GOSPELS—BIBLE STORY— #27

 GOSPELS— BIBLE STORY—#27 

Chapter Twenty-seven:

Rich man and Lazarus - Forgiveness - Increasing Faith - Kingdom Within - Day of Christ's Return - Praying for Vengeance - Humility

by

Keith Hint

PARABLE OF LAZARUS

     Jesus said, looking at the Pharisees, "There was a rich man,

who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted

sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named

Lazarus, full of sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from

the rich man's table; moreover the dogs came and licked his

sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to

Abraham's bosom."

     Using the Bible to interpret itself, we know that death is a

sleep, that people do not continue to think, talk, walk around,

anywhere after they die. This poor man Lazarus was dead, asleep,

but one day is taken by the angels into Abraham's bosom, into a

loving embrace and close fellowship with Abraham This happens

when Abraham will rise from the dead, when both Lazarus and

Abraham will rise in a resurrection, the angels being present

(Matthew 24: 29-31) and all saints in close bosom fellowship one

with the other. So, this part of Jesus' parable brings us to the

FIRST resurrection, the resurrection of the saints, at the coming

of Christ in glory, to meet the Jesus in the clouds of the air (1

Thes. 4: 13-18), and the change from mortal to immortal for the

children of God as Paul spoke about in 1 Corinthians 15.

     Jesus continued, "The rich man died and was also buried; and

in the grave, he lifted up his eyes, and was in torment, seeing

Abraham far off and Lazarus in close bosom fellowship. And he

called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy upon me, and send Lazarus

to dip the end of his finger into water and come and cool my

tongue; for I am in anguish seeing this flame.' "

     First we notice the rich man dies, he is also asleep, until

he is resurrected back to life. But this resurrection for him is

not until AFTER the first resurrection and AFTER the 1,000 

years period spoken about in Revelation 20. 

     Of course in this parable it is clear that Lazarus is a

saint or child of God, while the rich man is one of the

unrepentant wicked.

     This wicked rich man comes up in a resurrection at the end

of the 1,000 year period, and what does he see? Well, already in

the Kingdom of God there is Abraham and Lazarus, who were

resurrected 1,000 years earlier. Then as we are near the very

end of all time and ages leading up to the cleansing of the earth

by FIRE (2 Peter 3: 8-13 and Malachi 4) and destruction of all

the wicked, and the coming of the new heavens and new earth, 

it is only fitting that the rich man SEES the FIRE!

     He is in utter anguish! The Greek here for this word

"anguish" mainly means "anguish of the mind and emotions." 

It does not mean he is feeling physical pain from being in some 

kind of never ending burning hell-fire, where he was thrown when 

he died.

     Notice he asks for Abraham to send Lazarus, to do what? 

Does he ask him to get a fire engine and hose pipe and shoot torrents

of water over him and the area to put out the fire that some say

he is living in, and has been in for thousands of years? No! he

asks that Lazarus come over to put his wet finger in the tip of

his tongue. When you are in such mental anguish your mouth dries

up and you become "hot under the collar" as the saying goes.

     This man could see the flames that were coming on the earth

to fulfil the prophecies we have quoted above. You bet he was in

anguish. He realized what fate awaited him.

     Jesus said furthermore, "But Abraham said, 'Son, remember

that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus

in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you

are in anguish. And besides all this, between you and us is a

great wide chasm, so that those who would like to pass from your

side to this side, cannot do so."

     Jesus was hitting the Pharisees right between the eyes with

a two by four. He was telling them that such people as they, had

had their physical comfort and luxury during their life time,

while not caring for the poor and needy, while not even giving

them some crumbs from their table. He was telling them that

people like Lazarus, who had none of the material goods they had,

in their physical life, but were true children of God (while

they only pretended to be religious), would have their comfort

and reward. They would be inside the Kingdom looking out at such

fellows who would be in anguish at not being in the Kingdom and

who would be waiting their fate in the fires at the end of time.

