AS the King passed out from the Temple, His disciples showed Him its buildings. Why did they draw His special attention to the buildings of the Temple at this point? How often they had been there together, how often they had walked with Him the streets of Jerusalem, how often they had passed through the courts of the Temple, how often they had listened to His teaching, but they drew His special attention to the buildings now. There can be little doubt that we must link this fact with what He had just said, "Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem . . . how often would I have gathered thy children together, and ye would not! behold, your house is left unto you desolate." There was nothing that indicated desolation in the material aspect of affairs at that moment in Jerusalem. The Jews had never been more strongly attached to their Temple. Of course the ancient glory of Solomon's Temple had passed and had never been replaced in some respects; but in other ways, the Temple existing was even finer than that existing in Solomon's time. As Jesus passed out of that Temple, His disciples came to Him to draw His attention to it, to its beauty, to its strength, to its solidity, in all likelihood to contradict the possibility of what He had said. It was as though they had said, Master, do you mean to say this house is ever to be desolate? Behold its beauty, we want Thee to examine it. He immediately answered; "See ye not all these things? Verily, I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down." That was a definite and positive prophecy, fulfilled quite literally, a little more than a generation later. Nothing seemed so unlikely when our Lord said it. The Hebrew people were then on excellent terms with their Roman Governors. There had been rebellions, there had been difficulties; but these things had been largely settled to all appearance. The perpetual principle of Roman government was never to interfere with the religion of a people unless the people made that religion the cause of disaffection. Everything seemed at the moment to be hopeful and prosperous.

The King passed on through the Temple to the Mount of Olives, and as He sat on the Mount of Olives the disciples came to Him, and said, "Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the consummation of the age?"

We are very much in danger of taking this question out of its setting, and considering it as a later day question, and not understanding what these men really meant by it. We must put the question into relationship with what they had asked Christ to behold, and what Christ had said concerning the destruction of the Temple. That is where it began. It led to much larger things in His answer, but so fax as the men who asked the question were concerned, that is where it began.

In the form in which these men asked their question, it is evident that they considered that the destruction of the Temple would be associated with His presence, and with the consummation of the age. In the parables of the Kingdom in the thirteenth chapter, there is an unfortunate translation, which has been perpetuated in the Revised Version, in the phrase, "The end of the world." Not that this is necessarily inaccurate; but our interpretation of it is inaccurate. We have spoken of it as though it meant, the break up of the material universe. We have had graphic pictures of a day of Judgment, when things are all burnt to a cinder, and pass away. Nothing of the kind is intended by this phrase, which would be better rendered, the consummation of the age. And just as in the thirteenth chapter when our Lord spoke of the end of the world according to our translations, He really referred to the ending of one particular age, so also in His reply to His disciples on this occasion. Evidently in their mind they associated three things; the destruction of the Temple, the presence of Jesus, and the ending of the age. What they meant by the age, who shall say? Possibly they did not mean by the age exactly what Christ meant by it, but they had some conception of a purpose of God, which was working out toward a consummation. They were looking for the setting up of a material Kingdom on the earth.

We shall never understand this prophecy of Jesus, if we do not get back into the spirit of these men. We must know what their question meant. Volume after volume has been written on the subject, and almost invariably we start by tabulating these questions in the light of our interpretation of the answer. That may be quite legitimate, but it is well to begin with the question as it was asked.

Jesus had been strangely puzzling these men for months. Ever since Caesarea Philippi, they had been quite out of harmony with Him; they did not understand what He was doing. They had followed Hun with intense eagerness until He came to Caesarea Philippi; and then He began to talk about a Cross, and they had never been able to understand Him since. They had watched Him come up to Jerusalem, had seen His conflict with the rulers, had heard His scathing denunciation and His parabolic inquisition, and, finally, His actual sentence and doom; and they had heard Him say, that lie beautiful house was to be left desolate, and they said, Master, come and look at these buildings. "Verily, I say unto you," was His answer to them, "There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down." Then they were silent. It was a silent walk out of the city, and down the hill, and up the other side of Olivet. Then on Olivet they looked at Him as He was looking toward the city, and they gathered to Him, and they said, Master, "tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of Thy presence, and of the end of the age? "Such was their question.

What did they mean by "these things," by "Thy coming," by "the consummation of the age?" One cannot believe that these men meant; When shall be Thy second advent? All that they were thinking of could only come by the way of the second advent, but they had no conception of it. The second advent must be prepared for fundamentally by the Cross and the Resurrection; and they had no apprehension of the Resurrection. He had told them again and again that He must suffer, and that He would rise again, but they had never grasped the truth of Resurrection, or consented to the necessity for the Cross. They were in revolt against the idea of the Cross, and blind to the fact of the Resurrection. So that if we take this question not in the way our Lord answered it, but in the way they asked it, we see that they evidently thought that presently, in some way or other He would pass out of sight, perhaps would escape from this pronounced hostility of the rulers. And yet they had heard Him say, that the very scene before them was to be one of devastation and desolation; and they said, "Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the consummation of the age?" If these things are to be, if this Temple is to be destroyed, if Thou art coming in judgment, how art Thou coming in judgment? when art Thou coming in judgment? Their question simply meant, When art Thou going to do these things?

