THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

12-02-18 This message may be viewed live streaming video at www.tabernacleofmoses.org commencing today Sunday at 11:00 am, and repeated 24/7 for one week; thereafter, the video, audio, and study notes are archived.

The brightness of our revelations depends upon the correctness of our doctrines, our building blocks. God is Thought, Thought is Life. God is Love. God is a Spirit, the eternal Spirit from which all things were created. All S(s)pirits are God’s thoughts. You are a part of His Spirit (Eccl 12:7); you are either an eternal Spirit, or an eternal spirit.

Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I took the one less traveled by,

and that has made all the difference.

                                                                                                    Robert Frost 1874-1963

(Luke 19:11-14)  And as they heard these things, he [Jesus] added and spake a parable [1], because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear. He said therefore, A certain nobleman [Jesus Christ] went into a far country [Heaven] to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return [His second coming]. And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds [Gk: a certain weight] [the Gospel, i.e., eternal salvation, one pound (salvation) each] [2], and said unto them, Occupy [Gk: to busy oneself with [the pounds], trade /// deed: work] till I come. But his citizens [not his ten servants, but all the remaining people] hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign [Gk: rule] over us [i.e., the unbelieving citizens were in rebellion].

1.     parable = Gk: similitude, (symbolically) fictitious narrative (of common life conveying a moral).

2.     (Mat 11:28-30)  Come unto me, all ye that labour [Gk: work hard: toil] and are heavy laden [Gk: loaded up], and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you [i.e., become yoked unto me], and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

a.     yoke = Gk: to join; a coupling, fig. servitude; also the beam of the balance (as connecting the scales): a pair of balances. [e.g., the joining of a pair of horses or oxen for work in the field]

(Luke 19:15)  And it came to pass, that when he was returned [i.e., His second coming] [1], having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money [Gk: silver] [symbolically, the metal of redemption - salvation], that he might know how much every man [“every man” rather than “every servant” = a double meaning] had gained by trading [2].

1.     (Rev 2:26,27)  And he that overcometh [the evil (bad) within himself], and keepeth my [Jesus Christ’s] works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron [i.e., the wooden cross of forgiveness transformed into the iron sword of judgment]; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers [Gk: crushed completely, shattered]: even as I received of my Father [on the cross and after, except that there shall be no healing nor return from the pit].

2.     Commentary: “by trading” = by trading their limited life-span time (attention) for the knowledge and understanding of the Gospel of love and thereby increasing (expanding) the eternal Kingdom of God.

3.     (1 John 4:19)  We love him [God], because he first loved us.

a.      Commentary: 1 John 4:19 is the principal example of our servant-ministry which is to first share the Gospel of love with others, and those who positively respond to our love will love us back. We call that “evangelism.”

(Luke 19:16-19)  Then came the first [servant], saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds. And he said unto him, Well [done], thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful [Gk: trustworthy; trustful: believing, true] in a very little [i.e., sharing the Gospel of love is a very little burden, a “yoke” both “easy” and “light” Mat 11:30], have thou authority [1] over ten cities. And the second [servant] came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds. And he said likewise to him, Be thou also over five cities. [2]

1.     authority = Gk: privilege, force, competency, freedom, mastery, delegated influence: jurisdiction, power, right, strength.

2.     (Mark 16:15)  And he [Jesus Christ] said unto them [His disciples a command], Go ye into all the world [Gk: kosmos; “cosmos”] [Dict. synonym: universe)], and preach the gospel [of love] to every creature [of which man is one sub-category].

(Luke 19:20,21)  And another [servant] came [symbolizing others like Judas Iscariot who “had the bag” (the treasury) and betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver] [1], saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up [Gk: reserved] in a napkin [2] [completely hidden from use or view]: For I feared [(the opposite of faith)] thee, because thou art an austere [Gk: rough: severe] man: thou takest up that thou layedst not down [i.e., you are a thief (psychologically, this was a projection-accusation)], and reapest that thou didst not sow [i.e., you are a thief (psychologically, this was a second projection-accusation) repeated for emphasis].

1.     (Luke 16:13)  No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon [Gk: wealth].

2.     napkin = Gk: a towel (for wiping the perspiration from the face, or binding the face of a corpse).

(Luke 19:22-25)  And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee [according as you have judged me; Old Testament (unsaved) judgment, “An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth” Mat 5:38; John 12:48], thou wicked servant. Thou knewest [Gk: understood] [from your unsaved point-of-view and condemned me] that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow: Wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury [Gk: interest] [an increase]? [Therefore, in either case, you have been and are disobedient (rebellious) to my command, my reign over you just as are the unbelieving citizens] And he said unto them that stood by, Take from him the pound [1], and give it to him that hath ten pounds. (And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds.)

1.     (Mark 4:15-17)  And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard [“and understandeth it not” Mat 13:19], Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word [of God] that was sown in their he arts [“lest they should believe and be saved” Luke 8:12]. And these are they likewise [i.e., like those “by the way side,” unsaved persons] which are sown on stony [hard-hearted] ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness; And have no root [of Jesus Christ: Rev 5:5; 22:16] in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended [Gk: entrapped, tripped up, fig. stumble or enticed to sin] [they “fall away” Luke 8:13].

(Luke 19:26)  For I say unto you, That unto every one which hath [understanding] shall be given [more understanding]; and from him that hath not [understanding], even [the understanding] that he hath shall be taken away [1] from him. [2]

1.     (Luke 19:24  And he said unto them that stood by, Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds.

2.     (Mat 13:23)  But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

(Luke 19:27) But those mine enemies [that choose not to obey me because of their unbelief], which would not that I should reign [Gk: rule, king] over them, bring hither, and slay them [Gk: slaughter /// butcher] [like animals, “they themselves are beasts” Eccl 3:18] before me.

Amen