21. THE MYSTERY HIDDEN FROM THE AGES
IN the previous section we have seen that, at the first advent, our Lord broke His covenant with the Jews, because they rejected Him; and that a suspension of the fulfilment of Jewish prophecy has, consequently, supervened—a long interval which seems, however, to have almost exhausted its term.
But what were God's plans for this interval? Would He during its course remain without witnesses, and without a people upon earth? Not so: while the glory of Israel was tarrying, Christ should be a light to lighten the Gentiles, and thus reveal, in its appointed season, another purpose of the Almighty.
It was late in the evening of that memorable day on which the Lord ate the last Passover. He was still sitting at the table with eleven of His disciples: the supper was ended: the bread had been broken, and the wine drunk. The traitor Judas—though he had been suffered, like many others who shall never sit down with Christ in the Kingdom of the Heavens, to eat of the bread and drink of the wine—could not be permitted to share the great secret which was about to be disclosed. Therefore he had been dismissed, that the Lord might speak in peace the farewell words of love and hope to those whom He had chosen.
They had just been partaking of the joyous feast of deliverance, but there were no signs of joy upon their features: deep sorrow, nay, the very shadow of death, seemed to have fallen upon the little company, and every face had gathered gloom.
For they had heard strange and terrible things that night: their security had been dispelled, and their hopes utterly destroyed. There was, indeed, no excuse for their surprise: for in past time the Lord had more than once foretold the impending trouble. But they had neither heeded, nor cared to understand, His warnings; and were, therefore, entirely unprepared for the events which He had just declared to be then actually confronting them.
His first remark, before supper, must have excited their alarm: for He spoke of the intensity of His desire to eat that Passover with them before He suffered.
Then He announced that one of their number was a traitor, and would betray Him.
That Satan had demanded and obtained all of them, that he might sift them as wheat.
That Peter, who had been so loud in expressing his devotion, would deny his Lord three times in the course of that very night.
And, saddest of all, that He Himself was just about to leave them, and that whither He was going they could not then follow Him, though they should do so in after-time.
This last-mentioned disclosure must have struck a death-blow at all their hopes. For as yet they knew nothing of the purposes of God: they talked only of Palestine and the earthly Jerusalem, and never dreamt that they were appointed to a higher destiny, that
THE MYSTERY HIDDEN FROM THE AGES.
heaven was their home, and the Jerusalem which is above their mother-city. According to their conceptions, Christ should have set up His royal standard, and summoned all Judaea to follow Him; should, after the Roman legions had been destroyed, have caused Himself to be crowned at Jerusalem, and then have placed them upon the promised tribal thrones. And now He spoke of going away; of leaving them, and abandoning the land promised to Abraham's seed! All their expectations were shattered in a moment, and they were as those who see the beauteous forms of some fair dream breaking up and dissolving into the cold grey mist of morning.
But not only had their high hopes fallen; there was something even worse: for, if their Lord should depart, what would become of them in the world! He had been their support and stay, their guide, their help and defender in all danger, the One Who was never without resource to deliver them from every snare, to ward off every assault of their enemies. He had also been their joy; and if the Bridegroom should be taken away, what could the children of the bride-chamber do, but weep and lament for ever! Now they began to comprehend His dark saying;—"The days will come when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and ye shall not see it."
Who would thenceforth be able to comfort them in times of distress; to speak words which could make their hearts burn within them, and lift them to hope from the lowest despair? Who would give them succour in every perplexity, create bread for them in the desert, and command the fishes of the sea to bring them the tribute money?
Who, if their ship were again sinking beneath the storm, would bid the boisterous wind be still, and command the white-crested billow to fall back ere it broke? Who, if the Pharisees should excite a tumult against them, would stand forth and expose the hypocrisy of their adversaries with such clear and incisive words of power that the surging crowd would melt away, until there remained but a few awe-struck sinners, no longer threatening, but crying out with emotion, "Never man spake like this man!"?
And if any among them should lie ill, who could rebuke the disease, and in a moment heal the sick? Or if the death of a beloved one should rend their hearts with anguish, who would turn their mourning into joy by commanding, even at the door of the sepulchre, with a voice which neither Death nor Hades could resist, "Lazarus, come forth!"?
And who could supply His tender affection? For He had not been with them those three years without entwining Himself around their hearts, and making them feel that in Him they had a Friend indeed, Whose love passed the love of women, and Who was nearer to them than a brother. And yet He had just predicted that all of them would, on that very night, forsake Him in the hour of trial; nay, that one would betray and another deny Him!