     The great gulf or chasm that could not be crossed was the

chasm of "immortality." The chasm of eternal life as opposed to

mortal life. Lazarus now had eternal life, the rich man was

raised to mortal life. The rich man was representing those who

had refused to repent and enter God's Kingdom. It was now too

late for the rich man, his day of salvation had already come and

gone. He had thrown it away, he had refused to listen to God's

calling and God's WORD!

     Listening to the word of God, living by every word of God,

is vital, as we have seen Jesus already expounding to us in

earlier parts of His ministry.  This is again brought to the

for-front by Jesus' last words in this parable, "The rich man

said, 'Then I beg you, father Abraham, send Lazarus to my

father's house, for I have five brothers, so that he may worn

them, lest they also come into this place of anguish.' But

Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear

what they have to say.' And he said, 'Oh no, father Abraham, 

but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' 

Abraham replied to him, 'Ah, if they will not hear Moses and the

prophets, neither will they hear and be convinced and repent if

some one should rise from the dead'" (Luke 16: 19-31).

     True repentance to salvation has little if anything to do

with "miracles." Physical miracles, seeing them, is not the way

to find repentance into the Kingdom of God.  Satan with his

powers can work miracles. Paul tells us that he sometimes comes

as if he is an "angel of light" ( 2 Cor. 11: 13-15). 

True repentance and being a child of God comes from a personal

relationship with Christ and God the Father, and from studying

and living by every word of God. When Jesus said you must listen

to Moses and the prophets, all in His day knew that meant all of

the books from Genesis to Malachi. 

     Yes, there were to be more books added to God's word, what

we today know as the New Testament, but Jesus, as we've seen,

said not one "dot" of the Old Testament would fade away. We have

seen He said it was easier for heaven to pass away than one small 

letter to pass from the law and the prophets - the Old Testament. 

     It was still true then, and it is still true today, that to be a Lazarus, 

to be in the Kingdom of God, one would have to hear and live by 

ALL the Bible. That way is the only way to repentance and salvation 

through faith in Christ Jesus.

     When using the Bible to interpret itself, this somewhat

famous parable, is not even close to proving that people have 

an immortal soul that either goes to heaven at death if you are

"good" or to an ever burning hell-fire if you are "bad." 

     The parable clearly teaches the truth about RESURRECTIONS, 

a resurrection to eternal glory if you are a true repentant child

of God, and a resurrection to be burnt up in the fires that will

engulf the earth to destroy all unrepentant sinners, and then

will come the new heavens and the new earth where in only 

dwells righteousness. So it is written in the last three chapters 

of the book of Revelation.

INCREASING FAITH

     Jesus went on to talk again to His disciples about the fact

that people will cause others to sin and be offended to the point

where they will seriously think about giving up on God. He told

them once more that people who do such offences it would have

been better for them to have had a stone around their neck and

have been cast into the sea. He said that to cause a little one

coming to Him to be offended and give up was a very serious

matter indeed.

     And as He was talking about sin and repentance He said,

"Take note of this and of yourself; if your brother sins, rebuke

him, and if he repents, forgive him; and if he sins against you

seven times in a day, and turns to you and says, 'I repent,' you

must forgive him."

     We understand this as meaning true repentance, not a

deliberate play act, just to lead you on and take advantage of

your mercy. Jesus knew there were play actors in religion, He

called the Pharisees and Sadducees and those skilled in

"religious law" hypocrites and play actors, most of them were,

and certainly Jesus was not meaning your kindness and mercy

should be taken for a ride by the likes of those (Luke 17: 1-4).

     The apostles then asked Jesus to increase their faith. We would 

think they may have been thinking He would wave His hand,

utter a prayer and "presto" a greater supply of the Spirit would

have tingled up and down their spine. But what He said was the

way to increase ones faith:

     "If you have faith even as small as a grain of mustard seed

you could say to this sycamine tree, 'Be rooted up, and be

planted in the sea,' and it would obey you, it would come to pass

as you desired.  Then again, will any one of you who has a

servant plowing your field or watching over your sheep, say to

him when he comes in from outside, 'Please, sit down at once at

the table.'? Will he not rather say, 'I want you to prepare

supper for me, and when I've eaten then you can eat'? Does he

thank that servant for doing the things that he is commanded to

do? So you also, when you have done those things which are

commanded of you, say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have done

only that which was our duty to do' " (Luke 17: 5-10).

