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August 19, 2021

8/19/2021

Parable Number 5: Avoid Surprises

        Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and You visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me. Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, "Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You...in prison, and come to You?" And the King will answer and say to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me." Matt. 25:34-40, NKJV.

    Did you see the question marks? We find even more as the parable moves toward its conclusion. One of its basic teachings is that the judgment is full of surprises.

    The reason for them stems from the false understanding of true religion held by most people. The average person sees the heart of religion as believing in right doctrines or in practicing certain ritual and/or lifestyle duties. But that is not God's position. In one of the great Old Testament texts on the topic, God says through Micah that what He requires of His children is not outward behavior or ritual obedience but "to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God" (Micah 6:8, NIV). And in the first 24 chapters of Matthew Jesus has already quoted that verse dealing with a false understanding of genuine religion. The rest of the New Testament picks up on that same theme. Thus James can write: "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world" (James 1:27, NIV). And Paul can state that "he whoever loves others has fulfilled the law! (Rom. 13:8-10, NIV; see also Gal. 5:14).

    Nor has the first Gospel been silent on the topic of true religion and its rewards. Jesus puts it most plainly when He claimed that "if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward" (Matt. 10:42, NIV). Again, Jesus noted that one can sum up the two great commandments as love to God and neighbor; He defines perfection in terms of being merciful to one's enemies (Matt. 5:43-48); Luke 6:36); and He specifically told the behaviorally oriented rich young ruler that if he would be perfect, he should sell his possession and give to the poor and then his reward would be treasure in heaven (Matt. 19:21).

    It is time for those who see doctrine and lifestyle or even prayer and Bible reading to be the heart of true religion to listen up. Those things are important, but there is something even more vital.

August 18, 2021

8/18/2021

Parable Number 5: The Essential Work of the Waiting Ones

            When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left. Then the King will say to those at his right hand, "Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Matt. 25:31-34, RSV.

    Whenever I preach on the parable of the sheep and the goats (Matt. 25:31-46) I always give people a homework assignment; namely, to count the question marks.

    Jesus plainly teaches that the final judgment will be full of surprises. Many of the churchly types will find out they are goats, in spite of outward appearances, while many others will be surprised to discover that they are blessed as sheep.

    The parable of the sheep and the goats brings the judgment theme that began in Matthew 23 to a climax. It also completes Jesus' developing teaching on readiness. Whereas the first three parables in the sequence of five placed the emphasis of watching (Matt. 24:42-25:13), and the fourth stressed working while watching (Matt. 25:14-30), this one (verses 31-46) is explicit as to the essential nature of that activity.

    The story of the sheep and the goats is a vivid word picture of the final separation that will take place when Jesus comes in the clouds of heaven. It is a portrayal that allows for no middle ground or any second chances. One is either a sheep (a standard Old Testament symbol of God's people) or a goat. One is either assigned to the right (the symbol of favor) or the left (the symbol of disfavor). Nor is the decision of the judgment open to appeal. The scene is one of finality. Those individuals failing to utilize the waiting and watching time appropriately before the Second Advent eventually find themselves lost from the kingdom (verse 46).

    As noted above, a crucial element in the parable is that of surprise. Both the sheep and the goats are startled at the king's verdict in their particular cases. Both groups question the decision (verses 37-39, 44).

    The reason for the surprise, as Jesus makes clear, stems from a false understanding of religion, one held by most people.

        We will return to that topic tomorrow. In the meantime, we need to begin to examine our own hearts and minds and lives as we contemplate our own idea of what it means to be religious and Christian.

August 17, 2021

8/17/2021

Parable Number 4: Working While Waiting and Watching

        For it will be like a man going on a journey; who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money. Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. Matt. 25:14-19, ESV.

    The parable of the talents, in common with the three preceding parables, continues to emphasize being ready for the Master's return. But it begins to answer a question previously not addressed: what is readiness?

    The story line is quite simple. A man (Christ) goes away and gives each of his servants talents (large amounts of money). The first two put their talents to work and increase their master's investment, while the third merely buries his in the ground for safekeeping.

    But the master desires more than security from his investment. He expects the servant to use the talents to make a profit. That becomes evident when "after a long time" he returns for an accounting to determine the faithfulness of his servants in his absence. In the judgment scene that follows, he rewards the two servants who have been faithful, but he punishes the one who has done nothing (Matt. 25:24-30).

    The lesson is clear. Readiness for the return of Christ does not mean passively waiting for the event. Rather, readiness is responsible activity that produces results that the Master can see and approve of.

