All of us, my brethren, do I trust feel thankful to our God and Saviour, who hath honoured us, unworthy as we are, with the revelation of His word, and hath “brought life and immortality to light:” whatever others then may do, let our sense of the gracious gift be undeniably and duly shewn: let us daily have recourse to this holy word, as “the lamp of our feet and the light of our paths:” be it our constant prayer for the spirit of God to open our eyes that we may understand, and our hearts that we may reverence, the wonders of His holy law; that it may be the object and study of our lives, to walk in all those means of grace, which it holds forth for our redemption from sin and death; for our safe passage through this transitory world of trial, to an eternal world of happiness and glory beyond the grave. If we hear and read and mark and learn, in the spirit of devotion and prayer, we shall continually find new treasures of mercy opening to our view; new and unlooked-for stores of knowledge; new affections and dispositions; new hopes and prospects, in the promises of the blessed Jesus: the word will be a blessing to us through life and even to our journey’s end; a sure guide amid the dangers of prosperity, a powerful support in the day of trouble, an inconceivable comfort when we die. But if we prize it not in life, how can we expect consolation from it in death? On the contrary, our spirits will be weighed down by the grievous remembrance of inexcusable neglect. Be wise in time; lay up in store the good foundation: the word, having been all along precious, will be increasing in value to the last; even until it leads us to the “open vision” of eternal day.
SERMON XVI.
DISTINCTIONS TO BE MADE ON THE DAY OF JUDGMENT.
Matt. xxiv. 40.
The one shall be taken and the other left.
In the chapter before us, our blessed Lord is describing to His disciples various circumstances, which should attend the destruction of Jerusalem; an event, which has been generally regarded by the christian Church, as representative of the proceedings of that more awful day, when Christ shall appear at last to judge the universal world, “in righteousness and truth;” and “render unto every man according unto his works.”
Many false teachers had arisen, even in those early days of the gospel, pretending to set forth the signs of Christ’s coming to take vengeance on His enemies; and therefore the disciples had requested of their Master some certain information on this momentous topic: they “came unto Him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of Thy coming and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you: For many shall come in My name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars, and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.” [291]
Our Lord proceeds to detail a great variety of other circumstances which should occur, some of them belonging to the desolations of Judea, some to the future judgment alone, and some to both these events; of which latter kind is the description connected with the text: “There shall be two in the field; the one shall be taken and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken and the other left:” that is, though destruction shall fall upon the Jewish nation at large, for their rebellion against God, their resistance to the clear evidence of the gospel, their shedding of the blood of His beloved Son, yet shall not all be equally involved in the same calamity and perdition. Divine providence will then make a distinction between those, who have obstinately rejected and maliciously persecuted the Saviour and His holy religion, and those, whose hearts have been opened to the reception “of the truth as it is in Jesus;” who, being convinced and converted, have become His faithful followers.
And though the whole race be so intermingled, one amongst another, by the various offices and duties and relations of life, that to the eye of man there may be no distinguishable difference amongst them; yet the all-seeing God, who “is a discerner of the thoughts of the heart,” will not be misguided by any outward appearances; will perceive a very manifest difference in characters seemingly alike: will infallibly know whom to punish and whom to spare. As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, He singled out, and selected for preservation, one righteous person, (and for his sake, a portion of his family also,) so, in the storm of vengeance about to fall upon the devoted city of Jerusalem, He would, in many signal instances, make the same merciful distinction. And the declaration, thus made, was calculated at once to comfort and encourage the faithful, and to alarm the conscience and check the presumption of the wicked.
The intimation here afforded of the perfect knowledge and the just discrimination of the Almighty, in regard to His judgments upon the Jewish people, applies with peculiar force and truth to His perfect dealings with all mankind, at the last great day. Although, when Jerusalem was destroyed, it is undoubtedly true, that the faithful disciples of Jesus were generally delivered, yet it cannot be supposed that, in so extensive an overthrow, all the Christians, and all their innocent children, without any exception escaped. But when Christ shall sit upon His throne of judgment, not one undeserved victim shall there be; and not one, who “has sinned against the light,” shall escape with impunity. All those inequalities, which are unavoidable in the present constitution of things, shall then be made right and recompensed. The murdered innocent shall be requited with a robe of glory; and the prosperous sinner be abased with scorn and infamy.
How necessary, how indispensable, for the assertion and execution of divine justice, is the appointment of such a tribunal! How unequally are deserts distributed in this probationary world!—very often in cases, of which we ourselves may form an adequate opinion. Not unfrequently do we observe the righteous, doomed to extreme poverty and affliction and suffering; and though they be most graciously comforted and supported under their several burdens, we can hardly imagine, that such alleviation is all the requital they are to receive: and in truth, what is the principal source of their comfort and support? Is it not the hope of a happy termination? Is it not the prospect of entering into an everlasting rest, of being for ever delivered from sorrow and pain, in the presence of their Saviour and their God? And can we believe, that this blessed expectation, vouchsafed as the solace of their woes, will end in disappointment and nothingness? Does it not point to a day, in which their bright hopes will be more than realized in the merciful sentence of their Judge; in their reception, at His hands and through His merits, of “an eternal recompense of reward?”
And thus, on the contrary, frequently do we see the unprincipled and the profligate enjoying the favour of the world, and rising to no inconsiderable eminence of earthly prosperity: their crosses and vexations and troubles no doubt they have, as the natural fruit of irreligion and vice; as the retributive chastisement of an offended God; “sowing in corruption,” they do certainly more or less reap in sorrow; but still, if there were no other state, their lot would be, comparatively at least, much happier than they deserve; and therefore their condition also leads us to expect, and fearfully does it betoken, a day of fuller retribution; when the infinite justice and truth of God will be finally and perfectly vindicated.