To this question Christ gave the longest answer He ever gave to any question recorded in the New Testament. His answer occupies all that remains of chapter twenty-four, and all that lies within chapter twenty-five; and constitutes what we speak of as the prophecy on Olivet. Here Christ became a prophet in the predictive sense of the word. A prophet is a forth-teller of the Divine Will. He had been that, through all His ministry, but one element of prophecy, not the most important, but a most evident one, is the predictive element. Here Christ became a prophet in that sense. He had done this before, incidentally words had fallen from His lips which pointed to the future; but here, in quietness, speaking to His own disciples on Olivet in answer to their question, He spoke of things that were then wholly to come. How important a study this is, and how careful we need to be in proceeding with it.

In attempting to see the general outline of the prophecy we at once see that the question of these men was one which indicated their desire to look into the future, and Christ did not altogether rebuke that desire. He did warn them of the danger that beset investigation, yet He answered that desire so far as it was proper that it should be answered to inquiring and investigating minds. In our Lord's answer, we find, first, a warning; "And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man lead you astray." This is not to be passed over lightly. When Christ adopted the predictive element in prophecy He warned His disciples lest they should be led astray. Whenever we speak of future things we are dealing with a. matter full of importance, yet so full of peril that there have been all kinds of fanciful interpretations, all wandering from the clear declarations of Scripture, in order to fit in with some preconceived notions of future things, until we find in the Church of God to-day, vast numbers of God's own children, saints without a. doubt, who have altogether given up any attention to what the Bible has to say concerning things to come. Christ knew this danger. These men came to Him in the supreme moment when the shadows were upon Him, and when the great strain was before Him, and they asked Him, Tell us something about the future? And His first word was, "Take heed that no man lead you astray." As we read these two chapters, we need that that warning should fall upon our spirits. "Take heed." We cannot read these things carelessly.

In the next place notice, in the reading of these chapters, the very evident and indeed most careful discrimination on the part of our Lord between the parts of their question, must be observed. Their question was one, as they asked it, and expressed in His hearing all the puzzling emotion of their minds. When they said to Him, "Tell us, when shall these things be? what shall be the sign of Thy presence, and of the end of the age?" they thought of these things as closely connected. One of the first things that we discover in the reading of the prophecy which followed is that Christ corrected the false impression. They said, "These things ... the sign of Thy presence . . . and of the end of the age." He spoke of "these things," that is, the destruction of Jerusalem, which He had foretold; and then of the coming of the Son of Man, and of the consummation. He said, "Ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for these things must needs come to pass; but the end is not yet;" the wars and the rumours of wars, leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem, must come to pass, they were at hand; but He said, "The end is not yet."

Then notice how He separated His coming from "these things." He had been warning them against false Christs, those who should come in His name and declare, "Lo, here is the Christ," and in reference to that He said, "For as the lightning cometh forth from the east, and is seen even unto the west; so shall be the coming of the Son of man," which simply means that the coming of the Son of Man shall be clearly manifest. There shall be no need of prophets to announce the fact that He has come, or invite men to visit Him.

He continued by declaring that the coming of the Son of Man would be followed by the. mourning of the tribes of the earth, and the gathering together of His elect, that is, of all Israel. He finally told them, that "of that day and hour knoweth no one, not even the angels of heaven, neither the Son, but the Father only." Thus He took the truth about the coming of the Son of Man, and removed it from the region of the destruction of the Temple.

It may be said that there are other senses in which He was spiritually present at the destruction of Jerusalem, and there is no doubt that that is so. Nevertheless, He separated His coming at the end of the age from the destruction of Jerusalem with great care, rather than associated it therewith.

He also declared, that these things of judgment and terror and tribulation and destruction, would be completed in connection with the destruction of Jerusalem. This principle of discrimination on the part of the King ran through all this prophecy. He corrected the false impression of His disciples. He discovered to them the fact that the things of immediate judgment, and the presence of the Son of Man, and the consummation of the age, were separate.

If this principle of discrimination be discovered we find that for general teaching this great prophecy of our Lord falls into three parts, and the three parts are not chronologically divided. He first showed them what the future had in store for Israel after the flesh. He then showed them what the future had in store for His Church, that is, Israel after the Spirit He then showed them what the future had in store for the Gentile nations; and the divisions are most clearly marked. "In verses five to thirty-five, the prophetic utterance concerned the excommunicated nation.

Beginning at verse thirty-six, "But of that day and hour knoweth no one," and running right on to the thirtieth verse of the twenty-fifth chapter, He was dealing with the responsibility of His Church as the spiritual Israel of God in the parables that teach the Church's position between the destruction of Jerusalem, and the ultimate gathering together of the elect at the coming of the Son of Man.

Finally in chapter twenty-five, verses thirty-one to forty-six (Mat 25:31-46), the King was looking on to the judgment of the nations. All this is in harmony with the teaching of the Old Testament and with the teaching of the whole Bible, in which it is evident that God deals with men, never by an election which is to the exclusion of any who will turn to Him, but by an election which is to service, in order that through the elect the light may flash, the message be delivered, and the ultimate purpose of God be realized.

Our last thought must be of the King Himself, and of the position He here occupied, quite alone on Olivet. Yes, the disciples were with Him; but are we ever quite so much alone as when people are around us who think they understand us, and do not? They did not understand Him; He was alone. The rulers had rejected Him, and while He sat on Olivet with His disciples they were planning and plotting for His life, and He knew it. His face was resolutely set towards the Cross, for He saw more than the Cross, He saw His victory, and God's victory. And yet for the moment He was alone. At that moment He knew the attitude of His enemies. They thought they were plotting in secret, but all was naked and open to His eyes.

