Exercitations upon the Gospel of St. Matthew
Chapter 24
1. And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple.
[To shew him the buildings of the
Temple.]
"He that never saw the
2. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not
all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left
here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
[There shall not be left one stone upon
another.] The Talmudic Chronicles bear witness also to this
saying, "On the ninth day of the month Ab the city of Jerusalem
was ploughed up"; which Maimonides delivereth more at large: "On
that ninth day of the month Ab, fatal for vengeance, the wicked
Turnus Rufus, of the children of Edom, ploughed up the Temple,
and the places about it, that that saying might be fulfilled,
'Sion shall be ploughed as a field.'" This Turnus Rufus, of
great fame and infamy among the Jewish writers, without doubt is
the same with Terentius Rufus, of whom Josephus speaks, Rufus
was left general of the army by Titus; with commission, as
it is probable, and as the Jews suppose, to destroy the city and
3. And as he sat upon the mount of
Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us,
when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of
thy coming, and of the end of the world?
[And what shall be the sign of thy
coming, and of the end of the world?] What the apostles
intended by these words is more clearly conceived by considering
the opinion of that people concerning the times of the Messias.
We will pick out this in a few words from Babylonian
Sanhedrin.
"The tradition of the school of Elias: The
righteous, whom the Holy Blessed God will raise up from the
dead, shall not return again to their dust; as it is said,
'Whosoever shall be left in Zion and remain in Jerusalem shall
be called holy, every one being written in the book of life.' As
the Holy (God) liveth for ever, so they also shall live for
ever. But if it be objected, What shall the righteous do in
those years in which the Holy God will renew his world, as it is
said, 'The Lord only shall be exalted in that day?' the answer
is, That God will give them wings like an eagle, and they shall
swim (or float) upon the face of the waters." Where the Gloss
says thus; "The righteous, whom the Lord shall raise from the
dead in the days of the Messiah, when they are restored to life,
shall not again return to their dust, neither in the days of the
Messiah, nor in the following age: but their flesh shall remain
upon them till they return and live to eternity. And in
those years, when God shall renew his world (or age), this
world shall be wasted for a thousand years; were, then,
shall those righteous men be in those years, when they shall not
be buried in the earth?" To this you may also lay that very
common phrase, the world to come; whereby is signified
the days of the Messiah: of which we spoke a little at the
thirty-second verse of the twelfth chapter: "If he shall obtain
(the favour) to see the world to come, that is, the
exaltation of
See here the doctrine of the Jews
concerning the coming of the Messiah:
1. That at that time there shall be a
resurrection of the just: The Messias shall raise up those
that sleep in the dust.
2. Then shall follow the desolation of this
world: This world shall be wasted a thousand years. Not
that they imagined that a chaos, or confusion of all things,
should last the thousand years; but that this world should end
and a new one be introduced in that thousand years.
3. After which eternity should succeed.
From hence we easily understand the meaning
of this question of the disciples:--
1. They know and own the present Messiah;
and yet they ask, what shall be the signs of his coming?
2. But they do not ask the signs of his
coming (as we believe of it) at the last day, to judge both the
quick and the dead: but,
3. When he will come in the evidence and
demonstration of the Messiah, raising up the dead, and ending
this world, and introducing a new; as they had been taught in
their schools concerning his coming.
7. For nation shall rise against nation,
and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and
pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
[Nation shall rise against nation.]
Besides the seditions of the Jews, made horridly bloody with
their mutual slaughter, and other storms of war in the Roman
empire from strangers, the commotions of Otho and Vitellius are
particularly memorable, and those of Vitellius and Vespasian,
whereby not only the whole empire was shaken, and the fortune
of the empire changed with the change of the whole world,
(they are the words of Tacitus), but Rome itself being made the
scene of battle, and the prey of the soldiers, and the Capitol
itself being reduced to ashes. Such throes the empire suffered,
now bringing forth Vespasian to the throne, the scourge and
vengeance of God upon the Jews.
9. Then shall they deliver you up to be
afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all
nations for my name's sake.
[Then shall they deliver you up to be
afflicted.] To this relate those words of 1 Peter
12. And because iniquity shall abound,
the love of many shall wax cold.
[The love of many shall wax cold.]
These words relate to that horrid apostasy which prevailed
everywhere in the Jewish churches that had received the gospel.
