12:41 ¶ Then Peter said
unto him, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all? 42 And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful
and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to
give them their portion of meat in due season? 43 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord
when he cometh shall find so doing. 44
Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he
hath. 45 But and if that servant say in
his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants
and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken; 46 The lord of that servant will come in a day
when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and
will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.
47 And that servant, which knew his
lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his
will, shall be beaten with many stripes. 48 But he that knew not, and did commit things
worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever
much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed
much, of him they will ask the more. 49
I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already
kindled? 50 But I have a baptism to be
baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished! 51 Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on
earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division: 52
For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three
against two, and two against three. 53
The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the
father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother;
the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against
her mother in law.
Peter’s question is met
by a direct answer from Christ regarding the labors of the apostles and even
future ministers of the gospel. Paul referred to the ministers of the gospel as
stewards of the mysteries of God.
1Corinthians 4:1 ¶ Let a
man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the
mysteries of God. 2 Moreover it is
required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.
He moved from covetousness
to being watchful to now a warning to the shepherds of His flock. Disobedience
to this warning is apparent all through Christian history as it was all through
the history of the Jews before Christ. The primary duty of a minister of Christ
is to feed the flock of God with His words, not to lord it over the flock as
some kind of boss man.
1Peter 5:1 ¶ The elders
which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the
sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:
2 Feed the flock of God which is among
you, taking the oversight thereof,
not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
3 Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples
to the flock. 4 And when the chief
Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.
Down through the last
two thousand years abusers among the so-called clergy have run rampant through
the flock of God doing great harm. We hear about Catholic priests today who
abuse the most helpless members of their congregations but we also must consider
the thousands of Baptist pastors and youth ministers who have done the same.
Jesus talks about how the fowls of the
air, used in typology for the Devil himself in Mark, chapter 4, will lodge
in the shadow of the tree and in its branches, the tree that grows unnaturally
large as the kingdom of God and Heaven in Luke 13:19 and Mark 4:32.
Jesus also warns that
there are counterfeits among the brethren in Matthew 13:24 regarding the wheat
and the tares. In the Old Testament God has an accusation about the false
teachers in Israel. Understand that Biblically defined, with and uniting synonyms in most contexts, a
pastor is a teacher as per Ephesians 4:11 and prophets are preachers and
teachers as per Nehemiah 6:7 and 2Peter 2:1.
Jeremiah 23:1 ¶ Woe be unto
the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD.
2 Therefore thus saith the LORD God of
Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and
driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the
evil of your doings, saith the LORD. 3
And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I
have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be
fruitful and increase. 4 And I will set
up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor
be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the LORD. 5 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I
will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper,
and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. 6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel
shall dwell safely: and this is
his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. 7 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the
LORD, that they shall no more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up the
children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; 8
But, The LORD liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the
house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had
driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.
9 ¶ Mine heart within me is broken because of the
prophets; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine
hath overcome, because of the LORD, and because of the words of his holiness.
10 For the land is full of adulterers;
for because of swearing the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness
are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not right. 11 For both
prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness,
saith the LORD. 12 Wherefore their way
shall be unto them as slippery ways
in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring
evil upon them, even the year
of their visitation, saith the LORD. 13
And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied in
Baal, and caused my people Israel to err. 14
I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they
commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers,
that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as
Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah. 15 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts
concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them
drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone
forth into all the land. 16 Thus saith
the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy
unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the
LORD. 17 They say still
unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they
say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil
shall come upon you. 18 For who hath
stood in the counsel of the LORD, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath
marked his word, and heard it?
19 Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is
gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon
the head of the wicked. 20 The anger of
the LORD shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed
the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly.
21 I have not sent these prophets, yet
they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. 22 But if they had stood in my counsel, and had
caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their
evil way, and from the evil of their doings. 23
Am I a God at hand,
saith the LORD, and not a God afar off? 24
Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith
the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD. 25 I have heard what the prophets said, that
prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. 26 How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets
of the deceit of their own heart; 27 Which think to cause my people to forget my
name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their
fathers have forgotten my name for Baal. 28
The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my
word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD. 29 Is
not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?
30 Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the
LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbour. 31 Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their tongues,
and say, He saith. 32 Behold, I am against them that prophesy false
dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their
lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them:
therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the LORD.
33 ¶ And when this people, or the prophet, or a
priest, shall ask thee, saying, What is
the burden of the LORD? thou shalt then say unto them, What burden? I will even
forsake you, saith the LORD. 34 And as for the prophet, and the priest,
and the people, that shall say, The burden of the LORD, I will even punish that
man and his house. 35 Thus shall ye say
every one to his neighbour, and every one to his brother, What hath the LORD
answered? and, What hath the LORD spoken? 36
And the burden of the LORD shall ye mention no more: for every man’s
word shall be his burden; for ye have perverted the words of the living God, of
the LORD of hosts our God. 37 Thus shalt
thou say to the prophet, What hath the LORD answered thee? and, What hath the
LORD spoken? 38 But since ye say, The
burden of the LORD; therefore thus saith the LORD; Because ye say this word,
The burden of the LORD, and I have sent unto you, saying, Ye shall not say, The
burden of the LORD; 39 Therefore,
behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you, and I will forsake you, and the
city that I gave you and your fathers, and
cast you out of my presence: 40
And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual
shame, which shall not be forgotten.
