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come. Those most intimately associated with one another will be separated in that day. Wednesday, April 14. Matt. 24:42-44., Our proper attitude toward the return of our Lord is to be always watching. We should be looking for our Lord; an especial blessing is pronounced'upon those servants whom the Lord finds watching when He comes (Luke 12:37). If He should come today, would you have part in that bless ing ? His coming will be like that of a thief, unannounced and unexpected (cf. 1 Thess. 5:2). Therefore, we should always be alert that that day shall not overtake us as a thief (1 Thess. 5:4). It may be said in passing that it is a moral impossi bility to be watching for a Lord who can not by any possibility come until a- mil lennium is past, j)r until seven years have passed, or- three and a half years have passed. We should be always ready, for in such an hour as ye think not, He comes. The way to be “ready” is set forth in the verses that immediately follow (and in Matt. 25:4, 10,-16; Luke 12:35; 21:34-36; 1 John 2:28). Our Lord describes two servants and their two destinies (45-51). It is well that we find out which picture is ours. By pro fession and position, each is a servant of the Lord, neither one is an open and avowed enemy. This is very solemn. The distinctive characteristic of the faithful ser vant is that when the Lord comes, He will find him doing what He appointed him to do. What He appointed him to do was to give the Lord’s household “their food in due” season.” Note exactly the charac ter of the “faithful servant’s” work: (1) He gives "food" (R. V. literally, "nourish ment’). Many professed servants are giv ing anything but “nourishment,” sometimes husks, sometimes rank poison, literature, sociology, current events, literary lectures, Thursday, April 15. Matt. 24:45-51.
a more remote meaning of the word so translated) is the more common meaning in the New Testament; in fact, this is al most always its meaning. If we take this to be the sense here, then Jesus says, “This generation,” that is the generation alive when the things from verse 29 begin to come to pass, will not pass away until all be accomplished, the culmination will be so sudden. This interpretation fits the con text, i. e. the figure of the rapid develop ment of the fig tree. It seems like most absurd presumption and arrant blasphemy for Jesus, the humble Jewish peasant with execution only a few days ahead to say, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away,” and it would be presumption for Him to say it, blasphemous for Him to say it, utterly pre- _ posterous for Him to say it, if He were not Divine. But history has proven this extraordinary claim, this stupendous claim, of Jesus of Nazareth to be true. Centuries have rolled on, kingdoms and empires have risen and fallen and passed away but the words of this Man have not passed away. They stand today as no other words that were ever spoken stand, and by that fact they establish beyond a peradventure that all the claims of Jesus of Nazareth were true and that He is indeed God manifest in the flesh. Tuesday, April 13. Matt. 24:36-41., The day and the hour of our Lord’s coming no man knows, the angels did not know and even the Lord Himself as a man did not know (v. 36). It is therefore the most daring presumption for any one to try to set a date. The moment any teacher attempts to set dates for our Lord’s return, that moment he is discredited. But His coming will be sudden and unexpected; the world will not be looking for Him; every thing will be going on as usual; men will be eating and drinking, buying and selling, marrying and giving in marriage, all forms of amusements will be in full blast, and without a moment’s warning our Lord will
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