CHAPTER VI.
THE EVENING OF THE THIRD DAY IN PASSION-WEEK - ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES: DISCOURES TO THE DISCIPLES CONCERNING THE LAST THINGS.

(St. Matt. xxiv.; St. Mark xiii.; St. Luke xxi. 5-38; xii. 35-48.)

THE last and most solemn denunciation of Jerusalem had been uttered, the last and most terrible prediction of judgment upon the Temple spoken, and Jesus was suiting the action to the word. It was as if He had cast the dust of His Shoes against ‘the House’ that was to be ‘left desolate.’ And so He quitted for ever the Temple and them that held office in it.

They had left the Sanctuary and the City, had crossed black Kidron, and were slowly climbing the Mount of Olives. A sudden turn in the road, and the Sacred Building was once more in full view. Just then the western sun was pouring his golden beams on tops of marble cloister and on the terrced courts, and glittering on the golden spikes on the roof of the Holy Place. In the setting, even more than in the rising sun, must the vast proportions, the symmetry, and the sparkling sheen of this mass of snowy marble and gold have stood out gloriously. And across the black valley, and up the slopes of Olivet, lay the dark shadows of these gigantic walls built of massive stones, some of them nearly twenty-four feet long. Even the Rabbis, despite their hatred of Herod, grow enthusiastic, and dream that the very Temple-walls would have been covered with gold, had not the variegated marble, resembling the waves of the sea, seemed more beauteous.^53505350    Baba B 4 a; Sukk 51 b. It was probably as they now gazed on all this grandeur and strength, that they broke the slience imposed on them by gloomy thoughts of the near desolaateness of that House, which the Lord had predicted.^53515351    St. Matt. xxiii. 37-39. One and another pointed out to Him those massive stones and splendid buildings, or speak of the rich offerings with which the Temple was adorned.^53525352    St. Matt. xxiv. 1. It was but natural that the contrast between this and the predicted desolation should have impressed them; natural, also, that they should refer to it - not as matter of doubt, but rather as of question.^53535353    St. Matt. xxiv. 3. Then Jesus, probably turning to one - perhaps to the first, or else the principal - of His questioners,^53545354    St. Mark xiii. 1. spoke fully of that terrible contrast between the present and the near future, when, as fulfilled with almost incredible literality,^53555355    According to Josephus (War vii. 1. 1) the city was so upheaved and dug up, that it was difficult to believe it had ever been inhabited. At a later period Turnus Rufus had the ploughshare drawn over it. And in regard to the Temple walls, notwithstanding the massiveness of the stones, with the exception of some corner or portion of wall - left almost to show how great had been the ruin and desolation - ‘there is, certainly, nothing now in situ.’ (Capt. Wilson in the ‘Ordnance Survey’). not one stone would be left upon another that was not upturned.

In silence they pursued their way. Upon the Mount of Olives they sat down, right over against the Temple. Whether or not the others had gone farther, or Christ had sat apart with these four, Peter and James and John and Andrew are named^53565356    St. Mark xiii.3. as those who now asked Him further of what must have weighed so heavily on their hearts. It was not idle curiosity, although inquiry on such as subject, even merely for the sake of information, could scarcely have been blamed in a Jew. But it did concern them personally, for had not the Lord conjoined the desolateness of that ‘House’ with His own absence? He had explained the former as meaning the ruin of the City and the utter destruction of the Temple. But to His prediction of it had been added these words: ‘Ye shall not see Me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord.’ In their view, this could only refer to His Second Coming, and to the End of the world as connected with it. This explains the twofold question which the four now addressed to Christ: ‘Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy Coming, and of the consummation of the age?’ ^53575357    τͺς συντελεͺας τοͺ αͺωνος. Godet argues that the account in the Gospel of St. Matthew contains, as in other parts of that gospel, the combined reports of addresses, delivered at different times. That may be so, but inference of Godet is certainly incorrect - that neither the question of the disciples, nor the discourse of our Lord on that occasion primarily referred to the Second Advent (the παρουσͺα). When that writer remarks, that only St. Matthew, but neither St. Mark nor St. Luke refer to such a question by the disciples, he must have overlooked that it is not only implied in the ‘all these things’ of St. Mark, and the ‘these things’ of St. Luke - which, surely, refer to more than one thing - but that the question of the disciples about the Advent takes up a distinctive part of what Christ had said on quitting the Temple, as reported in St. Matt. xxiii. 39.

Irrespective of other sayings, in which a distinction between these two events is made, we can scarely believe that the disciple could have conjoined the desolation of the Temple with the immediate Advent of Christ and the end of the world. For, in the saying which gave rise to their question, Christ had placed an indefinite period between the two. Between the desolation of the House and their new welcome to Him, would intervene a period of indefinate length, during which they would not see Him again. The disciples could not have overlooked this; and hence neither their question, nor yet the Discourse of our Lord, have been intended to conjoin the two. It is necessary to keep this in view when studying the words of Christ; and any different impression must be due to the exceeding compression in the language of St. Matthew, and to this, that Christ would purposely leave indefinite the interval between ‘the desolation of the house’ and His own Return.

Another point of considerable importance remains to be noticed. When the Lord, on quitting the Temple, Said: ‘Ye shall not see Me henceforth,’ He must have referred to Israel in their national capacity - to the Jewish polity in Church and State. If so, the promise in the text of visible reappearence must also apply to the Jewish Commonwealth, to Israel in their national capacity. Accordingly, it is suggested that in the present passage Christ refers to His Advent, not from the general cosmic viewpoint of universal, but from the Jewish standpoint of Jewish, history, in which the destruction of Jerusalem and the appearance of false Christs are the last events of national history, to be followed by the dreary blank and silence of the many centuries of the ‘Gentile dispensation,’ broken and silence of the events that usher in His Coming. ^53585358    St. Luke xxi. 24 &c.

Keeping in mind, then, that the disciples could not have conjoined the desolation of the Temple with the immediate Advent of Christ into His Kingdom and the end of the world, their question to Christ was twofold: When would these things be? and, What would be the signs of His Royal Advent and the consummation of the ‘Age?’ On the former the Lord gave no information; to the latter His Discourse on the Mount of Olives was directed. On one point the statement of the Lord had been so novel as almost to account for their question. Jewish writings speak very frequently of the so-called ‘sorrows of the Messiah’ (Chebhley shel Mashiach.^53595359    Shabb. 118 a. ^53605360    If these are computed to last nine months, it must have been from a kind of fanciful analogy with the ‘sorrows’ of a woman. ) These were partly those of the Messiah, and partly - perhaps chiefly - those coming of the Messiah. There can be no purpose in describing them in detail, since the particulars mentioned vary so much, and the descriptions are so fanciful. But they may generally be characteristed as marking a period of internal corruption^53615361    End of the Mishnic Tractte Sotah. and of outward distress, especially of famine and war, of which land of Palestine was to be the scene, and in which Israel were to be the chief sufferers.^53625362    Comp. Sanh. 98 a and b. As the Rabbinic notices which we posses all date from after the destruction of Jerusalem, it is, of course, impossible to make any absolute assertion on the point; but, as a matter of fact, none of them refers to desolattion of the City and Temple as one of the ‘signs’ or ‘sorrows’ of the Messiah. It is true that isolated voices proclaimed that fate of the Sanctuary, but not in any connection with the triumphant Advent of Messiah; ^53635363    When using the expression ‘Advent’ in this connection, we refer to the Advent of Mesiah to reign. His Messianic manifestation - not His birth. and, if we are to judge from the hope entertained by the fanatics during the last siege of Jerusalem, they rather expected a Divine, not doubt Messianic, interposition to save the City and Temple, even at the last moment.^53645364    Comp. Jos. War ii. 13, 4; and especially vi. 5. 2. When Christ, therefore, proclaimed the desolation of ‘the house,’ and even placed it in indirect connection with His Advent, He taught that which must have been alike new and unexpected.

