"But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you: to love the Lord your God to walk in all his ways, to obey his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and all your soul" - Joshua 22:5Wow! such a rich and beautiful verse! Love, Walk, Obey, Hold Fast, Serve Him. with all your heart and all your soul. But in all of this be "very careful"!
Interesting!Joshua 22:8 "Return with much riches to your tents, with very much livestock, with silver, with gold, with bronze, with iron, and with much clothing. Divide the spoil of your enemies with your brethren."Acts 2:44,45 "Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possesions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need."Carrying through Matt 24-25, what struck me was the word "then" as if to imply succession. 18 times in my version (NKJV). Without getting into the whole eschatological issue, which to my limited understanding is, along with predestination, a waste of the precious few brain cells that I have left....Some things are just better left for God to decide the "when's" and "who's" and "what times"....Didn't the Lord just say "go"....I guess what I am driving at is, what is it that we should be doing?Like Greg wrote :Wow! such a rich and beautiful verse! Love, Walk, Obey, Hold Fast, Serve Him. with all your heart and all your soul. But in all of this be "very careful"!"pay attention" maybe?The Parable of the talents...Troubled me this morning, mainly verse 24 and following, my study bible seems to imply that this regards "not a genuine believer" ....any thoughts?Could this be equated with the idea of "Lord, Lord, did we not....Depart from ME, I never knew you"?_/crsschk\\_
Quote:"The Parable of the talents...Troubled me this morning, mainly verse 24 and following, my study bible seems to imply that this regards "not a genuine believer" ....any thoughts?"As stated, "Carrying through Matt 24-25, what struck me was the word "then" as if to imply succession. 18 times in my version (NKJV)", let's look at the context of this. Jesus had just finished telling the parable of the virgins. "Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour. For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them." Mt. 25:13-14 These parables are very much related. I believe that Jesus is referring to laziness - much of which we see in the professing church today. "Genuine" believers or not, there are many who are not bothering to obtain all that God has for them. Jesus says that he entrusts us with only what we can handle: "To one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability..." Mt. 15:15Although "to whom much is given, much is required," all who receive from the Lord are to be faithful in gaining more. For example: to one He gives great knowledge (of Himself). To another, a knowledge, and to another less knowledge. There are many ways to look at this but one way would be that as the Lord gives us knowledge, we are to continually obtain more. (As the stomach expands, so our spiritual stomach's will expand as we partake more and more of spiritual food and drink.) You could also look at it as investing in the lives of others. In any case, Jesus is giving a solemn warning about those who are not faithful with what He entrusts to them. ALL of the virgins were expecting the bridegroom. And all of the servants in the parable of the talents knew something of the character of their Master. (The one with less says: "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.'" Mt 25:24 This statement was true.)I think this goes along with what was spoken in Mt. 24 (which we read yesterday) "Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But if that evil slave says in his heart, ‘My master is not coming for a long time,’ and begins to beat his fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards; the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Mt. 24:45-51 As crsschk pointed out, the very next verse is Mt. 25:11: "THEN the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom."This is one reason why I hate section breaks. Whether chapter breaks or just the little section breaks inserted by the translators. It's easy to miss context because we think Jesus stopped and took a breath or something. I do this often and it frustrates me! hehe.For what it's worth, that's my input on the passage...--Maria
Also cool in today's reading:"‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’" Mt. 25:39-40 Many have interpreted this as visiting the poor, etc. But in this particular passage, Jesus was referring to ministering unto the BRETHERN, correct? "But Jesus answered the one who was telling Him and said, "Who is My mother and who are My brothers?" And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, "Behold My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother." Mt. 12:48-50We must remember that Christ (the Head) and the Body are not separate. As we minister to the Body of Jesus, we are ministering unto Christ. (This is another reason why it is absurd for one to think that they can continue in willful sin and still be part of the Body of Christ. That is to say that Christ is sinning, is it not? "It shall be when he hears the words of this curse, that he will boast, saying, ‘I have peace though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart in order to destroy the watered land with the dry.’ The LORD shall never be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the LORD and His jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse which is written in this book will rest on him, and the LORD will blot out his name from under heaven." Deuteronomy 29:19-20 "But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? May it never be! For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me." Galatians 2:17-20)Praise to Him,Maria
Excellent response, These parables are very much related. I believe that Jesus is referring to laziness - much of which we see in the professing church today. "Genuine" believers or not, there are many who are not bothering to obtain all that God has for them. Jesus says that he entrusts us with only what we can handle: "To one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability..." Mt. 15:15Laziness!Indeed a warning and a reminder of our accountablity..."Be on the alert" "Watch and pray" "Be carefull to do""Do not be deceived"Apparently Jesus is not very fond of apathy...
Many have interpreted this as visiting the poor, etc. But in this particular passage, Jesus was referring to ministering unto the BRETHERN, correct? Exactley! that's funny, I picked up on that as well and had never noticed it beforeto the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine
Matthew 24Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. "Do you see all these things?" he asked. "I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down." As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. "Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ, ' and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. "Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. "So when you see standing in the holy place 'the abomination that causes desolation,' spoken of through the prophet Daniel--let the reader understand-- then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now--and never to be equaled again. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. At that time if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or, 'There he is!' do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect--if that were possible. See, I have told you ahead of time. "So if anyone tells you, 'There he is, out in the desert,' do not go out; or, 'Here he is, in the inner rooms,' do not believe it. For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather. "Immediately after the distress of those days" 'the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.' "At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. "Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. "Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, 'My master is staying away a long time,' and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Matthew 25"At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep. "At midnight the cry rang out: 'Here's the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!' "Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.' " 'No,' they replied, 'there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.' "But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. "Later the others also came. 'Sir! Sir!' they said. 'Open the door for us!' "But he replied, 'I tell you the truth, I don't know you.' "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour. "Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money. "After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.' "His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!' "The man with the two talents also came. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.' "His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!' "Then the man who had received the one talent came. 'Master,' he said, 'I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.' "His master replied, 'You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. " 'Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.' "They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' "He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.' "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
As you can tell I have alot of time on my hands these days :-o But I find this method of highlighting words that repeat alot in verses to be a very good way to find how a theme goes through in a chapter."then" and "at that time" appear: 18 times"come" and "comes" appear: 20 times"deceive" and "deceives" appear 4 timesI do agree totally with crsschk that there is helpful succession of events that you can follow in this chapter to help you get some grounding in the order of events in revelation, etc..I personally dont think its that much of a waste of time, I believe that we dont study the bible enough these days to understand its fullest meaning, we use barely any of the faculty of our mind in our society and we need to push and stretch our minds that God has given to us.
Here are a few excerpts for the Matthew Henry Commentary on Matthew 25:"that they took their lamps, and took no oil with them"-They have no principle within. They have a lamp of profession in their hands, but have not in their hears that stock which is necessary to carry them through the services and trials of the present state.-Grace is the oil which we must have in this vessel."They all arose, and trimmed their lamps"-It will be a day of search and enquiry; and it concerns us to think how we shall then be found. In the foolish virgins, it denotes a vain confidence, and conceit of the goodness of their state, and their readiness for another world."The door was shut"-As is usal when all the company is come. The door was shut, First , to secure those that were within. Adam was put into paradise, but the door was left open and so he went out again; but when glorified saints are put into the heavenly paradise, they are shut in. Secondly, to exclude those that were out. Now the gate is strait, yet it is open; but then it will be shut and bolted, and a great gulf fixed.
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