Chapter 19
Zacchaeus, as Jesus entered Jericho, on his last trip to Jerusalem.
Zacchaeus, a very rich man since he is a chief tax collector, promises to give half of all he has to the poor, and to repay fourfold any he has defrauded. So he wasn't required to give it all up. He wasn't required to be poor. But he did give up much - and was still rich afterwards. And he repented and did what he could to right old wrongs, and went forward being as good as he could. 2020 - This is also in Jericho, same place Blind Bartimaeus lived. Luke puts Zacchaeus right after Bartimaeus.
2021 - This is the very next chapter after Jesus talks about camels through the eye of the needle. This chapter starts with the salvation of a VERY rich man.
The Parable of the 10 Minas. There are two reasons given for this parable. First, that he was near Jerusalem, and second, because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately. He had been near Jerusalem before, but this is the last time he will see it, so maybe that is the key to the first. The second was to make clear that the kingdom would not appear immediately. It could be invisible of course, or it could still be future. The Millennial is still future.
This is a difficult parable still. The nobleman goes elsewhere to receive a kingdom. He leaves money with ten servants, and each is told to invest that money. Each of the ten is given one mina, a pretty small amount. We only hear the results of three of them. Once the nobleman left to receive the kingdom, those he was leaving sent word that they hated him and didn't want him back. These weren't the servants that sent this word, but the citizens of the place he was leaving. So his own people hated him, he entrusted some with a bit of money and commanded them to "engage in business" until his return. When he does return, he rewards the first two according to their success. Not according to how much work they did but according to the success they had. Might be reading too much into this. The last, who kept the mina, but did nothing at all with it - he did no work at all - is deprived of the mina he was given. But...it wasn't even his. So the surprise is not that he lost the one, but that it was given to the one who had earned 10. MSB notes (not sure where I got the comments above...) relate that the message sent after the nobleman protesting his appointment was what had happened with Herod Archelaus. When Archelaus had gone to Rome to "receive his kingdom - Judea", the Jews had sent a delegation to Caesar to try and stop the appointment. It didn't work and he was appointed anyway. He was removed, leading to Judea being ruled by Procurators, of whom Pilate was the fifth.
So this seems a direct analogy to Jesus leaving for heaven to receive his kingdom, and then coming back at the Millennial to exercise his authority over it directly. It is already given to him, but he does not yet exercise authority in residence. The minas were a much smaller sum than the talents in the previous parable. Even in something as small as minas, we are to be diligent in using what we are given for the advancement of the kingdom. The one servant's fear of the nobleman showed craven disdainful fear, not the fear of love and respect for authority. Those killed are like those who reject the coming king.
2020 -Again, the question is what the minas represent. I think they represent understanding. Jesus was there to fulfill scripture, and to reveal the gospel to those who had ears to hear. He was there to unfold/unravel the OT, and show that there would be a Suffering Servant AND a Conquering King. The more we read, study, and learn, the more we understand.. It is possible to read, now and then, and have some sense of what the Bible is - of what the gospel is - without ever coming to a saving knowledge of Christ. This is what the last servant did. He had the jist, but he did nothing with it at all. He made no effort. The more effort we make, the more the return. I think this is what the minas are about.
2022 - This verse:
15 When he returned, having received the kingdom, he ordered these servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by doing business. [Luk 19:15 ESV].
If this "return" symbolizes the second coming - the conquering King - then those called to account are those saved during tgt and AFTER the rapture. This is about the pre-Millennial judgment. This is the Sheep an Goat judgment. It IS about what they did during the trying times of tgt. Some, who did well, go into the Millennial Kingdom, and are rewarded according to how they "performed" during tgt. Some get more, some get less. Note that the one who kept his mina in a handkerchief loses that mina, but he is not punished in any way. But his lack of effort means that he will henceforth serve others, rather than ruling over cities as a reward for his efforts. And then it goes on to this:
27 But as for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me.'" [Luk 19:27 ESV]. Here are the goats. They do not get sent home. They do not get off. Those not saved during tgt go straight on to hell. The sentence is carried out before the conquering king. After all this time, the progress I've made on the judgments seems to have clarified what this is about. It is about specific events at a specific time. While the principle may very well be the same one utilized at the bema seat, there will be no goats at that judgment. No one will be slaughtered after first being raptured. That makes no sense at all. It "fits" best when interpreted as the sheep and goat.
