Sunday, March 10, 2024

PT-1 "The Reckoning We Face" (Matt. 25:19-27)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/10/2024 7:45 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                            Focus:  PT-1 “The Reckoning We Face”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 25:19-27

 

            Message of the verses:  19 "Now after a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. 20  "The one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have gained five more talents.’ 21 “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 "Also the one who had received the two talents came up and said, ‘Master, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have gained two more talents.’ 23 “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ 24 “And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. 25 ‘And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’ 26 “But his master answered and said to him, ‘You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed. 27 ‘Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest.”

 

            The first thing that I want to say is that this section of this 25th chapter of Matthew will take us a while to get through, and second is that it is Sunday and my Spiritual Diaries are usually much shorter on Sunday mornings.

 

            It can be seen in verse 19 that there is no definite time as to how long the master was gone other than saying that it was a long time.  I have mentioned that the 24th and 25th chapters of Matthew are about the Tribulation period, and as we look at this parable in that way we can see that Jesus repeatedly states that His second coming will be at a time when He is not expected, and so the implication is that the master of those slaves came back unexpectedly.

 

            Now we want to look at the first order of business that takes place upon his arrival back home, and that would be what the slaves had done with his assets, and so h sat down and settled accounts with them. 

 

            John MacArthur writes “In this discourse Jesus was addressing those who would be alive at the time of His return (24:34), and the statement in the parable that indirectly telling the Twelve that His coming back would not be as soon as they anticipated (see Luke 19:11).  He did not tell them that it would not be in their lifetimes, because that would have tended to decrease their motivation for diligence.  The idea was that, whether He would be gone for a seemingly long or seemingly short time by their human reckoning, they would have opportunity to serve Him and were obligated to be about His work.”

 

            I have mentioned many times that when I became a believer fifty years ago that the Lord used end-time events to get my attention to hear and understand the gospel, and my great need for salvation.  In the 1970’s there was a lot of talk in the Christian world about the second coming of Jesus Christ, which certainly has to do with end-time events.  The problem is that this kind of slowed down after a number of years and is not much talked about.  I have to say that it has not died down for me as the things that I am studying now still have a lot to do with end-time events and as I look at what is going on in the Middle East at this time that makes me even more desiring to get the word out that Jesus Christ could return in the Rapture of the Church any time now.

 

3/10/2024 8:09 AM

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