“THE 41
PARABLES OF JESUS CHRIST”
Parable
#37 –
“UNJUST
STEWARD”
Luke
16:1-4,5-8,9-12,13
The
23rd
of 28 general parables
This
time frame is broken into four time periods of (a) 7 weeks
+ (b)
62 weeks + (c) the mystery church age of about
2,000 years +
(d) 1 week = 70 weeks and is explained as follows:
#1. Seven
weeks of years is 7 x 7 = 49 years … the time it takes
to restore
and build Jerusalem from 445BC to 396BC.
#2. Sixty
two weeks of years is 62 x 7 = 434 years … the time
from the
building of Jerusalem in 396BC to Christ being cut off at the cross in
32AD.
#3. The
church age of approximately 2,000 years
#4. One
week of years is 1 x 7 = 7 years … this is the seven
years of
tribulation of God’s wrath upon the earth, that takes place after the
rapture …
called Daniel’s 70th week.
Luke
16:1-4,5-8,9-12,13
And
he said
also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which
had a
steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his
goods.
And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of
thee? give
an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward.
Then
the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord
taketh
away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. I am
resolved
what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may
receive me
into their houses. So he called every one of his lord's debtors
unto
him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord?
And he
said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take
thy bill,
and sit down quickly, and write fifty. Then said he to another,
And how
much owest thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And he said
unto
him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore. And the lord (the
earthly lord not the Lord
Jesus) commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely:
for the
children of this world are in their generation wiser than the
children of
light.
And I say (Jesus) unto you,
Make to yourselves friends
of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may
receive you
into everlasting habitations. He that is faithful in that which
is least
is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust
also in
much. If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous
mammon, who
will commit to your trust the true riches? And if ye have not been
faithful
in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your
own? No
servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and
love the
other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye
cannot
serve God and mammon.
LESSONS:
1.
There
are two classes if people …
children of the world who are men of this world which have their
portion
of this life on earth (Psalm 17:14); and the children of light
which
have their affections set on things above (Colossians 3:1-2; Ephesians
5:8).
mammon
=
treasures on earth … not just money (Matthew
6:19) versus the treasures in heaven
(Matthew 6:20)
2.
Is
there a contradiction? … Is Christ
commending and endorsing the unrighteous practices of the unjust
steward?
Answer:
YES and NO!
YES
according
to earthly wisdom and NO according
to heavenly wisdom.
3.
Here
are two puzzling verses … is there
a contradiction here?
“And
the lord (not
Christ the Lord but an earthly lord) commended
the unjust
steward, because he had done wisely: for the children
of
this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.
And
I (Christ)
say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of
unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into
everlasting
habitations.” (Luke 16:8-9)
everlasting
habitations
= the people of this world will be your
co-inhabitants of hell to come … that is everlasting burnings … plural
… of
hell fire and the lake of fire.
The
phrase “wiser in his generation”
is not about dynasties and generations of people, but the process by
which the
wise of this world become wise … that is … the time and years it takes
to generate
earthly wisdom.
Dear
Reader, have you heard of the
phrase ‘some people get up earlier than others’ … that
is,
they are thinking and scheming 24
hours a day … and at night, when they should be asleep.
So
here is an earthly lord commending
his unjust steward for his earthly wisdom and cunning … LIKE LIKES LIKE
(Romans
1:32)
Christ
the Lord … see the capital
“L” … is not commending the unjust steward according to
heavenly
wisdom, but is the steward’s earthly lord … see the small “l”
…that
is commending him on his earthly wisdom that he has generated over
time.
However he still fired him.
Now
on the other hand, the earthly lord
just might say to himself … and this is sometimes the case … “Hey,
I like
this unjust steward … as he shows native cunning. I think I’ll forgive
him of
his debts to me and put him to work in my employ to diddle, cheat and
defraud
others with whom I do business with. He has a good devious mind that I
can use
to my advantage.”
But
Christ says if you are a child of
the world, you’ll have some friends down here when you fail and
are
found out about your wasting your employers goods and defrauding him.
However
your final resting places will be in the fires.
Harley
Hitchcock
November
2023
www.
AustralianBibleMinistries
.com
“THE 41
PARABLES OF JESUS CHRIST”
28
general
parables and 13 kingdom of heaven parables
Parable
#38 –
“UNPROFITABLE
SERVANTS”
Luke 17:7-10
The
24th
of 28 general parables