Job 8:13, 26:13, Mat 7:22-23, 8:12, 23:30, 25:30, Rev 3:16 | Barnes

Job 8:13

Job 26:13

Matthew 7:22-23

Verse 22. In that day. That is, in the last day, the day of judgment; the time when the principles of all pretenders to prophecy and piety shall be tried.

(i) "prophesied in thy" Nu 24:4, 1Kgs 22:11, Jer 23:13, Acts 19:13-15 1Cor 13:2 Verse 23. Profess unto them. Say unto them; plainly declare.

I never knew you. That is, I never approved, loved, or regarded you as my friends. See Ps 1:6, 2Ti 2:19, 1Cor 8:3. This proves that, with all their pretensions, they had never been true followers of Christ. Jesus will not then say to false prophets and false professors of religion, that he had once known them, and then rejected them; that they had been once Christians and then had fallen away; that they had been pardoned, and then had apostatized; but that he had never known them--THEY HAD NEVER BEEN TRUE CHRISTIANS. Whatever might have been their pretended joys, their raptures, their hopes, their self-confidence, their visions, their zeal, they had never been regarded by the Saviour as his true friends. I know not a more decided proof that Christians do not fall away from grace than this text. It settles the question; and proves that whatever else such men had, they never had any true religion. See 1Jn 2:19.

(k) "from me" Ps 5:5, Mt 25:41, Rev 22:15

Matthew 8:12

Verse 12. The children of the kingdom. That is, the children, or the people, who expected the kingdom; or to whom it properly belonged; or, in other words, the Jews. They supposed themselves peculiarly the favourites of heaven. They thought the Messiah would, enlarge their nation, and spread the triumphs of their kingdom. They called themselves, therefore, the children of the members of the kingdom of God, to the exclusion of the Gentiles. Our Saviour used the manner of speech to which they were accustomed, and said that many of the pagans would be saved, and many Jews lost.

Shall be cast out into outer darkness, etc. This is an image of future punishment. It is not improbable that the image was taken from Roman dungeons or prisons. They were commonly constructed under-ground. They were shut out from the light of the sun. They were, of course, damp, dark, and unhealthy, and probably most filthy. Masters were in the habit of constructing such prisons for their slaves, where the unhappy prisoner, without light, or company, or comfort, spent his days and nights in weeping from grief, and in vainly gnashing his teeth from indignation. The image expresses the fact, that the wicked who are lost will be shut out from the light of heaven, and from peace, and joy; and hope; will be confined in gloomy darkness; will weep in hopeless grief; and gnash their teeth in indignation against God, and murmur against his justice. What a striking image of future woe! Go to a damp, dark, solitary, and squalid dungeon; see a miserable and enraged victim; add to his sufferings the idea of eternity, and then remember that this after all is but an image, a faint image, of hell! Mt 22:13.

(a) "of the kingdom" Mt 7:22,23 (b) "be weeping" Mt 13:42,50

Matthew 23:30

Verse 30. And say, etc. This they professed to say by rebuilding their tombs. They also, probably, publicly expressed their disapprobation of the conduct of their fathers. All this, in building and ornamenting tombs, was a profession of extraordinary piety. Our Lord showed them it was a mere pretence.

Matthew 25:30

Verse 30. And cast, etc. Mt 8:12. The spiritual meaning of the parable may be thus summed up:

(1.) The servants of God are not all endowed with equal gifts and talents.

(2.) They are bound to employ their talents in promoting his honour, and in a proper improvement of them.

(3.) By employing their talents in a proper manner, they improve and strengthen them.

(4.) They will be judged according to the improvements they have made

(5.) All sinners look on God as a hard master, and as unreasonable and tyrannical.

(6.) They will be judged, not merely for doing wrong, but for neglecting to do right.

(7.) If the servant who kept the talent entire without injuring it, and who returned it to his master as he received it, was nevertheless judged, condemned, and cast away, what must they expect who abuse their talents, destroy by drunkenness and lust the noble faculties conferred on them, and squander the property that might be employed in advancing the interests of morals and religion!

(u) "there shall be" Mt 8:12

Revelation of John 3:16

Verse 16. So then because thou art lukewarm-I will spue thee out of my mouth. Referring, perhaps, to the well-known fact that tepid water tends to produce sickness at the stomach, and an inclination to vomit. The image is intensely strong, and denotes deep disgust and loathing at the indifference which prevailed in the church at Laodicea. The idea is, that they would be utterly rejected and cast off as a church: a threatening of which there has been an abundant fulfilment in subsequent times. It may be remarked, also, that what was threatened to that church may be expected to occur to all churches, if they are in the same condition; and that all professing Christians, and Christian churches, that are lukewarm, have special reason to dread the indignation of the Saviour.