    We can also learn from this parable that God does not expect the same results from everybody. Christians have varying levels of ability. But it is not the amount of a person's ability that He evaluates in the judgment, but whether he or she has employed the full range of abilities that God has given him.

    Another lesson from the parable is that the Lord rewards faithful people with even greater responsibility rather than with a pension. Greatness based on service (see Matt. 20:26-28) will continue in the age to come. It is an eternal principle of the kingdom of heaven. The book Education captures the concept nicely when it notes that true education "prepares the student for the joy of service in this world and for the higher joy of wider service in the world to come" (p. 13).

August 16, 2021

8/16/2021

Parable Number 3: Prepare Now for Christ's Return

        Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them....And at midnight a cry was heard: "Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!"...And while they [the foolish] went to buy [oil], the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding and the door was shut. Matt. 25:1-10, NKJV.

    The third parable on preparedness for the Second Advent (Matt. 25:1-13) continues the theme of waiting in watchful expectation, but once again the complexity of the message increases. This time the scene is a Palestinian wedding with Jesus as the Bridegroom.

    Beyond the coming of the Bridegroom, the focus of the parable is on the 10 virgins and their lamps. In fact, the primary emphasis is really on the division between the virgins, with five being wise and five foolish. The difference between them has to do with the preparation they have made for the coming of the Bridegroom. All have lamps, but only half of them have sufficient oil.

    Note that all 10 are outwardly Christians, for all of them are awaiting the Bridegroom. Also recognize that all 10 fall asleep.

    A major point in the parable that we can all identify with is that the Bridegroom is "a long time in coming" (verse 5, NIV). That is why they are sleeping. Earthly necessities go on, even while Christ's followers anticipate His return. No one can exist in a constant state of high-pitched alert. And His delay tempts them to forget His return while they focus on the activities of the world. All sleep.

    The difference between the wise and the foolish is not sleep but rather preparation for the return. Some have left preparation for the last minute, when it is too late. They pay deeply for their neglect. The door is shut (verse 10), their probation has closed (cf. Rev. 22:10, 11), and they miss the great "wedding supper of the Lamb" (Rev. 19:9, NIV) that takes place at the Second Advent (Matt. 25:11, 12).

    Verse 13 gives the moral of the story: "Keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour" (NIV). That theme, of course, undergirded the first two parables. But this one adds the facts of a long delay and that no individual can rely on another person's preparedness. In the judgment of God each one of us stands as an individual.

August 15, 2021

8/15/2021

Parable Number 2: Waiting Faithfully for Christ's Return

        Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master when he comes will find so doing. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that wicked servant says to himself, "My master is delayed," and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eats and drinks with the drunken, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know; and will punish him, and put him with the hypocrites; there men will weep and gnash their teeth. Matt. 24:45-51, RSV.

    The second parable continues the theme of urgency and watchfulness raised by the first, but with several added nuances. It sets forth the idea that Christians have duties and ethical responsibilities as they wait and watch. They are not to be idle. And in this story the householder's return gets delayed for reasons that the servants know nothing about.

    Unfortunately, delay can lead to bad behavior. Since the servants are on their own in an uncertain situation, one of them allows baser passions to rise to the surface. That servant begins to be unkind to others and to live a loose life. After all, there seems plenty of time before the Master shows up.

    But Jesus reiterates the lesson of the first parable: "the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know." Then Jesus adds a new aspect--one that will surface again in the conclusion of parables four and five (Matt. 25:30, 46). Unfaithful servants will lose their heavenly reward and will receive, instead, the same reward as the unfaithful Jews (Matt. 8:12), wicked people in general (Matt. 13:41 42, 50), and the scribes and the Pharisees (Matt. 23:13, 15, 23, 25, 27, 29). The succeeding parables drive home the concept of faithfulness and watchfulness in a more complete way than the first one.

    Hymnist Frank E. Belden captured the message of the first two parables in "We Know Not the Hour." Since we "know not the hour of the Master's appearing,...let us watch and be ready" for "He will come, hallelujah! hallelujah! He will come in the clouds of His Father's bright glory--But we know not the hour."

    Good advice for people who all too easily forget that their Lord will return in spite of an extended delay that can lead to careless living.

    And we are all those kinds of people.

August 14, 2021

8/14/2021

Parable Number 1: Watch for Christ's Return

        Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. Matt. 24:42-44.

    The point of Matthew 24:37-41 is the absolute certainty and suddenness of the Second Advent. Neither God's people nor the wicked can predict the exact time of the event. Both are to some extent surprised as to its exact timing, but true believers have at least had their level of awareness raised by Jesus' counsel regarding signs.

