Shareware Overload Trio 2/Shareware Overload Trio Volume 2 (Chestnut CD-ROM).ISO/dir32/olbpnt1.zip/PNT.001/V00850

Text File | 1993-04-21 | 18KB | 444 lines

00850
 # Mt 24:37
    \\As the days of Noah [were].\\ As the deluge surprised the
 world, so will the Lord's coming.
 (PNT 133)
00854
 # Mt 24:41
    \\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.
 (PNT 133)
00855
 # Mt 24:42
    \\Watch therefore.\\ Because the coming will be unexpected.
 Mark adds, "pray."
 # Mr 13:33
 (PNT 133)
00856
 # Mt 24:43
    \\If the master of the house.\\ The lesson of the
 illustration is a constant state of preparation. Elsewhere in
 the NT Christ's coming is compared to that of a thief in the
 night.
 # 1Th 5:1-10 Re 3:3 16:15
 (PNT 133-134)
00857
 # Mt 24:44
    \\Be ye also ready.\\ The duty enjoined is not to watch for
 Christ, but to watch ourselves to see that we are ready.
 (PNT 134)
00858
 # Mt 24:45
    \\Who then is a faithful and wise servant?\\ In Luke 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.
 # Lu 12:42-46
    \\Ruler.\\ Preachers, elders, deacons, Sunday-school
 superintendents, teachers.
    \\Household.\\ All under their religious charge.
 (PNT 134)
00859
 # Mt 24:46
    \\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.
 (PNT 134)
00860
 # Mt 24:47
    \\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 Saviour's eternal kingdom.
 (PNT 134)
00861
 # Mt 24:48
    \\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.
 (PNT 134)
00862
 # Mt 24:49
    \\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.
 (PNT 134)
00863
 # Mt 24:50
    \\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.
 (PNT 134)
00864
 # Mt 24:51
    \\And shall cut him asunder.\\ An ancient method of
 punishment which was practised among the Israelites. See
 # 1Sa 15:33 2Sa 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.
 (PNT 134)
00865
 # Mt 25:1
  SUMMARY OF MATTHEW 25
  \\The End of the World\\

