CHAPTERS 24 TO 28
CHAPTERS 24 TO 28
FER We have to take chapters 24 and 25 together, as forming one section. In the preceding section you have the Son of David claiming the inheritance, bringing to light the purpose of God, and silencing every gainsayer, in the main it was this. Now you have the coming of the Son of man, and what is here till He comes; it is not the Son of David, but the Son of man who is in view. The parable at the beginning of chapter 25 is a picture of what is in His absence. In the end of chapter 24 you get the responsibility of the servant, of the one set over the household; when you come to chapter 25 you will find that there is an unseen power in His absence to maintain the light, that is, to maintain the testimony.
Ques Is that their qualification to meet the Bridegroom?
FER Nothing stands in relation to the Bridegroom but the Spirit, and what is of the Spirit. This parable takes in the whole period of the Lord’s absence; the virgins went forth to meet Him, and this goes on until He comes and they go in with Him to the marriage.
Ques What are we to understand by the coming of the Bridegroom? Is it what we generally speak of, the coming of the Lord?
FER Well, I think so; but it is a parable, you must remember, not a statement of doctrine.
[p. 150] Ques Is the going in to the marriage, what is generally understood as the rapture of the saints?
Rem We do not get the rapture here at all, nor does the thought of the Bridegroom bring in the relationship of the church, we are apt to get turned aside by the term ‘Bridegroom’.
FER There is no rapture here, no catching up, it is simply that they have the privilege of going in to the marriage, they are the people that have part with Him.
Rem This might cover the other.
FER I do not see why you want to bring in the rapture, the virgins will have part with Him at the marriage, that is the teaching of the parable, it is responsibility, and therefore individual. I do not think you will understand the parable unless you understand the preceding section, where the titles Son of David and Son of God come out. This section brings in another thought, namely, of what belongs to the Son of man, all the same Person, of course, but viewed in another light. You get the same three things in John’s gospel, but in a different order. He comes up to Jerusalem to make known His claims as Son of David, He comes seeking fruit, that is seen in the parable of the vineyard; then comes the gospel, will they come in on that ground? That is the marriage supper, and it puts, obscurely I admit, the purpose of God in His Son. In the virgins the ground the virgins took was to go forth to meet the bridegroom; that was their profession, and it carried responsibility with it; but we had better take the two chapters together, the twenty-fourth and the twenty-fifth.
Ques Does the “then” at the beginning of chapter 25 connect the parable with the preceding verses, where the servant says, “My lord delayeth his coming”?
FER It connects the parable of the virgins specially with the end, but it takes up the whole [p. 151] period of time; still the force of the parable is connected with the end evidently.
Ques You spoke of the Lord as Son of David, Son of God, and Son of man, will you tell us the verses you refer to?
FER In the preceding section Jesus comes to Jerusalem as Son of David, the blind men had owned Him just before as the Son of David. He rides in on an ass, and claimed the inheritance which belonged to the Son of God — not simply David’s Son. It says, “last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance”. The Lord takes up the same ground in the beginning of chapter 22. It is a certain king made a marriage for his son, it is not simply the Son of David, but the establishment of God’s purpose in His Son. The invitation goes out to the Jews to begin with and eventually to the Gentiles. The Jews had lost everything on the ground of fruit-bearing, but God accomplishes His purpose in His Son; that is the ground of the gospel on which we all come in. Really it is as though God turned round and said, Man has lost everything on the ground of fruit-bearing, but I am going to carry out my purpose in my Son, the point now is, Will you come in on that ground? That is what the parable conveys to me, God’s purpose established in His Son, and man invited to come in. In chapters 24 and 25 the Son of man, with universal rights and judgment, comes in to put down all evil and every opposer; I do not think that anyone will get a full idea of these two chapters who does not see what comes out in the previous chapters in connection with the Son of David and Son of God. It is the thought of Psalm 2 over again, “I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son ... Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance”. It is the establishment of that; and then comes Psalm 8, the rights of the Son of man and the power of the Son of man to put down all evil, all things put under His feet; that is what you get in these chapters.
Rem Then even as Son of man the centre seems to be Jerusalem, all revolves around that.
