Introduction
This is the word of the Lord
Matthew 24:45–25:13 ESV
45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time?
46 Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.
47 Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions.
48 But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’
49 and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards,
50 the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know
51 and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
1 “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.
2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.
3 For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them,
4 but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.
5 As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept.
6 But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’
7 Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps.
8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’
9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’
10 And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut.
11 Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’
12 But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’
13 Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
Let us pray.
At the beginning of Matthew 24, Jesus prophesied the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, which was to be the end of the Judaic age, a definitive mark of the end of the Old Covenant and the beginning of the New.
The disciples eager to know when these things would take place, asks him, and he begins to tell them in what has famously come to be known as the Olivet Discourse.
There on the Mount of Olives, Jesus gives them signs and prophesies, things that would mark the coming of the end of the age.
And we have been studying these passages carefully over the past several weeks. These are passages of great controversy and debate among theologians, and we must not be surprised if it causes a certain degree of controversy and debate among ourselves. This is good because it matters what you do in the face of that controversy.
To make matters worse, the pastoral team of this church is almost entirely holding to the least popular view of the end times.
However, this unpopular belief is what Iain Murray called ‘the puritan hope’.
Of the Puritans, J.I Packer wrote, “The Puritans exemplify mature spirituality better than any other body of Christian believers I have yet read.”
R.C Sproul said, “I think the greatest evangelical, orthodox body of work produced in the history of the Church comes from the pens of the Puritans.”
This then is the Puritan Hope, that the events of AD 70 (the destruction of the Jerusalem temple) marked the decisive end of the Old Covenant, which accompanied the events of the Great Tribulation.
These events also marked the complete transition into the New Covenant in Christ Jesus who rules from the right hand of God in this millennial age.
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him, and he has bound Satan. The Father is subduing all his enemies under his feet and we are the messengers who through the preaching of the Gospel bring all things under submission to Christ, the last enemy to be defeated being death.
In this period, the Gospel will flourish and Habakkuk 2:14
Habakkuk 2:14 NASB95
“For the earth will be filled
With the knowledge of the glory of the Lord,
As the waters cover the sea.
At his second coming at the end of this millennial age, Christ will defeat death and judge the wicked and the dead. All shall be raised, those appointed to eternal life shall enter into his rest, and those appointed to eternal torment shall be cast into the flames of hell.
Now, as Jesus unravels these prophesies, he begins to speak in parables and we know that he does this to obscure certain things from the unbelieving Jews. Matthew 13:13
Matthew 13:13 NASB95
“Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
Consequently, speaking in parables would have heightened the hermeneutic senses of the disciples who knew to look for more than mere fables.
Among the four parables given, we are going to look at the second and third.
Exegesis
The first of these parables was about the tender fig tree. Matthew 24:32-33
Matthew 24:32–33 ESV
32 “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near.
33 So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates.
Now, the constant rhetoric of this discourse has been about the nearness of the desolation, and so when Jesus begins to use a parabolic language, it cannot be merely the same emphasis. Anyone listening to this would make these obvious connections.
The use of parables was to obscure and to reveal. Therefore, here we know that by invoking the fig tree, Jesus is alluding to the covenant because his covenant people Israel have often been likened to a fig tree.
If the cursing of the fig tree earlier in Matthew 21 was a sign of the curse upon Israel, the promise and fruit of this fig tree was a sign of the blessings upon the new Israel, the church.
But now we come to this second parable about the wicked slave.
Matthew 24:45 NASB95
“Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time?
Here again, we have a seemingly obvious parable. The master leaves his servant in charge of his household and the faithful servant is marked by his readiness, fulfilling his duties at the arrival of his master.
This is essentially what Jesus has been repeatedly saying, that his people were to be ready for that season.
I see no need of a parable if Jesus was merely iterating the same point through the use of these fables. There is more to this than it appears on the surface.
• in charge of his household to give them their food
The primary duty that is highlighted here is of the servant’s charge to serve food at the proper time.
There are certain allusions here are not difficult to arrive at considering the context of the Jews in Jesus’ time.
a. One, is the literal meaning of the text where the servant was to feed the household their daily provision.
b. Second, we know that feeding also symbolises spiritual food. John 6:35 “35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”
John 6:35 ESV
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
In the case of the Pharisees and Scribes (these self appointed leaders of Israel), they burdened the people. Matthew 23:1-4
Matthew 23:1–4 ESV
1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples,
2 “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat,
3 so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice.
