And he said unto him, well, thou good servant
Signifying he had well done, and had approved himself to be an
honest, diligent, and laborious servant; who, having the grace of
God, which made him a good man, and gifts and abilities, which
made him a good minister of Christ, he made a good use them,
freely communicated the good things of the Gospel, and being
employed in a good work, he performed it well:
because thou hast been faithful in a very
little;
had preached the pure Gospel of Christ, and the whole of it, and
sought not to please men, but the Lord only; not his own glory,
but Christ's; abode by him and his interest, notwithstanding all
reproaches and persecutions, and so acted a faithful part to
Christ: "in a very little"; not that the Gospel is in itself
little, or of small account; it is a treasure in earthen vessels;
and contains the unsearchable riches of Christ: nor are gifts to
preach it little things; they are instances of rich and amazing
grace; but they are little, or, rather, the use and exercise of
them are little, in comparison of the glory and happiness such
faithful servants shall enjoy: from whence it appears, that since
there is no proportion between what they do, and what they shall
have, that therefore it is not of merit but of grace; and which
is expressed in the following clause:
have thou authority over ten cities;
which is to be understood, not in a literal sense, as if the
apostles should have the jurisdiction over so many cities, or
churches in so many cities among the Gentiles, after the
destruction of Jerusalem, which were planted by their means and
ministry; for nothing of this kind appears in the word of God:
and much less after the second coming of Christ, shall faithful
ministers of the word have power over so many cities, literally
taken; for both in the kingdom state and in the ultimate glory,
there will be but one beloved city, the holy city, the new
Jerusalem: nor is any thing in particular, in a metaphorical
sense, intended; only, in general, that the kingdom, and
dominion, and the greatness of it, will be given unto them; and
they shall reign with Christ on earth a thousand years; and shall
also have a crown of glory, life, and righteousness bestowed on
them, and shall sit on the throne with Christ; and besides all
this, the persons they have been instrumental to, will be their
joy, and crown of rejoicing. A learned writer F12
explains these ten cities, by the ten horns of the dragon, and
beast in ( Revelation
12:3 ) ( 13:1 ) by
which are meant ten kings, or kingdoms, ( Revelation
17:12 ) ( Daniel 7:24 ) . These
indeed will be overcome by Christ, and they that are with him,
and will hate the Romish antichrist, and destroy him; so that, it
seems, there will be revolutions in these kingdoms; and large
conversions to the faith of Christ, which seems to be what this
writer means by authority over them.