A certain Nobleman and Ten Minas - Part II

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Five Minas Servant

[Luke 19:18-19] 18 And the second came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds. 19 And he said likewise to him, Be thou also over five cities.

The five minas servant is symbolic of the immature Christian who is to grow up to be like the ten minas servant.

For the disciples their period of the ‘five minas servant’ corresponded to the time from the crucifixion to Pentecost and during this period, they were afraid of the Jews and sought to avoid them. They returned to their original job, fishing. Nevertheless, they ma-tured to be ten minas servants when Pentecost came to them. 

One Mina Servant

[Luke 19:20-23] 20 And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin: 21 For I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up that thou layedst not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow. 22 And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow: 23 Wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury?

Now, I will describe the third type of the servants, the servant who kept the one mina laid up in a napkin. I will call this servant the ‘one mina servant’. 

He represents Pharisees and scribes, and all the believers of today who endeavor to believe in Jesus through their own efforts. They all have to produce self-righteousness, which is the same as unrighteous mammon. 

In the parable, the one mina servant also spoke to the nobleman who returned to his kingdom. However, unlike the two previous ser-vants, he was condemned as wicked and his original mina was taken away. The time when this servant received the one mina corresponds symbolically to the time when he confessed his sins and turned to Jesus with all his heart (pregnancy by the Word).

He thinks in the following manner:
“Now I am saved and I have life in Jesus. Let me work hard and preach the word of God to others so that I may be commended as a good and faithful servant when the nobleman returns or when I die and go to heaven. He is the king of kings.”

This is his mindset after receiving the one mina and the com-mandment of “Occupy till I come.” He thinks that the nobleman will return at some time in the future, which will correspond with the second coming of Jesus. So he tries to be watchful and work hard be-cause men cannot know when that day will be. He imagines the day as an awards ceremony with all the servants gathered and the winners receiving prizes, e.g. ten or five cities, according to their deeds. In this servant’s world, Jesus does not abide here, but He is gone and will come back in the future, as the Lord of judgment.

However, Jesus does not actually go and return. He is always here. The incorrect thinking and understanding of this servant makes Him go away in the servant’s mind. In this case, he ignores Jesus in the here and now because of his misguided belief that He will return at some unspecified time in the future. The thinking creates the real-ity.
Therefore, he lived the ‘Occupy till I come period’ without Jesus, the life-giving spirit, and naturally he could not have life of the preg-nancy stage to grow to the delivery stage. Under these circumstances, he would simply be working hard by himself, which has nothing to do with life. 

The Only Way to Trade

The one mina servant thought that he should be thankful for the fact that he had received one mina, (eternal life) so he wanted to be loyal to the nobleman by doing something good. He surmised that the works of loyalty and good deeds would correspond to ten minas, and he would gain ten cities as the prize.

In order to gain ten minas out of one, we should follow Jesus to lay down our ‘old man’ on the cross, and resurrect with Him. That is the only way. Read the passage of John below.

I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. [John 12:24]

If we are deceived by ‘old man’, we will postpone this healing until death, which is too late. No cross, no new life! 

I Have Kept it Laid Up in a Napkin

The mina laid up in a napkin implies that his life is wrapped up by the law. This one mina servant represents the believers who know God only according to the law. Their eyes are blind to the true meanings of the Scripture, as they are being veiled by the napkin, the law. That is why they read all the Scripture as commandments. So they are separated from God by the napkin. Consider the passage below: 

But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. [2 Corinthians 3:14]

The ‘veil’ in this instance is kaluma, and the ‘napkin’ found in the parable is soudarion in Greek. The ‘veil’ and the ‘napkin’ have the same function of covering or hiding, so both can be interpreted as the ‘veil’ that separates them from God. They believe in Jesus and work hard for Him but in the process completely miss the true, living Jesus Christ who is to take them to the cross.

The Jesus whose return is postponed into the future and the Jesus based on human moral codes is the Jesus who is wrapped by the napkin. We need to meet the living Jesus, person to person now. Then the napkin will be done away with, and we can bring forth ten minas. 