FER You get the whole sphere and scene of judgment, first in regard to the Jews, that is the first thing that comes out, then Christendom under the figure of the virgins, and then the nations; but it brings out the universal right of the Son of man in judgment. In chapter 24 the disciples are looked at in remnant character, and they raise the question, and then the Lord reveals the coming of the Son of man, the sign of the Son of man will appear in heaven, and the character is seen of the remnant who will receive Him. The great point they are guarded against all through is looking to earth, they are instructed to look to heaven, their tendency would be to look to earth. It is a lesson for us in that respect. I think the sign is the Son of man in heaven, it is the sign of God’s intervention in judgment, that is in putting down the enemies of His people and the power of evil here. What we see at the present time is the Son of man set at the right hand of God far above all heavens, exalted above all. That involves the complete subjugation of evil. God has entrusted judgment to Him, because He is the Son of man, for the complete subjugation of evil. In the time to come the Jews will look to Babylon or to Egypt; this is just the natural tendency of man; and they will have to confront their great enemy the Assyrian; then their true resource will be to look to heaven, that is where their redemption will come from. It is the same principle for the believer now, if you are in perplexity you naturally turn to man, and in so doing you try to neutralise the discipline of God, for circumstances are [p. 153] the means by which God disciplines a man; this is all human, it is not looking up to heaven.
Rem In the chapters the circumstances do not follow in chronological sequence, in chapter 24 the Lord comes, and in chapter 25 He comes.
FER Chapter 24 carries you on to the end in connection with the remnant of Israel, the disciples being viewed as the remnant; the Lord shows the coming of the Son of man in relation to the Jews and then He goes back to view the disciples in another light, that is, as those who are occupying for Him in His absence. They were the remnant of Israel but they had another character, they were the nucleus of the kingdom, and were to be here in the character of a household, and in the end of chapter 24 the Lord addresses them in that character. We know how perfectly this has been verified, what more accurate picture could you get of it than in the parable of the virgins? In a few verses you get what has occupied the period of His absence laid out, and that at a time when the virgins had not gone forth.
Ques What relation does the parable of the talents hold to that of the virgins?
FER The parable of the virgins views Christendom in a general way, the parable of the talents is more individual, showing the peculiar responsibility of those to whom the Lord has entrusted talents; everybody was supposed to have a lamp and a vessel; the vessel is the body, everyone has a body, and, properly speaking, has no business to go out to meet the Bridegroom save in the power of the Spirit; that is where professors will be completely confounded. God’s thought was not failure; you may say Jew and Gentile builded together have lapsed into a great house, but that was not God’s thought; I think it is a very great point to see in everything what God’s thought is. Everything now is on the ground of divine [p. 154] purpose, and what is of Himself He will own, He will disown everything else.
Rem That was true in every dispensation.
FER But it is especially true in a dispensation characterised by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Ques I suppose there was a time when God owned man after the flesh?
FER Yes, but it is not so now, that is the meaning of the wedding garment, the man had no business to be there on the ground of natural fitness, for he completely ignored the previous parable, that is that God had been looking for thousands of years for fruit and had found none.
Rem The fact is, every man bidden was unfit from the first.
FER And they had to come in owning their unfitness, coming in with the wedding garment on.
Rem Divine righteousness instead of human righteousness.
FER If a man comes in without the wedding garment he as good as says, I am fit in myself; he ignores the whole previous dealings of God which were to demonstrate to man beyond a question the reality of the fall.
Ques What is the meaning of receiving the talents according to their several ability?
FER I think it is the taking up of a man according to what a man is suited for; evidently men are not suited for everything; you could not put Jeremiah in the place of Ezekiel, nor Timothy in the place of Paul; I think it is the vessel. Men are not constitutionally alike, Ezekiel was a man of iron, Jeremiah was timid.
Rem Paul refers to it when he speaks of God who had set him apart from his mother’s womb.
