(and the rest of the chapter generally)
The signs of the coming of the Son of man.
I. THERE IS A CURIOSITY CONCERNING THE FUTURE WHICH Is NATURAL AND LEGITIMATE. The disciples were not rebuked when they came with their inquiry. It was not so when Peter asked, "Lord, and what shall this man do?" (John 21:21). Some inquiries concerning the future are therefore lawful, others not. How are we to distinguish between them? We may ask concerning things the knowledge of which is necessary to the rational direction of spiritual aims and efforts. God has chosen to make known the general scheme of redemption in its evolution in the world's history. The prophecies of Scripture ought, therefore, to be studied in the light of contemporary events. The teaching of Christ on this occasion was manifestly the germ of the Apocalypse.
II. THIS CURIOSITY IS GRATIFIED BY OUR SAVIOUR FOR MORAL AND SPIRITUAL ENDS. The great discipline of the disciples was to take place after their Master's death, and before the general inauguration of his kingdom. The three general directions of Christ are:
"It does not behove us to know time and hour, but to observe the signs antecedent to the judgment of God' (Starke). The Holy Spirit is promised, amid all trials and difficulties, to them who truly believe. The gospel itself was to receive universal proclamation, notwithstanding the perils and evils that were to take place. So that the disciples were assured, whatever might occur in the external life of the world, of ultimate glorious realization of all the spiritual ends of God's kingdom.
III. MANY TEMPORARY EVILS WERE TO FORESHADOW, AND TO PREPARE FOR, A PERMANENT DIVINE GOOD.
1. The catalogue of woe is long, detailed, and specific: spiritual delusions; wars, earthquakes, and famines; persecutions; pollution and destruction of the temple; political and cosmical revolutions.
2. These are all to pass, in their process tempered and modified by Divine mercy and guidance.
3. And they were to result in the advent of the Divine kingdom. The gospel was to be proclaimed and the universal communion of saints to be realized. The political and natural troubles were to be justified by their being made instrumental of moral and spiritual benefits. So in the general experience of Christians "all things work together for good.'—M.
The fulfilments of the kingdom of God an evidence of the truth of Christianity.
I. THE WHOLE SOCIAL, POLITICAL, AND NATURAL CONSTITUTION OF THINGS WAS INFLUENCED BY, AND MADE SUBSERVIENT TO, ITS ACCOMPLISHMENT. Compare the history of the world from the death of Christ to a.d. 70. A period of destruction, calamity, and revolution. Judaism deposed from its spiritual leadership, robbed of its prestige, discredited, stunted, and stultified by the very circumstance which awakened and intensified the spirit of Christianity, and (in the Roman empire) led to its world-wide diffusion. The suffering, uncertainty, and newly discovered solidarity of the race tended to prepare mankind for a more spiritual and universal religion. Through the Spirit of Christ the Jewish Christians conquered their conquerors and overcame the world. Witness the testimony of Tertullian as to the number of Christians in the Roman empire in his time.
II. THIS WAS FORETOLD BY JESUS CHRIST. It was a marvellous insight and foresight which could look through such a series of evils and destructions to the ultimate success of his kingdom. And it had not a little to do with the bringing about of the effect anticipated. The period can only be adequately explained from the standpoint of universal history or the philosophy of history, as one of spiritual evolution conditioned and determined by the peculiar doctrines Of Christianity.
III. THE VERIFICATION WAS COMPRISED WITHIN THE LIMITS OF INDIVIDUAL EXPERIENCE. "This generation shall not pass away, until all these things be accomplished." If the destruction of Jerusalem be the terminal point of the various series of events foretold in this chapter, then "this generation "must be literally understood as referring to the persons alive at the time Christ spoke. And, allowing for poetic hyperbole (as in the figurative expressions, "heaven and earth," "sun," "moon," and "stars, "earth- quakes," etc.) and the general style of prophetic imagery, the careful student must believe that in the destruction of Jerusalem the great, imminent coming of the Son of man was actually effected, as history proves that circumstances that might fittingly be described by the words of Christ took place and in the order he announced.—M.