     Do you remember when the disciples could not cast out a

demon from a father's son? Jesus did the casting out, and was

disappointed with the disciples. They asked Him why they could

not cast out the demon. Do you remember what Jesus said in reply

to them? He said such a miracle could only be done through much

prayer and fasting! 

     We draw close to God through prayer and fasting. We gain

more faith to do greater works for God. Jesus here was saying

that even with a little faith, a small part of faith like a grain

of mustard seed, you could do great things, but if you wanted

still yet more faith, you had to go above and beyond just obeying

the written commandments of the Lord. Doing those commandments

was part of your duty as a servant and child of God. Increased

faith would come about by going beyond the call of duty.

     It reminds me of what John said in 1 John 3: 22. There are

things that are pleasing to God that we should be doing also.

     They may not be written down as laws and commandments per se, 

but there are things that God is pleased with even if He has not

spelled them out to us in His written word.

     Doing all of this, the written and the un-written commandments 

of the Lord, draw us closer and closer to Him, and in so living this way, 

we can add to our faith, or increase our faith. It was probably not the 

answer that the disciples were looking for or expecting, but Jesus gave 

it as the sure way to increase a person's faith.

     There is also a very sobering connection here with Jesus

saying that after we have done all that is commanded of us that

we are to say we are "unprofitable servants." For, if we now take

those words and put them with Matthew 25: 14-30.....well, very

revealing it is. How the Bible can interpret itself, brings us to

stark reality sometimes.

TEN LEPERS HEALED

     Jesus was still headed for Jerusalem. He was now passing

along between Galilee and Samaria. He entered a village and was

met by ten lepers. The decease of leprosy is very contagious so

people in those days with the decease were isolated from everyone

else. And they themselves stood back from others so not to pass

on their leprosy. The decease is a whitish swollen bumpy

formation in the skin, very contagious as I've just said, and so

you really did become an "outcast" from the rest of society. 

     Well, ten people with leprosy stood far back from Jesus but

shouted out to Him, "Jesus, Master, have mercy upon us." Hearing

them He said, "You all go and show yourselves to the priests."

And as they left they were all healed.

     It was the law of Moses that when you were healed from

leprosy you were required to show your proof of healing to the

priests.

     It was one leper who seeing that he was healed, turned back,

and with a loud voice of praise to God, fell at the feet of

Jesus, also giving Him thanks.  This man was a Samaritan, one

from the hated sect that the Jews of Judea despised.  "Was there

not ten of you cleansed," said Jesus, "where are the other nine?

Was no one but this Samaritan found who returned and praised

God?" 

     The other nine we suppose were from Judea, being Jews who

thought they knew who the true God was, after all they had the

true Temple of God in Jerusalem, and had preserved all the books

of the Old Testament inspired Scripture, but they did not return

to thank God. Only this man, a Samaritan,  that most Jews in

Palestine loathed and thought was the scum of the lake, only he

returned to praise God and thank Jesus.

     Jesus told him to stand up and go his way, for his faith had

made him well and healthy.

THE KINGDOM WITHIN AND WHEN IT ALSO COMES

     One day the Pharisees asked Jesus, "When will the Kingdom of

God come?" And Jesus, knowing that they could not see the signs

of the present time, and that He was the promised Messiah,

knowing they could not see the prophecies, or simply chose to

ignore them, about His first coming, knowing that all they cared

about was the prophecies of the Messiah coming in power and glory

to establish the Kingdom of God on earth (even then they had a

distorted idea about how all that would play out, they thought

Judah would become some kind of power over all the other nations

of the earth, with the Messiah being their leader to defeat their

enemies and establish a Jewish super world ruling government).

