Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

“"The judgment is set, and the books are opened." Who that is guided by the mere words would doubt that this is a description of the Final Judgment? And yet nothing is clearer than that it is not, but a description of a vast temporal judgment, upon organized bo…”

“Now learn a parable of the fig tree--"Now from the fig tree learn the parable," or the high lesson which this teaches. When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves--"its leaves."”

“So ye, in like manner, when ye shall see these things come to pass--rather, "coming to pass." know that it--"the kingdom of God" (Lu 21:31). is nigh, even at the doors--that is, the full manifestation of it; for till then it admitted of no full development.”

“Whether we take this to mean that the whole would be fulfilled within the limits of the generation then current, or, according to a usual way of speaking, that the generation then existing would not pass away without seeing a begun fulfilment of this predictio…”

“Heaven and earth shall pass away; but my words shall not pass away--the strongest possible expression of the divine authority by which He spake; not as Moses or Paul might have said of their own inspiration, for such language would be unsuitable in any merely …”

“Whether it means that the Son was not at that time in possession of the knowledge referred to, or simply that it was not among the things which He had received to communicate--has been matter of much controversy even among the firmest believers in the proper D…”

“For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, &c.--The idea thus far is similar to that in the opening part of the parable of the talents (Mt 25:14, 15). and commanded the porter--the gatekeeper. to watch--pointing to the official duty of the ministe…”

“And what I say unto you--this discourse, it will be remembered, was delivered in private. I say unto all, Watch--anticipating and requiring the diffusion of His teaching by them among all His disciples, and its perpetuation through all time.”

“Accordingly, "by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working," it was so ordered that precisely at the passover season, "Christ our Passover should be sacrificed for us." On the day following the passo…”

“What plan, if any, these ecclesiastics fixed upon for seizing our Lord, does not appear. But the proposal of Judas being at once and eagerly gone into, it is probable they were till then at some loss for a plan sufficiently quiet and yet effectual.”

“And they murmured against her--"This he said," remarks John (Joh 12:6), and the remark is of exceeding importance, "not that he cared for the poor but because he was a thief, and had the bag"--the scrip or treasure chest--"and bare what was put therein"--not…”

“And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me--It was good in itself, and so was acceptable to Christ; it was eminently seasonable, and so more acceptable still; and it was "what she could," and so most acceptable of all…”

“From generation to generation this remarkable prophecy of the Lord has been fulfilled; and even we, in explaining this saying of the Redeemer, of necessity contribute to its accomplishment." "Who but Himself," asks STIER, "had the power to ensure to any work o…”

“And when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money--Matthew alone records the precise sum, because a remarkable and complicated prophecy, which he was afterwards to refer to, was fulfilled by it.”

“If this be correct, it is fairly certain that only the last of Peter's three denials would take place while our Lord was under trial before the Sanhedrim. One thing more may require explanation. If our Lord had to be transferred from the residence of Annas to …”

“Third: The pluperfect sense "had sent" is in the translation only; the sense of the original word being simply "sent." And though there are cases where the aorist here used has the sense of an English pluperfect, this sense is not to be put upon it unless it b…”

“But at the very time when His enemies were saying, "God hath forsaken Him; persecute and take Him; for there is none to deliver Him" (Ps 71:11), He whose Witness He was and whose work He was doing was keeping Him as the apple of His eye, and while He was mak…”

“And there arose certain, and bare false witness against him--Matthew (Mt 26:60) is more precise here: "At the last came two false witnesses." As no two had before agreed in anything, they felt it necessary to secure a duplicate testimony to something, but th…”

“Now what utterance of Christ known to His enemies, could this refer to, if not to this very saying about destroying and rearing up the temple? And if so, it puts it beyond a doubt that by this time, at least, they were perfectly aware that our Lord's words ref…”

“But neither so did their witness agree together--that is, not even as to so brief a speech, consisting of but a few words, was there such a concurrence in their mode of reporting it as to make out a decent case.”

“Answerest thou nothing? what is it which these witness against thee?--Clearly, they felt that their case had failed, and by this artful question the high priest hoped to get from His own mouth what they had in vain tried to obtain from their false and contradi…”

“Yet not absolutely all; for Joseph of Arimathea, "a good man and a just," was one of that Council, and "he was not a consenting party to the counsel and deed of them," for that is the strict sense of the words of Lu 23:50, 51.”

“"And many other things blasphemously spake they against Him" (Lu 22:65). This general statement is important, as showing that virulent and varied as were the recorded affronts put upon Him, they are but a small specimen of what He endured on that dark occasio…”

“At the upper end of this court, probably, would be the memorable chamber in which the trial was held--open to the court, likely, and not far from the fire (as we gather from Lu 22:61), but on a higher level; for (as our verse says) the court, with Peter in i…”

“The sense of this is given in John's report of it (Joh 18:17), "Art not thou also one of this man's disciples?" that is, thou as well as "that other disciple," whom she knew to be one, but did not challenge, perceiving that he was a privileged person.”