We conclude then:
1. That the coming here spoken of is the Parousia, the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. That the manner of His coming was to be glorious -' in his own glory; 'in the glory of his Father; "
with the holy angels.'
3. That the object of His coming was to judge that 'wicked and adulterous generation ' (Mark viii.
38), and ' to reward every' man according to his works.'
4. That His coming would be the consummation of 'the kingdom of God;' the close of the aeon; 'the
coming of the kingdom of God with power.'
5. That this coming was expressly declared by our Saviour to be near. Lange justly remarks that the
words, are 'emphatically placed at the beginning of the sentence; not a simple future, but meaning,
The event is impending that He shall come; He is about to come.' (14)
6. That some of those who heard our Lord utter this prediction were to live to witness the event of
which He spoke, viz., His coming in glory.
The inference therefore is, that the Parousia, or glorious coming of Christ, was declared by Himself to
fall within the limits of the then existing generation,- a conclusion which we shall find in the sequel to
be abundantly justified.
THE COMING OF THE SON OF MAN CERTAIN AND SPEEDY.
Parable of the Importunate Widow.
Luke xviii. 1-8: 'And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray and
not to faint; saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: and
there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And
he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard
man; get because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she
weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge his own
elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them ? I tell you that he will
avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth'
[in the land] ?
The intensely practical and present-day character, if we may so call it, of our Lord's discourses,
is a feature of His teaching which, though often overlooked, requires to be steadily kept in view. He
spoke to His own people, and to His own times. He was God's messenger to Israel; and, while it is
most true that His words are for all men and for all time, yet their primary and direct bearing was
upon His own generation. For want of attention to this fact, many expositors have wholly missed the
point of the parable before us. It becomes in their hands a vague and indefinite prediction of a
vindication of the righteous, in some period more or less remote, but having no special relation to the
people and time of our Lord Himself. Assuredly, whatever the parable may be to us or to future
ages, it had a close and bearing upon the disciples to whom it was originally spoken. The Lord was
about to leave His disciples 'as sheep in the midst of wolves; ' they were to be persecuted and
afflicted, hated of all men for their Master's sake; and it might well be that their courage would fail
them, and their hearts would faint. In this parable the Saviour encourages them 'to pray always, and
not to faint,' by the example of what persevering prayer can do even with man. If the importunity of a
poor widow could constrain an unprincipled judge to do her right, how much more would God, the
righteous Judge, be moved by the prayers of His own children to redress their wrongs. Without
allegorising all the details of the parable, after the manner of some expositors, it is enough to mark its
great moral. It is this. The persecuted children of God would he surely and speedily avenged. God
will vindicate them, and that speedily. But when ? The point of time is not left indefinite. It is 'when
the Son of man cometh.' The Parousia was to be the hour of redress and deliverance to the suffering
people of God.
The reflection of our Lord in the close of the eighth verse deserves particular attention.
'Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth ?' We must here revert to
the facts already stated with respect to the ministry of John the Baptist. We have seen how dark and
ominous was the outlook of the prophet who preached repentance to Israel. He was the precursor of
'the great and terrible day of the Lord ;' he was the second Elijah sent to proclaim the coming of Him
who would 'smite the land with a curse.' The reflection of our Lord suggests that He foresaw that the
repentance which could alone avert the doom of the nation was not to be looked for. There would be
no faith in God, in His promises, or in His threatenings. The day of His therefore, would be the 'day
of vengeance (Luke xxi. 22).
Doddridge has well apprehended the scope of this parable, and paraphrases the opening verse as
follows: 'Thus our Lord discoursed with His disciples of the approaching destruction of Jerusalem by
the Romans; and for their encouragement under those hardships which they might in the meantime
expect, from their unbelieving countrymen or others, He spake a parable, to them, which was
intended to inculcate upon them this great truth, that how distressed soever their circumstances might
be, they ought always to pray with faith and perseverance, and not to faint under their trials.' (15)
The following is his paraphrase of ver. 8: ' Yes I say unto you, He will certainly vindicate them;
and when He once undertakes it, He will do it speedily too; and this generation of men shall see and
feel it to their terror. Nevertheless, when the Son of man, having been put ill possession of His
glorious kingdom, comes to appear for this important purpose, will He find faith in the land ?' (16)
THE REWARD OF THE DISCIPLES IN THE COMING AEON,
i.e. AT THE PAROUSIA
Matt. xix. 27-30.