See 2 Thessalonians 2:3, &c.; Galatians 3:1; 1 Timothy
14. And this gospel of the kingdom shall
be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and
then shall the end come.
[And this gospel of the kingdom shall be
preached in all the world.] Jerusalem was not to be
destroyed before the gospel was spread over all the world: God
so ordering and designing it that the world, being first a
catechumen in the doctrine of Christ, might have at length an
eminent and undeniable testimony of Christ presented to it; when
all men, as many as ever heard the history of Christ, should
understand that dreadful wrath and severe vengeance which was
poured out upon that city and nation by which he was crucified.
15. When ye therefore shall see the
abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet,
stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand):
[The abomination of desolation.]
These words relate to that passage of Daniel (chapter 9:27)
which I would render thus; "In the middle of that week," namely,
the last of the seventy, "he shall cause the sacrifice and
oblation to cease, even until the wing or army of
abomination shall make desolate," &c.; or, even by the
wing of abominations making desolate....
[Let him that readeth understand.]
This is not spoken so much for the obscurity as for the
certainty of the prophecy: as if he should say, "He that reads
those words in Daniel, let him mind well that when the army of
the prince which is to come, that army of abominations, shall
compass round Jerusalem with a siege, then most certain
destruction hangs over it; for, saith Daniel, 'the people of the
prince that shall come shall destroy the city, and the
sanctuary,' &c., verse 26. 'And the army of abominations shall
make desolate even until the consummation, and that which is
determined shall be poured out upon the desolate.' Flatter not
yourselves, therefore, with vain hopes, either of future
victory, or of the retreating of that army, but provide for
yourselves; and he that is in Judea, let him fly to the hills
and places of most difficult access, not into the city." See how
Luke clearly speaks out this sense in the twentieth verse of the
one-and-twentieth chapter.
20. But pray ye that your flight be not
in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:
[That your flight be not in the winter.]
R. Tanchum observes a favour of God in the destruction of the
first
22. And except those days should be
shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's
sake those days shall be shortened.
[Those days shall be shortened.] God
lengthened the time for the sake of the elect, before the
destruction of the city; and in the destruction, for their sakes
he shortened it. Compare with these words before us 2 Peter 3:9,
"The Lord is not slack concerning his promise," &c. It was
certainly very hard with the elect that were inhabitants of the
city, who underwent all kinds of misery with the besieged, where
the plague and sword raged so violently that there were not
living enough to bury the dead; and the famine was so great,
that a mother ate her son (perhaps the wife of Doeg Ben Joseph,
of whom see such a story in Babyl. Joma). And it was also hard
enough with those elect who fled to the mountains, being driven
out of house, living in the open air, and wanting necessaries
for food: their merciful God and Father, therefore, took care of
them, shortening the time of their misery, and cutting off the
reprobates with a speedier destruction; lest, if their stroke
had been longer continued, the elect should too far have
partaken of their misery.
The Rabbins dream that God shortened the
day on which wicked king Ahab died, and that ten hours; lest he
should have been honoured with mourning.
24. For there shall arise false Christs,
and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders;
insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive
the very elect.
[Shall shew great signs and wonders.]
It is a disputable case, whether the Jewish nation were more mad
with superstition in matters of religion, or with superstition
in curious arts.
I. There was not a people upon earth that
studied or attributed more to dreams than they. Hence
1. They often imposed fastings upon
themselves to this end, that they might obtain happy dreams; or
to get the interpretation of a dream; or to divert the ill omen
of a dream: which we have observed at the fourteenth verse of
the ninth chapter.
2. Hence their nice rules for handling of
dreams; such as these, and the like: Let one observe a good
dream two-and-twenty years, after the example of Joseph: "If
you go to bed merry, you shall have good dreams," &c.
3. Hence many took upon them the public
profession of interpreting dreams; and this was reckoned among
the nobler arts. A certain old man (Babyl. Beracoth) relates
this story; "There were four-and-twenty interpreters of dreams
in
II. There were hardly any people in the
whole world that more used, or were more fond of, amulets,
charms, mutterings, exorcisms, and all kinds of enchantments. We
might here produce innumerable examples; a handful shall serve
us out of the harvest: "Let not any one go abroad with his
amulet on the sabbath day, unless that amulet be prescribed by
an approved physician" (or, "unless it be an approved amulet";
see the Gemara). Now these amulets were either little roots hung
about the necks of sick persons, or, what was more common, bits
of paper with words written on them whereby they supposed that
diseases were either driven away or cured: which they wore all
the week, but were forbid to wear on the sabbath, unless with a
caution: "They do not say a charm over a wound on the sabbath,
that also which is said over a mandrake is forbid" on the
sabbath. "If any one say, Come and say this versicle over my
son, or lay the book" of the law "upon him, to make him sleep;
it is forbid": that is, on the sabbath, but on other days is
usual.
