Matthew 25

Matthew 25:3

For as the lightning. There will be no doubt about Christ’s coming when he does come, no discussion, no need that any one shall tell it. It will be manifest as the flash of lightning across the sky. There can be no mistake. Such language shows how much those err who claim that his coming was at the destruction of Jerusalem.

Matthew 25:4

Whersoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered. The term “carcase” well represents the utterly corrupted Jewish state; the “eagles” is a fit symbol of the Roman army, every legion of which bore the eagle as its standard.

Matthew 25:5

Immediately after the tribulation of those days. The first question, “When shall these things be”? (Matthew 24:3) has now been answered. Here begins the answer to the second, concerning the coming of the Lord. For other passages on the second coming, see 1 Thessalonians 2:19 3:13 4:15 5:23 2 Thessalonians 2:1,8,9 1 Corinthians 15:23 James 5:7 2 Peter 1:16 3:12 1 John 2:28. “Immediately” after the destruction of Jerusalem (the tribulation) the series of events begins that leads to the coming of Christ. Shall the sun be darkened. I take what follows to be symbolical, as is usual for prophecy, rather than literal. Christ is “the Sun of Righteousness” (Malachi 4:2). After the destruction of Jerusalem, the causes began to work that led to the great apostasy of the church and produced “the Dark Ages” of the church. The moon shall not give her light. The moon shines by reflected light of the sun and if it is darkened so will be the moon. So, too, the church shines by the light of Christ. When Christ’s light was darkened by taking the Bible from the people the church give forth little light during the long night of the Middle Ages. The stars shall fall. Stars represent great teachers of the church, apostles and evangelists. See Revelation 1:20. When the apostles were dethroned by the Romish apostasy, “the stars fell from heaven”, figuratively. Other stars, great church lights who apostatized, fell from heaven in another sense.

Matthew 25:6

Then. After the long period of apostasy. Shall appear the sign of the Son of man. Some sign of his coming that every one will recognize when it is manifested. All the tribes of the earth mourn. Because of their sins. They shall see the Son of man coming. It will be visible to every eye and will be in splendor.

Matthew 25:7

With a great sound of a trumpet. Compare 1 Thessalonians 4:16. Shall gather together his elect. Before the judgment on the world. The believers will be in all countries, mingled with the population of earth, and then shall be separated. Four winds. The four quarters of the earth.

Matthew 25:8

Learn a parable of the fig tree. The putting forth of the leaves is the sign that summer is near. It puts forth leaves usually in April. So “all these things” (Matthew 24:34) show when the Lord is at hand.

Matthew 25:10

Till all these things shall be fulfilled. Some hold that “all these things”, in Matthew 24:32,33, refer only to what was said of the fall of Jerusalem, ending with Matthew 24:28. Others have contended that the phrase includes the second coming, but refers directly to the end of Jerusalem, which was a type of the end of the world. I believe, rather, that “all these things” embraces all thus far predicted, and that “this generation” means the Jewish race, instead of only those then living. The Greek word, “genea”, so rendered is used in the sense of “race” in the Greek classics, and as examples of such use in the New Testament, Alford points to Matthew 12:45 Lu 16:8. Christ has described the awful end of the Jewish state; after such a destruction and scattering of the remnant to the ends of the earth, all the examples of history would declare that the Jewish race would become extinct.

Christ, however, declares that, contrary to all probability, it shall not pass away until he comes. They still exist, 1850 years after the prediction, distinct, but without a country.

Matthew 25:12

Of that day and hour knoweth no [man]. How foolish then to be figuring out the time of the Lord’s coming.

Matthew 25:13

As the days of Noe [were]. As the deluge surprised the world, so will the Lord’s coming.

Matthew 25:17

Two [women shall be] grinding at the mill. The hand-mills still used in the East. The grinding is done by women, usually two, as the work is hard for one. It will be the time of separation of the evil from the good.

Matthew 25:18

Watch therefore. Because the coming will be unexpected. Mark adds, “and pray” (Mr 13:33).

