Hi Mike,

While reading “What is the fire in the lake of fire”, something caught my eye.

Luk 12:48 But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.

I was wondering if “and to whom men have given much” means that what the people in babylon give to their babylonian church leaders – ministers, elders, etc, – that because they get all that, from them shall be asked more. I can imagine that the people in babylon, not knowing about God’s total sovereignty when cast into the lake of fire, will turn on their ministers first, asking them why they told them all those lies for so long. When they come to the knowledge of Truth, that will pass, but that is a process.
I also read that “For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required” it does not say “to whom men have committed much”. Therefore I think it is two different groups. We are given much; not from men, but from God it is given. The other says it is committed by men.
I don’t know if I’m on the right track here.

Your brother in Christ,
R____

Good morning R____,
You ask about Christ’s words in Luke.

Luk 12:47  And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.
Luk 12:48  But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.

I feel like I probably need to repeat Mat 4:4 in every letter I write.

Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

If we ever forget that verse, we will succumb to the irresistible pull of our flesh to say we are not the Pharisee looking down on the Publican, we are not the tares, we are not the Jews who dragged the woman to Christ to be stoned and we are certainly not those who knew their Lord’s will and prepared not themselves and are worthy of many stripes.
There are not two groups, one “to whom much is given” versus one “to whom men have committed much.” Christ is simply using “the things that are made” to explain “the invisible things of God.” The only thing under consideration is whether we know our Lord”s will and what we do with the knowledge we are given. Do we know our Lord’s will and prepare ourselves, or have we known our Lord’s will and failed to prepare ourselves? As always it sounds like one must be in one group or the other, and there is no way possible to have been in both groups. But that is never really the case. We are all first in the first Adam, and all that is in him, and then we are in the last Adam and all that is in Him:

1Co 15:47  The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
1Co 15:48  As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as [ is] the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
1Co 15:49  And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

We are always at some time in both groups. “We shall also bear the image of the heavenly…”
We all want to think of ourselves as Job thought of himself, because we are all Job. Read Job 29 and you will understand your own self much better. Those words are the words which are first in the hearts of all of God’s elect at their own appointed time.

1Co 10:6 Now these things became types of us, for us not to be lusters after evil things, (CLV)
1Co 10:11 Now all this befalls them typically. Yet it was written for our admonition, to whom the consummations of the eons have attained. (CLV)

The Greek word ‘types’ in verse 6, and ‘typically’ in verse 11 is the exact same Greek word ‘tupos’. All that happened to Israel “happened to them and was written” to typify us. That means our carcasses must fall in the wilderness before we can become Caleb and Joshua and enter into the land to begin warring against the giants in the land. We do not live by just the positive, smooth things in scripture; we “live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God,” and it is of us that the blood of all the prophets from Abel to Zecharias is required, simply because it is in my own flesh and your own flesh that the chief of sinners resides.

1Ti 1:15  This [ is] a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
Luk 11:50  That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation;
Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

Those few who are counted worthy of that blessed and holy first resurrection are those to whom it is given to “read and hear” and “read and understand” that it is they who must live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God; it is they who must read, hear and keep the things written therein, and it is they who have committed the abomination of desolation, and who have stood in the holy place proclaiming themselves to be God.

Mat 24:15  When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, ( whoso readeth, let him understand:)

Many have read those words, but few have understood that it is all of mankind who must live by every word and keep all the thing written therein.

Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

It simply is not given to many at this time to understand how God’s elect can keep both the first and the second resurrections. It amounts to saying such apparently contradictory things as ‘judge yourself, and you will not be judged’; confess that you have lived many years in unbelief abiding in God’s wrath, then you are not appointed to wrath; lose your life, and you will find it… admit you are blind and then you will see;’ etc. etc. etc.

1Co 11:31  For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
1Co 11:32  But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.
Joh 3:36  He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
1Th 5:9  For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
Mat 16:25  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
Joh 9:39  And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.
Joh 9:40  And [ some] of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?
Joh 9:41  Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

The point is that we are all that self- righteous Pharisee before we come to see ourselves as the repentant publican; we are the Jews demanding the stoning of the adulteress woman before we come to see ourselves as the adulterous woman; We all believe the lies represented by the tares before we become the good seed, and we are all guilty of knowing our Lord’s will and doing things worthy of many stripes before we become servants who did not know their Lord’s will and do things worthy of few stripes.

That is the very meaning of saying, ‘I count not myself to have apprehended… I count not myself to be perfect… I am the chief of sinners.”

1Ti 1:15  This [ is] a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
Php 3:12  Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
Php 3:13  Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
Php 3:14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. [ Not knowing what we have not yet apprehended, and receiving fewer stripes, as we acknowledged that we have, in times past, needed and received many]
Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Eph 2:3  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

We all read these verses just before 1Ti 1:15…:

1Ti 1:9  Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,
1Ti 1:10  For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;

… and we all say right along with the self- righteous Pharisee “Lord, I thank you that I am not as other men…” But every word of these two verses is inspired by and has proceeded out of the mouth of God. As such I must acknowledge that they are one and all within the parameters of “the law of sin and death” which is working in my flesh and blood through “the law of sin in my members.”

Rom 7:17  Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but [ how] to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Rom 7:20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:21  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
Rom 7:22  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
Rom 7:23  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
Rom 7:24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Rom 7:25  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

If there is “no good thing in my flesh”, then the evil things of 1Ti 1:9-10 must be in my flesh. So I, with Paul, can say “It is not I that do it but sin that dwells in me.” Then I can also say with Paul, that I  will not be judged because I have judged myself and can now confess that I have been given much knowledge of what my Lord wanted and did not do His will and have received many stripes “in time past.”
This has nothing to do with how many dollars the ministers of Babylon have received from God. It has everything to do with knowing that no true man of God ever preaches the gospel for the money. He preaches the gospel of necessity. He preaches it because he sees that he was once guilty of being given many of the truths of God, but he did not do his Lord’s will, and he has spent many years with “many stripes” because of “the wrath of God abiding on him.”

Joh 3:36  He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

We all live first the life of “the first man Adam” with all that is in that man. Afterward we experience the decrease of that first man as “the last man Adam” increases within us. That is how we “must live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” That is how Paul could truthfully call himself “the chief of sinners” and also truthfully say these things.

1Co 15:9  For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
1Co 15:47  The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
1Co 15:48  As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as [ is] the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
1Co 15:49  And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

“As the earthy” Adam we are chief of sinners, least of the apostles, appointed to wrath and worthy of many stripes. As the second man we have “the Lord from heaven” within us and we can honestly say with Christ that we have “lived by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God.”
I hope this is of some help in understanding that we must live by “every word” in these two verses.

Luk 12:47  And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.
Luk 12:48  But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.

God can ask more of those in whom Christ is increasing because we can do all things through Him.

Php 4:13  I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Your brother in Christ,
Mike