Matthew Chapter 24
We continue once again with Luke Chapter 12 and the parable of “The Faithful Servant and the Evil Servant”.
Verse 37 “Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them.”
THE MASTER WILL SERVE HIS SERVANTS
What will be the special reward of these servants?
The parable states it: their Master will "gird himself [he will become their servant] and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them.”
This implies that at our Lord's second coming he will be present before any of his servants know of his arrival. He will knock or cause announcement of his presence to be made. Those who will hear the knock will be such only as are awake and ready, expecting him and on the alert for the knock. These will receive a special spiritual feast. It will be special because it is on a special occasion and intended as a special reward for their manifestation of interest and devotion. It will be special also, because the Master of the household, turned to be its servant, would have all the keys to all the riches of grace and blessing, and, as elsewhere explained, will bring forth from his treasuries--his pantries --things new and old, substantial’s and delicacies. The faithful ones will surely have a royal feast, such as never before was granted them.
These things, we hold, have already been fulfilled. The knock, or proclamation of the Lord's presence, as indicated by the Old Testament prophecies, has been given since 1875 and is still being given. The knock of the parable might appropriately be but for a few seconds, but the fulfillment would properly cover a period of years. The servants of the household are taking notice, and each one as he opens his heart and mind TO THE FACT OF THE LORD'S PRESENCE receives a fulfillment of the blessing promised--receives a feast of fat things, spiritual—an understanding and appreciation of the divine plan and a soul nourishment and strengthening such as was never his before.
That this serving of the servants by the Master should be understood to be an individual work and not merely a collective service and feast, is evidenced by the Lord's statement in Rev 3:20. Here the Lord represents the same event in connection with his message to the last phase of his Church nominal, the Laodicean phase. He says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man [individual] hear my voice [knock] and open the door, I will come in to him and sup with him, and he with me."
Many Christians have erroneously interpreted this statement by our Lord to symbolize; they imagine how our Lord stands outside the door of the heart of the non-believer waiting to be invited in. They exclaim in so many words; we have to open the door to let Jesus into our lives. Jesus will never force his way in. He gives us the freedom to choose. It is up to us whether or not we open the door to him.
However this is not what this text implies at all, first of all as can readily be seen from the context (viz. the opening statement, “To the angel of the Church of Laodicea”) this statement is addressed to the church thus to believers not non-believers.
It will be noted that with regards to the first six churches the Lord said: “Behold, I come quickly”, but only with the last or seventh does he say: “Behold I stand at the door and knock”.
In order for one to knock at the door one must be standing before it. “Behold I stand at the door (I have arrived, I am present, yet unseen accept by those with the eye of faith).”
“You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the parousia (presence) of the Lord HAS approached. Do not murmur (in dispute of this fact) against one another, brethren, lest you be judged (corrected). Behold, the Judge is standing at the door!” (James 5:8, 9)
Just as in the Laodicean period or harvest of the Jewish nation at the time of the First Advent, Jesus’ presence, announced by John the Baptist, was generally unrecognized—“There stands one among you, whom ye know not” (John 1:26)—so likewise today, spiritual Israel (the nominal or professing church) is blind to the reality of Christ’s second presence.
We continue on to Verse 38 in our next post.
We continue once again with Luke Chapter 12 and the parable of “The Faithful Servant and the Evil Servant”.
Verse 37 “Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them.”
THE MASTER WILL SERVE HIS SERVANTS
What will be the special reward of these servants?
The parable states it: their Master will "gird himself [he will become their servant] and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them.”
This implies that at our Lord's second coming he will be present before any of his servants know of his arrival. He will knock or cause announcement of his presence to be made. Those who will hear the knock will be such only as are awake and ready, expecting him and on the alert for the knock. These will receive a special spiritual feast. It will be special because it is on a special occasion and intended as a special reward for their manifestation of interest and devotion. It will be special also, because the Master of the household, turned to be its servant, would have all the keys to all the riches of grace and blessing, and, as elsewhere explained, will bring forth from his treasuries--his pantries --things new and old, substantial’s and delicacies. The faithful ones will surely have a royal feast, such as never before was granted them.
These things, we hold, have already been fulfilled. The knock, or proclamation of the Lord's presence, as indicated by the Old Testament prophecies, has been given since 1875 and is still being given. The knock of the parable might appropriately be but for a few seconds, but the fulfillment would properly cover a period of years. The servants of the household are taking notice, and each one as he opens his heart and mind TO THE FACT OF THE LORD'S PRESENCE receives a fulfillment of the blessing promised--receives a feast of fat things, spiritual—an understanding and appreciation of the divine plan and a soul nourishment and strengthening such as was never his before.
That this serving of the servants by the Master should be understood to be an individual work and not merely a collective service and feast, is evidenced by the Lord's statement in Rev 3:20. Here the Lord represents the same event in connection with his message to the last phase of his Church nominal, the Laodicean phase. He says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man [individual] hear my voice [knock] and open the door, I will come in to him and sup with him, and he with me."
Many Christians have erroneously interpreted this statement by our Lord to symbolize; they imagine how our Lord stands outside the door of the heart of the non-believer waiting to be invited in. They exclaim in so many words; we have to open the door to let Jesus into our lives. Jesus will never force his way in. He gives us the freedom to choose. It is up to us whether or not we open the door to him.
However this is not what this text implies at all, first of all as can readily be seen from the context (viz. the opening statement, “To the angel of the Church of Laodicea”) this statement is addressed to the church thus to believers not non-believers.
It will be noted that with regards to the first six churches the Lord said: “Behold, I come quickly”, but only with the last or seventh does he say: “Behold I stand at the door and knock”.
In order for one to knock at the door one must be standing before it. “Behold I stand at the door (I have arrived, I am present, yet unseen accept by those with the eye of faith).”
“You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the parousia (presence) of the Lord HAS approached. Do not murmur (in dispute of this fact) against one another, brethren, lest you be judged (corrected). Behold, the Judge is standing at the door!” (James 5:8, 9)
Just as in the Laodicean period or harvest of the Jewish nation at the time of the First Advent, Jesus’ presence, announced by John the Baptist, was generally unrecognized—“There stands one among you, whom ye know not” (John 1:26)—so likewise today, spiritual Israel (the nominal or professing church) is blind to the reality of Christ’s second presence.
We continue on to Verse 38 in our next post.