"They used to say the psalm of meetings
(that is, against unlucky meetings) at
III. So skilful were they in conjurings,
enchantments, and sorceries, that they wrought great signs,
many villanies, and more wonders. We pass by those things which
the sacred story relates of Simon Magus, Elymas, the sons of
Sceva, &c., and Josephus, of others; we will only produce
examples out of the Talmud, a few out of many.
You will wonder, in the entrance, at these
two things, in order to the speaking of their magical exploits;
and thence you will conjecture at the very common practice of
these evil arts among that people: 1. That "the senior who is
chosen into the council ought to be skilled in the arts of
astrologers, jugglers, diviners, sorcerers, &c., that he may be
able to judge of those who are guilty of the same." 2. The
Masters tell us, that a certain chamber was built by a magician
in the temple itself: "The chamber of Happarva was built by a
certain magician, whose name was Parvah, by art-magic."
"Four-and-twenty of the school Rabbi, intercalating the year at
Lydda, were killed by an evil eye": that is, with sorceries. R.
Joshua outdoes a magician in magic, and drowns him in the sea.
In Babyl. Taanith, several miracles are related that the Rabbins
had wrought. Elsewhere, there is a story told of eighty
women-sorceresses at Ascalon, who were hanged in one day by
Simeon Ben Shetah: "and the women of Israel (saith the gloss)
had generally fallen to the practice of sorceries": as we have
mentioned before. It is related of abundance of Rabbis, that
they were skilful in working miracles: thus Abba
Chelchia, and Chanin, and R. Chanina Ben Dusa; of which R.
Chanina Ben Dusa there is almost an infinite number of stories
concerning the miracles he wrought, which savour enough and too
much of magic.
And, that we may not be tedious in
producing examples, what can we say of the fasting Rabbis
causing it to rain in effect when they pleased? of which there
are abundance of stories in Taanith. What can we say of the Bath
Kol very frequently applauding the Rabbins out of heaven? of
which we have spoken before. What can we say of the death or
plagues foretold by the Rabbins to befall this or that man?
which came to pass just according as they were foretold. I
rather suspect some magic art in most of these, than fiction in
all.
IV. False Christs broke out, and appeared
in public with their witchcrafts, so much the frequenter and
more impudent, as the city and people drew nearer to its ruin;
because the people believed the Messias should be manifested
before the destruction of the city; and each of them pretended
to be the Messias by these signs. From the words of Isaiah,
"Before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child," the
doctors concluded, "that the Messias should be manifested before
the destruction of the city." Thus the Chaldee paraphrast upon
the place; "She shall be saved before her utmost extremity, and
her king shall be revealed before her pains of childbirth." Mark
that also; "The Son of David will not come, till the wicked
empire [of the Romans] shall have spread itself over all
the world nine months; as it is said, 'Therefore will he give
them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought
forth.'"
27. For as the lightning cometh out of
the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the
coming of the Son of man be.
[For as the lightning, &c.] To
discover clearly the sense of this and the following clauses,
those two things must be observed which we have formerly given
notice of:--
1. That the destruction of Jerusalem is
very frequently expressed in Scripture as if it were the
destruction of the whole world, Deuteronomy 32:22; "A fire is
kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell" (the
discourse there is about the wrath of God consuming that people;
see verses 20,21), "and shall consume the earth with her
increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains."
Jeremiah 4:23; "I beheld the earth, and lo, it was without form
and void; and the heavens, and they had no light," &c. The
discourse there also is concerning the destruction of that
nation, Isaiah 65:17; "Behold, I create new heavens and a new
earth: and the former shall not be remembered," &c. And more
passages of this sort among the prophets. According to this
sense, Christ speaks in this place; and Peter speaks in his
Second Epistle, third chapter; and John, in the sixth of the
Revelation; and Paul, 2 Corinthians 5:17, &c.
