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King James Version (KJV)
“In our prayers we talk to God, in our Bible study God talks to us, and we had better let God do most of the talking.”
— D.L. Moody
Scripture focus
48. But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; 49. And shall begin to smite [his] fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; 50. The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for [him], and in an hour that he is not aware of, 51. And shall cut him asunder, and appoint [him] his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Matthew 24:48-51 — KJV
Say in his heart. The “evil servant” may not admit openly that he believes his lord is delayed, but his way of life betrays him. He does not act as if he believed his lord would soon return.
Delayeth his coming. He is not one of the scoffers, who deny the reality of Christ’s return (2 Peter 3:4). He pretends to believe; in fact, he has accepted the responsibility of giving the members of the “household of faith” spiritual food that will help them to prepare for their Lord’s return (see on Matt. 24:45). But his words lack conviction. He is not in dead earnest. His life and labors proclaim that he does not really believe his Lord is coming soon. In a time of crisis he does not stand “between the dead and the living” (Num. 16:48). He does not minister “in season, out of season”; nor does he “reprove, rebuke, exhort” (2 Tim. 4:2), rather he adapts his message to the “itching ears” of his parishioners (v. 3). He forgets that “the message of Christ’s soon coming is designed to arouse men from their absorption in worldly things” (COL 228).
By SdaBc
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