interpretations may differ from those now before the public, they will be found by all students of God’s word in perfect harmony with the plain, unfigurative teachings of the Scriptures.  This certainly will be a great gain over the commonly received interpretations of the parables and prophecies of Christ.

 

 

I only ask an impartial reading of these Expositions by all Bible students.

 

 

*       *       *

 

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A PARABLE ILLUSTRATING

 

 

THE INTRODUCTION OF EVIL

INTO THE WORLD

 

 

THE WHEAT-FIELD OVERSOWN BY THE ENEMY - SATAN.

 

 

 

THE PARABLE OF

THE WHEAT AND TARES

 

[Page 22 blank.  Page 23]

 

 

CHAPTER 2

 

THE WHEAT AND THETARES

 

 

IN ENTERING upon the exposition of the parables of Christ, it is important for the reader to bear in mind that he is not to seek for the likeness of the kingdom of heaven in the character or peculiar, quality of the immediate subject of the narrative; as, for example, in the man who sowed the good seed, or in a mustard seed, in the hid treasure, the lost coin, in leaven, or a fishing net, although it is said the kingdom of heaven is like a man - like a mustard seed - like a treasure hid - like leaven - like a drag net, and like ten virgins.

 

 

“Unto a man  The Messianic reign resembles not simply a man who sowed, but the parable as a whole; the comparison is simply affirmed here and elsewhere with reference to the leading personage of the story or the object it is natural to mention.  First comp. [Matt.] 5: 44, 45, 47; 18: 23; 20: 1; 25: 1. - Broadus’ Commentary in loco.

 

 

From the interpretation of Christ himself we must learn to interpret; and from Him we learn that He designed to illustrate some one or more of the great and important truths which He called “the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven” connected with the administration of His mediatorial kingdom on earth by the principle features of His parables.  We are therefore not to attempt to find something in His kingdom to [Page 24] correspond with everything related in the narrative.  Some things are thrown in to round out - to make the relation or allegory more life-like and striking; as, while men slept the enemy sowed tares, or the number ten in the Parable of the Ten Virgins, etc.

 

 

I will commence with the Parable of the Tares, said to be the most difficult of all the parables.

 

 

THIS IS A HISTORICO-PROPHETICAL PARABLE ILLUSTRATING THE INTRODUCTION OF EVIL INTO THE WORLD, AND THAT THE EVIL DONE BY SATAN AND EVIL-DOERS WILL NOT ALWAYS BE TOLERATED, BUT FINALLY THEY WILL BE PUNISHED, AND THE EVIL RECTIFIED.

 

 

THE PARABLE - NO. 1

 

 

“Another parable He put forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.  But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.  So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field?  From whence then hath it tares?  He said unto them, An enemy hath done this.  The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?  But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.  Let both grow together until the harvest; and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn.” - Matt. 13: 24-30.

 

 

This parable is called by expositors one of the most difficult of all the parables of Christ; this too in the face of Christ’s own explanation of it.* I have studied [Page 25] the various interpretations, and am fully convinced that the whole difficulty arises from the determination of writers to force it to teach what Christ never intended it to teach, and to contradict what He did teach; i.e. making the field to symbolize the kingdom or “the church”(?) of Christ on earth, when Christ explicitly tells us that the field represents the world.

 

* “This is one of the most difficult in the whole series of our Lord’s parables.  As Luther remarks, it appears very simple and easy to understand, especially as the Lord himself has explained it, and told us what the field and the good seed and the tares are; but there is such a diversity of opinion among interpreters that much attention is needed to hit the right meaning.” - DR. BRUCE.

 

 

CHRIST’S INTERPRETATION

 

 

“He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of Man; and the field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; the enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; [or age, that closes with the final judgment.] The reapers are the angels.  As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of the [that age] world.  The Son of Man shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire.  There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.  Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.  Who hath ears let him hear.”

 

 

GLOSSARY

 

 

The Sower,              The Son of Man.

 

Good seed; wheat,   Sons of the kingdom; sinless persons.

 

The field,                The world.

 

The enemy,              The Evil One; the Devil.

 

Tares,                      Sons of the Wicked One.

 

Harvest,                  The end of the age.

 

The reapers,            The angels of God.

 

Barn,                       Eternal felicity.

 

 

This parable, so replete with rich and important [Page 26] truths relating to the administration of the kingdom of Christ, all expositors connected with State churches, and those who follow their leading, unite in wresting by interpretation in the support of those false churches, by teaching that the field is the visible State church, in which the notoriously bad must be allowed to grow without disturbance by healthy discipline, thus using God’s word to defend corrupt churches and to keep manifestly wicked men in the church.  Christ explicitly declares that the field is the world, and not the church, which he everywhere commands his servants to keep pure by the prompt expulsion of all classes of evil men.

 

 

Christ originally sowed this world with good seed - His own children, formed in His own image, which He pronounced “good  Pure and sinless were our first parents in their first estate; and in a beautiful and fertile field were they placed, in which there was not a noxious weed or a tare.  It was Satan, that old enemy, the devil, who oversowed this beautiful world with tares, from whence his children and servants like unto himself. So thickly has he succeeded in seeding the field with tares that, to all human appearances, they must evidently choke and shade out the wheat.  The wicked far outnumber the righteous, and they appropriate to themselves the largest and best part of the field, and materially disturb the increase and well-being of the children of the kingdom, and even threaten to destroy them from the face of the earth.

 

 

WHAT WE LEARN

 

 

1. We learn that the devil is a person, and not a mere abstract principle of evil.  No man who believes [Page 27] that Christ is a real personality can reasonably question the personality of the devil.

 

 

2. And we learn that, how numerous soever his demon evil spirits may be, there is but one devil.

 

 

3. We learn from this parable the wonderful long-suffering and forbearance of God in permitting the tares to grow up with the wheat.  Worldly wisdom would dictate that the tares should be rooted up as fast as they appear, and that a pure and holy God should not suffer wicked men, “the children of the wicked one to overbear His own children and overrun the earth to their unhappiness and detriment; but -

 

 

4. We learn that it is only for a season that the wicked are allowed to dominate this earth.  The Psalmist says:

 

 

“I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree; yet he passed away, and lo! he was not; yea, I sought him, and he could not be found

 

 

The interpreters in Luther’s day all belonged to State churches, and they interpreted in the interest of those churches. i.e. that the church should include the entire population of the State, and they therefore interpreted the field in the parable to symbolize the church.

 

 

5. We learn that God denies to the children of the kingdom the use of force, oppression or persecution. Christian rulers are forbidden the use of the sword or force to extirpate heretics.  While the churches of Christ must be kept pure, the wicked must be permitted to exist in the world, since the attempt to forcibly root them out of it now would break up the foundations of society and destroy the kingdom of Christ, because it would have no material out of which to renew its membership by conversion to itself.

 

[Page 28]

6. We learn, also, that the world is not to be converted by the children of the kingdom, through the preaching of the gospel, and thus cleared of the taxes, before the second coming of Christ, as post-millennialists teach, for the tares are to retain their hold and grow until the close of the harvest age - until the final judgment.

 

 

7. We learn from this that it is not required of the churches in this age to convert the world.  This is not their mission, but to preach the gospel “as a witness” among all nations, and thus prepare the way for the coming of their Lord.  It will be His work to separate, through the agency of His angels.  It is then that the words of His herald will be fulfilled:

 

 

“Whose fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly cleanse His threshing-floor, separate the tares from the wheat, gather His wheat into the garner, and burn up the chaff (tares) in unquenchable fire

 

 

8. We learn that wicked men will exist and abound upon this earth not only during all of this dispensation, but through all the thousand years of the millennial age.  Only the incorrigibly wicked - those who have had the gospel offered to them and rejected it, like the rebellious Israelites who fell in the desert - and those nations that have persecuted the saints, will be destroyed at the coming of Christ.  All the “sheep” nations - the inoffensive and non-persecuting nations, will be preserved to enjoy the brighter age to come; and over these in the flesh will the saints reign with Christ for a thousand years; and from these nations will that vast multitude be saved “which no man can number [count].”

 

 

9. We learn that ultimately, at the close of the [Page 29] harvest age, Christ will thoroughly cleanse His floor.  He will send forth His angels and exterminate the tares, root and branch, out of His field, and burn them.  They will never more be permitted to infest it.  And the earth, thus cleansed, will forever be occupied by His people alone.  Read, in connection with this, Psalm 37. and Rev. 21. and 22.  When Christ shall have fully consummated His work, and the world (His field) has been redeemed from all the evils wrought by His enemy, and be fully and safely occupied by His redeemed ones, then will He deliver up His sceptre to the Father, and then will the Father’s kingdom come, as Christ taught His disciples to pray, when His Father’s will will be done in all the earth as it is done in heaven; and then we know this earth will be a heaven.

 

 

“Then shall the righteous shine forth m the sun in the kingdom of their Father.  Who hath ears to hear let him hear.” - Matt. 13: 43.

 

 

This is a historical parable, because Christ gives us the history of the introduction of evil into this world, and tells by whose agency evil was introduced, and that it is by His all-wise purpose that evil and evil-doers have been allowed to exist on the earth.

 

 

“Evil in the human race owes its origin to Satan  “As to the reasons why God permitted its original appearance in the universe speculation has scarcely proven satisfactory, and Scripture is silent – Broadus’ Commentary in loco.

 

 

It is prophetical, because Christ foretells that the children of the wicked one (sinners) will exist upon this earth and dominate over the righteous until the [Page 30] end of the harvest age.  Finally He foretells the final separation of the wicked from the righteous, and the fearful, but deserved, doom of the wicked.  This interpretation certainly harmonizes with all the other teachings of Christ and His apostles touching the administration of His kingdom on this earth, and the transactions of the final judgment.  It certainly teaches, beyond reasonable doubt, the pre-millennial advent of Christ - i.e. the coming of Christ before the conversion and subjugation of the world to Him, since the tares will possess the field until He comes, and His first act will be to root them out and destroy them. (Rev. 14.)

 

 

On this point says Dr. Broadus:

 

 

“We learn here that good and bad will both be found intermingled in the world until the consummation of the present age, at the second coming of Christ, which seems quite contrary to the notion of a previous millennium, during which all men, without exception, will be faultless Christians- Commentary in loco.

 

 

*       *       *

[Page 31]

 

PARABLES ILLUSTRATING

 

 

THE

 

 

WILES AND MACHINATIONS

 

 

SATAN WOULD EMPLOY TO OBSTRUCT

AND DESTROY

 

 

THE

 

 

KINGDOM OF CHRIST

 

 

(PROPHETICAL)

 

 

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1. THE LEAVEN HIDDEN.

 

 

2. THE MUSTARD TREE AND BIRDS OF THE AIR.

 

 

3. THE SOWER AND BIRDS OF THE AIR.

 

 

[Page 32 blank.  Page 33]

 

 

CHAPTER 3

 

 

CHRIST undoubtedly, by the parable of the wheat oversown by tares, taught His disciples the agency (Satanic) and the manner (stealthily) by which evil was originally introduced into this world; and by the parables of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Hidden Treasure, He illustrated the compassionate love that moved Him to undertake, and the infinite sacrifice it cost Him to achieve, the redemption of His people, and the restoration of a lost and ruined world to its primitive perfectness and loveliness as the eternal home and heaven of the joint heirs of His glory and inheritance.

 

 

From this first revelation we are certainly warranted in the conclusion that through the machinations of His great adversary, who oversowed the field with tares, a corrupting element, or agency, would be stealthily infused into the saving doctrine of man’s salvation, “the bread of life to corrupt and destroy it, and enemies introduced into the constituencies of His kingdom to subvert rather than friends to conserve it, and are certainly warranted in concluding that by parables He would also indicate these facts, so that His disciples in after ages might not be overtaken by surprise or overwhelmed by discouragement when they saw their Master’s work seemingly thwarted and frustrated in their hands.  This fact - i.e. the subsequent corruption of His doctrine of life and the [Page 34] gospel of our salvation by the influence of soul-destroying error, and the introduction of evil men and seducers into the constituencies of His kingdom - I think He has unquestionably set forth by the parables of the leaven hid in the meal, and the fowls of the air lodging in the branches of the mustard tree.

 

 

With this introduction I address myself to the exposition of these parables.

 

 

THE HIDDEN LEAVEN

 

(PROPHETICAL)

 

 

ILLUSTRATING THE UNIVERSAL CORRUPTION OF THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST BY

THE INJECTION OF FALSE DOCTRINE INTO IT BY A CORRUPT CHURCH.

 

 

GLOSSARY

 

 

Leaven                     False doctrine.

 

Woman (pure),        A true church.

 

Woman (vile),         A false church.

 

To hide,                  To surreptitiously introduce.

 

Meal,                       The saving truth‑the doctrine of Christ.

 

Wholly leavened,    Wholly corrupted.

 

 

PARABLE

 

 

“Another parable spake He unto them: The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.” - Matt. 13: 33.

 

 

The principal features of this parable are:

 

1. The three measures, or one ephah, of meal.

 

 

2. The leaven.

 

 

3. A woman hiding it.

 

 

4. The effect upon the meal.

 

[Page 35]

Commentators, so far as my information extends, most unanimously misinterpret this parable, teaching that the meal symbolizes this world - the whole mass of depraved humanity - and the leaven symbolizes the gospel, which, once planted in it, like leaven in the meal, will work irresistibly and silently on and on, permeating and assimilating it thoroughly to itself, until the whole world is leavened, i.e. Christianized.

 

 

Accepting this glaring misinterpretation of the parable, men who address our great missionary conventions and convocations urge it upon Christians, as the most potent motive to plant the gospel in heathen lands, because Christ teaches us that it is the appointed mission of the church to convert the whole world by the gospel, and that this parable contains the promise that the whole world shall be finally Christianized, brought under sweet subjection to Christ, by the hallowed influence of the gospel.  If Christ taught this in this parable, then He contradicted what He taught in His other parables and everywhere else in the New Testament.  The wheat did not crowd out or assimilate all the tares to itself, and occupy the whole field, but the tares held their place, to the injury of the wheat, until the harvest - the final judgment.  (See exposition of the tares.)  He also contradicts all of His own plain, unfigurative teaching concerning the state of the world at the close of this present gospel dispensation.  In Matt. 24: 37, He declares most explicitly that what the state of society was in the days of Noah it will be at His second coming, thus teaching that the whole world, with comparatively few exceptions, will have become thoroughly corrupted, and be in a state of open-handed rebellion to God; [Page 36] and when Christ comes it will be to “render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire  See also Matt. 25., where the goat nations are to be judged and punished at the second coming of Christ.  He also plainly contradicts the express teaching of the Holy Ghost:

 

 

“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience scared with a hot iron.” - 1Tim. 4: 1, 2.

 

 

He also flatly contradicts the teaching of His holy apostles:

 

 

“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come; for men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof.  From such turn away.” - 2Tim. 3: 1-5.

 

 

And He contradicts His last revelation to His servant John.  See and read Rev. 19.

 

 

What Christ did teach by this parable we can ascertain, if we give to the symbols Christ employed the same signification they manifestly have in all His other teachings, and in sacred Scriptures universally.  No one can reasonably object to this.  Let us do this.

 

 

The meal.  This term is interpreted to symbolize human hearts - the whole mass of depraved humanity - the world; but it is nowhere else in God’s word so used, but to represent saving truth.  Meal, of which bread is made, is called the staff of our temporal life [Page 37] throughout the Scriptures.  Christ called himself “the bread of life the “true bread which cometh down from heaven  Of His words (doctrine) He said: “The words I have spoken unto you are spirit, and they are life  These words, this doctrine, corrupted and vitiated, must be but the savour of death.

 

 

The ephah (three measures) of meal, the usual quantity used for a baking, then, do not symbolize the world - the three divisions of the then known world - the whole mass of depraved humanity - as some teach - but saving truth - “the doctrine of Christ” - “the gospel of salvation

 

 

Leaven in this parable must certainly symbolize what it invariably represents elsewhere throughout the sacred writings - false doctrine, and anything that is unholy and corrupting in its nature, since it is the property of leaven to assimilate a mass of kneaded meal, or flour, however large, to itself by corrupting it.  Why should its use in this one passage be so unlike and opposite to its use in every other passage in God’s word?

 

 

It is urged that Christ expressly said it is “the kingdom of heaven” that is like leaven.  The objection is not tenable; for He says, “the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man and “is like unto a merchant and “a treasure hid “a net,” “a mustard seed,” “a woman,” “a king,” “a householder etc.  The meaning is that there are facts in connection with the administration of Christ’s visible kingdom on earth illustrated by one or more of the features of the parable used - this and nothing more.  (See remarks on parabolic interpretation in Chapter 1.)

 

 

The invariable use of the term leaven by Christ [Page 38] elsewhere, and of His apostles everywhere, to denote something vile and unholy in principle or doctrine, that is corrupting, certainly forbids its being used here to represent something pure and holy, as the pure gospel of Christ- as Christ’s church.  Nowhere else, if it is here, is anything vile, impure, corrupting, used to represent that which is pure and holy; and I can not believe it is here.  This is an invariable rule unless this be an exception.  And why should it be forced in as an exception here, when to do so would put a palpable untruth in the lips of Christ; in fact, would be to make Him contradict what both He and the Holy Spirit have taught everywhere else?  In the first parable He addressed to the people in this connection, He taught them that the field which He sowed with good seed was oversown by the enemy with tares, which worked injury and almost ruin to His crop, and that they continued to do so to the end of the world.  Would He be likely to teach the very opposite in this parable?

 

 

Christ nowhere else teaches that His kingdom, in this dispensation, will continue to increase until it assimilates all things to itself - that Christianity will spread until the whole world is converted to Him; but far otherwise. This dispensation closes with the “whole world wondering after the beast” under the influence of the antichrist. He foretold that His fol­lowers would be persecuted to the end of this age; that “evil men and seducers would wax worse and worse that abounding iniquity and the love of many growing cold were sure signs of the last times; that brazen-faced impiety and arrogant skepticism would unblushingly lift their heads and demand:[Page 39] “Where is the promise of His coming?  For since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning  In a word, Christ declared that as it was in the days of Noah, just before the flood, so would the coming of the Son of Man be.  Did the preaching of Noah convert the world?  If not, are we authorized by Christ’s declaration to believe the Christianity preached by ministers of this age will be able to do it?  Christianity was planted in the city of Jerusalem by Christ and His apostles, but did it work upon its society until it assimilated the whole mass to itself?  It was planted in Judea, in Galilee, in Samaria, in Macedonia, in Galatia, in Pontus, in Cappadocia, in many of the principal cities of Asia, and did it ever assimilate any one province, country, city, village or hamlet, however small, to itself? or, was it not rather itself leavened, and entirely corrupted, in every country and city of the East?  If we read the Bible we know it was not intended to do it; and therefore there is no command for the churches to do it, and no promise to the churches that it shall be done.  It would thwart the mission of Christ should they do it, and falsify all the prophecies concerning the times.

 

 

Leaven, put into a mass of meal, leavens it - assimilates it to itself by corrupting it: so false doctrine, intermixed with the soul-saving doctrine of Christ, corrupts and destroys it.

 

 

Will the reader notice what leaven is everywhere else used to represent, and how Christians are warned to treat it?

 

 

“Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever [Page 40] eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.” - Ex. 12: 15.

 

 

“No meat offering which ye shall bring unto the Lord shall be made with leaven; for ye shall burn no leaven, nor any honey, in any offering of the Lord made by fire.” - Lev. 2: 11.

 

 

“Then Jesus said tinto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” - Matt. 16: 6.

 

 

“Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy - Luke 12: 1.

 

 

“Your glorying is not good.  Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?  Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened.  For even Christ, our passover, is sacrificed for us.  Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth1 Cor. 5: 6-8.

 

* Should not leavened bread be banished from the Lord’s table, symbolizing as it does something impure and vile - a man’s works?  If its presence would have vitiated a sin-offering or the passover, will it not the Lord’s supper?  The Lord used unleavened bread.

 

 

Will any one say that Paul intended to teach that a little Christianity planted in the world would Christianize the whole mass?

 

 

If Christ used leaven to represent the working of His gospel-saving truth - He used a contradictious figure - a figure that contradicted an established fact.  It is not the province of truth to irresistibly work on, correcting error and permeating corruption, and assimilating it to itself, but, when brought in contact with error or untruth, it is ever tainted and corrupted by it.  A sound apple, placed in a barrel of rotten ones, will not correct their unsoundness, nor will a healthy man, introduced into a hospital filled with patients dying with smallpox, restore them all to health; but the [Page 41] sound apple will soon become rotten, and the healthy man infected with the contagious disease.  On the contrary, place one rotten apple in a barrel or bin of sound ones, and it, like leaven, will infect all; and one case of smallpox, if left to itself, will infect a whole city.  Truth is an exotic, and can only exist and grow by the most assiduous cultivation.

 

 

A handful of wheat or corn sown in a well ploughed field, if left to itself, will soon die out, being overshadowed and choked by the grass and noxious weeds, and not a kernel would be harvested; but lo! if a handful of cockle seed or coco-grass nuts be sowed, ere long the whole field will be overrun and irredeemably ruined by the coco.  So with truth and error.  Deadly error is indigenous to the soil of carnal hearts, like coco-grass to the natural soil, and will, without the least cultivation, take full and ineradicable possession of humanity, while saving truth, like an exotic flower, without the most careful and constant cultivation, will be overshadowed and die.

 

 

Christ never used leaven to symbolize saving truth - the vile and corrupting to represent His pure and holy gospel.

 

 

If leaven symbolizes the gospel, or Christianity, then the woman must symbolize the agent or the agencies that first introduced, and are now introducing and infusing, it into the world - Christ and His apostles, and Christians, operating through the true churches of Christ!  But this woman evidently symbolizes an enemy, and not a friend.  And the leaven was introduced with an inimical intent: for it was not done openly, as the gospel was preached by Christ and His apostles, but was “hid” - stealthily and [Page 42] surreptitiously introduced into the meal, as not the right thing to do - as something not belonging to the meal, but calculated to injure and destroy it.  How very like the enemy who sowed the tares among the wheat while the men slept!  And, as the tares could not be detected until they had somewhat grown, so could not the presence of the leaven until its corrupting effects were observed.

 

 

Woman, throughout the Scriptures, with but one solitary exception, where it represents Christ himself, is used to symbolize a professed church and people of God.  A chaste wife, a pure woman, everywhere a pure church, while an adulterous or meretricious and vile woman, the opposite.

 

 

The deeper significancy than that upon the surface of this parable, without a doubt in my mind, points to an apostate church, the very “Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth,” secretly hiding – insinuating - the leaven of her false doctrines into the doctrine of Christ, and thus corrupting the faith of the largest part of the professed Christian world.  It is charged against this mother of all corruptions (Rev. 17: 2) that she made the “inhabitants of the earth drunk with the wine of her fornication” -  deceived and bewildered them to their ruin by the subtlety of her false doctrines.  This is the very work the apostate Roman church has done. She has “hid” – infused - the leaven of her false and abominable doctrines into the doctrine of Christ, which she once received pure, and has thoroughly leavened it; and the faith received from her by all Protestant communions is corrupted by the infusion of her deadly leaven, as the communication of saying grace through [Page 43] the ordinances, called by them “sacraments  Hence the doctrine of baptismal regeneration and salvation and all its attendant evils.  And if there is a word of prophecy couched in this parable we may safely conclude that the world, with the exception of “the witnesses of Jesus will be ultimately leavened by her false doctrines, until the whole is leavened.  Do we not read of the last times, “And the whole world wondered after the beast?” (Rev. 13: 3.)

 

 

Let any intelligent Christian examine the creeds of the Lutheran, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Methodist and Campbellite denominations and say if, by strictly following their teachings, a soul could be saved.  They one and all make baptism a sacrament of the remission of sins - of regeneration, and therefore of salvation.  This is the leaven the woman hid in the meal.

 

 

Does leaven, in this parable, mean the permeating power of the gospel or rather the diffusive tendency of false doctrine?  I accept the latter alternative, and proceed to give reasons.

 

 

Before doing this, however, suppose we admit for a moment the other alternative - that leaven means the gospel pervading “the mass of humanity” “until the whole is leavened The mass of humanity can be leavened only as the individuals are thus wrought upon.  But it is a fact that no individual of the race is wholly leavened with the gospel.  Every Christian has two natures - the human and the divine - but the divine nature never leavens the human nature.  “That which is born of the flesh is flesh and never becomes anything but flesh.  The Holy Ghost never sanctifies the flesh.  We are to “crucify the flesh with the passions and lusts Now if no individual is ever [Page 44] leavened, so to speak, by the gospel, no aggregation of individuals is thus leavened.  Hence, if this interpretation is not true of any one of the parts, it is not true of the whole.

 

 

There are eight reasons in my mind for interpreting this parable to mean the final and universal prevalence of false doctrine.

 

 

1. My first argument is based on the meaning of the word leaven.  It comes from the Hebrew word seor, the Greek gume, the Latin fermentum, and the English leaven from levare.  The Hebrew word seor has the radical sense of effervescence or fermentation, and therefore corresponds in point of etymology with the Greek word gume and the Latin fermentum.  There is also another Hebrew word, kahmetz, which signifies fermented or leavened; literally, sharpened bread.  Both Hebrew words are synonymous, being used for the same object, the only difference being that kahmetz has a more general signification, so as to he applicable to both kinds of fermentation - vinous and acetous.  The Greek word gume, corresponding to the Hebrew seor, Dr. Robinson defines in its metaphorical sense to be “anything which tends to corrupt and pervert any one; for example, false doctrine or corrupt conduct  The corresponding Latin word fermentum was applied by Tacitus and Prudentius “to the manners and conduct of the people as being corrupt and bad

 

 

It is instructive to show what the opposite term, unleavened, means.  The Hebrew word is matzzoth, signifying sweetness or purity.  In Ex. 13: 7, we have these three Hebrew words in juxtaposition: “Unleavened bread (matzzoth) shall be eaten seven [Page 45] days; and there shall be no leavened bread (kahmetz) seen with thee, neither shall there he leaven (seor) seen with thee in all thy quarters

 

 

Webster says, “Leaven is any substance that produces fermentation, as in dough; anything that makes a general, especially a corrupting, change in the mass  Worcester says, “Leaven is commonly used of something which depraves that with which it is mixed; as, for instance, ‘Take heed, and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.’”  Calmet, Smith and Kitto fully concur in their Bible dictionaries with Webster and Worcester.  Scott, Adam Clark, Alexander and others say the same.

 

 

With this weight of authority from Hebrew, Greek, Latin and English lexicographers as to the very meaning of the word leaven, I do not see how any man can speak of it as a symbol of the gospel.

 

 

2. My second argument is based upon the use of the term in the Old and New Testaments.  I unhesitatingly affirm that there is not a passage in the Bible which uses the word leaven in a good sense - it is always the symbol of corruption.  Not only was its use forbidden at the Passover, but its very presence was prohibited.  So imperative was this command that he who violated it was cut off from all civil and religious rights, if not from life itself.  The Passover was a type of Christ, who was holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners; and hence unleavened bread, the symbol of purity, sincerity and truth, must be used, and no leaven whatever. There are two passages in the Old Testament which seem to form an exception, but they not only confirm the rule, but establish the law that leaven always means evil.  In [Page 46] Lev. 23: 17, two wave loaves are commanded to be baked with leaven.  These two wave loaves baked with leaven, and offered on the Day of Pentecost, were obvious types of the church composed of Jew and Gentile, but having evil in it, as we see in the Acts of the Apostles.  Hence a sin-offering was presented with two leavened loaves.  There was nothing spotless and pure to be symbolized here, but rather the depraved and human, and hence leaven was used, which confirms the rule - yea, more, it establishes the law - that leaven always represents corruption.

 

 

Notwithstanding their offering of thanksgiving, the leaven of ungodliness and idolatry was already working in the heart of Israel, and fast preparing them to be carried into a land wholly corrupted with idolatry.  So great was their moral corruption that the molten gods of Dan and Bethel and Gilgal, and the golden calves of Beersheba, the symbols of a corrupt and beastly worship, drew them away from the God of Israel.  No wonder the prophet Amos, with bitter irony, exclaimed, “Come to Bethel and transgress: at Gilgal multiply transgressions, and offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven.” (Amos 4: 4, 5.)  That is, burn a thank-offering with leaven, in contempt of law.  Thus leavened, Israel fell.  And this is the last of Israel, and the last of the leaven in the Old Testament, where we have found it always to mean evil.

 

 

Turning now to the New Testament, we find Christ saying, “Take heed, and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees By this He meant the “doctrines of the Pharisees and Sadducees  There was the leaven of Herod - legality; the leaven of the Sadducees - worldliness; and the leaven of the [Page 47] Pharisees - ritualism.  We never read of the leaven of the gospel and righteousness, but we do read of “leaven of malice and wickedness We never read of the leaven of the saints, which is sincerity, but we do read of “the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy  We never read that leaven means good; it always means evil.

 

 

Now it is a sound principle of interpretation that we must understand a metaphor which is not explained in the light of a similar metaphor which is explained.  In like manner we are to understand the use of the word leaven in this parable, where it is not explained, in the light of the nineteen other passages in the Bible where it is explained.  If everywhere in the Old Testament and New Testament leaven is explained to mean corruption, is it not a logical inference that in this unexplained parable it means corruption also?  Adam Clark, in commenting on the other passages where leaven occurs, says: “Bad doctrines act in the soul as leaven does in bread: they assimilate the spirit to its own nature

 

 

Christ well knew that the Pharisee doctrine and the Sadducee doctrine would invade the kingdom of heaven and corrupt the truth; hence the need of His warning - “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees

 

 

There are only two instances of the word leaven in the New Testament, aside from the parable under consideration, and in those passages it means moral corruption also.  The first is in 1 Cor. 5: 1-8.  The church at Corinth had, to a large extent, relapsed into heathenish vices of profligacy and licentiousness.  They even tolerated in the church a man who was openly living [Page 48] in incestuous relations with his step-mother, and that while his father was living.  Even the holy communion had been perverted into gluttony, and was profaned by scenes of revelling and debauchery.  No wonder Paul, with righteous indignation, exclaims: “Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?  Purge out, therefore, the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened.  For Christ, our passover, is sacrificed for us.  Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth  Paul did not say, purge out the old leaven and put in the new leaven.  He said, let us keep the feast, not with the old leaven (of heathenish practices), nor with the new “leaven of malice and wickedness Once more Paul warns the Galatian church against the influences of Judaism in enforcing circumcision upon those who had become Christians.  He says: “This persuasion cometh not of Him that calleth you.  A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump  And when Paul interprets leaven to mean “malice and wickedness how is it that where it is not interpreted it is made to mean righteousness and holiness? When Christ interprets leaven to mean hypocrisy and formalism, how is it that where it is not interpreted, as in the parable, it is made to mean the diffusive power of the gospel?  How is it that leaven is used twenty times in the Bible, and in nineteen cases it means corruption, and in the one parable it means moral purity, the saving gospel of Christ?  Does baptizo mean in nineteen cases to immerse, and in the twentieth instance to sprinkle?  If Christ always interpreted the leaven to mean evil in every other passage where it occurs, how [Page 49] were the disciples to know that it meant good in this single parable?  If Christ used a word with a well-understood meaning in every other case, how is it that the word has just the opposite meaning in this solitary instance?  It is a very safe canon of interpretation never to explain a difficult passage to mean what is not taught in some other so clearly as not to need any explanation.  Leaven in the parable, then, though unexplained, must mean what leaven does in other passages where it is explained.

 

 

3. My third argument is based upon Christ’s own interpretation of two preceding parables.

 

 

We have appealed to lexicographers for the meaning of the word leaven; we have searched the Old Testament and New Testament for the use of the term, and have found it always symbolizes corruption.  But suppose we had no dictionary - Hebrew, Greek, Latin or English - suppose we had not consulted the Scriptures outside the chapter where the parable of the leaven is recorded - if Christ’s own interpretation of two preceding parables in the immediate context teaches us that the kingdom of heaven has in it a subtle, mysterious power -  corrupting, perverting, and evermore penetrating it with evil - that fact of itself should determine the meaning of leaven in its application to the same formula - “the kingdom of heaven  Let us also remember Christ is not illustrating the kingdom of heaven so much as certain “mysteries of the kingdom

 

 

In the Parable of the Sower, three kinds of soil brought forth nothing, and the one-fourth part which did produce anything was hindered by the tares.  Now, if leaven means the gospel permeating “the mass of mankind” “until the whole is leavened[Page 50] then “the good ground” ought to leaven “the wayside” ground, “stony ground and the thorny ground, or else the good seed ought finally to grow on all these unproductive soils.  Again, to carry out the analogy, the tares ought to be crowded out by the wheat, whereas it is a fact in natural history that tares grow faster than the wheat, encroaching upon it more and more until the harvest.

 

 

To make the leaven mean the gospel permeating mankind is to contradict Christ’s interpretation of the Parables of The Sower and of The Wheat and Tares.  One parable can not contradict another.

 

 

My interpretation of the leaven harmonizes not only in the preceding parables - that evil is in the kingdom, evermore subverting the good - but it also agrees with the succeeding parables in the same chapter.  Take the Parable of the Net for example: “They gathered the good into the vessels, and cast the bad away  Now, unclean or putrid fishes are not a less befitting illustration of the leavening element than the tares - their characteristic tendency, like that of leaven, being the putrefaction of the whole mass.

 

 

Our interpretation corresponds with the explained and unexplained parables of Christ.

 

 

4. My fourth argument is based upon the testimony of Christ and His apostles concerning the condition of things at the end of this age.  If leaven means the gospel, then “the last days” will be the best days, since the whole world is thus to be leavened.  But how does this accord with other Scriptures?  The tares and wheat are to grow together until the harvest.  The wheat is not to root out the tares.  If the whole “mass of humanity” is thus to be leavened by the gospel, [Page 51] there will be nothing left to offend.  How, then, will Christ, at His coming, “gather out of His kingdom all things which offend and them which do iniquity  If all men are to be converted at the end of the age, what does Christ mean when He says that at the end of this dispensation He “will render His anger with fury and His rebuke with flames of fire?”  Why will He “smite the nations with anger and “rule them with a rod of iron  Why will He “dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel and “tread them in the wine-press of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God  If the whole lump of humanity is to be leavened with the gospel, what is there left for God to destroy in His anger?  If all men will finally have faith, what does Christ mean by saying, “When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find the faith on the* earth

 

[* Note the definite article before the word “faith  There is a particular “faith,” in a particular truth, referred to here; and it is related to a future, prophetic event.  See 1 Pet. 1: 5, 9, 11b, R.V.]

 

According the theory we oppose “the last days” will be blessed times; but the apostle says: “This know, that in the last days shall come perilous times;” “that there shall come in the last days scoffers,” etc.; “now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faithetc.  All these passages, and many others, absolutely contradict the idea that the whole “mass of humanity” is to be leavened by the gospel in the last days.  Instead of Christ being revealed to all men in the last days, “that wicked shall be revealed, whom the Lord will destroy with the brightness of His coming The fact is, the last days of this dispensation are to end in fearful apostasy: “The end shall not come except there be a falling away first etc.

 

 

The interpretation of the leaven which makes it to mean “the gospel permeating the mass of humanity” [Page 52] until the whole is leavened, contradicts the explained and unexplained parables of Christ; it contradicts what Christ and all the apostles foretold concerning the last days.  On the other hand, my interpretation harmonizes with all these passages.

 

 

5. My fifth argument is based upon the fact that the leaven was hid in three measures of meal.  There is something suspicious about that word hid.  Are we ever commanded to hide the gospel?  Are we commanded to hide our light under a bushel?  “If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost  If the psalmist hid God’s word in his heart, he went and told of it, and so confessed Christ before men.  It is said of Christ, “He could not be hid  Nor can the gospel be hid.  “It is like fire shut up in our bones it will burn through. “We can but speak the things which we have seen and heard  This does not look much like hiding the gospel in the world.  The word hid, in connection with the leaven, looks ominous.  It looks like the enemy who sowed tares while men slept.  It looks like the servant who hid his lord’s money.  It looks like the secret, subtle influence of error, which loves darkness rather than light.

 

 

But who hid the leaven of corruption in the kingdom?  A woman!  What woman?  The meritorious one, the bride of Christ, or the meretricious one, the Mother of Harlots?  Evidently the latter committed the corrupt act, and the former permitted it to spread.  A woman hid the leaven!  Has this woman ever done any secret, subtle, Jesuitical work in the world?  Has she ever corrupted the church with false doctrine?  Has she ever worn a mask?  Has she ever done any thing by stealth?  Do you recognize the woman who [Page 53] took the leaven of corrupt doctrine and hid it in three measures of meal?

 

 

6.  My sixth argument is based upon the fact that meal is everywhere in the Bible used as a symbol of truth or doctrine.  Bread, the staff of life, is a symbol of Christ, and His doctrine the bread of life: “For man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God  As leaven is meal soured and corrupted, it would be natural to expect that it would represent corrupt doctrine.  Accordingly the disciples understood how He made them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.  Now if the three measures of pure meal represent doctrine as uncorrupted, they can not represent the entire “mass of humanity  If meal represents doctrine pure and uncontaminated, it can not represent depraved humanity.  Now a question arises, Can the doctrine of Christ become corrupted by the leaven of false doctrine?  We answer, it is not only possible, but certain, that men “have changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man Men have “changed the truth of God lie  “They have wrested the Scriptures to their destruction  The true doctrine has been perverted by its mixture with the leaven of false doctrine.  One thing is worse than error, and that is truth mixed with it.  Just as men can corrupt God’s pure grain in soil, so can men corrupt the pure word of God.

 

 

7. My seventh argument is based upon the fact that three measures do not represent the whole world, and therefore if leaven meant the gospel it would not permeate the whole mass of humanity.  Three is never [Page 54] used to represent completeness.  Seven is the number for totality.  All divine truth will not become corrupted; only that which is allowed to come into the domain of the leaven.

 

 

The next Step is from corrupt doctrine to corrupt men who embrace it and live upon it.  As the kingdom of heaven does not and will not embrace the whole world in this dispensation, although it certainly will in the next, so the three parts affected by the leaven of perverted doctrine will not embrace the whole world, but only that part where the kingdom of heaven in its present unorganized condition may exist.  The leaven will not work in heathenism.  Only where the pure doctrine has been preached will it corrupt creeds and men.

 

 

The gospel of the kingdom may be preached in the world for a witness, and not reach more than three measures out of seven.  The leaven, consisting of three principles - the leaven of Herod, the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of the Sadducees - is fast leavening Christendom to-day, and the whole is destined to be leavened after God’s true people have been caught away.  Then comes apostasy and the great tribulations, and then the millennium.

 

 

8. My eighth and last argument is based on the fact that the gospel does not work like leaven.  This is thought to be the strong point in the interpretation which we antagonize.  They say the point of analogy is not in the character of the leaven, but in its silent, gradual and accelerated operation.  But this is not true to fact. The gospel never had any such gradual and accelerated movement.  It has advanced in one age and retrograded in another.  It has become totally [Page 55] extinct in one nation, and has succeeded in another.  On the other hand, the pure doctrines of Christ in part have been more and more corrupt from the beginning.  Like streams of water, the further they flow from their source the more impure they become.

 

 

The time will come when the earth will not have a real Christian left in it, nor a pure doctrine taught from any of its so-called wise men.  The whole fabric of professed Christianity will be leavened and corrupted with false teaching.  But blessed be God, His true people will be saved out of this tribulation that is to come on the earth!

 

 

When men tell us that the gospel works like leaven we reply, the assertion is not true to fact.

 

 

When they tell us that “three measures of meal” represent the “whole mass of humanity” it is not true to fact.

 

 

When they tell us that such an interpretation is in harmony with Christ’s explained parables, it is not true to fact.

 

 

A scientist was once reminded that his theory did not correspond with the facts.  “Then said he, “so much the worse for the facts

 

 

We believe our interpretation to be in harmony with all the facts of the Parable of the Leaven and with all other parables and the whole word of God.

 

 

The only objection to our interpretation of the Parable of the Leaven comes to us from an old minister in Arkansas, who, in sustaining the current but erroneous idea that the leaven which was hidden in the meal symbolizes the gospel of our salvation, urges the literal language of the parable of Christ – “the kingdom of heaven is like leaven etc.  The kingdom of heaven [Page 56] is a visible earthly organization, and he can not for the life of him find anything in this organization that is like leaven.  To this good brother’s theory, held by him in common with the majority of readers, we submit the very just remarks of a brother editor on the parable of the “drag net in answer to one who asks him, if the net does not represent the visible church of Christ, because Christ said “the kingdom of heaven is like a net  “Those who take that position ought to notice that while, in the present instance, the kingdom of heaven is compared to a net, in the Parable of the Tares it is compared to ‘a man’ who sowed seed; and the true idea is that in neither case is the thing mentioned first as an element in the comparison the real thing to be contemplated in it.  In the one case, the important thing is not the man sowing the seed, but the field in which it is sown, and the treatment meted out to the tares at harvest-time; and in the other case, the important thing is not the net, but the discrimination which will finally be made

 

 

So in this parable the kingdom of heaven is not the important idea designed to be compared, but the corrupting power of leaven in an ephah of meal is compared to the corrupting power of error, or false doctrine, when infused into the saving doctrine of Christ - the gospel of man’s salvation - and prophetically teaches us that a power inimical to Christ would corrupt the pure gospel of Christ by stealthily introducing soul-destroying error into it, until the whole was leavened.

 

 

*       *       *

[Page 57]

 

CHAPTER 4

 

THE PARABLE OF THE MUSTARD TREE

AND BIRDS OF THE AIR

 

 

THE MUSTARD TREE

 

 

THIS is one of the four parables delivered in connection to teach and illustrate the same sad fact - the malignant, subtle and persistent opposition of Satan, the great adversary, to the work Christ undertook to accomplish.  In the Parable of the Tares we see how stealthily Satan oversowed with tares the field which Christ sowed with good seed.  In the Parable of the Leaven we see a false [or deceived] church, under the symbol of a woman, hiding, stealthily infusing, false doctrine into the true doctrine of Christ, to corrupt and thereby pervert it.  In the Parable of the Mustard Tree and the Birds of the Air, which is prophetical, we learn how His kingdom, when it became large and prosperous, would be injured by the introduction into it of foreign, hostile influences.

 

 

The principal features of this parable are:

 

1. The insignificant seed sown.

 

 

2. The sower.

 

 

3. The tree.

 

 

4. The fowls of the air.

 

 

5. Their work - lodgement in the branches.

 

 

1. By the small seed sown it is evident the kingdom of Christ in its incipiency is symbolized.  It was [Page 58] at first, indeed, the least of all kingdoms ever founded.  Greece and Rome commenced with but a few hundred men and their leader: but this with the King and the few people prepared for Him by His herald, John the Baptist.  It was the object of the world’s ridicule and scorn and fierce opposition.  Those who beheld it did not believe that anything could possibly come of it; it was, indeed, the most insignificant of all kingdoms.  It was pointed forward to by Isaiah as “a handful of corn on the top of the mountain,” and by Daniel as a stone cut out of the mountain without hands.

 

 

The sower of the seed was the same personage who is represented as sowing the good seed in the Parable of the Tares, and in the subsequent parable, and He it was who founded His kingdom by His own personal efforts, and not through the agency of others; for the stone was cut out without hands - human agency.  Let this vital fact be constantly borne in mind that Christ has but one kingdom, and that this He “set up organized Himself, during His personal ministry on this earth, and not through the agency of others before His advent or subsequent to His ascension.  It was a part of the work that was given Him to do, and which made it necessary for Him to come to this earth.

 

 

Religious organizations set up by men since the ascension of Christ, though called churches, certainly are not churches, nor do they compose in whole or in part the kingdom of Christ.  As He never set up but one kingdom, and never has had but one, so from the day He set it up He has always had one.  From the day He constituted it, although the malignant enemy has done all in his power to impede its growth, and to [Page 59] destroy it, nevertheless, like the stone of the mountain, it has never ceased for one hour to roll, and, like the mustard tree, for one moment to grow; and, blessed be God, it will roll on, and grow on, until under the personal administration and reign of Christ it shall become “a great mountain and fill the whole earth*

 

* With this prophecy (Dan. 2: 44) and this parable before his eyes, how can a candid interpreter of God’s word say that this kingdom has for ages together ceased to exist, or deny that there has been an unbroken succession of the true churches of Christ since as the constituents of His kingdom?  The kingdom could not exist for one day or an hour without the existence of one or more true churches of Christ.

 

 

The mustard tree symbolizes the kingdom of Christ - small at first and insignificant, yet growing steadily on until, by its wide-spreading branches and cooling shade, it will attract “the birds of the air  The stone became a great mountain, and the handful of corn on the mountain top waved like the forests of Lebanon.  So the little handful of disciples which Christ first organized into a kingdom has already become a large and far-spreading empire, and the birds of the air are everywhere seeking lodgement in its branches.

 

 

THE BIRDS OF THE AIR

 

 

It is important that we ascertain who are represented by these.

 

 

It is as true as it is an old adage that “the Scriptures are their own interpreters  It is certainly a doubtful procedure to explain one part of the Scriptures independent of other Scriptures, since no Scripture is of private - i.e. separate - interpretation.

 

 

As in algebra, although we make several [Page 60] independent equations in working out a given problem, if we find the value of x or y in one we can safely substitute that value for the x or y in each of the other equations.

 

 

In the Parable of the Leaven and Meal we found that leaven in both the Old and New Testaments represented that which is corrupt, false doctrine, and therefore this must be its true meaning in the Parable of the Leaven and Meal.  Let us apply this rule.  In the following Parable of the Sower, they were fowls, “the birds of the air that caught away the seed that was sown by the wayside.

 

 

Christ interprets these to represent the agencies Satan employs to catch away the good seed of the gospel [of the kingdom], which was sown in the hearts of the class of men represented by the “wayside

 

 

“Satan employs a variety of agents, as wicked men,* and other evil spirits – Williams’ Commentary in loco.

 

[*NOTE. He also is in the business of the employment of regenerate men whom he has duped!  We draw this conclusion from Post-millennialist and Anti-Millennialist Christians.]

 

 

We are safe, therefore, in interpreting fowls of the air as representing “wicked” [or deceived] men.

 

 

What is done by the emissaries and men under the instigation and influence of the wicked one, is properly said to be done by himself.  Here the fowls of the air are doubtless wicked men moved by Satan.  They appertain to his kingdom; and he is the prince of the powers of the air - the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience.

 

 

This “tree” was cultivated for its seed, and when ripe vast quantities of it were destroyed by the birds of the air.  They did the tree no good, but injury.

 

 

Every orchardist knows how destructive the birds are to his fruit trees, and several kinds of fruit, as cherries, of which birds are peculiarly fond, have to [Page 61] be constantly guarded, and the birds driven out, to secure anything like a crop.

