Christ will Come

Acts 1:11 “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”

The hope of any Church is that it will meet its bride groom on the chosen day. This hope is what keeps the Church safe and encouraged. The interesting thing is that not all apostles are from Galilee but the angels call them “Men of Galilee” because they all became Galileans because the majority who were from Galilee had influenced the others so much that all of them had developed the culture and habits of Galilee. So, the angels mention here that you are belonging here but Jesus had gone to heaven and will come from heaven so the standards will be of heaven. So, there is a kingdom to which Christ has called us and all we have to do is make ourselves ready for this.

In Mathew 24 and 25 we read Christ’s detailing about His kingdom and His coming. In this study we will explore the three important parables Jesus taught here. In 24:35 onwards we read about the faithful and wise servant who is in-charge of the whole household. In 25:1 onwards, we read about the wise virgins and in 25:14 onwards we read about faithful servants who produce. These three parables instruct the responsibilities of ministers, the church and individuals.

For ministers, faithfulness and wisdom both are required as they are responsible of the household of God. There is one primary task which is to give food in the right time. If people are not fed properly, they tend to go out and seek other junk food and harm themselves. A faithful servant looks for what the right time is and provides food to the fellow servants. The easy method the devil uses to deceive is that “My master is delaying his coming”. The verse says that he will begin to beat which means that initially he will just start being lazy and then one activity after another starts and when the master comes, the situation will be where the whole household will be starving and the Master will not bear that sight. Jesus says that such evil people will be there and even perform miracles. In Mathew 7:21-23, we read that these miracles will be performed because they are done in Jesus’ name. These miracles do not need a powerful minister because the name is powerful. But a faithful servant takes full responsibility and ensures everybody is nourished. The evil servant starts thinking that since the master has delayed, I would assume power and use that to beat and corrupt the house. We need to be sure on which direction we are heading towards.

For the churches, we see the parable of the ten virgins in 25:1 onwards. All the ten were virgins and had clear intentions to meet the bridegroom. But a small difference in oil made them unworthy. Jesus says that they are not wise because they did not foresee the time the groom takes to come. Their foolishness is seen when they got up, trimmed their lamps and lit them without knowing that they were out of oil. Only when the lamps went down, they realized that they needed oil. Oil in this context will refer to the word of God because there is a time of drowsiness and sleep where everybody will not be active. But suddenly when signs appear, the oil empowers them with light so that they could shine brightly. For others they will not have time to get ready for the groom but will be running around. At least they could have stayed without oil and requested for pardon, but they left out trying to make righteousness their own ways.

For individuals, the purpose of God giving us talents is that they become investments and bear fruits. All the resources, capabilities, money we have need to be counted here. Nothing we have here is owned by us and they are given by the Lord. This action makes us good and faithful and God clearly mentions that you were good in a “few things”. All the luxury we see and enjoy in this life are called “few things” and if we are faithful with these, God will give us many more in the eternal life we are going to enjoy with Him. The word is so encouraging that “Enter into the joy of your Lord”. A merciful God who is still not happy with us can give us so many blessings that we enjoy here. How will His joy be. If we are faithful in this world we get to live with a joyful God. The third servant had unnecessary fear on God, but God clearly calls that fear as wickedness in this parable.

We, the church has one and the highest hope of living with the highest God. This hope should be the source of encouragement and then we should soberly wait for our beloved as per Titus 2:11-13. Because Grace had appeared and given us an opportunity for salvation in the present age, we have to deny the world and look for a blessed hope.

Amen.