He knew also the frailty of His friends, and how those men, eagerly inquiring for some glimpses into the future would presently, to the last man of them, turn their back upon Him. His Cross was just ahead, and yet behold Him on Olivet. Whether we understand all this" prediction or not, let us come reverently into His presence. Here sat the King, despised and rejected, "a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." And yet He was looking through all the shadow to the light, looking beyond all the difficulties to the accomplishment. It is the King upon Whom our eyes are resting, Who, quite quietly, looking through all the darkness and difficulties in the future, saw His own crowning and His own vindication.

If He could so talk under the shadow of the Cross, then we can only be convinced again, as we ever must be convinced when we listen to Jesus only, that He is the Son of God as well as the Son of Man; Christ, in all the mystic meaning of that word which the New Testament writers perpetually convey.

A man whose claims were false, a man who had simply been deceived by the clamour of his own disciples, would break down in the presence of approaching death, when his disciples were about to leave him, and he knew it. But our King is seen intimately acquainted with the fact that all the powers of the world were against Him, that His own friends were so frail that they would forsake Him, and yet He quietly indicated the processes of the coming centuries. And if any one question His accuracy about the more distant things, at least let them remember that they do so while admitting that the things He said about immediate desolation and the actual destruction of the city were carried out to the very letter, within a little more than a generation from the moment in which He spoke.

And so again it is the King we see, in all His dignity, and to that King let us anew yield ourselves, and listen attentively that we may know how to serve the King, for it is certain that we can only serve Him, as we hear Him and understand His teaching.

SOME preliminary words are necessary before we attempt a brief survey of the long passage before us. This is a difficult part of our Gospel, where interpretation should be reverent, and where there should be a perpetual recognition of the fact that interpreters have differed, and still are differing. If that is recognized we may go forward. Our attitude toward this prophecy of Christ must be largely determined by our attitude toward the prophecies of the Old Testament. That may be a somewhat startling thing to say, and yet our conception of the prophecies of the Old Testament, naturally, even though subconsciously, will affect our attitude toward this prophecy of Christ.

The standpoint, from which we approach all the ancient prophecies, and consequently this prophecy of our Lord, is that all the things which the ancient prophets said concerning Israel which have not yet been fulfilled, will be fulfilled. This being so, it is also of supreme importance that we should clearly recognize that our Lord did finally reject the earthly people, and clearly declared that their responsibility for bringing forth the fruits of the Kingdom of God should be transferred to another nation.

Therefore we are to look for fulfillment, not in the rejected nation, but in the newly appointed nation, in which all of God's essential purposes are to be fulfilled, and through which His programme is to be carried out.

The present section is in some senses not of immediate interest to us, as it has a very small application to ourselves. Yet a clearer apprehension of it is of value in appreciating the next section, which reveals our present position and responsibility.

In the forty-fifth verse we read, "Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath set over his household, to give them their food in due season?" and that question takes us a good way back in our Gospel in order to explanation. At the close of chapter thirteen, when our Lord had been uttering the parables of the Kingdom, His last parable was the parable of the householder, and the householder's responsibility concerning the truths of the Kingdom which He had committed to His disciples. He spoke there of the disciples' new position as scribes instructed to the Kingdom, as that of the householder who brings " forth from his treasure things new and old." Now, in the midst of this great prophecy on Olivet, our Lord asked the question, "Who then is the faithful and wise servant?" and from that moment the prophecy which had been dealing with the earthly people passed to a revelation of the present responsibility of His own disciples and of the Christian Church, the spiritual Israel. From that question, at verse forty-five, through chapter twenty-five, to verse thirty, we have a section of the prophecy which deals with the Church's responsibility, the parable of the virgins and the parable of the talents. At verse thirty-one, we begin a third and final section of the great prophecy, "But when the Son of man shall come."

Our Lord first distinctly and carefully warned these men who asked the question with a warning that is of perpetual application and value. "Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man lead you astray. For many shall come in My name, saying, I am the Christ, and shall lead many astray." The fact that Jesus uttered this warning is in itself most significant. They had asked Him a question in a realm full of mystery, full of difficulty, in which it was very difficult indeed for them to follow His teaching, and He knew it; and He knew full well how in this very realm of the method of the interpretation of the ways of God in the future, there would be room for false Christs and false teaching; and so He first solemnly warned men.

Then He commenced to utter His prophecy as to the earthly people, Israel. He first spoke of things immediately at hand. "And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for these things must needs come to pass; but the end is not yet." Nothing can be clearer than that He distinctly told these men standing round about Him, that they were on the eve of consternation and difficulty, but they were not to be troubled because, said He, "the end is not yet." Read that in the light of their question, "When shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?"

Through the discourses which followed, He was very careful to show that the end lay far away. But He clearly outlined the course of events then close at hand, that is happening within a generation.

Everything predicted from verse six to verse twenty-two (Mat 24:6-22) was fulfilled to the letter in connection with the Fall of Jerusalem within a generation.

Having revealed these things, and shown that the destruction of the Temple was imminent, but that the "end" was not then, He told them what would be the manner of His coming. From beginning to end of the prophecy He emphasized the fact that none knew, nor could know, when, that coming would be, but the fact of it was certain.

Thus we come to those final words in verse forty-four (Mat 24:24), "Therefore be ye also ready: for in an hour that ye think not the Son of man cometh."

