Question: What does the parable of the unforgiving servant teach us? If we as God's children are not ready to forgive others of their mistakes and debts, will God allow demons to torture us until we choose to pay our debts?
Answer: Greetings in the awesome name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior!
Parables are earthly stories told by Jesus to reveal the heavenly realities and truth that really matters, because knowing the truth can only set us all free from the earthly way of thinking and instead transform us all who are believers in to heavenly way of thinking (John 8:32).
Heavenly way of thinking is to think and see the way God sees our earthly life and situation through His eyes. Actually it is to see this temporal life on earth as a training ground of truth to actually inherit the eternal life in heaven with God (Rom 12:2; 2 Cor 4:18; 5:7).
These parables are not for the unsaved, even though they hear it, they will have a good time of a little intellectual stimulation or a short laugh, but the spiritual message behind it is exclusively given by God for the seeking disciple who will be able to understand it for the Glory of God, so that he or she might become a practitioner of truth to live it on earth!
Here we go and delve in to the parable,
"21 Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. 23 Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. 26 The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ 27 Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt. 28 “But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ 29 So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ 30 And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. 31 So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. 32 Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. 33 Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ 34 And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. 35 “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.”"
God's Family Business
When we come to God, we humble ourselves to tell him that we are sinners in need of the Savior who can save us from sin and death (Luke 18:9-14), God sees our faith and get pleased to save us from sin (Eph 2:8-9). In other words, we just came to God in desperation and asked him to forgive our sins and make us new, but God in His love chose to draw near to us, and that too not only forgive our sins but above all make us His children too (1 John 1:9; 2:12). O what a privilege!
God's family business is forgiveness. In fact, God gives and gives and forgives always, we as humans get, get and forget always. This is the saga of the whole human race since the fall of the first man our forefather Adam in to sin, after which we all became sinners not just by our choice, but by our birth itself (Rom 4:12, 19; 3:23; Psa 51:5; 58:3; Eph 2:3).
We are sinners not just because we sin, we sin because we are sinners by our very nature as the sons of our forefather first Adam (1 Cor 15:22). So what was God's idea to redeem us from sin and make us receive His eternal life? His plan was already in place even before the foundations of the world (Eph 1:4), which was sending His very own Son who had no sin nature to this earth and help him live a sinless life, and to sacrifice his life for humans like us to redeem us all through this ultimate sacrifice for all humanity to believe Him and receive eternal life (2 Cor 5:21; 1 Pet 2:22; Rev 13:8; 1 Cor 15:21-22, 23; Rom 8:15-16, 17-18, 19, 20-21). Hallelujah!
So we did not choose Christ to get saved just by accident or incident, Christ Jesus chose us in Him to get saved because of His love for us (John 15:16; 1 John 4:19). How did we get forgiveness? Is it just because we confessed our sins that we were forgiven? No, confession is just a means for the restoration of fellowship with God through Christ (1 John 1:7), but the ultimate reason we were forgiven is because Christ Himself willingly gave us His life sacrificially on the Cross first so that we could accept Him as our Lord and Savior of our life (Rev 13:8; Eph 4:32; 2:8-9).
So when God forgave, did he forgive just our past and present sins? Or the forgiveness of God includes our future sins too? God who knows the end from the beginning, to Him all of our sins were foreseeable, and therefore He is not surprised by our past, present and as well as our future sins (Isa 46:10). Because Christ died once and for all time for all of our sins, God's counsel has stood to do all His pleasures in the life of Jesus Christ, so that salvation for us and its righteous demand could be accomplished for the Glory of God (Heb 9:22, 12; John 19:28, 30; Rom 3:24, 25-26), because all of our sins of the past, present and future has been paid by Jesus, there is no longer an offering for sin because of God, once and for all time forgiving all of our sins in Christ Jesus (Heb 10:7, 10, 12, 14, 17-18). Hallelujah!
When we become a believer in Christ Jesus, all of our sins are forgiven by God forever and ever (Col 3:13), we are on our way to new earth and new heaven to be with God and Christ forever and ever for the Glory of God (2 Pet 3:12-13). When we are forgiven, we forgive others because of receiving His nature as we have all become a member of God's family to do His business (John 1:12; 2 Pet 1:3-4; Eph 4:32). Not only we preach and teach the forgiveness of sins to others who are in need of it (Luke 24:45-48), but we also do learn to practice more and more, to forgive the debts of others as God in Christ has already forgiven all our debts (Matt 6:12). Glory to God!
How Many Times Should I Forgive, How often Should I Forgive?
""21 Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.""