Why Did He Mention Bank Usury?

This servant thought of Jesus in this way:
“Jesus is the man of power. He fed five thousand men with two fish and five loaves of bread; He walked on the water, and healed many incurable invalids. He is now working with the same power in my life. He heals me when I am sick, and He fills me when I need money and pray to Him. He is worthy to be praised and worshipped. He is fearful and austere and will punish the disobedient without exception.
Now, He promised to come back again to live together with us in heaven, and I will be faithful to Him until that time comes. I am prepared to die for the Lord. I love you Jesus!”

I do not mean that Jesus has no such power. But if we believe in Jesus based on His mighty power and miracles, the faith is not of God, but of man. The real faith will only come to us when we go through the cross together with Jesus. What is described above relates to the affairs of the world, not to the cross.

He says to the nobleman, “Thou art an austere man: thou takest up that thou layedst not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow,” (Luk 19:22b).

The one mina servant did not know that believing in Jesus is the process of receiving life. So he neglected the life receiving process by postponing the coming of Jesus into the future, and yet he expects to receive the life and the kingdom of God. Maybe he worked hard to achieve eternal life in return, however he was misguided, and he can-not reap what he did not sow. He is deceived by his ‘old man’ who wishes to escape the cross by ignoring the living Jesus here.

 “Wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the bank, that I might have required mine own with usury?” said the nobleman. Outwardly, what he seems to be saying is that he expected to at least get interest on the money that he gave to the servant. And he would punish him who neglected to do so, by taking the original mina from him.

However, this is incorrect. When he mentioned interest, he meant the following:
“Life is a process of sowing and reaping and increase will only come through giving birth. You know this.
Now think about the way you see eternal life. You are investing all your efforts and good deeds to achieve this and you expect to get ten cities in heaven as compensation. However, life will never increase in compensation for your works; not like bank interest.”

The nobleman mentioned bank interest to enlighten the one mina servant about the principle of life.
If you only know and serve Jesus as a man of power and authority in relation to the affairs of this world, you will be rebuked like this servant on the judgment day. Jesus wishes to give you life, by going through the cross together with your ‘old man.’ 

Take and Give the mina to Ten minas Servant

[Luke 19:24-26] 24 And he said unto them that stood by, Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds. 25 (And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds.) 26 For I say unto you, That unto every one which hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him.

The Lord takes the mina from him who has kept it laid up in a napkin, and gives it to the ten minas servant, and says, “That unto every one which hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him.”

It sounds like a very severe, unreasonable judgment, such as he who has will have more, and he who has little will lose more. However, this is true love. It is natural for Jesus to take one mina from him and give it to the servant who had obtained ten minas, because in this process the one mina servant dies since he was not walking with Jesus when he received his original mina.

When the time comes, the one mina servant will meet the ten minas servant, and will follow him, as a new start to receive the real mina from him. This means that when we, the believers, become as desolate as the one mina servant, God will guide us to meet the ten minas servant, the apostle. At this time, our existing legalistic think-ing about eternal life will be destroyed by the gospel of the ten minas servant. This way, our one dead mina is taken, to be replaced by a new mina that will grow hopefully to the delivery stage. This is the meaning of “Take from him the mina, and give it to him that hath ten minas.”

The one mina is not given to the five minas servant because he needs to grow further in Christ. The ten minas servant is the only mature believer who is able to give life to others. Accordingly, the judgment is the love of Jesus that He presents to this servant, the one mina servant.

Also, this is what the verse 26 “For I say unto you, That unto every one which hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him” means. 

Today If You Hear His Voice...

We think that our faith is okay, that there is nothing to be corrected, nothing more to hope for. However, this is not true. Please pray to God and open your heart to the Word that comes to you. Then, you will get an opportunity to meet the ten minas servant. If you hear him and realize your true position, you will find that your faith is misguided and is legalistic. 