 

 

These “fowls of the air” did not come to sing, but to “lodge” - to roost - in the branches.  If any one doubts the result of this use of a tree, or a forest of trees, let him examine a pigeon or turkey roost, where they do, in multitudes, congregate at night to lodge.  The limbs are broken down and the tree defiled with their excrescences; its beauty and symmetry defaced, its growth impeded; and, unless the lodge or roost is soon broken up, the tree is destroyed.  This was a prophetic parable, pointing forward to the time when the kingdom of Christ would become so extensive and popular that the [duped regenerate and] unregenerate and wicked - worldly men and women - would flock into it, not to succour and cultivate, but simply to lodge in it - use it for their own advantage.  The result of the gathering of the children of this world into any church of Christ is to it what the lodging of a multitude of the “birds of the air” is to a young and tender tree.  They will effectually deface its beauty, mar its symmetry, break down its moral strength, and if they are not driven out they will ultimately ruin the church itself.  Turn and read the most earnest exhortations of the apostles to the early churches to cut off and put away from themselves all worldly and wicked* characters.  It does not follow because wicked men should not be rooted out of the earth before the end of the next age, that therefore the manifestly ungodly should not be excluded from the church.

 

[* See 1 Cor. 5: 13, R.V.]

 

 

The teaching of this parable agrees with that of the apostles everywhere that, unless unregenerate and wicked men and women are strictly kept out of, and [Page 62] excluded, when found in, the churches of Christ, they will be corrupted and their moral and spiritual influence destroyed.

 

 

This Scripture is being fulfilled before our eyes in this age.  The churches have become so conformed to the world that they have become popular with the world; all persecution for Christ’s sake has ceased, and worldly, wicked men and women are flocking into the churches.  In fact, it has become fashionable to be an active and much respected member of “some church” - of some religious organization called a church.

 

 

It is also a fact, owing to the multitude of those “lodgers” - unregenerate worldly men and women - in our churches, that scriptural discipline has become impossible, and the spiritual life and moral power of our churches are paralyzed.

 

 

An aged and thoughtful pastor not long since remarked in our hearing that he feared that not more than half of the members of his church were truly regenerated men and women.

 

 

I have heard several pastors in the last five years make substantially the same remark.  Verily, verily, the fowls of the air are flocking to lodge in the branches of the symbolized “Mustard Tree

 

 

There can nothing be gathered from this parable to favour the theory that the whole world will be truly converted and gathered into the kingdom of Christ before His second coming.  If by the fowls of the air wicked men are represented, then the parable teaches that “the kingdom of heaven” - the true churches of Christ that constitute it - in the latter days, will be filled with unregenerate men, and the last phase of [Page 63] Christianity in this dispensation will be worse than the first - the field overcrowded with tares, the pure doctrine of Christ perverted by the infusion of deadly error, and the kingdom of Christ demoralized by a worldly, unregenerate membership.

 

 

The advocates of that theory known as the Church-Branch Theory refer to this parable, and to this alone, for its support.

 

 

I suppose the misunderstanding and misconstruction of the parable originated the theory.  The mustard tree, they claim, represents the one true church of Christ; and, as the tree is composed of many branches, so the church is composed of many denominations; indeed, that all the so-called denominations claiming to be churches that have existed, or that now exist, on this earth, taken together, have constituted, and do now constitute, the church.

 

 

There are many and insuperable difficulties in the way of this most irrational and absurd theory.

 

 

1. Christ has no visible or invisible organization called “the church  There is no visible or invisible organization on earth known in the word of God as “the church,” composed of all existing churches.  It is a mere conception, not a reality.  Whenever the phrase “the church of Christ” occurs, it is a figurative expression, by metonomy one being put for all.

 

 

2. Christ did not say that His church was like a mustard tree, but that His kingdom was.  And the branches of this tree would therefore represent the constituents of which the kingdom is composed - all of Christ’s true local churches.

 

 

3. The branches of this mustard tree, like the [Page 64] branches of any other tree, were identically of the same wood, and not each of a different kind of wood.  And these branches were organically united with the one body, and therefore with each other, like the members of our bodies, and each “branch” bore identically the same seed.

 

 

But in the conceptional tree of the church-branch theory the tree is all branches, without any trunk or body. And, stranger yet, if it is indeed possible for anything to be stranger, each branch is of a widely different species of wood, and bears radically different doctrines, having no organic connection with each other, and of course not with its body or trunk, for it has none.  Most wonderful freak of nature!  Most wonderful monstrosity!  Nothing more monstrously absurd, save the church theory built upon the idea!

 

 

The kingdom of heaven, of God, of Christ, is composed, as I have said, of all Christ’s true local churches. These are the only executives of His kingdom, and they alone give it visibility.  These churches are not heterogeneous and radically diverse, and therefore antagonistic bodies, but homogeneous - essentially alike - and therefore harmonious.

 

 

Christ himself said that a house divided against itself could not stand, and a kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation.  Christ, therefore, did not build His “church which He calls His house, or constitute His kingdom, of diverse and antagonistic organizations, like the various existing denominations - that must conflict with each other because holding different, contradictious doctrines, and, from the very nature of the case, as one prevails in a given section all the others are exterminated by it.  Built of [Page 65] such heterogeneous material, His house would soon fall and His kingdom be brought to desolation.

 

 

Surely what a flagrant perversion of Christ’s teachings is this gross travesty of this parable, by which it is wrested so as to contradict the unfigurative teachings of Christ and his apostles!

 

 

If I do no more by these expositions than to rescue this one parable from such misleading teachings, my humble effort will not be altogether in vain.  But by another and a large class of expositors it is claimed that Christ intended to teach by this parable that ultimately the whole world will be Christianized and gathered into His church or kingdom, because He said, “The fowls of the air lodged in the branches of this tree  But, unfortunately for this theory, Christ in the next parable tells us that the “fowls of the air” represent the devil - i.e. evil spirits or wicked men - since he used these to accomplish his wicked purposes, and in this case his purpose is certainly not to help the kingdom of Christ, but to injure it by the introduction of wicked men into it.

 

 

I can not doubt that this parable is a prophecy foreshadowing the fact that in after years Christianity would become so extended and popular that His churches - which compose His kingdom - would be demoralized by the introduction of masses of unregenerate members.

 

 

The thoughtful student of church history is impressed with no fact more forcibly than that the great apostasy of the primitive churches which occurred in the third, fourth and fifth centuries was brought about by the introduction of the world - unregenerate men - those churches and this was effected by [Page 66] corrupting the true doctrine of Christ by the introduction of the leaven of false doctrine, sacramental salvation, viz: teaching that the grace of remission of sins and regeneration, and consequently salvation, was communicated alone through the ordinances of the church.

 

 

Hence the Catholic aphorism, “No salvation out of the church” - a doctrine still held by the Catholics and all Protestant State churches until this day.  The natural result of this teaching, as all can see, was to bring all infants and the whole world - all “the fowls of the air” - to lodge in those “churches,” and thus has this prophecy had a fulfilment before our eyes.  And every thoughtful Christian will freely admit that the greatest danger that now menaces the kingdom of Christ in this age is the easy and rapid introduction of the worldly and unregenerate into our churches.

 

 

A willingness to join the church and be baptized is, alas! too generally accounted a satisfactory qualification for the rite and church membership.  Unless this tendency is speedily and effectively checked, a second and general apostasy will follow, as certainly as one sun-set follows another, from the same cause.

 

 

This parable should impress both the ministry and membership of our churches with the sacred duty of guarding with holy vigilance against the entrance of the unregenerate into our churches, and, by the exercise of a strict gospel discipline, driving out all “the fowls of the air” that are now lodging in them.

 

 

*       *       *

[Page 67]

 

CHAPTER 5

 

THE SOWER AND BIRDS OF THE AIR

 

 

PARABLE

 

 

“AND He spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold a sower went forth to sow; and when he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside, and the fowls came and devoured them.  Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth, and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth; and when the sun was up they were scorched, and, because they had no root, they withered away.  And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprung up and choked them.  But others fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold- Matt. 13: 3-8.

 

 

DIVINE INTERPRETATION

 

 

“Hear ye, therefore, the Parable of the Sower.  When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not,* then cometh the wicked one and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the wayside.  But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while; for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by, he is offended.  He [Page 68] also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word, and the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.  But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word and understandeth it, which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.” - Matt. 13: 18-23.

 

* It has been said there are four different kinds of hearers of the word [of the KINGDOM]: Those like a sponge, that suck up good and bad together, and let both run out immediately - “having ears and hearing not;” those like a sand-glass, that let what enters in at one ear pass out at the other - hearing without thinking; those like a strainer, letting go the good and retaining the bad; and those like the sieve, letting go the chaff and retaining the good grain.

 

 

This parable is so specifically interpreted by Christ that no extended exposition is needed, and I shall therefore only call attention to its general scope and dispensational teaching.

 

 

I think the first great fact taught by this parable is, that the whole field - i.e. the whole world, for He has told us the field is the world (Matt. 13.) - is, by the  ministry of His disciples to be sown with the good seed of the gospel of salvation, notwithstanding its size or its apparent hard or stony or thorny parts (unpromising parts), and not here and there a patch only to be put in the highest state of cultivation.  This was the duty Christ enjoined upon His apostles, and commanded them to teach all those discipled by them to observe all things He had commanded them - His apostles.  If, then, it was the duty of the apostles and the primitive churches to preach the gospel [of the kingdom as well as the grace of God] to all nations, it is manifestly the duty of every one who hears the gospel to receive it, and obey its requirements; and if any are unable, by natural defects, to do so, it certainly can not rightfully be made their duty to do so.  I will illustrate to the reader.

 

 

Suppose a benevolent agriculturist should propose to plant for you, a farmer, one acre of your land with an exceedingly rare and valuable variety of cotton-seed, each seed fruiting being worth to you five or ten dollars. What would be your conduct?

 

[Page 69]

1. Would you not put a good fence around that acre that would effectually close up any neighbourhood road leading over it, and shut off any foot-paths leading through it, and this for the most obvious purposes?

 

 

2. Would you not thoroughly plow up the hard soil, and put it in good tilth for the proposed planting?

 

 

3. If there were briar or thorn patches on this acre, would you not carefully grub them up, “root and branch” and burn them, and gather up the stones, if any, and carry them off?  So teach the Scriptures.  Break up the fallow ground of your hearts, and sow not among thorns (Jer. 4: 3).  “And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof

 

 

4. If there was a glady or barren spot on it, where the soil was thin and poor, would you not treat it with a few loads of richer earth, and enrich it with manure?  You would do all these things, and give that acre the most diligent cultivation most certainly, and not think them either too hard or unreasonable; and you would give that acre, while that crop was growing, the most diligent cultivation, and allow nothing of minor importance to divert your attention until that crop was made, and the rich results secured.

 

 

Is it not a gospel truth that sinners are in a great measure responsible for the hardness and thorny condition of their hearts, and their inconsiderateness and trifling with divine things?

 

 

5. By this parable Christ further taught His disciples how subtle and successful and constant would the efforts of Satan to abort and render ineffectual the good seed of the gospel [of the kingdom] sown by their ministry, and all spiritual influences exerted on the hearts of their hearers.  And He doubtless gave them this [Page 70] instruction to the end that they might not be discouraged or overwhelmed with disappointment when they saw how very few of all the multitudes they preached to would receive and be benefited by their preaching.  In this parable only one-fourth of all who heard the word [of the kingdom] brought forth any fruit.  This would be a very large estimate when applied to the ministry of His disciples during this gospel dispensation.  Not one in a hundred - nay, not even in a thousand - of those who heard the gospel preached by Christ and His apostles “in the demonstration of the Spirit and in power” by manifold and wonderful miracles.  Indeed, of all that vast throng then before Him, and of the throng at one time of five thousand, and another of seven thousand, all went back save the twelve apostles, and followed Him no more, because they were displeased with His teachings!

 

 

6. By the manifest teachings of this parable we are justified and warranted in the belief - aye forced to conclude - that this will be the case during the entire gospel, or Gentile, dispensation as it was during the ministry of Christ and His apostles, and as we see it is at this present time.  How confirmatory of this sad fact is the express declaration of Christ, which will be as true the day before His second advent as it was in His day, and we see it is in our day:

 

 

“Enter ye in at the strait gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be that go in thereat.” - Matt. 7: 13.

 

 

“Because strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” - Matt. 7: 14.

 

 

This will be true to the very close of this dispensation, until the law that shall go forth from Zion and [Page 71] the word of the Lord from Jerusalem shall take the place of this written word.

 

 

Think of seventy-two ministers and seventy-two Baptist churches with their twenty thousand members who have for years been labouring to Christianize one hundred inhabited square miles of Pennsylvania, at a cost of $117,284 per annum for preaching, and an outlay of $2,642,580 already made for houses of worship to preach the gospel in, and yet the number of non-professors is increasing yearly!  How long will it take to Christianize this small area? and how many millions of money? and so of Boston, New York and all the other towns and cities on this continent?

 

 

It is not for this purpose that Christ commanded the gospel to he preached to all nations.  He leaves us not to speculate about this, but expressly tells us, “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.” (Matt. 24: 14.)  And to the intent that all nations might be judged by it, and to take out of them a people for His name.  “Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name.” (Acts 15: 14.)

 

 

The churches have been taught, and are now being taught, that Christ has imposed the duty upon them to Christianize all men of all nations, which He certainly has nowhere done, or intimated that such is their duty. That it is the duty of the churches of this age to preach the gospel to every nation under the whole heaven to the extent of their ability no one has a right for one moment to doubt.  It was for this purpose His churches were organized.  This duty He [Page 72] enjoined upon them in His first sermon on the mount.  This duty He commanded His apostles to enjoin upon all those who should be discipled by them, and this duty He enjoined in His farewell address to His disciples on the Mount of Olives.  We are failing to do this by aiming at universal Christianization, and not at universal evangelization, of the nations - endeavouring to convert parts, patches, and not to evangelize the whole.

 

 

We are spending millions of money and scores of lives in attempting to Christianize all the inhabitants dwelling upon a few square miles, high farming on a few patches, and leaving the great field unsown.

 

 

This is not the age of universal conversion.  That can not be even comparatively effected until Satan is bound, and cast out of the earth, so that he can deceive the nations no more.  Hear what Christ says:

 

 

“Verily the strong man armed [Satan] keepeth his palace [this world] and his goods in peace, and he will keep it until the stronger than he cometh and he will first bind him and cast him out and take possession of his goods.” (See Rev. 20: l.)

 

 

This is the age of universal evangelization, and not for the conversion of every creature.  We are not left to speculate as to Christ’s design in this.  He has most explicitly informed us:

 

 

“And this GOSPEL [i.e., the ‘good news’ or ‘glad tidings’] of THE KINGDOM shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end [of this evil age - not of this world] come.” - Matt. 26: 14.

 

 

As we would hasten that end, and, as lovers of the Saviour, hasten His glorious coming, to dethrone Satan, and enthrone Himself and His saints as rulers [Page 73] of this world, we should do all in our power, by effort, by prayer, and by our means, to aid in preaching the gospel [of Messiah’s coming kingdom] “to all nations for a witness

 

 

The apostles clearly understood that it was their duty to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, and they as clearly understood that but comparatively few of earth’s population would be saved.

 

 

Let us then, as churches of the living Christ, clearly understand the duty He enjoins on us.  When He gave His marching orders He did not say, “All will be born at once or “All will be converted before you or “before My second advent” - no such thought is ever found in all His teachings.  The command is, “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature The only promise is, “Lo, I am with you alway  He knew how much we would need His presence.  He knew that the messenger would be rejected as His Master had been.  His presence, not our success, was to be our comfort.

 

 

He is a poor servant who goes merely by success.  At the day of the Lord the word will not be, “Well done good and successful servant,” but, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant  We can not command success.  But we can all aim at faithfulness; we can...all, by relying upon His grace and presence, be faithful unto death.  “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life the Master said to those who were to be His witnesses, not to be received but to be murdered.  Faithful in the little, we shall be rewarded with the crown He will give, for, “If we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him” – “We shall be glorified together  To-day is the day [Page 74] of the Cross, and our witnessing to Him, to the uttermost ends of the earth.  The glory, the crown, the reward, will soon be there, and above all Himself.  The Man of Calvary, the Man whom Stephen saw standing at the right hand of God, whom Saul saw on the way to Damascus, will appear in royal glory to put down all the wrong, to exalt all the right - to put down all rule and authority opposed to God, and reign in righteousness over a sin-blighted world.

 

 

Let us, then, cheerfully labour, and sacrifice liberally of the means He himself has given us, to hasten His coming by aiding in sending forth the missionaries of the Cross to sow the whole field, by preaching the gospel to the nations now sitting in darkness, and to the isles that are waiting for His law.

 

 

*       *       *

 

[Page 75]

PARABLES ILLUSTRATING

 

 

CHRIST

 

 

SEEKING, FINDING AND REDEEMING

 

 

A LOST WORLD

 

 

AND

 

 

A LOST RACE.

 

 

-------

 

 

1. THE LOST SHEEP.

 

 

2. THE LOST COIN.

 

 

3. THE PURCHASED FIELD.

 

 

4. THE PURCHASED PEARL.

 

[Page 76 blank Page 77]

 

 

 

CHAPTER 6

 

 

CHRIST SEEKING, FINDING AND

REDEEMING THE LOST

 

 

THE Saviour having taught His disciples how sin was introduced into the world through the personal machinations of His Arch Adversary, the devil, and its disastrous consequences to the world and a wicked race, we would naturally expect that He would reveal to them, and through them to us, His own gracious mission to this earth, His own amazing, wondrous love in seeking to save a lost world, and restore it to its primitive relation to the unfallen worlds of God’s universe, since a failure to recover what was lost would be a reflection upon His care or His honour.  This I think He has done.  By referring to Luke’s record of His teachings (chapter 15.), we find He makes the murmuring of the Pharisees because He received sinners, and ate with them, the occasion of teaching them that His mission was to seek and save the lost - lost men and the lost world.  This He does in three striking parabolic illustrations, in which the careful reader will discover an advance in the thought from the care of a shepherd for a wandering sheep to the anxiety of a woman for a lost ornament, reaching its climax in the deeper love of a father for his banished and lost son.

 

 

These parables of Christ were designedly constructed [Page 78] by Him, He tells us (Matt. 3: 10, 18), so as to convey a sense that the Jews seeing could see, and yet not perceive, and hearing could hear, and yet not understand.  Does not this language imply that there was a primary or superficial sense and application of them that the Jews could readily see, as the tender care and responsibility of a good shepherd for all his sheep, the anxiety of a woman for a lost ornament – coin - which is a part of a valuable ornament - and the deeper love of a fond father for a lost son; and yet does it not imply that there was a broader and deeper “meaning which they did not and could not perceive” or “understand embracing, as it did, the great truths of His redeeming love, and the mysteries of His mediatorial kingdom on earth - i.e. His equal love for all men, and His merciful provision of salvation for the Gentiles as well as the Jews?

 

 

If I am right in this, the primary sense or application of the parables bears the same relation to their deeper and real meaning as the hull or shell does to the luscious meat of the kernel or nut.  With this key in hand let us examine the three parables recorded together by Luke (chapter 15.) in their order.  I call attention to the first:

 

 

THE LOST SHEEP

 

 

“Then drew near unto Him all the publicans and sinners for to hear Him.  And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.  And He spake this parable unto them, saying, What man of you having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness and go after that which is lost until he find it?  And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.  And when he cometh home he calleth together his [Page 79] friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.  I say unto you that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.” - Luke 16: 1-7.

 

 

The Saviour undoubtedly designed by this parable primarily to teach these self-righteous and scornful Pharisees that all which the Father had given to Him were equally dear to Him, and that among those were the poor and the degraded and the outcasts of earth, the lightly esteemed of men, and He came to seek and save these very persons because they were lost.  Upon another occasion He shows that, by dining with Zacchaeus, who was a publican, He came not to call the self-righteous, but sinners, to repentance.  In this parable, then, we have:

 

1. The shepherd.

 

 

2. The lost sheep.

 

 

3. The long and painful search.

 

 

4. The joy upon the discovery.

 

 

5. The Father as the owner of the sheep.

 

 

Christ is the Shepherd, He of whom David sang in that sweetest of his pastoral songs: “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.”  Christ assumes this character towards all whom the Father gave Him to save in the covenant of redemption.  He says:

 

 

“I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.  But he that is a hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep and fleeth; and the wolf catcheth them and scattereth the sheep.  The hireling fleeth because he is a hireling, and careth not for the sheep.  I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.  As the Father knoweth me, even so know [Page 80] I the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.  And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold; them also must I bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.” - John 10: 11-16.

 

 

The lost sheep in its lowest parabolic symbolism, then, represents lost sinners given to the Son in the covenant of redemption to save, and therefore the obligation upon Him to seek and save it.  Used in this sense, His leaving the ninety-nine in the wilderness while he goes to seek the lost one would be but the more striking and true to life.  I submit the following account of what a traveller saw upon the Alps:

 

 

“One day we were making our way, with ice-axe and alpenstock, down the Aletusch Glacier, when we observed a flock of sheep following their shepherds over the intricate windings between crevasses, and so passing from the pastures on the one side of the glacier to the pastures on the other.  The flock had numbered two hundred all told; but on the way one sheep had got lost.  One of the shepherds, in his German patois, appealed to us if we had seen it.  Fortunately, one of the party had a field-glass.  With its aid we discovered the lost sheep far up amid a tangle of brushwood, on the rocky mountain side.  It was beautiful to see how the shepherd, without a word, left his hundred and ninety-nine sheep out on the glacier waste (knowing that they would stand there perfectly still and safe), and went clambering back after the lost sheep until he found it.  And he actually put it on his shoulder and ‘returned rejoicing  Here was our Lord’s parable enacted before our eyes, though the shepherd was all unconscious of it, and it brought our Lord’s teaching home to us with a vividness which none can realize but those who saw the incident

 

 

For a shepherd to lose a sheep would be a severe [Page 81] reflection upon his qualifications as a good shepherd. 

These in all countries are:

 

1. Ability to defend them.

 

 

2. Fidelity.

 

 

3. Tenderness.

 

 

4. Responsibility.

 

 

He said in the sheep-raising countries (shepherds are professional characters - they make it a life business) these qualifications are always required, and especially the last, for the shepherd is made responsible for all he takes the care of, and the life and welfare, therefore, of one sheep is as important to him, and as much the subject of his care, as of another.  It was so from the earliest times in the East.  Jacob said to Laban that while he had served him in the capacity of shepherd or herdsman -

 

 

“This twenty years have I been with thee; thy ewes and thy she goats have not cast their young, and the rams of thy flock have I not eaten.  That which was torn of beasts I brought not unto thee; I bare the loss of it; of my hands didst thou require it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night.” - Gen. 31: 38, 39.

 

 

It is the joy of every Christian that our Shepherd-Redeemer possesses these qualifications in an infinite degree. 1. He is omnipotent to save.  2. He is omniscient to see all that can possibly happen to the least of His sheep. 3. He is all-merciful, and His tender mercies are over all committed to His care. 4. He is infinitely responsible, and has made Himself so to the Father in an “Everlasting Covenant  It is impossible, therefore, for one of His to be lost.  It would be an everlasting dishonour to the Shepherd of Israel to lose the least lamb of His flock:

 

 

“All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me; and Him [Page 82] that cometh to Me I will in nowise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me.  And this is the Father’s will which hath sent Me, that all of which He hath given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.” - John 6: 37-39.

 

 

“But ye believe not, because ye are not of My sheep, as I said unto you.  My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My band.  My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father’s hand.” - John 10: 26-29.

 

 

“Of them which Thou gavest Me have I lost none.” - John 18: 9.

 

 

Well has the poet expressed it:

 

“His honour is engaged to save

The weakest of His sheep;

All whom the heavenly Father gave,

His hands securely keep

 

 

Upon such a firm foundation, then, does the preservation of His people rest.  Let this lost sheep, in its primary application, therefore, represent lost sinners for whom Christ died, and whom He came to seek that He might save, and these are generally among the very “publicans and sinners” in the estimation of the world and the self-righteous,

 

 

His leaving the ninety-nine and going after that which was lost, represents all that He did and suffered in His life and in His death, as well as all the agencies He now inspires and employs in connection with His church in the recovery of lost men.  In the wilderness of this world will He prosecute this mission until all given Him - every “sheep” - shall have been found and brought into the fold.

 

 

Not the least feature of this parable is the joy [Page 83] manifested upon the recovery of the lost sheep.  The Saviour manifestly emphasized the fact, that He might impress those Pharisees with the inestimable value God placed upon the soul of one of the wickedest and most degraded of those publicans who gathered around Him, and whom He sought to save.  There is joy in heaven over the least one of them more than over ninety and nine, or nine hundred and ninety-nine, sinless angels who need no repentance.

 

 

There is another thought that a teacher in Israel might use.  If the angels in heaven rejoice when a sinner repents, is it not because of the fact that his salvation is secured, and there is no possibility of his ever being again lost?  Otherwise they may be rejoicing in heaven over his repentance, and he have fallen lower than at first since the news reached them, if the angel that bore it was as long as was the angel God sent to communicate with Daniel - i.e. three weeks.

 

 

With the following song, based on this interpretation, Mr. Sankey moved all Scotland, pre-eminently a country of shepherds and sheep-owners, as it was never moved by song.  The relation of a good shepherd to the weakest of his sheep, the scribes and Pharisees, to whom it was addressed, hearing could hear, while its deeper and broader meaning they did not understand; but Christ explained it to His disciples.

 

 

THE NINETY AND NINE

 

 

There were ninety and nine that safely lay

In the shelter of the fold;

But one was out on the hills away,

Far off from the gates of gold -

Away on the mountains wild and bare -

Away from the tender Shepherd’s care.

 

 

“Lord, Thou hast here Thy ninety and nine,

Are they not enough for Thee?”

But the Shepherd made answer: “’Tis of Mine

Has wandered away from Me,

And, although the road be rough and steep,

I go to the desert to find My sheep.”

 

 

But none of the ransomed ever knew

How deep the waters crossed,

Nor how dark was the night that the Lord passed through

Ere He found His sheep that was lost.

Out in the desert He heard its cry -

Sick and helpless and ready to die.

 

 

“Lord, whence are those blood drops, all the way,

That mark out the mountain’s track?”

“They were shed for one who had gone astray

Ere the Shepherd could bring him back.”

“Lord, whence are Thy hands so rent and torn?”

“They are pierced to-night by many a thorn.”

 

 

But all through the mountains, thunder-riven,

And up from the rocky steep,

There rose a cry to the gate of heaven

“Rejoice! I have found My sheep!”

And the angels echoed around the throne,

“Rejoice! for the Lord brings back His own!”

 

 

I think this parable may safely be interpreted, in its deeper and broader significance, so as to supplement that of the tares, revealing to His disciples of that age, and through them to the world of all ages, the wonderful self-sacrificing love that moved the Son of God to engage to seek and to save one of the lost worlds of God’s universe - lost through the machinations of Satan.  If we may so understand it, the lost sheep, the original and rightful property of the Father, symbolizes this lost world of ours, alienated by reason of [Page 85] sin, and rolling far away from God, into the blackness of hopeless darkness forever - lost without the merciful intervention of a compassionate and an almighty and merciful Redeemer.  In this sense the good shepherd beautifully symbolizes the Son of God, who, moved by compassionate love, left all the sinless, unfallen worlds of the many-mansioned universe of God, and came down from the heights of His heavenly glory to seek and to save the one that was lost.

 

 

This would be the history of the redemptive scheme.

 

 

The prophecy is its glorious and jewelled setting.

 

 

The world, despite the powers of darkness, is ultimately to be found and restored to its pristine condition.  This sin-cursed, this wicked and ruined, world is to be redeemed, and brought back and safely folded again with the worlds of light that have never fallen.  Or still more explicitly, that Christ’s redemptive work, already begun, will go on and on, until it is consummated in the redemption of this physical earth, on which God’s curse now rests for man’s sin - when it shall be renovated and refashioned to become what God originally intended it to be - the glorious residence of sinless beings, and, prospectively, the eternal habitation and heaven of Christ’s redeemed saints.

 

 

That this literal earth is ultimately to be redeemed from the curse and ruinous effects of sin, which, for man’s sake, were visited upon it, is a matter of undoubted revelation:

 

 

“For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.  For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.  For the creation was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who hath [Page 86] subjected the same in hope, because the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.  And not only it, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” - Rom. 8: 18-23.

 

 

This is a striking example of personification.  This earth is represented as a person unwillingly and innocently suffering for the wrong-doing of another; and, having heard the promise of ultimate deliverance made in Eden, that the seed of the woman shall bruise - i.e. crush - the serpent’s head, and that the power and works of Satan shall ultimately be exterminated and obliterated, it impatiently suffers on in expectancy, groaning and waiting in hopeful expectation of its ultimate perfect deliverance from its bondage of corruption, all the manifold evils it has for so many ages suffered, and receive honour for its long disgrace; and it is represented as recognizing that its deliverance will be coetaneous with the full and completed redemption of the children of God.

 

 

That this literal earth is ultimately to become the eternal habitation, home and heaven of all the redeemed is also undoubtedly and expressly revealed in both the Old and New Covenants:

 

 

“Trust in the Lord, and do good, so shalt thou dwell in the earth, and verily thou shalt be fed. ... For evildoers shall be cut off; but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth.” - Ps. 37: 3, 9.

 

 

Evil-doers (the tares) have never yet been rooted up and cut off from the earth, and this earth given solely to the righteous; nor, as we learned from the Parable [Page 87] of the Tares, will they be destroyed from the field (the face of the earth) until the end of the harvest age, but that then they will be utterly cut off; so that however diligently one wicked man might he sought for he could not be found on the face of the whole earth; and when this takes place the earth will be the eternal abode of the righteous only:

 

 

“For yet a little while and the wicked shall not be; yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.  But the meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. ... the Lord knoweth the days of the upright; and their inheritance shall be forever. ... But the wicked shall perish; and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume, into smoke shall they consume away. ... The righteous shall inherit the earth, and dwell therein forever.” - Ps. 37: 10, 11, 18, 20, 29.

 

 

Without referring to other passages in the Old Covenant, let my readers consider the explicit promises and prophecies of Christ:

 

 

“Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth- Matt. 5: 5.

 

 

And this, which the apostles refer to with the greatest confidence:

 

 

“In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am there ye may be also.” - John 14: 2, 3.

 

 

Peter, referring to this promise, tells us plainly where this place, prepared by Christ for the future and eternal home and heaven of the redeemed, will be: [Page 88] “Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” - 2 Peter 3: 13.

 

 

He learned the fact that this earth was to be the place Christ would prepare for His disciples either from the lips of Christ himself or it was revealed to him by the Spirit.

 

 

In the last revelation Christ made to His beloved disciple, He showed him “a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no more sea.” (Rev. 21: 1)

 

 

Neither the firmament above nor the economy of the face of the earth itself will bear the appearance of the present earth while under the curse of its Maker; for He that “sat upon the throne” said, “Behold, I make all things new

 

 

But why is this material earth to be regenerated, refashioned and adorned with such care, and furnished and embellished with such unparalleled munificence beyond any other spot in the universe?  Certainly not to be annihilated, or to be left desolate and un-inhabited.  But well may it thus be made new and inconceivably glorious, if it is to be, more than any other place, the special abode of the glorified Saviour with His people.  It is to be prepared for His redeemed:

 

 

“And I heard a loud voice out of the throne, saying, Behold the tabernacle [i.e. the dwelling, the abode] of God is with men [on the new earth]; and He will dwell with them, and they shall he His people; and GOD-WITH-MEN himself shall he their God.” - Rev. 21: 3, R. V.

 

 

Read all that Christ reveals to us concerning our [Page 89] final heaven-made home in His last revelation, commencing at the twenty-first chapter, after the last judgment has been held and the new earth prepared:

 

 

“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.  And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.  And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people; and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.  And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.  And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.  And he said unto me, Write, for these words are true and faithful.  And he said unto me, It is done.  I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.  I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.  He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son.  But the fearful and unbelieving, and the abominable and murderers, and whoremongers and sorcerers, and idolaters and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” - Rev. 21: 1-8.

 

 

Here, for the first time since the fall, do we find the whole earth freed from the curse of sin and sinners – the tares having all been gathered out of it and burned, and the righteous in full and sole possession of it, “to dwell therein forever  Here, for the first time, the prayer Jesus taught His disciples to pray, which for long ages has welled up from the hearts and been breathed from the lips of so many thousands, will be answered, “Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done in earth as in heaven  Now, for the first time, Christ’s redemptive work will have been completely [Page 90] consummated, all enemies having been put under His feet, and uncounted millions of the once ruined race redeemed, and the wrecked world restored.  Now will He, as Messiah, according to covenant stipulations, having abrogated all anti-Christian governments, organizations, authorities and opposing powers, abrogate all governments and all authority and power, give up His kingdom (the absolute government and authority and power vested in Him as King of this world - Matt. 28: 18) to God and the Father - that God (i.e. the Godhead) may from henceforth be all in all.

 

 

“‘Then cometh the end, when He shall give up the kingdom to God and the Father, when He shall abrogate all government and all authority and power.  For He must reign till He has placed all enemies under His feet.  Even death, the last enemy, will be rendered powerless.’ (1 Cor. 3: 24, 28.)” - Seven Dispensations, pp. 550-552.

 

 

This last quotation contains the announcement of the full and final consummation of the work of Christ - of His long seeking, crowned with His finding, and saving the lost, and His bringing back and restoring a lost and ruined world, symbolized by the lost sheep, to God, even the Father.  There will indeed be greater joy in heaven over this one world saved than over all the countless worlds that never needed deliverance.  Their inhabitants will be summoned to rejoice over the consummated work of Christ when the Son shall return it to the Father.*

 

* I refer the reader to The Seven Dispensations, last chapter, for the full development of “this earth the home and heaven of the redeemed

 

 

The lofty peerage of the heavens, with all their mighty principalities and powers and dominions, will [Page 91] be assembled in their most resplendent holiday pageantry to celebrate and make forever illustrious this grand and most glorious event of all the eternities past.  Surely the returning Shepherd, with His precious treasure found - a world redeemed and saved - will be hailed with loftier songs and louder shouts of joy than those which once shook the universe and caused the “heaven of heavens” to vibrate with thrills of ecstasy when “the morning stars first sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy” over its creation.

 

 

Surely this parable, in this extended sense, should encourage and inspire every Christian’s heart.  This world is not always to be left under the power of the evil one.  A most glorious destiny awaits it.  It is to be emancipated and disenthralled, and made the most glorious orb of all the countless worlds - the palatial mansion of the Lamb’s wife, His redeemed saints.

 

 

*       *       *

[Page 92]

 

CHAPTER 7

 

THE PARABLE OF THE LOST COIN

 

 

COMPANION to and spoken in connection with the last is the Parable of THE LOST COIN.

 

 

PARABLE

 

 

“Either what woman, having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it?  And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I had lost.  Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.” - Luke 15: 8-10.

 

 

This parable is generally preached as illustrating one of two things:

 

 

1. That the lost coin represents a lost soul - i.e. a sinner awakened to the fact that his soul is lost, and that no efforts should be spared by him to find it, and thus secure its salvation - that he should seek and seek, and never give over the search until he finds it.

 

 

There is at least one insuperable difficulty opposed to this interpretation.  The woman would symbolize the sinner, dead in trespasses and in sin, discovering that he has lost his soul, and, awakening to a sense of his loss, setting about to recover it by his own efforts and labour; and that at last, by his own unaided efforts (for the woman had no aid), he does find it - [Page 93] secures its salvation.  The reader can see that there is no Christly Saviour in all this - no grace - no help from above or without himself, but it is all works.  It is not in harmony with the other teachings of the Scriptures.  They everywhere represent that it is Christ who seeks after the lost sinner, and not the lost sinner after Christ.  See the preceding Parable of the Lost Sheep.  It was the shepherd who sought after the sheep, and not the sheep after the shepherd.  He himself says:

 

 

“The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” - Luke 19: 10.

 

 

2. The second sense in which it is so often preached is, that the woman who lost her valuable coin represents a Christian who has lost his hope of salvation - has fallen from grace; and, of course, unless he finds it, he is forever lost.  The efforts of the woman to find her coin illustrates the diligent and persistent efforts the awakened apostate should make in recovering his hope, in becoming renewed again to repentance and spiritual life and hope.  The rejoicing falls in naturally.

 

 

I can not accept this interpretation for two good and sufficient reasons:

 

 

1. It is evidently out of harmony with the teachings of the other parables spoken at the same time; and we can not think that Christ intended to teach any such doctrine here.  It manifestly contradicts the other teachings of Christ* and His apostles. This [Page 94] interpretation represents the Christian as intrusted with the keeping of his own soul’s salvation - of his Christian hope, and that he may lose it, and, indeed, is in constant danger of losing it; and that, having lost it (the grace of salvation), he may, by his own diligent and persistent efforts, find and recover it again, which is contrary to the teachings of Christ and His apostles elsewhere.

 

* The so often quoted promise, “Seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you,” was addressed to His disciples to encourage them to pray, and has no application to sinners dead in sin.  The sinner, convicted of sin, and deeply sorrowing for sin, and weary of sin, is invited to come to Christ for rest.

 

 

The Christian is not intrusted with the keeping of his own soul’s salvation, but this is and can be the work of an Almighty One only:

 

 

“The Lord loveth judgment, and forsaketh not His saints; they are PRESERVED FOREVER.” - Psalms 37: 28.

 

 

And not only are they themselves preserved from falling, but their inheritance of life and glory eternal reserved for them in heaven:

 

 

“Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.” - Jude 24.

 

 

Now, if Christ alone is able to keep His children from falling and perishing, will He not do it?

 

 

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which, according to His abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God, through faith, unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.” - 1 Peter 1: 3-5.

 

 

It is said by those who teach apostasy that it is [Page 95] through faith - the Christian’s faith - that he is kept; but that if this fails in the day of severe trial, as it may, he is lost.  But will his faith ever perish and fail him however severely tried, even as though by fire?  Peter’s faith did not fail him, for Christ had prayed for him that it should not fail; and, in like manner, Christ prays for every one of His tempted and sorely tried saints.  Peter’s faith did not keep him from sin, but it did keep him from final apostasy.  And now hear him strengthen his brethren, as Christ commanded him, after he was converted from his self-trust - Arminianism:

 

 

“Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time; wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations; that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.” - 1 Peter 1: 5-7.

 

 

Pure gold can not be destroyed or lessened in value by exposure to the fiercest fire, but is only purified by it; and so it is with the Christian’s faith.

 

 

Again, the interpretation I oppose takes it for granted that the Christian must keep his hope of salvation, while the Scriptures teach that it is the Christian’s hope that keeps him:

 

 

“Which hope we have as anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth to that within the vail.” - Heb. 7: 19.

 

 

While I might continue these objections to the Arminian interpretation, I will notice but one more, which must to every candid Christian mind be a [Page 96] conclusive one.  It assumes not only that a Christian - a truly regenerated man - can so fall away and apostatize as to lose his regeneration and Christian hope, but that he may renew himself again, or be renewed again, to repentance, and be regenerated and saved, which doctrine is in palpable contradiction to the express declaration of God’s word.  Paul says if these might, could or should fall away - i.e. fall from the grace of regeneration - it is impossible to renew them again to repentance. (Heb. 6: 6.)

 

 

“There remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.” - Heb. 10: 26, 27.

 

 

For these and many other reasons, I can not accept either of the above interpretations.

 

 

THE EXPOSITION

 

 

The superficial sense clearly illustrated the natural anxiety of a Judean woman to recover a coin lost from her head-dress, and, therefore, the unreasonableness of the murmuring of the Pharisees because He would save a lost sinner, who, though a publican, was of so much greater value in the eyes of God.

 

 

But may it not, like the Parable of the Lost Sheep, have a deeper and more comprehensive signification?  That the reader may the more clearly see this, they should know how highly this piece of coin might have been valued by the woman, and how great the loss to her.  And this we have in the remarks of an Eastern traveller that no commentator that I have seen alludes to.  He says:

 

 

“The women of Bethlehem, and of other parts of [Page 97] the Holy Land, still wear a row of coins sewed upon their head-dress, and pendent over their brows.  And the number of coins is very commonly ten, as I, in common with other travellers, have ascertained by counting.  The custom reaches back far beyond the Christian era.  In all probability, therefore, it was not simply a piece of silver which was lost out of her purse by the woman of our parable, but one of the ten precious coins which formed her most cherishes ornament.  And this would be a loss more vividly felt than that of the shepherd when one out of his flock of a hundred went astray. So that, immense as is the advance from both the care of the shepherd for his sheep and of the pride of the woman in the burnished coins which gleamed upon her forehead, we can nevertheless find a link between the first and last terms of the climax, and trace an advance even between the grief of the shepherd over his stray sheep and that of the woman over her lost coin.  A piece of money in her purse might easily be stolen or spent; but a coin from the head-dress could not be so much as touched by any stranger, nor even taken from its wearer by her husband, unless she cut it off of her own accord and placed it in his hands.  It was safe, sacred, dear.  It was a strictly personal possession, and might very well be an heir-loom - like ‘the silvers’ of the Swiss women, hallowed by many fond and gracious memories

 

 

Had Aaron lost but one of the least valuable stones from his breastplate, the breastplate itself would have been marred and rendered useless, and the value of that one gem was that of the breastplate.  So it was not the essential value of that one piece of silver which gave that woman anxiety, but it was the value of the beautiful head-dress itself, while its loss would be a reflection upon her carefulness, etc.  And so, in the possible broader and higher sense, the loss of one [Page 98] of the bright worlds that make resplendent the crown of God’s declarative glory would not only mar the beauty and dim the lustre of that crown, but be a continual reflection upon the all-wisdom and all-power of the Creator himself.

 

 

The woman in this parable represents the same person the good shepherd did in the former one, and I can but think that in its higher sense is intended to illustrate the persistent anxiety and unremitting diligence of Christ in seeking to find and recover a lost world.

 

 

The prophecy of the parable, then, is that His redemptive work will not for one moment cease until this world, this physical earth, once so bright and beautiful, like that lost coin, though all blurred and tarnished now it be, but still bearing the image and superscription of its divine Maker and Owner, is found and cleansed, refurnished and reset in more than its pristine resplendency in that diadem which shall ultimately encircle the brow of the world’s Redeemer.

 

 

*       *       *

[Page 99]

 

CHAPTER 8

 

 

THE COST OF THE

WORLD’S REDEMPTION

 

 

IN the Parable of the Tares we learn how sin was first introduced into the world and its disastrous effects; in the Parables of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin, the diligent seeking and searching on the part of the shepherd in the one case, and the woman in the other, to find and regain that which was lost.  From the two I now propose to examine in their order, we learn what the redemption of the world, under the figure of a hid treasure and a pearl of great price, cost the world’s Redeemer.

 

 

THE TREASURE HID IN A FIELD

 

 

PARABLE

 

 

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field, the which when a man hath found he hideth, and for joy, thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.” - Matt. 13: 44.

 

 

The principal symbols of this parable are:

 

1. The field.

 

 

2 The hid treasure.

 

 

3. The finder and buyer.

 

 

As generally preached and interpreted by commentators, the man is made to represent a sinner seeking religion or a “hope of salvation which, when he [Page 100] finds, or where and when it may be obtained, gladly goes and sells all he has, and exchanges it for the inestimable treasure of eternal life and glory. (See Scott, and others.)

 

 

“This hidden treasure represents the invaluable blessings of the gospel, and these are contained in the Scriptures - Scott.

 

 

To this generally received theory of interpretation 1 oppose insuperable objections:

 

 

1. It makes the field the Scriptures, when Christ declares “the field is the world

 

 

2. It teaches that salvation can and is to be purchased by the sinner, which is contrary to and subversive of the teachings of Christ and His apostles throughout the Scriptures.  I understand the field to represent this world (see Chapter I.); and that the fact that Christ uses the term field in another parable in the same chapter, and explains it to mean this world, I think should determine what He designed it to mean in this.  It is, I think, safe to say, in interpreting the parables representing the kingdom of heaven, that each of these parables must harmonize with all, and all with each, for in each there are things in common, inasmuch as they are “like unto the kingdom of heaven and if like unto the same thing they must, in one or two respects, be like unto each other.

 

 

It is a well-known rule of interpretation that figures must not be made to “go on all fours i.e. force a meaning on every part - upon the mere accidents - of the parable, but only the most important features are representative.  The field in this parable is an important feature, and must mean something, and I can [Page 101] refer it to nothing else to make sense; and it does not only make sense, but harmonizes with the teachings of Christ to understand it of this world.  That the people of God, the “seed of Abraham are the treasures hid in this field, is amply sustained by the teachings of the Word.

 

 

The saints are called the riches of the glory of Christ’s inheritance. (Eph. 1: 18.)  They are a “peculiar treasure” to Him:

 

 

“For the Lord has chosen Jacob unto Himself, and Israel for His peculiar treasure.” - Psalms 135: 4.

 

 

The people of God are expressly designated as His “hidden ones

 

 

The universal exposition of this text makes [eternal] salvation the treasure which, upon the sinner finding, he gives and exchanges all he has, and adds a life of righteousness to obtain it.  If this were so, then [this] salvation can be purchased by the sinner’s works and righteousness.

 

 

The “travail” of the Saviour’s soul was contained in the world, hidden to the eyes of men and angels, and known or found by Christ himself, (Isaiah 52.)  He had hid their names in His own breast from all, though it may be considered an accidental feature of the parable.

 

 

3. Christ was the purchaser of the field.

 

 

He purchased the world and the treasure He discovered in it by the stipulations of the covenant of redemption. He purchased the earth and His people by His own blood.  The Father, in that covenant, made over to His Son this earth as His purchased possession:

 

[Page 102]

“Ask of Me and I shall give the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thine inheritance.” - Psalms 2: 8.

 

 

“Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed - Psalms 74: 2.

 

 

Paul refers (Eph. 1: 14) to both the earth and the saints as the purchased possession of Christ.

 

 

4. Christ paid a great price for His “treasure” - “His people

 

 

He surrendered the throne of heaven, gave up the glory He had with the Father, the adoration of angels, and “emptied himself,” so that He might become incarnated in our flesh, and “Brother to our souls become

 

 

He condescended to become a servant and debtor to the law, that He might become our substitute.  He paid a life of privation and disgrace, suffered the contradiction of sinners against Himself, and finally laid down His own life, paid the infinite claims that eternal justice demanded for the redemption of His people, and it was no less than the price of “His own blood

 

 

Thus it may be truly said of Christ, “He sold all He had and gave it for that field  What more could He have given than He did give?  “For our sakes He became poor  He is throughout the Scriptures represented as the Purchaser, the Buyer, the Redeemer, of His people, and they are represented as the purchased, the bought, the redeemed:

 

 

“The church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood.” - Acts 20: 28.

 

 

“For ye are bought with a price

 

[Page 103]

“Even denying the Lord who bought them

 

 

“Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us

 

 

And surely it was with great price - “all that He had

 

 

“Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, … but with the precious blood of Christ.” - 1 Peter 1: 18.

 

 

It is a deep mystery, yet a great fact, that an usurper has still possession of the field as “tenant at will but we find a glorious fact against this mystery, that the usurper will one day be bound hand and foot and cast out, and that Christ, the Purchaser, will take possession of His own “field,” and bring to light the hid treasure it contains.

 

 

Christ will never regret the purchase of this field, nor will He be disappointed in the treasure it contains:

 

 

“He shall see the travail of His soul, and he satisfied.” - Isaiah.

 

 

*       *       *

[Page 104]

 

CHAPTER 9

 

THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE FOUND

 

 

“AGAIN, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchantman seeking goodly pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it* - Matt. 13: 45, 46.

