Category: Matthew Chapter 25

In these verses our Lord Jesus Christ describes the judgment day, and some of its leading circumstances. There are few passages in the whole Bible more solemn and heart-searching than this. May we read it with the deep and serious attention which it deserves.

Let us mark in the first place, who will be the Judge in the last day. We read that it will be “the Son of man”, Jesus Christ himself.

That same Jesus who was born in the manger of Bethlehem and took upon Him the very form of a servant; who was despised and rejected of men and often had not where to lay His head; who was condemned by the princes of this world, beaten, scourged and nailed to the cross — that same Jesus shall Himself judge the world when He comes in His glory. Unto Him the Father hath committed all judgment. (John 5:22). To Him at last every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that He is Lord (Phil. 2:10–11).

The parable of the talents which we have now read is near akin to that of the ten virgins. Both direct our minds to the same important event: the second advent of Jesus Christ. Both bring before us the same persons: the members of the professing church of Christ. The virgins and the servants are one and the same people — but the same people regarded from a different point, and viewed on different sides. The practical lesson of each parable is the main point of difference: vigilance is the keynote of the first parable, diligence that of the second. The story of the virgins calls on the church to watch; the story of the talents calls on the church to work.

We learn in the first place from this parable that all professing Christians have received something from God. We are all God’s “servants”: we have all “talents” entrusted to our charge.

The chapter we have now begun is a continuation of our Lord’s prophetic discourse on the Mount of Olives. The time to which it refers is plain and unmistakable: from first to last, there is a continual reference to the second advent of Christ and the end of the world. The whole chapter contains three great divisions. In the first, our Lord uses His own second coming as an argument for watchfulness and heart-religion: this He does by the parable of the ten virgins. In the second, He uses his own second coming as an argument for diligence and faithfulness: this He does by the parable of the talents. In the third, he winds up all by a description of the great day of judgment: a passage which for majesty and beauty stands unequalled in the New Testament.

The parable of the ten virgins which we have now read contains lessons peculiarly solemn and awakening. Let us see what they are.

We see for one thing that the second coming of Christ will find His church a mixed body, containing evil as well as good.