     Jesus knew the Pharisees were only interested in the

prophecies regarding the Messiah's coming in glory and power, so

He deliberately did not answer their specific question about

those prophecies or the time setting as to when those prophecies

would come to pass. Jesus went straight to the Kingdom of God as

it was for the THEN present, as it was for each individual to

find and have for the NOW, for themselves personally, which the

Pharisees were far from finding.

     Jesus answered them, "The Kingdom of God isn't only ushered

in with visible signs. You will not be able to say, 'Oh, look

over in this place, for there it is,' or 'It's over there, over

in that nation.' For the Kingdom of God is WITHIN you" (Luke 17:

20-21).

     The Greek word for "within" means just that, within. Some

have objected that the Kingdom of God cannot be inside you, but

Paul clearly uses it in that sense in Colossians 1: 14, where he

says that Christians have been "translated" or "moved over" into

the Kingdom of the Son of the Father. Christ's Kingdom is the

Father's Kingdom, which after He has ruled with that Kingdom on

this earth for a thousand years (Revelation 19, 20), He will hand

over to the Father (1 Cor. 15: 24-26 with Rev. 20, 21). Yet, NOW,

at this present time, there is a reality to the Kingdom of God.

Christians are moved over into it when they repent, accept Jesus

as Savior, are baptized, and receive the Holy Spirit. This for them, 

is a moving from the kingdom of Satan, sin, and the unconverted 

world, into the Kingdom of God, here and now, in this physical 

life time. You are already IN the Kingdom of God when you 

become His literal Spirit led child. 

     Some object to this explanation, saying that Jesus could not

possibly be meaning the Kingdom of God was "within" those

Pharisees, to whom He was addressing His answer. But, they fail

to take into account the MANY "figures of speech" that is often

used in the Bible, by many people, just as we today in our

conversation often use figures of speech. 

     It is true that Jesus certainly did not mean those hypocritical 

Pharisees had the Kingdom of God within themselves.

But using a figure of speech "the Kingdom of God is within you"

Jesus was saying and telling them that as far as they should be

concerned with, they needed to get the reality of the Kingdom of

God as it pertains to the present, as it pertains to having the

Kingdom within themselves, being a part of it NOW in the

spiritual sense, and not just looking to when it would come in

the literal sense, as ruling over the world.

     And in that first sense, the Kingdom of God could not be

physically located as in some specific area of the planet we call

earth. 

     As I've stated, Jesus did not answer their specific question, 

concerning the literal coming aspect of the Kingdom of God. 

He chose to go rather to the more important state of things

for those Pharisees; being concerned with having in their lives

now, within themselves, the Kingdom of God.

     Then, turning to His disciples He does tell them about the

last days, or more specifically THE very day upon which He would

return and establish the literal aspect of the Kingdom of God on

the earth.  Keeping the CONTEXT in view at all times is the key.

We shall then clearly see Jesus was talking about THE LITERAL day

when He would come again in glory and power, and the basic state

of the world at large.

     Jesus said:

     "The days are coming when you will very much desire to see

ONE of the days of the Son of man, and YOU will not see it (as

Jesus taught elsewhere, He was going on a long journey back to

heaven for a long time, before He would return in glory to

establish the Kingdom. The disciples of His day would later LONG

to see that one day of His return, so would many others down

through the centuries, but they would not. They would rest in the

sleep of death, waiting the resurrection at Christ's coming -

Keith Hunt). Many will come along and say, 'Look here!' or 'Look,

there it is!' or "Behold He comes on this or that year and date.'

Do NOT believe them, do not get on their band wagon. For as the

lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the

other, SO will be the Son of man in His day. But first He must be

rejected and suffer many things by the hands of this generation."

I grew up as a child and teenager in England. I can remember

many a day when out on the field playing soccer with the school

class, that it just stormed on us like it is hard to imagine. Big

black clouds, rolling thunder, raining like there would be no

tomorrow, and LIGHTENING that would make a fourth of July

fireworks display look tame. It would lightning  flash and the

sky would literally light up from one side to the other, then

go black again from one side to the other, until the next

lightning flash. Quite spectacular it was. And all of this, sky

turning black, thunder, rain, and lightning, would all come upon

us quite suddenly, within a few minutes.