 

* “Pliny tells us that Cleopatra’s two famous pearls were valued at about four hundred thousand dollars of our money, and the purchasing power of money was then ten or fifteen times as great as now.”- Bruce.

 

 

This parable was designed to inculcate the same great truths that were taught in the parable interpreted in the last chapter, but in language to attract and impress another and a large class of His hearers - merchantmen.

 

 

We have here the three leading features of the former parable:

 

1. The pearl of vast value.

 

 

2. The buyer.

 

 

3. The price paid.

 

 

1. The pearl of great price represents the same object that the hid treasure did in the preceding parable - the seed, the people, the sheep, contemplated to be saved in the covenant of redemption.  It was in the light of the provisions of that covenant that the “hid treasure” and the “pearl” were discovered, found and brought to light.

 

[Page 105]

2. The merchantman seeking goodly pearls represents the Son of God, who came to this world “to seek and to save the lost This “Pearl” had been lost by the transgression of Adam; and it was the covenanted work of Christ to seek and to find His people.  His found and redeemed ones will constitute the most precious and brilliant jewel in the Saviour’s crown of glory, and that which will awaken the admiration and adoration of the angels.  His redeemed ones will ever be to Him his “peculiar treasure” - “the riches of the glory of His inheritance

 

 

3. For this pearl He did indeed pay a great price.  He gave all that He had for it.  He became poor that we, through His poverty, might become rich; that we might be brought up from the deep darkness and filth of sin and polished for His crown, as the pearl from the deep, dark waters and slime of the ocean to adorn the diadem of a monarch, and to receive the admiration of all beholders.

 

 

4. We see the priceless value of human souls in the estimation of Jesus.

 

 

5. We see what it cost Him to redeem us from the possession of Satan, and from the curse of the law, and to save us.

 

 

6. We see in this the matchless love and compassion of Christ, so loving us as to be willing to pay such an infinite price for us.

 

 

7. We see the infinite obligations we are under to Him for our redemption.

 

 

“Were the whole realm of nature mine,

That were a present far too small -

Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my soul, my life, my all.”

 

 

8. We see, in the light of this, that we are not our own, but are bought with a price; hence arises the obligation and reasonable duty to honour and serve Him with our bodies and our spirits, which are His.

 

 

9. We see that to interpret this, as it generally is preached, to mean that when a sinner, after diligent search, has found salvation, or when it can be obtained, and the price for which it can be purchased, [the regenerate believer] must go and sell all that he has, and buy it, is to teach that [God’s initial and eternal] salvation is a marketable commodity - [which] can and is to be purchased with what the [regenerate] sinner has or can command by his own sacrifices, or by works of righteousness which his own hands can do, which doctrine is contrary to all the teachings of the Word of God.

 

 

“Nothing either great or small

Remains for me to do;

Jesus died and paid it all -

Yes, all the debt I owe.

 

 

When He, from His lofty throne,

Stooped down to do and die,

Everything was fully done -

Yes, ‘finished’ was the cry.

 

 

Weary, working, plodding one,

Oh, wherefore toil you so?

Cease your doing - all was done -

Yes, ages long ago.

 

 

Till to Jesus’ work you cling

Alone by simple faith,

‘Doing’ is a deadly thing -

All ‘doing’ wnds in death.

 

Cast your deadly ‘doing’ down –

Down all at Jesus’ feet;

Stand in Him - in Him alone -

All glorious and complete

 

 

[Page 107]

PARABLES UNFOLDING

 

 

THE

 

 

MYSTERIES

 

 

OF

 

 

“THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN”

 

 

“Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given

 

 

THE MYSTERIES CONSIST OF TWO FACTS:

 

 

1. That the Gentiles were to share in the salvation of the gospel on equal terms with the Jews.

 

 

2. That as a nation the Jews were to be rejected, because of their rejection of Christ,

until the fullness of the Gentiles is brought in.

 

 

PARABLES

 

 

1. THE GOOD SHEPHERD.

 

 

2. THE TWO SONS.

 

 

3. THE ELDER AND YOUNGER BROTHERS.

 

 

4. THE LABORERS AND THE HOURS.

 

 

5. THE GREAT SUPPER.

 

 

6. THE WICKED HUSBANDMEN.

 

 

7. THE BARREN FIG TREE.

 

 

8. THE CURSED AND WITHERED FIG TREE.

 

[Page 108 blank. Page 109]

CHAPTER 10

 

EXPOSITION OF THE PARABLE OF THE

GOOD SHEPHERD

 

 

BY

 

REV. C. C. Mc DANIEL.

 

-------

 

BY REQUEST OF THE AUTHOR

 

 

IN the treatment of this parable, which the Saviour spoke to the Pharisees, we feel that what we shall write will be original, for we have not been able in our research to find anything that has been written upon it showing that it is a parable.  We might say it is a neglected parable.  Here it is (John, tenth chapter):

 

 

PARABLE

 

 

“(1) Indeed, I truly say to you, he who enters not by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up another way, he is a thief and a robber; (2) but he who comes in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. (3) The door-keeper (porter) opens to him: and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. (4) When he puts forth his own (sheep), he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, because they know his voice. (5) But a stranger they will not follow, but will flee from him, because they know not the voice of strangers. (6) This parable spoke Jesus to them, but they knew not what things they were which he spoke to them

 

 

The fifth verse closes that part of the parable which alludes to the fold in which the shepherd had sheep [Page 110] shut up, into which the shepherd must enter by the “door in order to “call them by name” and “lead them out

 

1. The fold.

 

 

2. The door.

 

 

3. The shepherd.

 

 

4. The door-keeper. (Porter.)

 

 

5. The sheep called and led out.

 

 

6. Other sheep.

 

 

7. Going in and out.

 

 

1. The “fold in the first verse, represents the house of Israel; the literal house of Israel.  The Greek word aulen, here translated fold, means house or enclosure.

 

 

The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, by His promises to them, His leadings of their posterity through the wilderness and establishment of them in the Land of Promise, and His choice of them as His own peculiar nation, and His preservation of them in all their vicissitudes, had made them as a flock of sheep enclosed.  They were indeed said to be His flock.  They had been enclosed by His law from all other people, “because they were entrusted with the oracles of God  Their government was a theocracy.  Their form of worship was God-given, and proclaimed by its types the Mighty One of Jacob, the Stone of Israel’s faith, the true Shepherd, who would bless them “with the blessings of the heavens above  Their prophets built their faith on this foundation, and, guided by the [Holy] Spirit, foretold His coming.

 

 

And thousands of this chosen nation in all the centuries before His advent saw Him by faith, and adored Him, as the true Shepherd, and were led by Him.  Such [Page 111] were the true Israel indeed.  Paul said all were not Israel who were of that fold, but only such as were of like faith with Abraham.  Such were the sheep of the fold.  And there were many.  Paul spoke of them as “a great cloud of witnesses

 

 

But as the day approached when the Shepherd of Israel should appear, there was a decline.  The prophets were all dead.  The teachers in Israel ceased to feed the flock, and became covetous, and took away the key of knowledge, and taught the people more of tradition than of faith, and fed themselves of the fat of the flock, and ruled by force and cruelty.  They made the law of God of none effect by their traditions.  When one who had faith in the Coming One went to their synagogues, his eyes and ears were greeted only by the hollow and empty husks of the cold formalism of the hypocritical Pharisees.  They were blind guides, and the masses were blindly led by them.  Midnight had come.  Only a few faithful ones were waiting and watching for the consolation of Israel, as old Simeon and Anna.

 

 

Into this fold the Good Shepherd must enter to call out His sheep who were “hungering and thirsting after righteousness but could not be filled, because there was no pasture for the soul in the cold ritual of the Judaistic fold.

 

 

To enter this fold as the Chief Shepherd, to call and lead out the sheep into a good pasture, He must enter by the door into the fold.

 

 

2. The door.  What is it?

 

 

A false shepherd would be known at once by failing to come in at the door.  There was but one door through which Christ, the Good Shepherd, could [Page 112] come, and that was the door of fulfilment, or “all righteousness  He was to come saying, “Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God, as it is written in the volume of the book concerning me  He must come “in the days of these kings” - the Caesars.  He must be born of a Jewish virgin.  He must come before the septre departs from Judah.  He must be circumcised and keep all the law.  He must be born in Bethlehem, the city of David.  He must be heralded by John the Baptist. (See Mal. 3: 1; Matt. 3: 3; Isa. 11: 3.)  He was to be baptized in the river Jordan. (Matt. 3: 15)

 

 

By consulting, also, John 1: 31-33, we find all this was the will of the Father.  He [Jesus] said: “I came not to destroy the law or the prophets, but to fulfil

 

 

When He was manifested to Israel, and entered upon His work in the Jewish synagogue in Nazareth, He read from Isaiah 61: 1, which portrayed His mission and the condition of the fold He had entered.  Luke 4: 18, 19: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.  He hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind - to set at liberty them that are bruised; to preach the acceptable year of the Lord

 

 

The rich and haughty scribes and Pharisees, with all the rulers, had fleeced and starved the sheep to that extent that they were poor indeed, and so burdened and harassed by oppression that they were “broken-hearted,” and, like prisoners shut up in the dark prison-house, so the true Israel were longing and desiring to be freed, and to enjoy the light and liberty of the sons of God, which they felt the coming of Christ, the true Shepherd, would afford.

 

[Page 113]

The rulers and teachers of the Judaistic fold had taken away the key of knowledge, had thrust themselves into Moses’ seat, set aside the law by him, and substituted tradition therefor, and, by teaching and example, exalted ritualism for or instead of faith and spiritual obedience.  Hence they were the destroyers, “thieves and robbers who had over-riden the law - climbed over, instead of fulfilling, the requirements of the law.  The time had come when the Shepherd should be made manifest to Israel, His true people.

 

 

3. The Shepherd is Christ.  He had a legal right to be such.  In the covenant of grace, the Father gave them unto Him for and in consideration of the redemptive price which His Son was to and did pay for them.  He had the right to call and lead the sheep as His own.  He had a right to enclose all His sheep within His own enclosure or fold.  This He did, as we will subsequently show.

 

 

4. The porter, or door-keeper, is pre-eminently the Holy Spirit.

 

 

Christ was begotten by the Spirit.  John the Baptist was begotten by an earthly father, but filled with the Spirit from his mother’s womb.  He was “sent to make ready a people prepared for the Lord  He preached repentance and faith in Him who was to be manifested.  He said he did not know Him.  He only knew of Him.  It was the duty of the porter to keep the door, and open the door to the Shepherd when He came for the sheep, hence must know the Shepherd.  John was only one of the sheep in the fold, who proclaimed to his fellows, by the aid of the [Holy] Spirit, or porter, that the Shepherd was about to appear in their midst, to call and lead them out.  And [Page 114] the [Holy] Spirit regenerated the hearts of all those who believed on Him by John’s preaching.

 

 

“All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out.” (John 6: 37.  Also see thirty-ninth verse.  This “giving is the opening of the door” to Him.

 

 

5. The sheep are those who hear His voice and follow Him, as Matthew did.

 

 

6. Other sheep from another fold are those from among the Gentiles.  “He came to His own and as many as received Him, believed on Him, were denominated “the sons of God  These were those He led out from the Jewish fold.  Again it is written: “It shall come to pass that in the place where it is said unto them, ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, ye are the sons of the living God.” (Hos. 1: 10.)  These are those from the Gentile fold.  Thus the Good Shepherd leads both Jews and Gentiles alike out of their respective folds into one new flock.  In entering this flock they pass through the door Christ; for He says in the ninth verse, “I am the door These are all fenced by one law, the law of Christ, and hence are said to be one fold.

 

 

In this dispensation the visible kingdom of Christ is the antitype of the Jewish kingdom.  It was one, under one law, but was subdivided into local families; yet each family was under the same law.  In this dispensation Christ’s flock are all put under one law, but are divided into churches.  Each Jewish family was commanded to see that the law should be observed by each member of the family.  So with the churches of Christ.

 

 

Any person who claims to be of Christ’s flock who [Page 115] has not come in by the door is not of the flock.  They will not hear His voice, nor do they permit Him to lead them.  They are, if in an organized capacity, “the synagogue of Satan

 

 

7. “Go in and out and find pasture This may refer to those of the flock who have been fenced by Christ’s law, and, by disobedience, broken out of the fold, been excluded from the church, yet, if sheep, will find pasturage, divine sustenance, and, after having been chastised for awhile, are brought back to the fold again.  It may also allude to going out of the flock here on earth by death, yet his soul shall find pasturage, divine sustenance in life, unto the resurrection.  Then shall all such hear His voice, and come forth, and be led by the Good Shepherd into the fold, or city, which has everlasting foundations, “whose maker and builder is God.” There “they shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on them nor any heat; for the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of water: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” (Rev. 7: 16, 17.)  “Even so come, Lord Jesus.” Amen.

 

 

*       *       *

[Page 116]

 

CHAPTER 11

 

 

THE PARABLE OF THE TWO SONS

 

 

I PLACE the Parable of The Two Sons before that of “The Elder and Younger Brothers,” since the true interpretation of this is a quite satisfactory exposition of the latter, which seems to follow it in natural topical order.

 

 

PARABLE

 

 

“But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first and said, Son, go work to-day in my vineyard.  He answered and said, I will not; but afterward he repented and went.  And he came to the second and said likewise.  And he answered and said, I go, sir, and went not.  Whether of them twain did the will of his father?  They say unto him, The first.

 

 

Jesus saith unto them, Verily, I say unto you, that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.  For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not; but the publicans and the harlots believed him; and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.” - Matt. 21: 28-32.

 

 

This is the briefest of all the parables of Christ - all of it being condensed into two simple statements with one correct answer.  Brief as it is, it is a historical-prophetical parable, and has a purely national application.  Its primary sense needs no comment to elucidate it.  The Jews, to whom it was addressed, answered it correctly,  [Page 117] although they had an indefinite impression, as at other times, that they thereby condemned themselves.

 

 

In its deeper and broader meaning, I think the son who was called, and promised to work, but refused, represents the Jews as a nation.  This nation, as we have seen, God called His “son” - His “first-born

 

 

God did twice specifically call His son, [redeemed] Israel, to enter His service - once by Moses, before they entered Canaan (Deut. 30.), and again by Joshua:

 

 

“And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.  And the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the Lord, to serve other gods; for the Lord our God, He it is that brought us up and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and which did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way wherein we went, and among all the people through whom we passed; and the Lord drave out from before us all the people, even the Amorites which dwelt in the land; therefore will we also serve the Lord, for He is our God.” - Josh. 24: 15-18.

 

 

Let the reader read the whole chapter.

 

 

To both calls Israel said, “I will go but went not.

 

 

Limiting the vineyard service to the gospel dispensation, the Jewish nation was specifically called of God, by John the Baptist and Christ and the apostles, to enter His service; and the crowds that at first thronged the Jordan and received baptism at the hands of John, and the still larger numbers baptized by the seventy evangelists during their ministry, and the thousands that gladly received the word at Pentecost and in the second great revival that followed (Acts 4.), seemed to be the answer of the Jews, “We will gobut still they [Page 118] went not; and for now eighteen hundred years they still persistently refuse to enter the vineyard.  If any one who reads this knows of one Jewish church in America, I should like to be informed of the fact.

 

 

On the refusal of the Jews to obey this call, the apostles turned away from them, leaving them in disobedience to await their sad and awful punishment, and made the call upon the other son - the Gentiles:

 

 

“And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.  But when the Jews saw the multitudes they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming.  Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you; but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting* life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.” - Acts 13: 44-46.

 

[* NOTE. When the context is one of WORKS, as appears to be the case here, then the word translated “everlasting” should be ‘aionian’ i.e., “age-lasting life”.  Only those who are redeemed, are called by God to work in His “vineyard”.]

 

The cruel treatment they at first received seemed to be their answer - “We will not go into the vineyard  But age after age this second son has been repenting, and more and more fully entering the vineyard of service.

 

 

The prophecy of this parable is the encouraging part of it to all the friends of missions.  The son repented and went, from which we know that the fullness of the Gentiles will be brought in.  We also learn that the son who promised and went not will not enter the vineyard during the continuance of the gospel dispensation.

 

 

THE IMPORTANT FACTS WE LEARN FROM THIS PARABLE

 

 

1. The son that at first refused to go afterwards repented and went, from which we learn, most encouraging to the friends of missions, that, despite all the [Page 119] opposition and discouraging obstacles, nevertheless the fullness of the Gentiles will be brought into the service of God.

 

 

2. That the Jews are not, in any considerable number, to be converted to Christianity by the preaching of the gospel, or by any human means, during this present dispensation or before Christ comes.  The first called, they will be the last to accept of Christ as their Saviour and Redeemer; but then not by missionary effort, but, as Paul was, by a personal appearing of Christ.  Paul declares, with respect to himself, that he was one born out of due time - a premature birth - born before the rest of his nation, and yet in the same way as his nation, that is to be born in a day - i.e. by the personal appearing of Christ at His second advent.

 

 

3. We learn that the Jews, as a race or people, will not be converted, or accept Christ as their Saviour and Redeemer, until after Christ’s Second Advent.  Until then the elder brother (see Parable of the Prodigal Son) will remain without, and this son, referring to the same nation, will refuse to come in.

 

 

[4. NOTE. When ones repentance for entrance into the “Kingdom” is an absolute necessity, then it is always the Messiah’s Millennial Kingdom which is in view.]

*       *       *

[Page 120]

 

CHAPTERR 12

 

THE ELDER AND YOUNGER BROTHERS

 

 

THE Saviour closed His rebuke of the scribes and Pharisees, who murmured because He received sinners and ate with them, with this parable.  It is introductory to His teachings concerning “the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven” - i.e. that the Gentiles are to be made fellow-heirs with the Jews in all the privileges and blessings of the gospel dispensation, and their final restoration to their forfeited heirship in the kingdom of God’s dear Son.

 

 

PARABLE

 

 

“And He said, A certain man had two sons; and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me.  And he divided unto them his living.  And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.  And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land, and he began to be in want.  And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into the fields to feed swine.  And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat; and no man gave unto him.  And when he came to himself he said, How many hired servants of my father have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!  I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son; make me as one of thy hired servants.  And he arose and came to his father.  But when he was yet a great way off his father saw him, and had [Page 121] compassion, and ran and fell on his neck, and kissed him.  And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy fight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.  But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet; and bring hither the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and be merry: for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.  And they began to be merry.  Now his elder son was in the field; and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing.  And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant.  And he said unto him, Thy brother is come, and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound.  And he was angry and would not go in.  Therefore came his father out and entreated him.  And he answering, said to his father, Lo these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment, and yet thou never gavest me a kid that I might make merry with my friends; but as soon as this thy son was come which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.  And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.  It was meet that we should make merry and be glad; for this thy brother was dead and is alive again, * and was lost and is found.” - Luke 15: 11-32.

 

[* NOTE. This is a parable teaching RESTORATION: it is not one of REGENERATION as it is commonly believed to be!  See Rev. 3: 1-3, R.V.  ]

 

 

The principal features to be interpreted in this parable are:

 

 

1. The elder brother.

 

 

2. The younger son.

 

 

3. His voluntary alienation and self-banishment from

 

 

4. His reckless prodigality.

 

 

5. The utter degradation and ruin to which he brought him.

 

 

6. His reflections and resolution.

 

 

7. His return and reception by his father and the servants.

 

 

8. The unbrotherly conduct of the elder brother.

 

[Page 122]

The superficial sense or application of this parable, which the Jews seeing could see, and hearing could hear, was that a son, however un-filial, and even though ruined by his own extreme sinfulness, was still a son, and dear to his father; and his recovery should be sought and considered just cause of rejoicing; and from this fact they could see that a son of Abraham, though deep sunk in sin and degradation, as they regarded “the publicans and sinners” of their own nation to be, were still the objects of God’s compassionate love, and should not be despised by them; and that even Roman publicans, being members of the human family and God’s creatures, were not altogether beyond His compassionate and loving favour, and, should they turn unto Him, they would be accepted.  This lesson, notwithstanding the obdurate prejudices that blinded their eyes and deafened their ears, they could see, although its deeper and broader sense they could neither perceive nor understand.

 

 

The general interpretations are two:

 

 

1. That by this younger and prodigal son Christ intended to represent the sinner of that and of every age, who, instigated by his own innate depravity of heart, alienates himself from God by his own wickedness and plunges himself into utter degradation, at length, convicted of his own extreme sinfulness, and fully awakened to a sense of his utter ruin, arises and returns to the God from whom he had departed.

 

 

His being seen by his father a long way off, and being met, pardoned and received as a son by his father, indeed most beautifully and touchingly represents the freeness of God’s love and His abounding grace extended to every penitent sinner who seeks His [Page 123] face and favour; and the joy of the servant falls in very naturally.

 

 

This interpretation appears complete so long as the elder brother and his conduct are wholly ignored, and he certainly is quite as important a personage in the parable as the younger son.* But so soon as the question is asked, whom does the elder brother represent? insuperable difficulties arise, two or three of which only I notice here.

 

* This parable is generally spoken of as “The Parable of the Prodigal Son,” as though the younger son is the main or only feature in the narrative.  This is misleading.  I have denominated it as “The Parable of the Elder and Younger Brothers,” which introduces the brothers as equally important persons.

 

 

If the younger son represents sinners, the elder brother, who was ever with the father, certainly represents Christians.  But who ever heard of Christians becoming offended because God extended His pardoning grace and love to a poor, self-ruined sinner, and refusing to rejoice over the conversion of the most wicked prodigal, and refuse to own him as a fellow-heir with God’s children?  But then these Christians were not always with the Father as sons, but were each of them once the children of wrath, even as others.  Again, this prodigal, as Major Whittle, the great revivalist, expressed it, was not so much influenced to return through unfeigned repentance as by an empty stomach and a longing for the abundance of food which his father’s servants enjoyed, and one of which he was willing to be, so that his appetite might be satisfied.

 

 

Still another difficulty: The prodigal son in the midst of his wanton riotings, and even [Page 124] while in filth and rags he was feeding the swine as he was before he left his father’s house which can in no sense be predicated of an unregenerate sinner.

 

 

This so plausible and universal interpretation breaks down under the weight of any one of these difficulties,

and the -

 

 

Second interpretation is at once resorted to, and certainly with but little examination: viz., that the prodigal son is intended to represent a backslidden Christian - a son of God by regeneration, who, awakened from his self-alienated and degraded condition, arises and turns himself to

“Seek an injured Father’s face,”

and a place, at least, among the servants in his Father’s house and at his Father’s table.  All the parts of the parable fall in naturally and beautifully with this theory until the question again arises, Whom does the elder brother represent who is so offended by the return and reinstatement of his younger brother in the family, and refuses to recognize him as a brother or take any part in the rejoicing?  He certainly can not represent Christians; for who ever heard of old church-members -  Christians - becoming offended at the reclamation of a backslidden brother, or refusing to rejoice with exceeding great joy, when such an one, however far he may have wandered from his God and from duty, returned with every manifestation of godly sorrow and humble penitence of heart, and confessed all his sin?  Who, I say, ever heard of Christians becoming offended at the return of such a “prodigal son and refusing to rejoice over him, and opposing his being reinstated as a son and heir among them? [Page 125] They universally rejoice with exceeding great joy.  This interpretation, like the former one, although so long accepted as true, must be abandoned as untenable.

 

 

The question then arises, “What, then, is the fuller and deeper meaning of this parable, which those scribes and Pharisees to whom it was addressed did not fully perceive or understand

 

 

With our “pass-key” in hand - viz., that this, as many of the other parables, contains “the mystery of the kingdom of heaventhat is, that the Gentiles are to be made fellow-heirs with the Jews in the full enjoyment of the blessings of the [millennial] kingdom of Christ we boldly approach to open the door of the deeper, fuller meaning.

 

 

The elder son unquestionably represents the Jewish nation.  Of this we need be in no doubt with God’s word before us.  God expressly said to Moses, “Thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, my first-born (Ex. 4: 22.)  This first-born nation is, then, the elder son, begotten by God when He made the covenant with Abraham, and called out of Egypt under the leadership of Moses, as it is written, “When Israel was a child then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.” (Hosea 2: l.)

 

 

This elder brother Israel, as a nation, has nominally “ever been with God as His ‘peculiar people’” and chosen nation, and of them He could truly say, “All that I have is thinefor to the Jews pertained “the adoption, the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises.” (Rom. 9: 4.)

 

 

The Gentiles were of a common parentage with the Jews, being the descendants of Noah, and originally [Page 126] members of the same family, and participants of the same blessing - the true knowledge of God.  But they sadly and voluntarily departed from God, and the extreme depth of sinfulness and moral degradation into which they fell can be learned from Paul’s letter to the Romans (chapter 1: 21-32) :

 

 

“Because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.  Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things.  Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.  For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of women, burned in their lust, one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet.  And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; being filled with unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them

 

 

The first awakening of the Gentiles, and the first step of their return, and the first token of God’s loving favour, was at Caesarea, in the house of Cornelius; and the first note of joy ever heard in the household over this event was heard in the church at Jerusalem, where Peter announced the gladness to them:

 

 

“When they heard these things they held their peace and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life*.” - Acts 11: 18.

 

[* NOTE.  The “life” here, is not synonymous with the “life” in Rom. 6: 23: the former is based on repentance – i.e., a turning away from sin unto God (a believer’s WORKS of righteousness); and the latter is “life” received (at the time of regeneration) as a “free GIFT,” because of the  WORKS of Another – our Lord Jesus Christ.]

 

 

From the prophecy of this parable we learn that the Gentiles are ultimately to come to the light and love of Him who will be the “glory of His people Israel as it is written:

 

 

“And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.” - Isaiah 60: 3.

 

 

This returning of this prodigal son commenced, as I have said, the day the gospel was preached in the house of Cornelius, and from that day the elder brother has been offended; and as the feasting and joy have been going on in the family, the elder brother has been standing without, refusing to come in and refusing to acknowledge the prodigal as his brother, and even charging the father with lack of equity and positive injustice in being willing to reinstate the squanderer of his parental estate and the disgracer of the family name, and he is still standing without, and still the halls of the old mansion are resounding with louder and still louder shouts of joy over him who was lost but now is found, and these glad shouts will go on and on, with increasing gladness, until the very fullness of the Gentiles shall have been brought in.*

 

[* That is, brought in as “first-born” sons of God.  See “Firstborn Sons Their Rights and Risks,” by G. H. Lang.]

 

 

“The morning light is breaking;

The darkness disappears;

The sons of earth are waking

To penitential tears:

[Page 128]                                                         Each breeze that sweeps the ocean

Brings tidings from afar

Of nations in commotion,

Prepared for Zion’s war.

 

 

See heathen nations bending

Before the God we love,

And thousand hearts ascending

In gratitude above;

While sinners, now confessing,

The gospel call obey,

And seek the Saviour’s blessing -

A nation in a day.

 

 

Blest river of salvation,

Pursue thy onward way;

Flow thou to every nation,

Nor in thy richness stay:

Stay not till all the lowly

Triumphant reach their home;

Stay not till all the holy

Proclaim, ‘The Lord is come.’”

 

 

*       *       *

[Page 129]

 

CHAPTER 13

 

 

THE LABORERS AND THE HOURS

 

 

“FOR the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.  And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.  And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the market-place, and said unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you; and they went their way.  Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour and did likewise.  And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle?  They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us.  He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right that shall ye receive.  So, when the even was come the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first.  And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny.  But when the first came they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny.  And when they had received it they murmured against the good man of the house, saying,   These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us which have borne the burden and heat of the day.  But he answered one of them and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong. Didst not thou agree with me for a penny?  Take that is thine and go thy way: I will give unto this last even as unto you.  Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?  Is thine eye evil because I am good?  So the last shall be first and the first last; for many be called but few chosen.” - Matt. 20: 1-16.

 

[Page 130]

This parable is generally interpreted from the pulpit as applicable to individuals, the unemployed labourers representing sinners only, and the vineyard the service of God in connection with His church; those who entered early in the morning representing persons brought in in early youth, and the penny received for their labour, salvation; those who were hired at the third, sixth and ninth hours representing those brought in along later in life; while those hired at the eleventh hour represent old sinners of sixty, seventy or eighty years.  Who is not familiar with the expressions that such and such a person was “brought in at the eleventh hourand “he was an eleventh-hour sinner  Those who claimed to have borne the burden and heat of the day, according to this theory, are then the old fathers and mothers in the churches.

 

 

There are insuperable difficulties opposing this interpretation:

 

 

1. The excuse of these labourers for standing all the day idle in the market-place can in no sense be rendered by sinners.  These labourers wished to work, and went, as it was then and is still the custom in Oriental lands, to the usual place where day labourers went to be hired, and patiently waited for an offer.  Why all did not go to work in the morning was because no man came to hire them, and not because they refused to work.  Can the sinner of thirty, forty, or fifty, or any old grey-headed sinner of seventy or eighty, in gospel lands, plead this excuse for refusing to enter the Master’s service - because no man has hired, or offered to hire?  Have not all sinners, from their earliest youth, heard the gospel offer, and been repeatedly pressed to enter the Master’s vineyard?  But, instead of [Page 131] cheerfully and promptly accepting it, as did these labourers the offer of work, have they not persistently rejected the proffer of salvation, and refused to enter the service of God?

 

 

2. Then who ever heard of the old brethren and sisters of a church becoming angry with and murmuring against God, and charging Him with injustice, when they see an old sinner of eighty converted, and rejoicing with as great joy as they themselves ever experienced in the hope of salvation?  No one ever heard of such an occurrence, and no one ever will.  The oldest members always rejoice over such an one with joy even exceeding that which they express when a young person of ten or fifteen years enters the service.

 

 

3. This interpretation is Arminian throughout.  Salvation is not the offered reward for work in God’s service; and we dismiss it, trusting no Baptist minister will ever again preach or exhort it in his ministrations, or Baptist Sunday-school teacher so teach it to his class.  Salvation is the gift of God through His all-abounding grace in Christ Jesus, and not of works, lest any one should boast.  But the Master will reward every servant according to his works.  And so faithful is He in this that no one can give a cup of cold water to one of His disciples, in the name of a disciple, and lose his reward.

 

 

In the parable of the supper the king made on the marriage of his son, we saw that those who were first bidden, who were undoubtedly the Jews, were accounted unworthy because of their treatment of the king’s invitation, and of his servants who bore it; and that he sent his servants forthwith out into the highways and hedges to persuade all they found to come [Page 132] in, and to pursue this course until his wedding should be fully furnished with guests.  The last bidden I interpret as referring to the Gentiles.  This prophetical parable of the labourers I understand as referring to the self-same two classes of people - the Jews and Gentiles - but more especially illustrating the fact that the Gentile nations would be, as they have been, called at different periods in the gospel dispensation.

 

 

Those who were first called, and entered, represent the Jews, to whom the gospel was first preached.  They (a portion of them) did answer its call, and entered the Master’s service.  They were the first to hear it, and were the first to answer its call.  The first church that was formed was composed entirely of Jews.  Paul alludes to this when he says: “If the first fruit be holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root be holy, so are the branches.” (Rom. 11: 16.)

 

 

The hiring of the labourers at different hours of the day represents the calling of the Gentile nations at different periods in the gospel dispensation.  The Gentile nations are well represented as standing ready to hear the gospel call; and they have been hearing and accepting it all through the gospel age, and been received into the Master’s service; and it is true that some have been waiting all the day long uncalled.  How true is it that China, and Japan, and South America, and Mexico, and Cuba, are now even anxiously waiting for the gospel to be preached to them!  And, at the eleventh hour, thousands of their people are gladly receiving it; and, according to prophecy, “the isles of the sea are waiting for His law.” (Isaiah 42: 4.)

 

 

From the prophecy of this parable we learn that the last one of the waiting nations will be visited by the [Page 133] missionaries of the cross, and that representatives of all nations will ultimately be found engaged in the Master’s service.  The blessings granted to one nation will be the same as those bestowed upon the others, irrespective of the earliness or lateness of the hour in which they embraced them.

 

 

It is true also that the Jews, as a people, always claimed superiority over their Gentile brethren, and to be deserving of superior consideration; but how true is it that the first called are to-day last, and the last first, in the service of the Master!

 

 

*       *       *

[Page134]

 

CHAPTER 14

 

THE PARABLE OF THE GREAT SUPPER

 

 

THAT I may more forcibly impress my readers with my conviction that in all the principal parables, beyond their apparent meaning and application, are taught the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven - viz., that the Gentiles are to be brought into the full enjoyment of the blessings of the gospel kingdom as well as the Jews - I present here several additional ones, which none will deny as having, in their deeper meaning, reference to God’s intended dealing with the Jews and Gentiles.  One parable rightly interpreted throws a flood of light upon others.

 

 

I present first the Parable of the Great Supper, as related by Luke:

 

 

“Then said He unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.  And they all with one consent began to make excuse.  The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it; I pray thee have rue excused.  And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused.  And another said, I have married me a wife, and therefore I can not come.  So that servant came and shewed his lord these things.  Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.  And the servant said, Lord, it is done [Page 135] as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.  And the lord said unto his servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may he filled.  For I say unto you, that none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.” - Luke 14: 16-24.

 

 

Also the same parable as given in its more extended form by Matthew:

 

 

“And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said, The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, and sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.  Again, he sent forth another servant, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.  But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: and the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them.  But when the king heard thereof he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers and burned up their city.  Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.  Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.  So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.  And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment; and he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having on a wedding garment?  And he was speechless.  Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  For many are called, but few are chosen.” - Matt. 22: 1-14.

 

 

If not the same parable, it is certain that a correct interpretation of the one given by Matthew will fully interpret the briefer one recorded by Luke.

 

[Page 136]

EXPOSITION

 

 

The great supper and marriage feast represent the [Millennial] kingdom of Christ, with all its honour and gracious privileges, prepared for the human family by the atoning work of God’s own Son.  The setting up of this kingdom, and the first issuing of the invitation to the enjoyments of its honours and privileges, was first made by the Harbinger to the Jews.  He announced the good news that all things were ready in these words: “Repent, ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand [has approached].”  The Jews, who were those first bidden, were again and again called by Christ and His twelve apostles and seventy disciples during the whole period of their ministry on earth, but, as a people, they rejected the invitations on the most irrational and frivolous excuses.

 

 

It will be remembered that during the entire ministry of Christ the invitation to the great supper was confined [at that time] to the Jews only by special command of Christ:

 

 

“These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not; but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.  And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” - Matt. 10: 5-7.

 

 

The Jews were undoubtedly those who were first bidden.  But after His resurrection Christ commanded His heralds to go into all the world, and make the offer of salvation to every rational creature, however high and good, and however degraded, low, mean and vile in the world’s estimation, and, by all the [Page 137] persuasive power and drawing influences of God’s love, influence (morally compel) them to come in and enjoy the gracious feast, and so honour the King.  And this commission the servants have been doing from the day that Peter gave the invitation to the Roman nation in the house of Cornelius.  And to-day the devoted missionaries of the cross are stepping upon the shores of every known nation of earth to bid the poor, the lowly and the lost to come; and the prophecy of the parable will be fulfilled despite the opposition of the opposers of missions, who thereby prove themselves the opposers of the will of the King who has made the marriage supper for His Son.  The faithful servants of the King will still go out; and they will, by God’s favouring aid, continue to gather together of all they find, until the fullness of the Gentiles shall be brought in, and the wedding, bless God, will be furnished with guests.

 

 

The question “Who are represented by the man found by the king among the guests without a wedding garment has ever been the most perplexing one connected with this parable.  That it is not essential to the integrity of this parable, is evident from the fact that Luke omits it altogether.  That there is a lesson to be learned from it touching the great doctrines connected with the administration of Christ’s [coming millennial] kingdom, we equally learn from the fact that it is mentioned by Matthew.  A knowledge of Eastern customs will help us in the understanding of this as well as the other parables.

 

 

The wealth of individuals, as well as the riches of kings and princely men, consisted largely of the number of costly garments possessed by them.  These were [Page 138] not cut to the form and sewed up to fit the person as garments are made by us, but cloth of the proper width, cut to the proper length, to wrap in folds gracefully over the shoulders and about the person.  The garment that was suitable for one person would fit every other one of the same height.

 

 

The wealthy possessed these garments by the hundreds, and kings and princes by the thousands. These were the hoarded “treasures” that, without the greatest care, the moth would consume and render useless.

 

 

The presents of kings, and of the wealthy, usually consisted in part, if not largely, of changes of raiment. (See 2 Kings 5: 5.)  On occasions of princely and kingly feasts, and especially upon marriage feasts, the guests were presented with a festal or wedding garment befitting the occasion, and, in richness, the rank of the guest. In the case under consideration the man had evidently declined to accept the garment, or had been overlooked through the carelessness of the servants, and his unadorned person arrested the attention of the king when he came in to see if the guests were suitably arrayed to go into the supper, so as to do honour to the occasion.  It was because the wedding garment was provided and freely offered to each guest that he might do honour to the king and his son, can we see, that the man was speechless when asked the reason for not having on the wedding garment.

 

 

The question then returns, Who were designed to be represented by this man who offered this indignity to the king, and suffered such condign punishment?  We think the same class of persons as those represented by the “children of the kingdom” who were denied the right to sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom:

 

 

“He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.  For whosoever hath, to him shall he given, and he shall have more abundance; but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.” - Matt. 8: 11, 12.

 

 

Who are these but the self-righteous scribes and Pharisees who claimed a right to all the immunities of the kingdom of God by virtue of their birth, or righteousness which is by the law?

 

 

Who are represented by this man but those who will at the last day plead their right to enter into the supper of the Lamb because of the good works they have done in this world in the name of the Christ?

 

 

“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? and in Thy name have cast out devils? and in Thy name done many wonderful works?  And then will I profess unto them, depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” - Matt. 7: 21-23.

 

 

In a word, then, this wedding garment is [NOT] the righteousness of Christ with which [ALL] the saints are clothed, and which is given to them: “And white robes were given unto every one of them (Rev. 6: 11.)*

 

[* See Rev. 19: 7, 8.  cf. Matt. 5: 20, R.V.]

 

 

This wedding garment is the righteousness which Paul so much desired to possess in that day, and without which no one will be allowed to enter in to the wedding supper of the Lamb:

 

 

“And be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.” - Phil. 3: 9.*

 

 

[* The imputed righteousness of Christ is common to ALL the regenerate; but for entrance into Christ’s coming millennial kingdom, more than this will required, before the time of the resurrection, at His Judgment Seat (Heb. 9: 27. cf. Luke 20: 35; Rev. 2: 25, 26; 3: 21) from those who are justified by faith, as Paul, in the following  verses 11- 21 makes perfectly clear.  SEE NOTE at end of the Appendix.]

 

[Page 140]

Bunyan, the peerless allegorist, says this is of the professed Christian, destitute of this righteousness, whom

he names Ignorance - i.e. ignorant of spiritual things:

 

 

“Now, while I was gazing upon all these things, I turned my head to look back, and saw Ignorance come up to the riverside.  But he soon got over, and without half that difficulty which the other two men met with; for it happened that there was then in that place one Vainhope, a ferryman, that with his boat helped him over.  So he, as the others I saw, did ascend the hill to come up to the gate, only he came alone; neither did any man meet him with the least encouragement.  When he was come up to the gate he looked up to the writing that was above, and then began to knock, supposing that entrance should have been quickly administered to him; but he was asked by the men that looked over the top of the gate, Whence came you? and what would you have?  He answered, I have ate and drank in the presence of the King, and he has taught in our streets.  Then they asked him for his certificate, that they might go in and show it to the King; so he fumbled in his bosom for one, and found none.  Then said they, Have you none?  But the man answered never a word.  So they told the King, but he would not come down to see him, but commanded the two Shining Ones that conducted Christian and Hopeful to the city to go out and take Ignorance and bind him hand and foot, and have him away. Then they took him up, and carried him through the air, to the door that I saw in the side of the hill, and put him in there.  Then I saw that there was a way to hell, even from the gates of heaven, as well as from the City of Destruction. So I awoke, and behold it was a dream  - The Pilgrim’s Progress, pages 240; 241.

 

 

*       *       *

[Page 141]

 

PARABLE OF THE WICKED HUSBANDMEN

 

(HISTORICO-PROPHETICAL)

 

 

“THERE was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country.  And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it.  And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one and killed another, and stoned another.  Again, he sent other servants more than the first; and they did unto them likewise.  But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son.  But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.  And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.  When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?  They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.  Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the Scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?  Therefore I say unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.  And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.  And when the chief priests and Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them.” - Matt. 21: 33-45.

 

[Page 142]

The interpretation and application of this parable is clearly learned from the forty-second and forty-third verses. The only possible question that can arise is, What institution did Christ refer to by the phrase “the kingdom of God  We should have a clear conception of this kingdom.

 

 

1. It must be a visible local institution, or it could not be visibly removed from one locality to another, or from one nation to another, and such a removal or change of place be seen to have taken place; otherwise the Jews, nor others, could not have known whether the prophecy of its removal had ever been fulfilled.

 

 

This kingdom, then, could not have been the ideal conceptional invisible kingdom of Christ of some, consisting of all the saved of all nations and in all ages, known in the Scriptures as “the ‘family’ of God” (Eph. 3: 15); for this family is nowhere called a kingdom.  It was never set up or organized.  It has no organization, and is therefore not an institution, and can not properly be called a kingdom, which implies organization, and can not be or exist without it.  Such a body could not be said to be removed from one locality to another, as from one nation to another, since it never was, and never can be, confined to one people or nation; for it is a truth that God is no respecter of persons: “But in every nation he that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him(Acts 10: 35.)  “To Him [Christ] give all the prophets witness, that through His name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins(Acts 10: 43.)  It can therefore never be given to one nation exclusively, or taken [Page 143] from one nation and given to another; nor is this spiritual family of God entered by baptism, as is the kingdom Christ referred to: “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he can not enter into the kingdom of God  (John 3: 5.)  Something, then, existing.

 

 

2. This kingdom can not refer to that peculiar system of religion known as the Jewish economy, because that was intended for the Jews only, and never has been, and never will be, transferred to another nation.  Its design has been consummated, and that economy has been forever abolished from the earth.

 

 

3. Nor can it refer to the Jewish commonwealth, called into existence by the covenant of circumcision God made with Abraham, because that is an everlasting covenant; and its promised blessings, and the token and seal of that covenant (circumcision), can never, by the express declaration of God, be transferred to any other nation or people, save the natural descendants of Abraham.*

 

* If it can be supposed that, in after ages, anything, as water baptism, has been substituted for circumcision, it remains equally true that no other people, or persons, save the Jews, can receive water baptism.

 

 

The kingdom, therefore, which Christ refers to in this parable must be that kingdom which Christ, by His prophet Daniel, foretold He himself would set up on this earth in the days of the kings or emperors of the fourth and last universal empire, which was the Roman. (Dan. 2: 44.)  It must be the kingdom which He sent His herald, John the Baptist, to proclaim as at hand in the days of Tiberius Caesar (Luke 3: 1), [Page 144] and which Christ himself, in His first public proclamation, also declared was at hand.

 

 

It was a visible and therefore local kingdom, which, according to the word spoken by Daniel, He came to this earth to set up - an institution that He could remove from one nation to another.  A kingdom is composed of parts – constituents - integers. Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom, we learn from Daniel, was constituted of provinces as its parts, or integers - one hundred and twenty; and these provinces were the only executives of the laws of the kingdom, and were the only visible form of his kingdom.  These provinces were composed of peoples in professed subjection and loyalty to the one supreme head of that kingdom.  This kingdom of Christ must likewise consist of parts - constituents - integers - the executives of it corresponding to the provinces of earthly kingdoms.  It is universally admitted that local institutions called churches are the only executives of Christ’s kingdom; and, therefore, we conclude that local churches - and there are no other churches save local bodies - are the parts, constituents, or integers, of Christ’s kingdom; and these give visibility to it, and are the only visible form of His kingdom.

 

 

The most authoritative writers on ecclesiology indorse this position.

 

 

A. P. Williams, D. D.:

 

 

“Jesus Christ has a kingdom on earth, and He has churches.  No one of His churches is His kingdom, but each one is an integral portion of His kingdom.” - Work on Commentaries.

 

 

Then it follows that the aggregate of Christ's true churches constitute His kingdom.

 

[Page 145]

E. J. Fish, D. R:

 

 

“The churches are the executives of the laws of the kingdom - Ecclesiology.

 

 

H. Harvey, D. D.:

 

 

“The church [i.e. churches] is the visible, earthly form of the kingdom of Christ, and is the divine organization appointed for its advancement and triumph.  Organized and governed by the laws of the invisible King, and composed of the subjects of the heavenly kingdom, who, by the symbol of fealty, have publicly professed allegiance to Him, the church[es] fitly represents that kingdom.  Hence the apostles, in receiving authority to establish, under divine inspiration, the form and order of the church, received ‘the keys of the kingdom of heaven  Whenever they gathered disciples, they organized a church; and, at their death, they left this as a distinctive and only visible form of the kingdom of Christ on earth.” - Pages 24, 25.

 

 

As one province may constitute a kingdom, and so long as there is but one, that province and kingdom would be synonymous terms, indicate and refer to the same institution; and as one State may constitute a republic, so one church could, and did, represent the kingdom of Christ so long as there was but one body; but when the churches were multiplied, then the kingdom was no longer represented by one organization, but by the sum total of all of them.

 

 

A church of Christ is composed of peculiar subjects, not of this world - merely carnal - but in professed spiritual subjection and loyalty to Christ, and this implies a prepared people.

 

 

So Christ sent John the Baptist before His face to make ready a people prepared for Him - the proper [Page 146] materials for a church were to be the nucleus of His kingdom.  John prepared these by preaching the doctrine of repentance towards God, and faith in the Christ to come, and baptizing them upon this profession, and satisfactory evidence given him of it.

 

 

This people, so prepared, Christ received, and they constituted this perfect church on earth, and it alone represented His kingdom, “the kingdom of heaven so long as He had but one church.  This was at first, and during the ministry of Christ, given to and confined to the Jewish nation only.  Its subjects and officers were Jews only.  Its privileges and honours were offered to Jews only.

 

 

As some teach that the kingdom of heaven was not in existence during Christ’s ministry, I submit the following Scriptures demonstratively proving that it was, so that only a mere caviller will dispute it.

 

 

1. Both John and Christ declared in their first proclamations that “the kingdom of heaven was at hand*

 

* In answering a letter we often say, “Your letter of the 1st  inst. is at hand  What do we mean?

 

 

2. Mark tells us that John’s preaching was the beginning of the gospel of Christ. (Mark 1: l.)

 

 

3. Matthew 11: 12: “And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence [i.e. is assailed, assaulted or opposed], and the violent take it by force” [i.e. seek to destroy it].  An invisible or non-existing kingdom could neither be assaulted, nor would its enemies, if it could be conceived to have any, seek to destroy it.

 

 

“The kingdom of heaven is here (Matt. 11: 12) conceived of as not simply near, but as in actual existence, [Page 147] and as having begun to exist with the beginning of John’s ministry.” – Broadus’ Commentary in loco.

 

 

It was, therefore, a visible, real kingdom composed of His true churches.

