Chapter 25:
| Darby
| Geneva
| Gill
| Jamieson Faussett Brown
| Johnson
| Lightfoot
| Matthew Henry
| Matthew Henry Concise
| McGarvey Pendleton
| Wesley
| Index
| Bible Gateway |
Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Malachi Mark
Matthew 25
This chapter contains the last public discourse which our
Lord uttered before he was offered up. He had before frequently
declared what would be the portion of all the workers of iniquity.
But what will become of those who do no harm? Honest,
inoffensive, good sort of people? We have here a clear and full
answer to this important question.
Verse 1. Then shall the kingdom of heaven - That is, the candidates for
it, be like ten virgins - The bridemaids on the wedding night were
wont to go to the house where the bride was, with burning lamps
or torches in their hands, to wait for the bride groom's coming.
When he drew near, they went to meet him with their lamps, and
to conduct him to the bride.
Verse
3. The foolish took no oil with them - No more than kept them
burning just for the present. None to supply their future want, to
recruit their lamp's decay. The lamp is faith. A lamp and oil with
it, is faith working by love.
Verse
4. The wise took oil in their vessels - Love in their hearts. And
they daily sought a fresh supply of spiritual strength, till their faith
was made perfect.
Verse
5. While the bridegroom delayed - That is, before they were called
to attend him, they all slumbered and slept - Were easy and quiet,
the wise enjoying a true, the foolish a false peace.
Verse
6. At midnight - In an hour quite unthought of.
Verse
7. They trimmed their lamps - They examined themselves and
prepared to meet their God.
Verse
8. Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out - Our faith is
dead. What a time to discover this! Whether it mean the time of
death, or of judgment. Unto which of the saints wilt thou then
turn? Who can help thee at such a season?
Verse
9. But the wise answered, Lest there be not enough for us and
you! - Beginning the sentence with a beautiful abruptness; such as
showed their surprise at the state of those poor wretches, who had
so long received them, as well as their own souls. Lest there be
not enough - It is sure there is not; for no man has more than
holiness enough for himself. Go ye rather to them that sell -
Without money and without price: that is, to God, to Christ. And
buy - If ye can. O no! The time is past and returns no more!
Verse
13. Watch therefore - He that watches has not only a burning
lamp, but likewise oil in his vessel. And even when he sleepeth,
his heart waketh. He is quiet; but not secure.
Verse
14. Our Lord proceeds by a parable still plainer (if that can be) to
declare the final reward of a harmless man. May God give all such
in this their day, ears to hear and hearts to understand it! The
kingdom of heaven - That is, the King of heaven, Christ. Mark
xiii, 34; Luke xix, 12.
Verse
15. To one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one
- And who knows whether (all circumstances considered) there be
a greater disproportion than this, in the talents of those who have
received the most, and those who have received the fewest?
According to his own ability - The words may be translated more
literally, according to his own mighty power. And immediately
took his journey - To heaven.
Verse
18. He that had received one - Made his having fewer talents than
others a pretense for not improving any. Went and hid his master's
money - Reader, art thou doing the same? Art thou hiding the
talent God hath lent thee?
Verse
24. I knew thou art a hard man - No. Thou knowest him not. He
never knew God, who thinks him a hard master. Reaping where
thou hast not sown - That is, requiring more of us than thou hast
given us power to perform. So does every obstinate sinner, in one
kind or other, lay the blame of his own sins on God.
Verse
25. And I was afraid - Lest if I had improved my talent, I should
have had the more to answer for. So from this fear, one will not
learn to read, another will not hear sermons!
Verse
26. Thou knewest - That I require impossibilities! This is not an
allowing, but a strong denial of the charge.
Verse
27. Thou oughtest therefore - On that very account, on thy own
supposition, to have improved my talent, as far as was possible.
Verse
29. To every one that hath shall be given - So close does God
keep to this stated rule, from the beginning to the end of the
world. Matt. xiii, 12.
Verse
30. Cast ye the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness - For
what? what had he done? It is true he had not done good. But
neither is he charged with doing any harm. Why, for this reason,
for barely doing no harm, he is consigned to outer darkness. He is
pronounced a wicked, because he was a slothful, an unprofitable
servant. So mere harmlessness, on which many build their hope of
salvation, was the cause of his damnation! There shall be the
weeping - Of the careless thoughtless sinner; and the gnashing of
teeth - Of the proud and stubborn. The same great truth, that there
is no such thing as negative goodness, is in this chapter shown
three times:
1. In the parable of the virgins;
2. In the still plainer parable of the servants, who had received the
talents; and
3. In a direct unparabolical declaration of the manner wherein our
Lord will proceed at the last day. The several parts of each of
these exactly answers each other, only each rises above the
preceding.
Verse
31. When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy
angels with him - With what majesty and grandeur does our Lord
here speak of himself Giving us one of the noblest instances of the
true sublime. Indeed not many descriptions in the sacred writings
themselves seem to equal this. Methinks we can hardly read it
without imagining ourselves before the awful tribunal it describes.
Verse
34. Inherit the kingdom - Purchased by my blood, for all who
have believed in me with the faith which wrought by love.
Prepared for you - On purpose for you. May it not be probably
inferred from hence, that man was not created merely to fill up the
places of the fallen angels?
Verse
35. I was hungry, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave
me drink - All these works of outward mercy suppose faith and
love, and must needs he accompanied with works of spiritual
mercy. But works of this kind the Judge could not mention in the
same manner. He could not say, I was in error, and ye recalled me
to the truth; I was in sin, and ye brought me to repentance. In
prison - Prisoners need to be visited above all others, as they are
commonly solitary and forsaken by the rest of the world.
Verse
37. Then shall the righteous answer - It cannot be, that either the
righteous or the wicked should answer in these very words. What
we learn herefrom is, that neither of them have the same
estimation of their own works as the Judge hath.
Verse
40. Inasmuch as ye did it to one of the least of these my brethren,
ye did it to me - What encouragement is here to assist the
household of faith? But let us likewise remember to do good to all
men.
Verse
41. Depart into the everlasting fire, which was prepared for the
devil and his angels - Not originally for you: you are intruders
into everlasting fire.
Verse
44. Then will they answer - So the endeavour to justify
themselves, will remain with the wicked even to that day!
Verse
46. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the
righteous into life everlasting - Either therefore the punishment is
strictly eternal, or the reward is not: the very same expression
being applied to the former as to the latter. The Judge will speak
first to the righteous, in the audience of the wicked. The wicked
shall then go away into everlasting fire, in the view of the
righteous. Thus the damned shall see nothing of the everlasting
life; but the just will see the punishment of the ungodly. It is not
only particularly observable here
1. That the punishment lasts as long as the reward; but,
2. That this punishment is so far from ceasing at the end of the
world, that it does not begin till then.
Chapter 25:
| Darby
| Geneva
| Gill
| Jamieson Faussett Brown
| Johnson
| Lightfoot
| Matthew Henry
| Matthew Henry Concise
| McGarvey Pendleton
| Wesley
| Index
| Bible Gateway |
Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Malachi Mark
This version of Wesley's Notes on the Bible is a derivative of an electronic version, Copyright 1997, by Sulu D. Kelley. All rights reserved. Used by permission. It may not be modified or used commercially without permission of Wesleyan Heritage Publishing and Sulu Kelley. A special thanks to Mr. Kelley and Wesleyan Heritage Publishing for permission to create and post this version of Wesley's Notes on the Bible.
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