This may be the most suitable place for explaining the Jewish expectation connected with the Advent of the Messiah. Here we have first to dismiss, as belonging to a later period, the Rabbinic fiction of two Messiahs: the one, the primary and reigning, the Son of David; the other, the secondary and warfaring Messiah, the Son of Ephraim or of Manasseh. The earliest Talmudic reference to this second Messiah^53655365    Sukk. 52 a and b. dates from the third century of our era, and contains the strange and almost blasphemous notices that the prophecy of Zechariah,^53665366    Zech. xii. 12. concerning the mourning for Him Whom they had pierced, referred to Messiah the Son of Joseph, Who would be killed in the war of Gog and Magog;^53675367    Another Rabbinic authority, however, refers it to the ‘evil impulse,’ which was, in the future, to be annihilated. and that, when Messiah the Son of David saw it, He ‘asked life’ of God, who gave it to Him, as it is written in Ps. ii.: ‘Ask of Me, and I will give Thee,’ upon which God informed the Messiah that His father David had already asked and obtained this for Him, according to Ps. xxi. 4. Generally the Messiah, Son of Joseph, is connected with the gathering and restoration of the ten tribes. Later Rabibninc writings connect all the sufferngs of the Messiah for sin with this Son of Joseph.^53685368    See especially Yalkut on Is. ix. vol. ii. par 359, quoted at length in Appendix IX. The war in which ‘the Son of Joseph’ succumbed would finally be brought to a victorious termination by ‘the Son of David,’ when the supremacy of Israel would be restored, and all nations walk in His Light.

It is scarcely matter for surprise, that the various notices about the Messiah, Son of Joseph, are confused and sometimes inconsistent, considering the circumstances in which this dogma originated. Its primary reason was, no doubt, controversial. When hardly pressed by Christian argument about the Old Testament prophecies of the sufferings of the Messiah, the fiction about the Son of Joseph as distinct from the Son of David would offer a welcome means of escape.^53695369    Comp. J. M. Glœsener, De Gemino Jud. Mess. pp. 145 &c.; Schöttgen, Horæ Heb. ii. pp. 360-366. Besides, when in the Jewish rebellion^53705370    132-135 A.D. under the false Messiah ‘BarKokhba’ (‘the Son of a Star’^53715371    Numb. xxiv. 17. ) the latter succumbed to the Romans and was killed, the Synagogue deemed it necessary to rekindle Israel’s hope, that had been quenched in blood, by the picture to two Messiahs, of whom the first should fall in warfare, while the second, the Son of David, would carry the contest to a triumphant issue.^53725372    So also both Levy (Neuhebr. Wörterb. vol. iii. p. 271 a) and Hamburger (Real. Encykl. f. Bib. u. Talm., Abtheil.ii.p.768). I must here express surprise that a writer so learned and independent as Castelli (II Messia, pp. 224-236) should have argued that the theory of a Messiah, son of Joseph, belonged to the oldest Jewish tradtions, and did not arise as explained in the text. The only reason which Castelli urges against a view, which he admits to be otherwise porbable, is that certain Rabbinic statements speak also of the Son of David as suffering. Even if this ere so, such inconsistencies would prove nothing, since there are so many instances of them in Rabbinic writtings. But, really, the only passage which from its age here deserves serious attention in Sanh. 98 a and b. In Yalkut the suffering Messiah is expressly designated as the Son of Ephraim.

In general, we must here remember that there is a difference between three terms used in Jewish writings to designate that which is to succeed the ‘present dispensation’ or ‘world’ (Olam hazzeh), although the distinction is not always consistently carried out. This happy period would begin with ‘the days of the Messiah’ ({hebrew}). These would stretch into the ‘coming age’ (Athid labho), and end with ‘the world to come’ (Olam habba) - although the latter is sometimes made to include the whole of that period.^53735373    In Bemidb. R. 15 (ed. Warsh. p. 63 a, lines 9 and 8 from bottom), the ‘days of the Messiah’ are specially distinguished from the ‘Athid labho,’ sœculum futurum. In Tanchuma (Eqebh, ed. Warsh. ii. p. 105 a about the middle) it is said, ‘And after the days of the Messiah comes the “Olam habba”’ - so that the Messianic time is there made to include the sœculum futurum. Again, in Pes. 68 a and Sanh. 91 b, ‘the days of the Messiah’ are distinguished from the ‘Olam habba,’ and, lastly (not to multiply instances), in Shabb. 113 b from the Athid labho. The most divergent opinions are expressed of the duration of the Messianic period. It seems like a round number when we are told that it would last for three generations.^53745374    Siphré, ed Friedmann, p. 134 a, about the middle. In the fullness discussion on the subject,^53755375    Tanchuma, as in Note 3. the opinions of different Rabbis are mentioned, who variously fix the period at form forty to one, two, and even seven thousands years, according to fanciful analogies.^53765376    40 years = "the" wilderness wanderings: 1000 years = one day, Ps. xc. 4; 2000 years of salvation = ‘the day of vengeance and the year of salvation’ (Is. lxiii. 4); 7000 years = the marriage-week (Is. lxii. 5), a day being = 1000 years.

Where statements rest on such fanciful considerations, we can scarecly attach serious value to them, nor expect agreement. This remark holds equally true in regard to most of the other points involved. Suffice it to say, that, according to general opinion, the Birth of the Messiah would be unknown to His contemporaries;^53775377    This confirms St. John vii. 26, and affords another evidence that it cannot have been of Ephesian authorship, but that its writer must have been a Jew, intimately conversant with Jewish belief. that He would appear, carry on His work, then disappear - probably for forty-five days; then reappear again, and destroy the hostile powers of the world, notably ‘Edom,’ ‘Armilos,’ the Roman Power - the fourth and last world-empire (sometimes it is said: through Ishmael). Ransomed Israel would now be miraculously gathered from the ends of the earth, and brought back to their own land, the ten tribes sharing in their restoration, but this only on condition of their having repented of their former sins.^53785378    But here opinions are divided, some holding that they will never be restored. See both opinions in Sanh. 110 b. According to the Midrash,^53795379    Yalkut on Is. vol. ii. p. 42 c; Siphra, ed. Weiss. 112 b. all circumcised Israel would then be released from Gehenna, and the dead be raised - according to some authorities, by the Messiah, to Whom God would give ‘the Key of the Resurrection of the Dead.’^53805380    Sanh. 113 a. This Resurrection would take place in the land of Israel, and those of Israel who had been buried elsewhere would have to roll under ground - not without suffering pain^53815381    Kethub. 111 a. - till they reach the sacred soil. Probably the reason of this strange idea, which was supported by an appeal to the direction of Jocob and Joseph as to their last resting-place, was to induce the Jews, after the final desolation of their land, not to quit Palestine. This Ressurection, which is variously supposed to take place at the beginning or during the course of the Messianic manifestation, would be announced by the blowing of the great trumpet. ^53825382    iv. Esd. vi. 23 &c. ^53835383    On the Resurrection-body, the bone Luz, the dress worn, and the reappearance of the former bodily defects, see previous remarks, pp. 398, 399. It would be difficult to say how many of these strange and confused views prevailed at the time of Christ;^53845384    In this extremely condensed abstract, I have thought it better not to cumber the page with Rabbinic references. They would have been too numerous, and the learned reader can easily find sufficient to bear on each clause in books treating on the subject.. which of them were universally entertained as real dogmas; or from what source they had been originally derived. Probably many of them were popularly entertained, and afterwards further developed - as we believe, with elements distorted from Christian teaching.