We can imagine their despair: we can conceive the confused thoughts raging in their minds, like the wild waves of a tempestuous sea. Yet they could not disburden themselves: no sound escaped their lips, and a gloomy silence possessed the room.
At length the Lord opened His mouth, and broke the oppressive stillness with soothing words which shed
THE MYSTERY HIDDEN FROM THE AGES.
hope upon their hearts, even as His command, "Let there be light," had once gone forth over the shoreless ocean of earth, and dispelled its darkness.
"Let not your hearts be troubled," He said. "Believe in God, and believe in Me. In My Father's house are many abodes: if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again, and will receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there ye may be also."
It is difficult for us to comprehend the surprise which these words must have occasioned to the disciples—if, at least, they understood them at the time. They had thought only of peace and glory in connection with the Jerusalem which is on earth, and such a vision would have been their sole consolation in the present distress; but the Lord removes this stay, gives them no hope of anything better than tribulation in the world, and at last reveals in plain terms the great secret of God's purpose.
He bids them resign their privileges and expectations as Jews; for He has called them to a higher destiny. Because they have received Him, He will give them power to become the sons of God; and they shall dwell, not at Jerusalem, but with Him where He is, that they may behold His glory. And though He is about to leave them for a season, it is that He may prepare abodes for them in His Father's house; and, as soon as they are all gathered in and ready, He will return, and take them unto Himself for ever.
A few weeks later, when the apostles and some other faithful believers were assembled in an upper room, the Holy Spirit descended to baptize them into one body, and to found the Church of Christ. And from that time God began to seek out for Himself a people from all flesh;¹ not, however, to rob the Israelite of his future dominion over the earth, but to sit in the Heavenly Places with the Lord Jesus, and in association with Him to become the spiritual rulers of the world.
Thus the present age commenced, but there is no prophecy which will enable us to discover the exact length of its course. We must, however, remember that, although dispensations may overlap, and a short transitional period be the result, yet God cannot, with this exception, have two peoples of different callings upon earth at the same time. Such a law is implied in the prediction of Micah, that, because of the smiting of the Judge of Israel on the cheek, the Jews should be given up for dispersion until the travailing Woman should bring forth—that is, until the number of believers should be completed. And when this point is taken up in the Book of Revelation, we are further instructed that, as soon as the Man-child is born, he shall be caught up to God and to His Throne; so that the way will then be cleared for the resumption of dealings with the Jews. Precisely similar is the teaching of Paul: for he affirms that “a hardening in part has befallen Israel, *until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in*”; and that, afterwards, all Israel shall be saved.
Thus the first sign of the end of this age will be the sudden translation of all waiting saints: and until that event has happened, there is no place for calculation. For, as we have before observed, the times of the Church are not properly a part of the Fifth Dispensa-
¹ Joel ii. 28.
THE MYSTERY HIDDEN FROM THE AGES.
tion, but a parenthesis fixed in it on account of the perversity of the Jews; an inserted period, unknown to Old Testament prophecy, and set apart for the preparation of a heavenly, and not of an earthly people.
It was, as we are told, "at the end of the world," or rather, "of the ages," that Christ appeared, and put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. For when the Son of Man bowed His head in death upon the cross, there remained but seven short years for the course of this world. Mercy had been rejected; the time of forbearance was exhausted; and the terrific agents described in the Revelation were awaiting the command to speed forth upon their deadly missions, and execute the last indignation. But the wrath which had been gathering burst upon the Lord Jesus; the righteous sword of the Almighty was turned against the Man Who was His Fellow: and then God granted a respite to the world for which Christ died: then He checked the rapid flight of events, and, as it were, stayed the wings of the fleeting age, until a time shall have passed the duration of which is known only to Himself.
For if the Church inquires when her Lord will return, she receives but the answers;—"At an hour when ye think not;" "Surely I come quickly;" "Be ye therefore ready." The great apostle of the Gentiles warned her of the futility of attempting to compute the length of her stay upon earth. "But of the times and seasons, brethren," he said, "ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the Day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night." The duty of the Church is to keep herself in readiness and to watch, not to reckon times. But, as soon as she is removed, all will be changed. The Fifth Age will finish its intercepted course; the Seven Years will quickly commence; there will be the Time, Times, and Half a Time, the Three Years and a Half, the Forty and Two Months, the Twelve Hundred and Sixty Days: all periods will then be capable of exact calculation.
