Matthew 23:39

39. For I say unto you--and these were His last words to the impenitent nation, see on Mr 13:1, opening remarks. Ye shall not see me henceforth--What? Does Jesus mean that He was Himself the Lord of the temple, and that it became "deserted" when He finally left it? It is even so. Now is thy fate sealed, O Jerusalem, for the glory is departed from thee! That glory, once visible in the holy of holies, over the mercy seat, when on the day of atonement the blood of typical expiation was sprinkled on it and in front of it--called by the Jews the Shekinah, or the Dwelling, as being the visible pavilion of Jehovah--that glory, which Isaiah (Is 6:1-13) saw in vision, the beloved disciple says was the glory of Christ (Joh 12:41). Though it was never visible in the second temple, Haggai foretold that "the glory of that latter house should be greater than of the former" (Hag 2:9) because "the Lord whom they sought was suddenly to come to His temple" (Mal 3:1), not in a mere bright cloud, but enshrined in living humanity! Yet brief as well as "sudden" was the manifestation to be: for the words He was now uttering were to be His very last within its precincts. till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord--that is, till those "Hosannas to the Son of David" with which the multitude had welcomed Him into the city--instead of "sore displeasing the chief priests and scribes" (Mt 21:15)--should break forth from the whole nation, as their glad acclaim to their once pierced, but now acknowledged, Messiah. That such a time will come is clear from Zec 12:10; Ro 11:26; 2Co 3:15, 16, &c. In what sense they shall then "see Him" may be gathered from Zec 2:10-13; Eze 37:23-28; 39:28, 29, &c.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Verse 39. Ye shall not see me, etc. The day of your mercy is gone by. I have offered you protection and salvation, and you have rejected it. You are about to crucify me, and your temple to be destroyed; and you, as a nation, be given up to long and dreadful suffering. You will not see me as a merciful Saviour, offering you redemption any more, till you have borne these heavy judgments. They must come upon you, and be borne, until you would be glad to hail a deliverer, and say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Blessed be he that comes as the Messiah, to bring deliverance. This has not been yet accomplished; but the days will come when the Jews, long cast out and rejected, will hail Jesus as the Messiah, and receive him whom their fathers slew, as the merciful Saviour, Rom 11:25-32.

(z) "shall say" Ps 118:26, Mt 21:9

REMARKS ON MATTHEW CHAPTER 23

(1.) Proper respect should always be shown to teachers and rulers, Mt 23:3.

(2.) We are not to copy the example of wicked men, Mt 23:3. We are to frame our conduct by the law of God, and not by the example of men.

(3.) Men are often very rigid in exacting of others what they fail altogether of performing themselves, Mt 23:4.

(4.) We are to obey God rather than man; not to seek human honours, Mt 23:8, nor to give flattering titles to others, nor to allow others to give them to us, Mt 28:9. Our highest honour is in humility; and he is most exalted who is most lowly, Mt 23:11,12.

(5.) In the descriptions of the Scribes and Pharisees in this chapter, we have a full-length portrait of the hypocrite.

1st. They shut up the kingdom of heaven against others, Mt 23:13.
They made great pretensions to knowledge, but they neither entered
in themselves nor suffered others.

2nd. They committed the grossest iniquity under a cloak of religion,
Mt 23:14. They cheated widows out of their property, and made
long prayers to hide their villany.

3rd. They showed great zeal in making proselytes; yet did it only for
gain, and made them more wicked, Mt 23:15.

4th. They taught false doctrine--artful contrivances to destroy the
force of oaths, and shut out the Creator from their view,
Mt 23:16-22.

5th. They were superstitious, Mt 23:23. Small matters they were
exact in; matters of real importance they cared little about.

6th. They were openly hypocritical. They took great pains to
appear well, while they themselves knew that it was all deceit
and falsehood, Mt 23:25-28.

7th. They professed great veneration for the memory of the pious dead,
while at the same time they were conscious that they really approved
the conduct of those who killed them, Mt 23:29-31.
Never, perhaps, was there a combination of more wicked feelings and
hypocritical actions, than among them; and never was there more
profound knowledge of the human heart, and more faithfulness, than
in him who tore off the mask, and showed them what they were.

(6.) It is amazing with what power and authority our blessed Lord reproves this wicked people. It is wonderful that they ever waited for a mock trial, and did not kill him at once. But his time was not come; and they were restrained, and not suffered to act out the fury of their mad passions.

(7.) Jesus pities dying sinners, Mt 23:37. He seeks their salvation. He pleads with them to be saved. He would gather them to him, if they would come. The most hardened, even like the sinners of Jerusalem, he would save if they would come to him. But they not; they turn from him, and tread the road to death.

