M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

25 ^1-13 “In those days the kingdom of Heaven will be like ten bridesmaids who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were sensible and five were foolish. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. But the sensible ones brought their lamps and oil in their flasks as well. Then, as the bridegroom was a very long time, they all grew drowsy and fell asleep. But in the middle of the night there came a shout, ‘Wake up, here comes the bridegroom! Out you go to meet him!” Then up got the bridesmaids and attended to their lamps. The foolish ones said to the sensible ones, ‘Please give us some of your oil—our lamps are going out!’ ‘Oh no,’ returned the sensible ones, ‘there might not be enough for all of us. Better go to the oil-shop and buy some for yourselves.’ But while they had gone off to buy the oil the bridegroom arrived, and those bridesmaids who were ready went in with him for the festivities and the door was shut behind them. Later on the rest of the bridesmaids came and said, ‘Oh, please, sir, open the door for us!’ But he replied, ‘I tell you I don’t know you!’ So be on the alert—for you do not know the day or the time.

Life is hard for the faint-hearted

^14-15 “It is just like a man going abroad who called his household servants together before he went and handed his property to them to manage. He gave one five thousand pounds, another two thousand and another one thousand—according to their respective abilities. Then he went away.

^16-18 “The man who had received five thousand pounds went out at once and by doing business with this sum he made another five thousand. Similarly the man with two thousand pounds made another two thousand. But the man who had received one thousand pounds went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

^19-23 “Some years later the master of these servants arrived and went into the accounts with them. The one who had the five thousand pounds came in and brought him an additional five thousand with the words, ‘You gave me five thousand pounds, sir; look, I’ve increased it by another five thousand.’ ‘Well done!’ said his master, ‘you’re a sound, reliable servant. You’ve been trustworthy over a few things, now I’m going to put you in charge of much more. Come in and share your master’s rejoicing.’ Then the servant who had received two thousand pounds came in and said, ‘You gave me two thousand pounds, sir; look, here’s two thousand more that I’ve managed to make by it.’ ‘Well done!’ said his master, ‘you’re a sound, reliable servant. You’ve been trustworthy over a few things, now I’m going to put you in charge of many. Come in and share your master’s pleasure.’

^24-25 “Then the man who had received the one thousand pounds came in and said, ‘Sir, I always knew you were a hard man, reaping where you never sowed and collecting where you never laid out—so I was scared and I went off and hid your thousand pounds in the ground. Here is your money, intact.’

^26-30 “‘You’re a wicked, lazy servant!’ his master told him. ‘You say you knew that I reap where I never sowed and collect where I never laid out? Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and when I came out I should at any rate have received what belongs to me with interest. Take his thousand pounds away from him and give it to the man who now has the ten thousand!’ (For the man who has something will have more given to him and will have plenty. But as for the man who has nothing, even his ‘nothing’ will be taken away.) ‘And throw this useless servant into the darkness outside, where he can weep and wail over his stupidity.’

The final judgment

^31-33 “But when the Son of Man comes in his splendour with all his angels with him, then he will take his seat on his glorious throne. All the nations will be assembled before him and he will separate men from each other like a shepherd separating sheep from goats. He will place the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left.

^34-36 “Then the king will say to those on his right ‘Come, you who have won my Father’s blessing! Take your inheritance—the kingdom reserved for you since the foundation of the world! For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was lonely and you made me welcome. I was naked and you clothed me. I was ill and you came and looked after me. I was in prison and you came to see me there.”

^37-39 “Then the true men will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and give you food? When did we see you thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you lonely and make you welcome, or see you naked and clothe you, or see you ill or in prison and go to see you?’

⁴⁰ “And the king will reply, ‘I assure you that whatever you did for the humblest of my brothers you did for me.’

^41-43 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Out of my presence, cursed as you are, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels! For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. I was lonely and you never made me welcome. When I was naked you did nothing to clothe me; when I was sick and in prison you never cared about me.’