But, if we cannot accurately compute the times of the Church, we are by no means without intimation of the present nearness of Christ's coming. For we see Christendom beginning to assume its last form, and the Mystery of Lawlessness daily gaining strength; while the Jewish prophecies seem to be on the point of fulfilment. Since, therefore, the Church must be taken away before any of these things is consummated, we may be well assured that the Lord is at hand, and should exhort one another so much the more as we see the Day approaching.
Moreover, besides other revelations in the New Testament, there are two great prophecies from the mouth of Christ Himself, the interpretation of which appears to intimate that the acceptable year of the Lord is almost ended. These prophecies are the Seven Parables in the thirteenth chapter of Matthew, and the Seven Epistles in the second and third chapters of the Apocalypse, both of which we propose now to examine.
The number of Parables and of Epistles is seven, that number being significant of dispensational completeness; and, in each of the two prophecies, we apparently have set before us seven successive phases, or characteristic epochs, of the Church, which embrace the whole of her career upon earth. These epochs commence in the order in which they are given; but any of them may overlap that which succeeds it or
THE SEVEN PARABLES.
even extend its influence, in a greater or less degree, to the end of the age.
II.
THE SEVEN PARABLES.
IT is usual to treat these Parables as if they merely contained matter for what is called practical application. This, however, as we hope to show, is by no means the case; they are a continuous prediction of the whole career of the Church between the two advents. Undoubtedly they will also yield an abundant supply of more general instruction; but in this context, at least, the prophetic is the primary meaning.
We have previously sketched the plan of the earlier chapters of Matthew, and pointed out the manner in which they lead up to and introduce the Parables as a revelation of a new order of things then about to be brought in. For, on the one hand, they relate the repeated offers of the Kingdom to the Jews, the proclamation of its laws by the King, and the exhibition of His marvellous credentials; on the other, the ever-increasing hatred of the Jewish leaders, and their refusal to recognize the Lord's authority—a refusal prompted by so bitter a spirit that, when they are unable to deny His mighty works, they even dare to accuse Him of doing them by the aid of infernal power. By this blasphemous assertion their true condition is revealed: their immediate salvation is proved to be impossible; and, at the end of the twelfth chapter, the Lord intimates that they are about to be rejected of God, and delivered into the hands of Satan for a season.
A crisis in the history of the nation had arrived, similar in some points to the time when Jerusalem was given up to Nebuchadnezzar, but involving a far deeper degradation.
For the earlier chastisement merely deprived the Jews for a while of their right to be "the Kings of the Earth upon the earth." God still retained them as His people, though He sent them into captivity, and caused them to be bound in affliction and iron. Consequently, at that time it was only necessary to appoint temporary World-rulers, until the Kingdom could be restored to Israel; and this was done by the transfer of the sovereignty to the Gentiles. And, since the secret of the Lord is always revealed to them that fear Him, His purposes in regard to the change were disclosed to the godly Jews by the pen of Daniel.
Such were the circumstances connected with the assumption of the supremacy by Nebuchadnezzar, and the plan of the Gospel of Matthew is in strict analogy with them. But, in this second crisis, the Jews, by the rejection and murder of the Son of God, brought upon themselves a far more grievous punishment than the mere loss of their earthly dominion; for the covenant of Jehovah was now altogether suspended, and they were no longer recognized as His people. Yet it was necessary, during the interval which followed, that some witnesses should be chosen to maintain a testimony for Him upon the earth—without, however, infringing the power already granted to the Gentiles—and, accordingly, from that time He began to raise up a new band of believers who received a heavenly calling. And since the
THE SEVEN PARABLES.
Father would again, as in the days of Daniel, have some knowledge of His purpose revealed for the guidance of the humble, the Lord Jesus proceeded, on the very day in which He announced the rejection of the Jews, to unfold the mystery which had been hidden from the ages, and to foretell in parables what should befall the people of God during the interval between the Sixty-ninth and Seventieth of Daniel's weeks.
That His discourse contained an entirely new revelation, we are informed by the Evangelist, who observes that, in delivering it, Christ fulfilled the prophecy;—"I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world."¹ Indeed, we are more than once reminded in the New Testament that the purpose of God in regard to the Church and the heavenly calling had been kept secret, until the Lord Himself disclosed it.²
Thus the Seven Parables were similitudes of the Kingdom of the Heavens, intended to foreshadow the varying conditions under which those who shall hereafter reign with Christ have been, and are still being, gathered out of the present age. And the main burden of the prediction was that this body would, during its stay upon earth, be continually liable to become clogged and corrupted by admixtures of evil; that it would be interpenetrated, surrounded, and even altogether concealed, by a far greater multitude who would profess to belong to it, while they were in reality the children of the Wicked One.
