The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 445

corrupted with the pollutions of sin, there shall the messengers of judgment be gathered together; as the Roman 31\gles were once gathered round Jerusalem, to fulfil the awful behests of God. Wherever the caroa.se is, here, there, far and near, throughout the 'l'ast universe of the quick a~d dead, the angels of judgment will surely find the guilty and the reprobate. There will be no escape. The area of judgment will be coextensive with that of the vast multitude of souls. Then Christians should live in the expecta- tion of that awful day, not eager for novelties, not listening to those who say, "Lo here!" or "Lo, there I" but living soberly, righteously, and godly, looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ. LESSONS. 1. Jerusalem must perish. The Church may not dare to trust in external priYileges. It must abide in the love of Christ, in the life of Christ, or the candlestick will be removed. 2. Christians must flee from the world which passeth away to the city of God which abideth for ever. 3. Live always in the thought of the judgment. Vers. 29-51.-TM end of the world. I. !Ts oraooHSTANOES. 1. 'I'he heavens. The Lord had been glancing onwards into the future, There would be wrath upon the chosen people; it would last long; they would be led away captive into all nations. Jerusalem would be trodden down of the Gentiles; it would lie desolate long--even •• until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled" (Luke xxi. 23, 24). The tribulation of those days is not yet ended; still Jerusalem is lying waste; still her children are scattered. Again and again the tribulation has seemed to come to its climax, and men have looked for the coming of the Lord. Christ would have his Church ever live in the attitude of expectation, as men that wait for their lord. But the end is npt yet-it cometh immediately after that long tribulation. Then "shall the sun be darkened, the moon sba.11 not give her light, the stars shall fall from heaven," Words like these were used by the Hebrew prophets as symbolical of the fall of earthly empires-of Babylon, of Edom, of Egypt (Isa. xiii. 10; xx.xiv. 4; Ezek. xxxii. 7). The Prophet Joel (ii. 30, 31), in a passage quoted by St. Peter (Acts ii. 19, 20), describes the like portents as ushering in "the great and terrible day of the Lord.' St. John saw similar wonders, in vision, at the opening of the sixth seal (Rev. vi. 12, 13), when " the great day of his wrath was come." We must receive the Lord's words with reverent awe, as foretelling the terrors of that tremendous day, when "the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat.'' It is the grand, lofty language of prophecy; we need not attempt to bring the details down to the lower plane of science. Our part is rather to listen to the warning of St. Peter, " Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness? " 2. The sign. The Jews had more than once asked for a sign from heaven; the Lord would not give it. Now his apostles had inquired, "What shall be the sign of thy coming?" He does not define it. But such a sign, he tells us, there will be: "Then shall appear the sign of the .Son of man in heaven." What that sign will be we know not certainly. It will be visible to all the world: "Then shall all the tribes of the eai:th mourn." It will be· a sight awfnl exceedingly to the wicked; welcome, above all either visions, to the eye of faith. " 'l'hen look up, and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh.'' It may well be, as very many have thought, a cross of dazzling splendour-the cross that is life to the believer, death to the sinner; the cross in which alone the followers of the Lord may glory. That cross, it may be, glittering high above, will be the token of his coming ; then all kindreds of the earth shall wail, some, perhaps, even then with the godly sorrow of repentance (Zeeb. xii. 10--12), some with the wailing of despair and terror; for " they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.'' Every eye shall see him then-they that love him as thl! very life of their souls, and they that have pierced him with their .sine, and crucified the Lord afresh. What strange, wonderful words for him to utter, who then eat upon the Mount of Olives, rejected and despised by the leading men of his nation, wi.th suffering and ignominious death in immediate prospect I 3. The oogela. 11 He shall send forth his angels.'' They are his, for the Father had said, "Let all the angels of God worship him" (Heb. i. 6); they are his, for he himself is God. He shall send them with a great sound of a trumpet-the trump of God. The voice of the trumpet at Mount Sinai was exceeding loud, so that all the people that were in the camp trembled. Bow OH, XXIY, 1-61,) THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO BT. MATTHEW. 461