The day of vengeance for the world at large is yet to come, and toward that day our Lord was looking when in the final discourses on Olivet He talked of days yet to come, when the Son of man shall be manifested. To-day He is still the Servant Who does not cry, or lift up His voice. But He has another method, illustrated in the figure of the smoking flax and the bruised reed. Smoking flax is that which has the element of destruction within itself; the bruised reed is weakness weakened; and if we take the ancient prophecy, and look at that passage, we find it is a description, not of a penitent soul seeking mercy, but of a rebellious soul as it appears in the sight of God. Beyond the method of the gentle Servant Who does not cry or lift up His voice, is the method of the King Who quenches the smoking flax and breaks the bruised reed, and proceeds by judgment to ultimate victory. Our Lord here in quiet calmness on Olivet's slopes, with His own disciples and none other about Him, was looking on to the final movements. Beyond the method of His patience is the method of His power. Beyond these quiet years in which He suffers men and bears with them, and woos them and stands patiently waiting to deal with them in mercy, lies another day in which with fire and flame and flashing glory, by vengeance He will cast out all evil. The day will come when He will exercise the powers which are to-day restrained, held in check in the economy of infinite grace. As to the earthly people, the day of vengeance came with the destruction of Jerusalem. As to the world at large, it is yet to come.

IN this second part of the Olivet prophecy of Jesus there are certain marked differences from the first, and from the third.

In this section, commencing with this question, "Who then is the faithful and wise servant?" and ending with the thirtieth verse of the next chapter, our Lord does not once refer to Himself as the Son of man. In the Authorized Version, in the thirteenth verse of the twenty-fifth chapter the expression does occur: "Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh," but the Revisers have omitted the last phrase, and there is no question that the omission is warranted. The title, "Son of man," was the one by which our Lord most often described Himself in the days of His earthly ministry. Indeed it may be said that He never called Himself the Son of God, save when it was necessary so to do in answer to criticism, or inquiry, or investigation of the deepest truth concerning Himself. The title, "Son of man," was one which indicated His relation to the purpose of establishing the heavenly Kingdom on earth. It cannot be too often repeated that this was the purpose included in the mission of Christ. This is not for a moment to deny the fact that He came to seek and to save lost men individually in the deepest and profoundest evangelical sense of that word; so to change men, that when this probationary life is over, they shall enter into the homeland the joy, and the rest of the Divine presence. But if we think of the mission of Jesus as one simply of saving men here, in order that they may be ready for the life beyond, we have most strangely misread all that He ever said, and all He ever did, and taught men to pray for. The prayer taught in the Manifesto clearly sets forth the passion of the heart of Christ for the earth, as therein He taught His disciples to pray that the Kingdom might come, and the will of God be done, on earth as in heaven.

It is very significant that this title, "the Son of man," drops out of use in the writings of the New Testament. It is never found in the epistles. He is not therein referred to in this way at all. It is equally suggestive that it comes into sight again when we reach the Book of Revelation, the Book which, whatever present application it may have, surely does set forth in pictorial form the movements by which Babylon is to be destroyed, and the Kingdom of God is to be ultimately and finally established. There the title, "Son of man," reappears. In this particular prophecy the title appears in the first part; and again immediately at the thirty-first verse of the twenty-fifth chapter, when the third section is reached-"When the Son of man shall come in His glory."

Then again in this section there are no references to prophets, no references to the Temple, and no references to the Sabbath day; no references indeed, to any of those sacred signs and symbols of the old economy, which had indicated the truth concerning the government of God in the world.

The time of the employment of these means passed for ever away with the beginning of the age of His redeeming reign.

To turn from this negative survey to a more positive one; this passage consists of three parables, indicating the responsibilities resting upon His own, during a period in which He, as to bodily presence, would be absent from them. In these three parables there are marked similarities, and distinct differences.

Let us first observe the similarities between the three. In every parable there is an absent lord. In the first the lord of the household, who has committed certain duties to his servants, is absent. In the second, the bridegroom is waited for, but is absent. In the third, the lord is the owner of goods, and he has given talents to his servants, but is himself absent.

In the next place, there is the relation to him of those from whom he is absent. In the first they represented his authority; in the second their very waiting attested the fact of their belief in his return; in the third they prosecuted His commerce, with his goods; the talents which he gave to them are all his goods; not their ability, not their capacity, for a talent does not stand for quality, but for quantity in this parable.

Then again, it is evident in each of these parables that the responsibility of these servants is always to their lord, and to him alone. The servant of the household is responsible to none save the absent lord. The waiting virgins are only responsible to him. So also those to whom he gave the talents are responsible to him only.

Now let us notice the differences between the parables. These may not be so obvious, but they are very certain. The first parable is communal. It is the picture of His household in itself, while He is away. The second is personal. It is a picture of individual souls in relation to Himself-the wise and the foolish. The last is imperial. It is a. picture of the responsibility of those whom He has left behind for the carrying out of His enterprises in the world. The parable of the household, and of the two examples of servants set over it; the faithful and wise, and the wicked-is a parable wholly pertaining to the Church of God, as a household over which He is Lord and Master. The parable of the virgins, if we take the parable of the virgins as a whole, is one that indicates the true attitude of individual souls to Him in the days of His absence. The last is a parable which teaches the responsibility of His servants in His absence concerning His enterprises,-His goods, of which He gives them talents, that is measurements, quantities, that they with these may trade.

There is much of detail in this section, but we will take it as a whole, that the cumulative message of the three parables to Christian people may not be missed. Prophetic literature has lost its power to appeal to us, partly because we have been prone to trifle over details, instead of gathering up the great messages of Christ to His people. Therefore, in the broadest outline let us look at these parables, that we may catch the spirit of the messages, and understand the one great message to the Church of God in this age which lies between His ascension and His coming again.

