I. Seen in fits relation to Israel (chap. 24:1-42). And now, in answer to the disciples' question, His coming in glory is put in contrast with His coming in humiliation. It is important to note, for the understanding of the prophecy, that Matthew, in contrast with Luke, is occupied almost exclusively with what is even yet future. A kind of partial anticipation there has been in what has already taken place, and this is after the manner of prophecy in general, which finds in the signs of the present the portents of the future. But every where in it the end is what is in the mind of the Spirit, and we misinterpret if we do not connect it with the end.

Here, the disciples' question is one which plainly speaks of His coming, and of the end (not of the world physically, but as in chap. 13:) of the age. The Lord does not speak of any destruction of Jerusalem, nor of armies encompassing it from without, but of idolatry within-the antichristian abomination of the latter days. This is the beginning of unparalleled tribulation, so severe, that if it were not shortened, no flesh should be saved. Immediately after this short time of trouble, the Son of Man comes; and therefore the taking of the city could not be it, for that by no means was the end of the trouble. Besides, He comes in the clouds of heaven with His angels, and gathers Israel His elect from their long dispersion to the four winds of heaven. Then that generation (of unbelievers among the people*) passes away; and not till then. * " This generation " is often used, as here, in a moral sense,-for a race, with certain moral characteristics,-and without the time-sense often attaching to it. Thus Psalm 12:7:"Thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever." (Comp. Ps. 24:6; Ixxiii. 15; Prov. 30:11-14 ) In Phil. 2:15, " nation" is the same word. To apply it in the time sense in the prophecy above is impossible.* But the fig-tree, the figure of the nation, is putting forth leaves, and fruit is found, at that very time, in which the judgment of God, as in Noah's day, will sweep away the impenitent. 2. Seen in relation to Christendom (chap. 24:42-25:30). In the beginning of the twenty-fifth chapter, we have again a parable of the kingdom of heaven, which shows, as we have before seen, that the Lord is now once more speaking of things kept secret from the foundation of the world,-that is, of the present interval of Christendom. With this, too, the latter part of the twenty-fourth chapter is in evident connection. We have thus the Christian side of things to chap. 25:30.The blessing upon watchfulness, and the result of the heart pleading the Lord would delay His coming, are first exhibited. The assumption of lordship over fellow-servants, and association with evil, are the consequences of the latter, as they have plainly been in Christendom. In the following parable, we have the falling asleep of the whole professing church which had at first gone forth to meet Him, the cry which at midnight wakes them, and the rejection of the foolish virgins. The next parable gives us the reward of service, and the judgment of him who in the place of a servant had not the faith in his Master needed for service.

3. Seen in relation to the Gentile nations (chap. 25:31-46). Lastly, we find the judgment of the quick-the living nations, or Gentiles,-when the Son of Man is come. Christians are already with Him when He comes, and the judgment of the wicked is not till the great white throne at the end of the millennium, when the earth flees away. This is at the commencement, and of the living only. There is here no resurrection, and no examination of all deeds done. They are judged simply according to their treatment of Christ's "brethren"-the Israelitish messengers, as it would seem, of the " everlasting gospel," going forth in the interval between the taking away of the saints to be with the Lord and His coming in glory with them. This interval is the time of the quickening for blessing upon the earth.