The Warnings of the New Testament by Anastasios Kioulachoglou #3

The Warnings of the New Testament #3

The message of many frequently 

avoided New Testament passages.

by Anastasios Kioulachoglou

3

A STRAIGHT LOOK AT SOME OF THE “HARD SAYINGS”

OF JESUS

It is amazing, but in many western churches we hear so

little of what the Lord Himself taught and especially of what

many have branded as “hard sayings”. However, these sayings

are hard only if we try to explain them wearing the glasses of a

doctrine that wants salvation to be the result not of a continuing,

living faith but of a static, once upon a time faith, that is also

allowed to be unfruitful. Then yes, these sayings are very hard to

understand. If however we remove these glasses then the sayings

of the Lord become very clear and obvious.

Before we move further into what the Lord said, I need to

say that some have discounted the Lord’s sayings under the

theory that they do not refer to us, but to Jews living under the

law. Thus they classify His sayings to a par little above the Old

Testament, and in any case not at all as relevant to us as the

epistles, creating like this an artificial antithesis between what the

Lord said and what His very disciples said. But as we will see in

this study there is no such antithesis. What the Lord said and

what His apostles taught are in absolute harmony with each other.

Nevertheless and for those familiar with this view, in the second

appendix of this study I look at it in more detail, demonstrating

why I believe it is false. But let’s go on to what the Lord said. 

3.1. THE PARABLE OF THE UNFAITHFUL SERVANT.

Starting from Matthew 24, the Lord stresses the point of

alertness and that we should be awake, waiting for Him to come.

Then He further supports His point with three parables, given one

after the other, thus showing the great importance He puts on the

matter. The first one given is the parable of the unfaithful servant.

Let’s read it: 

Matthew 24:42-51

“Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your

Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had

known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would

have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken

into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is

coming at an hour you do not expect. "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? Blessed is that servant

whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to

you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that wicked

servant says to himself, 'My master is delayed,' and begins to beat

his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the

master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect

him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces

and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be

weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

To whom did Jesus say this parable? Just before He started

with it He said to His disciples: “Therefore you also must be ready,

for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect”

(Matthew 24:44). Who is this “you”? His disciples (see also

Matthew 24:4). These are the ones instructed to be ready. These,

and not some unbelievers or Pharisees, were His audience here.

And then He goes on to describe what is going to happen to the

one that will not be found ready. To the one who at certain time

said to himself “my master is delayed”. I do not think that this

servant said this from the first day. To say to himself “my Lord is 

delayed” starting then behaving the way described in the passage

means that some time had first passed in which this servant did

not behave this way. But then he said to himself “my master is

delayed” and began “to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink

with drunkards”. He started in other words living like he had no

Lord anymore. What happened then, or better what will happen

when the Lord comes back? Here is the answer:

“the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not

expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in

pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be

weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Wow! Cut him into pieces, because he did not end up well,

though he most probably started well? That’s exactly what the

Lord says. Basically what He tells us is: pay attention, be alerted

and make sure you are found faithful when I come. If we are

found faithful we will be blessed and great would be our reward.

But those who on the way will say to themselves “my Lord is

delayed”, starting living like the hypocrites, will, according to the

above passage, also share the end of the hypocrites. And the Lord

does not stop here. He further stretches His point - with 2

additional parables and another unparabolical passage, all one

after the other. So let’s move to the immediately next parable: the

parable of the ten virgins. 

3.2. THE PARABLE OF THE TEN VIRGINS

This we find in Matthew 25:1-13. There we read:

"Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took

their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were

foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps,

they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with

their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became 

drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, 'Here is the

bridegroom! Come out to meet him.' Then all those virgins rose

and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, 'Give

us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' 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.' 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.

Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, 'Lord, lord, open to

us. But he answered, 'Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.' Watch

therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”

Concerning the lamps of the parable, Barnes says in his

commentary: 

“The “lamps” used on the marriage occasion were rather “torches”

or “flambeaux.” They were made by winding rags around pieces

of iron or earthenware, sometimes hollowed so as to contain oil, and

fastened to handles of wood. These torches were dipped in oil, and

gave a large light.” (emphasis added)

If he is right, this means that all ten girls initially had oil

for their lamps. In any case, it is clear from the text that all ten were,

in the beginning, waiting for the Lord, waiting to meet the bridegroom.

But the five foolish ones did not take (additional) oil with them.

