The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 487

not apparent success, which determines the reward. 4. The condemnation of the slothful servant is awful exceedingly. Then work while there is time. Vere. 31--46.-The l~tjadgment. I. THE JUDGE. 1. His glory. The Lord wo.s sitting on the Mount of Olives, looking sadly back upon the holy city and the temple which be had finally left. He h&d been rejected by the hierarchy of the chosen nation; the shadow of the cross was falling on him; in three days would come the awful agony and the tremendous sacrifice. He knew o.ll this with the clear ea.Im knowledge of Divine omniscience ; but bis thoughts dwelt, that Tuesday afternoon, not on his own sufferings now so near, but on the great results of his incarnation and atonement which were to be manifested in the far-distant future, the salvation of his chosen, and, ale.al the condemnation of the impenitent. With the cross in near prospect, he speaks of himself as the King-the king of all nations; the Son of man indeed, still in our human nature, for the two whole and perfect natures, the Godhead and the manhood, once joined together in the one Person of Christ, were never thenceforth to be divided; but coming in bis glory, himself in that body of glory of which a passing glimpse h&d been vouchsafed to the three most favoured apostles on the Mount of the Tra.nsfignration, surrounded by the holy angels, his attendants and ministers. Then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory, that great white throne which St. John saw in that awful vision of the great day which was revealed to him for our instruction and warning. No human words could describe the glory of the Judge. St. John could only say that from his face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 2. The gathering of all nations before him. The parables of the virgins and the talents are parables of judgment; but they deal with a portion only of the tremendous subject. Judgment, St. Peter says, "must begin at the house of God." These two parables embrace in their range only Christian people, those who have gone forth to meet the heavenly Bridegroom, and the immediate servants of the Lord. The first parable represents the judgment of the inner life of the soul ; the second, the jndgment of the outward life of obedience or idleness. Each parable reveals to us one of the many aspects of that tremendous assize. Now parable passes into prophecy. A wider scene is opened out-the judgment of the whole world. Our thoughts are no longer to be concentrated on a portion only of the vast multitude. Ail nations are gathered together before the So!l of man ; quick and dead alike ; all the countless millions that have been born unto the world from the Creation to the great day; every one from Adam the first ma.n to the new-born babe; all, summoned by the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, gathered together by the attendant angels, all shall stand before the Judge. His eye will range over those colllltless hosts. He knows the whole history of each individual The books of which we read in the Revelation represent the infinite knowledge of God. "The dead were judged out of tho11e things which were written in the books, according to their works." The Judge will divide the thronging crowds with unerring accuracy, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. The division will be as easy to the Almighty Judge; the differences, often almost invisible to us, as clearly marked in his sight. "He shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left." IL Tm: BLESSED. 1. The wel,come. The Lord describes himself as the heavenly Kin". He knew that in three days the mocking title, "This is Jesus, the King of the Jew~" would be set above bis head as he bung dying on the cross. But he knew also, in hi; inmost consciousness, that he was indeed King of kings and Lord of lords. The kingdom of heaven was his by rioht. It was he who should hereafter open that kingdom to the blessed: "Come, y°e blessed of my Father,': he will say. Come; f~r it is his will that his chosen should be with him to behold his glory, and to share his glory. Come; for their salvation is his joy, the joy for which he endured the cross. He bringetb home rejoicing the sheep that once was lost. He saith unto his friends, "Rejoice with me." Come; for he lovetb them with an everlasting love, a love stronger than death. He calls them blessed, " Ye blessed of ~y Fat~er; " for the Father had pronounced them blessed. He had chosen them by his elC;Ct1ng grace; be had given them to the only begotten Son; they were "elect according to. the fore- knowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, t1;nto obed1e~ce and sprinkling of the blooa ,f Jesus Christ." Be bids them take po11seBS1on of the kwgdom OH, xxv. 1-46.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO BT. MATTHEW. -l93