The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 450

But the battle will not last for ever. Patience and couragt I The affiiction ie but brief. It ie foolish to risk all rather than stand out ite short time. 2. It is neaaBary to endure to the end. The ship tha.t has weathered many a storm on her long voyage must be prepared to fe.ce the last tempest, or she will perish in sight of her haven, It is not enough that we were victorious in bygone days. The fidelity of youth will not excuse the failure of later years. The battle is not over till it is won, and the battlo of life is not won till life is finished. 8. Then w<ll be the final victory. Faithful, per- sistent endurance will issue In the end of the trial and in the salvation of the sufferers. Salvation is perfect and secure for those who are" faithful unto death."- W. F. A. • Ver. 21,-Llghtnltn,g. Our Lord compares his coming to a great flash of lightning which blazes out in the east and illumines earth and sky as far as the west. This is in contrast to the notion of an obscure and doubtful appearance, or one that is local and limited, or one the coming of which is so gra.dual that it can scarcely be discerned. In opposition to these erroneous conceptions, the a.dvent of Christ is to be lightning- like. Let us consider its chare.cteristics as they are suggested to us by this startling image. • I. VISIBILITY. Bursting· out of the darkness of the storm, the lightning blinds us with the brilliancy of its illumination. There is no mistaking the fact that it has come. We may riot observe the glow-worm; we cannot ignore the lightning. The awful "day of God" at the destruction of Jerusalem has made its impress on all history. Other advents of Christ in judgment, as in the sack of Rome by the Gothe, the wreck of the Spanish Arma.da, etc., have startled the world with their terror. The present more peaceful coming of Christ to heathen nations in the spread of his gospel produces most visible effects in the transformation of degra.ded fetich-worshipping cannibals into civilized, humane Christians. Our Lord's words lead us to anticipate that there will be no obscurity a.bout his great final advent. Then every eye shall behold him. II. BREADTH, The lightning flashes from east to west; or its flash is so splendid, that while for a moment it plays in the east, the far-off west is illumined by the radiance it spreads in all directions. There is a greatness in the appearance of Christ. Even when he came in humiliation, he was "a Light to lighten the Gentiles." Perhaps he had some thought of his first appearance in the East, and of the spread of his light to Europe, when he spoke of the lightning shining in this direction. But if it is a strain of fancy to assert that any such idea is to be found in this image, the notion of brea.dth is certainly there. Christ's life was lived in the open. As St. Paul boldly said, "This thing was not done in a comer" (Acts xxvi. 26). Christ is the Light of the world, and his radiance is spreading over the earth. The last advent will be for all the world to see, and it will concern all mankind. ill. SUDDENNESS. Nothing is so sudden or so stn.rtling as the lightning. In its very silence it gives us a greater shock than the roaring thunder. There is something peculiarly awful in its momentary blaze of splendour, especially as we know that there is death and destruction in its shaft. In a moment-~e steeple is shattered, the stout oak is blasted and riven to its core, the strong man is scathed and flung down dead. It is not clear that our Lord meant us to attach any idea of destruction to his image of the lightning. We know that there is a terror in the wrath of the Son (Ps. ii. 12). In his advent to judgment Christ must smite down his foes. He is not the incarna- tion of unruffled amiability which modern hymns represent, although he is not the stem Judge of Byzantine art. Part of the terror of his judgment is its suddenness. We know not when he will come. Yet if we are his true people we need not fear. His sudden advent will be our sudden joy.-W. F. A. Ver. 36 (as in Revised Version).-The unknoum day and howr. This is one of the most striking words of our Lord. The record of it shows the veracity of the Gospel writers. No early Christian would have invented such a sentence as this. The words themselves testify to the truthfulness and to the humility of Christ. They are significant also in the light they throw on the limitations of knowledge. I. THE FA!lT, No one but our Father in heaven knows the whole future. Some  456 THE GOSPEL AOOORDING TO ST. MATTREW. [011. xxtv. 1-51.