4 They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.
c. But a third allusion that is being made here requires an understanding on our part of how biblical covenants work.
Remember that the destruction of the temple is at the centre of this entire discourse.
Servants charged with feeding the household at the proper time has a very covenantal ring to it as this was also the charge of the priests to give the food out from the Lord’s table at the Passover, Booths, and all Peace Offerings, at the proper time.
The responsibilities of priests in distributing food during significant covenantal feasts like Passover, the Feast of Booths, and peace offerings underscore the importance of proper timing and faithfulness in their duties.
These Old Testament practices highlight the covenantal relationship between God and His people, where timely provision of both physical and spiritual nourishment was essential.
This context enriches the understanding of Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 24:45-50, where the faithful and wise servant is similarly charged with providing for the household at the proper time, reflecting covenantal faithfulness and stewardship.
An Understanding of Reformed Theology
A central rule of biblical interpretation is to have a firm grip on the context of the original recipients of this message. The primary question is not what Jesus meant when he said this and that for the 21st Century Christian, rather it is about what he meant for the 1st Century Jew. Romans 1:16
Romans 1:16 ESV
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Romans 2:9–10 ESV
9 There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek,
10 but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek.
And one of the biggest gaps between modern evangelicalism at large and the Judaic age of 2000 years ago is a covenantal way of thinking.
This brings me back to something I hinted at in one of my previous sermons. What is Reformed Theology? What do we mean when we say that we are a Reformed Church?
• Dispensationalism & Covenant Theology
• What is a Covenant?
Genesis 15 ESV
1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.”
2 But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”
3 And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.”
4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.”
5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
7 And he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”
8 But he said, “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?”
9 He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”
10 And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half.
11 And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
12 As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him.
13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years.
14 But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.
15 As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age.
16 And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.
18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,
19 the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,
20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,
21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”
• Covenant of works – Covenant of grace
With these and more, God covenanted with His people throughout the OT. But we must ask the question, why? If Adam broke the covenant of God, then God by virtue of being just and righteous ought to carry out the due penalty on the covenant breaker. And since Adam was our federal head, we all deserve death.
So then, why is God relenting and continuing to make other covenants with His people? Are they random bursts of emotion from God, or are they intentional and ordained promises revealed at the right time?
In the Noahic covenant, God makes a promise of restraint. A grace so undeserving for a sinful people.
In the Abrahamic covenant, God makes a promise of redemption. An unfathomable grace to a people so undeserving.
In the Mosaic covenant, God makes a promise of reformation or sanctification. Such grace to the unlawful people.
In the Davidic covenant, God makes a promise of restoration – a steadfast love and an everlasting kingdom, established forever. A grace so hopeful to an undeserving people.
These covenants were not successive dispensations. One did not replace the other. They were all covenants made across the span of human history, and they were held together.
Therefore, the destruction of the temple and the siege of Jerusalem all have significant covenantal implications, and the undertones and allusions that Jesus makes throughout the Olivet discourse would have struck clearly in the minds of his Jewish disciples as a covenantal transition.
Matthew 24:46–47 ESV
46 Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.
47 Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions.
• Blessed
This covenantal transition is the reason why a message of blessing is running in parallel to a message of desolation. When one is winding down the other is coming to fulfilment.
Hebrews 8:6–13 ESV
6 But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.
7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.
8 For he finds fault with them when he says: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,
9 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.
10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
11 And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.
12 For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”
13 In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
• Truly, I say to you
Jesus is drawing their attention to a promise here.
• Over all his possessions
There is a reward amidst this desolation. The Pharisees and Scribes were the wicked servants who beat their fellow slaves and did not care for the return of the Master. But the church would inherit all his possessions.
Matthew 24:48–49 ESV
48 But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’
49 and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards,
• Delayed
The delay here is subjective. It is what the wicked servant perceives. The Master spoke of his return but it took longer than he expected.
• beat fellow servants and drink with drunkards
This is a picture of covenant unfaithfulness. The servant breaks his charge and abuses his authority. Deut 21:18-21
Deuteronomy 21:18–21 ESV
18 “If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they discipline him, will not listen to them,
19 then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives,
20 and they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’
21 Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear, and fear.
