The Gospel of Luke 12:35-48 Keep your lamps lit

Good morning. We're going to be proceeding through this passage here. I just want to announce one more time here the electives for next year. First Corinthians, the principle of position and how to study the Bible. This is version three. Those will be offered next year, starting on January 3rd. And we have sign-up sheets for those out in the lobby. So we'd like you to sign up if you can possibly make a choice, because that helps us with planning locations and materials and things of that sort. So looking at this passage here, there's going to be several kind of introductory things we'll want to cover.

One is the context, like Psalm 2, Matthew 24 and 25, Revelation 19 and 20, and related Bible passages. This passage here, Luke 12, 35-48, fits with the time at the end of the tribulation period and at Christ's second coming. Like Psalm 2 and Matthew 24 and 25, these words were spoken in a very Jewish context to Jews in the land of Israel. They were spoken to Jews then as representative Jews of those who would be alive during this time. the time at the end of the tribulation period in the beginning of the Millennial Kingdom. Here is the diagram, as you also have in your handout, that shows us Christ's first coming at the left-hand side there, then the church age where we are now, ending with the rapture, the taking up of the church to meet Christ in the air, followed by the seven-year period of tribulation on the earth, ending with the second coming. It's at that time of the second coming of Christ that this passage that we're going to be looking at today is talking about.

One of the things we're going to do in order to have this be clear is we're going to use the principle of comparison and contrast We always have to ask what was directed to us specifically and what applies to us and what does not apply to us and is not directed to us.

We determine what applies to us by the principle of comparison and contrast. We compare what's the same for another person or group and we contrast what is different. Many people in the church over the centuries actually have tended to lean one way or the other, try to make everything compare. Others have made great contrasts. We're going to be looking at simply both of them. We use scripture to confirm everything.

There are also some important distinctions to be made in this passage here. This passage shows us why it's so important to distinguish between what is directed to Jews and what is directed in the church, to us in the church, the body of Christ. Likewise, this passage also serves to show why it's important to distinguish between the rapture, the taking up of the Church, and the Second Coming. They are two very different events, and it's important to distinguish between those two, especially with this.

We'll detail those points shortly here. Another thing that comes up that's big in this passage is slaves and masters. We don't have that institution in great part in our current culture. There are still places around the world where that's carried on, mostly those places under Islam.

The entire passage is in the context of the laws and customs of masters and slaves in the Roman Empire, but particularly among the Jews living in Israel. Jesus isn't condoning slavery or somehow making it something that he approves of, as it was done in the Roman Empire, but rather he's using it as an illustration in order to make the issues clear. It would be something that the disciples and all the rest listening would understand. Some master-slave situations during the Roman era were good, some were so-so, and some were just awful.

Let me give you, for instance, the average lifespan of the slave who worked in the mines was in the mid-twenties. That was it. That's what you got. Working in the mines was the most dangerous and hazardous place that slaves were put to work. Things were generally better for slaves among the Jews in Israel. One reason is the Law of Moses made certain kind of minimum standards and rights for the slaves.

The other thing that we're going to see that we discussed in our elective in this room just before this is principles of stewardship. The passage from one end to the other has these principles of stewardship in it, and it's just one more place to examine that. These principles of stewardship, as we brought up previously, offer some very valuable insights into particular passages throughout the Bible. as well as God's big program for this world and the new heavens and new earth.

All right, so here's Luke 12, 35. Be dressed in readiness and keep your lamps lit. Anybody got any lamps lit? Oh, okay. If we were to remove this verse from its context and apply it to ourselves directly and literally, we would always keep our clothes on all the time. including showers and that sort of thing, and all the lights on all the time too, right?

But that's if we were to take it out of the context and say, I'm going to apply this to me. Jesus is making actually a spiritual point that is directed to the Jews. And as we mentioned before, it's directed to the Jews who are going to be around at the end of the tribulation period, particularly. There are some good applications to us, however, in the body of Christ, and we're going to be pointing those out. even though this was spoken to the Jews. Jesus literally in this first verse said to gird the waist in readiness for the return of the Messiah. The lamp should be lit in readiness and vigilance and waiting. Keep them lit.

Now the reality is a slave or worker would pull up the outer robe or belt and tighten it up in order to be able to be ready for action and move about quickly. In homes without servants, it was the woman's responsibility, the woman of the household, it was her responsibility to make sure at least one lamp was lit all the time. But in those homes where they had servants, even one, it was the responsibility of the servant then to keep the lamps lit. And it was considered shameful not to. Here's Luke 12, 36.

