1. He is faithful. As a faithful watchman, he will give timely warning when he sees the sword coming. His work just before the end, is seen in the following scriptures:—
“Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand.” Joel 2:1.
“Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.”Isa. 58:1.
“I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom, Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned into fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.” 2. Tim. 4:1-5.
2. He is wise. “He that winneth souls is wise.” He must be wise. He will hold forth the truth in its harmony and beauty, and thus expose error and win men to the truth. When it becomes his duty to “reprove and rebuke,” it will be at a proper time and place, and then with all “long-suffering and doctrine.” He will study to [pg 092] show himself “approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 Tim. 2:15.
The Evil Servant.
Verses 48-51: “But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to smite his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of; and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
What the evil servant says and does, shows most clearly the position and work of the faithful and wise servant. The evil servant says, “My lord delayeth his coming,” because the faithful servant is proclaiming the coming of his lord. The evil servant smites the faithful servant, because he teaches the soon coming of his Lord. The faithful servant, true to his commission to preach the “gospel of the kingdom” to a fallen church and a scoffing world, toils on, and for this the evil servant smites him. Not with the fist, perhaps, but with the tongue of obloquy and reproach. That there should be professed servants of Christ engaged in smiting those who are faithfully warning the world, need not cause surprise in view of the past, but must cause sorrow in the heart of every lover of truth. The wicked servant says in heart, and some are saying with their lips, The Lord is not coming. The world is now just starting out upon its career of knowledge and enjoyment. Where is the promise or indication of his coming? Some say, He may come to-night, he may not come in a million years, thus neutralizing the truth. Such men will be found criticising and discounting the Scriptures and subjecting them to the tests of human philosophy and science. The [pg 093] only safety for the people is to look beyond such watchmen. Let them take the Bible for themselves, and there discerning the truth, embrace it, and live according to it.