In the parable of the household, the word itself is suggestive. Jesus said: "Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath set over his household?" The Greek word here translated household is only once again used. In Revelation we read that "the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." What relation can there be between healing and household? This question can only be answered by an understanding of what this word household really signifies. It is the word from which we derive our word therapeutic, and the basal idea of it is healing. The word household refers to all such in the house as serve.

That first word, "Who then is the faithful and wise servant?" is the word bond-slave; but the word household comes from another term for servant, which is other than the word bond-slave. It is a word that signifies a loving service, a purpose of healing in service. This is a case of metonymy, where one word is put for another, which the other suggests, as when we say a man keeps a good table, when we refer really to his food. This word in the parable, then, suggests the picture of a great house, and one Lord; and of all those in the house under His control, as thinking of His interests, while serving under His command. He used the word that indicated the love principle in service, the tender healing ministry that only grows out of love. Thus in a word, flaming and flashing with meaning, we discover our Lord's conception of His Church, during the time of His absence. His household all serve, but all serve by love, and the ministry is a healing ministry.

Now let us very carefully notice His word; "Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath set over his household?" This word must be interpreted by the consistent teaching of the Lord, that service is the condition of greatness. The servant is "set over."Why "set over"? Because he is a servant. This is not a picture of the priesthood, or of the ministry according to many modern conceptions of these. There is no sense in which any priesthood or ministry is set over the Church of God, save by their ministry. "Whosoever would be first among you, shall be servant of all." Here is Christ's picture of one servant set over the rest, because he serves all the rest. It is not a picture of any man in the household, it is not a picture of one in official authority; it is the picture of each one in the exercise of the ministry of healing and of love.

Now, in the parable we see two attitudes. First that of the faithful and wise servant. His attitude is simply that of bringing forth meat in due season, and feeding the rest; the attitude of caring for all the other members of the household during the Lord's absence, for the sake of the absent Lord. But there is another servant here, and Jesus speaks of him as "that evil servant." He says, "My lord tarrieth," He is not returning yet; and with that sense of the Master's absence, he turns to evil courses within the household, beating his fellow servants, instead of feeding and caring for them; turning aside to the companionship of drunken men, instead of standing in the place of loyalty to the absent Lord.

In the parable we have two results. When the lord returns, the servant who has been loyal to the service of his fellow servants, for the sake of his absent lord, is promoted and put into the place of a new authority; while the evil servant is cut asunder and cast out.

We must not attempt to carry these parables farther than they go. This is a picture first of all of a. household, and the relation of all within it to the absent Lord. To gather it up we may state it thus. We shall prove our loyalty in the Church of God to the absent Lord, by the measure in which we serve one another; and we shall prove our disloyalty by the measure in which we beat and slay our brethren.

In the next parable there is a common hope, that of the coming of the bridegroom; but there are two attitudes. First the foolish. This is that of expectation-they "went forth to meet the bridegroom;" but of carelessness "they took no oil with them." The details we pass over, and come to the end in order to see what this really means. To these 'the bridegroom says, "I know you hot." There is nothing more. We must not confuse this with another parable in which men claimed a right to entrance upon a basis of work done. This is not a story of service, but of personal relationship. Apparent expectation, for they went to meet him! But no true expectation, for they took no oil with them. When presently they came to the door, according to lie figurative and poetic language of the parable, and asked admission, there could be but one answer. It was the answer of a perfect justice, and a perfect knowledge, "I know you not."

Look upon the wise. Definite expectation; they "went forth to meet the bridegroom." So far apparently there was no difference. They all set their faces toward His coming; they all spoke as though they were interested in him; they all spoke as though they desired to meet him. But these took oil. They said, The vigil may be long, he may not come so soon as may have been expected, and there must be provision for the waiting. These went into the marriage feast. This is a picture not of a particular section of Christendom, but of individual souls in their relation to Him. There is nothing here about a household, or any responsibility; this has to do with an attitude to Christ. The wise virgins are such as have no eyes, no thought, no care for anything except the Bridegroom, and the hour of His approach.

The last parable is concerned with enterprise; He "delivered unto them his goods." Mark His method. As we have already seen, the word talent here indicates quantity rather than quality. In our language we use the word as though it signified some special capacity or ability. But that is not the meaning of the parable, for mark this well, "unto one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one; to each according to his several ability." Ability is thus evidently something entirely separate from the talents. The talents were given according to the ability. In ability the question of measurement does not come in. That is a question of fitness. Out of His goods, His property, He gave to this man the amount of goods which he was able to make use of. And if we take up all the Pauline writings about gifts in the Church, we find this philosophy-He gives according to each man's ability; the gift of tongues, the gift of healing, the gift of prayer, the gift of prophesying, the gift of help; all are given according to ability. The principle revealed here is that the Lord and Master, Christ, never sets a man to preach who has not natural ability for preaching. We may do that sort of thing, but He never does. He never puts a man down to the oversight of the business enterprises of His Church, who lacks business enterprise. If we turn to the Ephesian letter, we find all these parables there. We find there first of all the household, "endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." We find loyalty, personal loyalty to the absent Lord, "Put away ... the old man . . . put on the new man." Walk as before Him. We find the business of the King prosecuted, "Buying up the opportunities, because the days are evil." Now observe the different use of the talents. Fidelity; five produced five; two produced two. Infidelity; the one hidden by the man who attempted to silence his own conscience by traducing his absent Lord.