Be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns to the wedding feast so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks. Now, slaves who are ready and waiting for the master to return from a wedding feast, the example, the one in Cana in John chapter 2. would be able to open the bolted door, because the doors were typically bolted across on the inside, and so the master couldn't just come up and open the door. It was simply a matter of you got to unbolt the door, and so somebody on the inside had to let him in.

Returning from a wedding feast, however, would have some uncertainties about the time of arrival, a couple of them. One, the feasts were long. They were at least one week long and as many as two weeks long. How do you like that for a wedding? Hey, we're going to a wedding. Typically, we say, I'm going to a wedding, and it's several hours during a day event. If you went to a wedding in biblical times, you're going to be there for a week or two. That was one.

The other is the travel time, and you never know what's going to happen as you're traveling. Typically, just going on foot about 20 miles a day was considered a good time. However, as you're traveling, you might meet somebody that you just have to talk to. You might be invited to someone's house and of course with the customs of hospitality it's been known for people to have stayed days at a place just because the person who was being hospitable was so insistent on being hospitable. So the travel time could vary quite a bit as well.

Here's a for instance, Jesus was at the wedding at Cana they traveled from there to Capernaum it took most of a day to get from Cana to Capernaum and Jesus did that travel with his disciples and with Mary and with Jesus half-brothers All right Jesus is likely referring to the wedding feast called the marriage supper of the Lamb when he mentions this wedding feast Revelation 19 7 through 10 and Let us rejoice and be glad and give glory to him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready.

It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, Write, Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, These are the true words of God." It's right after this that Jesus comes with the angels and with us. to earth in the second coming.

So this is very likely what he's referring to here. And he says, when he comes and knocks, the custom in biblical times was to knock on the door and at the same time to say who you were and make any other requests or announcements. And it might be something like, hi, I'm Vern, I'm here to get four matzo balls, right? And so you would say that while you're knocking.

So that would be the custom, and that would be why Jesus knocks and speaks at the same time in Revelation 3.20 in the message to the church at Laodicea. Behold, I stand at the door and knock, and if anyone hears my voice, Hi, I'm Jesus, and I'm here to visit with you, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with me. See, but it's knock and talk. That's the standard Jewish custom, right?

So when he says, when he comes and knocks, he would knock on the door and also announce, it's your master, right? Coming. So here's Luke 12, 37. Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find on the alert when he comes. Truly, I say to you that he will gird himself to serve and have them recline at the table and will come up and wait on them.

Now, This was Jesus' style, wasn't it? To be very gracious. He, the time right before He was going to be crucified, He washed all the disciples' feet. By the way, including Judas. He washed all the disciples' feet. You see, the rabbis had rules that they had to operate by. And one of those many rules that were traditions that the rabbis had to operate by is you could not, a rabbi could not ask his disciples to wash his feet. But there was no rule against the rabbi washing the disciples' feet, right?

And so that's what Jesus did. This was Jesus' style. And what does he do in this verse 1237? He says, I am going to serve you. Wow. The cultural expectation was to have the slaves, if you had them, to do the serving. Jesus is saying that His way of rewarding the slaves who would be ready and waiting would be to serve the slaves, just like He washed the disciples' feet. Isn't that amazing?

What that says is in the coming millennial banquet, the Messiah's banquet, when He comes, Isaiah 25.6 and 65.13 and 14 refer to it, and there's even reference to it in Matthew 8.11. The Messiah will serve a banquet for everyone entering the Millennial Kingdom, and He will be a servant at that banquet. Isn't that amazing? Just as He washed the feet.

Here's Luke 12.38, "...whether he comes in the second watch, or even the third, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves." Okay? Alright, so the second or the third watch, which one is it? It's got to be a Rolex, right? Okay.

Now, it was customary for the Jews to divide up the night into three watches or periods. The Romans had four, so they divided up a little differently, three hours at a time. The Jewish practice was the first watch was 6 to 10, the second watch was 10 to 2, 2 a.m. and the third watch 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. So that would be the typical Jewish pattern. So Jesus is talking about those watches. The second watch from 10 to 2 and the third from 2 to 6. Jesus was telling them to be ready for him to come in his second coming at any time.