Perhaps they expected that the Lord would come immediately

and so they would not need it or they simply did not care. The

five wise ones however, recognizing that they “know neither the

time nor the hour” of the Lord’s coming did not by any means

want their lamps to go out. So they made the necessary provisions.

The Lord finally came at midnight, when nobody expected Him.

But the five foolish did not have oil. Their lamps were going out.

When the Lord came they were not ready and they were not

present at the marriage feast. When they came to the door, they

found it closed and the Lord, instead of opening to them and

welcoming them in, even though they were late, said to them:

“Truly I say to you, I do not know you”.

That the Lord said this parable to warn us, is obvious from

the last verse of the passage where we read:

“Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour”. 

Again, this “you” is not some general audience or some

Pharisees, but His very apostles and disciples (see the beginning

of the teaching in Matthew 24:4). In other words what the Lord is

telling us, His disciples, is: therefore, because you see what

happened to the five unprepared ones, watch, be alerted. If this

was not relevant to us, if we would enter into the Kingdom

regardless of whether we are of those who believed but fell

eventually away or of those who run the race to the end, abiding

in the vine, then there would be no reason for the Lord to tell us

this “Watch therefore”. There would be in fact no reason to give

us this parable. But the Lord, right at the end of His ministry (we

are here two days before crucifixion) and speaking not to some

general public but to His very own apostles and disciples, choose

to give this warning. This in turn means that the danger of being

found without oil, of being found no longer abiding in Him is real

and real are also the consequences. People who are found in such

a shape, will not hear the welcoming voice of the Master but

rather what he said to the five virgins that had run out of oil:

“Truly I say to you, I do not know you”. 

3.3. THE PARABLE OF THE TALENTS

The parable of the ten virgins is immediately followed by

another parable with the same subject: that we ought to be

watchful, serving the Lord and be focused on Him. The matter is

very important, critical, and the whole of Matthew 25 is devoted

to it. The second parable in this chapter and the third in the row is

the parable of the talents. Let’s read it, starting from the

conclusion of the parable of the ten virgins

Matthew 25:13-15

“Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. "For

it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants

and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to

another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then

he went away.”

The word “for” that I have emphasized in bold, clearly

links the parable of the talents to the parable of the ten virgins and

especially to the conclusion of it i.e. that we should be watchful,

because we know neither the day nor the hour of the Lord’s

coming. Then the Lord goes on to tell us that different talents were

given to the different servants and the criterion was their ability.

What we can say from this is that ALL the servants of the Lord, all

those who have made Him Lord, have received gifts from Him,

talents to be used for His purposes. They are His talents and they

were given for His purposes. We can also see that not everyone

received the same. One received five, one received two and one

received one talent. The determining factor of how much each one

received was, according to the passage, his ability, his capacity to

increase what he received. Let’s see now what the servants did

with what they received:

Matthew 25:16-18

“He who had received the five talents went at once and traded

with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the

two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the

one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money.”

The first and the second servant did what was expected of

them: they went out and increased what was given to them,

making it in fact double. But the third servant went on and hid

what was given to him. Pay attention here: he did not consume it.

He did not lose it. Instead he did nothing with it. He was in other

words, fruitless for his master. Let’s now see the reaction of the

Lord:

Matthew 25:19-30

“Now after a long time the master of those servants came and

settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five

talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, 'Master,

you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents

more.' His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful

servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over

much. Enter into the joy of your master.' And he also who had the

two talents came forward, saying, 'Master, you delivered to me

two talents; here I have made two talents more.' His master said to

him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful

over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your

master.' He also who had received the one talent came forward,

saying, 'Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you

did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was

afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you

have what is yours.' But his master answered him, 'You wicked

and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown

and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have

invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should

have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent

from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to

everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an

abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will

be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer

darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of

teeth.'”

The first and second servant got their reward for the

multiplication of what the Lord had given to them. But the third

servant? The Lord calls him a slothful, lazy servant. This servant

did nothing. He did not harm but he did not do any good either.

He was completely useless. What was finally the end of this

fruitless servant? The last verse of the parable tells us: 

“cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place

there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth”

I was watching a children’s cartoon recently and its subject

was this very parable. Once the film came to the last servant and

his fate, they changed what the Lord said and instead of what we

just read, they showed the two other servants giving from what

they had earned to the slothful servant, so that at the end

“everybody was happy”. It is obvious that some feel

uncomfortable with some of the things the Lord said. So they

change it. Let us not follow them. In contrast let us take these

passages at heart and answer to the call of alertness they are

offering. 