Again, the Jews know this language and what it implies. They are all speaking of covenantal unfaithfulness.
Matthew 24:50–51 LSB
50 the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know,
51 and will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
• does not expect, does not know
Staying with his theme of not knowing that day or hour, Jesus speaks of the Master’s return at an unexpected time. The wicked servant’s subjective insticts failed him entirely. Initially he expected the Master to come sooner and he was wrong, and then he expected his Master to come later and he was wrong.
• cut him in pieces
The word here διχοτομέω (dee-khot-om-eh’-o) is the word from which we get the word dichotomy (which is a division or contrast between two things that are or are represented as being opposed or entirely different).
The word literally means to be cut in two. Now, when translators phrase it as ‘cut in pieces’ or ‘cut asunder’ they are intending to emphasis the decisive judgment upon the wicked slave and hypocrites.
But what they fail to see is that the word would have invoked in the covenantal minds of the Jews a different picture than just judgment. This was the cut that ended the covenant.
• put him with the hypocrites
Such a servant, even if he were of the 1st century church, would be in the same league as the hypocrites (the Pharisees and Scribes). This again is the word for an actor who wears a mask.
Therefore, it speaks of two faces, being double-minded and the punishment of the hypocrite was to be cut in half.
Now, this should immediately also raise your attention to the previous passage we looked at last week that mentioned of two in the field and two in the mill, where in each case one was taken away and one left behind.
And it should also invoke in your mind the state of the animals that were cut in half by Abraham in Genesis 15. This was to be the covenant conclusion.
Now, if that much of covenantal symbolism was not enough, remember that the Jews held to Abraham as their father.
John 8:39–40 ESV
39 They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did,
40 but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did.
Matthew 3:9 ESV
9 And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.
Luke 16:23–25 ESV
23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.
24 And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’
25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish.
Jesus even said, John 8:58
John 8:58 ESV
58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”
In Genesis 15, when God makes the covenant with Abraham, the curse that is symbolised there in the breaking of a covenant involved being cut in half but also of
Genesis 15:11
Genesis 15:11 ESV
11 And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
This was a repeated theme.
Deuteronomy 28:49 ESV
49 The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, swooping down like the eagle, a nation whose language you do not understand,
Jeremiah 4:13 ESV
13 Behold, he comes up like clouds; his chariots like the whirlwind; his horses are swifter than eagles— woe to us, for we are ruined!
Lamentations 4:19 ESV
19 Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles in the heavens; they chased us on the mountains; they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.
Hosea 8:1 LSB
1 Put the trumpet to your mouth! Like an eagle the enemy comes against the house of Yahweh Because they have trespassed against My covenant And transgressed against My law.
Habakkuk 1:8 ESV
8 Their horses are swifter than leopards, more fierce than the evening wolves; their horsemen press proudly on. Their horsemen come from afar; they fly like an eagle swift to devour.
And then we read in the desolation prophesied by Jesus against Jerusalem, Matthew 24:28
Matthew 24:28 CCEPONTVIVI:BT
28 For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
When these birds of prey came down upon the carcasses in Genesis 15, their father Abraham drove them away, but he will not drive them away in the final desolation of Jerusalem. In other words, they would be abandoned by Abraham. They would not be taken to Abraham’s bosom in death, but would be carried by the birds to torment in hell. Luke 16:22-23
Luke 16:22–23 ESV
22 The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried,
23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.
• in that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth
Eternal torment is the inheritance of these covenant breakers.
Conclusion
Brothers and sisters, postmillennialism is a Reformed Eschatology. It comes from a reformed or covenantal understanding of Scripture, and its heritage is rich. At the very least, I invite you to ponder on them carefully.
———————
Having preached ten odd sermons now on the subject of eschatology, and having heard from some of you in this church, and having repeatedly reviewed the differences in these positions, I must admit that Postmillennialism is indeed difficult to believe.
Even I gave it no thought for a very long time. How can I expect it to be any different for many of you?
But I’d learnt long before that a thing is not false just because it is difficult to believe.
Believing in the Creator God is difficult for the atheist because that belief would mean that he has to relinquish his control as Master over his own life.
Believing that Jesus is the only way to eternal life is difficult for the unbelieving carnal heart because it must first deny the world it passionately desires in order to have Christ.
And these are not difficulties that unbelievers face, for even within the church these struggles are real.