     Jesus continued:

     "As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of

the Son of man. They ate, they drank, they married, they were

engaged to be married, the worked, and they played, until THE 

DAY when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed

them all. Likewise as it was in the days of Lot - they ate, they

drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built houses,

but on THE DAY when Lot went out from Sodom fire and brimstone

rained from heaven and destroyed them all - SO will it be on THE

DAY when the Son of man is revealed."

     Noah entered the ark on ONE SPECIFIC 24 hour day, it did not

take him a month to walk into the ark. The waters of the flood

came on ONE specific day (of course the waters continued for a

while as is recorded in Genesis), and on THAT DAY Noah entered

the ark. The others were as good as dead men on that day, though

some did not die on that day that Noah entered the ark. But Jesus

is not concerned so much about that fact, as the fact that Noah

ENTERED the ark on ONE specific day of the year. 

     Lot departed out of Sodom on ONE specific day of the year.

It did not take him a month or a week to walk out of that city.

It took him just ONE day to leave Sodom, and on that day

destruction came upon those left in the city.

     Jesus is clearly talking about the LITERAL 24 HOUR DAY in

the year (whatever year that may be) when He will RETURN to 

earth with glory and POWER to save/and resurrect the saints, 

who will join Him in the air, in the clouds (1 Thes. 4: 13-18), to be

will Him forever more, as they descend to the Mount of Olives at

Jerusalem (see Zechariah 14). He is talking about THE day when 

He comes back again to earth to establish the Kingdom of God on

earth to rule all nations, and at that same time and for a while

afterwards He will punish and destroy many people who will rebel

against Him and will even try to fight Him (see Revelation 17:

12-14; 19; and 2 Thessalonians 1: 7-10).

     We now have THE day that Jesus has focused on, it is one

particular literal 24 hour day, when He literally and bodily

comes again to earth from heaven. Speaking of that same day 

Jesus continued with:

     "On THAT day, let him who is on the housetop, with his goods

and money in the house, NOT come down to take them away; and

likewise let him who is in the field NOT turn back. Remember

Lot's wife. Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, but

whoever loses his life will preserve it. I tell you, in that night there 

will be two men in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. 

There will be two women grinding together at the mill; one will be 

taken while the other is left behind."

     Oh, the many books that have been written on these last few

verses. Many have mistakenly thought Jesus was talking about a

coming great tribulation time, near the very end of this age,

when the saints would be "raptured' away to heaven - taken

suddenly, while driving their car, flying an airplane, driving a

school bus, will be taken to heaven. They think people will look around in astonishment and ask "Where did…(name)...go to, what

happened to them, they were here a second ago and now they 

are not." Of course the ramifications for such a belief is

mind-bending. If you are driving a school bus full of children

down a steep hill on a mountain-side and ....you suddenly

disappear, the conclusion could be deathly tragic.

     Jesus was NOT talking about such a time nor about such a

"secret" event of suddenly having the saints disappear while they

were doing their daily chores or daily work, and possibly leaving

others to face death. Think about the death toll and crippled

bodies there would be from all of a sudden thousands of motor

vehicle drivers NOT driving, but sudden, in a split second....gone....

gone to heaven in a secret rapture!

     

     Jesus WAS talking about THE day in the year upon which He

will return to earth. It will be a surprise to most, even the

saints will not know which day it will be (as we shall see Jesus

telling us later that fact), and people will still be living on

earth, doing their daily work and pleasures. Yes, the saints will

be on this earth during the last years of the Great Tribulation

period. Yes, some of the saints will be in captivity in their

enemies lands (the book of Revelation makes that clear), while

some saints will be in the wilderness (as it was in the dark and

so-called middle ages, to escape religious persecution and death

from organizations and Governments of nations who wanted to see

them dead). Some people will be converted during those last few

years before Jesus returns. They will be converted to true

Christianity while living where they are living and doing their

daily work. 

     Life at that time will still be going on, in many ways just

as it is for us today in our lives.

