THE PARABLE OF THE UNFORGIVING
SERVANT
Mat. 18:21-35:
V. 21: Then came Peter
to Him, and said, Lord,
"how often shall
my brother sin against me,
and I forgive
him?" "Till seven times?"
V. 22: Jesus saith unto him,
"I say not unto
thee, Until seven times;
but until seventy
times seven."
Introduction:
If we take the saying of Jesus and this parable literally,
it seems to indicate that a Christian
should forever be forgiving one another.
As born-again Christians,
we should not place any limits, in forgiveness
to others,
for God forgave us without any restrictions,
and for all eternity,
by what Christ did for us by His death
on the Cross,
and by His resurrection from the dead.
Peter's thought that
a disciple of Christ should be generous,
and forgiving anyone 2 or more times was
more than anyone deserved.
Perhaps, 3 or 5 times would be approved
by the Lord,
but 7 times surely would be more than
enough.
Peter asked, "Till
seven times?"
The Lord replied "not
till 7 times but until 70 times 7."
This tells us forgiveness should always
be granted.
But there is a deeper meaning here than
mere numbers.
The Lord did not take this figure out
of the air without any spiritual significance.
Jesus said 70 times 7 which is 490 times;
this is beyond human tolerance.
The offender would
long disappear,
from the presence of the one he offended,
because of guilt, or because he would
think that the offended person,
is angered by the third or fourth trespasses,
and he surely will not forgive again.
In the Old Testament,
every fiftieth year was the year of the Jubilee.
This is the time when all debts are erased,
beginning anew for all.
Specifically, individuals who had incurred
debts,
and had sold themselves as slaves or servants
to others,
were released from their debts, and were
set at liberty.
It gave everyone
a chance to start over, economically and socially.
(lev. 25:17-22).
The number 50 is a
new beginning.
The Day of Pentecost is also a new beginning.
The 50th day after the Lord's resurrection,
He ascended, and the Holy Spirit
came down,
and the Church of Christ was formed.
The basic
number of 50 is 5.
The number 5 is the number that represents
division and separation
(Luk. 12:51-53).
Thus 50, the year of Jubilee is a separation
from the past,
and a new beginning for the debtors,
as the Day of Pentecost marks a new era
for the Christians.
When you became a Christian,
you also had a new beginning,
and the number 5 and 2 is attributed to
you (Parable of the Talents).
You live a separated life (5) and living
a separated life from this world,
you have a testimony (2), thus the 5 and
2.
We, as Christians, can
now forgive again and again,
as the love of God flows in our hearts,
but we cannot erase the offense from our
memory.
Though we forgive, it is difficult to
forget.
Not that we harbor any ill feelings, or
resentment,
but the memory of the incident
remains with us especially if we are offended
deeply.
The number 490 is a multiple of 49.
The number 49 is 1 short of 50.
Forgiveness is to forget or not to remember,
and to restore the friendship ,but being
humans,
though we forgive, we cannot forget,
but remember what others did to us.
The slate is not really clean,
and this is why the Lord mentioned 490
times or the number 49,
one short of a Jubilee or God's way of
a clean slate.
God, in forgiving believers
from their sins says,
"Their sins and
iniquities will I remember no more."
(Heb. 10:17).
The slate is absolutely clean.
If we take it literally,
we easily see that the Lord is speaking
of forgiving others,
no matter how many times they wrong us
or sin against us.
Ordinarily, to forgive the same person
even 3 times,
is considered very generous.
To forgive 70 x 7 or 490 times is beyond
human sanity.
The unbelieving world
would think,
the person who forgives the same person
this many times is not in his right mind.
We would lose patience long before we lose
count,
if someone trespasses against us, even
10 times.
I use the number 10 because this number
denotes the world, the human race,
and because this number is a basic unit
used here and in many other parables.
Like
so many other parables, this parable has a spiritual message,
and it is not only about forgiving one
another, although we should,
but of God forgiving us for our sins.
Christ died for the sins of the world,
and we should not require others
to work for God out of debt but by the
love of Christ which constrains us.
The true message of this parable has a
much deeper meaning.
The one who did not forgive is labeled
wicked
(Mat. 18: 32)
and sent to the tormentor (Mat.
18:34).
This servant is not a Christian.
He represents the
unbelieving religious world,
who is trying to pay God his debts by
works,
and requires others to do likewise,
in being justice and obtaining the clean
slate or eternal life.
This parable, like so
many other parables,
is about salvation and about the unbelievers
and the believers.
This parable's spiritual message is a warning,
to the professing Christian churches,
and other religions,
who preach salvation by grace + works.
They teach God is love, He loves you,
and you will go to heaven if you do good.
They say, you
must obey God and keep the 10 Commandments,
or other set of rules that all religious
sects have,
to gain eternal life.
The religious doctrines put you in debt.
Doing good is to keep the 10 commandments,
support the church with your tithes,
and help others who are your neighbors.
The emphasis is on works.
They think
that they are doing good,
teaching man's doctrines and traditions
to the congregation,
and putting them in debt to God, the church,
and to themselves.
The 10 Commandments was not given for
us to keep for we cannot.
It was to reveal our
sinfulness and our wretchedness.
It was given to point us to Christ who
paid all our debts,
and gives eternal life to all who believes.
It is a gift and we cannot pay for it,
as we do not have anything good in us.
The religious
preachers and priests are paid by the congregation,
and they depend on the tithes they gather
from the congregation.
They say to themselves "I am a preacher
and I am doing God's work.
