52. Ruler
Matthew 24:46-47 Blessed is that servant whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him rulerover all his goods.
Matthew 25:21,23 His Lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee rulerover many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.
This conditional promise is for faithful servants who faithfully carry out God’s will and commands. Those who are faithfully going about their called ministry and being faithful to the few things God called them to will be made rulers over many things of God. These faithful servants will enter into the joy of the Lord. There is a direct causation between being a faithful servant over a few things and a ruler over many things; being faithful today directly results in responsible oversight later. This general truth is applicable to living and growing up: when one learns to responsibly handle a few small tasks he is granted oversight of many larger ones.
This temporal life becomes a testing lab or proving ground for the heavy-duty responsibilities of governing the new heaven and new earth in eternity. What we learn here carries over to there.
Every human sinner wants to have the authority to make their own decisions and govern their own affairs according to whether it seems good or bad for them. This basic sin led Adam and Eve to want to be like God in the sense of running their lives. All human beings want to run their own lives; some want to run other people’s lives as well, but for the benefit of the ruler himself. And the more power the better: sin, strife and war results.
God gave the desire and authority to rule to Adam, but Satan turned it into a desire to rule others for his own selfish benefit. The ability and desire to rule over others for the blessing and benefit of the governed is so rare as to be non-existent. God is going to do the impossible and give transformed sinners the ruling and governing authority to run many things for the good of others. Selfish sinners cannot be allowed to rule the new heaven and new earth; therefore, transformation through death and resurrection is essential.
This is clear: God’s children will rule. This is not clear: what or who will they rule? It seems they will rule their own lives under God; they will rule each other in mutual love and trust; they will rule the animate and inanimate new Creation; and clearly, they will rule for the good and positive benefit of other people in perfect love. We can understand the beneficial rule of parents who have authority over their children to raise them well. For this they need wisdom and love. We also understand the abuse of this parental authority for the harm of their children. But it is still unclear to us what Jesus means by making us rulers of “all His goods” and rulers over “many things. But the promise is clear: we shall be made rulers. This means He will give us the love and wisdom to do so. For the present He will make us faithful servants. He is equipping us now; this training is implied in the promise to rule.