2025 - The saved will be rewarded according to how well they have done, according to what they have to present to their master as evidence of their efforts. These belong to him from the first, and these will not be "cast out". The enemies are those who reject the master, who undermine his message, who actively seek to have him rejected. These were enemies, they never ever belonged to the master. These are executed for their rejection.
2025 - This might all be best understood as the Pre-Millennial judgment, which is also the sheep and goat judgment. This is a judgment of the Jews who returned to God, finally, during tgt. Some Jews will be saved. Other Jews will seek the worldly comforts, the rewards, that will come with taking the mark. These will betray not only the God, the Kingdom, the King who's imminent arrival should be plain for all to see, but will also betray their own people, friends, and family. These will see themselves as enemies of the master though they Jews, and in their cringing fear of the judgment that is coming they will try to preserve what they have been given - their Jewish heritage - but they will support and work for the other side.
They move on and the two disciples are sent ahead to get the colt for Jesus to ride on. As he comes down the Mount of Olives, there is this verse:
38 saying, "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" [Luk 19:38 ESV]
They are proclaiming him King. The praises remind me of what the angels announced to the shepherds, but I looked and though the sentiment is the same, the words are not as similar as I thought. Jesus refuses to rebuke those who are praising him, for either title they're giving him. King and Messiah.
2020 - None of the gospels tell us which two went after the colt. One gospel says they were to bring back both the colt and the donkey tied there with it, and it says they did bring both back.
When the city is in view, this verse:
42 saying, "Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. [Luk 19:42 ESV]
Hidden until the Millennial in my opinion. I am no longer sure there are any saved Jews. The descendants of Abraham are preserved, but are they also blinded? Are the so called converted Jews of today partial descendants, but not the pure race, and so can see to some extent? It just seems that the punishment of the Jews that began in Zedekiah's time, and then was reinforced in their rejection of God's own Son at the second punishment is very very severe. They are blind to Jesus. They cannot be saved while in this condition.
In vs 43, 44 we are surely seeing a prophecy of the siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD as near, and possibly the Pre-Millennial battle far:
43 For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side 44 and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation." [Luk 19:43-44 ESV]
2020 - Just absolutely must be about 70 AD. This is how Rome did it. And Jesus is going to say again, after leaving the temple, that not one stone will be left upon another. If you tie that in with this verse, isn't it pretty plain that we are talking about 70 AD? And if that's what Luke means, doesn't Matthew mean the same thing? I believe it is called the Preterist view, and John MacA does not hold with it. But I sure think it is how I see it. I still need to dig deep into Matthew 24 and make sure I'm consistent about that interpretation.
The Gore video on the 70 AD siege of Jerusalem, and other videos about it too, say that after part of the city had been taken, Titus decides to just lay siege to the city and he builds a wall all the way around the city, and puts "forts" all along the wall, completely cutting off any escape from the city or any supplies going into the city. How does that play with this verse:
43 For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side [Luk 19:43 ESV] Luke also used the phrase here about there not being one stone left upon another in Jerusalem.
2025 - I think it is important that Jesus talks about one stone and another prior to entering the city in this verse, and then again in Matthew. He used that phrase twice. This first time he is speaking of the city as a whole, while in Matthew he is talking about the Temple...or perhaps without knowledge of this verse we just assume he was only speaking of the Temple. Historically, Jerusalem is razed to the ground. It is why that whole Via Dolorosa thing is little more than guesswork. Jerusalem was so destroyed that no one could possibly know which streets Jesus walked on. The thing to realize is that Jesus knew the Jews would be "locked out" of salvation for a very long time. They are the chosen people, and to see so many doomed to hell - for millennia as it turns out - grieved him.
2025 - The fact that Jesus here talks about the city being surrounded - barricaded - should be seen as corroboration of the verses in Matthew that talk first about pre-70AD.
2025 - The harmony puts these verses with Matthew 21, Mark 11, and John 12, organizing them not about the content of the verses but according to when they were spoken. In Luke we see that Jesus spoke these words right after his triumphal entry, and that is why the Harmony puts these with Matthew 21 and not 24.
2025 - Jesus talks about the stones being unstacked in Mt 24:2. I think here in Luke Jesus is talking about the same period of time as in Matt 24:4-14.
Upon entering Jerusalem, Jesus goes and cleans the sellers out of the temple, and teaches the people, and it says the people were "hanging on his words". With this kind of attention on him, the Pharisees and their allies dared not grab him. Not in daylight. They dared not incite the crowds against them as they knew their authority was already tenuous at best.