  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

    \\The kingdom of heaven shall be likened.\\ The third
 question asked by the disciples was about the end of the world.
 # 24:3
 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.
 (PNT 135)
00866
 # Mt 25:2
    \\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
 # 7:21-27
 (PNT 135)
00867
 # Mt 25:3
    \\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.
 (PNT 135)
00868
 # Mt 25:4
    \\But the wise took oil in their vessels.\\ In this their
 wisdom was displayed. They not only "let their light shine,"
 # 5:16
 but at the same time kept the grace renewed that was essential
 to the continuance of their light.
 (PNT 135)
00869
 # Mt 25:5
    \\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
 # 24:48
    \\They all slumbered and slept.\\ Literally, "nodded and fell
 asleep." The thought is that the Bridegroom came at an
 unexpected moment.
 (PNT 135)
00870
 # Mt 25:6
    \\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
 # 24:27 1Th 5:23
 (PNT 135)
00871
 # Mt 25:7
    \\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 does arise there will be a wonderful lamp-trimming.
 (PNT 136)
00872
 # Mt 25:8
    \\Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.\\ The
 ASV 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.
 (PNT 136)
00873
 # Mt 25:9
    \\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.
 (PNT 136)
00874
 # Mt 25:10
    \\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.
 (PNT 136)
00875
 # Mt 25:11
    \\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." Luke also teaches that the doors
 finally will be shut.
 # Lu 13:25
 The shutting of the doors teaches that the day of salvation may
 pass by.
 (PNT 136)
00876
 # Mt 25:12
    \\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.
 (PNT 136)
00877
 # Mt 25:13
    \\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.
 (PNT 136)
00878
 # Mt 25:14
    \\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 to them his goods.\\ This applies to the trust of
 the entire interests of the kingdom of our Saviour to his
 servants on the earth.
 (PNT 136)
00879
 # Mt 25:15
    \\To 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 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.
 (PNT 137)
00880
 # Mt 25:16
    \\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.
 (PNT 137)
00882
 # Mt 25:18
    \\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.
 (PNT 137)
00883
 # Mt 25:19
    \\After a long time the lord of those servants cometh.\\
 There is certainly a hint here that a long period would pass
 before the Lord's return.
    \\And reckoneth with them.\\ When our race meets the Lord,
 every mortal, saint, and sinner, good and bad, will be called on
 for a reckoning. Every one's opportunities, as well as the
 character of his life and works, will be considered.
 (PNT 137)
00884
 # Mt 25:20
    \\He that had received five talents,\\ etc. He had doubled
 what he had received, and in acknowledgment that all was due to
 his lord who had given all and whose he was, he brought all to
 lay at his feet.
 (PNT 137)
00885
 # Mt 25:21
    \\I will make thee ruler over many things.\\
 (1) Observe here that it is God's talents that have made the
     ten talents. The fruitfulness of our work depends on what
     God has given us.
 (2) In God's government, promotion depends on fidelity. This
     is in a measure true, here and how; fulfilment of duty in
     a lower and lesser station is rewarded by the providence
     which bids us to go up higher.
 (3) Present duties are trials of character; God gives the
     talents that he may test and see who is worthy of a trust.
 (4) The trusts given here below, by our use of which are to show
     ourselves capable of receiving the crown above. Jesus calls
     \\a few things.\\ This is in contrast with the trusts we
     will enjoy in the heavenly kingdom.
 (PNT 137)
00886
 # Mt 25:22-23
    \\He also that had received two talents,\\ etc. His fidelity
 and reward are indicated, acknowledged and rewarded in exactly
 the same terms as in the case of the first servant. The final
 reward depends on faithfulness, not greatness.
 (PNT 137-138)
00888
 # Mt 25:24
    \\I knew thee that thou art a hard man.\\ The charge against
 the lord is insulting. The term "hard," and the charge in the
 next clause, "of reaping where thou hast not sown," affirm that
 the lord was harsh, unfeeling, grasping, and unscrupulous about
 his methods of acquisition. It states the position of many of
 our fellow men. Many refuse to employ their talents in Christ's
 service because they think it a hard, exacting service, making
 unreasonable demands of self-denial, self-control and self-
 sacrifice.
 (PNT 138)
00890
 # Mt 25:26
    \\[Thou] wicked and slothful servant.\\ The wickedness of the
 servant is demonstrated, not only his unfaithfulness, but by his
 false and slanderous excuses.
 (PNT 138)
00891
 # Mt 25:27
    \\To the exchangers.\\ To the bankers. If the lord was so
 exacting as he supposed, he ought at least to have put his money
 to use with the money brokers that it might have earned
 something.
    \\Interest.\\ The Jews were forbidden to take it from their
 brethren, but were allowed to take it from aliens. See
 # De 23:19,20
 (PNT 138)
00892
 # Mt 25:28
    \\Take therefore the talent from him.\\ He had shown himself
 unworthy of the trust. He had enjoyed opportunity to serve the
 lord, but had utterly neglected it; therefore the opportunity
 was taken away. The application is easy.
    \\Give [it] to him who hath ten talents.\\ Because he has
 shown himself worthy of great trusts.
 (PNT 138)
00893
 # Mt 25:29
    \\To every one that hath shall be given.\\ Every attainment
 of honour, wealth, knowledge, or spiritual grace helps to render
 further attainment more easy and more assured; while it is
 spiritually as well as materially true that "the destruction of
 the poor is their poverty."
 # Pr 10:15
    \\Shall be taken away even that which he hath.\\ For every
 "hath" there is a richer "hath"; and in every "hath not" a
 deeper, poorer "hath not."
 (PNT 138)
00894
 # Mt 25:30
    \\Cast ye the unprofitable servant into utter darkness.\\ A
 state of banishment from the presence of the Lord. Have you a
 trust from the Lord? Are you useful to him according to your
 ability?
 (PNT 138)
00895
 # Mt 25:31
    \\When the Son of man shall come in his glory.\\ Compare
 # 1Th 4:14-18 Re 20:11-15
 The glorious coming at the end of the world is meant. See
 # 24:30
    \\The throne of his glory.\\ For an account of the great
 white throne upon which sat the divine Judge from whose face
 heaven and earth fled away, see
 # Re 20:11
 An earthly judge was wont, in pronouncing judgment, to take his
 place on the "judgment seat," a kind of judicial throne.
 # Joh 19:13
 (PNT 138-139)
00896
 # Mt 25:32
    \\Before him shall be gathered all nations.\\ It will be the
 day of the final account of all the world.
    \\He shall separate them.\\ Now for the first time the
 separation takes place. The two classes have been mingled on the
 earth; every nation, country, town and city has had its wicked
 as well as righteous; nay, even into the church the bad have
 crept, but now they are separated forever.
 (PNT 139)
00897
 # Mt 25:33
    \\He shall set the sheep at his right hand.\\ The sheep, who
 represent the righteous, are placed at the right hand, the place
 of honour. See
 # Heb 12:2
 (PNT 139)
00898
 # Mt 25:34
    \\Then shall the King say to them on his right hand.\\ The
 King is Christ. This is the only time, save in parabolic
 language, that he applies the title to himself, though he speaks
 of his kingdom and declares he came into the world to be a king.
 At judgment his kingly majesty will be acknowledged by all the
 universe.
    \\Come, ye blessed of my Father.\\ Observe that his
 invitation on earth to mortals is to come
 # Isa 55:1 Re 22:17
 To all who have heeded his earthly invitation he gives a
 heavenly invitation.
    \\Inherit the kingdom prepared for you.\\ The blessed are now
 to enter on an inheritance. On earth they were heirs and
 joint-heirs with Christ.
 (PNT 139)
00899
 # Mt 25:35-36
    \\For I was hungry, and ye gave me food\\, etc. The reason
 why those on the right hand are given the kingdom is now shown.
 They had ministered unto the Saviour. The deeds of loving
 kindness that the truly benevolent do his needy disciples are
 named as having been done to Christ. It should be noted
 (1) that the duties named are such duties as every one can
     perform. Chrysostom says: "He said not I was sick and ye
     healed me; or in prison and ye set me free; but "ye visited
     me and came unto me."
 (2) A real, personal service of Christ is implied, one
     involving some sacrifice of ease, time and property.
 (PNT 139)