The context of the following Parable comes through the above questions that Peter the apostle asked to Jesus. Peter asks Jesus how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? We know that when others come to see that we are forgiving their mistakes, faults and debts easily, then they themselves get tempted to take advantage of our forgiving heart to irritate us and again sin against us a little more. If they still find that we forgive them of their mistakes that they have again made, they try to make a mockery of our forgiveness towards their sin and become bold enough to sin more and more against us which makes us look like a circus joker to them.
Understanding this nature of humans to take advantage of forgiveness, Peter the apostle expected Jesus to answer him back with a well balanced answer of a few times. But to Peter's surprise, Jesus says, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven." In other words, Jesus' answer does mean that He wants Peter to forgive his brother's sin not just seven perfect times, but even if he takes advantage of your forgiving heart, He wanted Peter to forgive seventy times seven which means infinite number of perfect forgiveness. Hallelujah!
People say , "To err is human; to forgive, divine," means that it is the nature of a human being to make mistakes, because humans are not perfect. However, forgiving someone for his mistakes is an imitation of the mercy of God. Of course, the idea is that it is good and moral to forgive people for their human failings.
As much as it is not in the nature of man to be perfect, still we all want to be perfect, in the same way, it is not in the nature of any human to forgive, but still we all need to forgive because God expects humans to forgive others just as He has chosen to forgive all the countless fault done by us humans, so that God could continue to supply good things in our lives so that we could enjoy God's life on this earth who are not worthy of it by sin nature.
If humans fails to forgive, then God starts to feel sorry and grieved for making man because it is to learn forgiveness by receiving it from Him that He has been created Him, and thus reflect His nature on earth without which violence will start to increase day by day to make it a living hell (Gen 6:11). The thoughts of humans will become evil and wicked more and more through sin if he chooses to live without reflecting the nature of God which is forgiveness (Gen 6:5-6).
So the bottom line is, even if a brother sins against us again and again, and comes again and again to say sorry with repentance for what he has done, we should choose to forgiven him of his sins towards us (Matt 18:15; Luke 17:3-4). In other words, we should be ready to always forgive others faults even when they do not turn up to ask sorry from their heart (Matt 5:23-26). Why we need to do this if this will make ourselves look like a joker to others? It is to keep ourselves from getting in to a prison of hate, malice and wrath which then day by day will grow and spring up to become a root of bitterness to cause trouble to our spiritual life, and thus defile our life to cause spiritual fornication which will deny us later from inheriting the blessings of repentance even if we seek at that time with tears (Heb 12:15-17). So it is better to bless others who sin against us and forgive them in our heart, to avoid ourselves getting caught in the prison of unforgiveness which will cause us to be kept away from the holy Presence of God because of lack of reverence towards it (Matt 5:43-48). The more we learn to forgive the debts of sins others do against us, the easier it is for us to connect to God because of walking in this perfect nature of God which is forgiving the sins of others which they do against us.
Remember saints of God, unforgiveness is like drinking poison yourself and waiting for the other person to die. The heaviest thing in your life you can carry is a grudge, which when left by itself will suck your life and bring you death. Never go to grave, much before time because of drinking the poison of unforgiveness to die a untimely death.
Praise the Lord!
Jesus Opens Up About How The Kingdom Of Heaven Works Positively With Forgiveness Through This Parable!
"23 Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. 26 The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ 27 Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt. 28 “But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ 29 So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ 30 And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. 31 So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. 32 Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. 33 Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ 34 And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. 35 “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.”"
In the above Parable, we see how the Kingdom of God works positively for a person with forgiveness and negatively against those who fail to forgive others. How often does a king will want to settle accounts with his servants? We can say as long as the king wants to show his glory to others, he will want to settle accounts with his servants. So here was a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants, and especially one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. Think about it, a talent is 6,000 denarii, or 20 years of daily wages for a six-day workweek. That means this servant actually owes the king 60 million days of wages, which is actually an infinite amount for him to pay back to the king.
But as we know he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. In spiritual life, how much do we owe God, we owe him an infinite amount of debt because of our sins (Rom 6:23). God tell us to pay him back according to the law, which tells us that we along with our family which includes our wife and children, will all be liable to pay up for our mistakes. We all as un-spiritual people, were sold as a slave to sin to pay our debts (Rom 7:14; 1 John 2:2).