2. That Christ's taking vengeance of that
exceeding wicked nation is called Christ's "coming in glory,"
and his "coming in the clouds," Daniel 7. It is also called,
"the day of the Lord." See Psalm 1:4; Malachi 3:1,2, &c.; Joel
2:31; Matthew 16:28; Revelation 1:7, &c. See what we have said
on chapter 12:20; 19:28.
The meaning, therefore, of the words before
us is this: "While they shall falsely say, that Christ is to be
seen here or there: 'Behold, he is in the desert,' one shall
say; another, 'Behold, he is in the secret chambers': he himself
shall come, like lightning, with sudden and altogether
unexpected vengeance: they shall meet him whom they could not
find; they shall find him whom they sought, but quite another
than what they looked for."
28. For wheresoever the carcase is,
there will the eagles be gathered together.
[For wheresoever the carcase is,
&c.] I wonder any can understand these words of pious men flying
to Christ, when the discourse here is of quite a different
thing: they are thus connected to the foregoing: Christ shall be
revealed with a sudden vengeance; for when God shall cast off
the city and people, grown ripe for destruction, like a carcase
thrown out, the Roman soldiers, like eagles, shall straight fly
to it with their eagles (ensigns) to tear and devour it. And to
this also agrees the answer of Christ, Luke 17:37; when, after
the same words that are spoke here in this chapter, it was
inquired, "Where, Lord?" he answered, "Wheresoever the body is,"
&c.; silently hinting thus much, that Jerusalem, and that wicked
nation which he described through the whole chapter, would be
the carcase, to which the greedy and devouring eagles would fly
to prey upon it.
29. Immediately after the tribulation of
those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not
give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the
powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
[The sun shall be darkened, &c.]
That is, the Jewish heaven shall perish, and the sun and moon of
its glory and happiness shall be darkened, and brought to
nothing. The sun is the religion of the church; the
moon is the government of the state; and the stars
are the judges and doctors of both. Compare Isaiah 13:10, and
Ezekiel 32:7,8, &c.
30. And then shall appear the sign of
the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the
earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the
clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
[And then shall appear the sign of the
Son of man.] Then shall the Son of man give a proof
of himself, whom they would not before acknowledge: as proof,
indeed, not in any visible figure, but in vengeance and judgment
so visible, that all the tribes of the earth shall be forced to
acknowledge him the avenger. The Jews would not know him: now
they shall now him, whether they will or no, Isaiah 26:11. Many
times they asked of him a sign: now a sign shall
appear, that he is the true Messias, whom they despised,
derided, and crucified, namely, his signal vengeance and fury,
such as never any nation felt from the first foundations of the
world.
31. And he shall send his angels with a
great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his
elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
[And he shall send his angels, &c.]
When Jerusalem shall be reduced to ashes, and that wicked nation
cut off and rejected, then shall the Son of man send his
ministers with the trumpet of the gospel, and they shall gather
together his elect of the several nations from the four corners
of heaven: so that God shall not want a church...
34. Verily I say unto you, This
generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
[This generation shall not pass,
&c.] Hence it appears plain enough, that the foregoing verses
are not to be understood of the last judgment, but, as we said,
of the destruction of Jerusalem. There were some among the
disciples (particularly John), who lived to see these things
come to pass. With Matthew 16:28, compare John 21:22. And there
were some Rabbins alive at the time when Christ spoke these
things, that lived till the city was destroyed, viz. Rabban
Simeon, who perished with the city, R. Jochanan Ben Zaccai, who
outlived it, R. Zadoch, R. Ismael, and others.
36. But of that day and hour knoweth no
man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
[No man knoweth, no, not the angels.]
This is taken from Deuteronomy 32:34: "Is not this laid up in
store with me, and sealed up among my treasures?"
37. But as the days of Noe were,
so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
[But as the days of Noe were, &c.]
Thus Peter placeth as parallels, the ruin of the old world, and
the ruin of Jerusalem, 1 Peter 3:19-21; and by such a comparison
his words will be best understood. For, see how he skips from
the mention of the death of Christ to the times before the
flood, in the eighteenth and nineteenth verses, passing over all
the time between. Did not the Spirit of Christ preach all along
in the times under the law? Why then doth he take an example
only from the times before the flood? that he might fit the
matter to his case, and shew that the present state of the Jews
was like theirs in the times of Noah, and that their ruin should
be like also. So, also, in his Second Epistle, chapter 3:6,7.