     When Jesus returns on a specific day of the year, it will be

dark and bedtime for half the world. Hence Jesus saying two would

be in one bed. For the other half of the world, they will be

awake and working at whatever they do during their waking hours.

Jesus will come, not in secret! He will come SUDDENLY yes, but

not without great spectacular signs. So mighty will be the signs

it will be like one of those famous sudden English thunder and

lightning storm I was telling you about. The book of Revelation 

tells us that every eye shall see Him when He comes. The round

earth will continue to roll and make its 24 hour turn. All will

finally see the mighty Jesus coming with great heavenly

signs. People will stop doing what they are doing. They will stop

driving, stop flying airplanes. Stop their school bus. If working

in a factory or grinding at the mill outside, they will stop and

look up. If still asleep.....well the one who is a true Christian

will be....gone indeed, gone in a RESURRECTION call of the blast

of the last trumpet (see 1 Cor.15 and Rev. 11: 15-19).

     There will be no needless death of persons, or children, or

babies, as others around them suddenly disappear to be caught up

and led by the angels to meet Jesus in the clouds (Mat. 24: 29-31

with 1 Thes. 4: 13-18), as they are part of the first

resurrection (1 Cor.15).

     After all this that Jesus told His disciples they asked him,

"Where, Lord, where will we be taken to?"

     Jesus replied, "Where the body is, there the eagles will

also be gathered together" (Luke 17: 22-37). 

     

     How this saying of Jesus has also been misunderstood and

misapplied, all because of not keeping it within the CONTEXT of

the words before it. Jesus has been talking about THE day of His

coming back to earth to establish the Kingdom of God. The

disciples were understanding that on THAT day they would be in

safety, like Noah and Lot had been at their times of earth

shattering events. They understood that they, the saints of God,

would be taken....but they could just not finish putting it all

together, they were left a little bewildered. What would happen

when they were taken, where would they be take to, hence their

question, "Where Lord, where will we be taken to?"

     Jesus was telling them about the RESURRECTION, which they

would be a part of, at His coming again, at the end of the age,

when He would return in glory and with spectacular signs.  He was

"the body" that would attract the "gathering of the eagles" -

as the body is ONE and the eagles are MANY, so it is, that Jesus

is ONE and the saints are MANY. And where the body happens to be

there the eagles do come to it. 

     We can see the whole picture from Matthew 24: 29-31 and from

1 Thes. 4: 13-18 and from Zechariah 14.  Jesus, as the "body" in

this analogy He uses, comes to just above the clouds of this

earth, and at that same time when the 7th trumpet is blown, the

saints who are dead rise in a resurrection, while the saints

living (sleeping in a bed or grinding at the mill) will be instantly 

changed from mortal to immortal (1 Cor.15), and then with the 

help of the angels (Mat.24: 29-31) they will be taken WHERE 

Jesus is, to be gathered together with Him in the clouds, and so 

ever be with Him for ever more, as He descends to the Mount 

of Olives (Zechariah 14) in that very SAME day.

     We must also remember that "analogies" are not always to be

taken to their ultimate literal sense. Because a "body" is a dead

rotting body in this analogy of Jesus' to which the eagles gather

to feed themselves on, Jesus was not saying that He would

be dead and saints coming to eat Him. That was not the point of

the analogy. The main point and only point of it was to teach His

disciples that the place where they would be, when in safety on

the day of His return, would be the place where He Himself would

be. To be WITH HIM on that day was ultimate safety. 

     We shall be with Him on the sea of glass in the clouds (1

Thes. 4: 13-18), and so be with Him for all eternity, as part of

the very literal born sons and daughters of the Father in heaven.

     What a wonderful and breath-taking thought all of that is.