15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. 16 For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. [Hebrews 3:15-16]

‘All that came out of Egypt by Moses’ represent ‘all who come to church to follow Jesus.’ You cannot rest assured even though you come to church and eagerly follow Jesus in you life. The one mina servant was a serious Christian too.

Now, you can hear the message of the true gospel from the ten minas servant. This message is the word of judgment clearly exposing that you have kept the mina laid up in a napkin. Do not be upset at this word.
All believers should start faith from the position of the one mina servant. It is the natural process that we all must go through to grow in faith. He who hears this message and correctly understands it will discard his existing dead faith, and will proceed to have new faith. Blessed is he who loses that which he has.
Further, please pray that this judgment may happen to you while you are living in this world. Then, you will live eternally. If not, you will have to maintain your dead faith and be judged after you are dead, which is too late. 

Enemies

[Luke 19:27] But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.

I will now explain the fourth type of person found in the parable. Who are they that do not want the nobleman to reign over them? They are also classified as believers. Some of you feel uncomfortable with this classification; however, they are also believers, being ‘his’ citizens as described in this parable.
Also read John 1:11: “He came unto his own, and his own re-ceived him not.” Those who did not receive Jesus are believers also, described as ‘His own.’

In contrast to the servants, the citizens are not given one mina. From this, we can know that they represent those who are not so keen to follow Jesus even though they are known as believers. So, the citizens may include those who do not know Jesus as the Savior or who are not serious believers. They do not really need Him to be their king, as they do not know they are destined to die due to sin.

This is what it means in the parable that “his citizen hated him and send a message, saying, we will not have this man to reign over us” (Luk 19:14).

In spite of their wish, the nobleman received the kingdom, returned, and said “But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.” 

In this part of the parable, we are very reluctant to accept that the nobleman represents Jesus. He seems so cruel. However, paradoxi-cally enough, we believe that those who belong to the anti-Christ will be slain in His presence at the judgment day.

We have to think deeply here. All human beings are separated from God, who is life itself, when we are born. We are therefore dead. God sent Jesus to resurrect those who are dead. Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (Jhn 14:6). He is our life. Therefore, until the time that He comes and reigns over us, we remain dead, as we were before. 

When the whole world is full of the dead, the dead are not rec-ognized as dead. It is like when there is nothing but darkness, darkness is not recognized as darkness. So the dead tend to think they are the living because they have no reference point for life. However, when they come before Jesus who is the real living one, they will be recognized as the dead.

This is the true meaning of the word “Bring hither, and slay them before me.” Only after his coming to the realization that he is dead, will he repent and follow Jesus for salvation.

Epilogue

The servants and citizens show the process in which our faith grows: Our faith begins and grows from ‘his citizen’ ➝ ‘one mina servant’ ➝ ‘five minas servant’ ➝ ‘ten minas servant.’
His ‘citizens’ need to meet the gospel and should realize that they are dead spiritually. When they become enthusiastic for salvation, they will become one mina servant. The one mina servant is to follow Him forsaking all to receive Him as the Holy Spirit. Please remember, ‘following Him forsaking all’ does not mean working hard by himself, but to hear the voice of the living Jesus and to follow to the cross. The five minas servant needs to grow further. The ten minas servant represents those who are truly born again. He will do what Jesus did for the rest of his life.

Through this parable, you should understand the real meaning of the return of the nobleman, i.e., the second coming of Jesus in your faith. This is the kingdom of God that comes into you, and Jesus ea-gerly wants to give this kingdom to you.

‘Coming of the kingdom’ is not an event that will happen sometime in the future, but is an event that should happen within your lifetime. In this process, you should not send or postpone Jesus into the future until His second coming universally, but should walk with Him now and until His second coming as the Holy Spirit in you.

Once it happens to you, you will become the servant who shows ten minas and gains ten cities.
Thy kingdom come!

Chung DuckYoung
Pastor
FaSS Evangelists

www.fass.kr
 



Taken from the title "Fresh Eyes to Read the Bible - Book 2"