A MAN TRAVELLING INTO A FAR COUNTRY… UNTO ONE HE GAVE FIVE TALENTS

In understanding this parable we do well to consider ‘the end from the beginning’, Isa. 46. 10. The concluding judgement scene determines the interpretation. This cannot represent the Judgement Seat of Christ as no one will be expelled from there ‘into outer darkness’. Neither can it be the Judgement of the Great White Throne as there will be no reward there. What we have here again is that judgement which will be executed when the Lord returns to the earth to reign. That said, principles brought out here are applicable across dispensations.

What tremendous privilege the absent Lord bestows upon His servants in handling ‘his goods’. Ours is the honour of hav­ing ‘this treasure in earthen vessels’, 2 Cor. 4. 7. Yet, in equal measure comes responsibility. The Lord will hold accountable those who represent His affairs.

It is consistently true of our God that He looks for increase, growth, development and progression. Not to promote the expansion of God’s interests is not simply ‘slothful’ but ‘wicked’. We can become so preoccupied with maintaining that which we have that we fail to prospect for enlargement.

Perhaps the reluctance of the servant to invest his deposit was due to its smallness. There is no greater folly than to pre­sume that little cannot be made much in the things of the Lord. Consider the import of Andrew’s words in John chapter 6 verse 9.

The words of the wicked servant solemnly echo Adam’s defence in Eden, compare verse 25 with Genesis chapter 3 verse 10. It was never God’s intention that men should react to Him in such a way. This trepidation comes from a consciousness of sin and an awareness of how offensive that is to God.

The dealings of the Lord in assessing service are undeni­ably fair. The wicked and the faithful servants will alike receive their due; ‘a just’ and a ‘great recompence of reward’, Heb. 2. 2; 10. 35. For the good servants, surely it will be suffi­cient reward to receive the Lord’s acclaim, ‘Well done, thou good and faithful servant’.