      We need to understand what the world will be like during the last 42 month that Revelation speaks about. There will be persecution on anyone who does not agree and fall in line with the end time Beast Power. Persons converted during this time and during the day of the Lord, will not be part of the established power. They will not be part of the ones driving the Beast activities as the society still moves along in a working world. The saints will be in the background doing the low,  hardly noticed jobs, like tilling the ground, making food stuffs, just the low jobs, hardly noticed. They will let the two witnesses in Jerusalem do all the preaching of the truths of God to the world, and powers of  the nations. They will be on the side line shall we say, and keeping as un-noticed as possible. Some yes will stand up to be counted, boldly face the persecution and even to death. They will not be driving taxis and flying planes, they will not be driving school buses, or doing anything whereby if they disappear in the first resurrection, people will die. God will make sure that this is NOT so, when He comes. FOR NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR GOD!

STICK TO IT PRAYER AND A HUMBLE MIND 

     Jesus told them a parable, to the effect that they should

always keep on praying and not lose heart. He said, "In a certain

city there was a judge who neither feared God nor regarded man;

and there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and

saying, 'Vindicate and revenge me against my adversary.' For a

while he refused; but afterwards he said to himself, 'Though I

neither fear God nor regard the position of any man, yet because

this widow bothers me, I will vindicate her, or she will wear me

out by her continual coming.' "

     Then Jesus gave the meaning, "Hear what the unrighteous judge

says. And will not God vindicate and avenge His elect that cry to

Him day and night? Will He keep delaying for a long time over

them? I tell you He will give them justice and avenge for them.

He will do it speedily."

     Here in this analogy the "judge" is obvious God the Father,

but the Father is not someone who does not fear Himself or

disregard men. This proves that analogies break down in parts and

not everything in the analogy is meant to be taken to prove

something. The main point of the analogy is the main point for us

to comprehend, not the used details. 

     Many evils have come upon God's elect down through the

centuries, from those who determined to be their enemies for one

reason or another. The people of God have cried out to Him for

justice and vengeance to be poured out on their evil enemies.

They have been crying out for a long time now. There is nothing

wrong with this importuning of God's people, to see their enemies

brought to trial so to speak and handed their just reward of

punishment, because of the evil the world and certain groups and

certain individuals have done against them.  We see in symbolic

form the lives of many saints who have been killed for their

faith by evil persons, crying out to God in heaven, to be avenged

(Revelation 6: 9,10).

     God's people are not to give up on this request. It is right

and proper justice that those who have done evil against peaceful

Christian saints, who wanted to do no more than just live their

faith, have their enemies pay for their evil. God has written in

His word that all shall be rewarded according to their works (see

Romans 2: 6-11).

     Jesus went on: "Nevertheless, when the Son of man comes,

will he find THE faith on earth?"

     In the Greek New Testament the definite article "the" is there. 

So Jesus was asking the question as to whether THE faith would 

be found on the earth when He came again. The answer from

the prophecies of the book of Revelation, is a YES, but it would

still be only a relatively small group who will hold THE faith,

the true beliefs and practices of God, when Jesus comes to earth

again.

     Jesus spent a lot of time trying to get the sect of the Pharisees 

to align themselves with the true spirit of godliness, as opposed 

to their false religious attitude. He also told this parable to some 

who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised 

others.

     "Two men went up into the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee,

and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed like

this to himself, 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men,

extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 

I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I get.' But the tax 

collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, 

but smote upon his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me a sinner.' 

I tell you, this man went to his home justified rather than the other; 

for every one who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who 

humbles himself will be exalted" (Luke 18: 1-14).

     When we fully realize and admit to ourselves that despite

all the good things we may well do in this life, we have many

sins we also commit in mind, thoughts, words, and actions, as we

go about our lives, then we will at times not lift our eyes to

heaven, but admit to God we are a sinner. We shall then always be

in a state of mind that we ask for the mercy of God, knowing that

we need it, and knowing as the apostle Paul said in Ephesians 2:

8 that we are saved by grace and not by any of our "good" works.

For, as it is written, when compared to the holy perfectness of

our heavenly Father, all our own works of righteousness are but

filthy rags before Him.

     Being humble, and admitting we are a sinner, is a must in

order for us to be justified and to inherit eternal life (I John

1 through 2: 2).

           ........................................

Written November 2002