The age or generation of the
flood hath no portion in the world to come: thus Peter
saith, that "they were shut up in prison": and here our Saviour
intimates that "they were buried in security," and so were
surprised by the flood.
Exercitations
upon the Gospel of St. Mark
Chapter 13
3. And as he sat upon the mount of
Olives over against the temple, Peter and James and John and
Andrew asked him privately,
[Upon the mount of Olives, over against
the Temple.] "The east gate of the Court of the Gentiles had
the metropolis Sushan painted on it. And through this gate the
high priest went out to burn the red cow." And, "All the walls
of that court were high, except the east wall; because of the
priest, when he burnt the red cow, stood upon the top of mount
Olivet, and took his aim, and looked upon the gate of the
Temple, in that time when he sprinkled the blood." And, "The
priest stood with his face turned westward, kills the cow with
his right hand, and receives the blood with the left, but
sprinkleth it with his right, and that seven times, directly
towards the Holy of Holies."
It is true, indeed, the Temple might be
well seen from any tract of Olivet: but the word over
against, if it doth not direct to this very place, yet to
some place certainly in the same line: and it cannot but recall
to our mind that action of the high priest.
7. And when ye shall hear of wars and
rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must
needs be; but the end shall not be yet.
[Be not troubled.] Think here, how
the traditions of the scribes affrighted the nation with the
report of Gog and Magog, immediately to go before the coming of
the Messiah:--
"R. Eliezer Ben Abina saith, When you see
the kingdoms disturbing one another, then expect the
footsteps of the Messiah. And know that this is true from
hence, that so it was in the days of Abraham; for kingdoms
disturbed one another, and then came redemption to Abraham." And
elsewhere; "So they came against Abraham, and so they shall come
with Gog and Magog." And again, "The Rabbins deliver. In the
first year of that week [of years] that the Son of David
is to come, shall that be fulfilled, 'I will rain upon one city,
but I will not rain upon another,' Amos 4:7. The second year,
the arrows of famine shall be sent forth. The third, the famine
shall be grievous, and men and women and children, holy men, and
men of good works, shall die. And there shall be a forgetfulness
of the law among those that learn it. The fourth year, fulness,
and not fulness. The fifth year, great fulness; for they shall
eat and drink and rejoice, and the law shall return to its
scholars. The sixth year, voices. (The Gloss is, 'A fame shall
be spread, that the Son of David comes,' or, 'they shall sound
with a trumpet.') The seventh year, wars; and in the going out
of that seventh year the Son of David shall come."
8. For nation shall rise against nation,
and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in
divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these
are the beginnings of sorrows.
[These are the beginnings of sorrows.]
Isaiah 66:7,8: Before she travailed she brought forth; before
the labour of pains came she was delivered, and brought forth a
male. Who hath heard such a thing? Does the earth bring forth in
one day, or is a nation also brought forth at once? For Sion was
in travail and brought forth her sons.
The prophet here says two things:--
I. That Christ should be born before the
destruction of Jerusalem. The Jews themselves collect and
acknowledge this out of this prophecy: "It is in the Great
Genesis [Bereshith Rabba] a very ancient book: thus
R. Samuel Bar Nachaman said, Whence prove you, that in the day
when the destruction of the Temple was, Messias was born? He
answered, From this that is said in the last chapter of Isaiah,
'Before she travailed she brought forth; before her bringing
forth shall come, she brought forth a male child.' In the same
hour that the destruction of the Temple was, Israel cried out as
though she were bringing forth. And Jonathan in the Chaldee
translation said, Before her trouble came she was saved; and
before the pains of childbirth came upon her, Messiah was
revealed." In the Chaldee it is, A king shall manifest
himself.
"In like manner in the same book: R. Samuel
Bar Nachaman said, It happened that Elias went by the way in the
day wherein the destruction of the Temple was, and he heard a
certain voice crying out and saying, 'The holy Temple is
destroyed.' Which when he heard, he imagined how he could
destroy the world: but travelling forward he saw men ploughing
and sowing, to whom he said, 'God is angry with the world and
will destroy his house, and lead his children captives to the
Gentiles; and do you labour for temporal victuals?' And another
voice was heard, saying, 'Let them work, for the Saviour of
Israel is born.' And Elias said, 'Where is he?' And the voice
said, 'In Bethlehem of Judah,'" &c. These words this author
speaks, and these words they speak.