Mark the issues. The reward in the case of the man with five talents committed to him, and in the case of the man with two, are exactly the same. To each of these men Jesus said; "Well done, good and faithful servant, thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will set thee over many things." The reward of service is apportioned according to fidelity to opportunity.

In the case of the unfaithful servant; first his life was exposed; secondly, his talent was recalled; thirdly and finally, he himself was cast out.

With those broad, rough outlines of the three parables upon our mind, let us notice what they teach concerning the threefold responsibility of the Church.

Within her own borders the Church is to be a great household of mutual ministry. Is it possible to say a thing like that without having the heart saddened? The faithful servant is the one who cares for and feeds the other servants. The evil servant is the one who ill-treats and beats his fellow servants.

In her own personal life the Church is to maintain an attitude of loyalty, of love to the Lord Christ. Her loyalty is to be tested by that very love; and her love is to be tested by her loyalty in the small things. How many of us have set our faces toward the East, and sing the song of His coming? But what is our attitude toward it? If we merely sing of it, and in our heart there are other loves, other desires, other aspirations, so that we neglect whatever may be typified by the oil; if we neglect attention to the details, the waiting of loyalty, then we are failing. But if indeed the lamps be trimmed and burning, and the oil be carried, then there is meaning in the song, and love for our Lord is demonstrated and proven.

The Church is responsible for the Master's work He has committed to us His goods. There are many figures of the Christian life, but this is one which combines the commercial and imperial ideas. "His goods;" the things which He would" have us represent to the age, He has committed to us, the things of His Kingdom. All the light of the thirteenth chapter of Matthew flashes here; all the truth which culminated in that eighth and final parable in which our Lord said a scribe instructed to the Kingdom of heaven brings forth things new and old out of his treasures. What are the things? The goods of the absent Lord. His revelation of God and of man; His provision for man's great need; His perpetual call; His mediation; His dynamic for paralyzed souls. We all have some of them committed to us; talents, five, two, one, according to our ability, and His choice; and these talents become our deposit. The mind reverts to the Pauline word, "I know Him Whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that He is able to guard." What? "That which I have committed unto Him." That is by no means necessarily the apostolic meaning. What, then? Hear Paul's own word, "my deposit" which may mean that which He had committed to Paul, and I think that the context proves that is what he did mean. That charge which He has given to us; that charge which made Paul say, I am debtor, I have something committed to me from the absent Master, with which I am to trade for Him; He is able to guard.

The Church has committed to her the goods of the absent Lord. What is she doing with them?

Notice, finally, in each case that the Church's responsibility is defined by her relation to her Lord. True to the absent Lord, the household is at peace. Waiting for the absent Lord, the lamps are burning, and individual character is what it should be. Working for the absent Lord, His goods are increased, and the five gain five, and the two, two.

So that whether it be the Church as a household, whether it be the Church in her individual membership, whether it be the Church as the great army carrying out His enterprise, everything depends upon her relationship to Him.

Thus we may turn the lessons of these parables back upon our own hearts, as each inquires, Oh soul of mine, what is thy relationship to thy Lord? If I am true to Him, I shall spend no time beating my fellow servants! If I am true to Him I shall be more careful that I have oil for the long vigil, than about anything else. If I am true to Him I dare not hide His talent, but must trade with it, that I may have wherewith to greet Him when He comes.

THIS is the third and last section of the Olivet prophecy.

In order to its interpretation we must first remind ourselves of its relation to the two previous sections, and of its relation to the whole message of the Gospel in which it is found. Then, moreover, we must be careful not to read into this section of the prophecy things which it does not contain; for while it has often been interpreted as though it were a description of the final judgment, it really has nothing whatever to do with the final judgment, that is with the Great White Throne.

When these things are seen we shall be able to understand the true meaning of this remarkable passage, and to examine the process which it so graphically describes. Along these lines, therefore, we shall proceed:

First examining the section in its relation to its context;

Secondly, attempting to see the events which the Lord refers to, in their place in His whole economy;

Finally examining the process which it describes.

First, then, the relation of this section of the Olivet prophecy to its context.

JESUS had come forth from the Temple, and we must bear in mind that in the Temple He had been dealing with those who were opposed to Him, whose opposition culminated in His own rejection and casting out. Coming from the Temple, He uttered that distinct prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem and of that Temple. Then, presently, when they asked Him the question, "Tell us, when shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world (age)?" in replying, our Lord uttered the Olivet prophecy.

CHRIST was standing in the midst of circumstances which were all against Him, from the standpoint of human observation.

To all human seeming He was defeated. The opposition which had characterized the attitude of the rulers toward Him was succeeding, and in a very few hours their work would be complete, and they would have put Him away. Yet He stood in the midst of a group of loyal disciples.

This was the first night He stayed near Jerusalem. As we have seen, He had been going down to Bethany, not staying in Jerusalem, and the very night that He did stay in the neighborhood, He was arrested.

He was on the verge of the final defeat, and yet He stood among that little group of men, the Master of Empire, quietly and with dignity surveying all the centuries, and telling these men in language which their finite minds could not perfectly comprehend, in language about which, until this day, we have not been able to say the last word, telling them the process, and the issue. There was not a shadow across the imperial brightness of His thinking; there was not a tremor in the accents of His voice. The King was looking through darkness to light, through defeat to the ultimate victory.