We have now reached the period of the ‘coming age’ (the Athid labho, or sæculum futurum). All the resistance to God would be concentrated in the great war of Gog and Magog, and with it the prevalence of all the wickedness be conjoined. And terrible would be the straits of Israel. Three times would the enemy seek to storm the Holy City. But each time would the assault be repelled - at the last with complete destruction of the enemy. The sacred City would now be wholly rebuilt and inhabited. But oh, how different from of old! Its Sabbath-boundaries would be strewed with pearls and precious gems. The City itself would be lifted to a height of some nine miles - nay, with realistic application of Is. xlix. 20, it would reach up to the throne of God, while it would extend from Joppa as far as the gates of Damascus! For, Jerusalem was to be the dwelling-place of Israel, and the resort of all nations. But more glorious in Jerusalem would be the new Temple which the Messiah was to rear, and to which those five things were to be restored which had been wanting in the former Sanctuary; the Golden Candlestick, the Ark, and Heaven-lit fire on the Altar, the Holy Ghost, and the Cherubim. And the land of Israel would then be as wide as it had been sketched in the promise which God had given to Abraham, and which had never before been fulfilled - since the largest extent of Israel’s rule had only been over seven nations, whereas the Divine promise extended it over ten, if not over the whole earth.

Strangely realistic and exaggerated by Eastern imagination as these hopes sound, there is connected with them, a point of deepest interest on which, as explained in another place,^53855385    See Book III. ch. iii. and Appendix XIV. remarkable divergence of opinion prevailed. It concerns the Services of the rebuilt Temple, and the observance of The Law in Messianic days. One party here insisted on the restoration of all the ancient Services, and the strict observance of the Mosiac and Rabbinic Law - nay, on its full imposition on the Gentile nation.^53865386    Such as even the wearing of the phylacteries (comp. Ber. R. 98; Midr. on Ps. xxi.) But this view must have been at least modified by the expectation, that the Messiah would give a new Law.^53875387    Midr. on Cant. ii. 13 (ex rec. R. Martini, Pugio Fidei, pp. 782, 793); Yalkut ii. par. 296. But was this new Law to apply only to the Gentiles, or also to Israel? Here again there is divergence of opinions. According to some, this Law would be binding on Israel, but not on the Gentiles, or else the latter would have a modified or condensed series of ordinances (at most thirty commandments). But the most liberal view, and, as we may suppose, that most accetptable to the enlightened, was, that in the furture only these two festive seasons would be observed: The Day of Atonment, and the Feast of Esther (or else that of Tabernacles), and that of all the sacrifices only thank-offerings would be continued.^53885388    Vayyik. R. 9, 27; Midr on Ps. lvi.; c. Nay, opinion went even further, and many held that in Messianic days the distictions of pure and impure, lawful and unlawful, as regarded food, would be abolished.^53895389    Midr. on Ps. cxlvi.; Vavy. R. 13; Tanch., Shemini 7 and 8. There can be little doubt that these different views were entertained even in the days of our Lord and in Apostolic times, and they account for the exceeding bitterness with which the extreme Pharisaic party in the Church at Jerusalem contended, that the Gentile converts must be circumcised, and the full weight of the yoke of the Law laid on their necks. And with a view to this new Law, which God would give to his world through the Messiah, the Rabbis divided all time into three periods: the primitive, that under the Law, and that of the Messiah.^53905390    Yalkut on Is. xxvi.; Sanh. 97 a; Ab. Z. 9 a.

It only remains briefly to describe the beatitude of Israel, both physical and moral, in those days, the state of the nations, and, lastly, the end of that ‘age’ and its merging into ‘the world to come’ (Olam habba). Morally, this would be a period of holiness, of forgiveness, and of peace. Without, there would be no longer enemies nor oppressors. And within the City and Land a more than Paradisiacal state would prevail, which is depicted in even more than the usual realistic Eastern language. For that vast new Jerusalem (not in heaven, but in the literal Palestine) Angels were to cut gems 45 feet long and broad (30 cubits), and place them in its gates;^53915391    Babha B 75 a. the windows and gates were to be of precious stones, the walls of silver, gold, and gems, while all kinds of jewels would be strewed about, of which every Israelite was at liberty to take. Jerusalem would be as large as, at present, all Palestine, and Palestine as all the world.^53925392    Yalkut ii. p. 57 b, par. 363, line 3. Corresponding to this miraculous extension would be a miraculous elevation of Jerusalem into the air.^53935393    Babh B. 75 b. And it is one of the strangest mixtures of self-righteousness and realism with deeper and more spiritual thoughts, when the Rabbis prove by references to the prophetic Scriptures, that every event and miracle in the history of Israel would find its counterpart, or rather larger fulfilment, in Messianic days. Thus, what was recorded of Abraham^53945394    Gen. xviii. 4, 5. would, on account of his merit, find, clause by clause, its counterpart in the future: ‘Let a little water be fetched,’ in what is predicted in Zech. xiv. 8; ‘wash your feet,’ in what is predicted in Is. iv. 5; ‘rest yourselves under the tree,’ in what is said in Is. iv. 4; and ‘I will fetch a morsel of bread,’ in the promise of Ps. lxxii. 16.^53955395    Ber. R. 48.

But by the side of this we find much coarse realism. The land would spontaneously produce the best dresses and the finest cakes;^53965396    Shabb. 30 b. the wheat would grow as high as palm-trees, nay, as the mountains, while the wind would miraculously convert the grain into flour, and cast it into the valleys. Every tree would become fruit-bearing;^53975397    Kethub. 111 b. nay, they were to break forth, and to bear fruit every day;^53985398    Shabb. 30 a, b. daily was every woman to bear child, so that ultimately every Israelitish family would number as many as all Israel at the time of the Exodus.^53995399    Midr. on Ps. xiv. All sickness and disease, and all that could hurt, would pass away. As regarded death, the promise of its final abolition^54005400    Is. xxv. 8. was, with characteristic ingenuity, applied to Israel, while the statement that the child should die an hundred years old^54015401    Is. lxv. 20. was understood as referring to the Gentiles, and as teaching that, although they would die, yet their age would be greatly prolonged, so that a centenarian would be regarded as only a child. Lastly, such physical and outward loss as Rabbinism regarded as the consequence of the Fall,^54025402    Ber. R. 12. would be again restored to man.^54035403    Bemidb. R. 13. ^54045404    They are the following six: His splendour, the continuance of life, his original more than gigantic stature, the fruits of the ground, and of trees, and the brightness of the heavenly lights.

