is summing up and giving his final answer to the question of his disciples. The events have been discriminated as two: (1) the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple with its signs, and (2) the Parousia with its signs. The parable suits both events in their relation to the signs. As the leaves of the tree indicate the approach of summer, these signs herald, each series of them, the nearness of the great event which they precede. The last half of the section now returns to the answer as to the time. There was, first, the negative answer that it was not immediate after the beginning of birth throes, and that it was immediate after the tribulation. Now, it is just these two things that are connected with the signs, and it is likely that these things were in the mind of Jesus in these words; whereas the time of the preaching of the gospel and the times of the Gentiles that follow the tribulation were in the mind of Jesus as the basis of his statement as to the Parousia itself, that "of that day or that hour knoweth no one, not even the angels of heaven, neither the Son, but the Father." (8) Exhortation to Watch. MARK Xiii. 33-37. Take ye heed, watch and pray for MATT. xxiv. 42. Watch therefore : for ye know not on ye know not when what day your Lord LUKE xxi. 34-36. But take heed to yourselves, lest haply your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day come on you suddenly as a snare: for so shall it come upon all them that dwell on the face of all the earth. But watch ye at every season, making supplica the house cometh, whether at even, or at midnight, or at cockcrowing, or in the morning; lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.1 tion, that ye may prevail to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man. Matthew gives us a brief closing statement based upon the previous verse-" Ye know not on what day your Lord cometh." He knows not, he cannot tell you, you cannot know; therefore watch. He then adds several parables' which are given by Luke' more fully in another connection. Matthew then gives a chapter of parables and a concluding discourse. They seem not to have been a part of the apocalypse of Jesus, but to introduce other, though kindred matters. Luke gives us a general exhortation to watchfulness, with a warning that the "day" will come suddenly as a snare. They are, therefore, to watch "at every season," and not only to watch, but to pray that they may escape the signs, "all these things that shall come to pass," and come to the Advent, and "stand before the Son of Man." This is appropriate to the discourse, but seems to have been an independent discourse originally given under other circumstances. Mark gives a closing exhortation which has essentially the material of Luke and Matthew. The exhortation: "Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is," includes the watching of Mat 1 Matthew now inserts vers. 38-41, which are given by Luke (xvii. 26-37) more fully in another connection where they belong. They are appropriate here for giving a fuller statement of the words of Jesus on this theme, but they do not belong to the apocalypse itself. Weiss thinks that the closing parable of Mark is a brief form of the parable of the talents in Matt. xxv., mixed with the parable of Luke xii. 36-38; but Weiffenbach correctly thinks that it was the original close of the apocalypse of Jesus. 2 xxiv. 43-51. 3 xii. 39-48. thew and the watching and praying of Luke. The little parable of Mark' enforces it. We there have a warning: "Watch therefore: for ye know not when the lord of the house cometh, whether at even, or at midnight, or at cockcrowing, or in the morning." Here the night is divided into four watches, from the earliest at even to the break of day. The time of the Advent is so uncertain that it may take place at any hour of the night; it may be early or it may be late. The night prior to the Advent may be a very short one, a moderate one, a long one, or the Advent may be postponed till the very last moment. These are forcible words, and exceedingly appropriate to the statement that no one knows the advent day but God the Father. They certainly do not mean to imply that Jesus knew the night, but not the watch of the night; they correspond with the previous statement that he knew not the day or the hour, and they imply that the time was as uncertain in the length of the interval to the Advent as the uncertainty whether a master will come in the first hours of the night, or at any time during its interval, or not till its closing moments. This reacts upon all the previous statements as to time, and shows that the eέw must be flexible enough to comprehend all this enormous uncertainty. And if our Lord has delayed his Advent until the closing hours of a long night of history, and has not come in its early hours, as his disciples hoped, this is not against the warning of the Lord that they should watch or that his Advent is eùéw; for he warned them of the uncertainty, and we are to do as all who have gone before us-remain in the like uncertainty and WATCH. 1 xiii. 34-36. CHAPTER V. THE MESSIAH OF MATTHEW. We have considered in the previous chapters the Messiah of the Gospel of Matthew so far as the report is in accord with Mark. We have now to consider the Messianic idea of the Gospel of Matthew so far as it depends upon other sources than Mark. The chief of these sources is the Aramaic Logia of Matthew. Luke gives us a large proportion of this material. These two evangelists differ, in that Matthew prefers topical arrangement, whereas Luke prefers a geographical and chronological order. It is best therefore to follow Luke's order, while we use Matthew's words as the basis of our study. JESUS SUPERIOR TO TEMPTATION. 31. Jesus was tempted by the devil to assume his Messianic authority and dominion at once; but he declines to do anything more than to serve God as a pious man. The synoptists report that the official anointing of the Messiah was followed by a conflict with the devil. This conflict Jesus undertakes under the influence of the divine Spirit, who abode with him. The temptation in the wilderness is conceived as the counterpart of the temptation of our first parents in the garden of Eden. This is true not by mere coincidence or from a literary point of view, but by design, by necessity and in fact. If the Messiah was to accomplish the Messianic predictions of the Old Testament he could not neglect the fundamental one of the protevangelium.' As the son and heir of Adam, the woman's seed, he must conquer the serpent and overcome all the forces of evil. The three synoptists unite in making this the first act of the Messiah after his baptism. But Mark merely mentions it as an event without bringing out its Messianic significance. Accordingly we have reserved it for treatment here in connection with the Messianic idea of Matthew. MATT. iv. I-II. Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he afterward hungered. And the tempter came and said unto him, If thou art the Son of God, command that these stones become bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by MARK i. 12, 13. And straightway was in the wilder- 1 See Briggs' Messianic Prophecy, p. 71. LUKE iv. 1-13. And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led in the Spirit in the wilderness during forty days, being tempted of the devil. And he did eat nothing in those days: and when they were completed, he hungered. And the devil said unto him, If thou art the Son of God, command this stone that it become bread. And Jesus answered unto him, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone. And he led him up, and shewed him all the kingdoms of the I world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, To thee will I give all this authority, |