At any time. Even if that time seemed inconvenient or unexpected. Oh, he wouldn't come this time. Oh, yes, he would. This means constant expectancy, constant alertness in anticipation of his coming. This is also a conditional blessing. Did you see that? A conditional blessing. If you do this, then you'll be blessed. And how are you blessed? As we'll see in an earthly way.

Luke 12, 39 and 40. But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, He would not have allowed his house to be broken into. You too be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect." It's interesting that Jesus used the analogy here of a thief, or an illustration of the thief. Wait a minute, I will come like a thief? What does he mean? Well, let's look back in the New Testament times.

Thievery of goods was not a criminal matter, that may surprise us there. There were no police to call. So somebody broke in and stole your stuff, that's not a criminal matter, so you actually had to sue to get the stuff back. However, aside from that, here's how it would typically come about. The thief would come by surprise at night. There was no expectation. He would not do like the person at the door, hello, I'm a thief, I'm here to take your goods, right? None of that. The thief would typically not try to come through the door since that usually was bolted across with a large bolt, sometimes more than one.

But he would break through the wall suddenly, sometimes by undermining it, other times by just taking a ramrod and hitting the wall to break it apart if it was stones, if it was more of a mud brick structure, digging into it. And matter of fact, that's what this breaking through actually talks about, is digging into it. But one way or another, you have a sudden collapse of the wall, which the thief would try to accomplish quietly and or quickly. A sudden collapse of the wall, running in, and the first thing he would do is not to steal something. First thing he would do, rush in and attack the owner. That would be the first thing that he would try to do. The thief who had broken down the wall would rush in, attack the owner by surprise, trying to kill or seriously injure the owner so that the thief could not be stopped, and he wouldn't be pursued, and there would be nobody who could identify him and take him to court.

So John 10.10, Jesus expresses exactly this.

The thief comes only to steal, but that's not all, to kill. So he's not just coming in and injuring or fighting somebody off. He's going to go immediately in to attack the owner and anybody else that might identify him and that might pursue him and to destroy.

So what does the thief do? The first thing he's going to do is to break down a section of wall. Whatever he breaks on the inside doesn't matter to him. Then he's going to grab something and run. It was drilled into the man or the men of the household to be ready for such a thief and to defend himself, his household, and his property. Of course you're going to do that, would be the mindset.

So Jesus makes reference to this thief who comes in by surprise and causes all this damage. He's not saying he comes in and steals something. He's just saying it's all by surprise, completely unexpected. He is saying for those who are not ready for his coming, that this will be a negative event. Not being ready is not good. It will be a negative event.

That's why you have here from this passage in Luke 12.39 all the way to John 10.10, which we've referenced, 1 Thessalonians 5.4 referring to the rapture and the day of the Lord, that that day would overtake you like a thief. The day of the Lord will come like a thief, again by surprise, right?

I will come like a thief, Jesus says in Revelation 3.3 and then in 16.17, behold I am coming like a thief. So this comparison is one that's carried through scripture all the way into a couple times there in Revelation.

Even out in the open road, Luke 22.36, we will get there in some months ahead. He said to them, but now whoever has a money belt is to take it along, likewise also a bag and whoever has no sword is to sell his coat and buy one. That's for the self-defense. Alright, so at an hour you don't expect. Now Jesus is talking about his second coming. He was there at his first coming, so obviously that's not what he's talking about. This is his second coming when he comes again.

So if we know that that period is seven years long, will anyone be surprised? I mean, one, two, three, can't you count it? Seven, right? So why is this a surprise? For those who are unbelieving and not attentive to what the Bible says, they will be surprised. They will be surprised.

Most people, even of the Jews, will be distracted and inattentive during the tribulation period. In Israel, which was a great place to visit, most of the people there are either atheist or agnostic. That's the majority. of the people there, atheist or agnostic. They're not going to be attentive to what the Bible says, in great part.

The Messiah text, which is a book written by the late Jewish scholar Rafael Patai, I think he was Hungarian, he writes in that book, pages 95 and 96, the pangs of the messianic times are imagined as having heavenly as well as earthly sources and expressions. So this is a Jewish scholar. He's not reading the New Testament. He's not a Christian.

Things will come to such a head that people will despair of redemption. This will last seven years. So how long do the Orthodox Jews believe that the tribulation will be? Seven years. Right there. At the end of which, Messiah will come. I talked to a local rabbi here, some years back, and he says, when Messiah comes, we'll ask him, is this your first or your second time? Right? But he says then here, Raphael Pitai says, and then, unexpectedly, the Messiah will come. He even recognizes that the Jews, in great part, will not expect the Messiah's coming. They won't be looking for it. Many of them don't believe. That's quoting the Talmud, by the way, an ancient Jewish writing. So here's Luke 12, 41 and 42.