This third section of the prophecy He commenced with the words, "When the Son of man shall come in His glory," and then proceeded to describe what would happen at that coming among the nations.

But now let us set the whole prophecy in relation to the Gospel according to Matthew.

This Gospel is the Gospel of the King, and the theme is that of the Kingdom, the Kingdom not as a state into which men pass by death, but as a condition to be established on the earth.

First of all in our Gospel the King was presented to our view. Then we had a great section describing His propaganda; He enunciated laws, He exhibited benefits, He enforced claims. Whether we study the laws, or consider the benefits, or listen to the claims, they all have to do with the earth.

The laws of the Manifesto are not for life in heaven when a man has escaped this world. The benefits existing are not benefits conferred upon the heavenly inhabitants; they are benefits for time and earth. The claims, as He enforces them, are claims of present Kingship, and present authority. CHRIST taught His disciples to pray, "Our Father Which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done." Where? "as in heaven, so on earth." The passion of JESUS was for the setting up on earth of a divine order.

Do not misunderstand this. He has other work. He also takes all the ages and all the universe of GOD into the compass of His mind and His purpose. It reaches to the uttermost bound of the universe of GOD, and includes all the unborn ages. But for this earth CHRIST had a purpose, and for this world He had a passion, and all through the Gospel of Matthew He is seen dealing with this.

When we come to this third section, we find, the rejection by men of GOD's King for the world. But if man rejects the King, GOD enthrones Him.

Presently we see Him coming back from the dead, and standing on the slopes of Olivet with His disciples, we hear Him utter the commission according to Matthew.

"All power (authority)" - it is the word of the King

"is given unto Me in heaven and in earth." In the heaven, which is the pattern; on the earth, where the pattern is to be realized.

"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations." Not make disciples of the nations.

Here the commission is, "Teach all nations," that is, prepare them, influence them.

The figures of the Manifesto are first salt, aseptic, preventing the spread of corruption; and then light, flashing upon the darkness. So the disciples were to be a presence in the world affecting the national life of the world.

The King, Who had enunciated His laws, exhibited His benefits, enforced His claims, and been rejected, and was about to be cast out, stood in the midst of the little company of men who had crowned Him, and He said to them,

raised in a few hours is not the end;

The King was looking:

Through the darkness of the accomplishing Passion

To the light of the accomplished Purpose,

And He described in this section, not the final judgment, not the last assize, not the great day, but the initial movement when He shall be manifested again.

Now let us look at the events as described.

Notice first the matters which must be excluded, if we are to understand this prophecy.

This is not the Great Assize, not the Great White Throne. The Son of man is not seen here as Judge, but as King. When we come to the wonderful language of Revelation we read:

"And I saw a great White Throne, and Him that sat on it, from Whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life."

There is not a single hint of this kind of thing here.

The great Throne is not set; earth and heaven are not fled away there is no resurrection of the dead; these are not dead people raised that are seen in front of the King.

What are the facts?

The first is that the Son of man is on the Throne, which is a regal rather than a judicial throne. He speaks of Himself through all the processes as the King.

"Then shall the King say unto them . . . I was an hungred, and ye gave Me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave Me drink."

This is the word of the King, Whose person we saw in the first chapters, Whose propaganda we followed through the central chapters, to Whose passion we are now coming. It is the King, the Son of man on the Throne of His glory, in contrast to the Throne of His grace, which was the Cross. It is CHRIST's declaration that beyond all the things of the moment, which seemed to spell out defeat for Him, the Son of man will be manifested as occupying the throne.

The next fact is that of the Son of man manifested as holding the reins of earthly government.

He shall gather about Him all the nations. The Son of man is the Administrator of the affairs of the earthly Kingdom, and this is His picture of the initial process in the consummation of that administration - the gathering of the nations, the separating between them, the finding of a verdict, and the passing of a sentence.

Now let us examine the process, and first we observe the center of order, the Son of man upon His throne. This is the hope of the world.

We notice next the first exercise of His authority - the gathering of the nations.

This does not at all necessarily mean that all the nations of the world are to be gathered to one geographical situation; it is the exercise of actual power on the part of JESUS, the gathering up of the nations into one great whole, Himself being the center and reigning King. This is to be brought about by an actual advent. We cannot spiritualize these things without losing them.

Having gathered the nations around His Throne He separates them, putting on the one hand those who are described figuratively as sheep, and on the other those who are described figuratively as goats. This is the national separation.

He first gathers the nations into one, so breaking all our present divisions and separations. But then He makes a new separation. It is a separation upon the basis of character - sheep and goats, to adhere to these words which are symbolic.

In that hour the distinction between Englishmen, Frenchmen, Germans, and others, will be secondary. He will compel their attention to Him, demand their subjection, and having gained it, He will separate amongst them.

What an hour of separation that will be in the history of the world; while all the lines of division which are so patent to-day, and in which some of us boast, will end, and end forever. If a man sees GOD, he sees CHRIST's separation and CHRIST's division even now; he believes that fundamentally "He hath made of one blood all nations of men."

The first process of the King will be thus to gather together, and then to institute a new separation, not between tribes and families and nationalities as in the past, but between those whom He designates sheep and goats.

Then He proceeds to explain the difference between the two, by the verdicts He finds, and the sentences He passes.

The sentence of those on His right hand will be:

"Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."