FER The absent one delivered to the servants His substance, He gave them the wherewithal to trade with, that is the talent. It is those in view who are specially to occupy the ground in His absence, they [p. 155] have His goods to trade with, and they are responsible to trade. It is not exactly gifts, though I think it might include gifts; the idea is you have something wherewith to trade. I think the talent is, that Christ gives you light, the truth to trade with. I do not think that you can use the talent save in the power of the Spirit. The point here is the diligence needed to turn these things to account. You are tested by the absence of the Master, just as the virgins are tested by the absence of the bridegroom. I think the Lord will give to a man what that man can well trade with, so that there is no excuse for a man not trading in his Lord’s absence. I am not over-weighted with the talent, the talent is a man’s stock-in-trade. The point of these parables is the way in which we are tested by the absence of the Lord. The test comes at the end of the dispensation; all testimony was to be in the power of the Spirit, the question was who had got oil. It is dreadful at the present time to see how men seek to maintain a testimony for Christ by human means, that is the character of things abroad in Christendom, the use of human means to maintain a light for Christ; the point of the parable is, that you have no power to maintain any testimony apart from the oil, you may have a wick, but that will go out. How can you speak of divine things except by the Holy Spirit?
Rem In the case of both servants and virgins the lack was affection, for the master on the one hand, and for the bridegroom on the other.
FER The way by which the Spirit works is to keep me under the sense of the affection of Christ. There is really no light for Christ except by affection. The foolish virgins could say, “Lord, Lord”, but it was not the Lord of affection. I think chapter 25 is a most solemn one. “Our lamps are going out”, only proves that they were dependent on others: if they had been in the sense of affection for Christ and depending on the Spirit, they would not have said it,
[p. 156] their lamps would not have been going out. They found the wick would not support the light without oil; it is like people attempting some kind of testimony and they find they cannot support it; you have no power for service more than for worship except by the Spirit; you cannot carry out levitical work any more than priestly work except by the Spirit. There is no power for these things except in the Spirit, who keeps you in the sense of Christ’s affection, and if you are not in that there is no real light for Him. In the absence of the bridegroom the virgins were to be uncontaminated, maintained by the Spirit in complete separation from the world, and a light for the Bridegroom; as a matter of fact, they became worldly, they all slumbered and slept, but still the wise virgins had not lost the oil, the Spirit was still with them.
Rem As a fact, it is a great comprehensive parable running right through the Christian period.
FER And the moral which it is intended to point is, “Watch, therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour”. If you are in the power of the Spirit and under the sense of Christ’s affection, you are always ready for the coming of the Bridegroom, you have not got to prepare; the only preparation, properly speaking, is the possession of the Spirit. The virgins became worldly, all ten of them, they were hindered by the world; when they were awakened the difference between the wise and foolish became apparent, five were in the power of the Spirit, and five in the flesh really. The idea of sleeping in Ephesians 5 is of a wise virgin sleeping, that is a believer, it is not an unconverted person. Who can tell the difference between a sleeping Christian and the dead? When you become worldly it is difficult to tell the difference between the world and you. The only way the difference can be supported and maintained is in the Spirit, you cannot maintain the separation in the flesh. Finally, we have the Son of [p. 157] man sitting on the throne of His glory in the end of this chapter.
Rem This is called sessional judgment.
FER Yes, but it is limited, the sphere is limited.
Rem He comes like lightning in the previous chapter.
FER He comes for the destruction of the beast and antichrist. There are some cases in which the people of God are associated with the Lord in judging, as of old we find Israel joined with God in exterminating the Canaanites; but then there are some cases in which the Lord acts alone, and I think it is so in the destruction of the beast and antichrist, for the people could not be delivered until they are judged. In the case of the Assyrian I think Israel is joined with the Lord. Then, as to the rest of this gospel, the main part is historical; the great point at the close is, that you have not got the ascension, but you have the whole ordering of things connected with the Lord on earth, He says, “I am with you all the days”. “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth”. He does not leave any power behind Him, the first thing is to break the power of evil in heaven, the dragon is cast out, that is done before the Lord comes to execute judgment. The dragon is cast down to earth, and there is no more place in heaven for him; it is the signal that his time is short; but there is no place more for him in heaven.
Rem You might say the Lord clears as He goes.
FER The two sections that we have lately looked at are of great value in the way in which they connect themselves with the Old Testament. All that is made known to us is most wonderful. You could not have a more remarkable picture of what has taken place in Christendom than the parable of the ten virgins and the parable that precedes it.