Then we see, the servant therefore falling down before the king, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt. All humans seek to pay God back through their religious way of life, but in spite remain unsaved in their sin to get curses for it in their own lives and families (Gal 3:10). But thank God, for all those who ask God to forgive of their unpayable debts of sin through sincere repentance, God in his benevolent nature who is the master of that servant and also ours too will move with compassion, release us, and forgive us of the unpayable debt of sin to give us eternal life and thus release us from the fear of death (John 3:16; Heb 2:14-15). The servant who fell down before the king, received the goodness of the king because of His very own benevolent nature. In other words, we get saved from sin for eternal life to live with the King in His Heavenly jurisdiction and the Presence of His goodness and His Kingdom, but once we are saved to live with God through the restoration of His nature within us, He expects us to forgive others just as he had forgiven us of our sins in our own lives (Eph 4:32).
So Then What Happened To The Saved Servant Who Was Forgiven By God?
"28 “But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ 29 So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ 30 And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. 31 So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. 32 Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. 33 Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ 34 And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. 35 “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.”""
When we were forgiven by God, God expects us to forgive others just like he has forgiven us. So only 'forgiveness' is God's family business. But that servant who was forgiven by the King, went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred days wages. That servant fell down at his feet and begged him to have patience with him so that he could be able to pay soon. See how he reacts to his subordinate servant who owed him so little? First of all he does not want to forgive the debts of his servant but instead threw him up in to the prison of bitterness against him, till he will be able to pay the debt he owes to him.
Every fellow servant who reports of such unforgiveness to God the king, whether it is the senior servant of God or junior who holds unforgiveness in their heart does not matter much, but rather will be taken seriously and dealt with His chastisement until that unforgiving person repents of his unforgiveness towards that fellow servant in prison (Heb 12:3-11, 12-17).
Putting the other person in prison is to offend the offender by defending ourselves through vengeance (Heb 10:29-30). God says that vengeance belongs to him as he is the king and we are the servant (Rom 12:18-19). God gets the glory when he executes vengeance for us in His time, which will be the perfect time for us too. But when we try to execute vengeance through anger, it never fulfills the righteous requirement of God to continue to bless us in our life (Jam 1:20).
So when the king heard what has happened through his forgiven servant to the imprisoned servant of his, he too must have felt grieved in his heart and said to the unforgiving servant, 'Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?' In other words, when God forgives us and saves us from sin, he expects us to forgive the sinners who sin against us because we have received his very own nature as his dear children. The unforgiving servant has no valid reason to say before God because of the infinite amount of debt that God has already forgiven him by saving him from sin to make him his servant to serve him. Serving God after salvation is a privilege given specially because of the compassion and pity that he had on sinners like us who pleaded him to forgive us (Eph 2:1-10). We are saved to serve him all the days of our earthly life and thereafter in our heavenly life too!
So for a saved person, no reason can ever be a valid reason for him to remain in unforgiveness, because of the uncomparable amount of debt for sins which he had been forgiven by God through the payment He had made through the sinless life of his very own Son, Jesus the Christ to redeem us, and save us from death which is the rightful wages of sin (2 Cor 5:21)!
Finally God is angry when we remain in unforgiveness and will surely deliver us to demonic torturers to torment us on earth, because of our bitterness against our fellow humans who have offended us and are in debt to us. Remember, the torture in this life will go on until we pay up what was due of us, which is to forgive our fellow human servant who are in debt towards us because of their sin against us. In short, until we choose to forgive others of their fault, our fault of unforgiveness will be kept against us.
I have seen personally in my life and in other believers life, when those who have failed to forgive their husband, wife, son or daughter or relatives or strangers or neighbors of their faults and sin against them, went to the extent of dying miserably in their unforgiveness which must have been a untimely death, and a miserable one too in their lives. Let us let go of all unforgiveness in to the hands of God, who will help us to forgive others when we ask Him to give us His strength. God always without fail will give grace to the humble so that they will never stumble in their lives (1 Pet 5:5). Praise the Lord!
Have we forgiven all the debts of all who have sinned against us day in day out before that end of that day, before the lights could go off in our home (Matt 6:11-12; Eph 4:25-27)? If we have failed to forgive others of their sins against us after the end of that day, we have already given place to the devil to gain control with a foot of his inside the house of our body which is the temple of God. So let us keep our slate clean by forgiving others before we go to the bed to sleep overnight. O Lord help us!
When the Father in Heaven fails to forgive our sins because of our unforgiveness, the devil will have a open door to attack our lives because of the lack of the presence and power of God. May we always remain loyal to our Heavenly Father and be like him in forgiving others of their sins and faults done against us, so that through our lives God will be glorified in all things. Hallelujah!
Only when we live like Jesus, God will be glorified the most through our saved lives. Forgiveness is mandatory for every citizen to continue to live in the Kingdom blessing of Heaven by remaining in the Presence of God! GLORY!
Forgive others no matter what, because remember no matter what, you are already forgiven by God!
Much Blessings...
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