When Jesus gave his disciples some ‘signs’ to look for, related to his coming and the end of the age (Med.#88), he only gave them one ‘sign’ that would indicate ‘then the end will come’. And this sign requires our obedience to the commission he gave us to proclaim ‘the Good News of the kingdom into all the nations’ (Med.#87). So Jesus concludes his teaching about the ‘signs’ of the end of the age with a third parable, and with a picture about what will happen to ‘all the nations’ on his return. This is not just a fourth parable, about a shepherd with some sheep and some goats. Yes, Jesus does briefly use a ‘shepherding’ analogy, but he only does so to talk about how, when he comes as ‘king’, he will judge all nations and ethnic ‘groups [Gr. ethne]), by separating the ‘righteous ones’ from the others. The main two things revealed in this picture are: the Father's original purpose for people of all nations, and the basis on which Jesus will judge ‘them’[iii]. The ‘righteous ones’, who have already been ‘blessed’ by the Father, will in the end fully ‘inherit the kingdom’ he prepared for them ‘from the foundation of the world’. This is the full inheritance for ‘all nations’ of which the Holy Spirit is the deposit. The gift of the Spirit is the Father's promised ‘blessing’), by which people of these ‘nations’ (including Jews) first became ‘heirs-together’ in the church through faith in Jesus (Med.#6, Med.#8, Med.#30 & Med.#49). ‘The kingdom’ they now fully inherit—the one Jesus proclaimed and demonstrated and commissioned us to proclaim and demonstrate—is both a family kingdom, and a multi-ethnic one (Med.#15 & Med.#70). Yet when Jesus returns, some nations will forfeit this destiny and share in one that wasn't ‘prepared’ for them. According to the above text, ‘eternal torment’ was only prepared for the devil—the ‘Day Star’ who rebelled against God—and the other heavenly beings who joined in his rebellion (Is.14:12-15; Jud.6, Med.#93).

So why is Jesus sending this latter group of nations away from his presence, while inviting the first group to ‘inherit the kingdom’? It has to do with how they responded to Jesus' ‘brothers and sisters’—who happen to be present at this gathering, since Jesus twice points to them using the word ‘these’. So they are either standing among Jesus' ‘messengers’ [Gr. angelos][iv] or among the nations gathered. Or both! For Isaiah prophesied that out of a gathering of nations, the Lord would ‘send some from those (nations)’ to other nations in order to proclaim his glory and bring ‘brothers and sisters from all the nations’ to his ‘holy mountain’ (Is.66:18-20). These messengers, and the poor of the nations who do respond to the Gospel (Lk.4:19) must bear witness in great vulnerability: to physical suffering and to being ignored as ‘foreigners’ and as socially weak. Yet although they represent Jesus in the life of these nations, they are not initially recognized for who they really are: co-heirs with Jesus, by the Spirit, in their Father's family kingdom (Med.#5). Nevertheless, all the nations will be held accountable for how they welcomed even the ‘least of these’.

According to Matthew, Jesus gave this picture to his disciples as a follow-up word to his third parable,[v] which like with the first two parables (Mat.24:42-25:13) is also about something Jesus expects his disciples to be doing right up to the end of the age. Yet while the first two are set in one location—in a household or at a wedding feast—the faithful servants in the third one ‘went out’, even as Jesus commissioned his disciples to ‘go out’ into the world (Mk.16:15; Mat.28:19, Med.#87). If we are going to be mature in our love for others, the way our Father is mature in loving the world (Med.#12; Jn.3:16), we must also keep our love warm for ‘all the nations’ that he has made (Ps.86:9) and to whom he longs to give the full inheritance he planned for them. For the the master's ‘possessions’  in this third parable are about the nations, not about using our ‘talents’ for Jesus.[vi]  

According to one prophetic Bible text, the Messiah is given ‘the nations [Gr. ethne]’ as his ‘possession’ (Ps.2:7-8, Med.#D). Thus, disciples who have been given a heritage of gospel blessings, among people who have submitted to Christ's rule in their own nation, are then sent out by Jesus to invest these blessings in other nations and ethnic groups which have yet to submit to him. Jesus' reference to ‘bankers’ (those who reinvest what is ‘deposited’ with them) suggests that what we've received may also be invested indirectly, like by supporting missionaries. The ‘useless servant’ is thrown out ‘into the darkness’ because he was too fearful and lazy to do even this. On receiving his master's silver, he simply ‘went away’ and buried it in his own backyard. Yet all who invest the blessings they have received in the increase of Jesus' inheritance among the nations will share in his joy and be given authority over ‘greater things’. It is not only the ‘message’ of the kingdom that needs to be ‘sown’ into the ‘soil’ of individual human hearts (Mat.13:18-23). The ‘sons and daughters’ of the kingdom must also be ‘sown’ into the world  (Med.#17); for the Good News is about a ‘family kingdom’, one that is radically different from all earthly kingdoms and human societies (Med.#67 & #68). So if people in all nations are going to comprehend it and be ‘discipled’ into it (Med.#87), it must be demonstrated as well as proclaimed.

Have you understood the full blessings of the Father's kingdom that are for your nation and for all nations to inherit? How are you investing the blessings you have received in nations that don't yet know these blessings?

Father, from whom all fatherhood derives its name, strengthen me with power through your Spirit: that I may be mature as you are mature and so love the world like you do, that through our witness more nations might inherit the kingdom you've prepared for them. (Eph.3:14-15; Mat.5:43-48; Jn.3:16; Mat.24:14; 25:34)

[i] The Scripture passage is taken from J.K. Mellis, The Good News of the Messiah by the Four Witnesses: pp.216,223-226.

[ii] In Greek, a talenton (in Latin a, talentum) referred to a unit of currency equal to about $900, or 20 years of wages for a labourer.

[iii] This Greek pronoun [autous] (correctly translated in the RSV, NASV, etc. as 'them'.) refers back to ‘the nations’ (25:32). Yet when rendered as ‘people’ (as in the NIV,NLT,ESV, etc.), a false impression is created that it is only individuals and not also groups that are being separated.

[iv] In the New Testament this Greek word can indicate human ‘messengers’ (Mat.11:10; Lk.7:24; 9:52) as well as heavenly ones (angels).

[v] This connection is lost in many translations because they omit the Greek connecting word [de], meaning ‘yet’, ‘and’ or ‘but’ (25:31a).

[vi] The idea that this parable is about investing our ‘talents’ in the work of the kingdom comes from the way English not only borrowed the Latin word, talentum, but also a meaning (‘special aptitude or ability’) that was based on a medieval interpretation of this parable!