In 14:25-35 we have the Lord’s teaching concerning how to follow Him. According to His word in verse 26, we need to hate anything or anyone that would frustrate us or distract us from the proper enjoyment of Christ. It is not the Lord’s intention to teach us to hate anyone. Rather, His intention is to teach us to hate the frustrations and distractions, to hate whatever would distract us or keep us from the enjoyment of Christ. The Lord, of course, teaches us to love others. Not only should we love the members of our family; we should even love our enemies. In fact, we also need to love ourselves. Therefore, the Lord teaches us to love everyone.
Why, then, does He in verse 26 apparently teach us to hate our father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, and even ourselves? The reason for His teaching here is that this kind of love often frustrates us from the proper and faithful enjoyment of Christ. What we should hate is the frustration, not any person. The Lord does not teach us to hate persons, but He does teach us to hate the distractions, frustrations, hindrances, and obstacles. He teaches us to hate whatever keeps us from following Him faithfully. If we do not have a hatred for what frustrates our enjoyment of Christ, we shall be disqualified from enjoying the jubilee in the coming age.
We should not follow the sugar-coated teachings common among today’s Christians which tell us that once we believe in the Lord Jesus we shall not have any problems. No doubt, the Lord’s salvation is eternal, complete, and perfect. Once we have been saved, we are saved eternally. Regarding eternal salvation we shall not have any problems. Nevertheless, in God’s economy there is an insertion in His eternal and perfect salvation, and this insertion is the thousand year period of the coming kingdom as a reward to the faithful believers. In His wisdom God has inserted this dispensational period of a thousand years as an incentive to encourage His children to enjoy Christ faithfully. He wants us faithfully to enjoy His rich preparation for us in Christ.
Because our Father knows that His children may be “naughty” and not faithfully enjoy Christ, He has made part of His full salvation an incentive and a reward. The reward of the millennial kingdom in the coming age should be an incentive to encourage us, warn us, and remind us to keep ourselves in the enjoyment of Christ today and to behave ourselves in this enjoyment. Otherwise, we shall be disciplined. This does not mean that we shall perish, that we shall be lost. Since we have been saved eternally, we shall never perish. Nevertheless, some of the Father’s children will need to suffer discipline during the coming age. Those children who suffer the Father’s discipline in the coming age will not cease to be His children. They will, of course, remain the Father’s children, but they will be children in need of discipline. This matter of God’s dispensational discipline of His children is clearly taught in the New Testament.
Many Christians have not seen that in 14:35 there are three places—the soil, the manure pile, and where the salt that is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile is thrown. A person who is truly saved and yet is not faithful in enjoying Christ will be fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile. Where, then, will such a believer be? According to the Lord’s word, he will be thrown out, that is, put aside or outside. In this chapter the Lord Jesus does not give all the details which are found elsewhere in the New Testament. However, it is clear that the salt that has become tasteless is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile, but will be thrown out to a third place.
We have seen that the soil signifies God’s farm, which is the church, and the church will issue in the coming kingdom. The manure pile, the dirtiest place in the universe, signifies hell, the lake of fire. To be sure, no saved person would be fit for such a place. But for what place will you be fit after the Lord Jesus comes back? You certainly will not be fit for hell, the manure pile, because the Lord’s blood has washed you and you have been saved. Will you, then, be fit for the kingdom? Your conscience may not allow you to say that you are fit for the kingdom. If this is your situation, you are fit neither for hell nor for the kingdom. This means that you are fit for a third place, a place of discipline. This is clearly and exactly taught here by the Lord’s word.
We are salt, and we should keep our taste and salt this corrupted world. Wherever we are we should kill and eliminate the corruption of the world. However, it is possible for us to lose our salting taste. If this is our situation, when the Lord Jesus comes, where shall we be? We shall be fit neither for the kingdom nor for hell. Salt that is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile will be thrown out of the glory of the coming kingdom. “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (v. 35b).
The Lord’s word in Luke 14 clearly reveals that in addition to God’s salvation there is the reward in the coming kingdom. Salvation is for us to enjoy today; the reward is for us to receive in the next age. There are no terms for receiving salvation, but there is a requirement for receiving the reward, and the requirement is that we enjoy Christ faithfully in this age at any cost. Otherwise, we shall be disqualified from the reward. We may be in the jubilee today, but, if we do not fulfill the requirement set down by the Lord, we shall miss the jubilee in the coming age. We need to be careful concerning this matter.
The intrinsic element of chapter fourteen is the jubilee. The jubilee has nothing to do with the old religion; rather, the jubilee breaks the regulations of religion. Next, the jubilee requires that we accept God’s invitation and take what He offers us so that we may be saved to enjoy His rich Christ. Now we need to be faithful in enjoying Christ. If we are not faithful to enjoy Christ today, we shall be disqualified from the coming jubilee, which will be a reward in the millennial kingdom.