Ye shall not see me ... - 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, to be given up to long and dreadful suffering. You will not see me as a merciful Saviour, offering you redemption any more, until 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 killed as the merciful Saviour, Romans 11:25-32.

Remarks On Matthew 23

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

2. We are not to copy the example of wicked people, though they are our teachers or rulers, Matthew 23:3. We are to frame our conduct by the law of God, and not by the example of people.

3. People are often very rigid in exacting of others what they fail altogether of performing themselves, Matthew 23:4.

4. We are not to seek human honors Matthew 23:8, nor to give flattering titles to others, nor to allow others to give them to us Matthew 23:9. Our highest honor is in humility, and he is most exalted who is most lowly, Matthew 23:11-12.

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

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

(2) they committed the grossest iniquity under a cloak of religion, Matthew 23:14. They cheated widows out of their property, and made long prayers to hide their villainy.

(3) they showed great zeal in making proselytes, yet did it only for gain, and made them more wicked, Matthew 23:15.

(4) they taught false doctrine, and they resorted to artful contrivances to destroy the force of oaths, and to shut out the Creator from their view, Matthew 23:16-22.

(5) they were superstitious, Matthew 23:23. Small matters they were exact in; matters of real importance they cared little about.

(6) they took great pains to appear well, while they themselves knew that it was all deceit and falsehood, Matthew 23:25-28.

(7) 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 that killed them, Matthew 23:29-31.

continued...

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 Romans 11:26, Romans 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 Matthew 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., Matthew 23:13.

2. For their rapacity, and pretended sanctity in order to secure their secular ends: Ye devour widows houses, etc., Matthew 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., Matthew 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., Matthew 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., Matthew 23:23, Matthew 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, Matthew 23:25, Matthew 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, Matthew 23:27, Matthew 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., Matthew 23:29, Matthew 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.

For I say unto you, ye shall not see me henceforth,.... Meaning in a very little time after the passover, from the time of his crucifixion and death; otherwise they saw him many times after this, as in the palace of the high priest, in Pilate's judgment hall, and on the cross; but not after his resurrection. This shows the reason of their house being desolate, and in what sense it should be so, and immediately became so; namely, by being then directly, and ever after, destitute of his presence: and though they might afterwards seek for, and expect the Messiah in it, yet they would never be able to see him, nor throughout their long captivity: till ye shall say, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; that is, until the time comes, that the fulness of the Gentiles shall be brought in, and all Israel shall be saved, the Jews shall be converted, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; when they shall readily and cheerfully say these words to Christ, who will then appear in his glory; which they were now displeased at in the multitude that followed him, and the children in the temple. Though some think this is said by way of threatening, since the rest that is spoken to them by Christ is of that sort, and regards the men of that generation; and is given as a reason of their house being left desolate: and the sense is, that they should never see him with joy and pleasure; since, though they would be obliged to confess that he was Lord and Christ, they would never say the above words to him in faith, and holy reverence of him. The Cambridge exemplar of Beza's, and the Persic versions, read, "in the name of God."

For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

23:39 Ye shall not see me henceforth. This seems to imply that the temple shall be deserted when he leaves it. With his departure the presence of God departs. He was the Lord of the temple.

Till ye shall say. These were his last words in the temple precincts, but they do not shut out all hope. Even yet when the Jews shall join in the hosannahs of those who, on the Sunday before, had sung his praises, and cry, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord (Mt 21:9), they may be permitted to behold their Messiah. Many have seen in this passage a promise of the final conversion of Israel. Zec 12:10 Ro 11:26 2Co 3:15 seem to favor the same view. When Christ abandoned the temple in Jerusalem, it was only fit for the destroyer. If we should drive him out of his spiritual temple, the church, it would be left as dead as the body without the spirit.

23:39 Ye - Jews in general; men of Jerusalem in particular: shall not see me from this time - Which includes the short space till his death, till, after a long interval of desolation and misery, ye say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord - Ye receive me with joyful and thankful hearts. This also shall be accomplished in its season.

[1] till

The three "untils" of Israel's blessing:

(1) Israel must say, "blessed is He" Mt 23:39 Rom 10:3,4

(2) Gentile world-power must run its course. Lk 21:24 Dan 2:34,35.

(3) The elect number of Gentiles must be brought in. Then "the Deliverer shall come out of Zion." etc. Rom 11:25-27.

39. For I say unto you-and these were His last words to the impenitent nation, see on [1354]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 (Isa 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.

23:34-39 Our Lord declares the miseries the inhabitants of Jerusalem were about to bring upon themselves, but he does not notice the sufferings he was to undergo. A hen gathering her chickens under her wings, is an apt emblem of the Saviour's tender love to those who trust in him, and his faithful care of them. He calls sinners to take refuge under his tender protection, keeps them safe, and nourishes them to eternal life. The present dispersion and unbelief of the Jews, and their future conversion to Christ, were here foretold. Jerusalem and her children had a large share of guilt, and their punishment has been signal. But ere long, deserved vengeance will fall on every church which is Christian in name only. In the mean time the Saviour stands ready to receive all who come to him. There is nothing between sinners and eternal happiness, but their proud and unbelieving unwillingness.