II. As it is not without good reason
gathered, that Christ shall be born before the destruction of
the city, from that clause, "Before she travailed she brought
forth, before her bringing forth came [the pangs of travail],
she brought forth a male child"; so also, from that clause,
Is a nation brought forth at once? for Sion travailed and
brought forth her children, is gathered as well, that the
Gentiles were to be gathered and called to the faith before that
destruction; which our Saviour most plainly teacheth, verse 10,
"But the gospel must first be preached among all nations." For
how the Gentiles, which should believe, are called 'the children
of Sion,' and 'the children of the church of Israel,' every
where in the prophets, there is no need to show, for every one
knows it.
In this sense is the word pangs or
sorrows, in this place to be understood; and it agrees
not only with the sense of the prophet alleged, but with a most
common phrase and opinion in the nation concerning the
sorrows of the Messiah, that is, concerning the calamities
which they expected would happen at the coming of the Messiah.
"Ulla saith, The Messias shall come, but
I shall not see him. So also saith Rabba, Messias shall
come, but I shall not see him; that is, he shall not be to be
seen. Abai saith to Rabba, Why? Because of the sorrows of the
Messias. It is a tradition. His disciples asked R. Eliezer,
What may a man do to be delivered from the sorrows of Messias?
Let him be conversant in the law and in the works of mercy." The
Gloss is, "the terrors and the sorrows which shall be in his
days." "He that feasts thrice on the sabbath day shall be
delivered from three miseries, from the sorrows of Messiah,
from the judgment of hell, and from the war of Gog and Magog."
Where the Gloss is this, "'From the sorrows of Messias': for in
that age, wherein the Son of David shall come, there will be
an accusation of the scholars of the wise men. The word
sorrows denotes such pains as women in childbirth endure."
32. But of that day and that hour
knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither
the Son, but the Father.
[But of that day and hour knoweth no man.]
Of what day and hour? That the discourse is of the
day of the destruction of Jerusalem is so evident, both by the
disciples' question, and by the whole thread of Christ's
discourse, that it is a wonder any should understand these words
of the day and hour of the last judgment.
Two things are demanded of our Saviour,
verse 4: the one is, "When shall these things be, that one stone
shall not be left upon another?" And the second is, "What shall
be the sign of this consummation?" To the latter he answereth
throughout the whole chapter hitherto: to the former in the
present words. He had said, indeed, in the verse before, "Heaven
and earth shall pass away," &c.; not for resolution to the
question propounded (for there was no inquiry at all concerning
the dissolution of heaven and earth), but for confirmation of
the truth of the thing which he had related. As though he had
said, "Ye ask when such an overthrow of the Temple shall
happen; when it shall be, and what shall be the signs of it. I
answer, These and those, and the other signs shall go before it;
and these my words of the thing itself to come to pass, and of
the signs going before, are firmer than heaven and earth itself.
But whereas ye inquire of the precise time, that is not to be
inquired after; for of that day and hour knoweth no man."
We cannot but remember here, that even
among the beholders of the destruction of the Temple there is a
difference concerning the day of the destruction; that that day
and hour was so little known before the event, that even after
the event, they who saw the flames disagreed among themselves
concerning the day. Josephus, an eyewitness, saw the
burning of the Temple, and he ascribed it to the tenth day of
the month Ab or Lous. For thus he; "The Temple perished the
tenth day of the month Lous (or August), a day fatal to
the Temple, as having been on that day consumed in flames by the
king of Babylon." Rabban Jochanan Ben Zaccai saw the same
conflagration; and he, together with the whole Jewish nation,
ascribes it to the ninth day of that month, not the tenth; yet
so that he saith, "If I had not lived in that age I had not
judged it but to have happened on the tenth day." For as the
Gloss upon Maimonides writes, "It was the evening when they set
fire to it, and the Temple burnt until sunset the tenth day. In
the Jerusalem Talmud, therefore, Rabbi and R. Joshua Ben Levi
fasted the ninth and tenth days." See also the tract Bab.
Taanith.
