The Second Coming

The Parable of the Talents

We have now established that the Age of Tabernacles will consist of the second coming of Jesus, the first resurrection, and the reign of the barley overcomers. But what will this time be like? In Matthew 25:14-30, Jesus tells the parable of the talents, which is prophesying about this time. The passage is long so I will summarize:

In the parable, a man was going abroad, so he gave his servants money to take care of while he was gone. He gave one 5 talents, one 2 talents, and one 1 talent, based on their ability. The one with 5 talents invested it and doubled his investment, making 5 more talents. The one with 2 talents also invested it and also doubled, making 2 more talents. The one with 1 talent did not invest it, but simply barred it in the ground. When the man came back, the servants gave him 10, 4, and 1 talent respectively. To the ones that gave him 10 and 4, the man said: “Well done, servant, good and faithful, over a few things thou wast faithful, over many things I will set thee; enter into the joy of thy lord” (Matt 25:21, YLT). To the servant that only returned his 1 talent, the man said: “Evil servant, and slothful, thou hast known that I reap where I did not sow, and I gather whence I did not scatter!” (Matt 25:26, YLT)

The man in the parable is Jesus. The servants are Christians. The talents are our abilities and skills that God can use for his Kingdom. This skills can include wisdom, intelligence, public speaking, strength, encouragement, organization, creativity, musical ability, etc. The two servants that invested their talents represent the barley overcomers. They will reign with Christ during the Age of Tabernacles, and Christ will put them in charge of people, cities, and responsibilities based on their talent. We know that this parable is referring to cities because of a very similar parable found in Luke 19:12-27, where the man gives his servants cities as a reward. The servant that did not invest his talent will not be able to reign with Christ. He will lose his reward of the first resurrection, and have to wait a thousand years till the second resurrection. This is just like the parable of the ten virgins found in Matthew 25:1-12 which I discussed in The Barley Overcomers.

Timeline Summary

Now that we have covered all the topics regarding the second coming, we can draw out a timeline of these major Biblical events. Here is a summary:

1. Passover Age – began with covenant to Moses in 1447 B.C. (will discuss later), 50th Jubilee from Adam was on 1445 B.C., Israel refuses to enter Canaan

2. Pentecostal Age – began on the Day of Pentecost after Jesus’ resurrection on May 25, 33 A.D. in Acts 2, will last about 2,000 years, but we cannot be sure of the exact time

3. Tabernacles Age – Jesus will come again for the second time, the first resurrection of the barley overcomers will occur, they will receive glorified immortal bodies, they will reign with Jesus for 1,000 years

4. White Throne Judgment – the second resurrection will occur which includes everyone not risen in the first resurrection, both believers and non-believers, believers will receive stripes, non-believers will be thrown into the lake of fire to be purified

I want to make it clear that I am NOT trying to predict when the second coming will occur or any other events for that matter. I am simply interpreting the Bible based on the facts we know. I believe it is good to understand a general timeline of how God works, but we should leave the details and specifics for God alone.

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