(8.) The reason why the wicked are not saved is in their obstinacy. They choose not to be saved, and they die. If they will not come to Christ, it is right that they should die. If they do not come, they must die.

(9.) The sinner shall be destroyed, Mt 23:38. The day will come when the mercy of God will be clean gone for ever, and the forbearance of God exhausted; and then the sinner must perish. When once God has given him over, he must die. No man, no parent, minister, or friend, no angel or archangel, can then save. Salvation is lost, for ever lost. Oh, how amazing is the folly of the wicked, that they weary out the forbearance of God, and perish in their sins!

Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain

Verse 39 Ye shall not see me - I will remove my Gospel from you, and withdraw my protection. Till ye shall say, Blessed - Till after the fullness of the Gentiles is brought in, when the word of life shall again be sent unto you; then will ye rejoice, and bless, and praise him that cometh in the name of the Lord, with full and final salvation for the lost sheep of the house of Israel. See Rom 11:26, Rom 11:27. Our Lord plainly foresaw that, in process of time, a spiritual domination would arise in his Church; and, to prevent its evil influence, he leaves the strong warnings against it which are contained in the former part of this chapter. As the religion of Christ is completely spiritual, and the influence by which it is produced and maintained must come from heaven; therefore, there could be no master or head but himself: for as the Church (the assemblage of true believers) is his body, all its intelligence, light, and life, must proceed from him alone. Our forefathers noted this well; and this was one of the grand arguments by which they overturned the papal pretensions to supremacy in this country. In a note on Mat 23:9, in a Bible published by Edmund Becke in 1549, the 2nd of Edward VI., we find the following words: - Call no man your father upon the earth. Here is the Bishoppe of Rome declared a plaine Antichrist, in that he woulde be called the most holye father; and that all Christen men shoulde acknowledge hym for no lesse then their spyritual father, notwithstandinge these playne wordes of Christe. It is true, nothing can be plainer; and yet, in the face of these commands, the pope has claimed the honor; and millions of men have been so stupid as to concede it. May those days of darkness, tyranny, and disgrace, never return! From the 13th to the 39th verse, our Lord pronounces eight woes, or rather pathetic declarations, against the scribes and Pharisees. 1. For their unwillingness to let the common people enjoy the pure word of God, or its right explanation: Ye shut up the kingdom, etc., Mat 23:13. 2. For their rapacity, and pretended sanctity in order to secure their secular ends: Ye devour widows houses, etc., Mat 23:14. 3. For their pretended zeal to spread the kingdom of God by making proselytes, when they had no other end in view than forming instruments for the purposes of their oppression and cruelty: Ye compass sea and land, etc., Mat 23:15. 4. For their bad doctrine and false interpretations of the Scriptures, and their dispensing with the most solemn oaths and vows at pleasure: Ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing, etc., Mat 23:16-22. 5. For their superstition in scrupulously attending to little things, and things not commanded, and omitting matters of great importance, the practice of which God had especially enjoined: Ye pay tithe of mint and cummin, etc., Mat 23:23, Mat 23:24. 6. For their hypocrisy, pretended saintship, and endeavoring to maintain decency in their outward conduct, while they had no other object in view than to deceive the people, and make them acquiesce in their oppressive measures: Ye make clean the outside of the cup, Mat 23:25, Mat 23:26. 7. For the depth of their inward depravity and abomination, having nothing good, fair, or supportable, but the mere outside. - Most hypocrites and wicked men have some good: but these were radically and totally evil: Ye are like unto whited sepulchres - within full - of all uncleanness, Mat 23:27, Mat 23:28. 8. For their pretended concern for the holiness of the people, which proceeded no farther than to keep them free from such pollutions as they might accidentally and innocently contract, by casually stepping on the place where a person had been buried: and for their affected regret that their fathers had killed the prophets, while themselves possessed and cultivated the same murderous inclinations: Ye - garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, and say, If we had been, etc., Mat 23:29, Mat 23:30. It is amazing with what power and authority our blessed Lord reproves this bad people. This was the last discourse they ever heard from him; and it is surprising, considering their wickedness, that they waited even for a mock trial, and did not rise up at once and destroy him. But the time was not yet come in which he was to lay down his life, for no man could take it from him. While he appears in this last discourse with all the authority of a lawgiver and judge, he at the same time shows the tenderness and compassion of a friend and a father: he beholds their awful state - his eye affects his heart, and he weeps over them! Were not the present hardness and final perdition of these ungodly men entirely of themselves? Could Jesus, as the Supreme God, have fixed their reprobation from all eternity by any necessitating decree; and yet weep over the unavoidable consequences of his own sovereign determinations? How absurd as well as shocking is the thought! This is Jewish exclusion: Credat Judaeus Apella-non ego.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain