Matthew 25:31 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Matthew 25:31

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(Synoptics: Matthew 25:31-46)Speaking more plainly of his second coming and no longer in parables, Christ points to the Day of Judgment itself. The Son of Man will return and he will come personally and in great glory. This will be in compete contrast to his first coming when he took on him the form of a servant. On that day he will not hide his power and glory but display it for all to see. His disciples will rejoice but the world will tremble in expectation of imminent judgment. Never again will he hide his glory, for he has been exalted to the right hand of God to that place of honour that is his for ever. With horror, his enemies will recognise the one they despised and opposed with all their strength when it was in their power to do so, and now he has returned to be their judge. They will remember all their ungodly words spoken against him and all their ungodly deeds. God has allowed their true evil nature to express itself without reserve and now he who they dismissed as worthless along with all his followers has been exalted to the highest position over them. How can their sins be overlooked when they were committed so deliberately against him? What excuse can they make when they so persistently carried out their evil acts? While he was on earth they did not know him, but now they see that the patience of the Son of Man has ensnared them in their wickedness. Why if he possessed such glory did he not show it to them before? Because it was his intention to let them express their real character, without being restrained by the terror of his presence; he put himself and his disciples in their power for a time. But now the time for hiding his glory is over and the world must see who it is they have rebelled against.As is fitting for the King of heaven, he will be accompanied by the armies of heaven, his most powerful ministers, angels and archangels. At any time during his humiliation he could have called on the Father, and he would at once have put at his disposal more than twelve legions of angels, but he chose not to. Now those angels who were unseen will be seen by all: by the Lord’s people who longed for God to show his power and subdue wickedness, and by the unrighteous who will realise that they are without hope.Christ comes as a conquering king to claim his territories and to visibly subdue all his enemies. In the presence of his enemies he will sit upon his throne, a throne of glory, emanating such power and authority that no corner of God’s creation fails to come under its irresistible influence. About eighty times he uses this designation of himself – the Son of man. He means that here is humanity; it needs a champion, a representative, somebody who can succeed and live a perfect life before God. God must do it himself, so the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity has come and taken human nature to himself. He has lived a life of total obedience to the Father. He alone has perfectly satisfied God’s law. He has taken the punishment for all those who come to him. He came once with his glory hidden; he humbled himself and made himself of no reputation; he carried out the work of redemption. He will come a second time to reveal himself in glory and judge the world.

Application

Questions

Does the unbeliever think this talk of the Son of man coming is ridiculous? Does it seem to be the stuff of fairytales? The existence of this world is just as absurd as the coming of the Son of man at the end. The idea that the world came about as a result of a big bang, that it is the result of pure chance and no evidence of design, that somehow the galaxies spread out and the solar system formed and the conditions for life on earth just happened is absurd. The idea that the laws of physics are so finely tuned and the initial conditions of the universe were so perfect that life just resulted is preposterous. Those who wish to deny that this is a created world and that man is a created being and all life on earth has been purposefully made are exhibiting wilful unbelief. Every cell contains a mass of information in its DNA that did not just self-assemble. Life is designer and the evidence of a designer, the one true living God, is overwhelming. The maths of this alone ought to be enough to convince anyone who is not governed by deep prejudice that this is a created world. The Bible teaches that the Creator is a holy God, who cannot be indifferent to the way men and women behave, and will come in the person of the Son of God to judge the world.

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Matthew 25:31 Commentary and Bible Study