Matthew 25:19

If the goodman of the house, etc. “Master of the house” (Revised Version). The lesson of the illustration is a constant state of preparation. Elsewhere in the New Testament Christ’s coming is compared to that of a thief in the night (1 Thessalonians 5:1-10 Revelation 3:3 16:15).

Matthew 25:20

Be ye also ready. The duty enjoined is not to watch for Christ, but to watch ourselves to see that we are ready.

Matthew 25:21

Who then is a faithful and wise servant? In Lu 12:42-46, is given a similar parable in answer to a question of Peter. There the Lord speaks of “the faithful and wise steward”; here he describes a steward, but speaks of him as a servant. Ruler. Preachers, elders, deacons, Sunday-school superintendents, teachers. Household. All under their religious charge.

Matthew 25:22

Blessed [is] that servant, whom his lord . . . shall find so doing. The blessedness applies equally to those who are faithful unto death and those who are so found at the Lord’s coming. This blessedness is in the reward the Lord will give.

Matthew 25:23

He shall make him ruler over all his goods. The parables of the talents and the pounds show that those who have been faithful to the trusts given them here shall receive additional trusts in the Savior’s eternal kingdom.

Matthew 25:24

My lord delayeth his coming. The worst enemy of Christ is the professed servant of the Lord who practices are evil, and who supposes he can evade punishment for his crimes.

Matthew 25:25

And shall begin to beat [his] fellow-servants. There is no sin more common among those who are clothed with authority than oppression. There have been no worse oppressors than priests. And to eat and drink with the drunken. What first disgusted Luther with the faith in which he had been reared was the profligacy of the priests and monks. It has often been the case that the Vatican was the very hot-bed of scandal.

Matthew 25:26

The lord of that servant shall come. He will certainly come, and come when the servant is unprepared for him. The majority of the wicked who die in their sins have expected to be better prepared for the end of life.

Matthew 25:27

And shall cut him asunder. An ancient method of punishment which was practiced among the Israelites. See 1 Samuel 15:33 2 Samuel 12:31. The idea here is that very severe punishment shall be inflicted upon him, while weeping and gnashing of teeth would indicate a life of intense suffering. Indeed both these expressions must be regarded as metaphors, indicating nothing more clearly than a terrible and certain punishment.

Matthew 25:29

The End of the World SUMMARY OF MATTHEW 25: The Ten Virgins. The Foolish Who Took No Oil. The Bridegroom Comes. The Doors Shut on the Foolish Virgins. Watch Therefore. The Parable of the Talents. The Manner of Using. The Reckoning When the Lord Comes. The Day of Judgment Portrayed. The Gathering of the Nations. The Great Separation. The Blessedness of Those on the Right Hand. The Awful Fate of Those on the Left. The Ground of the Separation. The Everlasting Punishment and Life Eternal. Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened. The third question asked by the disciples, (Matthew 24:3), was about the end of the world. This whole chapter is an answer. The future tense is used. In most of the parables of the kingdom the present is used, because they describe its earthly features. This, however, portrays the closing events, the judgment, the closing of the heavenly gates. To ten virgins. No significance attaches to the number, nor to the fact that they are virgins. The bridesmaids of a maiden at marriage are maidens. Who took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. The whole imagery of the parable is drawn from Eastern marriage customs. The betrothal, which took place some time before the marriage, was a kind of solemn marriage contract, but preliminary to its final consummation. When the time for the celebration of the marriage came, the bridegroom came to the house of the bride and brought her by night to his own house. The virgin bridesmaids awaited his coming and attended the bride to the marriage feast.

Matthew 25:30

And five of them were wise, and five [were] foolish. The quality that made the difference between them was prudent forethought on the part of the wise. Compare Matthew 7:21-27.

Matthew 25:31

They that [were] foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them. The Jewish lamp was a shallow vessel filled with oil, on which the wick floated. These virgins had oil in their lamps when they started, but had no oil to replenish them. They started out, apparently, all right, but did not hold out.