Peter devotes what has
come down to us as a chapter to the damage wrought by Christian false teachers
in 2Peter 2.
2Peter 2:1 ¶ But there were
false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers
among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord
that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways;
by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
3 ¶ And through covetousness shall they with
feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time
lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. 4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned,
but cast them down to hell, and
delivered them into chains of
darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; 5
And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness,
bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha
into ashes condemned them with
an overthrow, making them an
ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;
7 ¶ And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy
conversation of the wicked: 8 (For that
righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day
with their unlawful deeds;)
9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the
godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to
be punished:
10 ¶ But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in
the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not
afraid to speak evil of dignities. 11
Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing
accusation against them before the Lord. 12
But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed,
speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in
their own corruption; 13 And shall
receive the reward of unrighteousness, as
they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting
themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you; 14 Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot
cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with
covetous practices; cursed children: 15
Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the
way of Balaam the son of Bosor,
who loved the wages of unrighteousness; 16
But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man’s voice
forbad the madness of the prophet. 17
These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest;
to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever. 18 For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through
the lusts of the flesh, through much
wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. 19 While they promise them liberty, they
themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of
the same is he brought in bondage. 20
For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the
knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled
therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
21 For it had been better for them not
to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment
delivered unto them. 22 But it is
happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and
the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
Here, in this lesson
Jesus is giving it is worse for you to know the truth and to act on it unwisely
and disobey than it is for you to not know the truth at all. Perhaps that can
be one meaning of Paul’s statement in Romans.
Romans 1:18 For the wrath
of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of
men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; 19 ¶ Because that which may be known of God is
manifest in them; for God hath shewed it
unto them.
The truth that Jesus
reveals will not produce unity in the world but cause divisions down to the
very household and family of believers and those who reject Him. There can be
no middle ground with Christ. You either trust Him or you don’t. This fire is
already kindled by the work of the dividers and the false teachers and elders
who plague the cause of Christ as evidenced by the multitude of Protestant
denominations and the three great branches of Christianity that are polluted by
leaven, a type of hypocrisy and false doctrine in Matthew 16:12 and here in
Luke 12:1.
Matthew 13:33 Another
parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was
leavened.
Luke 13:20 And again he
said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God? 21 It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was
leavened.
[The woman of this
parable may be a reference to Ashtaroth, the fertility goddess of the
Canaanites of the Old Testament, who is basically the same as Ishtar, the
goddess of liberty and prostitutes of the Babylonians whose statue sits in New
York Harbor as Lady Liberty, and various feminine incarnations of Satan around
the world including the Japanese Amateratsu, the Roman Diana, or the Greek
Artemis among others. It should not be hard to think of Satan as both masculine
and feminine as some of the gods of the ancient world were portrayed as both
male and female.For instance, the Egyptian god, Atum, was also called the great
he-she.]
It appears that what
Jesus is saying here is that His servants must be expectantly awaiting His
return at any time and going about the business He has given them of expressing
the fruit of the Spirit in the world, loving God and their fellow mankind,
particularly the brethren, not abusing or mistreating those who God has placed
in their care and, most importantly, feeding the flock of God. Those who know
the most have the most expected out of them and will suffer loss in that degree
based on their unfaithfulness.
James 3:1 ¶ My brethren, be
not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.
As was mentioned
earlier in the parable of the mustard seed that grows unnaturally into a great
tree, in the Christian church there are many fake tares, false wheat, and these
counterfeits are hiding among its branches and in its shadow.
2Corinthians 11:13 For such
are false apostles, deceitful
workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. 14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is
transformed into an angel of light. 15
Therefore it is no great
thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness;
whose end shall be according to their works.
They will find their
place in the lake of unquenchable fire when a reckoning is made, with the
ignorant unbelievers, though their punishment will be greater.
Matthew 13:40 As therefore
the tares are gathered and
burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.
Verse 50 appears to be likening
the coming crucifixion to a baptism for the man who is also God (see Matthew 20:22.) He is focused
on it and it is His mission and His purpose. He must be killed by man, paying
the price for man’s sins against Himself as God, and then rise from the dead
after 3 days.
Straitened is a synonym
of being narrowed or focused, restricted by something, either a thing, person,
or circumstance. See the definition of strait
in the following in the context.
Matthew 7:14 Because strait
is the gate, and narrow
is the way, which leadeth unto
life, and few there be that find it.
The gate and the way are strait and narrow. I hope you can see one way the
Bible defines itself here.
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