That has nothing to do with heaven. That is earth. The King is seen establishing the earthly kingdom, and He calls righteous people to inherit it. It is the Kingdom of GOD. The King will say in effect; Go back to GOD's Divine intention. Enter into this world as GOD intended it should be when He made it. From the foundation of the world that Divine purpose was that humanity should constitute a theocracy, that GOD Himself should govern, and that men should owe and own allegiance to no one but Himself.

When CHRIST comes He is going to set up that order.

Then He made very clear the basis upon which He will separate, and the reason upon which He will admit to this Kingdom. He said; "For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat." What did He mean?

He told His disciples that the very people He would invite into His Kingdom would ask that question;

"Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me."

What did our Lord mean when He spoke of His brethren?

In the twelfth chapter of this Gospel we read, "While He yet talked to the people, behold, His mother and His brethren stood without, desiring to speak to Him. Then one said unto Him, Behold, Thy mother and Thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with Thee. But He answered and said unto him that told Him, Who is My mother? and who are My brethren? And He stretched forth His hand towards His disciples, and said, Behold, My mother and My brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of My Father Which is in heaven, the same is My brother, and sister, and mother."

Now CHRIST was talking to this selfsame handful of men, telling them of the process when He comes and sets up His Kingdom; and He told them that He will say to those whom He gathers from the nations, "Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me."

That is to say, nations will be admitted to the inheritance of the Kingdom upon the basis of their attitude toward CHRIST as revealed in their attitude toward His people during the preliminary period.

Let us keep the perspective in view. The last commission given to these, His brethren, was to disciple the nations. Among the nations there are those who hear, obey, follow, receive, are at least sympathetic toward, - and in the measure in which the disciples of JESUS create that attitude, they are preparing for the establishment of His Kingdom in the world. And there before His throne He will receive all men of character whose attitude toward Himself has been defined by their attitude toward the brethren, not after the flesh, but by that closer affinity of loyalty to the will of GOD.

Then He will turn to those upon the left, and reveal the righteousness of their exclusion from the order which He has come to set up; "Depart from Me, ye cursed, into the everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels," that is, into association with those who have destroyed the earthly order.

They will not be admitted when the King commences His sifting operation, into the benefits of the Kingdom. Any of those who have been against the ideals and the character of the Kingdom, as they have been represented, will not be admitted.

This is the picture of a crisis initiating a new order and ending of a previous one.

This is national judgment. The thought of personal retribution is not before us here, or of personal reward; it is that rather of CHRIST's sifting among the nations as He prepares for the setting up of the Kingdom. Exactly the same process goes forward. "I was an hungered." Why, we never saw Thee, Lord of glory, hungry!

"Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these."

I have sent through all these centuries into your countries and among your peoples, My brethren, souls living in the will of GOD, My witnesses; and I have sent them not merely that men may be saved, but that you may see the ideal of GOD's government in the world. You would not receive them, you have neglected them, and in neglecting them you have neglected Me. Therefore you cannot enter into the Kingdom.

"These shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal."

The terms are co-equal in value, and whatever one means the other means. Only remember that here CHRIST is not dealing with the subject of the soul's destiny either in heaven or in hell.

They are terms that have to do wholly with the setting up of the Kingdom here in this world. And those methods by which He will assume the reins of government, excluding some and including others.

Now to summarize.

This section of the prophecy describes in broad outline, and as to underlying principle, how the King, to quote His own words as they appear in the parables of the Kingdom in the thirteenth chapter, "shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;" and thus prepare for that new era in which "the righteous shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father."

Before turning to the application of this to ourselves as to personal responsibility, let us be clear as to the solemnity of these words.

It does not minimize the solemnity of the words, to deny that this story has anything to do with the Great Assize, or the Great White Throne, or the settlement of the eternal destiny, and to accept the picture as a simple prophetic portrayal of what will happen in connection with the second advent.

When looking at anything in perspective down a long distance, it is always difficult to dissociate the far from the near. When studying the Old Testament prophets we find constantly that the prophet described as he saw things coming, and yet he seemed to bring together things which we have found far apart.

One prophecy only in instance of it - "To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God."

As the ancient prophet uttered it seems as though the two things were close together, but when Jesus came He said, "To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord," and He shut the book, and nineteen centuries have gone and the final day of vengeance has not begun yet.

We must allow for perspective. There may be an order, a development, a program, but it would not appear that anyone has found it out accurately. But quite simply this is CHRIST's picture. He is the King.

Men have said, We will not have Him, they will drive the nails and break His heart, and fling Him out. And He said to the little group around Him, "The Son of man shall come in His glory . . . then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory."

And when He comes; there will be;

Not merely pity, but power;

Not merely mercy, but might;

not merely the gathering-in tenderness of such as need His help, but the flinging out in stern severity of all that which is against the eternal principles of right.

In the words of the CHRIST, He will "Gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity." What for? In order that "the righteous" may "shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father;" not in heaven, but here on the earth.

Finally this picture flashes its light back upon our last study and reveals anew to us our responsibility.

Within the household we are to be obedient to the absent Lord.

As individuals we are to be ever waiting for His coming.

As His representatives we are to be prosecuting His commerce in the world, trading with the Master's goods, gathering men one by one to the living CHRIST for personal salvation; living and witnessing by life so as to create an atmosphere, an influence, a testimony which shall be the opportunity for men everywhere to see and know something of the Kingdom, and so to prepare the way for His coming, that when He comes He may enter into an inheritance which we have created for Him, far wider than that of the individual souls gathered, an inheritance of an influence created, and a test made by which nations shall be admitted to, or excluded from, the Kingdom as He shall establish it.