Biblical Logos Blog

Many Bible believing people will acknowledge to some degree, that the events in our current day seem to portend the return of the Lord. The more obvious ones include:

• Israel becoming a nation again in 1948. All of the major prophetic passages assume or depend on this event. Far too numerous to list them here, Israel is God’s time piece for the events leading to his second coming.
• The Jewish people have returned mostly in non-belief. Ezekiel gives us a picture of their return and their creation of a strong military at the end of the age, yet most have returned with no faith in their creator or faith in their messiah.
• The days of creation as a pattern of the years God has appointed for man on this Earth. In six days God created the heavens and Earth and on the seventh day he rested. God has appointed six thousand years for man to walk this Earth in our current fallen state to toil and labor. He also has appointed a final, (7th) thousand years, as a time of rest under his righteous rule. We are somewhere near the end of the six thousand years now. In what is believed to be an authentic Epistle from very early Christianity, the Epistle of Barnabas (not part of Biblical cannon, but believed to be authentic 1st century document) says it like this:

Barnabas 15:3
Of the Sabbath He speaketh in the beginning of the creation; And
God made the works of His hands in six days, and He ended on the
seventh day, and rested on it, and He hallowed it.

Barnabas 15:4
Give heed, children, what this meaneth; He ended in six days. He
meaneth this, that in six thousand years the Lord shall bring all
things to an end; for the day with Him signifyeth a thousand years;
and this He himself beareth me witness, saying; Behold, the day of
the Lord shall be as a thousand years. Therefore, children, in six
days, that is in six thousand years, everything shall come to an end.

Barnabas 15:5
And He rested on the seventh day. this He meaneth; when His Son
shall come, and shall abolish the time of the Lawless One, and shall
judge the ungodly, and shall change the sun and the moon and the
stars, then shall he truly rest on the seventh day.

There are many other items we could list that point to the soon return of the Lord. The point of this post is to also see God’s warning to teachers and pastors that they should be educating and warning their flock.

Let’s look at some passages from Luke 12

You Must Be Ready
Luk 12:35-48  Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; 
36  And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. 
37  Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them. 
38  And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. 
39  And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through. 
40  Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not. 
41  Then Peter said unto him, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all? 
42  And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season? 
43  Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. 
44  Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath. 
45  But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken; 
46  The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. 
47  And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. 
48  But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more. 

In verse 42, the word “steward” is the Greek word oikonomos. Steward, in this case, is actually the manager of the servants or household. From Thayer’s definition, it also means, “metaphorically the apostles and other Christian teachers and bishops and overseers”. This is clearly a warning to the leadership of the Church!

Matthew’s account at the end of Matthew 24:45-51 has parallel language to these passages of Luke’s account. We must recognize that often in the Gospels, the Holy Spirit used the saying of Jesus to address different audiences. In Matthew’s account, he is talking to the Jewish people at the second coming of Christ. His warning is to the “servants”, [doulos in Greek] who missed the Rapture of the Church and now need to be waiting for his return at the end of the Tribulation. In Luke’s account, he is addressing the stewards / managers of the servants who need to be preparing their people for the Lord’s return.

Luke’s Gospel was to the gentiles / Greeks. He most often foreshadows the events of the Church age as predominantly, he is addressing believers or those inquiring about God in the gentile world. Luke’s warning to the stewards is a warning to our teachers and pastors of the Church that they must be teaching and preaching on the return of the Lord. The consequences of remaining ignorant seem very severe. Recently, the Church has begun to distance itself from this teaching. Referring to it as scary and something that will drive people away from attending and giving in the Church. More than ever, now is the time for pastors and teachers to buck that trend and follow the Lord’s command!

Maranatha!