The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 1 — Section 438

(ver. 8). Moral miracles are the "greater works" which still attend the Word. 3, They are enlXJU'raged 1Yy the promise of reward. (1) The Sou of man she.II come (ver. 23). He shall come in judgment upon the nation. He shall come in judgment upo:n the world. The former is e. presage of the latter. (2) He shall come quickly. So quickly that nothing is gained by remaining in a city to contend with persecutors. Jerosalem was destroyed before all the cities of the laud were visited by the twelve. 8o is life too short to overtake all the work to be doue in the world. The gospel of ths kingdom shall only be preached as a witness before the end of the present dispensa• tion ( cf. ver. 1~; eh. xxiv. 14). (3) Th~n. shall the f~ithful be "saved" (ver. 22). At the destruction of Jerusalem the Christians, by their flight to Pella, were saved. So at the last day the Lord will take them to himself.--J. A. M. Vers. 24-33.-Fearless witnessing. The Christian is Christ's witness. He has to testify for Christ of his Person, offices, and work. He has to testify for the salvation of the believer ; to the condemnation of the rejecter. To the rejecter the _testimony is unpalatable and rouses resentment. This is often fierce and deadly. To face this resentment requires courage. In the text the witness has the encouragement, viz.- I. THAT THE POWER OF THE WICKED IS LDllITED. 1. They have the disposition to destroy. (I) This was evident when they called the Master of the house Beelzebub, This was in the highest possible degree to call good evil. (2) It was further evident when they crucified the Just One. In so far as they were able they murdered God. (3) "The disciple is not above his Master." He has no reason to expect a· differen-t treatment from the wicked. 2. But their power reaches only to t'/!e body. (1) So far as killing the body, they prevailed against Christ. So far they prevailed against his martyrs. (2) "But they are not able to kill the soul." Unless the soul consents to its own injury, it cannot be harmed. The soul is killed only by being separated from God. No power can pluck ns out of the hand of God. (3) Note: The soul does not- ~leep when tLe body dies. 3. Therefore God only is to be/eared. (1) He··can kill th1t' body as certainly a.a the wicked can. He can, moreover, kill the soul as certainly as the wicked cannot. He can destroy both in Gehenna; and so destroy as to perpetuate punishment (see Ps. xc. 11 ; 2 'l'hess. i. 9). "Men think that death is an end of their troubles, whereas it is only the beginning of them. It ill the lot of the wicked that they live in death, and suffer as it were a continual death" (Philo). (2) God is to be feared still by those who love him. It is not hell-fire we are to fear, but God, '!'he love of God redeems from slavishness his fear. (3) Those who fear God truly need not fear mn.n. The fear of sinning.arms us against the dread of sinners. Even the heathen could nobly set a tyrant at defiance, saying," You may abuse the case of Anaxarchus; you cannot injure Anaxarchus himself." Seneca undertakes to make it out that you cannot hurt a wise and good man, because death itself is no real evil to him. (4) It is enough that the disciple be as his Master. The honour of suffering with Christ is glorious. (eh. v. 10; Rom. viii. 17; xiii. 5; 2 Cor. xii. 10; Phil. i. 29; Jas. i. 12; 1 Pet. ii. 19, 20; ill. 14; iv. 14). Wakefield renders Juvenal thus:- " If ever co.ll'd To give thy witness in a doubtful case, • ThougL Phalaris himself should bid thee li~, On pain of torture in his flaming bull, Dil;dain to barter innocence for life ; To which life owes its l11,8tre lllld its worth." !l. TJUT TBE FAITHFUL ABE UNDER THE PROTE~ION ~F A SPECIAL ~OVIDENOE, 1. The providence of God is everywhere. (1) It. 18 behind all '!™chanzwJ, forces. Gravitation bringe the sparrow to the ground; but it.does no~ fall ~thout our ~ather. The statement is not that the sparrow does not fa~l without his notu:e, ~ut that 1t does not fail without Jim. Without the constant active presence of God 1n nature there would be no gravitating force. (2) It is behind all living for~11. If the sparrow descends to the ground for food, it i~ _because God: is there to p~~vide the fo~ and _also !t 1.0 give the creature the power-of volition ( cf. eh. vi. 26 ; Luk_e xu. 6). 2, zs specially wncerned /or the servants o/ Ghrist, (1) He who feeds his l!parrows will not starve on. x. 1--42.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING 'fO ST. MATTHEW. 435