READING IN LUKE 16
READING IN LUKE 16
The bearing of these chapters is as adjusting the position of Jew and Gentile in relation to the testimony. The unjust steward indicates that the rejection of the Jews is contemplated. While the parable has a moral bearing now, yet the primary view-point is that the testimony had been committed to the Jews, which involved that God was to have a place with them, but it had come about that man had usurped the place.
The steward expresses the idea that the wise and prudent in Israel take the opportunity of providing for the future, while the mass of the nation act foolishly.
The presence of the Lord brought in the thought of eternal life; the nation would be cast out, but He opens up a place in the eternal order of things and the wise take advantage of it. They were wise for the future. Barnabas is an illustration of one who used what he had here with regard to heavenly things. Money cannot help you in eternity, but can be of value while saints are in the body. There would be no money or exchange but for the incoming of sin, but they are necessary things now while we are in the body in view of the present condition of things.
The end of chapter 13 shows the house left desolate, the Jews are not now privileged as a nation. The gospel is not specially presented to them. The Lord had opened to them the eternal system, and He points out their folly in not embracing such an opportunity. The sons of this world were Jews who had the position of being sons of fight, but were not true to it.
The point enforced is in verse 11: “If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?” There is a great privilege opened up to those who [p. 80] have means. God gives gracious opportunity to use them in connection with the testimony; the Lord takes account of what we are doing, and the effect will be seen in the day to come.
Two masters cannot be served, but Israel chose mammon instead of God. The Christian is called to the service of God, mammon cannot be preferred to it. It is significant that the connection between covetousness and idolatry is very intimate, they are really the same. The important thing both for Israel and the assembly is to discern the call to the service of God in its full meaning.
The parable of the rich man and Lazarus emphasizes the eternal end of the man who elects mammon instead of God. It is characteristic of Luke to give the view of what is eternal; Matthew and Mark present more the present aspect of the testimony. In the end of chapter 16 the Jew is shown as the despiser of the grace of God, no matter what the dispensation. The rich man is seen as providentially possessing everything here, but only uses it in the present, while the poor man lay at his gate desiring the crumbs; this refers to the place of the Jew and Gentile. The poor man in Abraham’s bosom showed that the Gentile had secured a better place than the Jew, for whom there was no better place than earth, but Abraham was no longer on earth, so that a place in heaven is indicated.
Lazarus in a way shows a pressing into the kingdom (verse 16); it was a very unwelcome position to be laid at the rich man’s gate. Pressing into the kingdom is a different thought from access to heaven; we are carried into heaven. There was that here which the Lord introduced which has to be forced into in the face of determined opposition; the thought of the kingdom of God is moral, and one has to see the position the Lord occupied here. “The kingdom of God is among you”, but nature is [p. 81] against you and you have to do violence and force the way in. One even has to be born again to see it. The kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God, the kingdom of your Father, the kingdom of the Son, are all different aspects of the same thing, they cover the same period and refer to the same fact from varied standpoints. It is important to note Abraham’s bosom is not the kingdom, but a place of privilege; for us it is the Lord’s bosom. The parable is a Jewish figure, and the thought of angelic agency is brought in, but we are carried by the Lord, He comes for us; so Stephen says, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit”.
We cannot define the sufferings that are here depicted, but we can have some idea of what it is to be under wrath with a guilty conscience constantly smiting. It is a very significant that the rich man does not question the justice of his place. As to verse 31, the Jew has rejected the testimony of the One who rose from the dead.