Doing – with whatever mistakes and failures - the will of

God, bearing fruit for the Lord, is not optional, something that a

Christian could opt to do, if he would like to, but if he does not do

it, never mind: he may only miss some rewards but still make it

into the Kingdom, because of that confession of faith he made

once upon a time. It is not really like this. Instead, striving, with

whatever failures and shortcomings, to do the will of God, doing

and not just hearing the Word of God is what the Word asks us to

do. As James tells us:

James 1:22-25

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a

man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he

looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was

like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty,

and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts,

he will be blessed in his doing. ”

And as the Lord plainly said in Matthew 7:21-27:

“Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of

heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On

that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in

your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many

mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I

never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.' 

"Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will

be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain

fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that

house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.

And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them

will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And

the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat

against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

“Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the

kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is

in heaven”. Could it be any plainer? I repeat that this does not

mean that we are faultless not it means that we are walking

perfectly. What it does mean though is that we are running with

patience the race of faith, looking unto Jesus the author and the

finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:1-2). It means that we are on the

move following Jesus, trying, yes with mistakes but with the

power of Christ that is greater than everything, to do the will of

God, thus bringing, as we move united with Him, the desired fruit.

For some this may be five talents and for others two. The Lord

does not criticize the one who made two, instead of five,

additional talents. In contrast He congratulates him. He brought

fruit for his Lord according to what was given to him. The one

who is condemned is the one who was fruitless. The one who

instead of working His Lord worked other lords (we always serve

a lord). His behavior had indeed consequences and in fact very

heavy ones: 

“cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place

there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth”

3.4. “FOR I WAS HUNGRY AND YOU GAVE ME NO FOOD, I WAS

THIRSTY AND YOU GAVE ME NO DRINK”

Matthew 25 does not end with the parable of the talents,

but it is immediately followed by the below unparabolical passage,

which is directly connected to the three parables we previously

read: 

Matthew 25:31-46

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with

him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be

gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from

another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he

will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the

King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by

my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the

foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food,

I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you

welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and

you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me. 'Then the

righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you

hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when

did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe

you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?'

And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it

to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.' "Then he

will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the

eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry

and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,

I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did

not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then

they also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry

or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not

minister to you?' Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to

you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not

do it to me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but

the righteous into eternal life."”

Some are quick to dismiss the above passage as referring

to others and not to us, as we are saved by grace through faith and

not by works. I would happily accept – and it is true that I did it 

for years – this reasoning, if I did not see the following problems

with it: 

To whom was the Lord speaking when He said the above

words as well as the three parables of Matthew 24 and 25 we read?

This is very obvious from the context. The teaching of the Lord

started as an answer to the following question of the disciples:

Matthew 24:3

“As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately,

saying, "Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the

sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"

Then after He tells them about the false christs, the false

prophets, the abomination of desolation etc., He says:

Matthew 24:36-39, 42-43

"But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the

angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the

days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in

those days before the flood they were eating and drinking,

marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah

entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and

swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. ….

Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is

coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known

in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have

stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.

Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an

hour you do not expect." 

“Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day

your Lord is coming”. Who are those that are to stay awake, to be

alerted? His disciples. And then the Lord proceeds by giving

several examples which all refer to one and the same case: how

somebody waiting for the Lord to come, should behave during the time of

His absence. Are we not exactly these people? If we are not these

people, then who is? To say it differently, if we exclude ourselves

from these words of Christ which He said to His disciples, then

there is nobody else to whom these words could refer to. This is

the basic reason which makes me believe that these words of the

Lord do not refer to some others but to me personally. Also see

the timing these words were said. This is stated explicitly in

Matthew 26:1-2:

Matthew 26:1-2

“When Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples,

"You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of

Man will be delivered up to be crucified.”

These were teachings delivered to his disciples right at the

close of the Lord’s ministry, two days before the crucifixion. He

did not give them only for information but for application!

Furthermore, what Jesus said above is not at all unique. See here

what John says in his epistle:

1 John 3:16-18

“By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we

ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the

world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against

him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love

in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”

James uses the same example of 1 John 3:16-18 and makes

it even louder:

James 2:14-17

“What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but

does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or

sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you

says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving

them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also

faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

Whether we are truly Christ’s followers is shown very

simply by whether or not we follow His Word, doing - yes with

mistake and failures (I repeat: we are not yet perfect but we are

running towards it (Philippians 3:12) - what this Word says. As

the Lord said, not everybody that calls Him Lord Lord will enter

into the Kingdom but those who do the will of His Father. It is

indeed faith that saves but true faith, and such faith is manifested

in doing the will of God, the works that God has prepared for us.