It would be easy to multiply quotations even more realistic than these, if such could serve any good purpose. The same literalism prevails in regard to the reign of King Messiah over the nations of the world. Not only is the figurative language of the prophets applied in the most external manner, but illustrative details of the same character are added. Jerusalem would, as the residence of the Messiah, become the capital of the world, and Israel take the place of the (fourth) world-monarchy, the Roman Empire. After the Roman Empire none other was to rise, for it was to be immediately followed by the reign of Messiah.^54055405    Vayyik. R. 13, end. But that day, or rather that of the fall of the (ten) Gentile nations, which would inaugurate the Empire of Messiah, was among the seven things unknown to man.^54065406    Ber. R. 65. Nay, God had conjured Israel not to communicate to the Gentiles the mystery of the calculation of the times.^54075407    Kethub. 111 a. But the very origin of the wicked world-Empire had been caused by Israel’s sin. It had been (ideally) founded^54085408    On that day Gabriel had descended, cut a reed from the ocean, and planted it in mud from the sea, and on this the city of Rome was founded (Siphré 86 a). when Solomon contracted alliance with the daughter of Pharaoh, while Romulus and Remus rose when Jeroboam set up the worship of the two calves. Thus, what would have become the universal Davidic Rule had, through Israel’s sin, been changed into subjection to the Gentiles. Whether or not these Gentiles would in the Messianic future become proselytes, seems a moot question. Sometimes it is affirmed;^54095409    Ab. A. 24 a. at others it is stated that no proselytes would then be received,^54105410    Ab. Z. 3 b; Yeb. 24 b. and for this good reason, that in the final war and rebellion those proselytes would, from fear, cast off the yoke of Judaism and join the enemies.

That war, which seems a continuation of that Gog and Magog, would close the Messianic era. The nations, who had hitherto given tribute to Messiah, would rebel against Him, when He would destroy them by the breath of His mouth, so that Israel alone would be left on the face of the earth.^54115411    Tanch. ed. Warsh ii. p. 115 a, top. The duration of that period of rebellion is stated to be seven years. It seems, at least, a doubtful point, whether a second or general Resurrection was expected, the more probable view being, that there was only one Resurrection, and that of Israel alone,^54125412    Taan. 7a. or, at any rate, only of the studious and the pious,^54135413    Kethub. 111 b. and that this was to take place at the beginning of the Messianic reign. If the Gentiles rose at all, it would only be immediately again to die.^54145414    Pirké d. R. Eliez. 34. ^54155415    It is, of course, not denied, that individual voices would have assigned part in the world to come to the pious from among the Gentiles. But even so, what is the precise import of this admission?

Then the final Judgment would commence. We must here once more make distinction between Israel and the Gentiles, with whom, nay, as more punishable than they, certain notorious sinners, heretics, and all apostates, were to be ranked. Whereas to Israel the Gehenna, to which all but the perfectly righteous had been consigned at death, had proved a kind of purgatory, from which they were all ultimately delivered by Abraham,^54165416    Erub. 19 a. or, according to some of the later Midrashim, by the Messiah, no such deliverance was in prospect for the heathen nor for sinners of Israel.^54175417    As to the latter, a solitary opinion in Moed K. 27 a. The question whether the fiery torments suffered (which are very realistically described) would at last end in annihilation, is one which at different times received different answeres, as fully explained in another place.^54185418    See Appendix XIX. At the time of Christ the punishment of the wicked was certainly regarded as of eternal duration. Rabbi José, a teacher of the second century, and a representative of the more rationalistic school, says expressly, ‘The fire of Gehinnom is never quenched.’^54195419    Pes. 54 a. And even the passage, so often (although only partially) quoted, to the effect, that the final torments of Gehenna would last for twelve months, after which body and soul would be annihilated, excepts from this a number of Jewish sinners, specially mentioned, such as hereties, Epicureans, apostates, and persecutors, who are designated as ‘children of Gehenna’ (ledorey doroth, to ‘ages of ages’).^54205420    Rosh haSh. 17 a. And with this other statements agree,^54215421    Sanh. x. 3; 106 b. so that at most it would follow that, while annihilation would await the less guilty, the most guilty were to be reserved for etenal punishment.

Such, then, was the final Judgment, to be held in the valley of Jehoshaphat by God, at the head of the Heavenly Sanhedrin, composed of the elders of Israel.^54225422    Tanch. u. s. i. p. 71 a, b. Realistic as its description is, even this is terribly surpassed by a passage^54235423    Ab. Z. 2 a to 3. in which the supposed pleas for mercy by the various nations are adduced and refuted, when, after an unseemly contention between God and the Gentiles - equally shocking to good taste and blasphemous - about the partiality that had been shown to Israel, the Gentiles would be consigned to punishment. All this in a manner revolting to all reverent feeling. And the contrast between the Jewish picture of the last Judgment and that outlined in the Gospel is so striking, as alone to vindicate (were such necessary) the eschatological parts of the New Testament, and to prove what infinite distance there is between the Teaching of Christ and the Theology of the Synagogue.

After the final judgment we must look for the renewal of heaven and earth. In the latter neither physical^54245424    Ber. R. 91. nor moral darkness would any longer prevail, since the Yetser haRa, or ‘Evil impulse,’ would be destroyed.^54255425    Yalkut i. p. 45 c. ^54265426    But it does not seem clear to me, whether this conjunction of the cessation of darkness, together with that of the Yetser haRa, is not intended to be taken figuratively and spiritually. And renewed earth would bring forth all without blemish and in Paradisiacal perfection, while alike physical and moral evil had ceased. Then began the ‘Olam habba,’ or ‘world to come.’ The question, whether any functions or enjoyments of the body would continue, is variously answered. The reply of the Lord to the question of the Sadducees about marriage in the other world seems to imply, that materialistic views on the subject were entertained at the time. Many Rabbinic passages, such as about the great feast upon Leviathan and Behemoth prepared for the righteous in the latter days,^54275427    Babha B. 74 a. confirm only too painfully the impression of grossly materialistic expectations.^54285428    At the same time, many quotations by Christian writers intended to show the materialism of Jewish views are grossly unfair. Thus, for example, Ber. 57 b, quoted by Weber (Altsynag. Theol. p. 384), certainly does not express the grossly carnal expectancy imputed to it. On the other hand, it is certainly grossly materialistic, when we read how the skin of slaughtered Leviathan is to be made into tents, girdles, necklets, or armlets for the blessed, according to their varying merits (Babha B. 75 a). Altogether the account of the nature and hunt of this Leviathan, of the feast held, the various dishes served (Babha B. 74 b to 75 b), and the wine drunk on the occasion (Targ. Pseudo-Jon. on Gen. xxvii. 25; Targ. on Cant. viii. 2; on Eccles. ix. 7), are too coarsely materialistic for quotation. But what a contrast to the description of the ‘Last Things’ by our Lord and His Apostles! This alone would furnish sufficient presumptive evidence in favour of the New Testament. I have tried to touch this very painful matter as delicately as I could, rather by allusions than by descriptions, which could only raise prejudices. On the other hand, passages may be quoted in which the utterly unmaterial character of the ‘world to come’ is insisted upon in most emphatic language.^54295429    Yalkut, vol. i. p. 32 d. and especially Ber. 17 a. In truth, the same fundamental divergences here exist as on other points, such as the abode of the beatified, the visible or else invisible glory which they would enjoy, and even the new Jerusalem. And in regard to the latter,^54305430    This is the Jerusalem built of sapphire, which is to descend from heaven, and in the central sanctuary of which (unlike the worship of the Book of Revelation) Aaron is to officiate and to receive the priestly gifts (Taan. 5 a; Baba B. 75 b). as indeed to all those references to the beatitudes of the world to come, it seems at least doubtful, whether the Rabbis may not have intended to describe rather the Messianic days than the final winding up of all things.