The prophecy is, therefore, concerned with the whole
¹Matt. xiii. 35.
²Rom. xvi. 25, 26; 1 Cor. ii. 7; Eph. iii. 5, 9; Col. i 26.
number of nominal believers throughout the world, with every Church or sect which professes to derive its doctrines from the word of God, and in any way acknowledges His Son Jesus Christ. This vast and motley crowd spreads over the whole extent of Christendom in the largest sense of the term; while here and there in the midst of it, and ever acting more or less as a check upon the corruption around them, stand the scattered children of God, unable to extricate themselves from the press, and destined to continue unable, until heaven shall ring with the cry;—"Gather My saints together, those that have made a covenant with Me by Sacrifice!"
Now the whole of this great mixed multitude of Christendom is, for the time, called the Kingdom of the Heavens, because it holds within it—and so entangled that none but God can separate them—the true heirs of the Kingdom. Hence each of the Seven Parables appears to foreshadow some characteristic of the nominal Church especially prominent at a particular time. And they seem to be arranged in chronological order; for, to pass by details which we shall presently consider, they begin with the sowing, or first preaching, of the word, and end with the separation of good and evil at the close of the dispensation.
Yet, although they indicate the true succession of the phases which they represent, it does not, of course, necessarily follow that the period of one Parable must be completely ended before another commences: on the contrary, as we before remarked, it may overlap, and be contemporaneous with, that which follows it. We will now proceed to examine them separately.
THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER.
III.
THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER.
THE first scene which opens before us is a large field already ploughed and prepared for the sowing. On one side of it runs a road, the wayfarers and waggons travelling by which have passed so heedlessly that they have trodden down and pressed the bordering ploughed land, until it has become well-nigh as hard as the highway itself. Extending underneath a considerable portion of the field lies a slab of rock, with but little soil above it; so that this part is quickly dried up by the sun. A third portion has rich and deep mould, but abounds in thorn-roots and seeds: the remainder of the field consists of soil both clean and good.
Presently the sower comes, and scatters his seed broadcast over the furrows. Some of it falls upon the trodden ground near the highway, and lies exposed upon its hard and smooth surface. Possibly it might yet sink into the soil, if it could be left untouched till heavy rains set in; but there is no chance of that. Multitudes of little birds are on the watch, and, as soon as the sower's back is turned, snatch up and devour every grain.
Some seed, again, falls upon the rocky soil, and, being unable to sink far beneath the surface, quickly sends forth blades of promise. But the sun arises in his strength, and they soon wither and die; for the thin-spread mould is speedily reduced to dust.
Other seed is scattered over the place already occupied by the thorn-roots: it comes up well, but the thorns also appear with it. It is not injured by the sun, for it has depth of soil; but the ever-increasing weeds draw away its nourishment and take up its room, until, almost concealed by their luxuriant growth, it becomes sickly and thin, and cannot bring its fruit to perfection.
But the seed which falls upon good ground puts forth its blades in due time, and grows and produces much fruit, though in varying quantities; some grains a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold.
This Parable exhibits the first period of the Gospel dispensation. The ploughed field is the world prepared for the reception of Christ by previous dealings of God: the untilled highway is the bordering Kingdom of the Air, tenanted by those fallen angels and spirits to whom the offers of Christ were not extended; so that their realm is neither ploughed nor sown. The Sower is, first and principally, the Lord Jesus Himself, and, afterwards, those who succeeded Him in the work of carrying on all that He began to do and to teach. The seed is the glorious word of the Gospel: the various conditions of soil represent the four classes of hearers which are found among men. And the fact that but one of these brings forth the desired fruit is a hint, at the very outset of the discourse, that all expectations of the universal success of the Gospel in the present age are false; that the way of the strait gate will remain narrow, and only a few, comparatively, find it, until a change be brought about by the advent of the King.
The first class of hearers are those who live so nigh to, and in such close communion with, the Powers of Evil, that they have become similar to them, and
THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER.
almost as hopelessly callous. For if men, like demons, do not care to retain God in their hearts, He gives them over to a reprobate mind, so that they have no further thought of Him. His Spirit is grieved, and ceases to strive: the sentence is pronounced, "Ephraim is joined unto idols, let him alone"; and henceforth they become more and more hardened. Therefore, the seed cannot penetrate their hearts, but lies on the surface, whence it is immediately picked off and devoured by the watchful spirits of the air, lest something unforeseen should cause it to sink in and quicken. And these agents of evil have countless devices whereby they can steal away the word—such as frivolous thoughts, idle conversation, pleasure-excitements, business-cares, and many other things. And so they destroy the germ of good from off the earth, that it may benefit neither him in whom it was sown, nor any of those around him.