'Then answered Peter and said
unto him, Behold, we have
forsaken all, and followed thee;
what shall we have therefore?
And Jesus said unto them,
Verily I say unto you, That ye
which have followed me, in the
regeneration when the Son of
man shall site in the throne of his
glory, ye also shall sit upon
twelve thrones, judging the
twelve tribes of Israel. And
every one that hath forsaken
houses, or brethren, or sisters,
or father, or mother, or wife, or
children, or lands, for my
name's sake, shall receive an
hundredfold, and shall inherit
everlasting life.'
Mark x. 18-31.
'Then Peter began to say unto
him, Lo, we have left all, and
have followed thee.
'And Jesus answered and said,
Verily I say unto you, There is no
man that hath left house, or
brethren, or sisters, of father, or
mother, or wife, or children, or
lands, for my sake, and the
gospel's, but he shall receive an
hundredfold now in this time,
houses, and brethren, and sisters,
and mothers, and children, and
lands, with persecutions; and in
the world to come eternal life.'
Luke xvii. 28-30.
'Then Peter said, Lo, we have
left all, and followed thee.
'And he said unto them, Verily I
say unto you, There is no man
that hath left house, or parents,
or brethren, or wife, or children,
for the kingdom of God's sake,
who shall not receive manifold
more in this present time, and in
the world to come life
everlasting.'
To what period are we to assign the event or state here called by our Lord the 'regeneration'? It is
evidently contemporaneous with 'the Son of man sitting on the throne of his glory;' nor can there be
any question that the two phrases, 'The Son of man coming in his kingdom,' and, 'The Son of man
sitting on the throne of his glory,' both refer to the same thing, and to the same time. That is to say, it
is to the Parousia that both these expressions point.
We have another note of time, and another point of coincidence between the 'regeneration ' and
the Parousia, in the reference made by our Lord to the 'coming age or aeon' as the period when His
faithful disciples were to receive their recompense (Mark x.30; Luke xviii. 30). But the 'coming age'
was, as we have already seen, to succeed the existing age or aeon, that is to say, the period of the
Jewish dispensation, the end of which our Lord declared to be at hand. We conclude, therefore, that
the 'regeneration,' the 'coming age,' and the 'Parousia,' are virtually synonymous, or, at all events,
contemporaneous. The coming of the Son of man in His kingdom, or in His glory, is distinctly
affirmed to be a coming to judgment -- 'to reward every man according to his works (Matt. xvi. 27);
and His sitting on the throne of His glory, in the regeneration, is as evidently a sitting in judgment. In
this judgment the apostles were to have the honour of being assessors with the Lord, according to
His declaration (Luke xxii. 29, 30)- 'I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto
me; that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes
of Israel.' But this glorious coming to judgment is expressly affirmed by our Lord to fall within the
limits of the generation then living: 'There be some standing here which shall not taste of death, till they
see the Son of man coming in his kingdom' (Matt. xvi. 28). It was therefore no long-deferred and
distant hope which Jesus held out to His disciples. It was not a prospect that is still seen afar off in the
dim perspective of an indefinite futurity. St. Peter and his fellow-disciples were fully aware that 'the
kingdom of heaven' was at hand. They had learned it from their first teacher in the wilderness; they
had been reassured of it by their Lord and Master; they had gone through Galilee proclaiming the
truth to their countrymen. When the Lord, therefore, promised, that in the coming aeon His apostles
should sit upon thrones, is it conceivable that He could mean that ages upon ages, centuries upon
centuries, and even millennium upon millennium must slowly roll away before they should reap their
promised honours? Are the inheritance of 'everlasting life' and the 'sitting upon twelve thrones' still
among 'the things hoped for but not seen ' by the disciples? Surely such a hypothesis refutes itself.
The promise would have sounded like mockery to the disciples had they been told that the
performance would be so long delayed. On the other hand, if we conceive of the 'regeneration' as
contemporaneous with the Parousia, and the Parousia, with the close of the Jewish age and the
destruction of the city and temple of Jerusalem, we have a definite point of time, not far distant, but
almost within the sight of living men, when the predicted judgment of the enemies of Christ, and the
glorious recompense of His friends, would come to pass.