 

 

4. “The law and the prophets were until John; since that time the kingdom of heaven is preached, and [the correct rendering is] every one [all men] assault [or oppose] it  This rendering agrees with Matt. 11: 12, while the common rendering would contradict it.  The kingdom could not be assaulted or opposed, and, at the same time, all men so love it as to press into it.*

 

* We submitted, some years since, our translations (i.e. Matt. 11: 12; Luke 16: 14) to Prof. J. R. Boise, D. D., LL. D., of Morgan Park Theological Seminary, Chicago, and this was his reply: “Your questions suggest a new and, to my mind, more satisfactory interpretation of Matt. 11: 12.  1 think the clause may be rendered literally: ‘The kingdom of heaven is treated with [hostile] violence; and violent persons are trying to ravage it [harposonsin, used de conatu].’ This meaning is certainly in keeping with the classic use of the words, and also with the verses following.” Touching the passage in Luke 16: 14, he says: “The ordinary use of the words does seem to me more naturally to denote the violence of hostile forces - that of the scribes and Pharisees, which resulted in the crucifixion of our Lord.  Nor can I see that this interpretation is inconsistent with the context, particularly that which follows in Matthew.  That eis, with the accusative, may mean against is unquestionable. Kai pas eis auteen biazetai (Luke 16: 16) may certainly, so far as the Greek is concerned, be rendered, ‘Every one is violently opposing it  In this remark our Lord may have had in mind the rich and powerful - the leaders of society; and this thought may naturally have suggested the Parable of the Rich Man. (Vs. 19-31). This view of the verses in question is adopted by Lightfoot, Scheekenberger and Hilgenfeld

 

 

5. Matthew 21: 31, 32: “Verily I say unto you, [Page 148] that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.  For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not; but the publicans and harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him And it was by faith and obedience they entered.

 

 

They certainly could not enter the kingdom before it was set up - in existence.  But how did those publicans enter the kingdom?  “And the people that heard Him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John.  But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of Him.” (Luke 7: 29, 30.)

 

 

6. Luke 17: 20, 21: “And when He was demanded of the Pharisees when the kingdom of God should come, He answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is among or in the midst of you (See marginal reading and American Revision.)

 

 

The kingdom of God certainly could not have been in any sense within - i.e. in the hearts of - these wicked Pharisees, but it was among or in the midst of them.

 

 

7. Luke 11: 20: “But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you  Christ did cast out devils by the finger of God, for He himself was the very God; and who will presume to doubt that the kingdom of God had then, when Jesus spoke this, come upon or among that Jewish nation?

 

 

THE PROPHECY

 

 

Christ foretold that His kingdom, which was given to the Jews at its first establishment on earth, and had continued solely with them during the ministry of John, His own and that of His seventy disciples, should be taken from them.  This was literally fulfilled a few years after His crucifixion, by taking the gospel of the kingdom from them and giving it to the Gentiles, and thus transferring His kingdom from them to the Gentiles: “Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting [i.e., Gk. ‘aionian’ or ‘age-lasting’] life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.” (Acts 13: 46)

 

 

When during the ministry of Christ it belonged to the Jews only, in no sense can the kingdom now be said to belong to them or any considerable number of them, to be members of His kingdom;  nor am I warranted by Christ’s own declaration in believing that the kingdom will in any degree be restored to them, or they brought into it during this gospel dispensation, and therefore I do not consider that Gentile Christians are in duty bound to expend their time and means in preaching the gospel to them.

 

 

Mark also the statement of Paul: “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.” (Rom. 11: 25.)  When this has been accomplished, this gospel dispensation will close, and Christ appear.  The Jews are not forever cast away - they are yet to be saved as a nation, [Page 150] all of them, but not until after the advent of Christ, and, as Paul was, they will be convicted, and be brought to accept Him by the brightness of His appearing.

 

 

Let us read a few prophecies as to the manner of their conversion to Christ.

 

 

They, as a people, are again to see His face in the midst of great affliction:

 

 

“Ye shall see me henceforth no more till ye shall say, ‘Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.’” Matt. 23: 23, 39.

 

 

“And His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.”- Zech. 14: 4.

 

 

“And I will pour out upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplication; and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him, as one is in bitterness for his first-born.” - Zech. 12: 10.

 

 

“In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.” - Zech. 13: 1.

 

 

Thus those who fall on this stone in sorrowful penitence are broken to be healed and lifted up, but the rebellious and impenitent upon whom it falls will be ground to powder.  How could the Jews who heard Him fail to perceive that He spoke of them?

 

 

*       *       *

[Page 151]

 

CHAPTER 16

 

PARABLE OF THE BARREN FIG TREE

 

 

“HE SPAKE also this parable.  A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon and found none.  Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?  And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it.  And if it bear fruit, well; and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.” - Luke 13: 6-9.

 

 

This parable is generally interpreted from the pulpit to refer to the probation offered to impenitent sinners or the fate that awaits the barren Christian.

 

 

I can not think that Christ intended it to be applied to impenitent sinners, for reasons, viz.:

 

 

1. This was not a thistle or a thorn bush, but a fig tree, in itself a good tree.  It needed no change in its nature for it to bear good fruit, as every impenitent sinner does.

 

 

2. Nor can I think Christ intended it to be applied to individual Christians, since He would by it teach that Christians are under the covenant of works, and their [eternal] salvation depends upon the fruit they bear - their good works.  But Christians are not under the law, but under grace.  With them it is not do and live; but Christ says to His children, “Because I live ye shall live also  And the inspired apostle said [Page 152] to Christians in his day: “Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God; and when He who is your life shall appear, ye shall appear with Him in glory.” (Col. 3: 3.)  The Christian’s [eternal] life is secured - depends not upon his bearing fruit, much or little - good works - but upon the existence of Christ, who is his life.  He must therefore live so long as Christ lives.

 

 

Nor can it be supposed that a Christian can live here all his life without bearing some fruit to the glory of his God.  His very existence as an illustrious example of God’s love and redeeming grace is fruit to the glory of God’s saving grace; and his very life is an evangel.  But that Christian never yet lived, nor ever will live, who did not or will not bear those richest and most excellent fruits of the Spirit - faith, hope, love, the spirit of obedience, etc.

 

 

Christ says: “If ye love me, keep my commandments; and if any man love me he will keep my commandments  The spirit of Christ was the spirit of obedience; and “he that hath not the spirit of Christ is none of His

 

 

Love for the children of God is an inseparable mark of the child of God, as good works are of the existence of saving faith; for faith without works is dead - i.e. not a living, but a dead, false faith.

 

 

With these and many other considerations that might be mentioned, I dismiss the idea that this fig tree was intended to represent a child of God; and to so teach and preach it is to make this parable misteach God’s word.

 

 

I think Christ referred to the Jewish nation.  God was the planter of this fig tree.  The dresser and intercessor represents Christ.

 

[Page 153]

The Jewish nation was, as a vine or fig tree, brought up out of Egypt, and planted in God’s land - the goodly land of Canaan, comparable to God’s vineyard - and was unto God a peculiar people.  They were as peculiarly situated to bear fruit as this fig tree, planted in a vineyard where it was sure to have the best cultivation.  And this the Jewish nation received.  God had a right and every reason to expect fruit of this nation under the ministry of John the Baptist, Christ and His seventy missionaries and the twelve apostles.  And the personal ministry of Christ continued three years, so that it was literally true that for three years He had come seeking fruit, and had found none to justify the continuance of the tree to occupy and shade the ground that could be devoted to a better use.

 

 

God would have been just in the sight of all His angels had He dealt with the Jews as He did with the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah and Nineveh, when they rejected His counsels against themselves, by rejecting, as they did, the ministry of John the Baptist; but the Dresser interceded for God’s forbearance for one more year - yet a little while longer - consenting that if at the end of that time the tree did not bear fruit it should be cut down without a word of remonstrance.  We have a right to conclude that the fig tree was spared another year.  The Jewish nation was likewise spared, and the gospel preached in all their cities and villages with the demonstration of the Spirit, in the performance of untold and most convincing miracles, wrought before their eyes, until they wilfully rejected it, and crucified Christ himself.

 

 

This parable is fully pre-interpreted by Isaiah:

 

 

“Now will I sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard.  My well-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill; and he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a wine press therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.  And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard!  What could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it?  Wherefore when I looked that it should bring forth grapes brought it forth wild grapes?  And now go to, I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof and it shall he eaten up, and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down.  And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned nor digged, but there shall come up briars and thorns.  I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.  For the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah His pleasant plant.  And He looked for judgment, but behold oppression, for righteousness, but behold a cry.” - Isaiah 5: 1-7.

 

 

THE CURSED FIG TREE WITHERED

 

 

THE SENTENCE OF DEATH AGAINST THE JEWISH NATION EXECUTED

 

 

We see the prefigured execution of the sentence of the owner of the vineyard upon the barren fig tree in Christ’s treatment of a barren fig tree that mocked His hunger with leaves only, as He and His disciples were returning one morning from Bethany to Jerusalem:

 

 

“And when He saw a fig tree in the way, He came to it, and found nothing thereon but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward forever [Gk. ‘to the age’].  And when the disciples saw it they marveled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away!” - Matt 21: 19, 20.

 

[Page 155]

The fate of the Jews and their proud city, Jerusalem, is plainly foretold by Christ in this prophecy, and the cause of it - their rejection of His offered ministry for their salvation:

 

 

“And when He was come near He beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace - but now are they hid from thine eyes!  For the days shall come upon thee that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another, because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.” - Luke 19: 41-44.

 

 

This prophecy was literally fulfilled in less than forty years afterwards in the complete destruction of Jerusalem, and the unparalleled slaughter of the Jews, and the destruction of their nation.

 

 

*       *       *

[Page 156 blank.  Page 157]

 

PARABLES ILLUSTRATING

 

 

THE

 

 

MATTER AND MANNER

 

 

OF

 

 

ACCEPTABLE PRAYER

 

 

-------

 

 

1. THE IMPORTUNATE NEIGHBOUR

 

 

2. THE IMPORTUNATE WIDOW

 

 

3. THE PHARISEE AND THE PUBLICAN

 

 

4 THE UNFORGIVING SERVANT

[Page 158 blank  Page 159]

 

CHAPTER 17

 

 

THE IMPORTUNATE NEIGHBOUR

 

 

WHAT TO PRAY FOR AND HOW TO PRAY

 

 

“AND it came to pass, that, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, one of His disciples said unto Him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples  And He said unto them, ‘When ye pray, say:

 

 

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name.  Thy kingdom come.  Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth.  Give us day by day our daily bread.  And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us.  And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.’”

 

 

PARABLE

 

 

“And He said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?  And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I can not rise and give thee.  I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.  And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.  For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall he opened.  If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?  Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?  If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your [Page 160] children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?” - Luke 11: 1-13.

 

 

I have placed not the parable only but the whole context before the eyes of the reader for his better understanding of its true scope.

 

 

While Jesus was praying in a certain place, a little apart from His disciples, and they doubtless looking on and impressed with His whole manner, and wishing to be instructed as to what to pray for and how to pray acceptably, and remembering that John taught his disciples to pray, one of them came to Him and said “Lord, teach us to pray as John taught his disciples He immediately complied by giving them both the form and matter of acceptable prayer.  This I call not the Lord’s prayer, but a Christian’s prayer.  Christ never prayed it. He could not.  For the Lord’s prayer see John 17.

 

 

This prayer was not intended for all men, but for Christians only- the children of God - because none but such can pray it.  To say, “Our Father is to assert a claim to spiritual relationship, and there is no such relationship existing between God and a sinner; it would be a falsehood in his mouth.  Christ said:

 

 

“Ye are of your father the devil, and the works of your father ye do

 

 

“Our Father” is an expression of filial love, and no unregenerate person possesses such an emotion, and it would be a falsehood on his lips.  The common Fatherhood of God is a delusion.  He is the Father of only those who are His children by faith in Christ Jesus.  It is as true of all the unregenerate as it was of the unbelieving Jews.

 

[Page 161]

But of children Paul said:

 

 

“And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba Father” (i.e. Our Father). - Gal. 4: 6.

 

 

“Hallowed be Thy name  No sinner, young or old, can say this.  No sinner ever hallows or adores the name of God, or can truly or acceptably worship Him.

 

 

“Thy kingdom come, and Thy will be done in earth as in heaven  No sinner ever prayed this, or can pray this.  He does not want the will of God to be done with himself or on the earth as it is in heaven.  This language would be little less than blasphemy against God on the lips of sinners.

 

 

But in this prayer Christ taught His apostles and His disciples, to the end of time, what to pray for.

 

 

Of this prayer it has been eloquently said: “It is a remarkable collection of petitions, and Scriptures which contain within themselves the elements of every true prayer that can ever be offered by the faithful heart to our Father in heaven.  Each want of the renewed soul, each object of its most anxious desire, everything for which it can pray aright, lies enfolded in some one or other of the petitions of this prayer as the majestic oak lies wrapped up in the acorn.  The more we meditate upon the paragraphs of this prayer the more profound and comprehensive do they appear; no human mind can grasp the full meaning of any one of the sentences of this prayer, or sound the depths of its spiritual mysteries.  It carries in itself the proof that Christ is divine; for only a mind possessing divinity could frame a prayer that should concentrate every possible aspiration of the soul, and every known attribute of the Godhead

 

[Page 162]

Having taught His disciples what they should pray for, He next proceeds to teach them by parables and illustrations occurring in His daily ministrations how to pray, and commencing with the parable before us.

 

 

In Palestine, then as now, as in all hot countries, in order to avoid the intense heat of the sun, much of the travelling is done in the night.  The falling in of a friend at midnight seemed nothing strange; and borrowing a few loaves for a friend, unexpectedly arriving at so late an hour, presented nothing singular to the minds of the disciples.  The time and circumstances constitute important features of the parable.  Had the visit been made in the day-time, when the neighbour’s house was open and all the family up and stirring, how readily and cheerfully the loan or gift of a few loaves or cakes of bread would have been granted! but as it was - the hour so late, the house securely fastened up, the man himself undressed and in bed, and his children all asleep in bed with him, the lights all put out - it would indeed be with no little trouble, and a positive inconvenience, indeed, to get up, dress, light up the house, have his children all awakened, remove the fastenings from the door; therefore it is not strange, friend though he was, that he felt a positive disinclination in the circumstances to rise and accommodate him on his first request, and excuse himself as he did.  But the need of the neighbour was urgent for his friend’s sake, who was hungry, and he would not easily be denied, but continued to repeat, urge his request until it was granted; and he arose and gave him as many as he needed.

 

 

The key-word to this parable, as brought out by Christ, is importunity in prayer: “I say unto you, [Page 163] though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth  And for the encouragement of His disciples then around Him, for all to the end of the dispensation, he adds:

 

 

“And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.  For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.  If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?  Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?  If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?” - Luke 11: 9-13.

 

 

From this parable we learn:

 

 

1. That it is the duty of all Christians to pray daily.  “Give us this day is to be daily prayed.

 

 

2. That this prayer, called the Lord’s prayer, was intended for Christians only, and can and should be prayed by Christians only; and, therefore, our children should not be taught to say it over - for pray it they can not - and it is but a vain repetition on their tongues and a mockery.

 

 

3. We learn that it is right to pray for others;

 

And,

 

 

4. For our prayers to be acceptable, and prevailing in the sight of God, we should feel our need, and be,

 

 

5. Importunate.

 

 

*       *       *

[Page 164]

 

CHAPTER 18

 

THE IMPORTUNATE WIDOW

 

 

“AND He spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; saying, There was in a city a judge which feared not God, neither regarded man: and there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.  And he would not for awhile: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.  And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.  And shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him, though He bear long with them?  I tell you that He will avenge them speedily.  Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?” - Luke 18: 1-8.

 

 

The scope of this parable is simple and clearly stated by Christ before uttering it, viz.:

 

 

1. That men ought always to pray.

 

 

2. To pray, and not to faint.

 

 

It was spoken to His disciples, and for the comfort and encouragement of His elect ones in all ages until prayers and tears are no more.  Prayer has ever characterized the children of God in every age.  It is as natural to a Christian as his vital breath.  It is the breath of his soul.  That His disciples might be encouraged to pray, although their prayers were not immediately answered, Christ relates this parable.

 

[Page 165]

The two characters introduced into this parable are -

 

 

1. An unjust judge.

 

 

Of this judge two things are said: “He feared not God, neither regarded man

 

 

Both Homer and Euripides use this as a proverbial expression in their day, denoting consummate and unblushing wickedness - a man totally abandoned to all evil, capable of any injustice or atrocity.  It has been said, “Take away the fear of God, and you fill the soul with every inward sin, and make it a cage of unclean birds

 

 

Take away from a man “a regard for man, a proper respect for human opinion, when sound and wholesome, and you surround him with every outward sin, and make him a selfish despot, grinding out from his fellow-men whatever may contribute to his own lusts or aggrandizement, reckless of their happiness, and solicitous only for his own.  Strike from the heart of a man both these elements, and you make him a monster with a human shape but a devil’s heart

 

 

With such a moral monster in the seat of law and equity, and the people will be forced to take up the lamentation of Isaiah: “Judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off, for truth is fallen in the streets and equity can not enter

 

 

2. The other personage is a widow.

 

 

Bereavement, friendlessness and poverty naturally cast their cold, dark shadows over the word.  Oh! how like a vine torn from its tree by a rude blast, or a stroke from the passing storm-cloud, is woman when “death” writes “widow” upon her broken heart!  What heart is not moved to sympathy and kindness at the very word?  It gives to this parable its peculiar [Page 166] interest and pathos, that touches every heart, and at once enlists all our sympathies in behalf of this woman.

 

 

That she was without friends, true and strong, we gather from the fact that she comes in person and alone to plead her cause, instead of through a powerful friend or advocate.  That she was poor, we gather from the fact that oft-coming and urgent prayer was her only recourse, and not a full purse, which was the only thing that could move this judge to give a favourable hearing.  It was for the glittering bribe he waited, but in this instance waited in vain.  Had he feared God, the curse uttered from Mt. Ebal. in the ears of all Israel would have sounded in his ears and terrified his heart:

 

 

“Ye shall not afflict any widow or fatherless.  Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, fatherless and widow.  And all the people shall say, Amen

 

 

This widow did not come to entreat this judge to revenge her upon, or to punish, her adversary - some one who had wronged her.

 

 

The word here translated “avenge” means “obtain justice for me from my opponent It was justice, not revenge - simple justice from her opponent - she came so often and sought so earnestly from this judge.  She only besought him to do his simple duty - the duty that he had taken a solemn oath in the name of God and before men to do when he entered into his office.  This act of simple justice he refused to grant.  But not to be easily put off, and so confident of the justness of her cause, she came “oft again and again, and each rebuff only served to increase the urgency and persistency of her appeals.  She was not compelled [Page 167] to urge her case in his regular office hours, but she could, and doubtless did, in the public concourse, and wherever she met with him, until she positively annoyed him; until he was moved by purely selfish considerations to listen to her.  And he reasoned thus with himself: “Though I fear not God, neither regard man, yet because this widow troubleth me I shall give her justice, lest by her continual coming she weary me literally “wear me out” [or ‘pester me’.]  Tyndale, in his version made three hundred years ago, translates this “lest at least she come and hagge on me  Hagge, in old Anglo-Saxon, means a witch-fury, goblin or enchantress.  To hagge any one was to harass, torment one.  And, moved by pure selfishness and fear of some indefinable evil she might bring upon him, he, at last, granted her request.

 

 

Christ makes the application of His parable:

 

 

“And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.  And shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him, though He bear long with them?  I tell you that He will avenge them speedily.  Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall He find [the]* faith on the earth?” - Luke 18: 6-8.

 

[* NOTE.  The definite article ‘the,’ is shown in the Greek text.]

 

 

God, for an all-wise purpose, often bears long with the earnest supplications of His children - delays until it seems to them that He does not hear, or is unwilling to answer their petitions.  Is it not that they may fully realize their necessity, and so the more fully appreciate and enjoy the blessing sought?  Is it not that He may increase their faith by a severe trial of it?

 

 

This parable only serves to emphasize the last one we considered; and both this and that give force to the declaration of the apostle: “The earnest, wrought out of prayer of a righteous man availeth much

 

[Page 168]

There are two striking instances in the ministry of Christ that illustrate how pleasing to God is importunate prayer when offered for others, and encourage God’s children to be importunate in their petitions when offered for others, and disprove the teachings of those who say that prayer to God is only availing for good by its reflex influence upon the petitioner, which reduces it to a mere spiritual gymnasium.

 

 

1. The first is the case of the Syrophenician woman:

 

 

“And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto Him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.  But He answered her not a word.  And His disciples came and besought Him, saying, Send her away, for she crieth after us.  But He answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.  Then came she and worshiped Him, saying, Lord, help me.  But He answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs.  And she said, Truth, Lord; yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master’s table.  Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith; be it unto thee even as thou wilt.  And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.” - Matt. 15: 22-28.

 

 

Had she asked but once, and ceased to ask, we are not authorized to believe that her daughter would have been relieved.

 

 

2. The second notable case is that of the Roman centurion, or captain, related by Luke:

 

 

“And a certain centurion’s servant, who was dear unto him, was sick and ready to die.  And when he heard of Jesus he sent unto Him the elders of the Jews, beseeching Him that He would come and heal his servant.  And when they came to Jesus they besought Him instantly, saying that he was worthy for whom He should do this: For he loveth our nation, and he hath built us a synagogue.  Then Jesus went with them.  And when He was now not far from the house the centurion sent [Page 169] friends to Him, saying unto Him, Lord, trouble not Thyself, for I am not worthy that Thou shouldest enter under my roof; wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto Thee, but say in a word and my servant shall be healed.  For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers; and I say unto one, Go, and he goeth, and to another, Come, and he cometh, and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.  When Jesus heard these things He marvelled at him, and turned Him about and said unto the people that followed Him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.  And they that were sent, returning to the house, found the servant whole that had been sick- Luke 7: 2-10.

 

 

From the parable, and these illustrations from the ministry of Christ, we learn that importunity, conjoined with faith, are two essential elements of prevailing prayer.

 

 

The reader will readily call to mind the most noteworthy instances of such prayers.  Jacob, when he was aware that on the morrow he would meet his deeply injured brother, Esau, who had come out with an armed band with the intent, doubtless, to avenge himself upon him, went apart from his family, and spent the whole night wrestling in earnest prayer with the angel, who was none other than the Lord Jesus himself, seeking from Him the blessing of pardon for his sin against his brother Esau, and protection from his just indignation; and, when the day was dawning, and the angel would have left him, saying, “Let me go, for the day breaketh Jacob replied, “I will not let thee go unless thou bless me.”  And thus, by his faith and importunity, he prevailed with God and obtained the blessing sought; and this Jehovah-angel then and there changed his name from Jacob to Israel - prevailer with God and men. (See Genesis 32.) [Page 170] Would Jacob have prevailed with God had he continued in prayer but an hour, and then given up his suit?  How deeply he was made to realize his need and how persistently did he wrestle in prayer until he was heard!  He was not only blessed, but highly honoured by God and before man, as the result of that night’s pleading with God for himself and his family.

 

 

The case of Elijah is familiar with every Bible reader.  He knew that it was God’s intention to send the rain which had been withheld for more than three years, but he equally knew that it was God’s will that the rain should be given in answer to his prayer: that he, as God’s prophet, might be honoured in the sight of all the people.  Elijah, therefore, went out upon the mount and prayed for the rain, and sent his servant to look upon the heavens for an indication of an answer in gathering clouds; but he saw none.  The prophet prayed again and again, each time sending his servant out upon the brow of the mountain to look for a sign of coming rain with like results.  But Elijah was not disheartened.  He renewed his prayer still more earnestly, until the seventh time the servant came and reported he saw gathering over the western sea a cloud about the size of a man’s hand.  It was enough.  The prophet knew that his prayers were answered.  His faith and importunity are left upon record for the encouragement of God’s people in all ages, as were these parables and the instances alluded to in the ministry of Jesus.

 

 

The lesson taught in this parable is:

 

 

That importunity and implicit faith are two inseparable elements of prevailing prayer.

 

[Page 171]

The encouragement to God’s children to pray is in this:

 

 

If an unjust judge, who had not the least kind feeling for this poor widow, would grant her request merely to escape her importunity, how much more will a just and all-merciful Father listen to the prayers of His own children who incessantly cry unto Him, and avenge them of their adversaries, though He seems to defer a long while to move to redress their wrongs, and restore to them their inheritance (this earth wrested from them by Satan, their great adversary) and the enjoyment of their rights (i.e. to inherit and reign over it) now in the possession of their enemies!  Yea, verily, He will do it.  “Shall not the Lord of the whole earth do right” by them?  Very soon will their Kinsman-Redeemer take the title book, with its seven seals now broken, and, placing His right foot on the sea and His left on the land, take possession of the whole earth, and dispossess it of all its usurpers, and restore it to His [good, faithful and obedient] people, avenging them of all their wrongs and restoring to them all their rights, when, with Him, they will reign over it forever.*

 

[* That is, for as long as He has decreed it should remain, before replacing it with “a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven  and the first earth are passed away...:” (Rev. 21: 1, R.V.).  cf. 1 Cor. 15: 22-25; Rom. 8: 17-25, R.V.]

 

 

Well did Christ prophetically ask, “When the Lord cometh will he find this [the] faith on the earthHow few hold it to-day!  And as the years go by it is more and more rejected, even by professed Christians themselves. (See 2 Peter 3., 2 Thess. 2., and let the thoughtful Christian read Rev. 6. - 20.)

 

 

This feature of the parable will be more fully developed in the expositions of the Eschatological Parables.

 

 

*       *       *

[Page 172]

 

CHAPTER 19

 

THE PHARISEE AND PUBLICAN

 

 

“TWO men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, the other a publican.  The Pharisee stood and      prayed thus with himself, God, I thank Thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.  I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.  And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me a sinner.  I tell you this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” - Luke 18: 10-14.

 

 

I do not regard this as a race, or even as a caste, parable, as some do - i.e. that the Pharisee in it was intended to represent the Jews as a race, and the publican the Gentiles, who were regarded by the Jews as heathens and publicans; nor that He intended by the Pharisee to represent the Jewish Pharisees as the religious patricians of the nation, and by the publican the lowest and vilest class - the plebeians of Jewish society - but as a rebuke to religious Phariseeism, and teach the elements of acceptable and prevailing prayer among all people and in all ages.

 

 

Let us carefully notice the characteristics of the two men whom Christ puts before us so prominently, and their acts, and the results, by which He would teach [Page 173] us these important lessons, wherein they were alike and diverse.

 

 

1. In the sight of men.

 

 

The Pharisee, in the estimation of men, was in every respect far superior to the publican.

 

 

The Pharisees, as a class, represented the wealthy and aristocratic, the cultivated and pre-eminently religious portion of the Jewish nation.  It was indeed peculiarly characteristic of them that they “trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others The publicans, as a class, belonged to the poorer, and to the lowest, class of society.  They were the officers of the Romans, by whom the Jewish nation were held in subjection and oppressed, and their business occupation was to collect the heavy taxes imposed upon them, and were looked upon as the aiders and abettors of their enemies in degrading and oppressing the nation.  As a class the publicans were extortioners, exacting and collecting more than the law required, and appropriating it to their own use.  They were regarded by their countrymen as the very lowest class in vice, and no better than the heathen - who were without the circumference of the covenanted mercies - without God, and without hope in the world.

 

 

2. In the sight of God.

 

 

This Pharisee and publican were equal - equally sinners and depraved in heart, and doubtless equally guilty, and certainly equally in need of His compassionate mercy and salvation.

 

 

3. In their own sight they were unlike.

 

 

The Pharisee, in his self-examination, found nothing but what was meritorious and deserving the approbation of God.

 

[Page 174]

The publican, taking a juster view of himself, saw nothing to approve; saw and felt himself a sinner in act and intent; saw nothing that he considered entitled him to God’s merciful regard; saw and felt himself a sinner above all men.

 

 

The one was a boastful, self-confident, self-justified, impenitent sinner; the other a self-convicted, self-condemned, but deeply penitent sinner.

 

 

Their several actions, as well as their words, indicate their real spiritual conditions.

 

 

They both went up into the temple, as the Jews, when in the vicinity, were wont to do at the hours of prayer (9 and 3 o’clock).

 

 

They both stood when they prayed, as the worshiper was not allowed to take any other position in prayer according to the temple rules.

 

 

Touching the proper posture in prayer, an old divine has, as quaintly as appropriately, said, “I will either stand as a servant before my Master, or kneel as a suppliant to my King; but I will not dare sit as my equal*

 

* The true feeling of the heart will indicate the posture of the body in prayer.  The humble and contrite spirit, the broken heart that feels its helplessness, and in pleading for God’s favour, invariably assumes the kneeling or prostrate position.

 

 

Contrast their respective prayers.

 

 

The Pharisee, doubtless, with “lofty eyes complacent and self-satisfied mien, instead of imploring God’s pardon for his sins, or thanking Him for His many undeserved mercies, thanks Him that he is more righteous than all other men, and pronounces a eulogy upon himself in the ear of God and hearing of men.  With ostentatious pride he recounts his own pre-eminent [Page 175] merits, his abstemious devotion - even more than the law required.  The law only required one fast the whole year - on the day of atonement - but this man, like other Pharisees, fasted twice in the week (on Mondays and Thursdays).  He boasted of his liberality: “I pay tithes of all I acquire not as our version, of all I possess.  No Jew paid tithes of all he possessed, but of all his income, not subtracting the expenses of his business.  And he concludes not his prayer without expressing his supreme contempt for the publican.

 

 

By examining this prayer it will be found to lack every element of acceptable prayer.  It was, therefore, not heard.

 

 

The publican, standing afar off, as though too vile to associate with others, and so self-abased that he lifted not up his eyes, but smote on his breast and said, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. (See original.)

 

 

His was the outward manifestation of profound humility, and a penitential confession of conscious guilt, and a most earnest petition for God’s undeserved mercy - for mercy was his only plea, and this indicates that he felt deserving only of God’s judgment and righteous displeasure.  This publican, although a great sinner, was a true penitent.  Analyze his prayer, and it will be found to contain every element of genuine prayer which God has promised to answer.

 

 

Notice the result of these two prayers.  The Pharisee asked for nothing and obtained nothing.  He carried home what he brought, and doubtless died as he lived, a proud, censorious Pharisee, who trusted in his own righteousness for his salvation and despised others.

 

 

The publican left in the courts of God’s house all he brought - the open record-book of his confessed guilt [Page 176] and his troubled heart - and went down to his house justified, having asked, and received all he had asked for.

 

 

Did he not know that he had obtained the mercy he so sincerely and earnestly sought?  How can we doubt it with God’s word in our hand, which says: “Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God?” ... Yes, he did know it, because he felt the sweetness of this heavenly peace.  As he went up to the temple was not his soul harrassed and burdened with conscious guilt?  He certainly knew this, because he felt it.  When the light of God’s countenance beamed into his soul, and a sweet and heavenly peace took possession of it, did he not know it for the same reason - because he felt it as every pardoned sinner to-day knows when his sins are forgiven, by the peaceful joy that takes possession of his inmost soul?  And it is certain that if we love Him who begat us, we shall love all those begotten of Him; and therefore it is written: “Hereby we know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren What is there we better know than whom we love?  David knew when God heard and answered his prayer for mercy, and administered the grace of salvation to his soul.

 

 

The twofold design of this parable we can not fail to learn from both the introductory and concluding remarks of its author:

 

 

“And He spake this parable unto certain who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. ... For every one that exalteth himself shall be abased, and every one that humbleth himself shall be exalted

 

 

1. To point out religious Phariseeism and rebuke it.

 

[Page 177]

2. The essential elements of prevailing prayer.  The marks of Phariseeism in all lands and in all ages are: 1. Trusting in themselves that they are righteous.  2. Despising all others inferior to them.  3. Ostentatious piety. 4.  Self-praise; and, 5. Boasting of one’s goodness. and 6. Ambitious for the chief seats in the synagogues.

 

 

This sin is not confined to any nation, race or age, and this parable is therefore as applicable to-day as it was when spoken by Christ.  His disciples will do well to heed His admonition - “Beware of the leaven of Phariseeism

 

 

3. The parable teaches the essential elements of acceptable prayer, and offers the greatest encouragement for the greatest of sinners to pray.  One has said of it:

 

 

“How great is the encouragement which it offers to the truly penitent and believing to come to Jesus!  What though, like the publican, they be regarded as the off-scouring of all things?  Christ came to ‘save sinners.’ What though they feel their vileness, so as to cause them to smite upon their breast in anguish, and be afraid to lift up so much as their eyes to heaven?  The deeper the consciousness of guilt, the more they feel the need of a Saviour, and the more precious becomes His salvation.  We can not be too humble, for ‘He resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.’”

 

 

We can not be too full in confessions, for “He that confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall find mercy

 

 

We can not be too penitential for our transgression, for it is “the broken and contrite heart” with which God is well pleased.  We can not be too strong in our own faith, for “without faith it is impossible to please God  We can not be too importunate in our [Page 178] supplication, for it is “they who seek Him earnestly that find Him  Come, then, in humility, in godly sorrow, in true repentance, in simple faith, in earnest prayer, to the throne of grace, and, like the publican, we shall find acceptance with God, and go down to our house justified before Him.

 

 

*       *       *

 

[Page 179]

CHAPTER 20

 

THE UNFORGIVING SERVANT

 

 

“THEREFORE is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.  And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him which owed him ten thousand talents. But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made.  The servant therefore fell down and worshiped him, saying, Lord have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.  Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.  But the same servant went out and found one of his fellow-servants, which owed him an hundred pence; and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.  And his fellow-servant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.  And he would not; but went and cast him into prison till he should pay the debt.  So when his fellow-servants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done.  Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me; shouldst not thou also have had compassion on thy follow-servant, even as I had pity on thee?  And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors till he should pay all that was due unto him.  So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.” - Matt. 18: 23-35.

 

 

Bishop Porteus of this parable says: “It is one of the most interesting and affective that is to be [Page 180] found either in Scripture or in any of the most admired writers of antiquity

 

 

It was drawn forth by the question of Peter, “Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? until seven times?  Jesus saith unto him, I say unto thee, not seven times, but until seventy times seven  And then He relates this parable as illustrative of the divine condition of pardon - prevailing prayer.

 

 

Peter’s attention to this subject had been arrested by the instructions just given by Christ with reference to trespasses, and the course to be pursued when we had a matter of grievance with our brethren.  The directions were altogether new and striking.  Peter evidently wished for some specific rule.  The Rabbinical law of forgiveness, with which he was doubtless familiar, said that “three offences are to be remitted, but not the fourth Peter, in his question, more than doubles this number as an extreme limit.  Nor did the Saviour intend to fix a definite limit to the number of offences His disciples should forgive.

 

 

Seven, among the Jews, is the number of fullness, completeness, and seventy times seven then, indicating indefiniteness, unlimited forgiveness of wrongs, offences and injuries, is the heaven-born law, where the divine condition is manifested, which this parable was given to teach and illustrate.

 

 

A certain king is represented as making a settlement with his servants, or fiscal ministers, to whom the collection of his royal revenues was entrusted.  One, a tributary prince, or treasurer, is brought unto him, who was found behind in his accounts ten thousand talents, and had misappropriated or squandered them, for he [Page 181] as found to be utterly bankrupt.  Taking the talent at its lowest value, this amount was enormous even for a treasurer of the royal revenues to default in, not less than fifteen million dollars.  It evinces the dignity of the treasurer, and the great confidence the king had placed in his integrity, and the boldness of the peculation.

 

 

The defaulter offered no excuse, but frankly confessed his inability to pay.

 

 

The severe penalty for insolvency often used in the East, as is testified to by writers, sacred and profane, and even in Roman law, was that the wife and children, as well as the slaves, being considered the property of the father, were sold with him into slavery.  This penalty the king pronounced upon this bold defaulter, and that the proceeds of the sale should be applied toward the payment of the debt.

 

 

The wretched servant, overwhelmed with the fearfulness of his punishment, now prostrates himself upon his face before his lord, and entreats him, saying, “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all It was not that the lord believed that it was possible for him to pay the debt that his heart was touched with sympathy and compassion for the miserable suppliant, and ordered his chains to be knocked off, and, instead of sending him to the auction mart to be sold into hopeless slavery, magnanimously restored him to his liberty and his family and children and goods, and forgave him the debt.

 

 

What a surprising change in the situation of this servant! and what a profound impression for good must it, and must not his lord have intended and expected it to, have made upon the moral character of [Page 182] his servant, to reclaim him from his dishonest practices, and teach him an enduring lesson of compassionate leniency and forgiveness toward his fellow-servants!  But it did not.  He was evidently the heartless slave of avarice and greed.

 

 

Going forth from the presence of his lord he met a fellow-servant who owed him a hundred pence - the trifling sum of fifteen dollars - and, instead of being softened by the mercy he had himself experienced, he seized him by the throat and demanded, “Pay me that thou owest  The debtor prostrated himself before him as he had before his lord, and urged the self-same plea, “Have patience with me and I will pay thee all which he doubtless would have been able to have done; but this so recently pardoned bankrupt was untouched with pity or compassion, and ordered him cast into prison until he should pay the debt, thus depriving him of the slightest opportunity to do it.  How cruel!  How unfeeling!  The abasement and plea that had found mercy for him found no mercy from him.  Well has it been said: “Avarice is deaf and can not hear, blind and can not see, heartless and can not feel.  It has no bowels of mercy, no finely strung sympathies.  It is relentless in its grasp, cruel in its aims; and the horse-leech cry of its insatiable appetite is, Give, give

 

 

To get gain, it will steal from the treasuries of kings, or grind the face of the poor; it will wrench open the clenched hand of penury for its uttermost farthing, and wring from the hand of the widowed mother the pittance which gives her children their daily bread.  Of all such oppressions God declares “they have swallowed down riches and shall vomit them up again; he [Page 183] shall suck the poison of asps; the viper’s tongue shall slay him  This unmerciful conduct was at once reported to the king, and he straightway ordered him into his presence and thus rebuked and punished him:

 

 

“O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me; shouldst not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow-servant even as I had pity on thee  “And his lord was wroth and well he might be, and, with a justice that is commended by everyone who has read the narrative, he revoked the forgiveness he had extended and the cancellation of the debt, and delivered him to the tormentors until he should pay all that was due him.  “He richly merited his doom by his avarice, and brought it upon himself by his extortion  Christ brings out and applies this parable.

 

 

“So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye forgive not from your hearts every one his brother their trespasses

 

 

We have here illustrated the essential element of acceptable, prevailing prayer.  The forgiveness of all who trespass against us as we hope for the forgiveness of God.  This is clearly stated in the form of prayer Christ gave His disciples: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us  If we do not from our hearts forgive others, we ask God in this prayer not to forgive us.  What a solemn prayer!  But should we not use these words, we may know that to harbour in our breasts an unforgiving spirit God will not hear our prayers.  May not this be the reason so few of our prayers are answered - prayers for the forgiveness of our own sins, prayers for our children, prayers for others?  The reason why so many meetings, [Page 184] intended to be meetings for the revival of our church and the conversion of sinners, fail to accomplish anything for the glory of the Master or the salvation of men?  One of the first meetings that should be held to secure a revival should be a confessing and forgiving meeting, so that church members could effectively pray for themselves and for sinners.

 

 

We can now review the lessons we have learned from these four parables, the essential elements of acceptable and prevailing prayer.

 

 

1. We must realize in our hearts the need of that for which we ask.

 

 

2. We should earnestly and importunately ask for it.

 

 

3. We should ask “in faith, nothing doubting

 

 

4. Satisfied that our request is in accord with God’s will and for His glory we should continue our

Supplications “always and not faint  Daniel fasted and prayed for three weeks before the answer came.

 

 

5. We must pray humbly, confessing our sins.

 

 

6. We must seek forgiveness in a forgiving spirit, freely forgiving all who have offended or injured us.

 

 

*       *       *

[Page 185]

 

PARABLES ILLUSTRATING

 

 

GENERAL SUBJECTS

 

 

-------

 

 

THE WISDOM OF WORLDLY PROVIDENCE

 

1. THE UNJUST STEWARD

 

 

THE FOLLY OF SPIRITUAL IMPROVIDENCE

 

2 THE RICH FARMER

 

 

THE LAW OF BENEVOLENCE

 

3 THE GOOD SAMARITAN

 

 

THE THREE EXTREMES:

 

1. IN LIFE.        2. IN DEATH.        3. BEYOND THE GBAVE.

 

4. THE RICE MAN AND LAZARUS

 

 

5. SUMMARY

 

[Page 186 blank.  Page 187]

 

 

CHAPTER 21

 

THE UNJUST STEWARD

 

 

“AND He said also unto His disciples, There was a certain rich man which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods.  And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee?  Give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward.  Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship.  I can not dig; to beg I am ashamed.  I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.  So he called every one of his lord’s debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord? And he said, An hundred measures of oil.  And he said unto him Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty.  Then said he to another, And how much owest thou?  And he said, An hundred measures of wheat.  And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore.  And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.” - Luke 16: 1-8.

 

 

Dr. Stephens, in his Explanation of the Parables, says: “Commentators, while they have done much to explain the parables, have also done much to obscure them.  They have sometimes created more obstacles than they have removed, and, by their multifarious explanations and hypercritical emendations, have involved passages in perplexity which before were clear and simple  With no little force do these remarks [Page 188] apply to the Parable of the Unjust Steward, which some of the ancient fathers looked upon as the most difficult and obscure of all, and the learned Cajetan even declared “not only difficult but impossible to give its true meaning so as to be in harmony with the moral teachings of Christ in the other Sacred Scriptures.

 

 

Archbishop Trench says: “This parable, of which the difficulties are exceeding great, has been the subject of manifold, and those of the most opposite, interpretations

 

 

The difficulty of those expositors who, like Cajetan, stumble at this parable, arises from two evident misconceptions, which will appear to the reader who will follow me in a careful examination of the allegory.

 

 

It is strikingly oriental in its construction.  An extensive land owner (lord) entrusts the rentals of his lands and dwellings to his steward, who receives the rents from the tenants in the produce of the lands - wine, oil, wheat - as is done to this day in oriental countries.  Through the steward the contracts were made, and to him the rents were paid.  The contracts or obligations were in the handwriting of the tenants and countersigned by the steward, and, in his accounts, were his bills receivable.

 

 

This steward had so long unjustly managed his business, and overdrawn his salary, and reports from so many had reached his lord’s ears, that he had decided to discharge him, and therefore called upon him to render an account of his stewardship.  The steward was conscious that his books would not bear an examination, and that he would, as he deserved, be discharged in disgrace, so that it would be impossible for [Page 189] him to get an engagement as a steward with any other landlord, and, as a rational, forethoughted man, said to himself, What shall I do?  I am unused to manual labour.  I can not dig and so make a support.  I have been reared and lived a gentleman in good society, and to beg I am ashamed.  What shall I do?  Disgrace was sure, and starvation stared him in the face.  It only remained for him to add open fraud to dishonesty; and he adopts his plan, comforting himself that his course will at least secure him a home when ejected from his lord’s service.  He summons all the debtors to the estate for an examination of their accounts.  To the first he said, “How much owest thou unto my lord?  And he said, An hundred measures of oilThis was about one thousand gallons of olive oil, which was a commercial article and valuable.  He said, Take your bill, or contract, and rewrite it, inserting fifty.  This can the better be understood when we remember the obligation was in the debtor’s own handwriting.  To another he said, “How much owest thou?  And he said, An hundred measures of wheat  This was somewhat more than fourteen hundred of our bushels, and also both easily marketable and valuable. And he said, Take back your contract and rewrite it eighty.

 

 

Although such like reductions are mentioned in only two cases, we are left to understand that similar reductions were made in the bills of all the debtors, graduating their indebtedness according to their ability to pay easily; and thus he placed each one and all under obligation to himself, so that, when turned out of office, he would find a welcome and home with his master’s debtors, fondly hoping that, although they [Page 190] knew that he was unfaithful to his lord, they would not prove faithless to him.

 

 

Now here comes in the difficulty of Cajetan and those expositors who, with him, interpret the next sentence as spoken by our Lord Jesus instead of the lord of the steward.

 

 

It was by attributing the commendation of the unjust steward to our Lord rather than to the lord of the steward that the emperor Julian the Apostate made it the ground for vilifying the character of Christ; and, from his time down to the geological interpreters of the present age, it has been made the instrument of assailing the character of Christ, or of claiming a divine warrant for knavery and fraud.  Such eminent scholars and commentators as Matthew Henry and Whitby favour the idea that the commendation proceeds from Jesus, and thus they aid, by their great influence, His enemies to heap obloquy on our Lord, and to discredit the Bible and Christianity.

 

 

On this supposition, then, our Lord, as infidels claim, indeed seems to commend the dishonest conduct of the steward, and advise His disciples to imitate, in some sense, his rascality, and seek to purchase homes in heaven [or positions of rulership in the coming Kingdom of Messiah] by the use of their unjust gains - money unrighteously obtained.  Such an interpretation no friend of Christ can, for one moment, countenance.  We know there must be a grave mistaking of the statement of the narrative, and it evidently is attributing the commendation to our Lord rather than to the master of the steward.  Our Received Version favours, doubtless gave rise to, this mistake.  It reads, “the lord commended the unjust steward etc., which leaves it uncertain which lord did this, our Lord or [Page 191] that of the steward.  But the Revised Version clears this uncertainty, rendering it thus, “and his lord” - i.e. the lord, or master, of the steward.  Nor did the landlord who had been so egregiously defrauded praise the servant for his cunning rascality, but he simply commended him because he had acted wisely.

 

 

This removes the charge of infidels and the enemies of God’s word from Christ; and, if there is anything in this that can be charged as immoral, it fixes it upon the landlord who had been defrauded.

 

 

But the difficulty, in the second place, arises from the misinterpretation of the term phronimoos - rendered in our version “wisely” - which they take in the sense of correctly, commendably, but which should be rendered sagaciously, providently, forethoughtedly.  In no other sense is it used in the Sacred Scriptures.  In the sense of justly, correctly - never.  In this sense, then, let us read it: “And his master commended the unjust steward because he had acted prudentlynot because he had acted fraudulently.  He commended his ingenuity and consummate forethoughtedness in providing friends and a support for the future - this and nothing more.

 

 

This expression will not appear so strange to a business man as to a strict moralist.  How often is the business forethought of a speculator commended who secures, by deed and gifts, valuable real estate and bonds to his wife against impending bankruptcy - so that when the inevitable foreseen crash does come he has a sure home and support for himself and family, although his creditors suffer by his acting with such forethought or business prudence.  It is not the very questionable morality that men commend, but the [Page 192] forethought, the sagacity, the wise providence, of the bankrupt.

 

 

Nor does Christ advise His disciples to make friends on earth or in heaven with their unjust gains, unrighteous mammon, as His enemies so urgently charge.

 

 

Wealth – riches - are here termed the mammon of unrighteousness.  Riches in themselves have no moral character, are neither good nor evil, but in their tendency only.

 

 

“They are, so long as unused, passive and innocuous; it is riches in motion which give them a definite character; and here they are under two laws and under two directions - the law of selfishness and the law of love - the direction towards God and whatever tends to advance His glory, and the direction toward earth and whatever abets its lusts and pleasures

 

 

In what sense, then, can we make to ourselves friends of our wealth or earthly goods, of which we are but stewards, and what connected with the conduct of the unjust steward would our Lord have us imitate?  In a word, what is the scope of this parable?

