We all would likely consider this a parable; but we know it is because Peter (verse 41) says it is.
(Strangely, however, the Scriptures sometimes say that something is a parable when it is only a comparison. Thus we learn that the definition of “parable,” at least by Scriptural standards, varies. See Luke 14:7 in these notes.)
The parable follows a sermon detailing spiritual thinking over fleshly thinking. In 12:31 and 32 the matter is stated clearly with the FOCUS being on the Kingdom. Then in verses 33 and 34, Jesus wants us to TREASURE the Kingdom as our sole objective. This leads into the parable because the Kingdom cannot come until the king comes. The parable IS about the Lord’s return.
This parable itself is restricted to verses 36-38. This is important to know. Verse 39 has symbolisms totally inconsistent with the parable. And, while it RELATES to the parable, it is no part of it.
If our treasure is the Kingdom (which begins in an important sense when the king returns), then being ready for the event would naturally be a priority for all true disciples. Jesus thus prepares the parable with a double admonition for readiness:
- “Be dressed in readiness.” (NAS) This seems somewhat less forceful than the literal “Let your loins be girded” (as the KJV reads). Girdles are designed to keep clothing close to the body so that, while working, we are not irritated with loose pieces of cloth getting in the way. Thus, Jesus’ admonition is that we have no “loose ends” (temporal attachments) that will hinder our dedicated service to the Lord as we wait.
- The second admonition is to “Keep your lamps alight.” The “lamp” is the Bible. If we are not constantly searching its gleanings, we will have insufficient light to recognize the elements of the Master’s return — about which the parable is given.
Before looking at the parable, we should note its inescapable connection to the message given to the Laodicean Church in Revelation 3:14-22. That passage mentions clothing, the Lord’s return with his “knock,” the responsive opening of the door, and the Lord’s serving his servants. The parallels are unmistakable and important to the interpretation of the parable.
12:36. As the parable opens, the disciples (us) are admonished to be like adoring servants who anxiously await their master’s return.
The first element which requires interpretive attention is that the master “returns from the wedding feast.” At least on the surface, this could easily be misinterpreted. After all, when THE wedding feast occurs (Revelation 19:9), all of the disciples — all of the spirit-begotten ones — will be glorified. But in this parable, the servants (the Church yet in the flesh) are waiting (manifestly in the flesh) for the master, AFTER “the wedding feast.”
The answer is quite simple when a few facts are known, and when the contextual setting of the parable is known.
First, the Jewish marriage arrangement was frequently begun by an engagement contract — a betrothal. A great feast accompanied this auspicious event. The actual marriage was usually an event distant from the betrothal celebration. At the actual marriage, the groom took the Bride to himself.
Now, let us apply this to the parable. We know the parable is about Jesus’ return (1874). The entire Laodicean Church is developed subsequent to that event. The parable’s parallels to the Laodicean message of Revelation 3 are inescapable. Obviously, no wedding feast regarding the glorification of the Church has occurred!
This is the scenario. The Gospel Age is the age devoted to seeking a Bride for Christ. Clearly, this work extends through Laodicea. But that is not the point. Jesus returns, for among many reasons, TO TAKE HIS BRIDE TO HIMSELF. He raises a part of that Bride in 1878. Thus, the “Age of Betrothal” (the Gospel Age) has given way to the age of “Taking His Bride unto Himself” — the actual marriage. The age is over; the Harvest has begun. The master has returned from the betrothal period.
So, to paraphrase verse 36, these saints were waiting for the Lord’s return from the age which had, as its only purpose, BETROTHAL. The actual marriage was soon to occur — as in the Wise and Foolish Virgin Parable: when the door was shut, the marriage was complete. We have not yet reached that shut door. But we do “behold the Bridegroom” — he has returned from the betrothal age.
As verse 36 continues, Jesus stresses his desire that his Laodicean saints be alert to “open the door to him.” This parallels Revelation 3:20: “I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him.”
12:37. This verse begins with words which clearly echo Matthew 24:36, which is also about Jesus’ return and our being fed. Jesus wants us “on the alert when he comes.” If we are, he does something never expected from a master. He girds “himself to serve.” He has us recline at the table; and he serves us! We saw this in Revelation 3; we saw the food preparation in Matthew 24:45. The Laodicean context of this parable just shouts at us!
12:38, 39. Verse 38 ends the parable. It is uniquely obscure and obvious at the same time!