To complete this sketch of Jewish opinions, it is necessary, however briefly, to refer to the Pseudepigraphic Writings,^54315431    See Appendix. which, as will be remembered, expressed the Apocalyptic expectancies of the Jews before the time of Christ. But here we have always to keep in mind this twofold difficulty: that the language used in works of this kind is of a highly figurative character, and must therefore not be literally pressed; and that more than one of them, notably IV. Esdras, dates from post-Christian times, and was, in important respects, admittedly influenced by Christian teaching. But in the main the picture of Messianic times in these writings is the same as the presented by the Rabbis. Briefly, the Pseudepigraphic view may be thus sketched.^54325432    Comp. generally Schürer, Neutest. Zeitgesch. pp. 579, &c. Of the so-called ‘Wars of the Messiah’ there had been already a kind of prefigurement in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes, when armed soldiery had been seen to carry on warfare in the air.^54335433    2 Macc. v. 2, 3. This sign is mentioned in the Sibylline Books^54345434    Or, Sibyll. iii. 795-806. as marking the coming end, together with the sight of swords in the starlit sky at night, the falling of dust from heaven, the extinction of the sunlight and appearance of the moon by day, and the dropping of blood from the rocks. A somewhat similar, though even more realistic, picture is presented in connection with the blast of the third trumpet in IV. (II.) Esdras.^54355435    IV. Esdr. v. 1-12. Only that there the element of moral judgment is more clearly introduced. This appears still more fully in another passage of the same book,^54365436    vi. 18-28. in which, apparently in connection with the Judgment, the influence of Christian teaching, although in an externalised form, may be clearly traced. A perhaps even more detailed description of the wickedness, distress, and physical desolation upon earth at that time, is given in the Book of Jubilees.^54375437    Book of Jubilees xxiii.

At last, when these distresses have reached their final height, when signs are in the sky, ruin upon earth, and the unburied bodies that cover the ground are devoured by birds and wild beasts, or else swallowed up by the earth,^54385438    Orac. Sibyll. iii. 633-652. would God send ‘the King,’ Who would put an end to unrighteousness. Then would follow the last war against Jerusalem, in which God would fight from heaven with the nations, when they would submit to, and own Him.^54395439    u. s. 653-697; comp. the figurative acc’t in the Book of Enoch xc. 16, and following. But while in the Book of Enoch and in another work of the same class^54405440    Assumpt. Mos. x. 2-10. the judgment is ascribed to God, and the Messiah represented as appearing only afterwards,^54415441    Book of Enoch xc. 37. ^54425442    In the Assumptio Mosis there is no reference at all to the Messiah. in the majority of these works the judgment or its execution is assigned to the Messiah.^54435443    Or. Sibyll. iii. 652-656; Book of Enoch, u. s.: comp. ch. xlv. 3-6; xlvi.; lv. 4; lxi. 8, 9, 11, 12; lxii.; lxix. 27-29; Apoc. of Bar. xxxix. 7, 8; xl.; lxx. 9; lxxii. 2, end; IV. (II.) Esdras xii. 32-34; xiii. 25-30, 34-38.

In the land thus restored to Israel, and under the rule of King Messiah, the new Jerusalem would be the capital, purified from the heathen,^54445444    Psalter of Sol. xvii. 25, 33. enlarged, nay, quite transformed. This Jerusalem had been shown to Adam before his Fall,^54455445    The words do not convey to me, as apparently to Dr. Schürer, that the New Jerusalem actually stood in Eden, and, indeed, existed otherwise than ideally. but after that both it and Paradise had been withdrawn from him. It had again been shown to Abraham,^54465446    Apoc. of Baruch iv. 3-6. to Moses, and to Ezra.^54475447    IV. Esdr. x. 44 &c. The splendour of this new Jerusalem is described in most glowing language.^54485448    Tob. xiii. 16-18; xiv. 5; Book of Enoch liii. 6, 7; xc. 28; Apoc. of Baruch xxxii. 4. ^54495449    But I do not see, with Schürer, a reference to its coming down from heaven, not even in the passage in Baruch to which he refers, which is as follows: ‘Et postea oportet renovari in gloria, et coronabitur in perpetuum.’ Of the glorious Kingdom thus instituted, the Messiah would be King,^54505450    Orac. Sibyll. iii. 47-50; and especially Psalter of Solomon xvii., particularly vv. 23 &c., 32, 35, 38, 47. ^54515451    I cannot understand how Schürer can throw doubt upon this, in view of such plain statements as in Ps. of Sol. xvii., such as (in regard to the Messiah): καͺ αͺτͺς βασιλεͺς δͺκαιος διδακτͺς ͺπͺ Θεοͺ ͺπ’ αͺτοͺς. although under the supremacy of God. His reign would extend over the heathen nations. The character of their submission was differently viewed, according to the more or less Judaic standpoint of the writers. Thus, in the Book of Jubilees^54525452    Bk. of Jub. xxxii. the seed of Jacob are promised possession of the whole earth; they would ‘rule over all nations according to their pleasure; and after that draw the whole earth unto themselves, and inherit it for ever.’ In the ‘Assumption of Moses’^54535453    Or. Sibyll. x. 8. this ascendency of Israel seems to be conjoined with the idea of vengeance upon Rome,^54545454    ‘Et ascendes supra cervices et alas aquilæ.’ although the language employed is highly figurative.^54555455    Comp. ver. 9. On the other hand, in the Sibylline Books^54565456    Ass. Mos. iii. 715-726. the nations are represented as, in view of the blessings enjoyed by Israel, themselves turning to acknowledge God, when perfect mental enlightenment and absolute righteousness, as well as physical well-being, would prevail under the rule and judgeship (whether literal or figurative) of the Prophets.^54575457    u. s. 766-783. The most ‘Grecian’ view of the Kingdom, is, of course, that expressed by Philo. He anticipates, that the happy moral condition of man would ultimately affect the wild beasts, which, relinquishing their solitary habits, would first become gregarious; then, imitating the domestic animals, gradually come to respect man as their master, nay, become as affectionate and cheerful as ‘Maltese dogs.’ Among men, the pious and virtuous would bear rule, their dignity inspiring respect, their terror fear, and their beneficence good will.^54585458    De Præm. et Pœn. ed. Mang. ii. 422-424; ed. Fref. 923-925. Probably intermediate between this extreme Grecian and the Judaic conception of the Millennium, are such utterances as ascribe the universal acknowledgment of the Messiah to the recognition, that God had invested Him with glory and power, and that His Reign was that of blessing.^54595459    Book of Enoch xlviii. 4, 5; xc. 37; Ps. of Sol. xvii. 34, 35, 38-40.

It must have been remarked, that the differences between the Apocalyptic teaching of the Pseudepigrapha and that of the New Testament are as marked as those between the latter and that of the Rabbis. Another point of divergence is, that the Pseudepigrapha uniformly represent the Messianic reign as eternal, not broken up by any further apostasy or rebellion.^54605460    This is expressed in the clearest language in every one of these books. In view of this, to maintain the opposite on the ground of these isolated words in Baruch (xl. 3): ‘Et erit principatus ejus stans in saeculum, donec finiatur mundus corruptionis,’ seems, to say the least, a strange contention, especially when we read in lxxiii. 1.: ‘Sederit in pace in aeternum super throno regni sui.’ We can quite understand that Gfrörer should propound this view in order to prove that the teaching of the New Testament is only a reflection of that of later Judaism; but should an argument so untenable be repeated? IV. Esdras must not here be quoted, as admittedly containing New Testament elements. Then would the earth be renewed,^54615461    Book of Enoch xlv. 4, 5. ^54625462    Dr. Schürer, following in this also Gfrörer, holds that one party placed the renewal of the earth after the close of the Messianic reign. He quotes in support only Bar. lxxiv. 2, 3; but the words do not convey to me that inference. For the reason stated in the preceding Note, IV. Esdras cannot here serve as authority. and this would be followed, lastly, by the Resurrection. In the Apocalypse of Baruch,^54635463    Ap. Bar. 1, 2, 3. as by the Rabbis, it is set forth that men would rise in exactly the same condition which they had borne in life, so that, by being recognised, the reality of the Resurrection would be attested, while in the re-union of body and soul each would receive its due meed for the sins committed in their state of combination while upon earth.^54645464    Sanh, 91 a and b. But after that a transformation would take place: of the just into the Angelic splendour of their glory, while, on view of this, the wicked would correspondingly fade away.^54655465    u. s. li. 1-6. Josephus states that the Pharisees taught only a Resurrection of the Just.^54665466    Ant. xviii. 1, 3; War ii. 8, 14. As we know that such was not the case, we must regard this as one of the many assertions made by that writer for purposes of his own - probably to present to outsiders the Pharisaic doctrine in the most attractive and rational light of which it was capable. Similarly, the modern contention, that some of the Pseudepigraphic Writings propound the same view of only a Resurrection of the Just,^54675467    In support of it Schürer quotes Ps. of Sol. iii. 16, xiv. 2, &c. But these passages convey to me, and will, I think, to others, the very opposite. Ps. iii. 16 says nothing of the wicked, only of the righteous. But in ver. 13 b we have it: ͺ ͺπͺλεια τοͺ ͺμαρτωλοͺ εͺς τͺν αͺͺνα, and in ver. 15, αͺτη μερͺς τͺν ͺμαρτωλͺν εͺς τͺν αͺͺνα. Ps. xiv. 2 has again only reference to the righteous, but in ver. 6 we have this plain statement, which renders any doubt impossible, διͺ τοͺτο ͺ κληρονομͺα αͺτων ͺδης καͺ σκͺτος καͺ ͺπͺλεια. is contrary to evidence.^54685468    Comp. Book of Enoch and Apoc. of Bar. There can be no question that, according to the Pseudepigrapha, in the general Judgment, which was to follow the universal Resurrection, the reward and punishment assigned are represented as of eternal duration, although it may be open to question, as in regard to Rabbinic teaching, which of those who had been sinners would suffer final and endless torment.

The many and persistent attempts, despite the gross inconsistencies involved, to represent the teaching of Christ concerning ‘the Last Things’ as only the reflection of contemporary Jewish opinion, have rendered detailed evidence necessary. When, with the information just summarised, we again turn to the questions addressed to Him by the disciples, we recall that (as previously shown) they could not have conjoined, or rather confounded, the ‘when’ of ‘these things’ - that is, of the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple - with the ‘when’ of His Second Coming and the end of the ‘Age.’ We also recall the suggestion, that Christ referred to His Advent, as to His disappearance, from the Jewish standpoint of Jewish, rather than from the general cosmic view-point of universal, history.

As regards the answer of the Lord to the two questions of His disciples, it may be said that the first part of His Discourse^54695469    St. Matt. xxiv. 4-35, and parallels. is intended to supply information on the two facts of the future: the destruction of the Temple, and His Second Advent and the end of the ‘Age,’ by setting before them the signs indicating the approach or beginning of these events. But even here the exact period of each is not defined, and the teaching given intended for purely practical purposes. In the second part of His Discourse^54705470    St. Matt. xxiv. 36 to end, and parallels. the Lord distinctly tells them, what they are not to know, and why; and how all that was communicated to them was only to prepare them for that constant watchfulness, which has been to the Church at all times the proper outcome of Christ’s teaching on the subject. This, then we may take as a guide in our study: that the words of Christ contain nothing beyond what was necessary for the warning and teaching of the disciples and of the Church.

The first Part of Christ’s Discourse^54715471    vv. 4-35. consists of four Sections,^54725472    vv. 4-8; 9-14; 15-28; 29-35. of which the first describes ‘the beginning of the birth-woes’^54735473    St. Matt. xxiv. 8; St. Mark xiii. 8. ^54745474    ͺρχͺ ͺδͺνων, St. Matt. xxiv. 8, and so according to the better reading also in St. Mark. of the new ‘Age’ about to appear. The expression: ‘The End is not yet’^54755475    St. Matt. xxiv. 6. clearly indicates, that it marks only the earliest period of the beginning - the farthest terminus a quo of the ‘birth-woes.’^54765476    Generally, indeed, these are regarded as ‘the birth-woes’ of ‘the end.’ But this not only implies a logical impossibility (the birth-woes of the end), but it must be remembered that these ‘travail-pains’ are the judgments on Jerusalem, or else on the world, which are to usher in the new - to precede its birth. Another general consideration, which seems of importance, is, that the Synoptic Gospels report this part of the Lord’s Discourse in almost identical language. If the inference from this seems that their accounts were derived from a common source - say, the report of St. Peter - yet this close and unvarying repetition also conveys an impression, that the Evangelists themselves may not have fully understood the meaning of what they recorded. This may account for the rapid and unconnected transitions from subject to subject. At the same time it imposes on us the duty of studying the language anew, and without regard to any scheme of interpretation. This only may be said, that the obvious difficulties of negative criticism are here equally great, whether we suppose the narratives to have been written before or after the destruction of Jerusalem.