 

 

It certainly is not to teach us to waste property intrusted to us, or to defraud our employers, or to make our fellow men accomplices in our crimes.  Certainly not to commend injustice in any sense.

 

 

We learn:

 

 

1. That we should exercise a sagacious forethought with reference to our soul’s future welfare and happiness, as this steward did to his earthly wealth.

 

 

2. That we can, as our Lord’s [faithful and obedient] stewards, so use our earthly goods in the support and extension of His cause - in sending the gospel to the heathen and the relief of human misery - not by a mere figure of speech, [Page 193] but by a glad and joyous reality, make to ourselves friends who, going before us to the saints’ [millennial* and] everlasting rest, will, more than others there, welcome us on our approach to their everlasting joys.

 

[* See Heb. 4: 1, 6-11, R.V.]

 

 

No better can we convey our understanding of this than by this fact:

 

 

One of our missionaries in China, some months since, reported that a native from the far interior came into his chapel and asked him if he was a Jesus-Christ-man, and, on being answered in the affirmative, he said, “Then I want to be baptized And, on being asked why, he said, “Because I believe on the Lord Jesus, who came into the world to save sinners. I love Him because He loved me, and has saved me from my sins, and His book tells me that all who believe and love Him should be baptized, and there is no one in my province to baptize me, and I have come to you  Conversing with him, the missionary learned that the year before, when he came down the river with a boat-load of tea, tracts and copies of the New Testament had been distributed to the boatmen, as is the custom with our missionaries, and a copy of the New Testament, in Chinese, had fallen into his hands.  This new book he had read during his long journey back and during the year, and its blessed “good news” had been fastened upon his heart, and the Holy Spirit had graciously enlightened his dark mind and taken the things of Christ and shown them unto him, and by its influences had enabled him to accept the Lord Jesus as his Saviour, and to rejoice in His love.  Having drank of the waters of life, he had read the precious book to others, and been enabled by his own experience to lead his family and several of his idolatrous countrymen to drink and [Page 194] live.  These he had brought with him, and the joyous company were baptized by the missionary, and he returned home rejoicing in the Lord with all his house.

 

 

Suppose these heathen friends should die years before that Christian brother or sister in America who gave the dollar that purchased that Testament, that had led these to Christ, are we not justified in believing that these friends will receive with joy that giver into everlasting habitations?  I have often, with thrilling pleasure, contemplated with what shouts - I had almost written tears - of grateful welcome the hundreds of Burmese converts, waiting upon the shores, received the sainted spirit of Judson into their blessed abodes of rest, who, by arduous labours, self-sacrifices and cruel sufferings, had penetrated into the deep darkness of their idolatrous nation to bring them the bread of life.

 

 

Think, ye missionaries of the cross on heathen lands, of the thousands of Karens, converted by his labours, who received Carey into their Sweet Rest when he passed over the River, and read again these words of Christ: “Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fail [die] they may receive [welcome] you into everlasting [Gk. ‘aionian’] habitations* Ye missionaries of the cross, read this!  Ye lovers of Christ, who sacrifice of your limited means to send the gospel to the destitute at home and the heathen abroad, read this!  Ye toiling, self-sacrificing pastors, even more sacrificing than our foreign missionaries, read these words of Christ, and think of the reception that awaits you by the hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of those you have instructed and led to Christ, who may have passed before you to Paradise,** and be [Page 195] encouraged to preach on, notwithstanding all your discouragements and self-sacrificing labours!  Surely, one hour amid that throng will more than repay all the years of your toils and sacrifices, prayers and tears.

 

[* NOTE. The last clause of verse 9 has been translated thus: “… they may receive you into AIONIAN (i.e., age-lasting) mansions

 

** See Chapter 24.]

 

 

We can testify that the sweet glimpses we had the past year of “The Bright Beyond,” while our trembling footsteps lingered upon the banks of the River, a thousand times repaid us for the arduous labours, bitter opposition and persecutions of more than half a century in the service of the blessed Christ.

 

 

We can not intelligently read this parable and not be impressed with the fact that our future happiness will be materially enhanced by the proper use of our earthly goods, as well as our time and toil and influence, expended upon others.

 

 

From this parable Sunday-school superintendents and teachers will find encouragement to sacrifice ease, time and money in their sphere of labour.

 

 

Some months since we saw an intelligent, well-dressed stranger take the hand of the old superintendent* of our church, at the close of a morning service, and this was about what he said:

 

* R. G. Craig.

 

 

“You do not recognize me, but I know you.  Years ago I was a godless boy in this city.  No one took any particular interest in me, or looked after my religious training.  I was an habitual Sabbath-breaker, and seldom heard a sermon.  You sought my acquaintance, invited me to attend your Sabbath-school, and interested me in it, and then to attend church.  Moral principles and religious truths were in this way implanted, which, in after years, God blessed to my salvation.  I feel, Brother C., that I owe all I am, under [Page 196] God, to you, as my Sunday-school superintendent, and to my teacher in your school

 

 

That man is to-day a prominent, wealthy business man in a Western city, and an active member in a Baptist church.

 

 

Should he pass over the River before his old superintendent and teacher, would he not with most grateful joy meet their approach, and welcome them to his everlasting Rest?

 

 

We also learn from this parable the conscious existence of disembodied saints, between their death and resurrection, denied by so many, and even by so eminent a name as Archbishop Whately.  And another most pleasing doctrine, the recognition of our sainted friends in the Intermediate State, and that they will be present to receive and welcome our entrance into their heavenly mansions.

 

 

We also learn that we may so use our worldly mammon-money - as to enhance our [millennial and] eternal joy as well as that of others benefited by us here.

 

 

I close with the words of Dr. French:

 

 

“I can not doubt, however, that we have here a parable of Christian prudence - Christ exhorting us to use the world and the world’s goods in a manner against itself and for God.”

 

 

Whether I have done more to obscure than to explain this parable, I leave to my readers to judge.

 

 

*       *       *

[Page 197]

 

CHAPTER 22

 

THE RICH FARMER WHO WAS A FOOL

 

 

“AND He spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?  And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.  And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.  But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?  So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” - Luke 12: 16-21.

 

 

This is a companion parable to the selfish sensualist and the poor beggar.  It is so realistic and so strikingly befitting the circumstances in which Christ was placed as to command our admiration.  In this respect it is unlike that of the rich man and the beggar, which is so suddenly injected into His discourse without the least connection with what precedes or follows as to raise suspicion that it is out of its place in the narrative.

 

 

Christ was constantly watched by the scribes and Pharisees and Herodians, or beset by detectives, employed by them to watch His acts, and by propounding questions and making requests, to find some ground for a charge against Him on which to put Him to death. [Page 198] “Laying wait for Him, and seeking to catch something out of His mouth, that they might accuse Him.” - Luke 11: 54.

 

 

The reader will readily recall the questions of the Herodians concerning the tribute money, and the efforts of the scribes and Pharisees to influence Him to exercise civil jurisdiction in the case of the woman professedly taken in adultery - doubtless only a feint to entrap Him - and here in the midst of an address to His disciples, a man, doubtless a detective, breaks in with the request that He would only speak to his brother that he should divide the paternal inheritance with him, tempting Him to exercise judicial authority!  Christ revealed this point by the question, “Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you  He used this circumstance to impress upon His hearers the sin of covetousness, “Take heed, and keep yourselves from all covetousness, for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things he possesses and then He sealed His admonition with this striking parable.

 

 

The principal points of it are:

 

1. The character of the man.

 

 

2. His prosperity, and its effects on him.

 

 

3. His trust in riches.

 

 

4. The uncertainty of the heirship of earthly possessions.

 

 

5. In what respects he was a fool.

 

 

6. His sudden and fearful death.

 

 

Let us then consider:

 

 

1. The character of the man.

 

 

He was a rich man, but this is not charged upon him as a folly or a crime.  It is clearly inferable from the narrative that he came honestly by his wealth - that he did not make it by usurious practices, [Page 199] oppressing the needy and unfortunate, or in grinding the face of the poor, or by speculating and sharp trading at the expense of others; nor is there the least intimation that he was otherwise than a moral, upright and honourable man.

 

 

2. He was a saying farmer.

 

 

His accumulations were the products of his well cultivated fields, the fruits of an honest and diligent industry. His fields brought forth plentifully; they were therefore thoroughly cultivated, and his well directed efforts were crowned with the blessing of Him

“Who maketh the earth bring forth abundantly,

And the clouds to drop fatness

 

 

That His hearers should be impressed that the rich man’s wealth was honestly acquired, was necessary in order that Christ’s rebuke might rest upon the folly of trusting in great riches, rather than in the manner of their acquisition.

 

 

The man was an honest, saving farmer, accustomed to carefully husband closely his income.

 

 

3. The effect of prosperity upon him.

 

 

God’s abundant liberality towards him did not have the effect to either open his heart in gratitude towards God or his hands in liberality or charity towards the poor and needy around him.  He was a cold-hearted, selfish miser.

 

 

4. Mark the effect of his great prosperity upon him.  It but the more tempted him to trust in his riches - that in them he would find a guard from all the ills, and a shield against even death itself, thus lulling him into perfect self-security.

 

 

It only served to increase his propensity to hoard up, and fix his thoughts more intently upon his gains [Page 200] and how to secure them.  He turned the matter over and over in his own mind, and the only question was, what shall I do for want of room to store up my goods?  Mark the expressive working of covetousness.

 

 

“He thought within himself did not consult or deliberate with others what might be done by a corporative act for the good of the community, or to relieve the unfortunate; did not once acknowledge to himself that he was, in any sense, God’s steward, and responsible to Him for the proper use of his great riches, the gift of God’s providence.  “He thought within himself and his conclusion was soon reached, and according with the principle of pure, cold selfishness, “This will I do: I will pull down my barns and build larger, and there bestow my goods

 

 

The good old Father Ambrose thus beautifully comments on the rich man’s soliloquy: “No room!  Thou hast barns - the bosoms of the needy, the houses of the widows, the mouths of the orphans

 

 

5. The uncertainty of the heirship of his mighty possessions is forcibly indicated by the emphatic question of his Maker: “Then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided  He toiled to gather what others will scatter.   He laboured to save and lay up in store what others will lay out in waste.  As the Psalmist says, “He heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them

 

 

How often heirs, and even children, waste their inheritance in wrangling over its division, and become enemies and forever alienated, and thus their father’s hoarded wealth proves a curse to them.  Hoarded gains are far oftener a curse than a blessing to those who heir them.

 

[Page 210]

6. This rich, world-wise farmer was a fool.

 

He was a fool -

 

1. For thinking that ease and wealth and worldly pleasure would satisfy his soul.

 

 

2. To live and act for this transient, present life, without a thought for the unending future –

pampering the present and bankrupting the [millennial and] eternal future.

 

He was a fool -

 

3. For believing that life had no other purpose than for self-gratification

and sensual delights.

 

 

He was a fool -

 

4. For thinking that his riches were his own, and he was not accountable to God

for their proper use or for their abuse.

 

 

He was a fool -

 

5. For supposing that his soul needed no preparation to meet its God.

 

 

He was a fool -

 

6. To hoard up his riches in barns and storehouses, not knowing who would scatter and waste them,

rather than to have used them for beneficent purposes: “So is he who

layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God

 

 

The man who layeth up treasure for himself is the selfish man, who lives for himself alone - who hoards for himself - who, in everything, regards alone his own interests; he toils for and lays up treasure because wealth brings him honour and position in society, and multiplies friends and influence and pleasures.  “The rich man says Solomon, “hath many friends [those who call themselves friends].  The rich man’s wealth is his strong city  Such a man hoards riches for what they will do for him.  “If born in poverty, his ambition is to [Page 202] rank among the rich.  If born to fortune, he seeks to excel his ancestral wealth.  If he sprang from ignominy, he wishes to throw a mantle of gold over his mother’s shame.  If a scion of rank, he longs to quarter the arms of mammon on the heraldic shield of a noble lineage.  If ignorant, wealth will atone for stupidity.  If learned, wealth can ennoble knowledge - for the crown of the wise is their riches

 

 

What is it to be “rich toward God

 

 

It is to be rich with respect to God.  The child of Gould or Vanderbilt is rich with respect to his father, because heir of his mighty possessions.

 

 

A child of God is an heir of God and [“if so be that we suffer with Him” a] joint heir with His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ: “For if children, then heirs: heirs of God.” (Rom. 8: 17.)

 

[* That is, “joint-heirs” during the “age to come,” only for those whom the condition qualifies!]

 

It is by faith in Christ alone as our sole Saviour and Redeemer that we become the children of God and heirs of an eternal inheritance: “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” (Gal. 3: 22)

 

 

When a child of God accumulates wealth, he recognizes the fact that he is but the steward of God’s bounty, and that it is his duty to use it, as not abusing it, for God’s glory and the good of his fellow men, or he will be treated as an unprofitable servant.

 

 

7. It is only left for us to notice his sudden and fearful death.

 

 

Job graphically describes the suddenness of the death of the wicked:

 

“Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out;

And the spark of his fire shall not shine;

And his lamp above him shall be put out.

The steps of his strength shall be straitened

[Page 203]                                              And his own counsel shall cast him down:

For he is cast into a net by his own feet

 

 

He not only describes the suddenness, but the terrors, of the death of the rich sinner, as though he were forecasting the end of the subject of this parable:

 

“The rich man shall lie down, and he is not.

Terrors take hold on him as waters.

A tempest stealeth him away in the night,

And, as a storm, hurleth him out of his place;

For God shall cast upon him and not spare

 

 

And lastly:

 

 

His sudden death.

 

 

So absorbed was he in the schemes of hoarding, so secure he felt against all adverse circumstances, such visions of years of ease and pleasures so entranced his senses, that he wholly forgot God, his soul’s great need and all concern for the future.  As a thunderbolt out of a cloudless sky came the astonishing summons from heaven, “Thou fool, this night is thy soul required of thee; and the things thou hast prepared, whose shall they be

 

 

Oh, what an awful annunciation!  It was the curfew bell of his soul, extinguishing in an instant every light of hope and joy, and leaving, to settle down over his soul, the unbroken darkness of blackness forever!  What a fearful end of life!  The last words he heard on earth from the lips of his Maker, “Thou fool  And those words, without one redeeming memory, will reverberate in his ears, and echo and re-echo through his soul, forever and forevermore, constituting the undying worm that will gnaw and the stings that will unceasingly transpierce it, “THOU FOOL

 

 

*       *       *

[Page 204]

 

CHAPTER 23

 

THE LAW OF BENEVOLENCE

 

 

THE GOOD SAMARITAN

 

 

“AND Jesus answering, said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.  And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.  And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.  But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, and went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.  And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.  Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?  And he said, He that showed mercy on him.  Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.” - Luke 10: 30-37.

 

 

It has been said that the law of benevolence never received a more beautiful illustration than by the Parable of the Good Samaritan, and that the tact with which it was introduced and the judicious selection of its circumstances are only equalled by the felicity of its similitude and the force of its appeal.  It could be as truthfully added that no one of Christ’s parables has been more fancifully interpreted by the most [Page 205] learned and most sober or matter-of-fact commentators.

 

 

Let us briefly notice the circumstances that called it forth.

 

 

A certain lawyer, one of the detectives of the scribes and Pharisees, standing up to tempt Him, perhaps to expose the ignorance of Christ before the multitude, or to put Him in antagonism with the teachings of the Pharisees, asked Him this profound and most important question, which equally engaged the attention of all classes: “Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal [Gk. ‘aionian’ = ‘age-lasting’ in this context] life  Christ referred him to the law for His answer - What saith the law?  He promptly answered:

 

 

“And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.  And He said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.” - Luke10: 27, 28.

 

 

Conscious of his own remissness in fulfilling the demands of the law - the last item, at least - and desiring to justify himself, he asked: “And who is my neighbour This also was a much mooted question among the scribes.

 

 

The Pharisees, who constantly made the law of God of none effect by their traditions, taught the people that none were to be considered their neighbours but those of their own nation and faith.  Instead of answering this lawyer, who was a Pharisee, as most of his class were, directly, he relates the case of a man - a Jew, doubtless - who was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, a town on the river Jordan, fifteen miles to the southwest, and fell among thieves, who, at that time, made that road dangerous to travel.  The thieves [Page 206] not only robbed him of his money, but they “stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and left him half dead

 

 

While lying in this helpless condition a certain priest came that way, for many priests lived in Jericho, and this one may have been returning home from Jerusalem, having finished his course of service in the temple, and, seeing the wounded man, instead of practicing what he in a higher degree taught the people out of the law Thou shalt not see thy brother’s ass or his ox fall down by the way and hide thyself from them;” “thou shalt surely help him to lift them up again;”- “he passed by on the other side

 

 

Shortly a Levite came to the same place, and, moved by curiosity alone, he came and looked on him; but, unmoved by pity, or the requirements of the divine law, he passed by on the other side, leaving him to the mercy of the wild beasts.  But a certain Samaritan, a traveller, and far from home, came where the poor unfortunate Jew lay weltering in his blood, and when he saw him he had compassion on him, and went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and thus stanching the blood and allaying the pain of his wounds.  Nor did his kindness and generosity stop here.  He placed him on his own beast, and walked himself by his side to keep him from falling, and to guide the beast, and brought him to an inn, and there tarried over the night, and tenderly nursed him.  On the morrow, when it became necessary for him to depart, he paid his score, and advanced a sum (two pence) for the care of the wounded man until he should return - two denarii, equal to twenty-eight cents of our money, the price of the pay of a labourer [Page 207] for two days - and promising to pay on his return all expenses over and above this that might be incurred.  Portraying this touching and realistic scene before the eyes of the lawyer, Christ asked him, “Which one of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves  The lawyer promptly answered, “He who showed mercy on him Rightly answered, and thus this Pharisee enunciated and forever settled the great law of benevolence for all nations and for all times.  Says a forcible writer, commenting on this parable:

 

 

“It was not possible for our Lord to take stronger antagonistic elements whereby to illustrate the fusing power of neighbourly affection than the Jew and the Samaritan.  There existed between the two people a natural hatred of the most implacable kind.  The Samaritans had built on Mount Gerizim a temple in opposition to the one at Jerusalem.  They had established a priesthood in rivalry of the Aaronic order.  They rejected all of the sacred Scriptures but the five books of Moses.  They paid no heed to the traditions of the elders, which the Jews so tenaciously held, and though, according to the glosses of the Pharisees, the Jews might buy of the Samaritans, they were not to borrow anything of them; were not to receive them into their houses; were not to accept from them any kindness, and were bound under an anathema not to eat or drink with them.  Thus the woman of Sychar truly said to Jesus, as He sat at Jacob’s well, ‘the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans;’ and thus, also, when the enemies of our Lord wished to stigmatize Him with the most contemptuous epithet, they termed Him ‘a Samaritan who hath a devil”

 

 

When, therefore, Jesus selected, as the representative of that love which He would inculcate, the deeds of a despised Samaritan, and when He compelled Jewish [Page 208] lips to utter praises to the compassion and kindness of this “alien and stranger to the commonwealth of Israel He gave expression, in the most forcible form possible, to the broad, binding, universal nature of that second table of the law which He himself had summed up in the command, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself

 

 

In proof of our statement that no parable, unless it be that of the hidden leaven, had been more egregiously martyred - had been so fancifully misinterpreted, and that by the most learned and sober-minded, matter-of-fact expositors and commentators - than this simple, realistic of all the parables, they have made the word of God, the instruction intended to be imparted by this parable, of none effect by their traditions.  From the days of Origen expositors, following his most vicious theory, to search for a mysterious sense under the plain text, they have quite generally interpreted this narrative with reference to the fall and recovery of man.  So, following Origen, Luther and Melancthon treated it; so Dr. Gill, the Baptist commentator; so the great learned Jones, of Nayland; and even so the sober-minded Trench, in his recent work on the parables.  About this will represent their views:

 

 

The “certain man represents Adam, the head representative of the race.  The going down from Jerusalem to Jericho represents going out from Paradise into a world of thorns and briars.  His ‘falling among thieves’ indicates the malignant powers of hell, who assail the sinner and rob him of his heavenly birthright.  His being stripped of his garments represents his despoliation of his robe of original righteousness [Page 209] and innocence.  His wounded state indicates the sad work of sin upon man, which makes him, ‘from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot, to be full of wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores, which have never been healed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.’ Then leaving him ‘half dead,’ exemplifying the fact that Adam did not die in body the day in which he sinned, but that having pronounced against him the sentence of death, he may in truth have been ‘declared half dead  By the priest and Levite is meant the patriarchal and Levitical dispensations, since the head of each family was a priest, and which of themselves could do nothing to recover the lost man, ‘for it was not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin  But what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, was at length effected by Him whom the Jews called a Samaritan, even Jesus Christ.  The journey He took was that of incarnation, by which He ‘travelled in the greatness of His strength,’ from heaven to earth, and, coming in the capacity of a Great Physician, He had oil and wine, the wine of His own purifying, cleansing blood, and the oil of His own anointing grace, which healeth all our infirmities.  He is said to have set him on His own beast, because of man’s inability to move himself in the direction of his salvation.  His being brought to an inn signifies his admission into the visible church.  The ministry is the host.  The Old and New Testaments are the ‘two pence,’ which this ‘host’ is to expound and administer as being the ‘steward of the manifold grace of God.’”

 

 

Such substance is the ingenious but baneful and trifling interpretation of this parable by these [Page 210] great minds, which lead us away from the real and manifest intent of our Lord when He spake this parable, which unquestionably was the elucidation and enforcement of the second great command, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself as the universal law of benevolence.

 

 

THE LESSONS OF THIS PARABLE

 

 

1. That benevolence is not to be circumscribed by national boundaries.

 

 

The Jews were commanded not to be familiar with idolatrous nations, lest they should affiliate with them in their idolatrous practices, and they were enjoined to maintain a perpetual enmity with Amalek and the seven idolatrous nations of Canaan, whom God had “cast out before them and had devoted to ruin; but prohibition did not warrant them, as they came to believe, to hate all mankind, save their own nation, and confine all their intercourse and regard and love to their own kindred and people.

 

 

The Jews being in an especial manner the chosen people of God, they were required to shun and hate the wicked ways, and uproot the idolatries of the Canaanites, who were ever seeking to seduce them from the worship of the true God into their abominable wickedness, but they interpreted this that they should hate their persons also.  While these injunctions were most explicit and rigorous, yet the laws which God enjoined upon them with respect to strangers within their gates, and travellers who might pass through their land, or who came to sojourn among them, were of the most lenient, protective character.

 

[Page 211]

“Thou shalt not oppress the stranger, for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were once strangers in the land of Egypt  But that old dispensation of exclusiveness had now served its purpose.  The middle wall, or partition, was to be broken down.  Christianity, under the new covenant, was not to be a race religion - not for one nation or people only, but “for the whole world

 

 

It has been truly said:

 

“Christianity knows no geographical boundaries, no treaty limits, no barriers of language, customs or climes.  It recognizes no distinctions of sex or colour, of estate, of education; ‘it represents us all of one blood, the offspring of a common father, for to him is provided one common Redeemer, and before whom lies a common death, a common judgment, and a common eternity.’”

 

 

The parable teaches us:

 

2. That our benevolence must not be limited by our SYMPATHIES.

 

 

That those of our own nation, kindred and faith have the first claims upon our benevolence, is a matter of our own consciousness, and is clearly recognized by Christ:

 

“Ye shall be witnesses unto me [first] in Jerusalem and Judea, and [then in] Samaria, and [added to these] to the uttermost part of the earth.” “That repentance and remission of sins should be preached unto all nations, beginning at [home] Jerusalem

 

 

“As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.” - Gal. 6: 10.

 

 

This parable teaches us:

 

[Page 212]

3. That we should not limit our benevolence by our PERSONAL FRIENDSHIPS.

 

 

Between the Samaritans and the Jews there was the most implacable hatred.  There was no social intercourse. The Jews cursed the Samaritans publicly in the synagogue - declared that he who received one into his house was laying up curses for his children; would no more eat of their food than they would eat swine’s flesh.  All this animosity was fully reciprocated by the Samaritan, who sought in every way to vex and annoy the Jew. But all this weighed as nothing in the case before us, nor should it with us in the administration of our benevolence.  It is enough for us to know that our fellow-beings are in want, or perishing for lack of our assistance.  We should, if the children of light, be actuated by the sublime unselfishness of the gospel.

 

 

Christ, in His sermon on the mount, reinstated, in clearest light, God’s law, perverted by Talmudic traditions: “Ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time [the scribes and Pharisees], Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy; but I say unto you love your enemies; bless them that curse you; do good unto them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you  This sublime morality is not of earth earthy; it was never conceived by man, and it can never be practiced by one born of the earth only.

 

 

It is related of an Indian chief, whom David Brainard had taught to read, and to whom he gave a New Testament, after reading this passage, and walking the room for some time in deepest thought, he gave the Testament back to the missionary, shaking his head, [Page 213] saying, “This book was never made for Indian Nor was it made for a Jew, but for Christians only.

 

 

Christ adds the reason for the exercise of this unselfish God-like spirit, “That ye may be [may show yourselves to be] the children of your Father who is in heaven; for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust

 

 

I repeat, this true spirit of love and Christ-like benevolence can be found only in the hearts of those “born of God  It is only as we are imbued with the spirit and love of Christ that we can love like Christ.

 

 

What a great argument for missions is furnished by this parable, not indeed by a real precept, but by clear induction.

 

 

As the soul is of transcendently more value than the body, and the eternal of more importance than the temporal, how much weightier the obligations laid upon us to administer to the wants of the soul than of the body.  Shall we imitate the part of the priest and Levite, and pass by on the other side, and leave our own countrymen to perish by the wayside without administering to their wants?  Shall we refuse to act the part of a neighbour to perishing nations that are going down to death before our eyes, unblessed with gospel light and uninvited by the offers of salvation?  I see not how he can be a true lover of his race who refuses to aid in the great missionary work of giving the gospel of man’s salvation to the millions of our race in heathen lands, lying not half dead, but wholly dead, in trespasses and sins for the want of those means of grace that we have in our power to give without being [Page 214] impoverished by the giving.  I can not understand how one can have the spirit of Christ, and the heart of Christ, without possessing an active missionary spirit.

 

 

The heart of Christ was a missionary heart.  The spirit of Christ was an intensely missionary spirit.  To be a missionary to this lost world He impoverished Himself.  “He who was rich for our sake became poor, that we, through His poverty, might become rich To be a missionary to us, who lay helpless and dying under the curse of God’s violated law, He sacrificed Himself - gave Himself to death - even the death of the cross - that He might place thrones under our bodies and crowns upon our brows; and yet we refuse to give, even to a sacrifice, to send living preachers and spirit-speaking Bibles into all the corners of the earth, thus obeying the last command of our Redeemer: “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature  Oh, how should the example and love of Christ constrain us!

 

 

While I can but condemn the fanciful interpretation of this parable I have noticed above, yet I am willing to accept it in one of its aspects as illustrative of the unspeakable love of the Lord Jesus for us as lost, miserable sinners.

 

 

If we admire the conduct of the Samaritan, infinitely more must we admire the love of Christ.  He beheld us robbed of the image of God, wounded by sin, lying helpless in our fallen humanity; and when we were so dead in iniquity that we could not help ourselves, when the Patriarchal dispensation stalked by on the other side and deigned no help; when the Levitical dispensation came and looked on us through its shadowy [Page 215] ceremonies, and then, leaving us in our blood, passed by also on the other side; then Christ came, and, though we were His enemies, He pitied us, bound up, by the oil and wine of divine grace, our ghastly wounds; Himself bare our infirmities, took the whole charge of our cure, and healed us - not like the Samaritan, by giving money from His scrip, but blood from His heart, riven by the soldier’s spear; blood from His head, drawn out by His acanthine crown; blood from His hands and feet, started by the spikes of the accursed tree; and by this precious blood-shedding He obtained for us relief from our enemies, spiritual health here, and life eternal beyond the grave.

 

 

“Oh, for such love let rocks and hills

Their lasting silence break!

And all harmonious human tongues

Our Saviour’s praises speak.

Angels, assist our mighty joys –

Strike all your harps of gold!

But when you reach your highest notes,

His love can ne’er be told

 

 

*       *       *

[Page 216]

 

CHAPTER 24

 

THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS*

 

(HISTORICAL)

 

 

* It is denied by some that this is a parable, since names are not given in parabolic instruction.

In “Middle Life” I have treated it as a historical statement; used it in refuting spiritism.

 

 

“THERE was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: and there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs come and licked his sores.  And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; and in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.  And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.  But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in they life-time receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.  And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed; so that they which would pass from hence to you can not - neither can they pass to us that would come from hence.  Then he said, I pray you therefore, father, that thou wouldst send him to my father’s house: for I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.  Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.  And he said, Nay, Father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.  And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.” - Luke 16: 19-31.

 

 

It is, in one respect, the most remarkable of all the parables.  It draws the veil and gives us a clear view of the state of the just and the wicked dead, between death and resurrection.

 

 

It answers those ever-present questions, which we can not dismiss, and which are proper for us to know:-

 

1. Do the righteous and the wicked go to their eternal rewards

when they leave their bodies here?

 

 

2. Are they in a state of consciousness?

 

 

3. Will they recognize those they knew here?

 

 

4. Can they communicate with each other?

 

 

5. Will the good and evil done here enhance their happiness or misery

in the intermediate state?

 

 

6. Can disembodied souls return to earth and communicate with the living?

 

 

7. The nature of the punishment suffered by the wicked? etc.

 

 

It is urged that it is only a parable, an allegory - something only supposed.  The force of the parable is not broken by this, for, in this case, it teaches what may be.  We can not conceive that Christ built a parable upon a falsehood.  More than any other parable - if this indeed be one - this comes to us as a plain narration of past facts, and by some authors it is claimed as a plain statement of facts that had transpired.  Be it parable or narrative, it is to us a divine revelation of what has and will transpire in the intermediate state in like circumstances.

 

 

It presents to our consideration six extremes:-

 

The two extremes of life,

 

The two extremes of death, and

 

The two extremes of existence beyond the grave.

 

 

Each of these are acts in the parabolic drama.  The [Page 218] characters are a supremely selfish rich man, and an extremely poor man (an afflicted beggar), angels, the sainted Abraham.  The scenes are laid on earth and in hades.

 

 

From a consideration and examination of these several acts and characters, let us learn the scope of this parable.

 

 

1. The two extremes of life - an extremely selfish rich man and an extremely afflicted poor man.

 

 

Nothing could better indicate the former’s great wealth and splendour than the statement that he was clothed in purple, a luxury that kings and the very rich alone could indulge in.  “Robes of purple were very costly, because of the scarcity of the shell-fish (musex trunculus), from which the Tyrians obtained their celebrated purple dye, or from the rareness of the purpura, from which, according to Pliny, the Phoenicians extracted their rich varieties of purple (Dr Stevens.)  The very rich and the favourites in the courts of kings and princes are often termed by Cicero and Livy purpurati.  But only the very rich could afford to wear tunics, or undervests, of fine linen, which was of so soft a texture as to cost its weight in gold.  Nothing could better indicate the magnificence and costliness of his attire.  One more circumstance is mentioned in proof of his extreme wealth - “He fared sumptuously every day  He not only dressed royally, but fared sumptuously: not occasionally, but every day.  His whole life was one round of extravagant luxury and sensuous pleasure, having all or more than heart could wish.  His house was, no doubt, a palace, and furnished in a manner to correspond with his dress and his table.  All that worldly [Page 219] men ever possessed or wished of gorgeous splendour and luxury he possessed.  But his name is not given.

 

 

2. The other extreme of life.

 

 

There was an extremely poor man.  He was not only a beggar, but he was extremely afflicted with a loathsome disease.  His name was Lazarus, signifying, in Hebrew, a helpless person, or from a word signifying God is my helper.  (The name of the rich man is not even given.)  This man was extremely friendless.  He had no one to give him a home, or even a shelter or a crumb of bread.

 

 

Some one or ones were known though, perhaps (and to escape his further beggary), to bring and lay him at the rich man’s gate, where he begged, not to be taken into his house, or to the rich man’s table, but only for the crumbs, or pieces of meat, and broken bread, which fell from the rich man’s table - the refuse accustomed to be swept out to the dogs of the street (Matt 15: 27); moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores.

 

 

Can we imagine a condition of life more wretched - without a house, or shelter from the heated summer or the extreme cold of winter, without food or clothing, degraded, wallowed with the dogs of the street, afflicted with a painful and disgusting disease, and, to crown all, without aid, or one to sympathise with him?  Can one imagine a condition more extremely wretched and degraded?

 

 

The next scene shows an advance.

 

 

THEIR RESPECTIVE DEATHS

 

 

It came to pass that the beggar died.  He doubtless starved to death.  It is not intimated that the rich [Page 220] man even allowed him the food of the dogs, for which alone he begged.  He was doubtless coffined in his filthy rags by the public scavengers, and buried into the potter’s field, and no one missed him, save, perhaps, the dogs at the rich man’s gate.  But this was not all connected with his death.  It may have been at the midnight hour, and his requiem the cold, bleak and stormy winds; but it was not dark to his eyes; nor was his pillow hard, although a bit of stone.

 

 

The Father sent a convoy of angels from His throne for His child, and they took his head upon their arms and sang their sweetest songs as his soul left its tenement [i.e., dwelling-house], and he was not merely accompanied, but carried, by the angels and laid in Abraham’s bosom.

 

 

How extremely glorious was the death of the child of God, and his reception among the nobility of heaven [in the underworld of ‘Hades’*]!  But the rich man also died.  Death is no respecter of persons.  He blends the sceptre and the spade, and knocks with equal force and pace at the gates of the palace and the hovels of the poor.  “He died” in his glorious palace in the midst of his officers, attendants and physicians, and was buried with every insignia of courtly pomp and splendour, borne and laid in a costly tomb.  But was this all connected with the rich man’s death?  If heavenly angels of light hover over the bed of the good man, receive and, amid light and songs carry their souls to the realm of rest, is it unreasonable to conclude that the dying hours of wicked men are made dreadful by the presence of angels of darkness sent to convey their departing souls into the darkness of [millennial** and] eternal death?  The dying statements of hundreds of both good and bad men warrant us in believing this.

 

[* See Psa. 16: 10a. cf. Acts 2:  34, R.V.      ** See  Num. 16: 26. cf. 1 Cor. 5: 13, R.V.]

 

[Page 221]

The curtain that hides the world of disembodied souls from our view, and the future with its unchangeable conditions, is opened, and the rich man and Lazarus are again presented to our view.  But how changed their conditions!  We see in their case -

 

 

3. “The two extremes of existence beyond the grave.”  Where now is the rich man?

 

 

“In hades, being in torments; and he lifted up his eyes and sees Abraham a great way off, and Lazarus (en tois kloptois) in the folds of his mantle, and, crying out, he said, ‘Father Abraham, pity me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flameBut Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that thou in thy life didst receive thy good things, and Lazarus in like manner his evil things; but now here he is comforted and thou art tormented.’”

 

 

THEIR CONDITION AFTER DEATH

 

 

“And the rich man also died, and was buried; and in hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torments; and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.” - Luke 16: 22, 23.

 

 

They were both in hades, but the beggar highly honoured and comforted, and the rich man degraded and tormented.

 

 

To understand the true intent and scope of this parable we must understand what place is meant by hades.  It is evident that it can not be heaven, or the rich man would not have been in torments; nor can it mean hell - the lake of fire, the place of final punishment - or Abraham would not have been there, or the [Page 222] beggar comforted.  From this we learn that it is a place into which the spirits* of both good and wicked pass after death, and abide for a season at least.

 

[* NOTE. The word ‘spirits’ here, must be distinguished from our animating (life-giving) “spirit,” which will return to God at the time of Death.  Luke 23: 46. cf. Acts 7: 59; Luke 8: 55, etc. 

 

It must therefore be understood in the sense shown in Num. 14: 24: “But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed be fully, him will I bring into the land  Compare this with Christian behaviour described in 1 Cor. ch. 5 and the Apostle’s command: “Deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved - (i.e., given to realise what will be lost) in the day of the Lord Jesus  See Heb. 12: 17. ]

 

 

Let us now inquire for the classical meaning of the word itself, and the sense in which it is used in the Sacred Scriptures, and universally understood by the Jews.

 

 

Let us then ascertain the meaning and use of the term hades in the Old and New Testaments.

 

 

The translator and editor of the Emphatic Diaglott gives this extended note on Hell and Hades:

 

 

“Hades occurs eleven times in the Greek Testament, and is improperly translated in the Common Version ten times by the word HELL.  It is the word used in the Septuagint as a translation of the Hebrew word Sheol, denoting the abode or world of the dead, and means, literally, that which is in darkness, hidden, invisible, or obscure.  As the word Hades did not come to the Hebrew from any classical source, or with any classical meanings, but through the Septuagint as a translation of their own word sheol, therefore, in order to properly define its meaning, recourse must be had to the various passages where it is found.  The Hebrew word sheol is translated by hades in the Septuagint sixty times out of sixty-three; and though sheol in many places - such as Gen. 35: 35, 42: 38; 1 Sam 2: 7; 1 Kings 2: 6; Job 14: 13, 17: 13-16 - may signify keber, the grave, as the common receptacle of the [bodies of the] dead, yet it has the more general meaning of death -a state of death, the dominion of death.  To translate hades by the word hell, as it is done ten times out of eleven in the New Testament, is very improper, unless it has the Saxon meaning helan, to cover, attached to it.  The primitive signification of Hell, only denoting what was secret, or concealed, perfectly corresponds with the Greek term hades, and its Hebrew equivalent sheol; but the theological [Page 223] definition given to it at the present day by no means expresses it

 

 

Dr Seiss, doubtless the ablest expounder of the Book of Revelation that has written in this country or this age, says on Hades in Revelation:

 

 

“There is a word used sixty-five times in the original Hebrew of the Old Testament which our English translators in thirty-one instances render hell, in thirty-one instances grave, and in three instances the pit.

 

 

“That word is Sheol, uniformly rendered Hades in the Greek of the Old Testament, and wherever the New Testament quotes the passages in which it occurs.  By common consent the Greek word hades is the exact equivalent of the Hebrew sheol.  It occurs eleven times in the New Testament, and always in the same sense as the Old Testament SHEOL.

 

 

“To all intents and purposes, therefore, sheol and hades denote one and the same thing.  But sheol or hades is never used to denote the hell of final punishment.  Neither is it used to denote the mere receptacle of the body after death - the grave.  Nor yet is it ever used to denote the mere state of being dead as to the body, and still less to denote the ‘pit’ or ‘abyss,’ as such.

 

 

“A careful inventory of all the passages conclusively proves that sheol or hades is the name of a place in the unseen world, altogether distinct from the hell of final punishment, or the heaven of final glory.  Its true and ONLY MEANING is ‘the place of departed spirits’* - the receptacle of souls which have left the body.  To this place all departed souls, good and bad went.  In it there was a department for the good - called paradise by the Saviour on the cross - and another department for the bad.  Thus, both the rich man and Lazarus went to hades when they died; for the word is ‘in hades he lifted up his eyes, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom  Lazarus was then, too, in hades, as well as [Page 224] Abraham, and the only difference between them and Dives was, that the good were separated from the bad by an impassable gulf, and that Lazarus was comforted and Dives tormented.

 

[* NOTE.  Here the word “spirits” refers to angelic creatures.  It is important to keep this fact in mind as both disembodied “souls” and angelic creatures are never synonymous.  Jesus says we are to be “like angels” after resurrection: “Those accounted worthy to obtain to that age” (the millennium), “and the resurrection out of dead ones, neither marry, nor are given in marriage, for they can die no more (because being) like angels they are sons of the God, (and) of the resurrection sons being.” (Luke 20: 35, 36, Lit. Greek.)]

 

 

“So the dying Saviour told the penitent malefactor that they would yet that day be together in paradise; that is, in the more favourable part of Hades.  There they were neither in heaven proper nor in Hell proper, but simply in hades.  To this hades all departed souls went - the good with the good and the bad with the bad.  There was comfort there for the pious, and privation and torment for the wicked; and they of the one part could not pass over to the other part, but still they could see and converse with each other, and none of them were yet in their final happiness or misery.”

 

 

That this is the proper meaning of hades, since it accords with all the other teachings of the word of God, and will readily occur to the thoughtful reader of the Sacred Scriptures.

 

 

Abraham and the patriarchs at their death went to sheol, which is the same with hades.  Now, if hades means hell, the lake of fire and brimstone, from which there is no escape, then he and all the righteous dead of the Old Testament are to-day in the lake of fire!  But Christ, while His body was in the sepulchre, went to hades and preached to the spirits in that place of safe-keeping: “My which also He (Christ) went and preached unto the spirits* in prison.” (1 Peter 3: 19.)  But He was not left there: “Thou wilt not leave My soul in hades etc. (Acts 2: 27).  Will any one say that Christ went into the lake of fire and brimstone - which is the second death - and preached to spirits there?

 

[* Who were these “spirits”?  We are not told.  Could this be a reference to those born from “the sons of God” taking “wives of all they chose” (i.e., fallen angels, leaving their first estate): the result being “the Nephilim” (or “Giants”) who were destroyed by the Flood?  See Gen. 6: 2, 4.]

 

 

He said to the dying thief, “To-day shalt thou be [Page 225] with me in Paradise the pleasant abode of the saved in hades.

 

 

Paradise is then in hades, and not in heaven for, three days afterwards, when He had arisen out from the dead and Mary was about to embrace Him, He said, “Touch me not, for I have not yet ascended to my Father

 

 

If Paradise is heaven, then heaven is in hades and hades is in heaven; and if hades is indeed hell, then heaven is in hell; and both heaven and hell are to be ultimately destroyed, for John saw both death and hades cast into the lake of fire - heaven with all its angels and saints cast into hell!! and hell cast into hell!! (Rev 20: 14.)  Hell destroying itself!!

 

 

This passage, and 2 Cor. 12: 2, 4, and Rev. 2: 7, are the ones confidently urged by some in support of the idea that paradise and heaven, the abode of God, are synonymous terms, and one and the same place.

 

 

Let us give these passages a moment’s attention.

 

 

“I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I can not tell; or whether out of the body, I can not tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. … How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which is not lawful for a man to utter.” - 2 Cor. 12: 2, 4.

 

 

Paul distinctly tells us that he had dad visions and revelations - more than one vision - and he describes two of them.  The first was of his being caught up into the third heaven, the highest heaven, and the understood dwelling place of God.  Of what he saw and heard he says nothing - does not even intimate that he heard anything in this vision.  But not seeing the souls of the patriarchs, prophets and saints, was [Page 226] doubtless the reason a second vision, distinct from the first one, was given him; and this he says: “And I knew such a man,” etc., “how that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter Here we know he saw the soul of Lazarus, and of the thief, and of Abraham, and of all the righteous dead, but he was not allowed to reveal what he heard.  His statement is proof conclusive that paradise and heaven are two separate and distinct places.  If one and the same, why was Paul twice caught up?  What is the necessity of two visions?

 

 

“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.” - Rev. 2: 7.

 

 

This is a highly figurative passage, and its figures are founded upon a man’s condition in the first age.  He was placed in an earthly paradise, especially prepared for him, in which was a tree of life, of which he was permitted to eat and live.

 

 

But all this he forfeited, and lost, and from this earthly paradise he was driven forth, and forbidden to eat of the tree of life, and left to die.  Now this promise of Christ looks forward to the time when this entire earth, defaced and wicked by sin, shall be restored and made one glorious paradise indeed - the paradise of God, for He will dwell in it with His people, and in it will be the tree of life - Christ, the Redeemed - of which its glorious and glorified inhabitants may eat, by being made partakers of His life, and live forever.  (See Rev. 20. & 21., where this promise is to be literally fulfilled upon this earth, after it shall have [Page 227] been renewed and become the beautiful abode of Christ and His bride - His redeemed people.)  This passage, therefore, sustains instead of militates against my position.

 

 

The view of hades and intermediate state I have here presented, is supported by a consensus of all Greek writers, and of all the ancient Christian fathers, and the latest and best scholarship of this century.  The English and American revisers agree in rejecting hell as the proper translation of hades, and in no instance have they translated paradiseos heaven.

 

 

The true meaning of hades, then, is the place of disembodied [human souls and angelic] spirits, the world of [both souls and] spirits, both good and bad.  The ancient Hebrews and the Jews in Christ’s day and the Greeks so understood.  That part of hades occupied by the righteous alone they called paradise, and far separated from this was the abode of the wicked.*

 

* Any one wishing to see this question more fully discussed, I refer him to The Bible Doctrine of the Middle Life, price seventy-five cents; and to The Intermediate State of the Dead, by Dr. Hovey, price one dollar: Baptist Book House, Memphis, Tenessee.

 

 

This is the most remarkable of all parables, as well as the most interesting.  It is as a door opened into the “Just Beyond through which we may look and see the state of all disembodied [souls and angelic] spirits between death and the resurrection.

 

 

While in this parable we learn the condition and restful enjoyments of all saints in the period between death and the resurrection of their bodies, we can even find this knowledge supplemented by a revelation of the condition and employments of the saints during the entire period from the time of their resurrection and the translation of the living, watchful and worthy until the final judgment.  This knowledge we must believe, although not enough to satisfy our curiosity, is certainly enough for our profit.

 

 

To attempt to force an insight into the secret things of God is as the sin of witchcraft and rebellion.

 

 

Let us now consider what we undoubtedly learn from this parable:

 

 

1. That there is an intermediate abode occupied by all disembodied souls between death and resurrection, and that this place is called by the Holy Spirit, which inspired the writers of the New Testament, hades (and, as we have seen by the writers of the Old Testament, sheol), meaning neither hell nor heaven, but simply “the unseen,” “the world of departed spiritsirrespective of character.

 

 

2. That in this abode the souls of the righteous are gathered to the good alone, in a delightful part of hades called paradise, and by the Jews known as “Abraham’s bosom while the souls of the wicked are gathered to their own place and company, far separated from the righteous in a state of great anguish.

 

 

3 That Paradise, although a state of happiness, is not heaven itself, nor is hades hell itself, or purgatory, in which souls are purified for their sins by the fires of punishment.

 

 

4. That Paradise is not heaven itself, because Lazarus is there, and Abraham; and if Abraham, then Isaac and Jacob and all the patriarchs, and David, with all the Old Testament saints, since all these were gathered together.  But Christ told Nicodemus that up to the time He addressed him no man had [Page 229] ascended into heaven itself, and Peter told his hearers on the day of Pentecost [10 days after Christ’s ascension] that David had not then ascended into Heaven.  We know that Abraham had descended into paradise; and, if Abraham, then David also, and all the saints of all ages past.

 

 

5. That hades is not purgatory, since no one can ever pass from it to the abode of the blest.

 

 

6. That hades is not hell, since it is ultimately to be cast into hell.  Where hades is, in which paradise is located, as the first paradise or garden of the Lord was in Eden of old, we do not know, and God does not wish us to know, or He would have told us.  We learn -[the lake of fire, which is the second death and eternal state of the wicked.)