⁴⁴ “Then they too will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry, or thirsty, or lonely, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and fail to look after you?’

⁴⁵ “Then the king will answer them with these words, ‘I assure you that whatever you failed to do to the humblest of my brothers you failed to do to me.’

⁴⁶ “And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the true men to eternal life.”

Felix’s successor begins his duties with vigour—

25 ^1-4 Three days after Festus had taken over his province he went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem. The chief priests and elders of the Jews informed him of the case against Paul and begged him as a special favour to have Paul sent to Jerusalem. They themselves had already made a plot to kill him on the way. But Festus replied that Paul was in custody in Caesarea, and that he himself was going there shortly.

⁵ “What you must do,” he told them, “is to provide some competent men of your own to go down with me and if there is anything wrong with the man they can present their charges against him.”

^6-8 Festus spent not more than eight or ten days among them at Jerusalem and then went down to Caesarea. On the day after his arrival he took his seat on the bench and ordered Paul to be brought in. As soon as he arrived the Jews from Jerusalem stood up on all sides of him, bringing forward many serious accusations which they were quite unable to substantiate. Paul, in his defence, maintained, “I have committed no offence in any way against the Jewish Law, or against the Temple or against Caesar.”

—but is afraid of antagonising the Jews

⁹ But Festus, wishing to gain the goodwill of the Jews, spoke direct to Paul, “Are you prepared to go up to Jerusalem and stand your trial over these matters in my presence there?”

^10-11 But Paul replied, “I am standing in Caesar’s court and that is where I should be judged. I have done the Jews no harm, as you very well know. It comes to this: if I were a criminal and had committed some crime which deserved the death penalty, I should not try to evade sentence of death. But as in fact there is no truth in the accusations these men have made, I am not prepared to be used as a means of gaining their favour—I appeal to Caesar!”.

¹² Then Festus, after a conference with his advisers, replied to Paul, “You have appealed to Caesar—then to Caesar you shall go!”

Festus outlines Paul’s case to Agrippa

^13-14 Some days later King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at Caesarea on a state visit to Festus. They prolonged their stay for some days and this gave Festus an opportunity of laying Paul’s case before the king.

^15-21 “I have a man,” he said, “who was left a prisoner by Felix. When I was in Jerusalem the chief priests and Jewish elders made allegations against him and demanded his conviction! I told them that the Romans were not in the habit of giving anybody up to please anyone, until the accused had had the chance of facing his accusers personally and been given the opportunity of defending himself on the charges made against him. Since these Jews came back here with me, I wasted no time but on the very next day I took my seat on the bench and ordered the man to be brought in. But when his accusers got up to speak they did not charge him with any such crimes as I had anticipated. Their differences with him were about their own religion and concerning a certain Jesus who had died, but whom Paul claimed to be still alive. I did not feel qualified to investigate such matters and so I asked the man if he were willing to go to Jerusalem and stand his trial over these matters there. But when he appealed to have his case reserved for the decision of the emperor himself, I ordered him to be kept in custody until such time as I could send him to Caesar.”

²² Then Agrippa said to Festus, “I have been wanting to hear this man myself” “Then you shall hear him tomorrow,” replied Festus.

Festus formally explains Paul’s case to Agrippa

^23-27 When the next day came, Agrippa and Bernice proceeded to the audience chamber with great pomp and ceremony, with an escort of military officers and prominent townsmen. Festus ordered Paul to be brought in and then he spoke: “King Agrippa and all who are present, you see here the man about whom the whole Jewish people both at Jerusalem and in this city have petitioned me. They din it into my ears that he ought not to live any longer, but I for my part discovered nothing that he has done which deserves the death penalty. And since he has appealed to Caesar, I have decided to send him to Rome. Frankly, I have nothing specific to write to the emperor about him, and I have therefore brought him forward before you all, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that from your examination of him there may emerge some charge which I may put in writing. For it seems ridiculous to me to send a prisoner before the emperor without indicating the charges against him.”