1. The purely practical character of the Discourse appears from its opening words.^54775477    ver 4. They contain a warning, addressed to the disciples in their individual, not in their corporate, capacity, against being ‘led astray.’ This, more particularly in regard to Judaic seductions leading them after false Christs. Though in the multitude of impostors, who, in the troubled times between the rule of Pilate and the destruction of Jerusalem, promised Messianic deliverance to Israel, few names and claims of this kind have been specially recorded, yet the hints in the New Testament,^54785478    Acts v. 36; viii. 9; xxi. 38. and the references, however guarded, by the Jewish historian,^54795479    War ii. 13, 4, 5; Ant. xx. 5, 1; 8,10. imply the appearance of many such seducers. And their influence, not only upon Jews, but on Jewish Christians, might be the more dangerous, that the latter would naturally regard ‘the woes,’ which were the occasion of their pretensions, as the judgements which would usher in the Advent of their Lord. Against such seduction they must be peculiarly on their guard. So far for the ‘things’ connected with the destruction of Jerusalem and the overthrow of the Jewish commonwealth. But, taking a wider and cosmic view, they might aslso be misled by either rumours of war at a distance, or by actual warfare,^54805480    Of such wars and rumours of wars not only Josephus, but the Roman historians,. have much to say about that time. See the Commentaries. so as to believe that the dissolution of the Roman Empire, and with it the Advent of Christ, was at hand.^54815481    St. Matt. xxiv. 6-8. ^54825482    We know how persistently Nero has been identified with Anti-Christ, and how the Church then expected the immediate return of Christ; nay, in all ages, ‘the End’ has been associated with troubles in ‘the Roman Empire.’ This also would be a Misapprehension, grievously misleading, and to be carefully guarded against.

Although primarily applying to them, yet alike the peculiarly Judaic, or, it might be even Christian, and the general cosmic sources of misapprehension as to the near Advent of Christ, must not be limited to the times of the Apostles. They rather indicate these twofold grounds of misapprehension which in all ages have misled Christians into an erroneous expectancy of the immediate Advent of Christ: the seductions of false Messiahs, or, it may be, teachers, and violent distrubances in the political world. So far as Israel was concerned, these attained their climax in the great rebellion against Rome under the false Messiah, Bar Kokhba, in the time of Hadrian,^54835483    A. D. 132-135. although echoes of similar false claims, or hope of them, have again and again roused Israel during the night of these any centuries into brief, startled waking. And, as regards the more general cosmic signs, have not Christians, in the early ages watched, not only the wars on the boundaries of the Empire, but the condition of the state in the age of Nero the risings, turmoils, and threatenings; and so onwards, those of later generations, even down to the commotions of our own period, as if they betokened the immediate Advent of Christ, instead of marking in them only the beginning of the birth-woes of the new ‘Age?’

2. From the warning to Christians as individuals, the Lord next turns to give admonition to the Church in her corporate capacity. Here we mark, that the events now described^54845484    St. Matt. xxiv. 9-14, and parallels. must not be regarded as following, with strict chronological precision, those referred to in the previous verses. Rather is it intended to indicate a general nexus and partly after, those formerly predicted. They form, in fact, the continuation of the ‘birth-woes.’ This appears even from the language used. Thus, while St. Matthew writes: ‘Then’ (τͺτε at that time) ‘shall they deliver you up,’ St. Luke places the persecutions ‘before all these things;’^54855485    St. Luke xxi. 12. while St. Mark, who reports this part of the Discourse most fully, omits every note of time, and only emphasises the admonition which the fact conveys.^54865486    St. Mark xii. 9. As regards the admonition itself, expressed in this part of the Lord’s Discourse,^54875487    St. Matt. xxiv. 9-14, and parallels. we notice that, as formerly to individuals, so now to the Church, two sources of danger are pointed out: internal from heresies (‘false prophets’) and the decay of faith,^54885488    St. Matt. xxiv. 10-13. and external, from persecutions, whether Judaic and from their own kindred, or from the secular powers throughout the world. But, along with these two dangers, two consoling facts are also pointed out. As regards the persecutions in prospect, full Divine aid is promised to Christians - alike to individuals and to the Church. Thus all care and fear may be dismissed: their testimony shall neither be silenced, nor shall the Church be suppressed or extinguished; but inward joyousness, outward perseverance, and final triumph, are secured by the Presence of the Risen Saviour with, and the felt indwelling of the Holy Ghost in His Church. And, as for the other and equally consoling fact: despite the persecution of Jews and Gentiles, before the End cometh ‘this the Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the inhabited earth for a testimony to all the nations.’^54895489    St. Matt. xxiv. 14. This, then, is really the only sign of ‘the End’ of the present ‘Age.’

3. From these general predicitons, the Lord proceeds, in the third part of this Discourse,^54905490    St. Matt. xxiv. 15-28, and parallels; note especially the language of St. Luke. to advertise the Disciples of the great historic fact immediately before them, and of the dangers which might spring from it. In truth, we have here His answer to their question, ‘When shall these things be?’^54915491    St. Matt. xxiv. 3. not, indeed, as regards the when, but the what of them. And with this He conjoins the present application of His general warning regarding false Christs, given in the first part of this Discourse.^54925492    vv. 4, 5. The fact of which He now, in this third part of His Discourse, advertises them, is the destruction of Jerusalem. Its twofold dangers would be - outwardly, the difficulties and perils which at that time would necessarily beset men, and especially the members of the infant-Church; and, religiously, the pretensions and claims of false Christs or prophets at a period when all Jewish thinking and expectancy would lead men to anticipate the near Advent of the Messiah. There can be no question, that from both these dangers the warning of the Lord delivered the Church. As directed by him, the members of the Christian Church fled at an early period of the siege.^54935493    So Eusebius (Hist. Eccl. iii. 5) relates that the Christians of Judæa fled to Pella, on the northern boundary of Peræa in 68 A.D. Comp. also Jos. War iv. 9. 1, v. 10. 1. of Jerusalem to Pella, while the words in which He had told that His Coming would not be in secret, but with the brighteness of that lightning which shot across the sky, prevented not only their being deceived, but perhaps even the record, if not the rise of many who otherwise would have deceived them. As for Jerusalem, the prophetic vision initially fulfilled in the days of Antiochus^54945494    2 Macc. vi. 1-9. would once more, and now fully, become reality, and the abomination of desolation^54955495    The quotation from Dan. ix, 27 is neither a literal translation of the original, nor a reproduction of the LXX. The former would be: ‘And upon the wing [or corner] of the abominations the destroyer.’ Our Lord takes the well known Biblical expression in the general sense in which the Jews took it, that the heathen power (Rome, the abominable) would bring desolation - lay the city and Temple waste. stand in the Holy Place. This, together with tribulation to Israel, unparalledled in the terrible past of its history, and unequalled even in its bloody future. Nay, so dreadful would be the persecution, that, if Divine mercy had not interposed for the sake of the followers of Christ, the whole Jewish race that inhabited the land would have been swept away.^54965496    St. Matt. xxiv. 22. But on the morrow of that day no new Maccabee would arise, no Christ come, as Israel fondly hoped; but over that carcase would the vultures gather;^54975497    Ver. 28. and so through all the Age of the Gentiles, till converted Israel should raise the welcoming shout: ‘Blessed be He that cometh in the Name of the Lord!’

