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of man comes in His glory and sits upon the throne of His glory. Before Him all the
nations are gathered together, and to those who have been kind to the least of the brethren
of the King upon the throne are addressed the words:--
"Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you since the
overthrow of the world."
By their own confession the nations did not render "Christian service", for they will
say, "When saw we Thee a stranger, etc.?"
In sharp contrast with these nations who, though they have never professed the name
of Christ, yet did those things that were well pleasing, come those of the favoured nation
who said:--
"Lord, Lord, have we not taught in Thy Name, and in Thy Name cast out demons, and
in Thy Name done many wonderful works?"
To these the Lord will say:--
"I never approved of you, depart from Me, ye that work iniquity."
The threefold insistence upon "in Thy Name" is in contrast with "When saw we
Thee?" Rom. 2: deals with these nations and the conditions of their entry, particularly
in verses 6-11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 26, 27. A fuller exposition of Rom. 2: will be found in a
subsequent publication (D.5:).
Let us come back a little. Matt. 22: speaks of the marriage of the King's son. This
is the same marriage into which the five virgins had entrance. In verse 12 our special
word "enter" (eiserchomai) comes. A man is observed by the King as being without the
wedding garment, and he says:--
"Friend, how didst thou enter here, not having a wedding garment?"
His punishment is the same as that awarded to the evil servant (24: 51), and the
unprofitable servant (25: 30). Outer darkness and gnashing of teeth are always
associated with the loss of place in the kingdom (see Matt. 8: 12; 13: 42, 50). The
context of the one occurrence in Luke (13: 28) includes references to the sermon on the
mount, the shut door of the wedding feast, and the parallel to Matt. 8: 12. What is the
wedding garment? It is the righteous award of the saints (Rev. 19: 8), granted to those
who like the five wise virgins were "ready" (cf. Rev. 19: 7); in other words, the wedding
garment is fashioned out of obedience to the higher law of the sermon on the mount. In
Matt. 21: 31 there is a statement concerning forfeiture of place in the kingdom:--
"The publicans and harlots GO BEFORE you into the kingdom of God."
Chapter 19: however contains the fullest exposition of the spirit of the sermon on the
mount. A rich young Ruler asks the Lord what good thing he must do in order to have
aionian life (which Matt. 25: 46 uses synonymously with inheriting the kingdom).
Both in Matt. 19: and 25: "doing good" and "keeping the law" are the only terms