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would be certain even as it would be terrible. For th e disciples it contains a w arning th a t th is long period which should intervene before His coming again in glory was not to be a period of inactivity b u t a tim e in which they would be required to show all good fi delity to th e ir absent Lord.— Butler. v. 12. A certain nobleman w ent in to a fa r country,' Our Lord here utilizes a recent historical event for the purpose of a parable. Herod the G reat had died shortly after th e Nativity, and his son, th e E thn arch Archelaus, is the certain nobleman, who went to Rome to seek from th e Emperor the kingdom of Judea, which Herod had left him by his last will but which he could no t inh erit un til th e will was ratified by Augustus. Probably in many other cases undiscov- erable to us, our Lord wove contempo rary events into H is parables.— F arra r. v. 13. Delivered them te n vpounds. The 1 pounds rep resen t the •opportunity for service given each of His disciples, and on th a t disciple’s use of them will be determ ined his place in th e kingdom when the nobleman retu rn s to set it up. — Gray. In th e giving of the pounds i s , set fo rth the distribution of gifts for service, which is also elsewhere in Scrip- tu re connected w ith Christ’s ascension _(Eph. 4:7, 8, 11, 12; 1 Pet. 4:10, 11; Rom. 12:6-8; 1 Cor. 12:7-11). The servants represent the professed ser vants of Christ, not necessarily all re generated men (Mt. 7:22 -23 ).— Torrey. Occupy till I come. L iterally, “Trade ye till I come.”— L ightfoot. In other words, “Get busy and keep busy until, I come.” In His ascension to the F a th er’s rig h t'h an d , Christ, our Man of high birth, claim ant to the throne of univer sal empire, went into the far country to be invested w ith royal sovereignty. , The province over which He will one day exercise th a t royal sovereignty is here on earth and includes th e whole round world. Till His coming, two sets of activities go on in th e earth over which He is ultim ately to reign. His servants do business w ith the capital which He has le ft them and H is enemies struggle in rebellion against His coming rule.— Ross. ~ v. 14. H is citizens h ated him. No tice the reference to th e citizens as dis tinguished from th e servants. When Christ went away, these two classes were left on the earth, and when He comes back, the same two classes will meet Him, friends and enemies. Hence th ere can be no m illennium before He
tempted to break through all restra in t and act as if he would never come at all. On th e other hand some, as was th e case w ith th e Thessalonians, 2 Thess. 2:2, m ight even cease from all labor both secular and sacred, on the ground th a t Christ was coming speedily. The whole parable implies th a t a long tim e would elapse before th e Lord re tu rned to the earth. In view of his oft- repeated reference to th e same fact, it is not fair to make him responsible for th e m istaken inference of the early Christians th a t his second coming would be immediate. While he clearly taugh t the certainty of his coming, he also said th a t he did not know th e tim e himself, Mark 13:32. I t is presumptuous for the disciple to pretend to g reater knowledge th a n his Lord. The parable te ac h es. again th a t the tru e preparation for th e coming of the Lord is the development of character. They all received the same amount and they showed what qualities they pos sessed by its improvement. The things they did in th eir lo rd ’s absence would not be th e things they m ight have to do afte r his re tu rn but they would need the same characteristics a t the "one time as a t th e other. In th e present age God cares more for the train ing of the work er th an the doing of the work. The present age is for preparation. The age to come is for accomplishment. v. 11. T hat th e kingdom should im mediately appear. They had a m istaken notion of His kingdom. They thought He would introduce it w ith temporal pomp and power, COMMENTS FROM which, w ith the MANY SOURCES power He had to K eith L. Brooks w o r k miracles, t h e y knew He could clothe himself w ith in a short time whenever He pleased. Their expecta tions were checked and th e ir m istakes rectified. He tells them th a t He will not be publicly installed in His earthly kingdom for a g reat while yet.S-Henry. He warns them th a t His trium ph over his enemies, though not speedy, yet
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