    Verse 42 brings us to a major transition in the Second Advent sermon of Matthew 24 and 25. Here we begin to find the practical outcome of the teaching in the first 41 verses of Matthew 24. If no one knows the time of the Advent except the Father (verse 36), then it behooves Christians to "watch," because they have no precise knowledge concerning what hour their Lord will return.

    Then in verse 42 Jesus gives the first of five short parables showing people how to live in the light of His returning. In this one they are to be as alert as a householder who expects his house to be broken into. This short parable calls for a constant state of watchfulness and readiness for the Lord's return. After all, "the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him" (verse 44, NIV). Down through history, the time when Christ is least expected to return is always today.

    William Barclay relates the fable of three apprentice devils who were coming to earth to complete their training. Each presented his plan to Satan for the ruination of humanity. The first proposed to tell people that there was no God. Satan replied that that would not delude many, since most have a gut feeling to the contrary. The second said he would proclaim that there was no hell. Satan rejected this tactic also, since most people have a sense that sin will receive its just deserts. "The third said, 'I will tell men that there is no hurry.' 'Go.' said Satan, 'and you will ruin men by the thousand.' "

    The most dangerous delusion is that time will go on indefinitely. Tomorrow can be a dangerous word. It is against this attitude that Christ warns us in the first of His five parables on watchfulness and readiness.

    Father, it seems as if time will go on forever. Help me ever to remember that Your sure Word says that that is not so. Help me to keep the vividness of that promise in my heart and mind.

August 13, 2021

8/13/2021

A Side Lesson on the Second Coming

        They will see the Son of man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. Mark 13:26, 27, RSV.

    The powers and warnings by Jesus in Matthew 24:1-41 are many and precious. Michael Green sums up the lessons of the passage in a helpful manner. First, he notes, the return of Christ will be personal as well as certain.

    Second, history is going somewhere. It is not meaningless or random. Nor is it an endless cycle. "There will be a real end just as there was a real beginning. And at the end we shall find none other than Jesus Christ."

    Third, the return of Christ points to the triumph of good over evil, the victory of God's purpose over human and cosmic rebellion.

    Fourth, the return spells restoration. "There will be a new creation, a new heaven and earth, in which only goodness dwells" (see 2 Peter 3:11-13; Rev. 21:1-5).

    Fifth, the return of Jesus points to judgment and separation. Some will be taken and some left (Matt. 24:40, 41). It will be a time when the secret thoughts of the heart and the innermost character become known to all.

    Sixth, the return of Christ will be decisive. Signaling the end of the age, it ushers in the fullness of the kingdom. The time for repentance and change will be forever past.

    Seventh, the return will be as sudden and unexpected as a flash of lightening in the sky (verse 27). "It will come out of the blue upon the heedless world."

    Last, the return of Jesus will occur at a time known only to God the Father (verse 36). Preachers don't know the time, nor did the disciples. Even Jesus in His incarnate state did not know. God in His wisdom recognizes when it will be best to end earthly history. In the meantime, Christians are to be faithful in the face of hardships (verse 13) and watchful as they await the return of their Savior (verse 42).

    It is to the topics of watchfulness and preparedness that Jesus turns to in the second half of His great sermon on His second coming. He will address the question of how His followers ought to live in light of His certain return.

    And with that shift in emphasis we must "listen up" as our Lord provides us with priceless knowledge that we desperately need as we travel through endtimes.

August 12, 2021

8/12/2021

Fig Lessons

        Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near; so, you too, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door....But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah....They did not understand until the flood came and took them all away. Matt. 24:32-39, NASB.

    In Matthew 24:32-36 Jesus gives us great truths about human knowledge of the Second Advent. The first is the lesson of the fig tree--one of the minority of trees in the first-century Palestine that lost its leaves for winter. Just as the appearance of new leaves on the fig tree indicates that summer is approaching, so sensitive Christians can tell when Christ's appearing is near (verse 33). On the other hand, they can never know its exact time (verse 36).

    Jesus goes on to give the illustration of Noah. Just as people "were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark," so it will be with the coming of the Son of man (verse 38, NIV).

    Most explanations of that text imply that the sign of Noah will be great wickedness in the world, but that is not the only possible interpretation. The great wickedness understanding harks back to Genesis 6:5, which states that in Noah's time "the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (RSV). Note, however, that Genesis 6:5 is from God's perspective.

