To the King! To the Restoration!

INTRO

To the King! To the Restoration!

Kingdom Tales/Tales of the Kingdom Trilogy

Follows a character known as Scarboy, an orphan, named for the horrible burns on his face, inflicted upon him from the evil denizens of the enchanted city.

The enchanted city is a town where everything is backwards. Night is day, day is night. Good is evil, evil is good. It is run by a great evil magician, known as the Enchanter.

Scarboy runs away with his brother from the evil Enchanter and his henchmen.

Outside the city he encounters a King, the rightful ruler of everything, including the enchanted city.

This King is unlike the enchanter who loves His people, yet also grows and challenges them to become who they were meant to be, not at all what Scarboy expects. In fact, Scarboy is given a new name, Hero, one He doesn’t believe true of himself.

But Hero is returned into Enchanted City, the place He just escaped, because anyone who finds the kingdom realizes that they are saved by the King not run away from the world, but to be the King’s man in it.

Working from the inside to serve His Lord, who sits enthroned even now. But He waits and works until the day the true King will return to Enchanted City. Return to defeat the Enchanter and restore the Enchanted City, making it new again, as it was meant to be, banishing the Enchanter forever.

Allegory

This form of storytelling is allegory

Literally means to speak figuratively but more specifically it is a story meant to use fictional figures to represent very real truths.

Something along the lines of CS Lewis’ Narnia.

Kingdom Tales

Tales of the Kingdom Trilogy

Good for ages 6-17

Teaches us truths of the Kingdom which we can then take others to the word to teach them the origin of the truth the allegory illustrates.

Parables

Jesus does something similar with Parables.

Stories “thrown alongside” a heavenly truth meant to reveal that truth to those seeking to understand it.

Jericho and Jesus’ Kingship

A good storyteller uses the audience and their own understanding

I. Unknown

Luke 19:11–27 (LSB)

I’m leaving for a bit, be ready

11 Now while they were listening to these things, Jesus went on to tell a parable, because He was near Jerusalem, and they thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately.

12 So He said, “A nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself, and then return.

A distant country

He going away, and the journey will be significant

The Command: Engage in Business

13 “And he called ten of his slaves, and gave them ten minas and said to them, ‘Engage in business until I come back.’

slaves

salves/servants

Ten minas

3 months wages

1/60th of a talent

The Hearts of the Servants and Citizens: “They hated Him; ‘We do not want this man reigning over us’”

14 “But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’

citizens

πολίτης

polis = city

everybody in the city.

angelic/spiritual and mankind

Lit. we don’t want this man to be king over us

They sent a delegation

representative/ambassador

they appointed someone over their rebellion

Guess what…nobody is stopping this King’s rule.

The Rewards for Faithful Service

15 “And it happened that when he returned, after receiving the kingdom, he ordered that these slaves, to whom he had given the money, be called to him so that he might know how much they had made in business.

Greater Return Means Greater Reward

16 “So the first appeared, saying, ‘Master, your mina has made ten minas more.’

17 “And he said to him, ‘Well done, good slave, because you have been faithful in a very little thing, you are to be in authority over ten cities.’

18 “Then the second came, saying, ‘Your mina, master, has made five minas.’

19 “And he said to him also, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’

No Return means No Reward

20 “Then another came, saying, ‘Master, here is your mina, which I kept put away in a cloth;

The unfaithful response is unfruitful labor

21 for I was afraid of you, because you are a strict man; you take up what you did not lay down and reap what you did not sow.’

Unfaithful response means judgment

22 “He said to him, ‘From your own mouth I will judge you, you worthless slave. Did you know that I am a strict man, taking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow?

This slave is in for judgment, from his own mouth

The judgment that awaits the enemies of God doesn’t come from Him, it comes from their own lips, their own hands, their own hearts.

Some people say “why does God send people to hell.” The answer is that God doesn’t send anyone to hell. Their own sin does that. Worse yet, their rescue is found in only one person, and Him they reject.

He disobeyed the master’s command

23 ‘Then why did you not put my money in the bank, and having come, I would have collected it with interest?’

Not only are you a wicked servant, but you are a foolish one.

24 “Then he said to the bystanders, ‘Take the mina away from him and give it to the one who has the ten minas.’

25 “And they said to him, ‘Master, he has ten minas already.’

26 ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more shall be given, but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away.

Equity

If everyone is given the same, certain people will always do better than others.

Some people, no matter how much they have will always abuse what they are given.

Eventually, it is better that others have what the wicked had so that good may come from the resources.

27 ‘But these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence.’”

Revelation 14:9–10 LSB

9 Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 and he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His rage, and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.