And just to avoid any misunderstanding: for many of these works

we do not need any special revelation. They are written plainly in

His Word. Here are some:

“I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave

me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked

and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison

and you came to me. 'Then the righteous will answer him, saying,

'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and

give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and

welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you

sick or in prison and visit you?' And the King will answer them,

'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my

brothers, you did it to me.'”

And James 1:27

“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this:

to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself

unstained from the world.”

3.5 THE PARABLE OF THE DEBTOR OF THE TEN THOUSAND

TALENTS 

We find this parable in Matthew 18:23-35. There we read: 

"Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king

who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began 

to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand

talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be

sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment

to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, 'Have

patience with me, and I will pay you everything.' And out of pity

for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him

the debt. But when that same servant went out, he found one of

his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing

him, he began to choke him, saying, 'Pay what you owe.' So his

fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, 'Have patience

with me, and I will pay you.' He refused and went and put him in

prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw

what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went

and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his

master summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked servant! I

forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And

should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had

mercy on you?' And in anger his master delivered him to the

jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father

will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your

heart."

Ten thousand talents is a huge amount. Nobody could ever

earn this amount of money. And yet this huge debt is what this

servant owed. And do you know what happened? His Lord

forgave him this debt. This is grace! Grace means unmerited favor.

And this is exactly what this Master, who is a type of God, did:

upon the pleading of his servant, he forgave him and removed

this huge debt. This servant was now free! He was forgiven! Also

note that he did not do anything to earn forgiveness of the debt

other than pleading with the master. Up to here I believe all of us

would agree that this is a perfect picture of me and you. What

happened to this servant, the grace and compassion that was

shown to him, is the same grace and compassion that was shown

to us by God. As Ephesians 2:1-9 says, speaking about us:

Ephesians 2.1-9

“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once

walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of

the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of

disobedience — among whom we all once lived in the passions of

our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and

were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But

God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved

us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together

with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him

and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in

the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his

grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have

been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the

gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Our debt was huge. We were dead in trespasses and sins.

We were enemies of God and sons of disobedience. And what

happened? We repented and believed. We bowed down like that

servant and asked the King to forgive us. And He did! This is

called grace. By grace we were saved. And so was that servant: by

grace he was saved from his huge debt. There were no works,

nothing me, you or that servant could do to pay that debt. Only

grace could do this. So salvation is by faith through grace and

cannot be earned in exchange for our works as no works could

ever repay our huge debt. I think up to here, so far so good. But

the Lord does not stop here!

He looks at what the servant did: in spite of the huge debt

of which he was forgiven, he denied to forgive his fellow servant

the tiny debt he owed him. The servant was forgiven but he did

not walk as forgiven. Now would the King be just if He did not make

any judgment here? No he would not. In contrast he would be

completely unjust. And yet this is what many expect God to do

with them: they expect Him to forgive them, but not to judge

them when they insist in not walking as forgiven. When the Lord

judged the servant and reinstated the huge dead that was

originally forgiven, was He graceless? No. His grace was

manifested when He originally forgave the servant of his huge

debt. But seeing that this servant was not at all walking as

forgiven but had taken advantage of his freedom pressuring his

co-servants and asking “justice” to be done about their negligible

debt to him, justice had to be applied to him too! So do not

misunderstand grace and justice. God is both: He is both full of

grace and full of justice. If we repent from the heart we receive

grace. However, if we are unforgiving, essentially requesting

judgment against those who supposedly wronged us, then

judgment will be applied but it will start from us! Our Lord leaves

no space for misunderstanding:

“'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you

pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your

fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?' And in anger his master

delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also

my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive

your brother from your heart."

And again in the Lord's prayer:

Matthew 6:12

“And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”

This He explained further in verses 14-15:

“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will

also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither

will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

That God is not just full of kindness and goodness but also

full of righteousness with the respective severity that goes along,

is summarized in an excellent way by Paul in Romans 11:22, when

he says:

“Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward

those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you

continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.”

There is the kindness of God and that is what we will have

if we continue walking the narrow path of faith, abiding in Christ,

in the One who paid the price for us. But if we do not do this and

we do not continue in His kindness, if in other words we choose,

like that servant, to walk like we were not forgiven from the sins

and the trespasses in which we were dead, then there is no

kindness to be expected but severity. God is both and it is obvious

that we choose what we get. 