There are other hearers, again, who have hearts as hard as the nether millstone, but overspread with a thin layer of sentiment. These receive the Gospel, or anything else, with an eagerness and a gushing enthusiasm which give hope of abundant fruit. But if, perchance, persecution appear on the horizon, or they be called to deny themselves an indulgence or convenience, they will straightway cast off their faith, and, by their unyielding obduracy to all subsequent appeals, show how stony their hearts really are beneath the soft envelope. Such people will weep in their comfortable rooms over the miseries of others, but will rarely bestir themselves to aid the objects of their compassion. They delight in talking of what they mean to do; but, if any opportunity for action should obtrude itself, usually find that they have need to attend to some private care, or social duty, which must take precedence of the Lord's business. These are they which spring up on all sides in times of revival, and cast the greatest dishonour upon Christ by their apparent conversion and ostentatious zeal: for they quickly fall away, and practically, if not avowedly, disown the faith for which they had professed themselves ready even to die. Their inner selfishness is firm as a rock; but, unstable as water in all other things, they cannot excel, and will be found at last without the gates of the Golden City.
The mind of the third class of hearers is of a different order. These can think and feel deeply; but they can do so in regard to other matters besides the love of God in Christ. In their heart the word lies amid various seeds and roots, which will presently spring up into the deceitful pleasure-seekings of early life, the cares of middle age, and the desires of other things rather than God. Nor is the range of the last-mentioned temptations confined to such spheres as ambition, political power, intellect, love, hatred, or covetousness, can afford; they may be discovered in very unsuspected quarters. In some cases, for instance, they war against the soul by inducing a quiet indulgence of appetites, to which many yield, by no means so far as to provoke the rebuke of their fellows, but just so much as to incline their bodies to an apparently well-meaning indolence and complacency, which, while it lasts, most effectually bars out the powers of the World to Come. But, whatever their individual bent, the wheat and thorns grow up together in persons of this class. They would be Christ's, but will not give up the world: they
THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER.
persist in striving to serve two masters; and, since they cannot hate the one, find themselves quite unable to cleave to the other: they do not follow the Lord with a whole heart; therefore He will not accept them, and, at last, altogether withdraws the pleadings of His Spirit. Then the thorns choke the word, and cover its withering remains with their luxuriant growth. Fruit may have begun to appear, but it is never brought to perfection: these are they who are almost saved, but lost.
Lastly, there are some who, humbled and broken-hearted through a sense of their own sinful condition, receive the word with gratitude. These, realizing the horrors from which they have been rescued, are willing to give up all things for the love of the Lord Who redeemed them; to deny themselves daily, to take up their cross and follow Him; to count not their lives dear, if they may but finish their course with joy. In the hearts of such the word grows by the power of the Holy Spirit, so that they are enabled to be witnesses for their Saviour, and to do works which shall be their joy and crown in the day of His appearing.
A solemn thought is suggested by the mention of the rates of increase—"some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty." Less than thirtyfold the Lord does not recognize: it is for every true Christian to ask himself whether the seed sown in him can yet have borne this minimum of fruit in the conversion and edification of others; nay, whether he has had any proof whatever that he is in the faith by the fulfilment in him of the Lord's saying;—"He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water."¹
¹ John vii. 38.
To these four classes of hearers the Gospel began to be preached, first by the Lord Himself, and afterwards by His disciples. The latter commenced their labours at Jerusalem, and added three thousand souls to the Church on the very first day of their mission. So active, indeed, were they and their converts in spreading the knowledge of the Lord Jesus, that, in less than thirty years, Paul could speak to the Colossians of the hope of the Gospel, "which ye heard, which was preached in all creation under heaven." ¹ And to the truth of this statement even Heathen writers bear ample testimony. For example, Tacitus mentions the arrest of a "vast multitude" of Christians at Rome only a year or two later than the date of the Epistle to the Romans. And about seventy years after the Crucifixion, Pliny, in his famous letter to Trajan, affirms that "the contagion" of Christianity had then seized, not merely on the cities of Bithynia and Pontus, but even on the villages and country places.
Thus was the world sown in the first age of the Church: and during this time the prominent characteristic of the followers of Christ was an earnest propagation of their faith in every land; though, after all, their efforts were baffled by the generally unfavourable conditions of the human heart, and achieved but a very partial success.
IV