Mat 24:48-49 | KingComments | STEP | The Lord is now going to give directions for the time of His absence. He teaches three parables ( ). Then He speaks again about His future connection with the earth and the Gentiles. The three parables should be read in brackets, as it were, as they form a kind of parenthesis. They are three separate parts, but they are all related to His coming. As throughout Scripture, we see perfect order here too. The first parable is about behavior in the house ( ). The Lord has spoken of vigilance. Now He is going to talk about food. We will only remain attentive if we feed ourselves well. For the present time we know that the house is a picture of the church ( ), but then seen in this parable from the aspect of man’s responsibility and not as God building the church. This similarity is especially important for those who have the responsibility to teach in the church. In this parable, the state of the church is also seen as a whole. Whoever is busy distributing food is called “blessed” by the Lord Jesus. It proves one is thinking of Christ and others and not of oneself. The condition of the responsible church depends on their waiting for Christ, or on saying in their hearts that He is absent. Those who have been busy looking forward to Him and serving Him in serving His own will receive a rich reward. The way in which the goods were administered in the time of the Lord’s absence forms the basis for the servant to be entrusted with the putting in charge of the Lord’s possessions when He returns. Loyalty will be rewarded at the coming of Christ. Those who, in humility, have been faithful in His service during His absence will be made rulers of all that belongs to Him. But there may be a situation where the faithful slave turns into an evil slave. Note: it is about “that evil slave”. It is the same slave who was first faithful. This transformation of a faithful slave into an evil slave is evident in the history of the church. After initial faithfulness to the Lord, as we find in the book of Acts, decay came quickly. The slave’s unfaithfulness begins in his heart. It is not forgetfulness. The will is involved. The result of the Lord’s staying away is that the flesh will reveal itself. When the expectation of His coming is no longer operative, the Christian is turned to earth. Except thinking only of himself, he also starts to mistreat others. Furthermore he seeks other company than that of the fellow Christians. He goes to eat and drink with the drunkards. It is no longer a devotional service for God’s house with the heart focused on the Master’s approval upon His return. The daily expectation has been given up. That is the cause of the decay. When the coming of the Lord is set far into the distance (cf. ), the true Christian position is lost. But not only that. Forgetting His coming will lead to debauchery and tyranny. It does not say that the slave himself is drunk, but that he eats and drinks with those who are drunk. He connects with the world and follows its habits. A person who loses sight of the coming of Christ, who no longer looks forward to His coming, will be surprised by His coming. The Lord’s judgment of this slave is in keeping with his actions and the appearances he made. He did as if a Christian, but he is not. He is a hypocrite. Hypocrites are two-faced. That is why he is cut ‘in two pieces’. This slave is a hypocrite and will share in the fate of the hypocrites. This is the fate of Christianity which, according to confession, is religious, but who in essence participates in the world. It is important to remember that what applies to the whole is also true for the individual.

‏ Matthew 24:48-49

The Good and Evil Slave

The Lord is now going to give directions for the time of His absence. He teaches three parables (Mt 24:45-51 ; Mt 25:1-13 ; Mt 25:14-30). Then He speaks again about His future connection with the earth and the Gentiles. The three parables should be read in brackets, as it were, as they form a kind of parenthesis. They are three separate parts, but they are all related to His coming. As throughout Scripture, we see perfect order here too.

The first parable is about behavior in the house (Mt 24:45-51). The Lord has spoken of vigilance. Now He is going to talk about food. We will only remain attentive if we feed ourselves well. For the present time we know that the house is a picture of the church (1Tim 3:15), but then seen in this parable from the aspect of man’s responsibility and not as God building the church. This similarity is especially important for those who have the responsibility to teach in the church. In this parable, the state of the church is also seen as a whole.

Whoever is busy distributing food is called “blessed” by the Lord Jesus. It proves one is thinking of Christ and others and not of oneself. The condition of the responsible church depends on their waiting for Christ, or on saying in their hearts that He is absent. Those who have been busy looking forward to Him and serving Him in serving His own will receive a rich reward.

The way in which the goods were administered in the time of the Lord’s absence forms the basis for the servant to be entrusted with the putting in charge of the Lord’s possessions when He returns. Loyalty will be rewarded at the coming of Christ. Those who, in humility, have been faithful in His service during His absence will be made rulers of all that belongs to Him.

But there may be a situation where the faithful slave turns into an evil slave. Note: it is about “that evil slave”. It is the same slave who was first faithful. This transformation of a faithful slave into an evil slave is evident in the history of the church. After initial faithfulness to the Lord, as we find in the book of Acts, decay came quickly.

The slave’s unfaithfulness begins in his heart. It is not forgetfulness. The will is involved. The result of the Lord’s staying away is that the flesh will reveal itself. When the expectation of His coming is no longer operative, the Christian is turned to earth. Except thinking only of himself, he also starts to mistreat others. Furthermore he seeks other company than that of the fellow Christians. He goes to eat and drink with the drunkards.

It is no longer a devotional service for God’s house with the heart focused on the Master’s approval upon His return. The daily expectation has been given up. That is the cause of the decay.

When the coming of the Lord is set far into the distance (cf. Eze 12:27), the true Christian position is lost. But not only that. Forgetting His coming will lead to debauchery and tyranny. It does not say that the slave himself is drunk, but that he eats and drinks with those who are drunk. He connects with the world and follows its habits.

A person who loses sight of the coming of Christ, who no longer looks forward to His coming, will be surprised by His coming. The Lord’s judgment of this slave is in keeping with his actions and the appearances he made. He did as if a Christian, but he is not. He is a hypocrite. Hypocrites are two-faced. That is why he is cut ‘in two pieces’. This slave is a hypocrite and will share in the fate of the hypocrites. This is the fate of Christianity which, according to confession, is religious, but who in essence participates in the world. It is important to remember that what applies to the whole is also true for the individual.