4.^54985498    vv. 29-31. The Age of the Gentiles, ‘the end of the Age,’ and with it the new allegiance of His now penitent people Israel; ‘the sign of the Son of Man in heaven,’ perceived by them; the conversion of all the world, the Coming of Christ, the last Trumpet, the Resurrection of the dead - such, in most rapid sketch, is the outline which the Lord draws of His Coming and the End of the world.

It will be remembered that this had been the second question of the disciples.^54995499    St. Matt. xxiv. 3. We again recall, that the disciples did not, indeed, could not have connected, as immediately subsequent events, the destruction of Jerusalem and His Second Coming, since he had expressly placed between them the period - apparently protracted - of His Absence,^55005500    xxiii. 38, 39. with the many events that were to happen in it - notably, the preaching of the Gospel over the whole inhabited earth.^55015501    xxiv. 14. Hitherto the Lord had, in His Discourse, dwelt in detail only on those events which would be fulfilled before this generation should pass.^55025502    ver. 34. It had been for admonition and warning that He had spoken, not for the gratification of curiosity. It had been prediction of the immediate future for practical purposes, with such dim and general indication of the more distant future of the Church as was absolutely necessary to mark her position in the world as one of persecution, with promise, however, of His Presence and Help; with indication also of her work in the world, to its terminus ad quem - the preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom to all nations on earth.

More than this concerning the future of the Church could not have been told without defeating the very object of the admonition and warning which Christ had exclusively in view, when answering the question of the disciples. Accordingly, what follows in ver. 29, describes the history, not of the Church - far less any visible physical signs in the literal heavens - but, in prophetic imagery, the history of the hostile powers of the world, with its lessons. A constant succession of empires and dynasties would characterise politically - and it is only the political aspect with which we are here concerned - the whole period after the extinction of the Jewish State.^55035503    St. Matt. xxiv. 30. Immediately after that would follow the appearance to Israel of the ‘Sign’ of the Son of Man in heaven, and with it the conversion of all nations (as previously predicted),^55045504    ver. 14. the Coming of Christ,^55055505    ver. 30. and, finally, the blast of the last Trumpet and the Resurrection.^55065506    ver. 31.

5. From this rapid outline of the future the Lord once more turned to make present application to the disciplies; nay, application, also, to all times. From the fig-tree, under which, on that spring afternoon, they may have rested on the Mount of Olives, they were to learn a ‘parable.’^55075507    vv. 32, 33. We can picture Christ taking one of its twigs, just as its softening tips were bursting into young leaf. Surely, this meant that summer was nigh - not that it had actually come. The distinction is important. For, it seems to prove that ‘all these things,’ which were to indicate to them that it^55085508    Not as in the R. V. ‘He.’ It can scarcely be supposed that Christ would. speak of Himself in the third person. The subject is evidently ‘the summer’ (not as Meyer would render θͺρος=’harvest’). In St. Luke xxi. 31 it is paraphrased ‘the Kingdom of God.’ was near, even at the doors, and which were to be fulfilled ere this generation had passed away, could not have referred, to the last signs connected with the immediate Advent of Christ,^55095509    vv. 29-31. but must apply to the previous prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem and of the Jewish Commonwealth. At the same time we again admit, that the language of the Synoptists seems to indicate, that they had not clearly understood the words of the Lord which they reported, and that in their own minds they had associated the ‘last signs’ and the Advent of Christ with the fall of the City. Thus may they have come to expect that Blessed Advent even in their own days.

II. It is at least a question, whether the Lord, while distinctly indicating these facts, and intended to remove the doubt and uncertainty of their sucession from the minds of His disciples. To have done so would have necessitated that which, in the opening sentence of the Second Division of this Discourse,^55105510    St. Matt xxiv. 36 to end. He had expressly declared to lie beyond their ken. The ‘when’ - the day and the hour of His Coming - was to remain hidden from men and Angels.^55115511    St. Matt. xxiv.36. Nay, even the Son Himself - as they viewed Him and as He spake to them - knew it not.^55125512    The expression does not, of course, refer to Christ in His Divinity, but to the Christ, such as they saw Him, in His Messianic capacity and office. It formed no part of His present Messianic Mission, nor subject for His Messianic Teaching. Had it done so, all the teaching that follows concerning the need of constant watchfulness, and the pressing duty of working for Christ in faith, hope, and love - with purity, self-denial, and endurance - would have been lost. The peculiar attitude of the Church: with loins grit for work, since the time was short, and the Lord might come at any moment; with her hands busy; her mind faithful; her face upturned towards the Sun that was so soon to rise; and her ear straining to catch the first notes of heaven’s song of triumph - all this would have been lost! What has sustained the Church during the night of sorrow these many centuries; what has nerved her courage for the battle, with steadfastness to bear, with love to work, with patience and joy in disappointments - would all have been lost! The Church would not have been that of the New Testament, had she known the mystery of that day and hour, and not ever waited as for the immediate Coming of her Lord and Bridegroom.

And what the Church of the New Testament has been, and is, that her Lord and Master made her, and by no agency more effectually than by leaving undetermined the precise time of His return. To the world this would indeed become the occasion for utter carelessness and practical disbelief of the coming Judgment.^55135513    vv. 37-40. As in the days of Noah the long delay of threatened judgment had led to absorption in the ordinary engagements of life, to the entire disbelief of what Noah had preached, so would it be in the future. But that day would come certainly and unexpectedly, to the sudden seperation of those who were engaged in the same daily business of life, of whom one might be taken up (παραλαμβͺνεται, ‘received’), the other left to the destruction of the coming Judgment.^55145514    vv. 40,41.

But this very mixture of the Church with the world in the ordinary avocations of life indicated a greater danger. As in all such, the remedy which the Lord would set before us is not negative in the avoidance of certain things, but positive.^55155515    vv. 42-51. We shall best succeed, not by going out of the world, but by being watchful in it, and keeping fresh on our hearts, as well as our minds, the fact that he is our Lord, and that we are, and always most lovingly, to look and long for His Return. Otherwise twofold damage might come to us. Not expecting the arrival of the Lord in the night-time (which is the most unlikely for His Coming), we might go to sleep, and the Enemy, taking advantage or it, rob us of our peculiar treasure. ^55165516    St Matt xxiv. 43, 44. Thus the Church, not expecting her lord, might become as poor as the world. This would be loss. But there might be even worse. According to the Master’s appointment, each one had, during Christ’s absence, his work for Him, and the reward of grace, or else the punishment of neglect, were in assured prospect. The faithful steward, to whom the Master had entrusted the care of His household, to supply His found faithful, be rewarded by advancement to far larger and more responsible work. On the other hand, belief on the delay of the Lord’s Return would lead to neglect to the Master’s work, to unfaithfulness, tyranny, self-indulgence and sin.^55175517    ver. 45, end. And when the Lord suddenly came, as certianly he would come, there would be not only loss, but damage, hurt, and the punishment awarded to the hypocrites. Hence, let the Church be ever on her watch,^55185518    ver. 42. let her ever be in readiness!^55195519    ver. 44. And how terribly the moral consequences of unreadiness, and the punishment threatened, have ensued, the history of the Church during these eighteen centuries has only too often and too sadly shown.^55205520    The Parable in St. Luke xii. 35-48 is so closely parallel to this, that it seems unnecessary to enter in detail upon its consideration.