3.6. “TO THE ONE WHO OVERCOMES”

There are some Bibles that have the words of Jesus marked

in red. If you have one of these Bibles, you will observe that after

the gospels you see very little in red color in the Acts and the

epistles, perhaps all in all a dozen verses. Though the Acts and the

epistles have as their author the same Holy Spirit as the gospels,

Jesus is not speaking in the first person there. This however

changes in Revelation, the last book of the Bible. There Jesus

speaks again in the first person and in this section I would like to

point out certain things from the second and the third chapter of

Revelation. These chapters contain letters addressed to seven

churches of Minor Asia. Jesus Himself dictated these letters to the

apostle John, commanding him to write them down and send

them to these churches, together with the whole book. It is

surprising however how little attention these epistles of Jesus

receive. One theory I have heard is that these epistles of Jesus

together with the whole book of Revelation do not really refer to

us but to future believers and that they are going to understand it,

implying implicitly that we can safely ignore this book or consider

it as something “just for our information”. In the third appendix

of this book I am giving the reasons why I believe this view is

wrong.

Now going on to the letters themselves, what I want to

point out here and I believe is relevant for this study, is the

following fact: in all seven letters the Lord ends with a promise to

the one who overcomes. Let’s read these promises: 

Revelation 2:7

“To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which

is in the midst of the Paradise of God.

Revelation 2:11

“He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.”

Revelation 2:17

“To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat.

And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name

written which no one knows except him who receives it.”

Revelation 2:26-28

“And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I

will give power over the nations– ‘He shall rule them with a rod

of iron; They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’ –

as I also have received from My Father; “and I will give him the

morning star.”

Revelation 3:5

“He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will

not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his

name before My Father and before His angels.”

Revelation 3:12

“He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My

God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of

My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem,

which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write

on him My new name.”

And Revelation 3:21

“To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as

I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.”

It is amazing all that is promised to the one who

overcomes; to the one who perseveres to the end, who keeps the

works and the words of Jesus even unto the point of death.

However, many today believe that they do not need to overcome

anything. They believe that all was done and dusted for them in

time past, at that one moment of faith. Essentially and according

to their view the race of faith not only started at the moment we

believed, but also finished at that moment. But if this was really so

then there would be no reason for Jesus to speak about those who

overcome. For speaking about it not only means that there is a

need to overcome but also that there will be some who will not

overcome and to them the above promises will not apply.

Just to take the promise of Revelation 3:5 as an example:

“He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will

not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his

name before My Father and before His angels.”

If we overcome our names will not be blotted out from the

Book of Life, Jesus promised. But this also means that if we do not

overcome our names will indeed be blotted out. The Book of life is

a register of those who are to live forever (see Philippians 4:3).

Those in it will have eternal life and enter into the new Jerusalem

(Revelation 21:27) but those who will not be in it will end up in

the lake of fire (Revelation 20:15). To say it in another way: eternal

life have those and only those who are in the book of life. And as

is obvious from what Jesus says, the book of life does not only

accept new entries. It also accepts removals of entries, for those

who do not overcome i.e. those who retreat, stepping back.

Therefore, being in the book of life, does not guarantee that we

will be in that book forever. Whoever draws back, falling away

from the faith without repentance (wherever this repentance is

still available – see later our discussion on Hebrews 6), whoever

does not overcome, he will not be found at the end in the book of

life. I know that many people are not used to hear such things but

this is the simple truth which I see in the Word and personally I 

am not willing to ignore it nor am I willing to device ways to

explain it away. 

3.7. CONCLUSION

To conclude this chapter, it is obvious that our Lord in no

way believed in an unfruitful faith. His sayings pave the way for

the right understanding of what it means to believe in Jesus or

have faith in Jesus. This is in no way only a confession but, as the

apostle Paul taught (see the coming chapter), a race to be run and

a fight to be fought. There is no question that for Him, abiding in

Him, was not something optional but mandatory and in case some

did not abide in Him then they would not enter into the Kingdom.

Unfortunately though, many have chosen to ignore this, believing

that what only matters is to start in the faith. Of course it is

important to start in the faith (you cannot finish something unless

you first start it), but I would say that even more important is to

both start and finish in the faith, staying in the vine, in Christ, till

the end and putting aside whatever may want to move you away

from it. 

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Posted January 6, 2015