Revelations from the Word

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Who then is the faithful servant whom the Lord has established over His people?

by Jean-Louis Coraboeuf

"Who then is a faithful and wise [phronimos] servant [doulos], whom his master [kurios] made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master [kurios], when he comes, will find so doing. Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods. But if that evil servant says in his heart, My master is delaying his coming, and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 24:45-51).

The Greek word phronimos means 'well-advised' (Luke 16:8), 'wise' (Matthew 7:24 and 10:16), 'one who is master of his feelings'. When Jesus Christ redeems us, He becomes our Lord [Kurios] and we all become His servants [doulos]. However, He establishes some of us to become stewards (Luke 12:42), that is to say to dispense the food to the other servants of the House. Much will be asked of those ones for they have received more than the others (Luke 12:48). The Lord therefore expects faithfulness and loyalty from the one whom He has established to bring good spiritual food at God's appointed time [kairos]. The management is not carried out on the basis of feelings, but according to the Wisdom of God which leads to the searching of the depths of Scripture and the discovering of His will so that it might be accomplished in His time.

Having been absent for about two thousand years, the return of Jesus is relatively close as the 'sign of the Son of Man' indicates us; that is why we are in the End Times. The angel who gave Daniel some prophetic words, said to him, "You, Daniel, keep these words secret, and seal the book until the time of the end. Several will then read it, and knowledge will increase" (Daniel 12:4). The role of the steward is to search out the food for the people of his house and more particularly in these End Times. And the Lord expects to find this servant occupied with this task, which is essential for the household to be prepared for His return.

There are only three possible attitudes for this steward:

• to know the will of God and prepare for it; then the Lord will establish him over all His goods (Matthew 24:47); which represents the Church that will be ready to be taken up as the Bride of Christ and who will take part in the wedding of the Lamb (Revelation 19:7-8).

• to know His will and not be prepared; each one does what pleases him (Luke 12:47-48); it is the lukewarm church, which believes it is rich, when it is poor and naked (Revelation 3:15-22); it will not be taken up as the Bride of Christ because of its nakedness.

• not to know the will of God; that brings about spiritual mistreatment towards the people of the house (Matthew 24:49); it is the church called 'the great harlot' or 'Babylon the great', which delivers herself to debauchery, kills the prophets and mistreats the saints (Revelation 17:1-6).

We are not called to bring a judgement on anyone, but to seek the will of God for ourselves in order to act accordingly.