 

 

7. That disembodied [souls and] spirits are ever in a conscious state.  (a) From the place itself, paradise means a park, or garden, of delights.  The paradise God made in Eden was a place upon the earth of surpassing loveliness and beauty.  Why all this expenditure of resources to beautify and make enjoyable a place id its occupants are totally unconscious?  The sombre precincts of the sepulchre would be as pleasant an abode for such as the glories of the third heaven.

 

 

The rich man was conscious of the torment he suffered.  We can not predicate torment, suffering or unhappiness of an unconsciousness, which is but another word for nonentity - NOTHINGNESS!  Lazarus was both honoured and “comforted and, therefore, must have possessed a conscious existence.  It was the spirit* [Page 230] designated the “Rich Manthat enjoyed and suffered, for the bodies of these persons were in their graves, and the bodies of the living, no more than the dead, can be said to enjoy or suffer. 

 

* It is our spirits here that enjoy pleasure and suffering pain, and not our material bodies.  Matter, organized or unorganized, can not suffer.  Sentience alone can suffer and enjoy.  How say some that Christ’s body alone suffered!

 

 

We Learn -

 

8. In paradise all Christians, like Lazarus, will not only be honoured and comforted, but they will rest from all the toils, woes and anxieties of mortal life, although they will not be in a state of absolute satisfaction and fruition of enjoyment, but of rest - sweet rest of the soul.  David is today in paradise, where Abraham and Lazarus are; but he is not perfectly happy - satisfied.  He declared that he would not be satisfied until he awoke in the likeness of his Christly Lord; nor will any other saint.  But this will only be at “the resurrection of the just David then, is not in heaven; and paradise, therefore, is not heaven itself!

 

 

9. We learn -

 

That paradise will not only be a place of such surpassing beauty and loveliness as to ravish the soul, and of sweetest rest from life’s distracting anxieties, toils, and woes, but also a place where our souls will enjoy the most delightful companionship and personal and spiritual associations that earth or heaven can afford.  For -

 

 

10. We shall carry with us all our affinities and memories into the future life.

 

 

Since our memories and affinities are essential parts of ourselves, we can not conceive of ourselves as existing dispossessed of them any more than without our personal consciousness.  Therefore, where the word of God is silent upon this, we would know that if we enjoyed a conscious existence after death we would [Page 231] know that we shall carry our memories and affinities with us.  All we have known and loved in this life we shall recognize and love in our disembodied life.  We have only to refer to our text.

 

 

The rich man, from the far-off abode of the wicked, not only recognized the one resting in the bosom of Abraham as the hapless beggar that starved unpitied at his gate, but he instinctively knew Abraham.  That Dives was in the full exercise of his memory, we learn from the answer of Abraham: “Son, remember that thou in thy life-time receivedst thy good things, and Lazarus his evil things.  Here he is comforted and thou art in anguish

 

 

That the rich man was still possessed of his natural affinities, we learn from his intense anxiety for the personal welfare of his five brethren above that of all others.

 

 

In the full exercise of our memories and affinities, how unspeakably delightful must our associations - our social and spiritual enjoyments - be in paradise!

 

 

Lazarus was in intimate companionship with Abraham, the spiritual father and representative of the saints of all ages.  If with Abraham, then with Adam and Abel and Seth and Enoch and Noah.  From these he could learn circumstantially the history of the world’s creation, of the beauties of the first paradise of God, the particulars of the fall, of the ruin, of the closing scenes of the dread deluge.  What shall I say of the long communions with all that cloud of faithful witnesses referred to by the Paul in Hebrews 11, and what of the longer list, were it but made out, reaching “from the days of John the Baptist until now  Would an age be sufficient to satisfy us with the companionship of Paul? [Page 232] What shall I say of the intimate associations with our own sainted relatives?  What of the sweet communing with those tried and faithful ministers and brethren with whom we have laboured and won signal victories for Christ and His truth over sin and error here?  What shall I say of our bliss enhanced by the fruitage of our labours that will follow, on and on, as the years of time roll by, until our redemption is fully accomplished by the coming of Christ, and our glorification with Him?  In addition to all this, can we doubt for a moment that Christ, who walked at the cool eventide in the first paradise, and conversed with its sinless occupants, does not often visit and gladden the souls of his waiting saints in paradise now?  So often is he with them, that Paul, referring to their condition, calls it “being present with the Lord.” (Psalm 139: 8).  Could not this be said of our first parents, while they abode in innocence, that they enjoyed the very presence of the Lord?

 

 

The wife speaks of her husband as at home with her, although he attends his regular business, at his office during business hours, and is only by her side, and immediately wioth his family, enlivening the hearth-stone, when the business of the day is over.

 

 

11. We learn that the good can not, if they would, administer to the comfort of the lost.

 

 

It is a fundamental article in the faith of Spiritualists that the good in the future state are constantly employed in ameliorating the condition of the bad - those spirits who were wicked in life, and are therefore occupying a far lower plane of existence and enjoyment in the future life.

 

 

12. From this we learn that all that we can do [Page 223] for the spiritual good of others, we must do in this life; that with all our toils and prayers for others forever cease, both with respect to the living and the dead.

 

13. We learn that the good souls can not pass out of paradise to succour the self-ruined souls in hades, much less do they pass out of paradise and hades to instruct* or comfort the living on this earth.  David recognized the fact that his child could not return to him in any capacity, and, therefore, we know that no good soul will return to instruct or comfort the living.

 

[* Samuel the prophet of God, being a notable exception. - 1 Sam. 28: 8-20.]

 

 

14. From this parable we also learn the conditions that govern the souls of wicked men in Hades.

 

 

That they are far separated from the righteous.  Not only are the saints guarded from intrusion on the part of evil spirits (the devil and his angels) from without - so that they cannot enter to tempt and trouble, as they do the righteous here - but the spirits [and souls] of bad men are not allowed to enter the peaceful rest of paradise, or to come near.  Were they permitted to do so, the wicked there could disturb the repose and enjoyment of the friends of Jesus as they do here.  Blessed rest, indeed, where emphatically “the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest

 

 

If the spirits in Hades cannot trouble the just, much less can the living on earth trouble them by bringing them down into sιances at their pleasure.

 

 

15. We learn that the wicked in the world of despair do not wish the companionship of their wicked friends and relatives.  We can not conceive that such companionship would in the least alleviate their [Page 234] sufferings, but we can conceive how such association would immeasurably intensify them, and especially if, as it doubtless was in the case of the rich man, their example and influence in this life had encouraged them in a course of sin and rejection of God and salvation.

 

 

16. We learn that if lost souls could return to this earth and communicate with the living they would do so, to induce them to believe the Bible, forsake sin and return to God and be saved.

 

 

17. If Dives could have returned to earth, and, through any conceivable way - in spirit form and by spirit voice, or by the voice of an earthly medium - have communicated with his brethren, would he not have done so?  We are bound to answer this in the affirmative.  But he had not returned, and did not return, and, therefore, it is conclusive that he could not do so.  We learn -

 

 

18. If Dives could not return to earth to communicate with the living, no disembodied spirit ever did or ever can do so.  They are in prison, under guard.  The gates of hades are locked upon them, as well as upon the righteous; neither can they depart thence until He who has the key of hades opens and brings them forth to glory or to shame.  But then there is this difference between the righteous and the wicked: the former desire not to go forth to be again troubled and worn, tempted or distressed by the wicked without, and though the wicked would escape they can not.

 

 

19. We learn also that if Dives could have returned and communicated with his brethren, he would have told them that there is an endless hell - [Page 235] a state of indescribable misery and anguish like to being tormented in flames - and have warned them if they lived on as he had lived, they would come to the same awful punishment.  But spirits (?) controlled by mediums do not so testify, but that all are comfortably happy, and daily becoming more so.  Therefore, we are justifiable in concluding that a leave of absence has never yet been granted to a disembodied spirit.

 

 

All communications that have been claimed as coming from the spirits of the dead, whether good or bad, are spurious.

 

 

20. Our conduct in this life will immeasurably enhance our joys or our wretchedness in the life to come.

 

We also learn -

 

 

21. The nature of the punishment suffered by the wicked in hades - the fires unquenchable, that will torment, will be those they have kindled here.  The remorseful memories of his conduct in this life, not so much, perhaps, for what he had done - for it is not intimated that he was an outbreaking sinner - but of what he had neglected to do, were the scorpion stings that lacerated his soul as flames of real fire would torment the body.  The anguish of remorse, begloomed by the total and everlasting eclipse of all hope, is all a deathless spirit can suffer.

 

We learn -

 

 

22. That our relationship to a pious ancestry, or Christian parents, will neither secure our salvation nor mitigate our wretchedness and anguish if lost, but will doubtless enhance.

 

 

Better a thousand times to have lived and died a heathen, and never to have heard a prayer or heard a [Page 236] sermon, than to have heard the gospel and rejected it, and to have been blessed with the instruction and prayers of Christian parents and have despised them.

 

 

Let the case of the rich man be a warning to the children of Christian parents.  He believed that he would be saved because he was the son of righteous Abraham.

 

 

*       *       *

[Page 237]

 

PART 2

 

 

ESCHATOLOGICAL PARABLES

 

 

1

THE TEN VIRGINS

 

 

2

THE ENTRUSTED TALENTS

 

 

3

THE ENTRUSTED POUNDS

 

 

4

THE BLADE, THE EAR, AND THE FULL CORN

 

 

5

THE NET

 

 

6

THE JUDGMENT OF THE NATIONS

(A PROPHECY)

 

 

 

 

[Page 238 blank.  Page 239]

CHAPTER 25

 

REMARKS INTRODUCTORY TO THE ESCHATOLOGICAL PARABLES

 

 

THESE (see preceding page) will complete the Expositions of the Parables and Prophecies of Christ.  I call them Eschatological, because they find their interpretations in events connected with the last times of this dispensation, and the second coming of Christ, which grand event will prepare the way for, and introduce, the millennium.  These parables can be readily understood only by those who hold Scriptural views of Eschatology, or “the doctrine of the last things

 

 

All orthodox Christian writers, from the first century down, have held and taught, and all living orthodox writers do now hold and teach, that there is to be a second coming of Christ; but they are divided upon the manner and the time of it:

 

 

1. Whether it will be a bodily and visible or a spiritual coming; and

 

 

2. Whether it will be pre- or post-millennial - i.e. whether it will take place before or subsequent to the conversion of the whole world, or the millennial age.

 

 

Those holding the former view are known and called Pre-millennialists, or Literalists; those holding the latter, Post-millennialists, or Spiritualists.*

 

[* NOTE.  Since this book was first published, another group of ‘Spiritualists’ have emerged known as A-millennialists.  The “A” denotes “Anti” or “Against” all millennial teachings.  This amazing feat of prophetical deception is being achieved today by the same spiritualizing method used by the ‘Spiritualists’ to undermine God’s unfulfilled prophecies, which can only be literally fulfilled during the coming “Age” - the six times mentioned: “thousand years” (Rev. 20: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7).]

 

 

But the four parables to be explained [Page 240] unquestionably proceed upon the admitted fact that the coming of Christ will be a visible and instantaneous event; “For said Christ, “as the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth unto the west, so the parousia [presence] of the Son of Man will be which means the bodily coming of Christ.

 

 

All these parables expressly teach that His coming will be sudden and at any moment, the day and the hour being unrevealed.  As suddenly and unexpectedly as came the flood upon the world, Christ taught His coming will be:

 

 

“But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.  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, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.  Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.  Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.  Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.  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.  Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh.” -Matt. 24: 37-44.

 

 

This teaching is emphatically opposed to the idea that the gradual conversion of the world is the coming of Christ, and the entire conversion of the world is His parousia - His presence - and the millennium.  Has Christ been coming since John preached his first sermon - two thousand years?

 

 

The emphatic lesson of each of these four parables, also, is that only those servants will receive the chief honours and highest rewards who are ready, watchful [Page 241] and in earnest, prayerful expectancy of His coming: otherwise they will be left to live on and suffer the terrible ills and tribulations that await all who remain on the earth until the close of this dispensation, while the ready, faithful and watchful servants only will be taken away from the evils to come - “caught up without seeing death, to meet the coming Lord in the air:

 

 

“Then we that are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” - 1 Thess. 4: 17.*

 

[* NOTE. See also Luke 21: 34-36 and Rev. 3: 10, R.V.  These texts (and their contexts) indicate a pre-tribulation rapture of reward by living saints, shown as conditional.  Whereas the rapture mentioned by Mr. Graves (in 1 Thess. 4: 17), appears to take place after the Great Tribulation, (for those who will be “left unto the presence of the Lord” i.e., left after others had previously been removed via rapture): and after “the resurrection out of dead ones” Phil. 3: 11, Gk.  See also Luke 14: 14; 20: 35; Heb. 11: 35b, etc. R.V.  Both are selective; and both depend upon an undisclosed standard of ones personal righteousness, - “Except your righteousness shall exceed…” (Matt. 5: 20; 7: 21, R.V.).]

 

 

These four parables, as well as this last prophecy, of Christ proceed upon the assumed fact that the second coming of Christ will take place before the conversion of the world, or the millennium.

 

 

The reader must see that it is not until after His coming that He judges and utterly destroys these wicked nations from the face of the earth; and by reference to Revelations 19: 19-20 it will be seen that it is after His coming that he crushes the anti-Christian confederacies and wicked potencies of earth, and casts the beast and false prophet, who inspire and direct their rebellious assault, into the lake of fire.  It is then, and not till then, by His righteous judgments, He rids the earth of the wicked, as the chaff is separated and driven away from the wheat, by the wind, on the summer threshing floor:

 

 

“Whose fan is in His hand; and he shall thoroughly purge His floor, and gather His wheat into the garner; but He will burn up the chaff in unquenchable fire

 

 

If the world will be converted to Christ before the “end of the world” (of this age), not only the [Page 242] above four, but several of the principal, parables, as those of The Tares and of The Drag-net, will be made worse than meaningless - be made to flatly contradict all the Scriptures that have an admitted reference to the state of the world at His coming.

 

 

Notice, it was not until after the bridegroom had returned that the foolish virgins became aware of their un-preparedness to meet him.  It was not until after the nobleman returned that he summoned before him his enemies and destroyed them.  It was until the harvest, the very end of the dispensation [this evil age], that the tares grew rankly among the wheat, and not until then were they gathered out and burned - not converted. It was not until the same time that the drag-net was hauled to the shore and the bad fishes separated from the good.

 

 

To teach that the world will be converted before Christ’s coming, is to teach that the chaff and the tares are not to be burned, but will be converted into wheat; and that the bad fishes in the net will not be thrown away, but converted into good ones.

 

 

These parables and the whole eschatological teachings of our Sacred Scriptures can be interpreted consistently with themselves only upon the admitted fact that Christ’s coming is to be personal and visible, and before the conversion of the world and the millennial age.

 

 

Another fact must be admitted if we would understand these parables that remain to be considered: viz., that the second coming of Christ will be in two stages, and that there will be a short period or rest between them.

 

 

He will come into the air, unseen by mortal eye, [Page 243] to gather unto Himself, from the earth, all His faithful and true witnesses - His ready and watchful servants, His “overcomers” (see Rev. 3: 4-5) - to be His bride, preparatory to the marriage and her enthronement with Him, to reign with Him over the nations.

 

 

Only those eminent saints who are ready and watching to receive Him will constitute His bride, and will be the Lamb’s wife.

 

 

*       *       *

 

 

CHAPTER 26

 

THE TEN VIRGINS

 

 

PARABLE

 

 

“THEN shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.  And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.  They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.  While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.  And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.  Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.  And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.  But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.  And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.  Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.  But he answered and said, Verily, I say unto you, I know you not.  Watch, therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh.” - Matt. 25: 1-13.

 

 

This has been pronounced the most graphic and touchingly beautiful and impressive of all our Lord’s parables. No one, perhaps, has received more attention from expositors and commentators from the days of Augustine and Luther down to the present.  Dr. Seiss, who himself has devoted an entire book to its explanation, says of it:

 

 

“Books and commentators for its explanation are not few.  It seems to me, however, that it is not understood as it ought to be.  It touches upon fields of doctrine, experience and hope, concerning which the popular mind needs more instruction than it receives

 

 

While it is true that the popular mind has not received the amount of instruction it needs, it is equally true that it has not received the character of instruction it needs, not only upon this parable, but upon its companions - i.e. those of The Talents, The Pounds, and The Judgment of the Nations.  Commentators and expositors widely disagree among themselves in their interpretations, and the result is natural - the popular mind is left in a confused and inquiring attitude, looking earnestly for interpretations that will at least convey important truths and harmonize with the other teachings of God’s word.

 

 

It is the fixed conviction of the writer that to do this they must be interpreted dispensationally, and in strict connection with the time and events connected with the second coming of Christ to receive His bride, and her favoured companions, preparatory to her marriage and introduction into the beautiful habitation of the Bridegroom, which shall have been prepared for her everlasting and glorious abode, according to His promise.

 

 

This is the work I have undertaken in great weakness, and a felt disqualification to accomplish; but, in the language of another, “Should I even fail to establish the conclusions which the terms and implications of the parable appear to me to require, the cause of truth may nevertheless be the gainer by the reopening of the questions involved, and a resurvey of the field

 

[Page 246]

This is the first of the last three and most remarkable parables which Jesus spake to His disciples as His feet pressed for the last time the brow of Mount Olivet, where for so many ages above all other places piety had felt itself nearer to heaven.  As these were His last teachings, so their main scope had exclusive reference to the last events, in which, at the end of the ages, His [coming millennial] kingdom will find its long promised and glorious consummation.

 

 

This parable, unlike any other, is introduced by “then clearly implying that the kingdom of heaven is not now, and never has been, but is only at some future time, to be likened unto ten virgins, and that time is clearly designated - i.e. when the Son of Man cometh, then will the events that will take place in connection with His coming be like unto those related in this parable, which is built upon the ordinary circumstances and events connected with a wedding scene not uncommon among the Jews, and still not unfrequent in Oriental countries.

 

 

An eye-witness of a Hindoo marriage gives the following illustration of this custom:

 

 

“The bride lived at Serampore, to which place the bridegroom was to come by water.  After waiting two or three hours, at length, near midnight, it was announced in the very words of Scripture, ‘Behold the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him.’  All the persons employed now lighted their lamps, and ran with them in their hands to fill up their stations in the procession.  Some of them had lost their lights, and were unprepared, but it was then too late to seek them, and the cavalcade moved forward to the house of the bride, at which place the company entered a large and splendidly-illuminated area before the house, covered with an warning, where a great multitude of [Page 247] friends, dressed in their best apparel, were seated upon mats.  The bridegroom was carried in the arms of a friend, and placed in a superb seat in the midst of the company, where he sat a short time, and then went into the house, the door of which was immediately shut and guarded by sepoys.  I and others expostulated with the door-keepers, but in vain. Never was I so struck with our Lord’s beautiful parable as at this moment.  ‘And the door was shut.’”

 

 

The principal features designed, I think, to convey specific instruction to His disciples, then and to the end of the age, are:

 

1. The Bridegroom.

 

 

2. His coming.

 

 

3. The time and the manner of it.

 

 

4. The bride.

 

 

5. Her virgin companions.

 

 

6. The guests of the marriage supper.

 

 

7. The class or classes of persons represented by these virgins -

the five provident - the five unwise or improvident.

 

 

8. What is implied by the door being shut,

and the expression, “I know you not

 

 

9. What constituted the punishment of their improvidence?

 

 

1. That the bridegroom represents Christ all interpreters are agreed.  David, Solomon, Isaiah and John the Baptist, and the apostles, all refer to Him as the Bridegroom of His chaste and pure bride, to whom He is now betrothed, and for His marriage to her the day is fixed in the Councils of Eternity.

 

 

2. His “Coming about this, both as to the time and manner of it, there is a wide diversity of views.

 

 

(1). It can not be the destruction by war of some [Page 248] important city, as Jerusalem, Babylon or Rome, as many teach, since in no sense can their destruction be thought of as the joyous coming of the Bridegroom to receive His bride, preparatory to the marriage ceremony and the feasting.

 

 

His coming as a Bridegroom is spoken of as a coming event, long after these cities had been destroyed.

 

 

(2). Nor can it be interpreted of the descent of the Holy Spirit, or of a spiritual coming or presence of Christ, for in this sense He has ever been with His people.

 

 

(3). Nor can it be interpreted of that providential event to which all are subject - death.  Death is not a glorious, loving bridegroom, for whose coming the bride (Christians) wait, and hope, and pray for, in loving and impatient expectancy.  Death is, throughout the Sacred Scriptures, represented as the enemy of our race, from whose approach we shrink and recoil.  Nor is the language consistent, applied to any one of these events – “Behold” (a joyous exclamation) “the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him

 

 

This “Coming of the Bridegroom” unquestionably refers to the second, personal, bodily, visible, coming of Christ to gather unto himself His elect, choice and eminently faithful saints, whom He will honour before His Father and the holy angels, the world and the universe, by making them His bride - “the Lamb’s wife  His first coming was in two stages.  For thirty years He was present, yet unrecognized by the world, and even by His relatives and His own harbinger, John, while He was gathering and preparing a people for Him; but at His baptism He was bodily [Page 249] and gloriously manifested to Israel by the opening of the heavens, the voice of the Father, and the descent of the Holy Spirit, as the divine Son of God: so will His second coming be in two stages.  He will come into the air unseen by the dwellers on the earth, and unrecognized by even His friends, where He will gather unto Himself, out of all nations, all His saints, those ready and waiting to receive Him, whom He will make His bride; and when this shall have been fully accomplished, He will make Himself manifest to His people and to the world as the all-glorious Son of God, coming on the clouds of heaven with all His holy angels, with power and great glory, when every eye shall see Him.  The marriage will then take place, after which He will introduce His bride into her now prepared and glorious habitation - the re-Edenized earth, with its paradise restored.

 

 

The question which has so long perplexed commentators I will now consider, viz.:

 

 

THE BRIDE OF CHRIST

 

 

Who will constitute the bride?

 

 

1. None but real Christians, pure and chaste virgins, will constitute His bride, “the Lamb’s wife.”  All interpreters are also agreed in this:

 

 

2. But not all Christians, nor even all virgins, will constitute His bride.

 

 

This must be so evident to all Bible readers, on a moment’s reflection, as to need no discussion here.  We all know that the bride, among all virgins, in the eyes of the bridegroom, is the one most beautiful, and “the one altogether lovely  As an apple tree among the common trees of the wood, so is His beloved among [Page 250] women “the virgins He loves them all, but He loves His betrothed one above all.

 

 

In all ages the Lord has had His choice and best beloved ones.  They were and are of that class of faithful Christians typified by Abel, Enoch, Seth, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Samuel, Jephthae, David, and that “great cloud of witnesses” for God in the ages before the coming of Christ alluded to by Paul:

 

 

“And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.  Women received their dead raised to life again: others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: and others had trials of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and of imprisonment: They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented: of whom the world was not worthy: they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.  And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.” - Heb. 11: 32-40.

 

 

And the largest cloud of “faithful and true witnesses not spectators, but witnesses who testify what they know, have experienced, who have lived and laboured, and suffered for Christ since, and the faithful ones, though few, living and testifying now - these, and only these - will receive the highest honour when Christ comes; i.e. that of being the nearest to the person of [Page 251] Him to whose heart they have been the dearest here. All Christians are loved by Christ, and will he saved and rewarded according to what they have done and suffered for Him, but all will not constitute His bride - be enthroned and crowned and reign with Him.  Not to all Christians can He say, Well done, good and faithful servants. etc.

 

 

When the King’s daughter, the betrothed bride of His Son, is brought unto the King’s palace, all glorious in her robes of beaten gold, these are her virgin attendants who follow to grace her presence:

 

 

“And the King’s daughter is all glorious within [i.e. the palace]: her clothing is of wrought gold.  She shall be brought unto the King in raiment of needlework: the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto Thee.  With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought: they shall enter into the King’s palace.” - Psalms 45: 13-15.

 

 

Who are these virgin companions?  They certainly represent Christians; but they are not the bride, and never will be, although next in honour to her.  In the parable under consideration, the wise virgins, whom all admit represent Christians, chaste and pure, were not the bride, nor a part of her.  The king’s daughter was already within, and awaiting the coming of the bridegroom before they entered.  They were the virgin attendants of the bride - the invited guests of the marriage; and in this were highly honoured and blessed:

 

 

“Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready.  And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.  And He saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb- Rev. 19: 7-9.

 

[Page 252]

If all Christians constitute the bride, why did not the angel say, “Blessed are those who are chosen to be the bride,” and not, Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb?  None but Christians will enjoy the honour of being the guests of this supper.

 

 

John saw those who symbolized the class of Christians who will constitute the Lamb’s wife:

 

 

“And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with Him an hundred forty and four thousand, having His Father’s name written in their foreheads.  And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: And I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.  These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins.  These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth.  These were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb- Rev. 14: 1-5.

 

 

These represent the comparatively few “Choice ones” of the earth, the first-born ones, the first fruits unto God and the Lamb; and these, and those like these alone, will be honoured with being made the Lamb’s wife.

 

 

Notice the peculiar characteristics of these Christians:

 

 

1. They had not while living on earth “defiled themselves with women” - i.e. committed spiritual fornication.  God charged Israel with this heinous sin when His people united with the nations around them in their worship; for the religions of those nations were false - not of God, but forbidden of God.  By [Page 253] mixing with them in their worships, they, by their acts, denied that God was the only true God, and His religion the only true religion.  It is true, by uniting with those nations in their worship, they blunted the force of their open opposition and out-spoken hatred, and gained their good will for the time being; but they, nevertheless, committed spiritual fornication, an abomination in the sight of God; and for this they were severely punished, and have been, for long years, rejected of God from being a nation, and are now enduring the time of “Jacob’s trouble to be purified from their idolatry by years of sufferings.

 

 

2. They were virgins.  They had, while living here, kept themselves pure and chaste - intact from the sinful and demoralizing pleasures of this world.  I can not believe that they found sweet pleasures in the ballroom, the opera and the theatre, which are peculiarly the “pleasures of sin and of the children of this world.  They “kept their garments unspotted from the world

 

 

3. These, when here, “were the followers of the Lamb not professedly, nor in a general sense; not in a great many things; but these followed Christ whithersoever He went.  Where He went in the paths of obedience, they followed Him.  They obeyed, from the heart, all His commandments. As willing or wilfully disobedient Christians, they were without fault before God.*

 

* I can not believe that those Christian ministers [Page 254] or members who, while they profess to love Christ, refuse to do what He commands them, because of the opposition of their own flesh and blood - their own friends and family - or of the world, will ever constitute any part of the glorious bride of Christ.  Those Christian ministers who refuse to obey the least of Christ’s requirements, and teach others so, certainly will not be made the greatest in Christ’s kingdom, but Christ says they shall be the least:

 

“Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” - Matt. 5: 19.

 

How many of our brethren, ministers whom we love, will far miss this highest honour, refusing or failing, through fear of losing the smiles and favours of men - errorists - to teach men all things, even those accounted the least - non-essentials - and to teach them to do them.  These are solemn and eternal [age-lasting] verities.

 

 

These one hundred and forty-four thousand were certainly not “the representatives of all the saved as some teach, for all who have been saved did not possess these characteristics; nor will any one presume to say that all living Christians to-day possess these distinguishing marks of consecration to Christ, but they do represent all those Christians who will be honoured and rewarded by being made the bride of Christ.

 

 

In the day when Christ comes to elect from the earth and receive His bride unto Himself, then will His faithful ones be rewarded for all they have sacrificed and suffered for Him here.

 

 

John was shown a countless multitude of palm-bearers of all nations, who were Christians; but they were no part of the bride; nor were they honoured, or even blessed, with even an invitation to the marriage supper, and yet they were saved, but never attained higher positions of honour than that of servants:

 

 

“After this I beheld, and, 1o, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and [Page 255] tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshiped God, saying, Amen: blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God forever and ever.  Amen.  And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?  And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest.  And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.  Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple: and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.  They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.  For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes- Rev. 7: 9-17.

 

 

Who, at the coming of Christ, will be represented by the wise virgins?  Who by the foolish?

 

 

Were the latter finally saved?

 

 

What class of persons are the five virgins intended to represent? Christians undoubtedly, as the name indicates and implies.  Virgin signifies persons morally chaste and pure, and is applied equally to both sexes in the Scriptures (see Rev. 14: 4), and is never applied to the unregenerate, or enemies of Christ.  All expositors are agreed that these five virgins represent Christians.

 

 

But, as we have noticed, they were not, for some reason, chosen to be the bride, or any part of her, but they will attain to the next place of honour and blessedness; i.e. that of being the nearest to her person - [Page 256] “companions” and attendants, and called to go into the marriage supper. (Rev. 19: 9)

 

 

What class will the foolish virgins represent?

 

 

Though called “foolish they were as certainly virgins as the five wise ones.  The term virgin as certainly designates Christian as the terms “elect,” “saints and is never applied to the morally impure, or the unregenerate, any more than the term leaven is applied to something pure and holy.

 

 

These five unwise virgins were not enemies of Christ - hypocrites under the guise and profession of friends. All that is said of them implies that they represent Christians as certainly as the wise ones.  For -

 

1. They are called “virgins” by Christ.

 

 

2. They went forth with lighted torches, as did the wise, to honour and welcome the coming bridegroom.

 

 

3. They waited as watchfully, and as earnestly desired the coming of the bridegroom, as did the wise virgins. Christ would not intimate that the unregenerate - His enemies - will be earnestly watching for and desiring His speedy coming, as did these five virgins.  His enemies - all hypocrites and mere nominal Christians - will dread and recoil from the very announcement of His coming.

 

 

The foolish virgins also represent a class of Christians at the coming of Christ.

 

 

Arminians, with great avidity and confidence, bring forward this parable in support of their doctrine of the possibility of the final apostasy of Christians.  They rightfully claim that these foolish virgins represent Christians, who, on account of the lack of something [Page 257] which they should have done, will at last be forever shut out of heaven, as these virgins were shut out of the marriage supper.

 

 

To break the force of this argument, the advocates of the salvation of all saints adopt the opposite and quite as untenable a position, viz.: that they were not intended to represent Christians, but sinners, hypocrites, Christians only in profession, whom the coming of Christ will reveal in their true characters.

 

 

Those adopting this interpretation claim that the “oil” symbolizes the saving grace of regeneration, and that these foolish virgins never had any “oil” even in their lamps, but wicks only, thus making them not merely unwise and improvident, but very idiots! for, if possessed of any sense, they would have known that their lamps would not have burned for a moment with only wicks, and would have served them no purpose had the procession actually been in sight the moment they went out!

 

 

But against this it can be conclusively urged that these were not only called virgins, which is a misleading term, unless, like the others, they represent Christians, and they voluntarily went forth to welcome and honour the coming bridegroom, but that they as earnestly desired and awaited his coming as did the wise virgins, which could not be said of hypocrites or unregenerate persons.  The enemies of Christ do not desire, but with mortal fear dread, the hour of His coming, and will call upon the rocks and the mountains to fall on them to hide them from His face.  It is, with conclusive force, further urged:

 

 

1. That these virgins did go forth with oil in their lamps, or the “cups” of their torches, and, for [Page 258] all ordinary, occasions, they had quite enough.  Had it not been for the long, and to these virgins unexpected, “tarrying” of the bridegroom, the oil in their lamps would have been sufficient; for, even at midnight,  when the cry was heard, their lamps were still burning, but burning low so that they said unto their fellows, “Give us of your oil, for our lamps are going out

 

 

I give the literal translation from the Diaglott:

 

 

“And the foolish said unto the prudent, Give us of your oil, for our lamps - sbennuntai - are going out” - are being extinguished; so Bengal and Alford.  Even at that late hour they had not become extinguished.  “The meaning is that their lamps had begun to be extinguished, but not yet gone(Greswell.)

 

 

I can not conceive how we can avoid the conclusion that these foolish virgins were intended to represent Christians, otherwise the parable is quite meaningless.  It was addressed to the disciples of Christ – Christians - it was intended for Christians, and Christians only, and has application only for those Christians living at the time of Christ’s coming to gather unto Himself His bride and her virgin companions.

 

 

Granting, as we must, that they represent a class of Christians, some of which will be taken in, and some left out, let us proceed to notice:

 

 

In what respects the foolish resembled and differed from the wise.

 

1. They as voluntarily went forth to welcome his coming.

 

 

2. They equally provided themselves with torches, or lamps, to honour his coming.

 

 

3. They equally had oil in their lamps.

 

[Page 259]

4. They were as watchful and as desirous of his coming as the wise.

 

 

5. They equally slumbered and slept with the wise.  And -

 

 

6. They awakened as promptly as did the wise, and when they awoke their lamps were still burning. 

But they found they had not sufficient oil to go forward in the procession to the house.

 

 

Now, the only thing the wise had which the others did not have was a supply of oil in addition to what was in their lamps.

 

 

A literal translation of the passage will make this evident: “For the improvident took their lamps, but carried no oil with them* [i.e. besides what was in their lamps.]  The prudent or provident, however, besides their own lamps, took oil in vessels (Diaglott.)  This oil, then, can not represent saving grace or regeneration of heart, but a requisite faith in what was needful to be known touching the movements of the bridegroom, and especially that there would be a delay on his part, and probably a long one.

 

[* See Acts 5: 32, cf. Luke 11: 13, R.V.]

 

The fact that the wise virgins had made themselves acquainted with this fact, or the probability of its occurrence, and thoughtfully provided for it by carrying oil in their vessels, besides what their lamps contained, that they might refill their lamps, was what constituted them wise or prudent.  It was because of the failure of the foolish virgins, through apathy or inexcusable negligence, to properly inform themselves touching the movements of the bridegroom - movements that might be known, that it was their duty to know, especially the fact that there might or would be a “tarrying and possibly a long one, against which [Page 260] it was their duty to provide.  Were not this the case, how could they justly have been punished?  It was simply for the lack of this provision that they lost their place in the procession, and failed to be admitted to the marriage supper.  They were punished for willing and inexcusable ignorance of the movements of the bridegroom.

 

 

The urgent application of the foolish to the wise for a portion of their oil is but too natural; the refusal of the wise ones, but too significant to have been omitted.  Whatever the oil is intended to signify, it was something of which the wise had not too much, and something they could not upon that occasion part with.

 

 

Some able expositors hold that the foolish virgins did go forth at that late hour and obtain a supply of oil, else, say they, they would not have returned and applied for admission with those who were so provided; this is held on the supposition that a lighted torch was an essential qualification of a guest.  Grant this; yet they were too late to be recognized or received in as guests, and given the places they had justly forfeited.

 

 

The door was shut, not of friendship certainly, or of love, but of a present blessing and enjoyment – i.e. participation as guests in the wedding supper.  

 

 

“I know you not  He does not say, as He will to another class upon another occasion, “I never knew you but I know you not as my bride. I do not recognize you as worthy, in the circumstances, to be the companions of my bride on this occasion.  I do not recognize you as worthy to be blessed and honoured by being allowed to be guests at my wedding supper.

 

[Page 261]

They were not treated as enemies; for they are friends, but improvident ones.  He does not order them to be destroyed, but refuses to let them come in to the supper.

 

 

With the above understood symbolisms of the parable, their application to persons and events they will represent at the coming of Christ will not be difficult of understanding.

 

 

Christ is the Bridegroom, who is coming at the close of this dispensation to gather unto Himself in the air, or into paradise, all the very “choice ones” of His saints - the precious stones, His jewels; and to these will He accord the highest reward and honour i.e. that of being made His queen-bride - who, as His wife, will sit with Him on His throne, and jointly rule with Him over the nations.  This most distinguished honour will all this pre-eminent class of His saints enjoy.

 

 

At this stage of His coming He will also gather a second class, or band - those saints worthy to enjoy the second honour, that of being the companions and followers of His bride, or the especially invited guests of His marriage supper.  This class I understand both the wise and foolish virgins represent.  It will be incumbent upon them to be ready and waiting His coming, with lamps trimmed and burning, to welcome His approach, and, with rejoicing, go with Him into the palace and grace His marriage.

 

 

It will be incumbent upon all Christians who wish to be accepted of Him to be ready and waiting – “ready and watchful

 

 

It is said of the bride, the Lamb’s wife, that “she hath made herself ready  As it is the privilege of [Page 262] all Christians, by lives of holy consecration and fidelity, to His service to attain the highest rewards and honours Christ has to bestow at His coming - even to be gathered among His “choice onesHis “jewelsand become His bride - so is it not only the privilege, but duty, of all Christians to be prepared and ready to honour and welcome His coming, and enter with Him into the marriage feast and sup with Him.

 

 

For Christians to be prepared and ready for this glad event, certainly implies that they should make themselves acquainted with the instructions He has left them with respect to His movements, and the duties required of them in connection with this important event (Rev. 1: 3), and that by diligent inquiry they should constantly look for the signs of His coming, which He has given them, indicative of His near approach.

 

 

While it may be true that we all may not be able to understand all the Scriptures bearing upon the coming of Christ, yet if, with prayerful diligence, we read and hear, we can not fail, with His promised blessing, to learn and understand enough so that we can readily recognize the cry, and have our lamps trimmed and burning, and well supplied with oil.

 

 

Let us find encouragement in His promise, “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of the prophecy of this book which is the Apocalypse – Revelation - of Jesus Christ - a book which reveals the events that must transpire before, and in immediate connection with, His coming, which are the signs He has given of His coming, and reveals the events.  We all can read and hear, and study all of it, if we can not fully understand all of it.  We can obtain the [Page 263] blessing, and that day will not overtake us as a thief and find us unprepared.

 

 

But if, through sinful apathy and negligence like the foolish virgins, who will represent a countless multitude of Christians, we fail to inform ourselves so as to be found prepared to meet Him, we will be found standing at the shut door of the marriage supper, vainly knocking for admittance.

 

 

By this Christ did not teach that those of His servants who have not made themselves ready to receive Him will be finally rejected and lost.  He will not close the door of salvation against them, but only the door of a present distinguished honour and blessing.  Those who, through their negligence, refuse to improve the opportunities He gives them will lose the rewards He promises to the faithful and watchful.  When He comes to receive His “elect ones” to Himself, the unfaithful and unwatchful will be “left” to suffer with “hypocrites and unbelievers” those terrible years of afflictions, trials and tribulations on this earth, which will close this present dispensation, called “the great tribulation such as never was suffered by men on earth from the beginning of time, and such as never will again be suffered.

 

 

This is the period when the seven judgment seals will be opened (see Rev. 6. onward), and the seven vials of God’s wrath will be poured out without mixture of mercy upon all those dwelling on the earth (see Rev. 5. - 20.); when men will gnaw their tongues for pain, and their hearts fail for fear of the things still to come; when men will wish to die, and will seek death, and it will flee from them.  This state of things is well compared to “outer darkness, where [Page 264] there will be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth

 

 

Blessed, thrice blessed, will those Christians be who are accounted worthy to escape these things.  Of this Christ warns His disciples:

 

 

“Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.  For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.  Watch ye, therefore, and pray ye always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.” - Luke 21: 34-36.

 

 

Only those who do take heed to themselves - only the ready and watchful ones represented by the bride and the five wise virgins - will be accounted worthy to escape those things, and to stand before the Son of man.

 

 

These will “escape” by being “taken” away from the evils to come.  It is to this that Christ alludes:

 

 

“I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.  Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.  Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.  And they answered and said unto Him, Where, Lord?  And He said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.” - Luke 18: 34-37.

 

 

Paul tells us to whom these “ready” Christians will be taken:

 

 

“Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” - 1 Thess. 4: 17.*

 

[* See ‘The Pre-tribulation Rapture’ in G. H. Lang’s “Firstfruits and Harvest”.]

 

 

But those Christians who are “left” because accounted unworthy to escape the chastening trials and [Page 265] sufferings of “the great tribulation will pass through them, and “learn obedience through suffering will finally come safely out, some receiving a few and others many stripes, and still others saved yet as by fire, with the loss of all honours and all rewards promised to the diligent and faithful.  These chastisements take place on this earth, and before this [evil] age closes.

 

 

The final state of all those represented by the five foolish virgins can be seen by reading Revelations (7: 9, to the end).  While they became “servants in the temple of their God they never become the bride - ­never are honoured with thrones and crowns, as the faithful and, therefore, chosen or choice, ones are.

 

 

How sad to think the large proportion of Christians, through sinful negligence, will lose the highest honours, and only through the greatest tribulation will enter the kingdom!  Will it not be as one hundred and forty-four thousand to a multitude that no man can number?  Reader, in what company will you be?

 

 

“Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” - Matt. 5: 19.

 

 

Are there not those who are now very large in their own eves, and in the estimation of the multitudes they seek to please, who will be very small and insignificant when Christ comes to reward His servants?  Will not some Christians actually “be ashamed before Christ at His coming  Ashamed of what?

 

 

“And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He shall appear we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.” - 1 John 2: 28.

 

 

“Behold, I come as a thief.  Blessed is he that watcheth, and [Page 266] keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame - Rev. 16: 15.

 

 

Will all Christians be found ready and watching the coming of Christ?  Paul clearly implies that only those Christians who love His appearing will receive crowns of righteousness -  i.e. for doing as good and faithful servants.  Do all Christians love His appearing?  Would they, if they could, have their wish - have Him come to-day?  Not one in a thousand of all who profess to be Christians would have Christ come to-day if their prayers could prevent His coming.  Will such constitute any part of His bride?  Have such the spirit and desire of His bride?  Her prayer is, “Even so, come Lord Jesus; COME QUICKLY  Will my readers turn and read, in this connection, Luke 12: 35-49?

 

 

From all this we learn that it is one thing to be barely saved, which every Christian will ultimately be, but quite another thing to be honoured with “the prize of our high calling” - i.e. to sit as a crowned king with Christ on His throne.  (Rev. 3: 2.)

 

 

The second stage, or the concluding act of His coming, will be when He appears in His own glory, and the glory of His holy angels, with ten thousand of His saints (see Jude), with the “called ones the “chosen ones and the “faithful ones” (see Rev. 19: 14), to take vengeance on His enemies and put His faithful saints in full possession of the redeemed earth, who, as His wife, will share with Him the joint regency of it, when His enemies will have been cut off out of it. (Ps. 37.)  If the world will be converted [as Post-millennialists believe] before Christ comes, where will He find enemies to take vengeance upon?

 

[Page 267]

Will the reader stop long enough to read Revelations 17. and 19., and decide if the world is to be converted before the coming of Christ?

 

 

TRIBULATIONS

 

 

There are special periods of “tribulations” and “perilous times recognized in the Sacred Scriptures, which must transpire before the second coming of Christ and the close of this dispensation, and which the coming of Christ will conclude.

 

 

The whole period of Satan’s dominancy on this earth, from the day the curse was pronounced in Eden for man’s sin, until Satan is bound and cast into the abyss, and the tares (the wicked) and all anti-Christian organizations and powers are crushed and removed from the earth, to afflict and persecute the children of God no more, is, to all true and faithful Christians, one long period of tribulation:

 

 

“These things I have spoken unto you, that ye might have peace.  In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” - John 16: 33.

 

 

“Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter the kingdom of God - Acts 14: 22.

 

 

“Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus SHALL suffer persecution.” - 2 Tim. 3: 12.

 

 

How very few professed Christians are faithful enough to suffer persecution!  How few ministers can brook the least persecution for the truth’s sake!  Will such ever enter the [coming millennial] kingdom or wear a crown?

 

 

To no faithful Christian is there a surcease of afflictions and persecutions from the enemies of Christ until [Page 268] His second coming to rid the earth of His enemies.  So there can not be a millennium - a thousand years of peace, rest and glory - before He comes.

 

 

The first of these especially troublous times is, in the Old Testament, denominated the

 

TIME OF JACOB’S TROUBLE

 

 

This period commenced with the conquest and subjugation of the Jewish nation by the Romans, and will continue with more or less intensity until the commencement of the second.

 

 

Jeremiah foretold this period in these words:

 

 

“Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it; it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble

 

 

Daniel thus:

 

 

“And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there ever was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, everyone that shall be found written in the bookDan. 12: 1.

 

 

Christ predicts it in these words, which seem to include the whole time from the destruction of Jerusalem until the return of Christ to destroy His enemies, and to redeem Israel out of all his trouble:

 

 

“For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.  And except those days should be shortened, there should be no flesh saved: but for the elects’ sake those days shall be shortened.” - Matt. 24: 21-22.

 

 

When Christ wept for the last time over Jerusalem, He pronounced the bitter and long-continued doom and desolation of that city and nation: [Page 269] “Your house is left unto you desolate, and ye shall see my face no more until the day ye shall say, Blessed is He who cometh in the name of the Lord

 

 

That is, to deliver them; for after His coming all Israel, the ten lost tribes, will be gathered back out of all nations, and placed in their own land, never to be plucked up.

 

 

Bear it in mind, these three tribulation periods continue with increasing intensity until the very hour of His appearing; for it will be immediately after and concluding the time of Israel’s trouble that Christ comes:

 

 

“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.  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.” - Matt. 24: 29-31.

 

 

THE MANNER OF HIS COMING

 

 

The angels told the disciples, on the Mount of Olives, the manner of His coming:

 

 

“Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven?  This same Jesus which is, taken up from you into heaven shall come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.” - Acts 1: 11.

 

 

Christ ascended from the Mount of Olives bodily, visibly, and on the clouds of heaven; and in like manner, and not spiritually and invisibly, will He descend again.

 

[Page 270]

From these passages we see His coming, in its last act, will be a bodily and visible coming.

 

 

But there is, also, a tribulation period, which is for the Gentiles and for all those Christians who are not ready, faithful and watchful, and therefore not accounted worthy to be taken away with the “choice and faithful ones” who will constitute the bride, but are left to experience the terrible trials and afflictions of this period.  This is called

“THE GREAT TRIBULATION

 

and is included in the time of Jacob’s trouble, and ends with it.

 

 

There will be multitudes of Christians, which no man can number, of all nations, who will be “left” in this “outer darkness as was the slothful servant, to pass through a part or the whole of this “great tribulation period and, while they never attain to the honour of being the bride, or a part of the bride, of Christ, never obtain “crowns” and “thrones,” will, nevertheless, be blessed in being either the companions and followers and attendants of the bride or the invited guests to the marriage supper, and even in being servants of the King, to wait and serve Him in His temple:

 

 

“And He saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.” - Rev. 19: 9.

 

 

The time and length of this, the great tribulation.

 

 

It commences with the first stage of Christ’s coming, and after all the eminent and choice Christians have been “taken” - “caught up to meet the Lord in the air” - and will continue until Christ appears with His bride.

 

[Page 271]

Commentators are not agreed as to the length of this period.  Some think it is indicated by the time that elapsed between the translation of Enoch and the flood (seven hundred and eighty-one years), which swept the wicked from the earth; others, the number of days (taken for years) that intervene between the time Noah entered the ark and the opening of the windows of heaven and breaking up of the fountains of the great deep, which was seven days = seven years.

 

 

But we have no satisfying data by which to determine the exact length of this period; and we need not to know how long it will continue:

 

 

“And He said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in His own power.” - Acts 1: 7.

 

 

*       *       *

[Page 272]

 

CHAPTER 27

 

THE ENTRUSTED TALENTS

 

 

“FOR the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.  And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.  Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents.  And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two.  But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money.  After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them. And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.  His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.  He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them.  His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.  Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: and I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.  His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knowest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.  Take, therefore, the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.  For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.  And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” - Matt. 25: 14-30.