Peter said, Lord, are you addressing this parable to us or to everyone else as well? And so Jesus answered, oh, just to you, right? To everyone, right? Did he answer the question? No, he asked another one. Isn't that interesting? So verse 42, And the Lord said, Who then is the faithful and sensible steward, whom his master will put in charge of his servants, to give them their rations at the proper time? This faithful and sensible, wise is some of the translations there.

Among the Jews at the end of the tribulation period when Christ returns, there will be no middle ground. People will either go one way or the other. Either they will be faithful and sensible stewards, leading others who are also faithful and sensible, or a horrible alternative. Jesus tells Peter, and all present, so he's telling it to everyone, and that's a part of Peter's answer, the immense difference it will make for the Jews at the end of the tribulation period to be faithful and sensible and wise. He's going to tell them the horrid outcome, a couple more verses here, for those who are selfish, self-centered, and abusive. Those who are completely distracted from the Lord's coming. So here's Luke 12, 43 and 44.

Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. Truly I say to you that it will put him in charge of all his possessions. Now notice, he's blessed based on what he does. That's very Jewish. In Deuteronomy 28, 1-14, we've pointed out previously that being blessed based on what you do and don't do is exactly the way the Law of Moses is written. It's very Jewish. We in the body of Christ, however, are blessed based on having believed, that's it, not based on what we do.

Notice, too, that these earthly possessions are what these faithful and sensible Jews will be put in charge of. Earthly. Earthly things, based on Jesus' words here in this passage. So what's done as condition, conditional, and blessing in earthly ways, that's consistent completely with Deuteronomy 28, 1-14. Your blessed if, is what that says, under the Law of Moses. So here's Luke 12, 45 and 46.

But if that slave says in his heart, my master will be a long time in coming and begins to beat the slaves, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.

Is that going to happen to you? If you're a believer here this morning, absolutely not. So here's the but if. The slave whose heart talk tells him that the master will be long in coming and gives himself selfish indulgence and abuse of those in his authority and influence will be badly surprised. How many people would like a nasty surprise? Do you like those? Not so much, right?

He's warning that's the nasty surprise that is going to come to these folks. The immediate as well as the long-term consequences for that one will be very bad indeed. Many Jews will find themselves in a very bad place when Christ returns suddenly. So, this is a place with the unbelievers.

And by the way, belief is the fundamental issue, right? Isn't it? After being cut up, isn't a person dead? I think so. This place with the unbelievers is a powerful implication that the souls of the unbelieving are not annihilated at death, as some would believe, but are assigned a place to be with the unbelievers.

When we get to Luke chapter 16, only a few chapters away here, we'll pause and take a closer look at the structure of the spiritual realm. Interestingly enough, the spiritual realm does have a structure to it. We will look at the resurrections. There are multiple resurrections at different times. And judgments. There are a great many of judgments. Actually, judgments are a couple dozen of them.

Isn't that amazing? Along with the rich man and Lazarus in that chapter. That's Luke 16, 19-31. So we'll be taking a look at that in more detail. Here's Luke 12, 47 and 48. And that slave who knew his master's will and did not get ready or act in accordance with his will will receive many lashes, but the one who did not know it and committed deeds worthy of a flogging will receive but few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required, and to him whom they entrusted much of him they will ask all the more.

So there's a principle here. Punishments will be proportional and not equal. So that's very interesting. Proportional and not equal in the same way that rewards for believers will not all just be the same. Everybody gets the same. Punishments for unbelievers will also not be the same for everyone. Different punishments for different ones.

This is true for the Jews who have a different basis of judgment at the end of this tribulation period, as well as for the Gentiles. When we went through Matthew chapter 25, it describes in that chapter how both the Jews and the Gentiles will be judged. And by the way, the judgment for the Gentiles is based upon the covenant with Abraham. Genesis chapter 12 verses 1-3. That's the basis of the judgment for the Gentiles.

Alright, another principle, judgment will include responsibility for what is known. So it makes a difference whether a person knew and then violated it, or didn't know and acted in ignorance. Acting out of ignorance is one thing, but knowingly going astray. I know this is wrong, but I'm going to do it anyway. That is going to be judged differently from the one who acts in ignorance. One reason why Jesus was especially harsh in his judgment of the scribes and Pharisees.

