The Lord IS Coming!
Meditation for the week of October 21, 2012
So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Do business till I come.’ (Luke 19:13)
The Lord has promised to come again. One aspect of His second coming is given to us in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 where the church is going to be caught up to be with the Lord forever. This is the hope and the comfort of every true believer. Another aspect of His second coming is given to us in Revelation 1:7. This coming is associated with Israel, not the church. This coming causes mourning, not joy. But the Bible speaks of only one second coming, it does not speak of two. Both of these events are part of that second coming. I believe these two events will be separated by about seven years. The first part of the Lord’s second coming removes Christians from coming judgment on the earth. A believer in Christ is saved from all aspects of God’s judgment. The second part of the Lord’s second coming will be to reveal Himself as King of Kings and Lord of Lords and to set up a righteous kingdom on the earth.
When we look at some of the Gospel parables having to do with his second coming, it is easy to want to apply the teaching in them to the church when in fact they are probably dealing with the attitude of the nation of Israel as they wait for the Lord to come and set up His kingdom. But while the interpretations may have to do with Israel, surely there can be an application of those principles to those of us who are awaiting the catching away of the church and who are not expecting to be here on the earth when the Lord begins judging the world for rejecting Him.
One of the principles that the Lord gives us while we wait for His second coming is given to us in our verse for today. We are not to use the second coming as an excuse for not working. This would apply to us in a practical way as well as in a spiritual way. Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 3:10 that if a people won’t work, neither should they eat. Now I am certain He is talking about those who can work and not about the handicapped, sick and elderly who cannot work. In this passage, the Lord delivers to his ten servants, ten minas. Each servant apparently got one. I believe this parable tells us that while the Lord is “in the far country”, that is, in heaven, we all have equal responsibility to help advance the Kingdom in whatever way we can.
Another principle having to do with the Lord’s second coming is given to us in Matthew 25:15 where three servants were given talents. One was given ten, one was given five and one was given one. The talents were to be used according to their differing abilities. They were to do business with the talents while their Lord was gone and they had to give an account when He returned. The principle here seems to be that we each have differing abilities that we can use for the Lord while He is away. We need to be good stewards or our abilities and not be comparing ourselves to others who have other abilities.
Then we have a parable in Matthew 20:1-16 where laborers are hired to work in the vineyard. Some are hired early in the day and some are hired mid-morning, some at noon and some near the evening. He had promised the first hires a denarius for the day. But he paid all the hires the same thing. Here we see that the Lord gives us all equal opportunity to be fully rewarded for serving him whether we are saved late in life or early in life. The same opportunity for reward is also available to those saved late in this dispensation rather than early in the dispensation.
We learn then that we who are believers all have the same responsibility to use our differing abilities while the Lord is tarrying. We all have equal opportunity for a full reward no matter when we are saved. We should not be like the five foolish virgins who are sleeping rather than “occupying” while they are waiting for the Lord (Matthew 25:5). Those who are not taking their responsibilities seriously and who have no love for the Lord–considering Him to be a “hard man” (Matthew 25:24), are going to be cast into outer darkness (Matthew 25:30). That is the destiny of unbelievers.
The Lord’s return is almost never preached on as a motivating reason for dedicated service to the Lord today. While unbelievers are saying “Where is the promise of His coming? (2 Peter 3:4)”, we who are truly saved should be encouraged to do business for Him while we wait for His coming. After all, the Lord IS coming!
Bruce Collins