Matthew 25:32

But the wise took oil in their vessels. In this their wisdom was displayed. They not only “let their light shine” (Matthew 5:16), but at the same time kept the grace renewed that was essential to the continuance of their light.

Matthew 25:33

While the bridegroom tarried. This suggests that the heavenly Bridegroom will not return as soon as the church expects him. We have a hint of the same kind in Matthew 24:48. They all slumbered and slept. Literally, “nodded and fell asleep”. The thought is that the Bridegroom came at an unexpected moment.

Matthew 25:34

And at midnight there was a cry made. Midnight is the hour of slumber and silence when an outcry is always startling and unexpected. The implication is that the cry of the coming of the Bridegroom, the trump of the archangel will be sudden and unexpected. Compare Matthew 24:27 1 Thessalonians 5:23.

Matthew 25:35

All . . . arose, and trimmed their lamps. The object of trimming would be to secure a brighter light. It would involve the trimming of the wick and replenishing the oil if needed. When the cry does arise there will be a wonderful lamp-trimming.

Matthew 25:36

Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. The Revised Version says, more correctly, “Our lamps are going out”. They had kept up a flickering light to this time. Their apparent piety, though it satisfied them before, was not sufficient now. Shams disappear in the presence of death or judgment.

Matthew 25:37

Lest there be not enough for us and you. The wise virgins had sufficient for themselves, but none to spare, hence could be of no help. No one has a fund of surplus piety that he can turn over to someone else. Go ye, . . . and buy for yourselves. The advice is the best possible. Every one had to procure for himself the needful grace and piety.

Matthew 25:38

And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came. They were now seeking to obtain the oil in the only legitimate way, and all would have been well if they had attended to it at the proper time, but it was now too late. There is no encouragement to death-bed repentance. The door was shut. The door of the marriage feast chamber. The door of the kingdom stands open now, in life, to every mortal, but it will not always be so. The day of opportunity for everything passes.

Matthew 25:39

Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. As Augustine says: ``They came looking for mercy when it was time for judgment.’’ Lu 13:25 also teaches that the doors finally will be shut. The shutting of the doors teaches that the day of salvation may pass by.

Matthew 25:40

I know you not. This means, I do not recognize you as persons entitled to enter. The claims that they might have had once had been forfeited.

Matthew 25:41

Watch therefore, etc. The whole parable is an illustration of this solemn admonition. APPLICATION.–The Bridegroom is the Son of man; the time of the “marriage” is the coming to judgment; the “tarrying” is the long and unknown period between his ascension and his return; the “virgins” represent the waiting church; the “wise” virgins represent those church members who are always ready and whose lights are shining; the oil in their vessels is the means by which their light is supplied; the “foolish” virgins are church members who have become cold and lifeless; the “midnight cry” is the summons of death, or the trump of judgment; the “cry for oil” is death-bed repentance, or an attempt at preparation in the face of judgment; the “shut” “door” is a declaration that such repentance is too late to be of avail; the great lesson is to be always in a state of readiness.

Matthew 25:42

For [the kingdom of heaven is] as a man travelling into a far country. Compare Mr 13:34-36 Lu 19:11-27. Christ’s departure from the earth to heaven is referred to. Called his own servants. The church members or disciples. Delivered unto them his goods. This applies to the trust of the entire interests of the kingdom of our Savior to his servants on the earth.

Matthew 25:43

Unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one. The talent was not a coin, but a weight, and was especially applied to the weighing of the precious metals. The Hebrew talent is variously estimated to be equivalent to a weight of silver ranging from $1,500 to $2,500. To every man according to his own several ability. The sums entrusted to the servants were graded by their capacity. The trust of the Lord to each servant is measured according to his mental ability, wealth, position, or influence.

Matthew 25:44

Then he that had received the five talents, etc. Whoever diligently uses the powers and means of grace the Lord has given in such a servant. The result is gain to himself.

Matthew 25:46

He that had received one, etc. Before the days of banks of deposit, and still in countries where they are not established, it is a common thing to hide treasure in the earth. The servant’s only care was to hold on to what he had.