[Neither the angels.] "'For the day
of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is
come,' Isaiah 63:4. What means 'the day of vengeance is in mine
heart?' R. Jochanan saith, I have revealed it to my heart, to my
members I have not revealed it. R. Simeon Ben Lachish saith, I
have revealed it to my heart, but to the ministering angels I
have not revealed it." And Jalkut on that place thus:
My heart reveals it not to my mouth; to whom should my mouth
reveal it?
[Nor the Son.] Neither the
angels, nor the Messias. For in that sense the word Son,
is to be taken in this place and elsewhere very often: as in
that passage, John 5:19, "The Son," that is, the Messias, "can
do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do": verse
20, "The Father loveth the Messias," &c: verse 26, "He hath
given to the Messias to have life in himself," &c. And that the
word Son is to be rendered in this sense, appears from
verse 27; "He hath given him authority to execute judgment also,
because he is the Son of man." Observe that, "because he is the
Son of man."
I. It is one thing to understand "the Son
of God" barely and abstractly for the second person in the Holy
Trinity; another to understand him for the Messias, or that
second person incarnate. To say that the second person in the
Trinity knows not something is blasphemous; to say so of the
Messias, is not so, who, nevertheless, was the same with the
second person in the Trinity: for although the second person,
abstractly considered according to his mere Deity, was co-equal
with the Father, co-omnipotent, co-omniscient, co-eternal with
him, &c.; yet Messias, who was God-man, considered as Messias,
was a servant and a messenger of the Father, and received
commands and authority from the Father. And those expressions,
"The Son can do nothing of himself," &c. will not in the least
serve the Arian's turn; if you take them in this sense, which
you must necessarily do; "Messias can do nothing of himself,
because he is a servant and a deputy."
II. We must distinguish between the
excellences and perfections of Christ, which flowed from the
hypostatical union of the natures, and those which flowed from
the donation and anointing of the Holy Spirit. From the
hypostatical union of the natures flowed the infinite dignity of
his person, his impeccability, his infinite self-sufficiency to
perform the law, and to satisfy the divine justice. From the
anointing of the Spirit flowed his power of miracles, his
foreknowledge of things to come, and all kind of knowledge of
evangelic mysteries. Those rendered him a fit and perfect
Redeemer; these a fit and perfect Minister of the gospel.
Now, therefore, the foreknowledge of things
to come, of which the discourse here is, is to be numbered among
those things which flowed from the anointing of the Holy Spirit,
and from immediate revelation; not from the hypostatic union of
the natures. So that those things which were revealed by Christ
to his church, he had them from the revelation of the Spirit,
not from that union. Nor is it any derogation or detraction from
the dignity of his person, that he saith, 'He knew not that day
and hour of the destruction of Jerusalem'; yea, it excellently
agrees with his office and deputation, who, being the Father's
servant, messenger, and minister, followed the orders of the
Father, and obeyed him in all things. "The Son knoweth not,"
that is, it is not revealed to him from the Father to reveal to
the church. Revelation 1:1, "The revelation of Jesus Christ,
which God gave unto him."
We omit inquiring concerning the knowledge
of Christ, being now raised from death: whether, and how far, it
exceeded his knowledge, while yet he conversed on earth. It is
without doubt, that, being now raised from the dead, he merited
all kind of revelation (see Rev 5:9, "And they sung a new song,
saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals
thereof: for thou wast slain," &c.); and that he, conversing on
earth before his death, acted with the vigour of the Holy Spirit
and of that unspeakable holiness which flowed from the union of
the human nature with the divine, the divine nature, in the
meantime, suspending its infinite activity of omnipotence. So
that Christ might work miracles, and know things to come, in the
same manner as the prophets also did, namely, by the Holy Ghost,
but in a larger measure; and might overcome the devil not so
much by the omnipotence of the divine nature, as by the infinite
holiness of his person, and of his obedience. So that if you
either look upon him as the minister and servant of God; or if
you look upon the constitution, as I may so call it, and
condition of his person, these words of his, "Of that day and
hour knoweth not the Son also," carry nothing of incongruity
along with them; yea, do excellently speak out his substitution
as a servant, and the constitution of his person as God-man.
The reason why the divine wisdom would have
the time of the destruction of
Exercitations upon the Gospel of St. Luke
Chapter 21
24. And they shall fall by the edge of
the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and
Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times
of the Gentiles be fulfilled. [Until the times of the
Gentiles be fulfilled.] "
.
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