Will You Be Ruling Over Ten Cities?

In my last post, I discussed how Herbert Armstrong confused human notions about governance and the exercise of authority with God's conception of those things. Indeed, we demonstrated that his failure to comprehend the profound differences between the two models led him to twist the meaning of the Kingdom of God! To be more precise, we made it very clear that Armstrong's emphasis on GOVERNMENT and RULERSHIP was misguided, and it twisted his understanding of what the Gospel of the Kingdom of God was all about. In this post, we will demonstrate that it also twisted his understanding of one of Christ's parables about the Kingdom (It actually twisted Armstrong's understanding of many parables, but we don't have the space or time to go through all of them here).

In the nineteenth chapter of Luke, we read:

11 The crowd was listening to everything Jesus said. And because he was nearing Jerusalem, he told them a story to correct the impression that the Kingdom of God would begin right away. 12 He said, “A nobleman was called away to a distant empire to be crowned king and then return. 13 Before he left, he called together ten of his servants and divided among them ten pounds of silver, saying, ‘Invest this for me while I am gone.’ 14 But his people hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We do not want him to be our king.’

15 “After he was crowned king, he returned and called in the servants to whom he had given the money. He wanted to find out what their profits were. 16 The first servant reported, ‘Master, I invested your money and made ten times the original amount!’

17 ‘Well done!’ the king exclaimed. ‘You are a good servant. You have been faithful with the little I entrusted to you, so you will be governor of ten cities as your reward.’

18 “The next servant reported, ‘Master, I invested your money and made five times the original amount.’

19 ‘Well done!’ the king said. ‘You will be governor over five cities.’

20 “But the third servant brought back only the original amount of money and said, ‘Master, I hid your money and kept it safe. 21 I was afraid because you are a hard man to deal with, taking what isn’t yours and harvesting crops you didn’t plant.’

22 ‘You wicked servant!’ the king roared. ‘Your own words condemn you. If you knew that I’m a hard man who takes what isn’t mine and harvests crops I didn’t plant, 23 why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.’

24 “Then, turning to the others standing nearby, the king ordered, ‘Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one who has ten pounds.’

25 ‘But, master,’ they said, ‘he already has ten pounds!’

26 ‘Yes,’ the king replied, ‘and to those who use well what they are given, even more will be given. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. 27 And as for these enemies of mine who didn’t want me to be their king—bring them in and execute them right here in front of me.’”

In his explanation of this parable, Herbert Armstrong wrote: "Now notice in verse 17, the one who had gained ten pounds is given authority to RULE CITIES - 'have thou authority over ten cities'! To the one who had gained five pounds, he said, 'Be thou also over five cities.' This is speaking of the SECOND COMING OF CHRIST and of His delegating authority to rule to saints converted during this Christian era, between Christ's first and second appearings (sic) on earth. This parable, then, was spoken to make clear to us that the Kingdom of God is a literal GOVERNMENT, to be set up AT CHRIST'S SECOND COMING - and not before!" - Just What Do You Mean - Kingdom of God? Armstrong also observed on another occasion "Some resurrected saints will rule over ten cities, some over five (Luke 19: 17 -19)." - Tomorrow - What It Will Be Like

Unfortunately, Mr. Armstrong always had trouble interpreting symbolism because of his obsession with literalism. He seems to have forgotten what a parable is! In their article, What is a Parable? Christianity.com provides this definition of a parable: "A parable is a simple story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson, as told by Jesus in the Gospels. The word "parable" comes from the Greek word 'parabolē,' which means 'comparison' or 'illustration.' Parables typically employ everyday situations and characters, making them accessible to a wide audience." In the writings of Herbert Armstrong referenced in the preceding paragraph, he seemed to understand that the nobleman represented Christ, but he quickly abandons any notion of symbolic meaning and declares that this passage means that resurrect saints will be ruling over literal cities in God's Kingdom! In other words, he is making the parable conform to his understanding that the Kingdom of God is all about "GOVERNMENT."

Now, let's return to the parable itself and reread it without Mr. Armstrong's obvious bias. According to Luke, why did Jesus give this parable? Didn't he tell them this story "to correct the impression that the Kingdom of God would begin right away?" Isn't it obvious that Christ's disciples had the same obsession with a literal, human-like kingdom that Herbert Armstrong developed? Didn't Christ's disciples think in terms of Christ overthrowing Roman rule and restoring the Davidic Kingdom? In this connection, please review Acts 1:6-8. Do you think that the parable is about actual money being distributed to Christ's disciples? Is it possible that the story is pointing to the gifts of the Holy Spirit being distributed to them? Is it possible that the story is suggesting that those servants should be about the business of growing in grace and knowledge - developing the fruits of that Spirit which were entrusted to them? Is it possible that the story is suggesting that those individuals who have grown the most in love, kindness, and mercy will be the greatest in the Kingdom? Indeed, wouldn't such an interpretation be more consistent with our understanding of the definition of a parable? What do you think?

One more thing. All of this brings another passage of Scripture to mind. In the thirteenth chapter of Matthew, we read:

10 His disciples came and asked him, 'Why do you use parables when you talk to the people?'

11 He replied, 'You are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but others are not. 12 To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them. 13 That is why I use these parables, For they look, but they don’t really see. They hear, but they don’t really listen or understand.'" (Matthew 13:10-13, NLT)

Is it just me, or does that suggest anything to you about Herbert Armstrong's status as a disciple of Jesus Christ?