OK Try explaining this...in the parable of the talents. The Lord says....
Mat. 25:26 “But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. 27So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest
The questions I have are vast, so much so that I’m not sure how to lay them out other than to include scripture. You asked of the parable. In mentioning the talents given, you shared you see the talents as grace. I’m not disagreeing but maybe there is also this: consider Joseph whom gathered and stored “corn” food for the coming famine. Genesis 41:48-49 And he gathered up all the food of the seven years, which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities: the food of the field, which was round about every city, laid he up in the same. [49] And Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea, very much, until he left numbering; for it was without number.
Food. We of Spirit know this food as the Word of God. A famine is to come (and is already here) of another kind., A famine of “hearing the words of God.” Amos 8:11-13 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God , that I will send a famine in the land,
not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord : [12] And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord , and shall not find it . [13] In that day shall the fair virgins and young men
faint for thirst.
A famine of
hearing. What do the parables show us? Do they not all surround ”hearing” the words of God? We see the seed is the word of God. The sower is God. And the fruit comes by “hearing” the words of God. Romans 10:17 “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” For me, this does not speak of one “hearing” bible verses but “hearing” God...His voice. “My sheep hear my voice.” Also, “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”
“For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.”
To Him that has...to Him will be given and he will have an abundance. An Abundance of what? Is it not seed, the “hearing” of the Words of God, and he will have in an abundance. Ministering seed. And God gives the seed. We see this in the parables, right? One that hears the words of God and does(keeps) them, is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. Given in abundance the mysteries of God. Matthew 13 the parable of the sower and the seed.
Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. [10] And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? [11] He answered and said unto them, Because it is
given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. [12] For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
Matthew 13:9,23
[9] Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. [23] But he that received seed into the good ground is he that
heareth the word, and understandeth it ; which also
beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
Hearing the words of God and doing them brings forth fruit. In every parable. This is so. (Brings forth fruit) Mark 4:23-28 If any man have
ears to hear, let him hear. [24] And he said unto them,
Take heed what ye hear: with what
measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given. [25] For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath. [26] And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should
cast seed into the ground; [27] And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should
spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. [28] For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first
the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.
Luke 8 Sower and the seed. Luke 8:11 “Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.”
Now compare Amos 8:11-13 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God , that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord : [12] And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord , and shall not find it . [13] In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.
They will faint for thirst. There will be a famine of bread (the word). Consider the miracle of the Lord multiplying the loaves of bread. And the man who came to ask the Father in bed with his children for loaves of bread to set before a friend.
Matthew 25:34-37
[34] Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: [35] For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a
stranger, and ye took me in: [36]
Naked, and ye clothed me:
I was sick, and ye visited me:
I was in prison, and ye came unto me. [37] Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee ? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
How do you give one thirsty living water to drink?
How do you give someone a change of garment to clothe nakedness?
How do free the captive from prison?
How do you take in a stranger?
How do you heal the sick separated from God?
...the only way is to have seed (bread/Christ) given by God (the Word) to plant that by “hearing” the words of God fruit springs forth. Again, faith comes by “hearing”. Are we not ministers of “hearing” ? Are not all the parables about hearing the words of God? To know the mysteries, given in abundance?
Does Paul not tell them they are sowing carnal things? 1 Corinthians 9:11-14
[11] If we have
sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap
your carnal things? [12] If others be partakers of this
power over you, are not we rather? Nevertheless we have not used this power; but suffer all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ. [13] Do ye not know that
they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? and they which
wait at the altar are partakers with the altar? [14] Even so hath the Lord
ordained that
they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel.
The parable of the talents. The problem is...I’m struggling with believing God takes away from those that don’t have, to give more to others. But rather He is pointing out in every case that the Pharisees are the ones that take from those that hath not. “with what
measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you.” And it was measured back to them what they had given. Which shows the importance of not only being a hearer of the words of God, but also a doer of the words of God. But they (the Pharisees)were the hard task masters and it was measured back to them...because this is God: 2 Corinthians 8:12
[12] For if there be first
a willing mind, it
is accepted according to that a man hath, and
not according to that he hath not.
2 Corinthians 8:13-15
[13] For I
mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened: [14] But
by an
equality, that now at this time with what
measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you, that
their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that
there may be equality: [15] As it is written, He that had
gathered much had nothing over; and he that had gathered little had no lack.
As for the man that hid his talent in the earth: Job 28:5 “As for the earth,
out of it cometh bread: and under it is turned up as it were fire.”
And the man that laid a pound up in a napkin: John 20:6-7 Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, [7] And
the napkin,
that was
about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.
John 11:44
[44] And he that was dead came forth,
bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was
bound about with a napkin.
Jesus saith unto them,
Loose him, and let him go.