They had the truth of the entire Old Testament. That's not what they called it. The Jews today called the Old Testament the Tanakh. So they don't have the New Testament to call something old. In writing right before their eyes, many of them knew it backwards and forwards and could recite great portions of it. but they corrupted it greatly and condemned Jesus for obeying it purely.

So what about us? What does this apply to us? We've been saying, oh, this applies to Jews at the end of the tribulation period, but we're under grace and not under law, and we will be taken up to be with the Lord before, seven years before at least, this time, And most of us are Gentiles and not Jews. So is there anything here for us? The answer is yes. We also do not know the time when Christ will return for us at the event called the rapture. And in fact that thief in the night phrase is used of the rapture as well. So we don't know.

The Lord could come before I'm done with this message. And that would be fine. or the Lord could take a long time. We don't know. He will come at an hour we're not expecting. You know, one of the things that happens when things get really bad in the world, that's when Christians say, oh, the Lord's got to come. Well, maybe. But the Lord may come at a time when we're saying, oh, things aren't as bad now as they were then, then we're gone. We don't know. Could be any time. I still hope it's today.

Here are the biblical crowns and rewards. These are the rewards for us. We are rewarded variously. And these are those for us in the body of Christ, the church. The Jews at the end of the tribulation period, who are obedient and believing, those will be rewarded variously as well, but not with these same things. We are rewarded differently. Our crowns are given in heaven. These Jews will be rewarded in earthly ways in these bodies as they enter the Millennial Kingdom. That's different. That's very different.

It's important to distinguish between Israel and the Church. One reason is that Israel has had and will have both believers and unbelievers. But in the church, the church only consists of believers. Now, can an unbeliever walk in here and sit down? Yeah, they could do so for weeks and months at a time. That doesn't make them a believer. It makes them a churchgoer. That doesn't count.

The church only consists of those who believe, not those who just attend. So that's why you and I will not be subjected to the judgments of the unbelievers. That's why you and I will not be cut up and placed with the unbelievers. That's why we in the body of Christ will not be in the judgment in this passage, because we will be raptured and judged differently, and we will be judged only for reward. Only for reward.

The other thing is, everyone has stewardships. All of us have been entrusted with people, relationships, and things. I give some pictures of my life as an example here. When I was a little tiny guy, I wasn't given much in the way of stewardships, but my parents sure were. So they had a stewardship responsibility for me. When I got married to Nancy, which is 42 years ago now, when I got married to Nancy, I was taking on a stewardship. And then we had kids, and that was an additional stewardship. And that stewardship changed over time. And as each of them got married, they took on a stewardship of marriage. And now we've got eight grandkids. And a part of that stewardship is to pray for these families.

But we're not done. Don't we have a stewardship for one another? Yes, we do. We, in the body of Christ, have a stewardship of one another. And it's a very good thing for us to think about that. What does that stewardship look like? It's a gracious stewardship. It is a grace-motivated stewardship. It is, because grace also strengthens, it's a grace-strengthened stewardship.

Some really cool things to think about there. We have a stewardship for our kids. If you're raising kids, at some stage, you have a stewardship for those kids. In one sense, they're not your kids, and God has given them to you for a time to live out the stewardship. So this principle of stewardship is big.

Those stewardships vary from one person to the next, and they also vary over time for each person. There are stewardships I have now that I didn't used to have. There are stewardships I used to have that I don't have now. So they vary over time for each person.

You will have numerous stewardships. I have a stewardship here at Holly Hills that I didn't always have. Even though I've been here 14 years, I used to have other stewardships at other churches. Now I have a stewardship here. So we have a stewardship for one another. It's required of stewards that they be faithful.

This is 1 Corinthians 4.2, as Paul wrote to the church at Corinth. It's required of stewards that they be faithful, faithful to the one who assigned them the stewardship. And with all the stewardships that we have, the question is, how do you be faithful?

Is that because you're determined? to be faithful? How does that get carried out? I would suggest to you that faithfulness is carried out by continuing in fellowship and dependence upon the Lord. Not by our best efforts, but by His life lived in and through us. That's how faithfulness is carried out.

Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you that in this passage we see many truths that apply to us, even though most of us are probably not Jewish. And if we're a believer here this morning, we will not be at this judgment. Nonetheless, there are a great many things that apply to us and great many lessons to be learned. We thank you for them. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.