This is a strange way to end a parable. If we consider its purpose — AND its context — we will find that Jesus SO VERY MUCH wanted to tell his disciples when he would return — the VERY DATE that opens the parable. But he could not do so. Verse 39 is Jesus’ explanation of why verse 38 must remain cloudy.
Verse 39 is not a part of the parable except that it explains the obscure nature of the parable’s last verse. To paraphrase verse 39:
“You can be certain that, if I gave you the specific date for my return, Satan would bolster the defenses of his ‘house’ so that undermining it would be much more difficult.”
We will return to verse 38 in a moment. But there is another item in verse 39 which is instructive. The NAS says “not have allowed his house to be broken into.” The translators did not choose the best wording. Fortunately, they give a marginal reference which leads us in the right direction. The margin reads, “Literally: ‘dug through.'”
Most intruders enter through doors or windows. But Jesus’ thief-like intrusion into Satan’s house is not by such obvious means. Additionally, entering via doors and windows leaves the structure sound. But Jesus UNDERMINES — he “digs through” the foundation. He is like a colony of spiritual termites! Jesus isn’t coming into this house to take a Rolex! He undermines the house in order to make it collapse!
The verse tells us thus, that for the two millennia of Jesus’ absence, Satan is in total darkness regarding when the return comes. He cannot prepare for what he doesn’t know. And Jesus can begin the undermining process secretly until Satan must suddenly shriek out “Help! My foundation is collapsing!”
We also thus can see why the raising of the sleeping saints does not occur at the return. An atmosphere full of tens of thousands of divine beings would alert Satan instantly. But by a three-and-a-half year delay in the first resurrection process, Jesus had time to do irreparable undermining (digging through) of the foundation of the old order.
Returning now to verse 38: While Jesus wanted so much to tell us when he would come, he could only give an obscure “hint” — a hint which ultimately becomes A CLEAR PROOF to the watching saints.
Jesus’ 1,000-year parousia and Kingdom has its thousand- year length stated only three places in Scripture. Revelation 20 is probably the most-cited instance. The chronology, however, also occurs in II Peter 3. And the Old Testament basis for the concept is in Psalm 90. It is Psalm 90 that gives “punch” to verse 38 of the parable.
We will not analyze this wonderful Psalm here. (We have done so in the New Albany-Louisville publication entitled “LAODICEAN CHRONOLOGICAL QUANDARIES.”) But verse 4 of the Psalm is certainly the basis for Jesus’ hint in this parable. The Psalm links night watches to periods of one-thousand years.
When saints have 1,000-year periods in mind, they inevitably relate them to the seven parts of the seventh creative day. The sixth part ended in 1874; the seventh part began there. In other places, both Old and New Testament prophecy calls the fifth through seventh 1,000-year periods the final three days. Thus Jesus could say (in the fifth day) that he would raise his Body in three days. Thus, also, Hosea could tell Israel of its wound (casting off) being healed on the third day.
Psalm 90 equates these 1,000-year periods to night watches. Jesus takes advantage of this to give the date of his return at 1874 — a date which remains OBSCURE until the chronological clarifications from the Laodicean Trumpeter, but which SHOUTS WITH CLARITY after 1874! Verse 38 thus becomes dispensationally “mysterious” until it becomes dispensationally OBVIOUS.
Jesus didn’t (couldn’t) say, “I will return when the last two watches meet.” So, he hedged his language and said, “Whether he [I] comes in the second watch [the second or sixth-thousand years] or even in the third [the third or seventh-thousand years], and finds them so [watching], blessed are these servants.” He came as close as he could — without telling Satan — that he would return as the two watches meet — 1874.
12:40. Jesus concludes his comments on the parable by telling those PRIOR to his return that he could only give them that obscure hint. They must be clothed and studied (verse 35) so that the UNEXPECTED HOURS (even by Satan!) will be revealed to them after it comes.
12:41, ff. It is gratifying, once we understand the force of the parable, to see the context that follows it. Peter wants to know if the parable was to those of Peter’s day, or to later saints as well. Jesus gives the answer to that in a way which Laodicean saints can best comprehend.
Jesus clearly has the “return” date of the parable yet in mind as he says, “Who THEN is the faithful and sensible steward…” Jesus prepared us to know how we would recognize the thief-like presence. Through verse 48, Jesus delineates detail for us who live “when he returns from the wedding feast.”