I am involved with God's work and I deserve
it..
I am doing good and you must be good,
too, if you want to go to heaven.
You must give to God in works,
in helping one another and in giving of
your tithes to God."'
Like the Pharisee in Luk. 18:11-12;
who stood and prayed thus with himself,
"God, I
thank thee that I am not as other men are,
extortioners,
unjust, adulterers,
or even as this
publican. I fast twice in the week;
I give tithes
of all that I possess."
Pride deceives
oneself into thinking he is good.
No matter how much good you are doing,
it will never suffice.
It is all through the love and mercy of
God and we cannot add even one iota to it.
On the Cross Jesus said,
"It
is finished."
Do you know that it is finished or are
you still trying?
If you as a teacher are trying,
then you are teaching others to keep trying
too.
You need not try but believe in your heart,
that Jesus died for your sins and paid
it all.
God is merciful and has compassion for
all,
as He gave His only begotten Son, Jesus,
who died for our forgiveness ,
and was raised again for our justification.
The Unforgiving Servant:
V. 23: "Therefore
is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king,
who would take
account of his servants."
God is the king and
the servants are the people of the whole world.
At the Judgment all must
give an account to God.
V. 24: "And
when he had begun to reckon,
one was brought
unto him, who owed him ten thousand talents."
This servant represents
the unbelievers.
The number 10 is used again in
this parable,
for it is the number of the human race.
It is the total of 4 + 6.
Four is the number of this world system,
it represents one’s way of life or how
one lives,
and six is the number of man, his
soul.
The Talent
is the Greek word TALANTON.
It is the heaviest Hebrew measure of weight.
Here in this parable, as in the Parable
of the Talents,
it represents the Cross of Christ and
it is priceless.
All that we have cannot pay for it.
God will judge and measure all mankind
according to what
they have done with the Cross of Christ.
God gave the Cross of Christ to the world,
and this is the only thing we are responsible
to.
If you believe in it
as the only means of salvation, you shall be saved.
But if you add works, what you must do,
you become accursed,
like in the warning the Apostle Paul gave
to the Galatians;
(Gal. 1:6-9).
v. 6; "I
marvel that ye are so soon removed,
from him that
called you into the grace of Christ,
unto another
gospel:"
v. 7; "Which
is not another; but there be some that trouble you,
and would pervert
the gospel of Christ."
v. 8; "But
though we, or an angel from heaven,
preach any other
gospel unto you,
than that which
we have preached unto you,
let him be accursed."
v. 9; "As
we said before, so say I now again,
if any man preach
any other gospel unto you,
than that ye
have received, let him be accursed."
All mankind are sinners
and must pay the penalty of our sins.
This man owed 10,000 talents which is
equivalent in today's money,
to trillions of dollars. No one
individual has enough to pay this,
except with his soul.
V. 25: "But
forasmuch as he had nothing with which to pay,
his lord commanded
him to be sold, and his wife;
and children
and all that he had, and payment to be made."
The human race is wretched,
and man has nothing within himself to
pay for his own debts,
for his sins. All mankind is trying
to do good,
thinking that what they do will get them
to heaven.
Jesus said;
"For whosoever
will save his soul shall lose it,
and whosoever
will lose his soul for my sake shall save it."
(Luk. 9:24).
"If any
come unto me, and hate not his father,
and mother, and
wife, and children,
and brethren,
and sisters, yea,
and his own soul
(psuche) also,
he cannot be
my disciple."
(Luk. 14:26).
These two verses mean for one to be saved, he must exchange his
soul.
A person's desire that comes from the
soul is exchanged for the Cross,
forsaking his desire for the world.
V. 26: "The
servant, therefore, fell down,
and worshipped
him, saying, Lord,
have patience
with me, and I will pay thee all."
The servant
realized that he has a debt to pay.
A sinner must realize that he must pay
for his sins.
The Lord had compassion on him as God
had compassion for the world,
when He gave His only Begotten Son to
die for the sins of the World.
This message is universal but not accepted
by all.
The
servant did not understand, that God,
had forgiven all his debts through Christ
and there is no obligation.
It is by God's grace through faith.
It is through believing in Christ work
on the Cross that our debts are paid.
He did not ask for mercy but he asked
for the Lord to be patient,
and he would pay it all.
He had nothing to pay with.
He could work all his lifetime,
and not make even a dent in the debt that
he had.
He did not realize the amount was astronomical,
and he could never repay 10,000 talents.
It is not that he was poor by man's standard.
Others owed him money.
He may have been rich but not rich enough.
This
is a picture of a religious man in this world,
who is trying to work his way into heaven.
Although he reads in the Scriptures
that Jesus paid it all, he still feels
he must do something else to go to heaven.
The 10,000
talents represent the Cross of Christ.
What Christ did on the Cross is priceless.
The servant can never pay for it,
though he works every minute of every
hour through eternity.
Though he fell down
and worshipped the Lord, he did not ask for mercy.
He asked the Lord to be patient and he
will pay it all.
Verse 25 says, he has nothing to
pay with.
There is nothing good in us to pay for
our sins.
The irony of this is, if you are
trying to pay God by doing works,
then you are keeping your soul.
God will require your soul at Judgment
"But God said
unto him,
Thou fool, this
night thy soul shall be required of thee:
then whose shall
those things be, which thou hast provided?"
(Luk. 12:20).
If you stop trying to pay back by not working,
and exchanged your soul for the work of
redemption on the Cross,
your debt is paid by Christ.
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