What the Bible says about Parable of the Thief
(From Forerunner Commentary)
Parables of the Olivet Prophecy
Parable Verses Lesson Fig Tree
Though the exact time only God knows, one can know the signs of Christ's return.
Thief
Always be prepared for His coming.
Faithful and True Servants
God's servants must be faithful and wise in carrying out their responsibilities and relationships in the Body of Christ.
Ten Virgins
Christians must have constant contact with God to deepen their relationship with Him.
Talents
Christians must constantly work with and improve upon the gifts God has given.
Sheep and Goats
By serving fellow Christians, one serves his Savior.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The World, the Church, and Laodiceanism
The six parables of the Olivet Prophecy can be summarized in the following six principles:
- Though not knowing the day or hour of Christ's return, we can know the signs.
- God requires us to live in expectation with vigilance and constant watchfulness.
- God requires faithfulness to duty and wisdom in dealing with our fellow man.
- God requires preparedness through spiritual development, working on our relationship with Him, and increasing the Holy Spirit.
- God requires us to grow in the grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ (II Peter 3:18).
- Christ will judge us by how we treat Him and our brethren. We cannot fool the King—He can discern true love from false love. Nobody will pass under the rod through hypocrisy.
Jesus understood what the end time would be like, and thus He gave commensurate instruction on how to overcome it and how not to be drawn into this world's distractions. A Christian cannot afford to succumb to these pressure-packed, enervating, and distracting times that we live in. These God-given principles apply to a multitude of specific circumstances: how we conduct our marriages and careers, how we rear our children, how we run our homes, how we drive a car, how we dress, how we talk, how we entertain ourselves. In every case—always—the Kingdom of God covers all parts of our lives. It covers everything all the time for those who are called in this age.
We look to the future, but we live in the present. Are we living by what we believe? Are we truly living by faith? We look for a city whose builder is God, and as His representatives we witness for Him in the way we live our lives. The Laodicean is distracted—he is living by what he sees—and is useless to Christ because he is not a faithful and true witness. The righteous live by faith not by sight (II Corinthians 5:7). And so we must live and grow as the return of Christ nears day by day.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The World, the Church, and LaodiceanismRelated Topics: Duty | End Times | Jesus Christ's Return | Laodiceanism | Parable of the Faithful and True Servants | Parable of the Fig Tree | Parable of the Sheep and the Goats | Parable of the Talents | Parable of the Ten Virgins | Parable of the Thief | Preparedness | Prophecy, Olivet | Relationship with God | Relationships | Watching | Witness | Worldliness