Matthew 25:14  For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.
15  And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.
16  Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents.
17  And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two.
18  But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money.
19  After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.
20  And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.
21  His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
22  He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them.
23  His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
24  Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:
25  And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.
26  His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:
27  Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.
28  Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.
29  For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.
30  And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Jesus continued to describe what the situation would be like at the end of the Tribulation. Jesus again pointed to what the kingdom of heaven is like. This is not the church. This is in relation to the nation of Israel after the true churches are removed from the earth. We have a picture again of the Lord Jesus Christ giving each person the ability to use what God gives them for His glory.
In verse 19 we are told that the lord of those servants is coming back to reckon with them. We know that the majority of the Jews rejected Jesus Christ at His first coming. We know that they called for His crucifixion. We know that the Jews were still fighting against the truth in the book of Acts. We also know that to this day, the nation of Israel does not accept the Lord Jesus Christ as the Messiah. Many Jews will not even read Isaiah 53 because they reject the fact that the Messiah and King could have to suffer first. They forget that before David, who was already anointed as king, could be crowned as king, suffered at the hands of wicked King Saul. After being crowned as king, David was blessed by God and he was able to give the nation of Israel some of her best years. We know that Solomon was blessed with the privilege of directing the building of the Temple. Solomon was given great wealth by God. However, the peace that Solomon enjoyed in the kingdom was due to God’s blessing to his father, king David. Before Solomon died, that peace was beginning to be eroded because Solomon chose to follow his lusts and married 700 wives and had 300 concubines. The Bible tells us that these foreign wives turned his heart away from God.
Jesus Christ is better as we have seen in the book of Hebrews. He is of the lineage of David, but He is without sin. He assigned gifts to His servants and expected them to use those gifts to advance His will and Word in the world.
In this parable we see that the lord gave talents to his servants as he saw fit. The lord has the right to do that. We read that the servant who received five talents doubled his talents to ten. The servant who received two talents doubled them to four talents. The lord was pleased with the stewardship of these servants. He rewarded them with blessings that were of greater value than that of the talents. These servants entered into the joy of the lord. Notice that the lord owned the talents. The lord was in charge of the servants. The lord also owned the joy. The servants were blessed in humbly honouring their lord and realizing that in honouring Him, they would benefit. Without His gifts, they could not have done what they did and they could not have been rewarded as they were.
The third servant was given one talent and rather than expanding on that talent, we are told that he went and buried it. He did not even simply put it out to the exchangers so that they could have increased its worth. This man claimed that the lord was an unjust man who expected things in an unjust manner. This servant was a picture of those who rejected Jesus Christ as the Messiah in His first coming and also rejected Him as Saviour and king at His second coming. The lord of this servant was rightly deeply dissatisfied with the way this servant viewed him and how he managed that which he had been given. There was no way he could be rewarded in any sense. He was judged and cast into outer darkness.
We see again in this parable that application can be made to any generation. The Word of God teaches the importance of salvation and then of faithfulness to the Lord. Abel pictured that. Noah walked with God and found grace in the eyes of the Lord. We can see this throughout the Bible.
God blesses all people with the necessary information to know His peace and blessing. We have noted in the past that in every generation there have been false teachers who have spun a lie and we have also noted that in every generation there are more people who follow the lie than there are those who follow the truth. God knows what each of His children is capable of and He blesses each of His children with that which they can handle. He provides all that is necessary for them to be successful. There are those who reject Him and refuse to serve Him. They take that which He offers to them and they bury it. There are those who take what He gives them and get saved and serve Him.
The immediate context to this passage is to the nation of Israel. The nation of Israel was chosen in Abraham and they were blessed with protection from God as they developed into a great nation. God blessed them with Godly prophets who taught them the truth. God blessed them with Godly kings who honoured Him. Sadly, over time there were more false prophets than there were true prophets. Sadly many of the kings chose to either try to mix what the true prophets said with what the false prophets said or they outright rejected the true prophets and persecuted them.
At the time of Christ, the Pharisees and Sadducees were the main religious leaders. They were deceivers and they used coercion to keep the people in their grip. A few people did not bow to that coercion, but most did. In the time of the apostles, some people got saved and churches were established. Over time, many of the churches were corrupted and to this day, there is far more corruption than there is truth. If we are honest, we (those who are truly saved) all have to admit that we do not submit to the authority of God’s Word as we should. The Word of God teaches us that we are all born as lost sinners and that we are all bound for hell. The Bible teaches us that salvation is a gift of God that provides eternal life for the recipients of that gift. God requires faithfulness of His children.
The Lord Jesus Christ came the first time to lay down His life for the sheep. John 1:11 declares:

John 1:11  He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
12  But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
13  Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Many of the Jews rejected Him. The Tribulation time will be a time that God will use to focus in on the nation of Israel. The church will be removed prior to that event and God will focus on showing the nation of Israel that He is the true God. By the end of that time, there will be a group of Jews that will turn in repentance to the Lord and be saved. Jesus Christ will judge the nations at His return to earth and the saved will enter the Millennium and the lost will be cast into hell. The exception will be the antichrist and the false prophet as well as the devil himself. The antichrist and the false prophet will be cast directly into the lake of fire. The devil will be bound with a chain and cast into the bottomless pit for 1,000 years.
In the context of our text, the saved Jews will be blessed and rewarded according to their faithfulness to the Lord. Again, this is not teaching works salvation. It is teaching rewards for faithfulness for those who are saved.
If we keep the context in mind, we can understand these parables as they were intended. If we reject the context, we come up with many theories and we do a great injustice to the sure Word of God. God gives us many warnings regarding the importance of knowing Him and then of being faithful to Him. The wise person pays attention to what God says and responds in obedience to God’s Word and seeks to serve God faithfully. That is the place of blessing. The Bible teaches that throughout. Don’t miss out on His blessings. Submit to Him and know His blessings.
Pastor Bartel