The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 451

parts of it are revealed to all of us, eome are within the perception of prophets, more m11.y be specially known to angels, very mnoh must have lain open before the eye of Christ. But God only knows the whole. The final judgment ls known only to him. Why is this? 1. Perhaps the dak ia not foud. To God, who is independent of time, all our uncertainties and contingencies must be visible and sure. But it is impossible for us to imagine the form of thought that comprehends such things. To us many things are uncertain, in part because they are dependent on changing conditions. Will a particular man be saved or lost? No one can say, because no fixed destiny deter- mines his future. It will be conditioned by his conduct, by the action of his free-will. It is open for him to repent at any time. So it may be that the date of the final judg- ment will be determined according to the conduct of men. according to the course of history. It may be hastened or it may be postponed, as the behaviour of the world changes. 2. Certainly fall knDwkdge would be injurioos. It is one of the greatest mercies of life that God hides the future. If any sorcery could reveal it, the depth of folly would belong to those people who resorted to that sorcery. The knowledge of future evil would crush us; the knowledge of future good would take the zest out of our joys and make the blessings of life stale and unint.eresting. Moreover, God disci- plines us by ignorances. This should not make us indifferent to truth ; it must be our duty to learn what God reaches. But it cannot be healthy to attempt to pry into secrets which God means to keep to himself. Calculations of modern prophets about unfulfilled prophecy are here rebuked beforehand by our Lord. II. h-n:BENOES IN BEGA.RD TO JESUS CmusT. 1. The distinction between (Jhrist and his Father. Clearly they are here seen es two Persons. Yet it is the fashion of popular theology to "confound the Persons," and to speak of Jesus as if he were just the same as the Father. 2. The comparative au'bordination of CJhrist. We dare not say, with Cyril, that the ignorance of Christ was only apparent. That must be to represent him as a.n unreal Actor. He meant what he said in all honesty. It may be that Athanasius was right in applying all snch passages as that before us to the earthly hu.mili&tion of our Lord. Still, the statements of Scripture as to the Son being sent by the Father (e.g. John :irx. 21), applying as they do to the first advent and the very origin of the Incarnation, suggest something like a secondary position even prior to the earthly life, as we shall see if we reverse the phrases, and think of the Son sending the Father-a most improper notion. The Sender must be in some way superior to the Sent. 3. The Divinity of Christ. This is apparent even in this passage, where the secondary position is stated: (1) Because Christ separates himself from all other men, and even places the angels between himself and them. (2) Because Christ shows Divine knowledge of the fact of the ignorance of angels as well es men, and of the fact of his Father's ucique consciousness.-W. F. A. Vers. 40, 41.-0ne taken, and another left. What our Lord here somewhat obscurely applies to the time of the coming judgment is clearly seen in all ages and in every famil_v where death is plying his erratic craft. L THE DI8TINCTION. There are the greatest poBBible variations in providence. God does not follow any regimental orders. The ages do not march with the measured tramp of drilled battalions. Families are broken np. Aged men are left, while young men are snatched away. Bad people flourish to a green old age, and some" whom the gods Jove die early." The useless remain to cumber the ground, and the useful are cut down in the midst of their work. 1. Simi"larity of external conditions is no guarantea of 1imilarity of fate. The two men are at the same field-work, the two women are both alike grinding corn. Yet how different are their fates I We cannot judge of a man's future by his worldly position. 2. Association in life does not secure aasociation. in death. The family is grievously broken; old friends are parted ; life-partnerships come to an end. Two friends may be very near in life, yet death may make an awful separation, if one is called to the world of light and the other banished to the realm of darkness. II. THE TWOFOLD FATE. 1. The one taken. Whither? There is an eerie vague- ness in our Lord's language. The summons comes, and the most reluctant must obey without a shadow of resistance. But whither does it call? We vainly strive to follow the flight of the passing liOUI, and the utmost effort of imagination cannut trace it one on. xnv.1-61.] THE GOSPEL AOCORDING TO BT. MATTHEW. 45,