The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 442

reproduce the words which he heard from Christ, when, along with James and Jolin and Andrew, he came unto him privately on the Mount of Olives. The same apostl,, sums up the prootical teaching of this great eschatological discourse In a few striking words. "Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace,"-" looking for and basting the coming of the day of God." 3. Warnings in detail. (1) False Messiahs. Many shall come saying, "I am the Ohrist, the Messiah." Many such there were in New Testament times-Theurlas, the Egyptian (Acts xxi. 38), Simon Magus. Many such arose afterwards, Barcochbn, Manes, Mohammed, claiming the place and office, if not the name, of Christ. There have been many deceivers; some there are still. God's people must take heed; they must not believe every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God; for many false prophets, St. John tells us, are gone out Into the world. (2) Wars, famines, earth- quakes, These thin11:s there must be. There have been agaiu and again in the progress of history times marked with a special intensity of troubles and horrors, when men's hearts have failed them, and the end of all things eeetned close at hand. But the Lord •says, "Be not troubled, be not scared, excited; the end is not yet. Be prepared for it, 1:>ut be calm, collected." Alas I the curse of war is not yet removed. Still the earth which God created is reddened with the blood of men made in the image of God, shed ·by their brethren'& hand. Yet the end cometh not. These things are the beginning of travail ; they are dreadful, and yet they offer hope, for they are birth-pangs. The •end of the Jewish dispensation is the birth of the Christian Church; the yet more awful ·signs which are to attend the end of the world are the birth-throes of the great '.regeli.'eration (the· 11'M1'Y)'fl'<O'l11, eh. xix. 28), the birth of the "new heavens and the new -earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness:" (3) Persecutions. Besides the troubles destined to.come upon all the world, the.Church of Christ was to have its own special trials; his followers were to be afflicted and slain and hated of all nations for his Name's sake. And these persecutions would lead to worse things yet-to apostasies; a.nd apostasies would produce mutual hatred and the betrayal of Christians by Christians; there would be false prophets, heretical teachers in the Church itself. Iniquity, lawlessness, would abound, as itdid·when St. Peter and St. Jude wrote their Epistles; and, in sad decleDBion from the truth, the love of the many would wax cold. Christians would leave their first love, like the Church of Ephesus ; they would sink into a routine of formal service without heart and without love. But some would remain steadfast even in that evil time; some would endure all these temptations, whether of persecution from without ·'t)ie Church or of evil example from within; their patience would have its perfect work ; -their endtirimce would, by God's grace, be complete, their perseverance final; and such eliould be ~aved. • " The same shall be saved,' the Lord says emphatically; not, alas I all professing Christians, but" he that endureth unto the end." How earnestly, then, should we pray and strive after perseverance I It is not a passing wish of" God forgive ·me I" that ensures our soul's salvation, it is not a rush of excited feeling, but the patient -contin~nce in well-doing. "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.'' (4) The gospel must be preached in all the world. This gospel of the king- ·dom is the good news concerning the kingdom of heaven which Christ established upon earth, the good news of salvation through Christ promised to those who endure unto the 'end. That gospel wae to be preached In all the world before the end should come. "The world here, as in· other places (e.g. Luke ii. 1), may mean no more than the Roman empire.. St. Paul seems to have regarded this prophecy as fulfilled even in his time. He:says (Col. i. 6, 23) that the gospel was present in all the world, that it had been preached to every creature which is under heaven. In a true sense it was fulfilled when the distinction between Jew and Gentile was abolished, when the apostles were com- manded to make disciples of all nations, to go into ru.l the world, and preach the gospel to every crestw-e. Thus the end of which the Lord speaks here might me:m the destruction of Jerusalem, the end of the Jewish dispensation. But as know ledge extends itself, as the known world becomes wider till it ie coextensive with the surface of the -,arth, so the area of missio~ry operations is enlarged. And thus the prophecy acquires '.another and a wider meaning. "The gospel shall be preached in all the world, for a testimony to all the nations of the earth." Then the end in its most awful meaning, ~he end of the world, shall come. LESSONS. 1. The temple without Christ is desolate. Magnificent buildings have n11 418 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. r011. lllv. 1--5.L beauty in God's eight if Christ ie not found there. 2. We must., like the apostles, watch for the ~igns of Christ's coming. 3. But the truest wisdom is to live in constant expectation of it.