    Matthew 24:37-39 can also be read from the human point of view. From that vantage, the text simply says that life near the end of time will continue as usual in the eyes of most people. After all, eating and drinking and marrying are normal activities. It is only the excesses of Noah's time and those implied just before the Second Advent that make them irregular. But most people, including many of those in the churches, will undoubtedly focus on the fact that life appears to be going on as usual until "the great surprise." They see nothing out of the ordinary.

    That interpretation ties in nicely with those verses that compare the Second Advent to the coming of a thief (e.g., 1 Thess. 5:2). It also harmonizes with Matthew 24:40 and 41, which indicate the suddenness of the separation of the saved and the lost.

    Lord, give me eyes to see fig trees and the events of earth from Your perspective.

August 11, 2021

8/11/2021

The Sign of Jerusalem: Number 2

        But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it; for these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written...Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles." Luke 21:20-24, RSV.

    Yesterday we began to explore the prophetic warnings of Jesus that allowed His followers to escape the destruction of the city. The course of events themselves enabled the Christians to heed His warning.

    In August of A.D. 66 Cestius (Rome's legate in Syria) attacked Jerusalem and then withdrew for some unknown reason, even though victory was within his grasp. Then in A.D. 67 and A.D. 68 Vespasian subdued Galilee and Judea, but delayed the siege of Jerusalem because of Emperor Nero's death. Not until the spring and summer of A.D. 70 did Jerusalem come under siege and be destroyed by Vespasian's son Titus. Sometime in the interval between the trouble of A.D. 66 and the destruction of A.D. 70, Eusebius (A.D. 263-339) tells us, "The members of the Jerusalem church, by means of an oracle given by revelation to acceptable persons there, were ordered to leave the City before the war began [in earnest] and settle in a town in Peraea called Pella. To Pella those who believed in Christ migrated from Jerusalem" (Ecclesiastical History 3. 5. 3).

    Thus the Christians, following the warning of Christ in Matthew 24, Luke 21, and the unnamed prophet noted by Eusebius, fled the city and avoided its fate. Both that destruction and the salvation of Christians from catastrophe were signs of great significance concerning the second coming of Jesus and the end of the world. In the context of Matthew 24 they function as guarantees of the final annihilation of a sinful world and the ultimate salvation of those who believe in Jesus.

    Ellen White summarizes it nicely when she writes that "the Saviour's prophecy concerning the visitation of judgments upon Jerusalem is to have another fulfillment, of which that terrible desolation was but a faint shadow. In the fate of the chosen city we may behold the doom of a world that has rejected God's mercy and trampled upon His law....But in that day, as in the time of Jerusalem's destruction, God's people will be delivered" (The Great Controversy, pp. 36, 37).

    Praise God for His providence.

August 10, 2021

8/10/2021

The Sign of Jerusalem: Number 1

        So when you see the desolating sacrilege spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains....For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And if those days had not been shortened, no human being would be saved. Matt. 24:15-22, RSV.

    We should note that Matthew 24 has one other sign containing a great deal of precision--that of the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, a foreshadowing of the judgment and destruction of the entire world at the Second Advent.

    Jesus predicted that the destruction of the Temple would be complete--"not one stone here will be left on another" (verse 2, NIV). Josephus, the Jewish historian who lived through the event, describes the almost unimaginable hardships during the final six-month siege. Not only does he claim that more than a million Jews died, but that the Romans took nearly 100,000 more captive. The famine was so bad that a mother is reported to have slain, roasted and eaten her child (Wars 6. 3. 4). The Roman general Titus eventually ordered the entire city, including the Temple complex, razed to the ground, thus bringing to fulfillment Christ's prediction of verse 2.

    But Christian believers, however, did not suffer the same fate as those Jews who had rejected Jesus as the Messiah. Christians had the counsel of Christ that we now find in Matthew 24. Verses 15 to 22 appear to be specifically directed toward the fall of Jerusalem and give directions as to when believers were to make their escape.

    The Christians in Jerusalem were not only alerted to the coming crisis of the destruction of Jerusalem by the general sign of wars and rumors of wars, but they had specific counsel that when they saw "standing in the holy place 'the abomination that causes desolation,' spoken of through the prophet Daniel [9:27]" (verse 15, NIV), then those in Judea were to flee to the mountains (verse 16). Luke's rendering of this passage makes the meaning clearer: "When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, in fulfillment of all that has been written" (Luke 21:20-22, NIV).

    Tomorrow we will examine how accepting Jesus at His word saved the believers in Jerusalem.