Footnotes
1. Reden Jesu, in loc. Back
2. Jewish War, bk v. c. x sec. 5. Traill's translation. Back
3. Ibid. G. Xiii. sec. 6. Back
4. Ibid. bk. vii. c. viii. sec. I. Back
5. sec. Reden Jesu; Matt. xii, 43-45. Back
6. Greek Test. in loc. Back
7. Life of Christ, sec. 245. Back
8. Synonyms of the New Test. vol. i. a. 70; Bib. Cab. No. iii. Back
9. There is a real difficulty in this passage which ought not to be overlooked. It seems unaccountable
that our Lord, on an occasion like this, when He was sending forth the twelve on a short mission,
apparently within a limited district, and from which they were to return to Him in a short time, should
speak of of His coming as overtaking them before the completion of their task. It seems scarcely
appropriate to the particular period, and to belong more properly to a subsequent charge, viz., that
recorded in the discourse spoken on the Mount of Olives (Matt. xxiv.; Mark xiii.; Luke xxi ). Indeed,
a comparison of these passages will go far to satisfy any candid mind that the whole paragraph Matt.
x. 16-23) is transposed from its original connection, and inserted in our Lord's first charge to His
disciples We find the very words relating to the persecution of the apostles, their being delivered up
to the councils, their being scourged in the synagogues, brought before governors and kings, etc.,
which are recorded in the tenth chapter of St. Matthew, assigned by St. Mark and St. Luke to a
subsequent period, viz., the discourse on the Mount of Olives. There is no evidence that the disciples
met with such treatment on their first evangelistic tour There is therefore as strong evidence as the
nature of the case will admit, that ver. 23 and its context belong to the discourse on the Mount of
Olives. This would remove the difficulty which the passage presents in the connection in which we
here find it, and give a coherence and consistency to the language, which, as it stands, it is not easy to
discover. It is an admitted fact that even the Synoptical Gospels do not relate all events in precisely
the same order; there most therefore be greater chronological accuracy in one than in another. Stier
says: 'Matthew is careless of chronology in details' (Reden Jesu, vol. iii. p. US). Neander, speaking
on this very charge, says: 'Matthew evidently connects many things with the instructions given to the
apostles in view of their first journey, which chronologically belong later; ' (Life of Christ, _ 174, note
b); and again, speaking of the charge given to the seventy, as recorded by St. Luke: 'he says, 'The
entire and characteristic coherency of everything spoken by Christ, according to Luke, with the
circumstances (so superior to the collocation of Matthew),' etc. (Life of Christ, _ 204, note 1). Dr.
Blaikie observes: 'It is generally understood that Matthew arranged his narrative more by subjects
and places than by chronology' (Bible History, p. 372).
There seems, therefore, abundant warrant for assigning the important prediction contained in Matt. x
.23 to the discourse delivered on the Mount of Olives.
10. See note In Harmony of the Four Gospels. Back
11. The training of the Twelve, p. 117 Back
12. Large, Comm. on St. Matt. in loc. Back
13. Alford, Greek Test. in loc. Back
14. See Lange in loc. Back
15. Family Expos. on Luke xviii. 1-8 Back
16. Doddridge teas the following note on 'Will he find faith in the land ?' 'It is evident the word often
signifies not the earth in general, but some particular land or country; as in Acts vii. 3, 4,11, and in
numberless other places. And the context here limits it to the less extensive signification. The believing
Hebrews were evidently in great danger of being wearied out with their persecutions and distresses.
Comp. Heb. iii. 12-14; x. 23-39; xii. 1-4; James i. 1-4; ii. 6.'
The interpretation given by the judicious Campbell adds confirmation, if it were needed, needed, to
this view of the passage. 'There is a close connection in all that our Lord says on any topic of
conversation, which rarely escapes an attentive reader. If in this, as is very probable, He refers to the
destruction impending over the Jewish nation, as the judgment of Heaven for their rebellious against
God, in rejecting and murdering the Messiah. and in persecuting His adherents, (the Greek) must be
understood to mean "this belief," or the belief of the particular truth He had been inculcating, namely,
that God will in due time avenge His elect, and signally punish their oppressors; and (the Greek) must
mean "the land,"_to wit, of Judea. The words may be translated either way -- earth or land; but the
latter evidently gives them a more definite meaning, and unites them more closely with those which
preceded, (Campbell on the Gospels, vol. ii. p. 384). The teaching of this instructive parable is by no
means exhausted; and we shall find it throw an unexpected light on a very obscure passage, at a
future stage of this investigation. Meantime we may refer to 2 Thess. i 4-10, as furnishing a striking
commentary on the whole parable, and showing the connection between the Paroursia and the
avenging of the elect. Back
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