ringo writes:
I know what you were refering to. I was just pointing out that you're looking into a mirror. After all, you're the one using all caps and exclamation points instead of substance.
The use of caps is for emphasis. Sometimes I use bold. Sometimes I used different colors. Sometimes use of caps may be related to the repetition of a point which someone seems to repeatedly FAIL TO UNDERSTAND.
Mostly it is just for clarification and emphasis.
jaywill writes:
They weren't prepared for his coming - i.e. they were taken by surprise.
That's right. It is a warning to all Christians.
Nothing new there.
jaywill writes:
I suppose it has something to do with connecting the judgment in Matthew 25:31-46 with these parables.
Yes, of course. It's all part of the same line of reasoning used by Jesus: Be prepared because He's here now. Use what you have now. Minister to the hungry, etc. now.
Is that too subtle for you? It's about now.
Matthew 25:31-46 could be taken that way. But I doubt any atheist has a serious consideration of warnings about Christ's coming.
What the prophecy does do is furnish an explanation for who and what are the things that Christ will appoint the faithful servants to rule over.
In the previous parable of
25:14-30 He tells the two servants that they will enter into the joy He Himself has and assigns them some authority.
quote:
"His master said to him, Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful over a few things; I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your master. "
This is spoken the faithful servant who with two talents and the faithful servant with five talents. Both secured a profit for their master (who signifies Christ in His second coming).
What it is that the rewarded servants are assigned authority over are the nations of "sheep" people transferred from the last days of the previous age into the age of the millennial kingdom.
quote:
"Then the King will say to those on His rught hand, Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." (25:34)
The reward for the prudent and faithful servants of Christ - the Christians, is to enter His own joy and co-reign with Him over the nations of that time.
This is further confirmed by the sister passage in
Luke 19:11-27 where Jesus comes back and rewards His servants for how they have done business with the minas given them.
quote:
"And the first appeared, saying, Master, your mina has gained ten minus. And he said to him, Well done , good slave. Because you have become faithful in the least, have authority over ten cities.
And the second came, saying, Your mina, master, has made five minas. And he said to this one as well, And you, be over five cities." (Luke 19:16-19)
The reward of reigning with Christ over ten cities or over five cities in
Luke is equivalent here to the faithful servants being assigned to rule over many things in
Matthew. Jesus told the disciples in Luke 12 -
quote:
"Blessed is that slave whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. Truly I tell you that he will set him over all his possessions." (Luke 12:44,45)
Part of the possessions that Jesus Christ will own are the "sheep" peopled nations transferred from the great tribulation at the close of this age, into the millennial kingdom. They will be dwelling in cities here and there across the globe and some of Christ's servants will reign over them. They, being the meek and faithful, will inherit the earth and the people brought into it from the previous age
(Matt. 5:5)
The servants of Christ may be considered the prophets. The people over whom the servants of Christ reign should be considered the ones who receive a prophet's reward because of being kind to the prophets.
quote:
"He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.
He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward, and he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward.
And whoever gives to one of these little ones only a cup of cold water to drink in the name of a disciple, truly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward." (Matthew 10:40-42)
The ones shown kindness to the prophet, the righteous man, and the disciple must correspond to the sheep who were considerate to
"one of these, the least of My brothers" in
Matthew 25:31-46.
So we see a distinction between the rewarded prophet, little one, righteous man, and disciple, on one hand, and the Gentiles considerate of the persecuted brothers of Christ on the other.
The righteous, are persecuted for righteousness sake, Christ tells His disciples.
quote:
"Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.
Blessed are you [Jesus' disciples (v.1)] when they reproach and persecute you, and while speaking lies, say every evil thing against you because of Me. Rejoice and exult, for your reward is great in the heavens for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you." (5:10-12)
At the close of this age there will be Gentile nations living through the great tribulation. Some will follow the Antichrist. And some will take note of the persecuted refugees, prisoners, sick, destitute, righteous and prophets and little ones and disciples of Christ.
Though these nations may not be at all clear concerning the message that was once taught by these harassed people their God created conscience will not permit them to join Antichrist and his goat nations to deprive these harassed little ones. And even a cup of cold water given to
"one of these little ones" will be rewarded by the Son of Man from the throne of His glory when He separates the living nations for judgment.
The word translated nations in verse 32 -
"all the nations" is the same word translated
"the Gentiles" in the 1901 ASV in
Matthew 4:15; 6:32; 10:5,18; 12:18; and 20:19,25.
At the close of the age Christ deals in judgment with the nations' people then living on the earth
(Joel 3:12; Micah 4:11-13; Zephaniah 3:8; Zechariah 12:3; and Revelation 16:14 and 19:19,21 ).
The little ones of Christ who are rewarded will reign over cities and over their Master's possessions. And those reigned over are from people transferred from the previous age into that kingdom.
The reigning is conditional and is a reward rather than an automatic matter simply for being a believer:
quote:
"Faithful is the word: For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him.
If we endure, we will also reign with Him; if we deny Him, He also will deny us.
If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself." (2 Timothy 2:11-13).
Many other passages confirm the reward nature of being assigned to reign with Christ in the coming age.
jaywill writes:
The only parable in Matthew which corresponds to the judgment of Matthew 25:31-46 is the parable of the dragnet and the various fishes in Matthew 13:47-50.
Matthew 13 has several parables that describe what heaven is like and the fact that there is a selection process. Matthew 25 elaborates on how the selection process works. The parables in Matthew 24 and 25 are more closely related to each other than they are to Matthew 13.
The parable of the dragnet cannot describe what heaven is like because God would have to take the "bad fish" to heaven with the
"good fish" in order to do the separating work. The selection process is on the earth and not in heaven.
The dragnet is dragged up onto the land. The sea often represents Gentile nations and the land often represents the land of Israel. This would correspond to the judgment occurring at the throne of Christ's glory in the Holy Land after He descends to the earth.
So far from explaining what heaven is like, Matthew 25:31-46 is explaining what the
earth will be like at the commencement of the millennial kingdom.
This misunderstanding is typical for people who might think Matthew's phrase
"the kingdom of the heavens" means heaven itself. But it should be understood as the kingdom which has its SOURCE in the heavens. And its reign on the earth is from a SOURCE not of this world, but of heaven from whence Jesus Christ came.
Was it your angry cat standing on the caps lock key?
Capital letters are used for my strong desire to help people understand.
I may go back to orange colored letters.
This post began with ringo explaining that Matthew 25:31-46 is a continuation of the concept of being prepared for the unexpected return of Jesus Christ. While I would not say that that is wrong, I would say still that the surprised recipients of that judgment are the nations living at that time just before Christ descends.
The brothers of Jesus Christ at that time will be the harassed and destitute of the prevailing secular society of those days. My opinion is that we are approaching those times.
"Christian culture" now is (rightly or wrongly) a strong political force in the world. In the closing days before the second coming of Christ, Christiandom will be reduced to a harassed fourth class (if that) subculture hated by the nations and considered a nuisance to be ridden from society.
Those duped by the enemies of Christ's brothers to follow those policies will be punished as "goats" when Christ returns. Those heeding the better motions of their God created human conscience will be mercifully transferred as "sheep" into the next age of the millennial kingdom of Christ on this earth.
Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.
Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.
Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.
Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.
Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.
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