When once the master of the house is risen up
From table, or off of his couch, the entertainment being over:
and so here, the Gospel feast, or dispensation, being at an end,
and all the guests come in, who were effectually called, and long
patience and forbearance being used towards others; or has
entered in, as the Vulgate Latin version reads, and so Beza's
ancient copy, and one of Stephens's; is come from the wedding;
see ( Luke
12:36 ) Christ having espoused all his elect to himself, by
the ministry of the word: for by "the master of the house" is
meant, the bridegroom of the church, the head of the body, the
King of saints, who is Son over his own house, and high priest
there; of whom the whole family in heaven and earth, is named:
and hath shut to the door;
the door of mercy and of hope; the door of faith; the preaching
of the word, and the administration of ordinances, when these
shall be no more:
and ye begin to stand without;
or "do stand without"; without the holy city, where dogs are;
having no admittance to the nuptial chamber, to the marriage
supper of the Lamb, and the joys of heaven:
and to knock at the door;
which shows how near some persons may come to heaven, and yet not
enter there, even to the very door; and what an expectation, yea,
an assurance they may have, of admission into it, not at all
doubting of it; and therefore knock as if they were some of the
family, and had a right to enter; but not finding the door opened
to them, so soon as they imagined, they begin to call as well as
knock:
saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us;
they acknowledge Christ to be Lord, as all will at the last day,
to the glory of God the Father, even professors and profane; they
repeat the word, to show the vehemency and earnestness of their
entreaty; and according to the Syriac and, Persic versions, they
claim an interest in Christ, which read, "our Lord, our Lord";
and on account of which they doubted not, but the door would be
opened: but alas! he was only their Lord in a professional way;
they had only called him Lord, Lord, but had never truly and
heartily yielded obedience to him; their hearts had never been
opened to him, and he had never had a place there, nor his
Gospel; wherefore though they knock, he will not open;
and he shall answer and say unto you.
The Persic version adds, "nay, but be ye gone hence", for the
following reason,
I know you not, whence you are:
not but that Christ being the omniscient God, will know who they
are, from whence they come, of what country and place they be,
and to whom they belong; but the sense is, that he will not own
them, and express any approbation of them, as his; but will treat
them as strangers, that come, it is not known, from whence; he
will reject them, as not being born from above, as not being the
sheep of his fold, or members of his true church: they did not
come from heaven, they were not heaven born souls, or partakers
of the heavenly calling, and therefore shall not be received
there; they belonged to the men of the world, and were of their
father the devil, and shall be sent to him: so the foolish
virgins, or formal professors of religion, and such as have been
preachers of the Gospel, will entreat Christ at the last day, and
shall have such an answer as this returned to them, which will be
very awful and startling; (See Gill on Matthew
7:23), (See Gill on Matthew
25:12).