Believing that a man is head over his house and his wife his true companion and help is difficult to believe because it restricts both man and woman to their specific functional roles within marriage.
Believing that God predestines believers to salvation, that those who are not the elect of God will not be saved is difficult to believe because it compromises the man’s freedom to choose.
Though all these be difficult, God does exist, Christ is the only way, the husband is to lead and the wife to submit, & without the kindness of God’s predestining will no one shall choose him over the world.
What makes postmillennialism difficult to believe?
• Exegetical Vacancy?
Is it difficult to believe because one has to do exegetical origami to make the text fit?
No, this is not the case. It isn’t exegetical vacancy but unfamiliar exegesis.
Keep in mind, brothers and sisters, that the great and faithful Christian heritage in the bygone Puritan era, known pre-eminently for their exegetical fidelity held to this unfamiliar belief.
No one, I hope, would accuse the likes of R.C Sproul and Jonathan Edwards for twisting scripture, for exegetical unfaithfulness.
A faithful student of biblical hermeneutics will recognise the difference between disagreeable hermeneutic applications and twisting of scripture. The former is the activity of theologians and the latter the activity of Satan.
Therefore, the conclusion of exegetical vacancy is premature and is not the difficulty that keeps one from postmillennialism.
Rather, it is the distaste of unfamiliarity or the stubbornness that raises acquired biblical hermeneutics above Scripture.
As I’ve mentioned before, I find the postmillennial interpretation of the last things to be the most literal, historical, and grammatical interpretation of the text.
• Lack of evidence?
As I’ve outlined in several sermons on the days of vengeance that the historical accounts more than suffice to justify that the Great Tribulation refers to events of the destruction of the Jerusalem temple in AD 70.
The problem in such cases is never the lack of evidence, but the lack of clarity on how much evidence is enough evidence.
If I say that the Great Tribulation is an event of the past, you would ask me for historical proof. If I then give the historical proof, you would say that I trust history more than scripture.
I believe that it is difficult to believe in postmillennialism not because of a lack of evidence but because of a lack of the kind of evidence we want to have.
Which brings me to my next point.
• Unfulfilled prophecies? Not meeting biblical expectations?
A question I get asked often is how this could possibly be the millennial age of the rule of Christ when we see such rampant wickedness and death and wars spread out across this age since AD 70?
Beloved, according to the Pharisees and Scribes (people of the book), Christ did not meet the biblical expectations of the Messiah. Yet, the issue had nothing to do with biblical expectations but rather their own expectations of the Messiah.
In much the same way, we must not be surprised at the revelation that we might have got it wrong all along regarding the end times.
I believe that it is difficult to believe in postmillennialism not because it leaves prophecies unfulfilled but because it leaves our expectations of those prophecies unfulfilled.
And as I mentioned before, I have no intention of rushing any one of you to come to conclusions on this issue since it took me a long time to decide. However, I do expect you to pay the utmost attention to these matters because they are important, to teach you, to shape you and to transform your character into the likeness of Christ.
I commend to you this thought. Of all the sermon series we’ve done, this one has caused the most reactions and has created no small stir among us. How is it that a tertiary doctrine (where we confess gladly to agree to disagree) cause such a stir? Could it be that it is not as tertiary as we expected it to be? Could it be that we are more keen to disagree to agree than we are to agree to disagree?
And I have been asked if it would be wise to shorten the series or maybe draw out a more neutral stance in my sermons. I understand those concerns but my dear friends, I have never preached to please you. As weak and frail as I am (and those of you who know me well, know this of me), I have always striven to the best of my ability to exhaust the text before me faithfully.
Therefore, I believe that to change in this regard for the peace and unity of the church is to in the name of a false pretence of peace and unity, compromise the centrality of expositional preaching which fosters true peace and unity. To change that would be to abandon the very blessing that has brought us thus far as a church.
I preach to please the Lord alone, that by his grace and mercy, he would use those words to convict of hearts of his people.
Unlearning something can be very difficult and postmillennialism threatens to dismantle certain pillars of our worldview assumptions that it can be scary. The strangeness of it all, the unfamiliarity of this view in light of the widespread popularity of the premillennial view, are strong factors that contribute to the difficulty in believing in postmillennialism.
But this strangeness that you feel, would not have been felt by the Jews in Jesus’ time. Because they knew their covenants.
