SECTION XVIII.

THE MESSIAH, BEFORE BEING JUDGED BY THE WORLD, REPRESENTS HIMSELF TO HIS DISCIPLES AS THE JUDGE OF THE WORLD. THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE JUDGMENT OF THE WORLD IN ITS DIFFERENT STAGES: THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM; THE WOES OF THE WORLD; THE END OF THE WORLD.

(Matt, xxiv. 3-chap. xxv.)

On His return from Jerusalem to Bethany, Christ sat down on the Mount of Olives and looked back upon the city. Then came the disciples¹ to Him, and asked Him in the confidential circle, saying, 'Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?' They wished to know from the Lord when the destruction of Jerusalem, which He had just announced to them, should take place. From their wishing at the same time to know the sign of His coming, we may conclude that they thought it possible that that destruction might be this sign itself, but that they were uncertain about it. For Christ's revelations respecting His sufferings and the ruin of Jerusalem had quite upset their theory regarding the coming of the Messiah and the end of the world (see vol. iii. p. 79.)

Upon this, Jesus made to them a great disclosure respecting the coming judgments until the end of the world. He set before them the last things in three cycles. The first cycle describes, in its general form, the whole course of the world until the world's end (chap. xxiv. 4-14). The second gives them the sign of the approaching destruction of Jerusalem, and describes this destruction as itself the premonition and beginning of the world's judgment, which continues from those days of sorrow, in quieter, tempered days of judgment, until the end of the world (vers. 15-28). The third describes the sudden coming on of the end of the world, with the judgment which follows (vers. 29-31). Our Lord then shows the disciples why He can give them no outward sign before the end of the world, long preceding the fact itself (vers. 32-36). He then describes to them how unheeding the generation of the last times would live on until the day, without thinking on the judgment, and how suddenly it would be overtaken by the judgment. Then, finally. He exhorts His own people to watchfulness (vers. 37-44). This exhortation He enforces by a series of parables, in which He shows how searchingly the judgment would come upon the disciples also. These parables show forth the last judgment in a definite succession of movements (chap. xxiv. 45-xxv.)

The Lord describes in two periods the course of the world until the judgment. In the first, the development proceeds with apparent slowness, in a quieter form; in the second, it hurries onward impetuously to the conclusion. Each period has cosmic and christological signs of progress, — a proof that the development of the world's life in all its grounds runs parallel with the development of the kingdom of God, and is conditioned by it.

The representation begins with the warning words, 'Take heed that no man deceive you! for many shall come in My name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many.' This is the christological characteristic of the world's course, in the first and more slowly moving period: false Christs in a thousand seductive forms. Our Lord describes the cosmic characteristics of this period in these words: 'And ye shall hear of wars, and rumours of wars; see that ye be not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.'

Then follows the second period, in which the cosmic signs are these: 'Nation shall rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the (cosmic) beginning of sorrows (the birth-throes of the world's end).'² The christological signs are in correspondence: 'Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you; and ye shall be hated of all nations for My name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.'

Our Lord concludes His delineation of these signs of sorrow with the cheering words, 'But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.' He then gives them the joyous characteristic of the Christian course of progress, which far outweighs the sorrowful: 'And this Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations (that all nations may be judged according to it). And then shall the end come (the great end).'

The typical end comes in the destruction of Jerusalem, which, however, besides its typical significance (according to which it is the end of the world itself), is to be at the same time considered as the real germ or beginning of the end of the world. Under this point of view our Lord describes the fall of Jerusalem in the second cycle. First the sign, which can here be given with exactitude: 'When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet (chap. ix. 27), standing in the holy place (the Evangelist remarks parenthetically, Whoso readeth, let him understand), then let them who be in Judea flee into the mountains.' This sign which the Lord gave His followers was very intelligible to the Israelite mind. The holy place was the holy city itself with its precincts. The abomination denoted a heathen sign, which would desecrate the holy place. And as the abomination of desolation, it was such a sign as not merely brought desecration with it, but also announced destruction. The Christians gave, by their conduct, the exposition of this saying of our Lord: when they saw the Roman eagles waving in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, when the investment of the city began, they fled unto the mountain land beyond Jordan, to Pella in Perea. Our Lord impresses strongly on the disciples that the flight then must be as speedy as possible: Let him who is on the house-top not come down to take anything out of his house; neither let him who is in the field return back to take his clothes.' He has so lively a view of that terrible time with its sufferings, that He exclaims, 'And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! 'Thus He is concerned about the lot of His followers who have to flee. It was painful enough for Him, that in that war which the Jewish fanaticism of false messiah-hope would carry on, they should be obliged to separate from their old associates in their frantic undertaking; but He would endeavour to guard against their setting out on a Sabbath, and thereby deeply wounding the religious feelings of their old associates, which might draw persecution on themselves from them. He was equally anxious to spare them the sufferings of a flight in the winter season. Hence He exhorts them: 'But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath-day; 'and added for explanation, 'For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days (of the judgment) should be shortened (mitigated or suppressed, see above, vol. iii. pp. 89 and 103), there should no flesh be saved (the rescue of the few believers in Israel would not be able to expand to the rescue of the believers in all the world).³ But for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened (so that only in a suppressed form shall they continue to the end of the world). Then if (in the days when the judgment specially consists in the Church's having no Mount Zion, no centre, no head upon earth) any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ! or, there; believe it not: for there shall arise false christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before.'

'Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert (in the eremus of the eremites, in false, outward renunciation of the world, in monasticism, in the celibacy of the clergy, in a weary-of the- world pietistic askesis which lives only for the outward eternity), go not forth'

'And if again they shall say unto you (with the same enthusiasm, with the same excitement and apparent confidence). Behold, he is in the secret chambers (of abundance and pleasure, in the festivity, pleasure, and plenteousness of the outward community, in a refined religious worldliness, which would transform the outward state here as such into heaven), believe it not!'

So it may be possible to be deceived in regard to those characteristics which exhibit the true spiritual life, the spiritual Messiah. Our Lord declares that, on the contrary, it will be impossible to mistake the sign of His actual appearing: 'For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.'

And this great coming is certain, for He adds, 'For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.'

Next begins the third cycle, the description of the actual end of the world. 'Immediately (without any outwardly perceptible transition) after the (gradually subsiding) tribulation of those days, the sun (as the centre of the cosmos in its old form) shall be darkened, and (also) the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven (the planets " of the heaven," of this solar system, shall depart from their former connections, the old system of the dark " kingdom of the mean " shall break up), and the powers "of the heaven" shall be shaken (by the cosmic sphere of the earth, the solar system, being changed and entering into a new relation to the starry world; see above, vol. iii. 93): and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man (of His coming) in heaven (in the new form which the new heaven has for the new earth): and then shall (in amazement and horror) all the tribes of the earth mourn (the ideal real families of mankind in their developed, Christian-worldly, social state),⁴ and they shall see (behold with their eyes) the Son of man coming in the clouds of (the changing) heaven with power and great glory. And He shall send forth His angels with a great sound of a trumpet (with an all-penetrating spiritual call, which lays hold irresistibly on the life allied to it), and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other (thus this gathering together of the elect will be the judgment).'

Our Lord had hitherto only told the disciples the signs of the destruction of Jerusalem and of the end of the world, which should be followed by those judgments; He now explains to them how this could not be otherwise: 'Learn a parable (of these things) of the fig-tree: When its branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh (very nigh). So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.'

It is a general law of life in the world's development that the epochs come suddenly, after they have been slowly prepared for by the periodic development, and quietly announced by the periodic times; and this law will be fulfilled in the highest degree at the coming on of the last epoch (see above, vol. iii., p. 101).

Our Lord next describes the light side of the last times in few but expressive outlines: 'Verily I say unto you, This generation (the new race of men, the noble race of Christians whom He already beholds in His disciples; see above, iii. 95) shall not pass, till all these things are fulfilled.' So there shall alway be a Christian people and a Christian Church throughout all these tribulations, unto the end of the world. But the reason why this people is imperishable is, that the seed of Christ is imperishable which begets this people. Our Lord expresses this thought in the words: 'Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.'

But to prevent His saying from being misunderstood, as if the first generation of His disciples, or any following generation in an outward sense, might reckon securely on living into that time, He makes the explanation: 'But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, hut My Father only.' He Himself has not reflected on those appointments, seeks not to know them, and therefore does not know them; and surely then it must seem chiliastic and premature if His disciples are eager to know the certainty in this respect, or think that they know it (see above, vol. iii., p. 96).

But however much they should guard against undue haste, they should equally avoid the false security of the world. Our Lord now delineates this: 'But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not (suspected nothing) until the flood came and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Then shall two be (together) in the field; the one shall be taken (away), and the other left (behind). Two women shall be grinding (together) at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.'

The Lord had prefaced His descriptive account with the practical warning: 'Take heed that no man deceive you! 'He concludes it in the same manner with the practical exhortation: 'Watch therefore; for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch (at what time of the night) the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.'

This exhortation He now inculcates on His followers in four allegories, in which the judgment is unfolded before us in the various ways in which it acts with reference to different classes. None of these allegories is to be considered as exactly a parable. They were spoken with express, intentional reference to Christ's second coming. This resolving of the parable into the allegory is specially apparent in the first example.

' Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods. But if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to smite his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall (with instant judgment on the spot) cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'

So Christ comes first for judgment on the rulers of His Church. For that evil ruler He comes entirely unexpected, and takes him quite by surprise. It is instant judgment that He executes on him. He is cut off from this world, and in the next receives the heaviest condemnation — the same portion as the hypocrites.

' Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, who took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them w^ere wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them; but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and (really) slept. And at midnight there was a cry made. Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise. Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying. Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying. Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.'

Our Lord makes the application, 'Watch therefore; for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.'

The coming of Christ is here represented as a coming for judgment on the Church. Also, for the Church in general, He comes quite unexpected, and takes her by surprise, although watchmen are not wanting who at the proper time raise the cry, The Bridegroom cometh! The only thing which distinguishes the wise virgins from the foolish, is the possession of oil. They have oil in their lamps, the spirit^of life in their forms of faith. The foolish are not destitute of the latter, but of the oil of the Spirit. Their punishment consists in being shut out from the marriage of Christ.

Thus the coming of Christ is a coming for judgment on the Church. The parable which follows goes a step further, and represents the judgment on individual members of the Church.

Our Lord continues: 'For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey. Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents. And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two. But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money. After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them. And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst into me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy (the fellowship of the joy) of thy lord. He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them. His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. Then he who had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: and I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. (Then he commanded, saying), 'Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him who hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not, shall be taken away even that which he hath. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness.'

The conclusion is again made by the fearful refrain: 'There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'

After that the Lord had also depicted the judgment as a judgment on the individual members of His Church, He finally represents it as a judgment over all nations.

'When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory; and before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats; and He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was an hungered, and ye gave Me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave Me drink; I was a stranger (hearthless and homeless), and ye took Me in; naked, and ye clothed Me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto Me. Then shall the righteous answer Him, saying. Lord, when saw we Thee an hungered, and fed Thee? or thirsty, and gave Thee drink? When saw we Thee a (forsaken) stranger, and took Thee in? or naked, and clothed Thee? Or when saw we Thee sick, or in prison, and came unto Thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them. Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me. Then shall He say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from Me, ye cursed (curse-impenetrated), into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was an hungered, and ye gave Me no meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave Me no drink; I was a stranger, and ye took Me not in; naked, and ye clothed Me not; sick, and in prison, and ye visited Me not. Then shall they also answer Him, saying, Lord, when saw we Thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto Thee? Then shall He answer them, saying. Verily I say unto you. Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to Me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.'

This parable completes the representation of the last judgment in every respect. In the first, the Judge appears simply as the Householder; in the second, as the Bridegroom; in the third, as the rich Lord; in the fourth, as the King. According to the first. He comes most unexpectedly and at unawares; according to the second, long expected at first, and afterwards surprisingly quick; according to the third, late after long absence; according to the fourth, at the end of time. In the first parable. He appears as Judge over the rulers of His Church; in the second, over the Church herself; in the third, over the individual members of His Church; in the fourth, over all nations. In the first case, He, as Judge, beholds in the present fact an evidence of the way in which the duties of office have been discharged; in the second, He beholds the abiding life in the Spirit, and not merely that life as it manifests itself in the momentary frame of mind; in the third, the blessing which His servants have gained in the calling of the Spirit during His absence; in the fourth, the long bypast works of Christian compassion, in which the faith and love of His followers approved themselves. The judgment which He executes on the evil rulers of the Church is utter rejection: the benumbed portion of the Church is punished by exclusion from the marriage-feast of Christ, and by being compelled to continue waiting without in the darkness; the slothful Christian, who hid his talent, is deprived of it, and, thus impoverished, is cast into outer darkness; finally, the uncompassionate men depart, curse-laden, into the eternal fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels, the demons of heartlessness and cruelty. As, in the first parable, the evil ruler of the Church is placed among the greatest outcasts, the faithful servant is set over all his lord's goods. And as, according to the second, the foolish virgins were shut out from the marriage-feast, the wise virgins partake of it. The good and faithful servants of the third parable are made rulers over many things; they are received into the joy, the most intimate fellowship of their Lord, which forms the contrast to outer darkness, into which the wicked servant is cast. Finally, the compassionate men appear as the elect, the heirs of the kingdom of bliss which God has founded and prepared for them from the foundation of the world; while the uncompassionate incur a judgment which was prepared originally not for men, but only for the fallen spirits created before man, who hate both God and man.

As to the time, the last judgment extends from the first moment in which it comes on the house of God until the day when it shall be executed on all nations.

Thus these four parables set forth the judgment of the world in all its relations, and so form a parallel to the three parables in which Jesus described the execution of judgment on Judaism.

───♦───