 

 

The Saviour follows the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins with this of the Entrusted Talents, and evidently to teach other and important truths in connection with His coming and the end of this age.  The great lesson which He emphasized in the former parable was the necessity of a watchful readiness to meet Him at His coming.  He closed it with the injunction, “Watch, therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh.” (Matt. 25: 13.)

 

 

The instructive features of the parable before us are:

 

1. The lord whose business or pleasure called him into a far country, to be gone a long time.

 

 

2. The division of his goods among his own servants, and the manner of it.

 

 

3. The slothful servant, and his punishment.

 

 

4. The principle on which the lord reckoned with his servants.

 

 

THE APPLICATION OF THE PARABLE

 

 

This parable, in all its features, is eminently realistic.  It was not uncommon for the Greeks and Romans to employ the better class of their slaves in trading with the means entrusted to them.  Their slaves were principally prisoners of war who had been sold into [Page 274] slavery, and many of them were men of intelligence - of eminent ability as tradesmen and in the various professions.  The most renowned fabulist of Greece was Aesop, a slave.*  When upon the block to be sold he cried out, “If any man needs a master let him buy me When asked by the bidders, as was usual, what he could do, he answered, “Teach men  And this was true; for his gift in teaching practical wisdom has never been excelled by an uninspired teacher.

 

[* Romans 1: 1, literally translated from the Greek reads: “Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called an apostle having been separated to {the} gospel of God]

 

 

The lord in our parable about to travel to a far country to be absent a long time, instead of making a sale of all he possessed, called his own servants unto him, and divided his goods among them.  To one he gave five talents ($6,000 of our currency), to another two talents ($2,500), and to another one ($1,200), and so on.  Mark the just principle that governed him in this distribution - to each according to his ability.  The one to whom he gave but one talent had ability to use, trade with this sum, and make a reasonable profit, but did not have business capacity to manage six thousand dollars, or even twenty-five hundred.

 

 

Napoleon said no general could handle ten thousand men more easily or effectively than General Berthier, but he could do nothing with twenty thousand.  The great gift of Napoleon was in understanding the capacity of his generals, and to entrust them with commands according to their several abilities.

 

 

These were, one and all, “his own servants  He had a right to their faithful service - their best endeavours in using his means - so that upon his return he could have his own with a proper increase.  This we see in the epithets applied to the servant who failed to profitably use the one talent entrusted to him, [Page 275] “slothful,” “unprofitable showing that the master required that all his servants should be diligent and profitable, not sluggards.

 

 

THE RETURN AND RECKONING

 

 

Since the slothful servant is made the most prominent character in the parable, and since so many expositors misteach and destroy its whole scope and true intent, I will give him my first and special attention:

 

 

1. He was, like the rest, his master’s “own servant  In this he differed not from his fellow servants.  The lord only entrusted his goods to “his own servants He had no claims upon other than “his own servants  If his other servants represent Christians, so must this servant also.  He differed from his fellows in this: He formed a false conception of his lord’s real character, and, influenced by this, he fell into inexcusable slothfulness, and failed to work for him - use to any advantage the talent entrusted to him - and thereby justly incurred his master’s displeasure and punishment.

 

 

When his lord called him to account he brought forward the talent only, with this excuse for not having used it:

 

 

“Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: and I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.  His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed.” - Matt. 25: 24-26.

 

[Page 276]

How groundless and absurd his excuse, will be seen by slightly paraphrasing his lord’s answer:

 

 

“Grant that I am the hard, exacting, unreasonable master you think I am; so unreasonable and pitiless that you were ‘afraid’ that had you invested my money in trade and lost it, I would have punished you without mercy, and therefore you preferred to suffer my displeasure for its non-use than my greater anger for its loss - grant that your fears were well grounded - why did you not go and deposit my money with the exchangers; then there would have been no hazard about it, and when I came I could have demanded mine own with a proper interest, which is my just due?”

 

 

The mouth of the servant was stopped.  He could frame no answer.  There were in Palestine, then, as here, bankers, exchangers, who allowed interest on all sums deposited with them for any considerable length of time, and this the slothful servant well knew - and his conduct was therefore inexcusable in any light we may view it.

 

 

HIS SIN AND PUNISHMENT

 

 

Since he was his lord’s own servant, as were the other servants, like them he represented Christians, but as a slothful servant he represented slothful ones.

 

 

He had not rashly squandered his lord’ money, but he had, wickedly – disobediently - refused to use it for his master’s benefit, and, therefore, deserved to be sorely chastened with the rod of affliction, as Jonah was, that he might learn obedience through suffering, which, in his case, was spoken of as “outer darkness in contrast with the resplendent honours and joys [Page 277] rewarded to his faithful fellow servants.  To suppose that the heavenly Father would utterly destroy “His own child” for slothfulness is not only contrary to His revealed paternal character, but to the manifold and explicit teachings of His word.

 

 

1. He was made ashamed before his fellow servants by the condemnation of his lord.

 

 

2. All that had been entrusted to him was taken from him and given to the one who had evinced the largest ability and faithfulness in using his master’s money.

 

 

3. He was denied the resplendent honours and joys awarded to the faithful ones, and suffered grievous chastisement, which is indicated by the phrases “outer darkness” and “gnashing of teeth(See Parable of the Virgins for the punishment of the improvident virgins.)  No one can find the least fault with the demands or conduct of the lord toward this servant.

 

 

But the servant who had received five talents came and returned them with other five talents he gained by diligent use of them; and he received from his lord this commendation and reward: “Well done, good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things [exalt thee to a higher trust and honour].  Enter thou into the joy of thy lord [share in the festivities prepared to welcome his return].”  It was the fidelity the lord commended, and not the large amount he had gained.

 

 

The one who received two talents came and returned them with two other talents beside them, which he had made by the faithful use of them; and the lord said unto him: “Well done, good and faithful [Page 278] servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things.  Enter thou into the joy of thy lord  Here we see the amounts entrusted and gained by service were unequal, but the fidelity being equal the lord equally commended and rewarded them.

 

 

The servants represent all true Christians, including the unfaithful, for to no sinner can we properly apply the term which Paul applies to himself, a bond servant - i.e. slave of Jesus Christ.  The Scriptures nowhere apply this term to the unregenerate.  The unfaithful servant represents the large class of Christians in the churches of Christ who may be said to do nothing, or so little, and that with the feeling of this servant, that by the Master it is accounted as nothing.

 

 

But this parable being spoken to His apostles, we will not far misapply it by interpreting it mainly with reference to those endowed with the requisite gift to preach His gospel.  Then this slothful and unprofitable servant peculiarly represents that class who are “disobedient to the heavenly calling refusing to use the gifts entrusted to them in the Master’s service, regarding it as too hard a service, and requiring too much of them; and they hide their talents in the earth, in farms, merchandise, or other secular professions, to laying up earthly gains.

 

 

That the Saviour intended the lord in this parable to represent Himself no expositor has doubted.  He left to go into a far country when He left this world after his ascension.  The servants to whom the lord entrusted his goods represent the apostles and His ministers and witnesses of all subsequent time.  Jonah was well represented by this servant.  He was called [Page 279] and qualified of God to go and preach to the city of Nineveh; but he regarded it as an unreasonable duty laid upon him, evincing the same spirit illustrated by this slothful servant who refused to use the talent for the Master’s benefit: and he sought to hide himself, with his talent, from God in the far-off land of Tarshish.  But God hastened to reason with him; and he was cast into outer darkness, from which we hear his cries for relief:

 

 

“Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish’s belly, and said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and He heard me; out of the belly of hell [Heb. ‘Sheol’] cried I, and thou heardest my voice.  For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me.  Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.  The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head.  I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me forever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God.  When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.  They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.  But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed.  Salvation is of the Lord.  And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.” - Jonah 2: 1-10.

 

 

He was sorely chastened in the deep darkness, but God did not cast him off forever, for he was His servant, but gave him repentance, and taught him obedience through suffering.

 

 

Had not Jonah truly repented of his disobedience, and cried out unto the Lord, resolving to pay what he had vowed, can we believe that he would have been brought forth again to light?

 

[Page 280]

During the late war a case was brought under my observation strikingly illustrated by this slothful servant:

 

 

A young physician was brought down from the camp of Johnston’s army, then in Kentucky, to Nashville, suffering from a severe attack of typhoid fever, which was sweeping away so many soldiers.  A friend came and entreated that I would allow him shelter and treatment, as the hospitals were so crowded, further urging that he was a Baptist, and of one of the best families of Mississippi.

 

 

Although every room and bed but one was then occupied by similar cases, I yielded to the solicitations of his friend, and took him in, calling on my own family physician to attend him, and divided time with him and the rest as a nurse.  With every attention, day by day he grew worse and worse, and ere long became the only doubtful case, and before a week had passed the old doctor gave him up to die.  I rested upon a couch in his room to give him prompt attention.  It was between twelve and one o’clock one night that he called me to his bedside, not to ask for water to moisten his lips, but to ask me to tell him what I regarded as a call to the ministry.  I gave him my views of it, and related what I regarded as my own call.

 

 

After a pause he said: “Shortly after my conversion and baptism I became similarly impressed, and, notwithstanding all my resistance and endeavours to throw off the impression, it grew upon me, and has continued to grow upon me; but I have felt that in my case it involved too great a sacrifice - that it is an unreasonable demand.  I would have to give up my [Page 281] plans of life - plans to achieve eminence in my profession, and to secure a competency and even an ample fortune for myself and wife.  To become a minister I would have to consent to be a poor man all the days of my life, and subject my wife and family to dependence and poverty.  I have never felt that I could do it; and I have kept my convictions a secret in my own bosom - have not whispered them even to my wife - and now I am here, and about to die; for I realize that I am daily and hourly sinking  And he asked me if I really thought his convictions, as he had stated them, were a call of God to preach the gospel.  I answered him affirmatively, and told him I believed that God had brought him under my roof, and had laid him upon that bed of affliction, and brought him under the shadow of death, as he did Jonah, that he might decide this question in the light of eternity.  He asked me to pray for him, which I did, and for God to give him grace to overcome all his temptations to disobedience.  When I rose he grasped my hand, and said, as the tears burst from his eyes, “I have decided, if God will raise me up from this bed, I will give my life to Him; I will give up the world and preach

 

 

He soon became calm, and sank into a gentle slumber, and I returned to my couch.  When the physician called at nine in the morning he pronounced the symptoms favourable.  At night the improvement was marked.  In three or four days the last trace of fever had disappeared.

 

 

I well remember the evening he sat in his chair, and examined with the doctor his pulse and tongue, and both agreed that he was convalescent, and they counted the days when it would be safe for him to start home. [Page 282] I had moved my couch below, leaving a bell within his reach should he need my services in the night.  At midnight I heard the bell, and hastened to his bedside, and asked what he wished of me.  “Tell mehe said, “did I promise to preach if I recovered from this sickness  I answered, “Yes, Brother - you did  “Did I positively promise  “Most certainly and solemnly you did  “Well, I can not - I will not.  It is more than I am willing to do.  The sacrifice is too great

 

 

I reasoned with him, and told him I believed he imperilled his life should he violate his vow unto the Lord, and tried to pray for him, but he closed the interview with, “I can not, I will not, preach.”

 

 

Before the sun set the next day the doctor reported an unfavourable symptom; the next morning a rise of fever, which, despite all efforts, steadily increased, and in less than one week from that dread night he died - died in great darkness of soul.  His tongue had shrivelled, and turned black as a coal, and seemed drawn into his throat, choking him.

 

 

I have witnessed many a death, but never one like that!  The old doctor said it was a fearfully strange case, and seemed to him like a judgment of God.

 

 

Was he a Christian?  I have never doubted it.  The evidence he gave of regeneration, his religious life, his deep and lasting conviction that it was his duty to preach the gospel, all attested that he was a servant of God; but he was a disobedient servant.  He hid his talent, refusing to use it, although convinced that it was a duty required of him, but an unreasonable one.  He was sorely but justly punished, and his talent [Page 283] taken from him. Saved, yet as by fire!  Saved, but without a reward!

 

 

Ministers endowed with five talents, who use them with becoming diligence, will be both approbated and raised from servants to rulers over many things.  And ministers entrusted with fewer talents, if they evince equal diligence, will be equally rewarded with those who faithfully use larger trusts.

 

 

From this parable we learn these important lessons:

 

 

1. That the King imperatively demands work from every citizen of His kingdom.

 

 

2. That He entrusts to each one the means with which to work, and means according to his ability.

 

 

3. That the absence of the Lord will give ample time for each one to work, and to work effectually.

 

 

4. That the work done by each one will be valued and rewarded according to the principle illustrated in the reckoning made with these servants: viz., equal diligence in the use of unequal endowments equally rewarded.

 

 

5. From the case of the slothful servant, that the law of divine jurisprudence is that they who employ well what they have shall retain it all and receive more in addition, whereas they who do not rightly employ what they have will be deprived of that which they possess but do not use.

 

 

6. That our Master will pronounce the encomium “good and faithful” on many whom the world has regarded as comparative failures.  The widow’s mite is more to Him than the large gifts of the wealthy, because it is the offering of a devoted spirit.

 

 

How blessed to serve a Master who is utterly superior to the vulgar worship of success and quantity!

 

 

How blessed, moreover, to serve One who is as generous as He is equitable! [Page 284] For that any servant should be praised as both these were, is no less noteworthy than that one is as much praised as the other.  In this respect, also, the parable is faithful to the spirit of God and of Christ as exhibited in the Bible.

 

 

*       *       *

[Page 285]

 

CHAPTER 28

 

THE ENTRUSTED POUNDS

 

 

“AND as they heard these things, He added and spake a parable, because He was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear.  He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.  And be called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.  But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saving, We will not have this man to reign over us.  And it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom lie had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading.  Then came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds.  And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities.  And the second came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds.  And he said likewise to him, Be thou also over five cities.  And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin: for I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up that thou layedst not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow.  And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant.  Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow: Wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury?  And he said unto them that stood by, Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds. (And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds.)  For I say unto you, that unto every one which hath [Page 286] shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him.  But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither and slay them before me.” - Luke 19: 11-27.

 

 

This parable is only recorded by Luke, and is a companion of the last, that of The Talents, and probably was related in connection with that.

 

 

The veri-similitudes are so great, and meet in so many points, that some expositors* are of the opinion that this is Luke’s version of the Parable of the Talents recorded by Matthew, of which admission the enemies of inspiration are not slow to avail themselves.

 

* “The man who can not perceive, or will not own, that these are two distinct cases, with different though co-equal lessons, is not fit to be an expositor of any writing, either sacred or profane.” - ARNOT.

 

 

I can not for a moment entertain this opinion.

 

 

1. Because it gravely militates against the inspiration of the Scriptures, and -

 

 

2. Because it was evidently given to illustrate another principle in the administration of rewards in the kingdom of Christ, and -

 

 

3. To dispossess the minds of His disciples, and the multitudes, of the impression that the kingdom of God was about to appear.  Luke tells us that it was given for this express purpose.

 

 

The Parable of the Talents was manifestly given to illustrate that, in the administration of the rewards in the kingdom of Christ, unequal endowments used with equal diligence will be equally rewarded.

 

 

In this parable, another equally important principle, viz.: that equal endowments used with unequal diligence will be unequally rewarded.

 

[Page 287]

Both alike exhibit the grand cardinal distinction between the faithful and faithless; but in pointing out also the diversities that obtain among true disciples, they view the subject on opposite sides, each presenting that aspect of it which the other omits.

 

 

The Parable of the Talents teaches us that Christians differ from each other in the amount of gifts which they receive; and the Parable of the Pounds teaches us that they differ from each other in the diligence they display.

 

 

The third reason is stated by the evangelist:

 

 

“And as they heard these things, He added and spake a parable, because He was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear.” - Luke 14: 11.

 

 

The disciples became fully occupied with the thought that upon Christ entering Jerusalem He would publicly proclaim Himself king and set up a temporal kingdom, and deliver them from the power of the Romans, and at this time fulfil the prophecies concerning their Messiah’s kingdom and reign.  To disabuse their minds of this idea - i.e. that this millennial kingdom was immediately to appear - was the prime reason for speaking this parable.

 

 

The representative characters or events in this allegory are:

 

1. The nobleman.

 

 

2. His journey and its cause.

 

 

3. His dividing of his goods among his servants.

 

 

4. The principle by which he was governed in set­tling with them.

 

 

5. The idle servant.

 

 

6. The conduct and punishment of his enemies.

 

[Page 288]

This nobleman was doubtless the hereditary heir of this kingdom, and it was but the formal investiture of kingship he went to receive from the supreme head of the empire.  This feature had a historical basis in the political condition of the Jews under the Roman power.

 

 

“Judea had been conquered by the Romans, under Pompey, 63 B. C., and though it was still governed in part by native princes, yet they ruled as deputies of Rome, and under its protectorate.  Those, therefore, who, by hereditary succession or interest, thought they had any title to the government of the Jewish provinces, sought, of course, to confirm their claim by an appeal to the emperor or senate of the imperial city.  Thus Herod the Great hastened to Rome to obtain the kingdom of Judea from Antony, which, having received, he was solemnly proclaimed king of the Jews.  By the last will and testament of this monarch his son Archelaus was constituted ruler of Judea, Samaria and Idumea, yet could not enter upon his ethnarchship until his dignity was confirmed by Augustus.  Accordingly he went to Rome, literally ‘into a far country, to receive for himself a kingdom;’ but the Jews, knowing his purpose, sent thither fifty ambassadors to entreat Augustus that Archelaus might not be made their king, and were so far successful that, though Augustus confirmed him in his government as ethnarch, he would not invest him with the regal name and dignity.  The allusion of our Lord, therefore, to this well-known historical fact, gave deeper significance to the parable, and made the people more attentive to the truths which it was intended to convey

 

 

That it was not the kingship of a far distant country he sought, but of his native land, else the conduct of his citizens would have been incongruous.

 

 

This feature of the parable was based upon the conduct of the Jews towards Archelaus, as stated above.

 

 

The nobleman called his ten servants and delivered [Page 289] unto them ten pounds (two hundred dollars), from which two statements - i.e. the number of his servants (only ten) and the smallness of the amount (twenty dollars) entrusted to each - some expositors infer the poverty of the nobleman.  His command was, “Occupy till I come” - trade, use, with intelligence, to the best of your discretion, until I return, which they knew could not be soon, for it was into a far country he was going, and upon an important mission to the imperial court, and both the time and the business at court would require time, and, therefore, they knew they would have ample time to engage in business.  Let it be noted that all those to whom he entrusted his goods were, as in The Talents, his own servants, not his enemies.  The years roll on, and after a long time, as Matthew expresses it, the lord returned, and commanded those servants to whom he had given the money that he might know how much each man had gained by trading.  They promptly responded and each rendered his account, and it was found that some had increased their trusts more than others.

 

 

The first came and said, “Lord, with thy pounds, by trading, I have gained ten pounds”.  And the lord said unto him, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant; because thou hast been faithful with a very little, have thou authority over ten cities And the second servant came, saying, “Lord, with thy one pound I have traded, and made five pounds”.  And the lord said unto him, “Well done, thou good servant; be thou over five cities.”  These nine good and faithful servants, all expositors and reasoners agree, represent Christians of this age; and to each one Christ, [Page 290] represented by the hereditary nobleman, has entrusted a gift with which to serve Him.

 

 

Touching the last servant there is a diversity of views.  He, like the servant entrusted with the one talent, was an idle servant, and had done nothing with his pound.  Bringing it back, he said, “Behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin” - sudarium, sweat-cloth - which, not working, he needed not use.  His judgment was like that of the slothful servant in the Parable of the Talents.

 

 

What we may learn from this parable:

 

 

1. That every child of God is created in Christ Jesus unto good works, and are His servants – douloi - slaves, bond servants - having been purchased with His own precious blood.  Paul delighted to call himself a slave-bound servant of Jesus Christ.

 

 

2. That to teach one of His servants, He commits a trust - a pound - with which to serve Him; we may call this personal influence, which we can augment in proportion to our diligence in His service, and for this we are responsible, not for its safe keeping only, but for its diligent use.

 

 

3. That Christ our Lord has left this earth, and ascended into the court of heaven, to be formally invested with royal power and prerogatives over this entire earth as the reward of His redemptive work.  God the Father has said, “Sit thou on my throne until I make thy foes thy footstool  Christ has been formally invested with the supreme government and judgeship of this earth.  He so declared this fact when He said, “All power in heaven and in earth;” “Go ye therefore into all the earth, and preach the gospel to every nation

 

[Page 291]

4. We learn that He will return to this earth to reign over this kingdom He has received.

 

 

5. That His enemies will remain defiant and protesting on this earth until He does return, and then they will all be brought before Him and miserably slain, as saith the Scriptures:

 

 

“Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?  The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against His anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.  He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.  Then shall He speak unto them in His wrath, and vex them in His sore displeasure.  Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.  I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten Thee.  Ask of me, and I shall give Thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost part of the earth for thy possession.  Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” - Ps. 2: 1-9.

 

 

“And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse: and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He doth judge and make war.  His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns; and He had a name written, that no man knew, but He himself.  And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and His name is called The Word of God.  And the armies which were in heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.  And out of His mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations: and He shall rule them with a rod of iron: and He treadeth the wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.  And He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.  And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God- Rev. 19: 11-17.

 

[Page 292]

6. And finally -

 

 

“The disproportion between fidelity in the use of a single pound of Hebrew money (twenty dollars) and the reward consequent thereon, of being made a ruler over five or ten cities, can not fail to arrest attention; and yet how beautifully does this apparent disproportion illustrate a marked feature of the divine economy, whereby God rewards not deeds, but motives; not results, but principles!  So here the principles of faithful zeal to the humblest trust is requited by transferring that lowly labourer to a broader field of action, where this principle, so fully tested in small matters, has now scope for noble and efficient development.  And a blessed thought it is, that we are not rewarded so much for the outward and visible ministrations of duty as for the inward and spiritual principles which guide our souls, which principles indeed are not of our own getting, but are implanted in us by the Holy Ghost.  Hence it follows that the humblest servant of God may attain to heights in glory and reaches of power far above what may be accorded to the more seemingly active and fruitful professor, because of the different principles which were the motive power in each

 

 

The theory that they will all be converted, and made His friends, and welcome Him back to reign over them, is delusive to the mind by this parable.

 

 

*       *       *

[Page 293]

 

CHAPTER 29

 

THE BLADE, AND THE EAR, AND THE FULL CORN

 

 

THE GRADUAL DEVELOPMENT OF CHRIST’S KINGDOM

 

 

“AND He said, So is the kingdom of God as if a man should cast seed into the ground, and should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how.  For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself: first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.  But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come - Mark 4: 26-29.

 

 

That this parabolic gem, so natural and so significant, should be recorded only by Mark is “one of the surprises of gospel history;” but it does not militate either its “genuineness or importance

 

 

Of this parable Dr. Bruce, of Scotland, says: “The law of growth in the spiritual world, not being duly laid to heart, has, therefore, not been found here, and this parable consequently has been misinterpreted, or rather scarcely interpreted at all.  Few of our Lord’s parables have been more unsatisfactorily expounded, as there are few in which a right exposition is more to be desired for the good of believers.”*

 

* Parabolic Teachings, p. 120.

 

 

This expositor verifies the truth of his own assertion by interpreting this parable, at great length, as [Page 294] teaching the growth of grace in the souls of Christians: in other words, that sanctification is a gradual growth, and, in trying to conform it to the laws of growth in the natural world, he altogether misses, I think, what Christ intended and does manifestly teach by this parable.  Indeed, Dr. Bruce frankly confesses that he has limited its application to the individual Christian’s experience rather than to the history of the kingdom of God at large, its real scope, and his apology is because he understands the former better than the latter.  So disingenuous is his admission, and so applicable his reason to other commentators, that I quote him verbally here:

 

 

“And here we shall confine ourselves to the experience of the individual, though sensible that the history of the kingdom of God at large is a far greater theme than that of any individual Christian, and ready to admit that it was probably the former which our Lord had chiefly in His thoughts when He uttered the parable.  Our apology for restricting our inquiry to the minor subject is, first, that we understand it better- BRUCE, P. 133.

 

 

Let the reader mark this writer’s statement, which I accept as true, viz.: that “our Lord had the history of His kingdom at large chiefly in His thoughts when He uttered this parable  Had he said wholly in His thoughts, it would have been nearer the exact truth; for this is what He explicitly declared the parable was intended to illustrate, viz.: that the growth of His kingdom would be slow and by marked stages from its origin to its final and glorious consummation, like unto that of a seed of corn from its planting to its final development - the full corn in the ear. Put, [Page 295] amazingly strange, although this is so clearly stated by Christ as the true and only scope of the parable, commentators so generally, Dr. Bruce not excepted, ignore it, and even base their interpretations upon a single and confessedly mistranslated text of Scripture! (Luke 17: 20.)  Christ’s kingdom, composed, as it is, of His visible local churches, could not be, in the hearts of those wicked and murderous Pharisees, either in its literal or spiritual, its physical or figurative, senses.  It was among them or in their midst, although they did not discern the fact - and this is undoubtedly what Christ said.  At another time He said, “But if I, by the finger of God, cast out devils, then has the kingdom of God come unto you  I can recall no passage in the Sacred Scriptures where it is taught or intimated that Christ’s kingdom ever was or ever could be in the hearts of saints or sinners.  Paul does, in one place, say that “the kingdom of God is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spiritbut this is manifestly an elliptical sentence for the fruits of the kingdom - its aim and the natural result of its rule.  We all know that the apple is not the tree, nor the grape the vine, that produces it.  The third Napoleon, in the fete given at his coronation, said, for the ear of the foreign diplomats, “The empire is peace.”  He certainly did not mean that the French government was either literally or figuratively peace, but that its aims would be to secure peace with all nations.

 

 

I regret to say that one of our own recent and valued commentators of the New Testament thus briefly explains the scope of this parable: “The kingdom of God in the soul and in the world, a life and a growth [Page 296] not dependent on human power, gradual, progressive and complete in its development*

 

* Dr. George Clark’s Notes, published by the American Baptist Publication Society.

 

 

A SUGGESTED INTERPRETATION

 

 

Analogous to the three noted stages in the growth of a seed of corn - viz.: 1. From the appearance of the blade to that of the stalk. 2. From the stalk to the appearance of the ear. 3. From the earing to the full corn in the ear - its complete and ripened development - is the growth of the kingdom of heaven.

 

 

These stages of growth would be the three marked periods in the growth of His kingdom on earth:

 

 

1. Its inceptive or organizing period.

 

 

2. Its development.

 

 

3. Its full and glorious consummation.

 

 

1. The Inceptive Period includes the time from the planting of the first church (the setting up of the kingdom) until the ascension of Christ and the descent of the Holy Spirit - i.e. the period of the personal administration of it by Christ himself.

 

 

As in the case of the blade stage of the corn, the, casual and unintelligent observer could not discern the real character of the plant, or distinguish it from the common grass of the field, and certainly not discover anything that bore the appearance of an ear of corn, so many casual readers and partisan interpreters profess to see nothing in the history of Christianity from the days of John the Baptist until Pentecost that indicates the existence of the kingdom of Christ; but, nevertheless, it was as certainly there, in its [Page 297] elementary form, as the undeveloped ear is in the corn blade.  Christ himself expressly and repeatedly asserted its actual existence:

“The law and the prophets were until John, since which time the kingdom of God is preached, and all men [not press into but] assail it.” - Luke 16: 16.

 

 

This agrees with Matt. 11: 12.

 

 

“And when He was demanded of the Pharisees when the kingdom of God should come he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation; neither shall they say, Lo here or there, for lo, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” - Luke 17: 20, 21.  (See American Revision.)

 

 

That is, it was there present among them.

 

 

“But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then is the kingdom of God come unto you.” - Matt. 12: 28.

 

 

It was an actual existence.  Publicans and harlots entered into it by baptism.  The scribes and Pharisees assailed it.  Christ informed Nicodemus that except a man were born of the spirit he could not see it, and, unless born of water (baptized) in addition to the spiritual birth, he could not enter it, which implies its existence.

 

 

During this, the Organizing Period, the kingdom was under the direct personal administration of its King and Founder.  He was building, setting up and establishing it.  Its laws were both enacted and executed by Him in person.  This period was represented by the cutting of the stone out of the mountain without hands - i.e. human or angelic agency.

 

 

2. The Second Period in the progress of Christ’ kingdom embraces all the time from His ascension [Page 298] until His return - the Regeneration. (Matt. 19: 28.)  This period is analogous to the earing time of the corn blade or stalk, and, in Daniel’s prophecy, is the time between the cutting out of the stone from the mountain and its smiting the great image. (Dan. 2: 44.)

 

 

During the blade, or stalk, period of the corn, as I have said, there was nothing, to the inexperienced eye, that looked like an ear of corn; yet, during this period, after the form of an ear and the green, imperfect and scattered grains of corn appeared, no one questioned that it was indeed corn; so, in this age, few can be found to deny that the kingdom, in one of its phases, is in existence.  The kernels of corn are fast multiplying in the ear; and the signs of its fullness and maturity are manifold and evident to every Scripturally intelligent observer.

 

 

3. The Third Period in the progressive growth of the kingdom, represented by the first appearance of the green ear on the stalk, and the scattering kernels of unripe corn upon it, to the FULL CORN IN THE EAR, represents all the time in the history of the kingdom from the return of Christ - when commences the Regeneration - until the close of the Millennial Age.

 

 

(1.)  At the commencement of this Third Period Christ will return with all His now glorified saints, gathered from their graves and caught up and out of the living populations of earth.

 

 

(2.) Then will take place, in their presence, the judgment of nations, as nations, and the avenging of their blood upon those that dwell upon the earth - those “goat nations” that oppressed and persecuted them.

 

[Page 299]

(3.) Then Antichrist himself will be destroyed, and all Antichristian organizations, civil and religious (and at this time the whole world, with its kings and rulers, will be under his control, and in open rebellion to Christ), will be crushed into dust by Christ as King of His saints, as the symbolic stone cut out of the mountain, and their very dust driven from the earth like the chaff by the wind of a summer’s threshing floor.

 

 

Thus and then will the prophecies of Daniel (2: 44), and David (Ps. 2.), and John (Rev. 20.), be fulfilled when the stone-kingdom will smite the image and break it in pieces.  But this is not all of it.  It was to become a great mountain and fill the whole earth.

 

 

Then will Christ, as the antitype of David, by His almighty power, subdue all His enemies, overcome and bind and cast out Satan, the strong man armed; will spoil his goods (Luke 11: 21-23) and take possession of all the kingdoms of this earth.

 

 

“The Regeneration” will be the constituting of all these kingdoms into His one now universal kingdom, over which, with His saints as joint heirs, He will reign on this earth for one thousand years in undisputed sway, as King of kings and Lord of lords, “and all men shall see and fear His glory from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof

 

 

This Millennial Period, during which the “full corn in the ear” will appear in its ripened state - its full glory - I call The Consummation of the Kingdom.

 

 

I refer to the following Scriptures in support of these positions, which I trust the reader will carefully read:

 

[Page 300]

Dan. 2: 34-45, 7: 26-28; Luke 22: 29-31; Matt. 19: 28; Acts 3: 20, 22; Rev. 19: 11, 20: 1-7, 5: 10; 2 Tim. 2:12.

 

 

*       *       *

[Page 301]

 

CHAPTER 30

 

PARABLE OF THE NET

 

“AGAIN, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.  So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” - Matt. 13: 47-50.

 

 

Although this is one of the three briefest of Christ’s parables, containing but four verses and eighty-four words, Christ clearly explained its scope to His disciples, as He did the Parable of the Tares, yet, like that, it has given rise to diverse interpretations to sustain a false church theory and called forth no little discussion.

 

 

The principal figures of this parable are:

 

 

. The net.

 

 

2. The fishers.

 

 

3. The fishes.

 

 

4. The sea.

 

 

5. The separation of the fishes.

 

 

6. The great truths taught by it.

 

 

For a clearer understanding of this parable we must understand what these figures or symbols were designed by the great Teacher to represent.  So much [Page 302] that is false has been put forth that I must be allowed a little space to remove the rubbish, that the reader can better understand its true teachings.

 

 

1. The net.

 

 

There are two principal views put forth as to what the net was intended to represent, which, I think, are equally unscriptural and absurd.

 

 

(a) The great majority of commentators and interpreters maintain that it represents “the church which means as near nothing as can be conceived of; since, as an entity, visible or invisible, it does not exist, save in the exuberant imaginations of a certain class of ecclesiologists.  Whenever we meet with the phrase in the New Testament, not referring to a local organization, it is only a figurative expression, one being used for all - a collective noun.  The word of God knows no such organization as “the churchcomposed of many or all of the churches of Christ.

 

 

Those who use this phrase can not claim they mean Christ’s invisible spiritual church, for two good reasons: (1) It can not be shown that He has such a church.  (2) None but true believers, saints, the really saved, could belong to such a body, if it existed, as the very name indicates; but in this “net” were many bad fishes, and doubtless more bad than good ones.

 

 

This interpretation of the net is evidently advanced in the interest of what is called the “universal visible church theory” - i.e. religious bodies like the Greek, Roman, Anglican and Protestant state organizations -which forcibly gathers all the population of the state, good and bad, infants and adults, into their world-wide folds, who will not enter voluntarily, and retain them [Page 303] in church fellowship, knowing them to be notoriously bad and worthless.

 

 

These commentators belong to such worldly organizations, and, as I have suggested, their interpretations of God’s word are influenced by their peculiar views of what they consider a church of Christ.  In support of their practice of embracing the whole world in their churches, they say that all who should be saved should be gathered into “the church,” and appeal to Acts 2: 47, as mistranslated by King James’ translators, and to this parable, claiming that the net signifies “the church and to that of the tares, claiming also that the field is “the church in which the notoriously wicked are to be retained until the angels make the final separation at the end of the millennial dispensation - the final judgment.

 

 

But Christ, in His interpretation of the Parable of the Tares, tells us that the “field is the world and therefore it can not mean “the church” in that parable; and if the net signifies “the church” in this, then a figure can represent a figure, which is contrary to the laws of figurative language, and so this theory must be abandoned, and this parable is rescued from being construed to support an unscriptural and pernicious church theory and practice.

 

 

But the significations put forward by some Baptist commentators and writers are no less absurd.  So anxious to avoid the rock of a world-embracing church theory, they perish in Charybdis.

 

 

E.g.: Dr. Williams * teaches us that by the net Christ meant “the Christian dispensation!!” and [Page 304] says it can not signify “the churchbecause its members were once fishes themselves! (See Commentary in loco.)

 

* His Commentary on Matthew is published by the American Baptist Publication Society, Philadelphia.

 

 

We can by the same parity of reasoning say that the fishers could not represent the apostles in Christ’s day, and all the true ministers of Christ in all after ages, because they were once fishes themselves.

 

 

It is evident there should be some similarity between the things compared, or the design used, or the manner or results of their operation, to suggest the idea of a comparison or analogy.  But what conceivable likeness in any respect there is between a fisherman’s net and the Christian dispensation, or between the world and a net, I have not an imagination sufficiently fanciful to suggest.

 

 

By the net, in this parable, I understand is meant the kingdom of Christ, composed, as it is, of all His true churches; not, primarily, because Christ says “the kingdom is like a netbut because in some of the above-mentioned respects it is like a fisherman’s net, and, secondarily, because it is like nothing else mentioned in the parable.  It is analogous in some respects to a net, or there is no analogy, no parable.  But granting that fishes represent men, there is a striking analogy between the administration of the kingdom by the ministers and servants of Christ (which is composed of all His true churches), and the management and operation of a net by fishermen, those who use it, and in the final results of the operation, in separating the worthless from the good, as we learn from Christ himself.

 

 

There is even a closer likeness.  A fisher’s net is an organism, a definitely constructed implement for a definite purpose, made of peculiar material - heavy twine with meshes of different sizes.

 

 

So is the kingdom of Christ a definite organization, set up “for a definite purpose and constituted of definite material - His true churches, Which were designed to be composed of true [regenerate] Christians.

 

 

But what conceivable likeness is there between a fisher’s net and the Christian dispensation, a period of time, or “the world the physical earth or the race of mankind?

 

 

2. Who do the fishers, the men who manage the net, represent?

 

 

Christ has answered this question for us:

 

 

“And He saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” - Matt. 4: 19.

 

 

What His apostles were in their days all the true ministers of Christ are called to be - fishermen - “fishers of men

 

 

We can readily see the analogy between the operations of Christ’s ministers and expert fishermen.  The latter, by all judicious means, endeavour to get all the good fishes possible into their nets.  They certainly do not seek to gather in worthless ones.  They fish and secure good fishes, if servants, for the use of those who employ them.

 

 

So Christ makes it the duty of His ministers to disciple, by the preaching of the gospel, so as to gather as many believers as possible into His kingdom (which is constituted of His true churches), and this for His own glory.

 

 

But how can this rationally be said of the Christian dispensation, or of “the world

 

[Page 306]

If the advocates of this theory claim that it gathers the race of mankind into eternity, and before the angels who separate the good from the bad, etc., I reply that it does so no more than any preceding one did, or the subsequent dispensation will do, and therefore the figure fails.

 

 

3. The fishes, we know, represent men.  The good, which, in the final separation, are gathered into vessels, are those who savingly receive the gospel preached - Christians.  The bad are hypocrites.*

 

[* They might be ‘hypocrites,’ but the question begging to be asked is: “Were they regenerate  See for example 1 Cor. 5: 9-13. cf. Numbers 16: 26 and 1 Cor. 10: 1-11, R.V.]

 

 

4. The sea undoubtedly represents the world - the masses of mankind to whom the gospel is to be preached, and upon whom the influences of the kingdom of heaven are brought to bear for their salvation.

 

 

5. The separation (gathering the good fishes into vessels and casting the worthless ones away), as Christ clearly teaches, points forward to the final judgment which will take place, not at the close of this, but of the millennial, age.

 

 

THE GREAT TRUTHS TAUGHT BY THIS PARABLE

 

 

1. From the peculiar kind of implement used - the net - we learn a lesson and a prophecy.

 

 

It was not a hook and line - hand-pole arrangement nor even a common dip net (diktuon), that could only be used in pools along the shore or cast over the side of a boat (John 21: 6), but a drag net (sagene), with which the whole Sea of Galilee could, by repeated efforts, be dragged over.  Dr. Trench thus describes it:

 

 

“It is called a draw net, and the particular kind is specified by the word in the original [sagene].  On [Page 307] the coast of Cornwall, England, where it is now used, it bears the same name - seine, or sean.  It is sometimes half a mile in length.*  It is leaded below, that it may sweep the bottom of the sea, and supported by corks above; and, having been carried far out, so as to enclose a large space of sea, the ends are brought together, and it is drawn upon the beach with all that it contains.  This all-embracing nature of the net must not be left out of sight, since it represents the wide reach and potent operation of the gospelof the kingdom’].”

 

* This kind of net is now used all along the South Atlantic shore.

 

 

“Launch out into the deep” was the reproving command of Christ to His unsuccessful disciples, who had fished all night and caught nothing (John 5: 4); and the result of their obedience was, both boats were filled to sinking with the fishes taken at the one draught.

 

 

Is not this meagre success of the disciples - skimming along the shore of Lake Tiberias, dipping here and there into a few favourite places - typical of the comparative failure of our missionary policy in this age?  Have we not spent our means, time and energies principally upon our own shores, that have been, not Christianized to be sure, but years ago thoroughly evangelized, and not launched out boldly into the deep to sweep, as with a far-reaching drag net, the un-seined waters of the broad sea of our perishing humanity?  It is the selfishness inherent in our churches that is the source and root of this sinful disobedience to the explicit command of Christ, “Go into all the world not to attempt to Christianize or educate, but to evangelize, the nations.

 

 

The Saviour, by this parable, evidently taught His [Page 308] disciples that during His absence they were to act like discreet and energetic men fishing, not with rod and line along the shore, but with a capacious drag net, sweeping every part of the lake or sea.

 

 

Most respectfully would I submit my long-settled convictions, confirmed by the careful study of this parable, in connection with that of the invitations to the great supper, and that of the sower, that we, the Christians of this age, are gravely mistaking the true purport of the great commission, and consequently the duty it imposes upon us.  We are directing our foreign missionary enterprise, it seems to me, as though Christ’s command read, Go into some of the nations of the earth, and remain in those you do enter until you Christianize and educate, and so elevate, them morally and socially.  Are we not concentrating and settling our foreign missionaries as residents in local habitations in a few favoured spots, to remain for fifteen or twenty or forty years, building for them permanent residences and costly church edifices and school buildings, and even high schools and colleges, for the secular education of the heathen, instead of devoting every dollar of our means raised for missions to the support of missionaries while they go forth, as did the apostles and the seventy under the eye of Christ, and as did the missionaries of the apostolic age, preaching from province to province, and from city to city?  By this active itineracy, before the death of the last apostle less than a score of foreign missionaries preached the gospel for a witness to every known nation of the earth.  Must we not believe that they adopted the policy Christ intended them to pursue, and for us also in this age?  We must believe it.  Let us then study the map of [Page 309] the three missionary journeys of Paul, Christ’s first called and sent missionary to the Gentiles.* Did he stop at any point and send back an appeal or an agent to collect thousands and tens of thousands of dollars from the poor churches to build school-houses, or even a meeting-house, in Ephesus, Corinth or the great city of Rome, the metropolis of the world?

 

* Jonah was the first and only foreign missionary I read of in the Old Testament sent to the Gentiles, but nowhere can I find an intimation that he sent back to Judea for funds to build a synagogue or school-houses in the great city of Nineveh, his appointed field of labour.

 

 

Brethren, bear with me.  I can nowhere find where Christ, our only Law-giver and Guide in this work, has made it our duty to build school-houses in order to educate the heathen, or to erect costly or un-costly church edifices in their great cities or towns for them to worship in.  Nor do I anywhere read that Paul or Peter, in their life-time missionary work, ever built a church edifice, much less a school-house, and supplied teachers to educate the heathen; and until I am better informed I must be excused for saying, Millions for the evangelization, but not a cent for the [the spiritual] education, of the heathen.  It is my serious fear that if we continue this mistaken policy of expending tens and scores of thousands of dollars in building school-houses and high schools, and supporting teachers for them, to educate the heathen, we shall ere long break down our whole foreign missionary enterprise.  The churches will recoil from the whole work as infinitely beyond their ability to accomplish.

 

 

The evangelical Christians of America can do what they are called upon to do‑preach the gospel to [Page 310]  (evangelize) every nation on earth, and do it in one generation - the next thirty or fifty years - if they will only adopt and rigidly pursue the missionary policy pursued by the apostles and missionaries of the first age of Christianity.

 

 

2. The second lesson, which is a prophecy, clearly taught by this parable, is that in the whole work of evangelizing the nations Christ did not contemplate or warrant us in entertaining the thought that His kingdom would be free from hypocrites and wicked men any more than a drag net, however skilfully cast and hauled to the shore, would be free of worthless and bad fishes.  His ministers can not read the hearts of men, and it is the subtle policy of Satan, His great adversary, to corrupt and work detriment to His kingdom.  Although he can not prevail against it so as to destroy it, he can persecute and wear down, but not wear out or exterminate, His saints.

 

 

This kingdom of heaven enclosed a Judas during the administration of Christ himself.  During the first revivals under the administration of the apostles, it enclosed an Ananias and Sapphira, and Simon Magus.

 

 

The church at Jerusalem, in Paul’s life-time, swarmed with “false brethren and Judaizing teachers, whom Paul called emissaries of Satan, who, by their damnable heresies, perverted the gospel of Christ.  The like of these have been in the kingdom in every age of Christianity; and from this parable we learn that it will be so until Christ comes to thoroughly purge His floor, and gather the wheat into His garner, and to burn up the chaff in unquenchable fire.

 

 

3. We also learn that there will not be a pure or converted citizenship in His kingdom even, much less a [Page 311] converted world, before Christ’s second coming and therefore the theory known as post-millennialism must be unscriptural and false.

 

 

4. We learn that there will be an ultimate and final separation of the righteous from the wicked, and this at the end of the millennial dispensation,* when the net will be hauled to the shore, which is in perfect harmony with the teachings of both the old and new covenants.

 

[* And also at the end of this “evil age,” and therefore before the commencement of the ‘millennial dispensation’.]

 

 

“Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.” - Psalms 1: 5.

 

 

“For evil-doers shall be cut off; but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth.” - Psalms 37: 9.

 

 

“And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” - Daniel 12: 2.

 

 

“Whose fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor, and gather His wheat into the garner; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire - Matt. 3: 12. (See Parable of the Tares.)

 

 

“And death and hell [hades] were cast into the lake of fire.  This is the second death.  And whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” - Rev. 20: 14, 15.

 

 

5. That there will be no second probation for those who reject the gospel in this age.

 

 

The net was pulled to the shore but once, and there was only one separation of the good from the bad fishes.

 

 

*       *       *

[Page 312]

 

CHAPTER 31

 

A SUMMARY OF THE TEACHINGS OF

THE PARABLES EXPLAINED

 

 

BEFORE dismissing the cluster of parables I have noticed, it seems to me a brief summary of their teachings will be acceptable and profitable to my readers.

 

 

There is to my mind a striking theological connection and order between the parables I have explained, which, taken together, illustrate the doctrines bearing upon “THE RUIN and REDEMPTION of the RACE

 

 

They may not have been spoken at the same time, or to the same audience, or in the order I have treated them, or the evangelists have recorded them.

 

 

They were given, we know, to make known to the apostles the great facts constituting the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, which had not been heretofore revealed to patriarch or prophet:

 

 

“Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.” - Eph. 3: 4, 5.

 

 

And first made known by these parables to the apostles:

 

[Page 313]

“How that by revelation He made known unto me the mystery; as I wrote afore in few words - Eph. 3: 3.

 

 

Some of these facts are:

 

 

1. That by Satan, the great adversary of God and enemy of man, sin was introduced into the world, and by sin death and the ruin of the race, and of the world.  That the effects filled this world with wickedness, which state would continue until the end of the [present] age, when, and not before, there would be a final separation between the righteous and the wicked, and that the wicked would be punished; and, by implication, we learn from this that the field, which is the world, will then be restored to its primitive state.

 

 

These facts we learn from the Parable of the Wheat-field oversown with Tares, etc.

 

 

2. The parables of the finding of the treasure hidden in a field, and the purchase of that field, and the merchantman finding and purchasing the pearl with all he had - of the lost coin sought for and recovered - of the lost sheep sought after and restored to its fold - illustrate the compassionate love of Christ for a lost and ruined world, and the infinite price He was willing to pay for its redemption, “all that He had” - “Although He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor, that we, through His poverty, might become rich

 

 

3. From the parable of the prodigal son restored to his father’s love and house and forfeited inheritance, from the invitations to the great supper being extended to all [upon repentance], by that of the sower over-sowing the whole “field and of the drag-net and the good shepherd, we learn that the religion of Christ is not a race religion, to be confined to the Jews only, but that the [Page 314] blessings of Christ’s redemptive work [during the “age” yet to come] are intended for all people, kindreds, tribes and nations - the Gentiles as well as the Jews - and this great and glorious fact Paul denominates “the mystery of Christ

 

 

“Which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel.” - Eph. 3: 5, 6.

