In Luke 19:11-27 we understand the people “thought the kingdom of God would appear immediately”, a false assumption that looked for an earthly kingdom overlooking the fact that a spiritual kingdom had to be established first. Jesus being in the vicinity of Jerusalem, Israel’s capitol, was apparently fueling the false expectation among the people that the time for the earthly kingdom to be established was immediately, so Jesus speaks this corrective parable and at the same time points to the responsibility of His followers during the delay. The story is that of a nobleman going to a far country to be crowned king over the region and then return; this probably would bring to memory a historical event recorded by Josephus, when following the death of Herod the Great, Archelaus went to Rome to be crowned king over Judea, with the Jewish people sending a protesting group to oppose this kingship. The application here is that the earthly kingdom of God would be delayed while Jesus went back to heaven after placing in the hands of His servants the means and commission to carry on His business during His absence. Upon His return those who faithfully served would be rewarded, while the one who did nothing would suffer loss, and those who rejected His Kingship would be eternally slain (no hope of redemption). The judgment in verse 27 may reflect on the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 as a type of the judgment of His enemies at the end when He returns as “King of kings and Lord of lords” Revelation 19:16; 17:14. What each one does in Kingdom business may be different, a fact brought out in the parable of the talents in Matthew 25, with 1 Peter 4:10 saying “As each one has received a gift, so minister it…” it is what we faithfully do with that gift, not what somebody else did with theirs, that determines our reward status, while failure to use it in the knowledge and ability given to us will result in loss of reward!
Don’t wait
By Rose Hill
Don’t wait another day,
To use your gift in His kingdom way.
We must work till He comes back,
Then our reward will have no lack.
Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version copyright …1982 by Thomas Nelson Co. used by permission.