I don’t claim to be any sort of Bible scholar — after all, it’s been relatively recent that I started to come to a place where I could intelligently discuss scripture. But one thing that always grinds my gears is when I see scripture taken blatantly out of context.

Perhaps the biggest offending scripture is Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” It is a very endearing verse! But what’s ignored time and time again are the verses that come before and after:

“10 For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.”

When you read the immediate verse before and the verses after (and I added bold for emphasis), a much different picture is painted than that you often find in prosperity-based or Word of Faith churches. Jeremiah 29:11 is not a promise for all believers that God will bestow blessings upon believers and that they’ll live a cushy life. (In fact, Jesus promises the opposite in John 16:33: “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”) No, this is a promise to an exiled Israel, which had been captured by King Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians. This was a specific promise to a specific people in a specific time. It was a prophetic word from Jeremiah, calling the Israelites back to the Lord. Does it show God’s heart? Absolutely! But not every moment that shows God’s heart in the Word is a promise to us — especially if it aligns more with man-made desires (of the flesh) rather than desires aligned with Him. (Psalm 37:4 — which is another verse that often gets misused.)

But the focus of my writing here isn’t just to point out the erroneous ways that humans use scripture to bolster their own fleshly desires — it’s actually a wonderful revelation.

The church of Laodicea

Before I get to the revelation, I want to go to another widely misused section of the Word — Revelation 3:14-16. Let’s look at the section before we delve further:

“14 And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation. 15 ‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.”

This section is often utilized to describe ‘lukewarm Christians,’ that is, believers who do not have enough zeal for Christ. But that’s not what this section is saying at all.

Laodicea was in modern-day Turkey, in between the cities of Hierapolis (which had medicinal hot springs) and Colossae (which had refreshing cold waters). Laodicea, which was a very rich city, piped in water from both cities, but by the time the water reached the vicinity, it was neither hot nor cold. Thus, it had lost the medicinal, healing qualities and wasn’t good for that, nor was it good for refreshment. It was useless — because it was too far away from the source.

Given the copious warnings throughout the Gospels and Epistles of false teachers, a lack of zeal wasn’t the concern. Just as Jesus warned of wolves in sheep’s clothing, Paul warned of deceitful men infiltrating the church, proliferating a gospel different than that which he had preached. To have zeal for a false gospel? Well, that’s a lukewarm Christian, because they’re far away from the source. There are plenty of adherants to false teaching in the church (like the prosperity gospel and Word of Faith) who are filled with zeal, but the things they’re praying for and about are centered on self, not on Jesus (love of God), or on personal sacrifice (love of neighbor).

If you read, in particular, the Pauline Epistles, do you get a sense of overall zeal? I certainly don’t. At least not in terms of Paul being overtly joyful and speaking in similar platitudes you might see on Sunday mornings (but perhaps not the rest of the week). No, conversely, you see a man troubled by the proverbial thorn in his side, tired and weary, but enduring to the end, living to win the race in which he had entered, starting on the road to Damascus.

Now that we’ve gone through some exegesis of Revelation 3, that brings me to the — well — revelation.

The parable of talents

I give full credit here to Pastor Carl at Freedom Center Church who shared this with us in small group this week. We were studying the parable of the 10 virgins and the parable of the talents in Matthew 25. As a quick recap: the parable of the 10 virgins is about the bridesmaids waiting for the bridegroom. Five had oil for their lamps, and five did not. The bridegroom came about suddenly and the wedding party was set to begin, and the five who didn’t have oil begged the other five to sell them some of theirs, and they declined. So they left to find oil, and by the time they came back, the bridegroom said, “Truly I say to you, I do not know you.” (Matt. 25:12) That’s some scary stuff. The lesson here is pretty straightforward: we must be prepared for Jesus’s coming and cannot wait until the last moment to be ready for Him.

But the parable of the talents is a different deal. To recap the premise:

“14 For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. 15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.” (Matt. 25:14-15)

In summary, the one who he gave five talents to had invested them during the master’s absence, and he produced five more in addition. The same of the one to whom he gave two talents. But to the servant he had given one talent? He buried it, for:

“24 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’” (Matt. 25:24-25)

Many (myself included) had interpreted this parable as saying we should be wise with what God has entrusted us with. There is some truth to that. However, there are two things we should pay attention to here (again, thank you, Pastor Carl!) — the lesson actually starts in Matthew 24 as Jesus is preaching about what to expect at the second coming, and He continues from the 10 virgins to the parable of talents. How do we know this? The prepositional beginning in Matthew 25:14: “For it will be like a man…” It’s a continuation of a theme.

So, with that in mind, the parable of the 10 virgins is the what — be ready, because He is coming like a thief in the night — whereas the parable of the talents is the why. The ending of the parable of the talents is the third servant being thrown outside the gates, where ‘there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ Why? Well, two of the three servants knew the heart of their master and acted accordingly. They were close to the source. The third, however, did not understand the heart of the master at all and acted out of misplaced fear. But he was still a servant (much like all 10 virgins were guests of the wedding party). These were followers, or believers, so to speak. But the five virgins foolishly weren’t ready, while one of three servants was too far away from the source to understand what his role or purpose was.

Context is key

I had always missed that prepositional statement at the beginning of the parable of the talents. I only came to know the geography of the church of Laodicea in recent months. This is why it’s important to truly study the scripture and not lean on our own understanding. (Prov. 3:5) Because, without the guidance of the Holy Spirit and servants who have been graced with the Heavenly gifts of knowledge, wisdom, discernment, and teaching, we can interpret the Bible to say any number of things that actually aren’t the purpose of it. Therefore (and Biblically, we should always ask, ‘What’s the therefore there for?’), delve deep, pray and meditate on what you read, get into a church community that is centered on the cross and the Bible, and never stop seeking His eternal wisdom.

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jer. 17:9)