 

 

That the Jews, on account of their persistent and wicked rejection of Christ and His authority and saving work, would themselves be denied the blessings of His grace and honours of His kingdom in this age, and that it would be taken from them and given to the Gentiles, was also a great mystery, revealed for the first time in the Parables of the Wicked Husbandmen, the Great Supper, and the Wedding Feast.

 

 

The continued, subtle and successful opposition of Satan to the progress of Christ’s redemptive work, in every phase of it, is also forcibly illustrated in the parables I have thus far examined.

 

 

The ruin he brought upon the world by the introduction of sin we have already noticed.

 

 

That the gospel of man’s salvation - the doctrine of Christ, the bread of eternal life - introduced by Christ as the antidote of sin and its maladies, Satan would stealthily corrupt by the introduction of the leaven of deadly error, is taught us by the parable of the leaven which a woman hid in the meal until the whole was leavened.

 

 

That His kingdom, which He designed should be composed of saints - the saved only (Acts 2: 47) - would be demoralized and suffer detriment by being [Page 315] filled with hypocrites, worldly and wicked men, who are the emissaries of Satan, we learn from the Parable of the Mustard Tree, into whose branches the “birds of the air” flocked to lodge, and of the Drag-net, which gathered the bad and worthless fishes as well as the good.

 

 

And we learn the saddening fact that, through the deceitful and baneful influence of Satan on the hearts of men, the saying influences of the gospel preached will be successfully resisted and aborted in the case of the vast majority of those who hear and profess to receive it: so that if the field, being the world, were all carefully oversown with the good seed of the gospel, as the sower sowed all parts of his field, but a fractional part of it would so receive it as to bring forth the saving fruits of it.  So long as this powerful, malignant and subtle antagonism of Satan is allowed to be exerted upon the race, how can we expect, as the friends of Christ, to successfully oppose and counteract it, when his success was so signal during the personal ministry of Christ and His apostles?

 

 

In this connection, and in answer to this question, and to cheer the despondency of Christians, I submit the Parable of

THE STRONG MAN ARMED.

 

 

“When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace; but when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusteth, and divideth his spoils.” - Luke 11: 21, 23.

 

 

Satan is forcibly represented by a strong man, and a strong man armed.  And Christ is the only one stronger than he.

 

 

Satan is in himself a powerful being - the prince of demons and powers of darkness - and he is armed with all the deceivableness of unrighteousness, and his influence over the hearts and persons of the wicked is almost irresistible.

 

 

That he is the possessor of this world, of all its kingdoms and their glory, he boldly asserted in the face of Christ on the mount of temptation, and Christ did not contradict him:

 

 

“And the devil, taking Him up into a high mountain, shewed unto Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.  And the devil said unto Him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them; for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will give it.  If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.” - Luke 4: 5-7.

 

 

And he will continue to possess and rule this world until the close of this dispensation, when he will be dethroned, bound and cast out of it, and his kingdoms and their glory possessed and ruled over by Christ and His saints, not by the preaching of the gospel, but by omnipotent external force, we find clearly revealed by Christ by His servant John:

 

 

“And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He doth judge and make war.  His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns; and He had a name written, that no man knew, but He himself.  And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and His name is called The Word of God.  And the armies which were in heaven followed Him upon white horses clothed in fine linen, white and clean.  And out of His mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations: and He shall rule them with a rod of iron; and He treadeth the wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.  And He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, [Page 317] KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.  And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.  And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him that sat on the horse, and against His army.  And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshiped his image.  These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.  And the remnant were slain with the sword of Him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of His mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh- Rev. 19: 11-21.

 

 

“And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.  This is the first resurrection- Rev. 20: 1-5.

 

 

The post-millennial theory - i.e. that all nations are to be Christainized and subdued to the reign of Christ by the preaching of the gospel before Christ’s second coming - is certainly unscriptural.

 

 

*       *       *

[Page 318]

 

CHAPTER 32

 

CHRIST’S LAST PROPHECY

 

 

“WHEN the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory: and before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats: and He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.  Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.  Then shall the righteous answer Him, saying, Lord, when saw we Thee an hungred and fed Thee? or thirsty, and gave Thee drink?  When saw we Thee a stranger, and took Thee in? or naked, and clothed Thee? or when saw we Thee sick, or in prison, and came unto Thee?  And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily, I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.  Then shall He say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave unto me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick and in prison, and ye visited me not.  Then shall they also answer Him, saying, Lord, when saw we Thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto Thee?  Then shall He answer them, saying, Verily, I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the [Page 319] least of these, ye did it not to me.  And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.” - Matt. 25: 31-46.

 

 

This is justly called “Our Lord’s Great Prophecy  It is the greatest of all He uttered while on this earth.  Of all His prophecies or teachings, none have been more largely written upon or more generally wrested and misinterpreted by commentators, and consequently misunderstood by the people, than this.  The cause of this, manifestly, is the substitution of men for nations, and confounding this judgment with that of “The Great White Throne” recorded in Revelation 20. - the final, although falsely called the general, judgment.  They are certainly not the same events.  There is scarcely a feature common to both.  Let us carefully examine them:

 

 

1. They do not take place at the same time.  They are more than one thousand years apart.

 

 

This judgment of the living nations will take place immediately upon the second coming of Christ before the millennial age.  Christ says:

 

 

“When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory.” - Matt. 25: 31.

 

 

The final judgment recorded in Revelation 20. will take place at the close of the thousand years of the reign of Christ on this earth with His saints, and it does not say that all His angels will then be with Him.  Being more than a thousand years subsequent to His second advent, and the judgment of the then living nations, they can not be one and the same event.

 

 

2. This judgment is that of the nations as nations, [Page 320] not of individuals as individuals, then living on the earth at the coming of Christ, while the final judgment recorded in Revelation 20. will be a judgment of individuals.

 

 

3. While the first judgment is of the living only, the last or final one is of the dead only, who have been raised out of their graves to be judged.  “And I saw the dead, small and great [i.e. all those amenable to a judgment for sin] standing before the throne  Every one then and there judged had been raised from the dead for this purpose.  “And the sea gave up the dead [i.e. bodies] which were in it; and death and hades gave up the dead [i.e. the spirits (or disembodied ‘souls’)] of all the dead which were in themi.e. death is here put for the graves which held the bodies of all the victims of death, and hades for the place that at this time will only hold the spirits [and disembodied souls]* of all the wicked dead, since it had already given up all the spirits [i.e., the disembodied souls] of the righteous dead at the second coming of Christ, and they - these dead ones - were judged each one according to their works.  This, then, was exclusively a personal judgment for sin, and of the wicked only, for all who were in their graves at this time were the ungodly and wicked only.  This day is expressly characterized, not as the day of the judgment of “the quick [living] and dead,” but as “the day of God’s wrath,” “the great day of His wrath and “the day of the judgment and destruction of ungodly men (2 Peter 3: 7.)  All [with the exception of those whose names will be “found written in the book of life” (Rev. 21: 15, R.V.)] who are judged at this time will be destroyed and “cast into the lake of fire.” (Rev. 20: 15.)

 

[*NOTE. The ‘spirits’ in Hades refers to angelic creatures and also their human offspring called “the Nephilim.” See Gen. 6: 4, R.V. cf. 1 Pet. 3: 19, 20, R.V.  These, together with the souls of the wicked dead, are held in the Underworld of “Hades” until the ‘FINAL’ resurrection, when death and Hades will “gave up the dead which were in them:” to be “judged according to their works:” (Rev. 20: 13, R.V.).]

 

 

Nations sin as nations, and not as individuals; therefore, as nations, are judged, and, as nations, are punished. There is no future hell for nations, and [Page 321] therefore they ever have been, are now, and will be, punished in time with national calamities, as war, famine, pestilence, wasting desolations and everlasting destruction - i.e. denationalization.  God has never yet failed to judge the nations that have sinned against Him with a high and long-continued hand.

 

 

4. This judgment of the great white throne is not a judgment of the then living nations or living individuals, but of the dead only.  “And I saw the dead, small and great [all those amenable to a judgment for sin], standing before the throne  Every one then and there judged had been raised from the dead for this expressed purpose.  “And the sea gave up the dead [bodies] that were in it, and death and hades gave up the dead which were in them [i.e. the graves yielded up the bodies of the dead in them, and hades - the place of departed spirits {and souls} - gave up the spirits of the dead that still remained in it], and they [these raised ones] were judged each one according to their works.” (Rev. 20: 13.)  This, then, will not be a national, but a personal, judgment for sin, and of the wicked* only.

 

[* Keep in mind: The word “wicked” is used throughout the Scriptures to describe some of the regenerate!

 

“I wrote unto you in my epistle to have no company with fornicators; not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with covetous and extortioners, or with idolaters; for then ye must needs go out of the world: but now I write unto you not to keep company, if any man that is named a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner: with such a one, not to eat.  For what have I to do with judging them that are without?  Do not ye judge them that are within, whereas them that are without God judgeth?  Put away the wicked man from among yourselves  …  “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not INHERIT the kingdom of God:” (1 Cor. 5: 9-13, R.V.).  Compare 1 Cor. 10: 5, 6, 11 with Num. 16: 26; Psa. 101: 8; Prov. 2: 22; 10: 30, R.V. etc.] 

 

 

5. There will be only one class present at the last judgment; while at the judgment of the nations there will be three classes, although only two will be judged: (1) The sheep nations; (2) the goat nations ‑ and (3) those whom Christ will call “these my brethren

 

 

6. In the final judgment there will be no separation, while in that of the nations there will be.  The sheep nations will be placed on the right hand, and the goat nations on the left.

 

 

7. In the judgment of the nations the verdicts will be radically different. The one class will be blessed, the [Page 322] other cursed, while on the final judgment the same verdict of eternal punishment will be pronounced upon all. This last, then, can not be a general judgment of the righteous and the unrighteous - saints and sinners - but of the ungodly only.  This judgment day is throughout the Bible spoken of as “the day of wrath;” “the great day of God's wrath the day of the revelation of the judgment and perdition – destruction - of ungodly men to which the devil and his angels are in chains reserved unto the judgment of the great day. (Jude 6.)  Job says that all the wicked are reserved unto this day of destruction:

 

 

“Do ye not know, that the wicked is reserved unto the day of destruction?  They shall be brought forth to the day of wrathJob 21: 29, 30.

 

 

I have said that none but wicked (ungodly) men will be judged at the judgment of “the great white throne” or final judgment, because none but the dead - those men raised up out of their graves - will then be judged, and that all the wicked from Adam until the close of the millennial age will, at this time, be in their graves.  I scarce think any intelligent reader of God’s word, unless wedded to a false theory, will deny this.  A few facts will make this evident:

 

 

(l.) All the wicked from Adam to the second advent of Christ will be left in their graves at the first resurrection, which will be of the righteous dead only, for “the dead in Christ will rise first(2.) The wicked only will die during the millennial age.  “The sinner, although a hundred years old, will die accursed(3.) At the close of the thousand years all the wicked then living, so soon as Satan is unchained and set at liberty, will [Page 323] join him in the predicted universal revolt against the government of Christ and His saints, and will come up on the face of the whole earth, to invest the holy city and the camp of the saints, to put Christ and His saints to death, and repossess themselves of the rule of the earth; but fire will come down from heaven and destroy them.  All the wicked, then, that have ever lived on the earth will at this time be dead and in their graves, and all the righteous, from Abel, will be alive and on the earth. “The dead, small and greatthat will be raised to be judged will be the ungodly and wicked, while the judgment of nations, as I have said, will be of the then living only.  They must, then, be two widely different judgments - if more need be said to demonstrate that the judgment of the living nations (Matt. 25.) and the judgment of the raised dead (Rev. 20.) are not records of one and the same general judgment.

 

 

8. The criteria of the judgments are not the same, but radically different.

 

 

The nations are judged by their treatment of those whom Christ will call “these my brethren

 

 

Those nations that have treated them kindly will be blessed with a continuance of existence, composing, as they will, the kingdoms over which Christ and His saints will reign in glory for one thousand years.

 

 

All those nations that have been unkind to Christ’s brethren will be cursed by an everlasting punishment as nations, as the cities of the plains were forever swept from the earth with fire and brimstone.

 

 

If it is urged that the sentence pronounced upon the goats can not be executed upon nations as such, but only upon individual sinners, I remark that nations [Page 324] can and do sin as nations, and they must be judged and punished as nations, and individuals are not held responsible for national sins, but for personal transgressions.  There is no future hell for nations; they must be punished in time, and with temporal punishments, national calamities, desolating wars and wasting pestilences, and plagues and famines, and denationalization - i.e. by being swept from the earth as nations.

 

 

God’s dealing with the nations that persecuted, oppressed, carried into captivity and afflicted His ancient people Israel, is a striking type and explanation of this prophecy, and an illustration of the nature of the everlasting punishment here pronounced upon the goat nations.

 

 

Let us notice this for a moment.  God declared with respect to His ancient people, “The nation that shall not serve thee shall perish; those nations shall be utterly wasted  How much more those that persecuted and oppressed His people?  Look carefully over the history of those nations and point out one that has not - is not suffering to-day the identical punishment that will be pronounced upon the goat nations for their mistreatment of the brethren of Christ.  Egypt, that sorely afflicted God’s people Israel, is experiencing the curse He pronounced upon her.  She has for ages been, and is to-day, a vile nation.  Her pristine glory has departed never to return, and is wasting away as a nation, if it can even now be called a nation. Where are Moab and Edom, once so mighty and populous, and the thoroughfares of commerce and travel?  Because Amalek drew out his sword to oppose Israel and denied him a passage on the highways through his borders, God made [Page 325] them a desolation, and declared that no living foot should from that time forth pass through them; and there has not!

 

 

Where is Babylon, the peerless empire of earth, that once so proudly lifted her head above the nations of earth? Without a crown or septre, and the gilded palaces of her kings sunk below the marshes that environ her - the debris of her departed glory sought only by the antiquarian for the museums of the curious.  Where is Assyria, that so often invaded and plundered God’s people? and where the pride of Chaldea’s excellency?  Let these teach us how God judges and punishes the nations for their sins.  Not one of these, once the most powerful and proud nations of earth, has an existence as a nation to-day.  They are suffering everlasting punishment.  They will never again rise from their ruins to become nations on earth.

 

 

If the reader wishes to pursue, the history further, let him read Joel (chap. 3.), and then say if God will pour such dire and desolating calamities and wasting desolation upon the nations that have afflicted and mistreated His ancient people Israel, what will be the judgments with which He will desolate and destroy and utterly waste those nations who did for ages so mistreat “His brethren

 

 

The most pious heart, when their sufferings are recalled, can not but join in their cry from under the altar, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood upon those that dwell upon the earth  And with the greatest Christian poet:

 

 

“Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints whose bones

Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold;

Even them who kept Thy truth so pure of old,

[Page 326]                                                                                        When all our fathers worshiped stocks and stones,

Forget not; in Thy book record their groans

Who were Thy sheep, and in their ancient fold

Slain by the cruel Piedmentese, that rolled

Mother and infant down the rocks.  Their moans

The vales redoubled to the hills, and they to heaven

 

 

And Christ, the holy and the true, will judge those nations, and avenge the blood of His martyred brethren.

 

 

To sheep nations on His right hand He will say, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared [prospectively] for you from the foundation of the world

 

 

These nations will be those referred to by John (in Rev. 21: 24) as the nations saved - saved from the desolations and calamities that destroyed the goat nations from the earth; that shall walk in the light of the New Jerusalem - the metropolis of the new earth; and their kings, the redeemed saints, who will reign with Christ for one thousand years over these saved nations on the earth, will bring the honour and the glory of these saved nations onto it.

 

 

What I have said above, taken in connection with Dr. Kendall’s able essay on “The Four Judgments” in the Appendix, will be a sufficient explanation of this great prophecy of Christ.

 

 

It must be evident, we think, to every candid student of God’s word, that this prophecy can not, without the most violent wresting, be made to teach otherwise than that the second coming of Christ will be pre-millennial.

 

 

Before closing, I will notice and remove the most plausible and conclusive proof-text brought by the advocates of post-millennialism in support of their theory.  It is from the Common Version, and reads thus:

 

[Page 327]

“I charge thee, therefore, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the quick [living] and the dead at His appearing and his kingdom: preach the word.” - 2 Tim. 4: 1.

 

 

All the aid and comfort post-millennialists can get out of this passage they get from the mistranslation of it. This will be seen when I place beside it that of the Revised Version, viz.:

 

 

“I charge thee in the sight of God and of Christ Jesus, who shall judge the quick and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom; preach the word

 

 

The former translation teaches that the living and the dead will be judged at the appearing and coming of Christ, and, therefore, the judgment recorded by Matthew (chap. 25.) will be a general judgment - making Paul contradict Matthew, since he clearly teaches that only the living nations will be judged, and rewarded and punished as nations for their national acts, good or bad.

 

 

And now, if the ever-blessed God will bless these pages to the edification of my brethren who may read them in the most holy faith, and strengthen them in “the blessed hope” of the speedy coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, my prayer will be answered and my labours rewarded.

 

 

*       *       *

[Page 329]

 

APPENDIX

 

THE FOUR JUDGMENTS

 

 

BY

 

 

REV. J. F. KENDALL, D. D.

 

 

READ BEFORE THE PROPHETIC CONFERENCE, HELD IN CHICAGO, NOVEMBER 16-20, 1886.

 

 

 

 

QUESTIONS concerning what theologians term the “final” or the “general” judgment often arise in, and often greatly perplex, the mind of the ordinary believer.  It is the purpose of this study to answer these questions, and thereby give comfort to many a perplexed spirit.

 

 

VARIOUS VIEWS

 

 

1. Immediately after death the soul is placed at the bar of God and judged.  “Individuals are treated according to their desert, and this is done immediately after death (Dr. Dick, Theology, p. 339.)  “The soul, at death, goes immediately to its place of eternal happiness or misery, according to its moral character (Ms. Lects. of Dr. L. P. Hickok.)  Hence -

 

 

2. The sentence of God assigns the righteous to heaven, and they enter at once on an everlasting inheritance.

 

[Page 330]

3. The same sentence assigns the wicked to everlasting fire.

 

 

4. At the resurrection, both the righteous and the wicked are brought from their respective abodes, when they are judged a second time, and are returned to the place whence they were brought, to remain forever.  “The judgment passed upon each individual at the termination of his life will be solemnly ratified at the end of the world.” (Dr. Dick.)  It thus appears, and this is the accepted orthodox view, that the final judgment is merely confirmatory of that which was passed at death, and not that there has been another chance.  This is no scheme of an “Eternal Hope

 

 

A general judgment “seems necessary to the display of the justice of God - to such a manifestation of it as will vindicate His government from all the charges which impiety has brought against it (Dr. Dick, p. 38g.)

 

 

1. “Such a judgment will be a more glorious display of God’s majesty and dominion

 

 

2. “The end of judgment will be more fully answered by a public and general than only by a particular and private judgment

 

 

3. “It is very agreeable to reason that the irregularities which are so open and manifest in the world should, when the world comes to an end, be publicly rectified by the Supreme Governor (Edwards’ Works, Vol. iv., pp. 205, 206.)

 

 

“There will be such a revelation of the character of every man, to all around him, or to all who know him, as shall render the justice of the sentence of condemnation or acquittal apparent.” (Hodge, Theology, Vol. iii., p. 849,)

 

[Page 331]

“At the judgment of the last day, the destiny of the righteous and of the wicked shall be unalterably determined (Idem, p. 850)

 

 

“The grand end of the judgment is therefore to stop every mouth, satisfy every conscience, and make every knee bow to God’s authority, either willingly in love, or necessarily in absolute conviction (Dr. Hickok.)

 

 

The sum and substance of all reasons for a general judgment is, in some way, a vindication of God.  “God would show Himself holy and righteous in all His functions of sovereignty.” (Dr. Hickok.)

 

 

The marked absence of Scripture quotations, or even reference, is worthy of note, in all these reasons for a general judgment.

 

 

That it may appear how unsatisfactory, to their own minds, are their supposed vindications of the divine dealings, I add one or two quotations from themselves:

 

 

Dr. Hodge, Vol. iii., p. 849: “Every man will see himself as he appears in the sight of God.  His memory will probably prove an indelible register of all his sinful acts, thoughts and feelings.  His conscience will be so enlightened as to recognize the justice of the sentence which the righteous Judge shall pronounce upon him  These things being so, we may ask, What possible need of vindication can there be?

 

 

Dr. Dick: “Among the multitude of the condemned, however severe may be their punishment, and however impatiently they may bear it, there will not be one who will dare to accuse his Judge of injustice.  In the mind of every man a consciousness of guilt will be deeply fixed; he will be compelled to blame himself [Page 332] alone and to justify the sentence which has rendered him forever miserable  “The declaration of the Judge concerning those on His right hand that they are righteous, and concerning those on His left hand that they are wicked, will be sufficient to convince all in the immense assembly that the sentence pronounced upon each individual is just

 

 

Thus, while these writers maintain the necessity of a general judgment for the vindication of the divine character, they themselves proceed to show that no such vindication is necessary.

 

 

Dick: “The proceedings will take place in the sight of angels and men  “Countless millions will be assembled to hear their final doom.  All nations shall be gathered before the Son of Man

 

 

Edwards: “In the great and general judgment, all men shall together appear before the judgment seat to be judged;” “the whole world, both angels and men, being present to behold

 

 

Hodge: “The persons to be judged are men and angels  “This judgment, therefore, is absolutely universal; it includes both small and great, and all the generations of men

 

 

Hickok: “All fallen angels are to be publicly judged;” “also, all the human family

 

 

On the disclosures of the judgment, opinions seriously differ.  Thus Edwards: “The works of both righteous and wicked will be rehearsed  “The evil works of the wicked shall then be brought forth to light  But then he adds: “The good works of the saints will also be brought forth as evidences of their sincerity, and of their interest in the righteousness of Christ. As to their evil works, they will not be [Page 333] brought forth against them on that day; for the guilt of them will not lie upon them, they being clothed with the righteousness of Jesus Christ

 

 

On the other hand, Hickok, as we think, well insists that “the sins of Christians will be brought to light in the judgment,” for various reasons; and, as if answering this thought of Edwards, on the ground that “the grace of Christ in their final sanctification can not be fully exhibited without it

 

 

If there is to be such a general judgment, as is generally supposed, then there would seem to be no good reason to doubt that all the deeds, both good and evil, of all who have lived, both good and evil, must then be disclosed.  The physical phenomena of a general judgment are a source of no little trouble.   Dr. Hodge avoids it by utterly ignoring questions which will force themselves upon the reader of Scripture.  Dr. Dick’s troubles appear in the following quotations: “The place where the judgment will be held is this world; and, as it is said that the saints shall be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, it should seem that the wicked should be left standing upon the earth  “The saints being caught up into the clouds by the ministry of angels to meet the Lord in the air, and the wicked being left on the earth, the judgment will proceed

 

 

And Dr. Edwards: “They shall all be brought to appear before Christ, the godly being placed on the right hand, the wicked on the left  “Besides the one standing on the right hand, and the other on the left, there seems to be this difference between them: that when the dead in Christ shall be raised, they will all be caught up in the air, where Christ shall [Page 334] be, and shall be there at His right hand during the judgment, nevermore to set their feet on this earth; whereas, the wicked shall be left standing on the earth, there to abide the judgment

 

 

According to this representation, the righteous have been judged before the judgment begins, for they have been assigned to the right hand, where they remain “during the judgment,” while, only the wicked really “abide the judgment  Now, according to the Scriptures upon which these writers depend to prove their general judgment - viz., Matt. 25: 31-46 - the assemblage of the universe is to be a promiscuous assemblage, whom, after they “shall be gathered,” the Son of Man “shall separate one from another;” whereas, they both agree that the separation takes place in the process of gathering.  But certainly it does not.  The result, according to their view, is a most singular physical phenomenon, viz.: the saints “on His right hand in the air,” the lost “on the left standing upon the earth.” It is no quibble which makes these suggestions.  They deserve to be considered.

 

 

One other declaration of Dr. Hodge deserves a moment’s notice: “At the judgment of the last day,” he says, “the destiny of the righteous and of the wicked shall be unalterably determined  By “destiny” he must mean “ultimate fate  Webster defines “determined” as “ended, concluded, decided, limited, fixed, settled, resolved, directed  Which does Dr. Hodge mean?  In truth, his proposition can in nowise be maintained.  All orthodox theologians agree that for the believer “to die” is “to depart and be with Christ and for the unbeliever it is to “go away into everlasting punishment;” but the “destiny” may be fixed [Page 335] long before that, and, so far as we have experience or knowledge, is never fixed “at the judgment  “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life,” but “he that believeth not is condemned already.” (John 3: 36, 18.)  The “destiny” of every soul is “unalterably determined” on the moment of his final acceptance or rejection of Jesus Christ as a Saviour.

 

 

What is the meaning of the term judgment?  Webster answers: “Theologically, the final punishment of the wicked; the last sentence  It should arrest our thought that, in Webster’s mind, only the “wicked” have place in judgment.

 

 

Cremer’s answer (in Theological Lexicon, under krisis):

 

 

“Specially in judicial procedure, and primarily without particular regard to the character of the decision  “Then of a definite accusation or prosecution, guilt of some sort being presupposed by the judicial procedure.  This precise use of the term, as equal to judicial process, judgment directed against the guilty, and leading on to condemnation, is comparatively rare in profane Greek, whereas it is almost the only one in the New Testament  And he cites (Matt. 5: 21, 22): “Whosoever shall kill, or is ‘angry with his brother without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment and (Mark 3: 29) the blasphemer against the Holy Ghost ‘is in danger of eternal judgment.’”  Further:

 

 

“It is characteristic of judicial process, especially of the divine judgment to which krisis mostly relates, that it is directed against the guilty.” “1 John iv.17: Hemera, kriseos.  In Mark 5: 15, 11: 22-24, 12: 36 (and others), krisis denotes the final judgment of the world, which is to bring destruction upon the guilty  “In Rev. 14: 7, 16: 7, 19: 2, the word [Page 337] likewise denotes the judgment, the act of judging, which discerns and condemns the guilty  And again, under krima, “the decision of a judge, judgment (Rev. 20: 4), the judgment concerning them is given in what follows. ... Elsewhere in the New Testament throughout, as in later Greek, the word always denotes a judgment unfavourable to those concerned - a punitive judgment, involving punishment, as a matter of course  And he cites 2 Peter 2: 3, “whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not with Rom. 3: 8, “whose judgment is just and Rom. 5: 16, “for the judgment was by one to condemnation  “For the cognizance of the judge,” continued Cremer, “to say nothing of his judgment, implies a coming short

 

 

This is a very vital point in our discussion.  If the New Testament usage of the term judgment implies guilt, and has but one natural sequence - condemnation - then we effect at once a very large exclusion from the numbers of those for whom a final judgment is intended; no righteous can be there, and such a thing as a general judgment must be forever unknown.  It is easy to show, by citation of numerous passages, that Cremer is right, both as the term is used in reference to man and God.

 

 

1. The use of “judge” when applied to man.

 

 

“Doth our law judge any man before it hear him?” (John 7: 51.)  Pilate said: “Take Him yourselves and judge Him according to your law.  The Jews said unto him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death” (John 18: 31), as if that were the only possible sentence. (See Acts 13: 27-46, 23: 3-6, 24: 6-21.)  Festus said to Paul: “Let them go up to [Page 337] Jerusalem, and there be judged. ... Then said Paul, I stand at Caesar’s judgment-seat, where I ought to be judged: to the Jews I have done no wrong(Acts 25: 9, 10, 26: 6.  See Rom. 14: 3, 4, 10, 13, 22; James 4: 11, 12.)  “The men of Nineveh, the Queen of the South, shall rise up in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn it.” (Matt. 12: 41, 42.)  It is a remarkable fact that in all these cases (few only are cited) “judge” is used in the sense of condemn, and in some instances strikingly so.

 

 

2. The use of “judge” when applied to God.

 

 

Luke 19: 22: “Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant

 

 

Acts 7: 7: “The nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, saith God

 

 

Rom. 2: 12, 16: “As many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law ... in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ

 

 

2 Thess. 2: 12: “That they all might be judged who ... had pleasure in unrighteousness

 

 

Hebrews 9: 27, 28: “As it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear ... unto salvation Manifestly “judgment” and “salvation” stand over against each other.  The world was under judgment, and this meant condemnation, for in judgment they were “judged every man according to his works  Justice is inexorable, and, since all have sinned, no one who comes into judgment can escape.  Hence the divine mercy interposed, and, “as” judgment was the original doom, “so” - that is, “to meet [Page 338] this very exigency of their case;” to arrest judgment and offer salvation - “Christ was offered

 

 

“Those that look for Him” are, of course, believers, who, though “by nature children of wrath,” have been “quickened together with Christ“raised up together, and made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2: 5, 6), and that certainly is far above fear of death and judgment.  For such there remaineth no “fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries(Heb. 10: 7).  Not to quote a burdensome number of passages, the reader will find the term “judge” used in the sense of condemnation in John 3: 17, 18, 5: 22, 24, 27, 29, 30, 12: 31, 47, 48, 16: 8, 11 (see Greek and R. V.); also, numerously in the Apocalypse: Rev. 6: 9, 10, 11: 18, 16: 5, 7, 18: 8, 10, 20, 19: 2, 11, 20: 12, 13. James 2: 13: “For judgment is without mercy to him that showeth no mercy; mercy glorieth against judgment  Very striking are the passages (Pet. 2: 4, 9): “God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment and “the Lord knoweth how ... to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished and (3: 7) “the heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men See also Jude 6, 15.

 

 

To sum up, under the term krisis, or judgment, it occurs forty-eight times in the New Testament.  In forty-one instances it is translated “judgment,” three times “damnation  In more than thirty places it may refer to what we term the last judgment; and, in [Page 339] every one of these cases, it does not appear that any but the guilty are involved in the judgment, and, in nearly every instance, it is evident that the righteous are positively excluded. In those instances in which other than the last judgment is spoken of, the judgment is still only that of the ungodly, and in no case can it be shown that the godly are brought into judgment.  And if we look at the close-related word krima, which is also translated “judgment” and “damnation,” it is evident, in every instance in which it can be applied to the last judgment, that only the ungodly are included, and judgment is to condemnation.  These facts are very striking, and throw a flood of light upon the question of the judgment, which is a terror to so many of the Lord’s people.

 

 

But then the question arises, What is to be said of those texts which, upon their face, seem to teach that there is to be a general judgment at which all shall be gathered, such as: (Acts 17: 31) “He hath appointed a day in which He will judge the world;” (Matt. 25: 32).  “Before Him shall be gathered all nationsand especially (2 Cor. 5: 10) “We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ”?  This first: When we find the true interpretation, these Scriptures with the others, there will be no contradiction.

 

 

What, then, are all the facts concerning the believer?  For 2 Cor. 5: 10 refers to him.  It is said, then, “We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ  The Greek for judgment-seat is bema, and occurs twelve times in the New Testament.  It is derived from baivo, “to go, walk, tread, step  The first definition, both in the classical and New Testament [Page 240] lexicon, is a “step  In this sense it is used but once: viz. (in Acts 7: 5), “Gave him none inheritance in it, not even ‘a bema of a foot’”- a step of a foot, a foot breadth; or, Authorized Version, “not so much as to set his foot on

 

 

The secondary meaning is an elevated place ascended by steps. (a) A tribune, to speak or read from.  In this sense (Acts 12: 21), Herod “sat upon his throne, and made an oration unto them (b) The tribunal of a magistrate or ruler.

 

 

In this sense it is used of Pilate, (Matt. 27: 19) “when he sat down on the judgment-seat;” (John 19: 13) Pilate “sat down on the judgment-seat:” of Gallio, (Acts 18: 12) “the Jews made insurrection against Paul, and brought him to the judgment-seat.” (18: 16) “he drave them from the judgment-seat;” (18: 17) they beat Sosthenes “before the judgment-seat:” of Festus, (Acts 25: 6) “the next day, sitting on the judgment-seat, commanded Paul to be brought;” (25: 10) “I stand at Caesar’s judgment-seat;” (25: 17) “sat on the judgment-seat  The other instances of its use are in this connection: “We shall all stand” (Rom. 14: 10); “we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ” (2 Cor. 5: 10).

 

 

In ten of these twelve cases the Greek word is rendered in the Authorized Version “judgment-seatand the Revised Version agrees in every instance.  In one case the word, both in the Authorized Version and the Revised Version, is rendered “throne,” while even here the Revised Version gives the marginal reading “judgment-seat  In every instance Alford agrees with the Authorized Version.

 

 

It is worthy of note, in this connection, that in not [Page 341] one instance in which persons are represented as brought before the judgment-seat is any one of them found guilty, or condemned, by the one who occupies the bema. This, of itself, might suggest the more consistent rendering of Rotherham in nine of the twelve instances, “tribunal,” while, also, it should raise the question against himself, why he did not so render in the two cases which refer to Pilate.

 

 

Now, it is affirmed of the believer that he must appear before the bema of Jesus Christ.  For what purpose? Paul has answered: “That everyone may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” (2 Cor. 5: 10).  All this said concerning those who “know (verse 1) that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, eternal in the heavens” - i.e. believers, and believers only.  What does it signify?  Precisely what is set forth in 1 Cor. 3: 12-15: “Every man’s work shall be tried  “If any man’s work abide ... he shall receive a reward  This is said only of the believing man, for only such a one is a “labourer together with God” (3: 9); and of the one thus tested, it is affirmed that though his “work shall be burned,” “he himself shall be saved” (3: 15).  All works of the believer are to be tried, that it be made manifest whether or not “they are wrought in God” (John 3: 21).  For this trial all are gathered before the bema - the ungodly [and unregenerate] are not there, but they are all believers.  Some will receive a great “reward” for efficient service and many good works; some a less reward; others less still; and some none at all, their works being done only in the energy of the flesh, being [Page 342] counted utterly worthless and cast into the fire; yet, by reason of a true, though it may be feeble, faith, they do not miss [eternal] salvation; and thus it is that “every man’s work shall he made manifest,” and its true value be determined.  But of “judgment,” of which we have seen that it leads on to condemnation [and ultimately ‘the lake of fire’], into any such scene the believer shall not come.  This is the very word of our divine Lord: “He that ... believeth ... hath everlasting life, and shall not Come into judgment where the word is the very same which Paul uses when he says, after death “judgment

 

 

It is not difficult to show by irresistible Scripture proof that no believer shall ever stand in other judgment than this.  Because:

 

 

1. The general idea of the judgment supposes that the sins of the believer are to be brought there and judged.  But this is certainly a mistake.  For, though “all we like sheep have gone astray.” “the Lord hath laid on Him (Jesus) the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53: 6), and He “bore our sins in His own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2: 24).  When Christ thus bore our sins, He “condemned sin in the flesh.” (Rom. 8: 3).  He “put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.” (Heb. 9: 26.)  The believer’s sins have, therefore, been judged and condemned already.

 

 

“Thy sin was judged in His flesh  For “He died unto sin once (Rom. 6: 10.)  “He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities.” (Isaiah 53: 5.)  Hence, so far as his sins [of ignorance]* are concerned, the believer looks back to his judgment, and not forward.

 

[* See Heb. 10: 26, 27, R.V.]

 

 

2. The oneness of Christ and the believer testifies [Page 343] to the same fact.  Every believer can truly say, “I was crucified with Christ.” (Gal. 2: 20.)  I was “buried with Him by the baptism unto death” (Rom. 6: 4); hence what Christ’s death expressed, it expressed for me.  “If one died for all, then all died (2 Cor. 5: 14) Under the old dispensation, the sins of the Jews were dealt with on the day of atonement.  God dealt with the sin, and sins of all time, on Calvary.  The awful judgment of God against sin there awoke, was there expressed, and there it smote; and, so far as His people are concerned, that was its final expression forever.  The judgment is passed, the sentence executed.

 

 

3. Expose the believer to be judged according to his deeds, and you insure his condemnation.  “Enter not into judgment with Thy servant,” prays the Psalmist (Ps. 143: 2), “for in Thy sight shall no man living be justified  No one with whom God enters into judgment can be saved, for justice is inexorable.  And not only have all sinned, but they continue to sin, and, therefore, if sins were brought into judgment, one’s doom would be inevitable.  “No one will be safe who is to have his eternal destiny determined by his own deeds.” (Albert Barnes, Commentary on Rev. 20: 12.)

 

 

There remains a further consideration of most serious and solemn moment, viz.:

 

 

4. To bring the believer into judgment would make the judge the accused.  The judge is Christ. “The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son and “hath given Him authority to execute judgment also.” (John 5: 22, 27.)  “It is He which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead(Acts 10: 42.)  But Christ, the Judge, [Page 344] has stood for us.  To bring the believer into judgment, therefore, would be to question the worth of what Christ has done to bring an accusation against Him.  It would bring Him down from the place of judgment, strip from Him the ermine of the Judge, and place Him before the bar as a culprit.  He died for us, for our sins.  Did He make sufficient propitiation?  Did His work meet the demand?  If so - if His offering was adequate to the purpose - then the believer is justified; and how can one be brought into judgment of whom the divine testimony already is - “there is therefore now no condemnation” (Rom. 8: 1); he is “justified from all things” (Acts 13: 39)?

 

 

And, further, what greater insult could be offered to Jesus than to bring into judgment one for whom He has stood?  To judge such would be but to judge Himself.  “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? Shall God that justifieth?  Who is He that condemneth?  Is it Christ that died?” (Rom. 8: 33, 34.)

 

 

The judgment must, therefore, deal with Him before it can reach them.

 

 

Consider, too, the incongruity of Christ judging His own bride.  Many of them will have been saints in heaven for thousands of years, and how can such ever be put on trial?  No; all believers will be gathered at the judgment-seat of Christ for one sole purpose, to receive the reward for their works, each “according as his work shall be.” (Rev. 22: 12.)  And a reward is not a gift.  The believer has [already] received the latter; “the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ.” (Rom. 6: 23.)  The former awaits him at the bema.  And it should be noted for the comfort of [Page 345] every believer that the bema is not set to determine, or even consider, the question of [eternal] salvation.  That is forever settled, when, as one “believeth so he “hath everlasting life.” (John 3: 36).  But it is set to determine the value of Christian service and the reward therefor.  The judgment-seat of Christ is not for the judgment of the person, but of his works.  There is to be determined the value of a “cup of cold water” given in the name of Christ.  “For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have showed toward His name, in that ye have ministered to the saints and do minister,” (Heb. 6: 10.)  “Whatsoever good thing any man doeth, he shall receive a reward.” (Eph. 6: 8.)  Oh, pity to him who, though “he himself shall be saved shall yet “suffer loss” (1 Cor. 3: 15) at the judgment-seat of Christ, for such loss will be [millennial (Lk. 20: 35) or, in the case of the unregenerate,] eternal!  It is a solemn thought that what we lose here, in the matter of Christian service and good works, eternity can never make good.  The voice of him who is barely “saved, yet so as by firewill never sound so loud, his harp will never be strung so rapturously, nor his palm be waved so victoriously [by the overcomer (Rev. 3: 21, cf. Rev. 2: 10, 11, R.V.)] in [the coming kingdom or in] heaven, as will fall to the blessed lot of him who has “abundant entrance

 

 

Oh, joy to him on whose labour, when “the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is” (1 Cor. 3: 13), there shall be no “smell of fire,” but all his work, either “gold, silver or precious stones,” shall abide the test, and whose “reward” shall be great.  It is surely worth an effort to stand well at the judgment-seat of Christ.

 

 

The considerations above urged are opposed to the common idea of a general judgment.  What then, shall we say to Matt. 25: 31-33?  “When the Son of Man shall come in His glory. ... before Him shall be gathered all nations, and He shall separate them from one another, and He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left

 

 

This passage is constantly quoted and relied on in proof of a general judgment, and is supposed to be parallel with Rev. 20: 11-15: “And I saw a great white throne and Him that sat on it. ... And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; ... and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books. ... And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hades delivered up the dead which were in them etc.  The sound of the two italicized phrases in the last two quotations will easily mislead one who is careless respecting details, when a careful consideration of them will show that these passages can not be parallel, and must, therefore, refer to entirely different events.  The following facts stand in proof of the last statement:

 

 

1. The passage from Matthew contains not one word to indicate a resurrection; that from Revelation plainly declares a resurrection (20: 13).

 

 

2. In Matthew the dealing is with “nations  What nations?  The answer is in Matt. 24: 14: “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all the nations  Then, “When the Son of Man shall come, ... before Him shall be gathered all the nations” before specified.  They come as nations.  In Revelation the dealing is with individuals.  “They were judged every man [Page 347] according to their works” (20: 13).  Coupled with this there follows the third fact, viz.:

 

 

3. Matthew evidently speaks of nations living when “the Son of Man” appears, as in Zech. 14: 2.  Revelation specially designates the nations of the “dead

 

 

4. In Matthew we find among the gathered “nations” two distinct classes, viz.: “the sheep” and “the goats and apart from them a third class, viz.: the “brethren” (25: 40-45).  The two former classes are separated on one sole ground, viz.: their treatment of the third class - the brethren.  It were absurd to suppose that the sheep were rewarded for what they had done to themselves, or the goats punished for what they had done to the sheep, in the face of the distinct affirmation that the one class is rewarded and the other punished for their treatment of a class entirely distinct from either of themselves.  Evidently, then, to constitute them either praiseworthy or blameworthy, they must have known them as the brethren of Christ.

 

 

In Revelation we find but one class - no separation, but all “judged out of those things which were written in the books” (20: 12), not “the book” - consigned to the lake of fire, and among them are many who never heard of Christ, and to whom the language in Matthew could not apply.

 

 

Now, certainly, it is most remarkable and unaccountable that, if the church, or believers, are to have a place in this stupendous scene, not one word is said concerning them, and the doom of the lost alone appears as the result of the grand assize.

 

 

Our study of these passages reveals, therefore, the following facts, viz.: that there is to be a judgment of the living nations, and a judgment of the “great [Page 348] white throne and these are distinct and separate in time and place.

 

 

Where, then, will be the church while these judgments proceed?  “With the Lord  Their case is set forth in 1 Thess. 4: 16, 17. “The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout; ... and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up ... to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord This is the first signal of Christ’s second coming.  Hence these great events, which have so often been regarded with nothing less than terror by the Lord’s dear people, will not concern them in the least, save as spectators of what their Lord and Master does.

 

 

One other inquiry - partly curious - will prepare the way for the general conclusion.

 

 

When will the “judgment-seat of Christ” be set?  We may not dogmatize, as we have scarcely more than hints upon which to base a conclusion.  This much is sure: when the Lord comes with a shout, the dead saints will be raised; the living saints will “all be changed in a moment” (1 Cor. 15: 51, 52); the corruptible will put on incorruption - the mortal, immortality.  This, of course, marks the resurrection - “sown in dishonour, raised in glory;” “sown in weakness, raised in power;” “sown a natural body, raised a spiritual body.” (1 Cor. 15: 43, 44.)  Now, in the Revelation (22: 12), we find Jesus saying, “Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” (1 Cor. 3: 13, 14.)  And in Luke 14: 13, 14, He says, “When thou makest a feast, call the poor. ... the blind, and thou shalt be blessed for thou shalt be [Page 349] recompensed at the resurrection of the just These passages may indicate that the time of the church’s “reward” is quickly to succeed their resurrection.

 

 

Bunyan: “Now when the saints that sleep shall be raised, thus incorruptible, powerful, glorious and spiritual, and also those that then shall be found alive, made like them; then forthwith, before the unjust are raised, the saints shall appear before the judgment-seat of our Lord Jesus Christ, there to give an account to their Lord, the Judge of all the things they have done, and to receive a reward for their good according to their labour

 

 

It is evident from all that has been said that the only judgment of the believer is that which attaches to his works, wherefore he receives greater or less reward, or may be none.

 

 

The final doom of the wicked is also according to his works.  (Rom. 2: 6; Gal. 6: 7; 2 Pet. 2: 12, 13. Rev. 2: 23, 11: 18, 20: 12.)  There is, however, a worldwide distinction in the two classes of works.  “Then said they unto Him, What shall we do that we might work the works of God?  Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.” (John 6: 28, 29).  Eject this special “work of God” from the lives of the ungodly, the “work of faith and labour of love” (1 Thess. 1: 3), and there is left but a harvest of whirlwind from the sowing of the wind.

 

 

To set down our general conclusion in a word, the Scriptures teach that there are four judgments:

 

 

1. A judgment already passed of the sins of the Lord’s [redeemed] people. These have been judged – condemned and the sentence upon them executed in the person of [Page 350] our substitute on Calvary; therefore the believer “shall not come into judgment.” (John 5: 24.)

 

 

2. A coming tribunal of Christ, before which all believers must stand, for the testing of all their works and service.  If any are present, other than saints, they can be only the angels of God.

 

 

3. A coming tribunal of Christ, when He sits upon “the throne of His glory.” (Matt. 25: 31).  Before Him shall be gathered at that tribunal “all the nations” then living, for His final adjudication concerning their treatment of Him in the persons of His “brethren*

 

* They will be gathered as nations, representatively; they will he judged as nations for what they have done as nations; they will be punished as nations, with national calamities and ruin, and be destroyed as nations. J. R. G.

 

 

4. A coming judgment of the “Great White Throne  This is the only proper judgment, in the sense of the Scripture, viz.: guilt being present and leading on to condemnation.  There are present at this scene only “the rest of the dead.” (Rev. 20: 5.)

 

 

Previously to this the [‘accounted worthy’ (Lk. 20: 35)] saints have been gathered in the “out-resurrection,” that from among the dead (Phil. 3: 11), to be “forever with the Lord;” and now the remaining dead [including those named in “another book” – “the book of life” (Rev. 20: 12, R.V.)] are raised for judgment.  This is the “day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men” (2 Peter 3: 7), into which the “unjust” have bee “reserved” - “to be punished” (2 Peter 2: 9). Then shall the “Son of Manto whom all judgment is Committed, “execute judgment upon all ... that are ungodly.” (Jude 15).  Then, too, “when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them [Page 351] that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of His Son, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,” “shall He come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe ... in that day.” (2 Thess. 1: 7-10.)  The saints will be there, but neither as culprits nor accused.  “Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matt. 13: 43), and this will be the “day of judgment” of many Scriptures.  Amen.

 

 

*       *       *

 

[Page 352]

 

NOTE

 

 

ON

 

 

THE PARABLE OF THE LEAVEN

 

 

Dr. Parsons, in his Development of Antichrist, says:

 

 

“The Parable of the Leaven represents the results which will be manifested in the kingdom of Christ during the age from the corruptions introduced by those within ‘the church.’  The meal will be leavened by heresies and perversions during all this dispensation.

 

 

“All the parables of Christ illustrating the mystery of the administration of His kingdom plainly betoken a mixed and corrupted state of things to the end of this dispensation, and the Spirit confirms this in the revelation of this great apostasy:

 

 

“‘Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to he received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.’ - 1 Tim. 4: 1-3.

 

 

“Also that times of great peril shall be in the last days; that formality and hypocrisy will abound; that all who adhere to godliness shall suffer persecution; and that evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.”