“THE 41 PARABLES OF JESUS CHRIST”
28 general parables and 13 kingdom of God parables
Parable #15 – “THE UNFORGIVING SERVANT”
Read Matthew 18:23-35
The 9th of the kingdom of 13 heaven parables
“THE 41 PARABLES OF JESUS CHRIST”
28 general parables and 13 kingdom of God parables
Parable
#15 – “THE UNFORGIVING SERVANT”
Read Matthew 18:23-35
The
9th of the kingdom of 13 heaven parables
BACKGROUND:
In
445BC, with one Bible week equating to seven years (a prophetic
year being 360 days), God commanded that seventy weeks each of 7
years, would be determined upon Israel, that is … 70 weeks x 7
years = 490 years (Daniel 9:24-27).
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.
DANIEL 9:24-27
“THE
UNFORGIVING SERVANT” Read Matthew
18:23-35
With
the curse of law demanding perfection (James 2:10), being summed
up in two commandments (Matthew 22:37-40), and being sent to curse
and not to save (Galatians 3:10), this parable has the unforgiving servant not
loving his neighbour as himself (Leviticus 19:18) regarding trespasses
(Matthew 18:35).
This
parable of the forgiveness of trespasses, can be traced right back to
the start of the law (Leviticus 19:18), and through to the Lord’s prayer … “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your
heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their
trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matthew 6:14-15).
Right here Dear Reader we start to see the contrast
of the covenant of works dispensation of temporary
salvation under the kingdom of heaven commandments as required by Christ
(Matthew 5-7), as opposed to the testament of the no works permanent
salvation in the kingdom of God dispensation, as found in Paul’s
writings of Romans to Philemon (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Let’s begin with two definitions:
A transgression is a breaking of a known
law (Romans 4:15) whereas a trespass is committed by a person not
aware he has broken any law (Genesis 31:36).
An everyday example would be …
Should a motorist knowingly break the speed
limit, that is a transgression, and so he can say to the judge “Yes
judge, I knew I was doing eighty in a sixty zone … I’m guilty!”
However, if he can honestly say to the judge
“I didn’t know it was a sixty zone”, that is a trespass.
Now back to the parable with some mathematical explanation
which gives us the severity of God’s judgment.
The parable uses the words of ‘talents’ and
‘pence’.
Now basing our calculations on today’s rates, a talent
is worth $30,000 (google it up Dear Reader), so 10,000 talents is
worth $300,000,000 … three hundred million dollars!
Furthermore, with one pence equalling a day’s
wage at the time of the parable (Matthew 20:2), and let’s say, if the
average wage today is $300 per day, an hundred pence is the equivalent to
one hundred days work.
So in summing up … we have the unforgiving
servant being forgiven of 1,000,000 days of worth to his creditor, while
his fellow servant owes him 100 days of work … a difference of
10,000 times!
Now Christ uses the example of money to talk about
sin, making the comparison that the unforgiving servant has been forgiven 10,000
sins to that of his fellow servant who is only committing one sin
against him.
So in the light of this we are reminded of the
following scripture …
“For
whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty
of all.” (James 2:10) … indeed God does not weigh us on a set of scales
regarding sin … it’s perfection or nothing.
So confronted with this parable being embedded within
the impossibility of the law, the people cried out “Who then can be
saved?” (Matthew 19:25) with Christ answering “All things are possible with
God” (Matthew 19:26) … being code words for believe in me as I am the God who
forgives sins (John 3:16; Mark 2:7) … I’ll do it on your behalf.
So while Christ was on earth, anyone could
have a temporary salvation dependent on their works … in this case
trespasses (Matthew 6:14-15), and that would qualify them for the temporary
resting place of Abraham’s bosom … to await ‘collection’ from heaven (Luke
16:23; Ephesians 4:8).
So this parable brings into sharp focus, the two
opposite poles of the nature of God … his absolute terror
(2 Corinthians 5:11) and his unfathomable love (John 3:16), with the
former quality determining the future of the wicked servant into the hands of
his tormentors till he pay …. an impossible task you must agree? (Matthew
18:32-35).
With Christ using this parable of ‘money extremes’,
he categorically rams home the point … it’s 100% perfection or nothing … and
this includes the unknown trespasses as well as known transgressions.
But of course, Christ gives them an escape as
follows … should a Jew continuously believe in Christ (John 3:16) under the
kingdom of heaven dispensation, and repent of his trespasses, he would get
forgiveness going to the temple to sacrifice animal blood for the remission of past
sins (Romans 3:25).
APPLICATION FOR THE CHRISTIAN
October 2023
www.
AustralianBibleMinistries
.com
“THE 41 PARABLES JESUS CHRIST”
28
general parables and 13 kingdom of God parables
Parable
#16 –
“THE
WORKERS IN THE VINEYARD”
Matthew 20:1-4,5-8,9-12,13-16
The
7th of the 28 general parables
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