“Teacher, what must I do to receive eternal life?” Jesus replied, ‘What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?’ The man answered, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ‘Right!’ Jesus told him. ‘Do this and you will live!’ The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’”(Luke 10:25-29, NLT)

In order to know whether or not the Body of Christ is benefiting from the CHURCH’s God-given spiritual resources, believers must know whether or not they have made a sound investment in the Kingdom of God—know whether or not they have accepted and followed the best investment plan that will earn them their sought after heavenly rewards. Christ teaches His believers that the best investment plan that will earn them their sought after heavenly rewards is the Kingdom of Heaven plan. Following the Kingdom of Heaven plan is the only way that believers can achieve God’s global perspectives, which are that His sons and daughters worship Him in Spirit and in Truth, evangelize and disciple the entire world, and minister to and fellowship with their brothers and sisters in Christ.

To this end, Christ also teaches His believers that they must have in their spiritual investment portfolios the kinds of treasurers that will be stored up in Heaven. Thus, their spiritual investment portfolios must have in them ONLY the loving, merciful, compassionate, and righteous “good” works that they have done for Christ. In other words, Christ’s believers must have invested their God given spiritual gifts in the Kingdom of Heaven by using their spiritual gifts to worship God in Spirit and in Truth, to lead spiritually lost individuals to Christ, and to admonish, encourage, and exhort (to come beside and support those called by God) believers in Christ.

Now, for believers to know whether or not they lovingly, mercifully, compassionately, and righteously are correcting (admonishing) and/or teaching others about the need to have their sinful and evil seeds uprooted, and for believers to know whether or not they concurrently are uplifting and encouraging spiritually immature and/or mature believers to invest their holy, righteous, and good seeds in the Kingdom of God, these believers need to revisit the Good Samaritan Parable. Although the Good Samaritan Parable makes multiple points of connection between the narrative and its meaning, Christ primarily is teaching about the kinds of godly characteristics (investments) Kingdom of Heaven individuals must sow/make. He teaches about Kingdom of Heaven investments by comparing the Good Samaritan’s godly characteristics to the behaviors of a certain priest and a certain Levite. This Good Samaritan Parable, therefore, not only answers the “certain” lawyer’s question about his neighbor but also answers the certain lawyer’s question about eternal life.

The setting for this Good Samaritan Parable is the time of Christ’s final journey to Jerusalem (cf. Luke 9:51-56). To prepare for His appearance in a Samaritan village, Christ sends His messengers ahead of Him into the Province of Samaria, which is located in the center of Israel. In Samaria, Christ’s disciples are to make sure that the Samaritan villagers are ready for Christ’s arrival.

When the Samaritan villagers refuse to receive Christ, because His travel plans included going to Jerusalem, His disciples, James and John (the sons of Zebedee, a.k.a., sons of thunder), respond to the Samaritan villagers’ refusal with righteous indignation. These two disciples seek Christ’s permission to punish the Samaritan villagers for the way they were disrespecting Christ. Instead of dignifying His two devotees’ cry for vengeance, Christ decides to enter another village.

While He continues His journey to Jerusalem, Christ teaches all of His disciples (the original 12 plus the additional 70) about His heavenly purpose to save men, rather than to destroy them (cf. Luke 9:51-62 and Luke 10:1-24). Christ’s final journey to Jerusalem, then, is about the Lord intentionally spending His last days before His crucifixion looking for people in need of His help, which is why He goes to where the “certain man” in the Good Samaritan Parable has fallen. For this reason, Christ’s life and ultimate death, burial, and resurrection are ALL about His heavenly mission to rescue and care for dying mankind—humans who are half-dead (born to experience the first death but who could avoid the second death of being permanently separated from God).

By Divine Design, in the context of Luke 10:25, as Christ’s Judean ministry ends and as His final journey to Jerusalem draws near to completion, it is at this time that a “certain lawyer”—a student and an interpreter of the Mosaic Law—engages Christ in a discussion about the Law. Christ uses this opportunity to highlight for this “certain lawyer” and his Pharisaical supporters (cf. Matthew 22:34) the unholy and unrighteous behaviors of a “certain Jewish priest” and a “certain Jewish Levite.” Christ also takes this time to enlighten His entire audience about the holy and righteous behaviors of a “certain despised Samaritan.” Thus, through Christ’s teaching, readers learn that He not only is educating His the first-century Jewish audience but also His twenty-first century Holy Bible readers.

The “expert in religious law” (Luke 10:25, NLT) or “certain lawyer” (in the KJV) is either a Scribe (one who is a teacher of the Mosaic Law) or a Pharisee (one who is a career devotee of the Mosaic Law who mainly emphasizes the conscientious fulfillment of that Law). At any rate, this “certain lawyer” asks Christ: “Teacher, what must I do to receive eternal life” (Luke 10:25b)? Christ, who is filled with the Holy Spirit (cf. Luke 10:21, NLT), knows that this “certain lawyer’s” objective is to set a trap for Him. That is why Christ asks this “certain lawyer” to tell Him his interpretations of the Law that pertain to eternal life (cf. Luke 10:26). In doing so, Christ foils the certain lawyer’s objective by putting this religious law expert in the very hot seat he sought to put Christ.

To Christ’s Luke 10:26 question, this “certain lawyer” responds by quoting Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18b. These Scriptures are found in the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Holy Bible, which are attributed to Moses; these five books also are called the Torah Law. Quoting the Torah Law, the religious law expert confidently answers Jesus with: “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Luke 10:27, NLT). Christ then tells him that he has given the correct answer; however, in an attempt to justify his own evil wishes to tempt Christ, the “certain lawyer” asks Christ this follow-up question: “And who is my neighbor” (Luke 10:29b, NLT)? In a response to the religious expert’s first and second question, Christ gives the illustration of the Good Samaritan—an illustration about an involved neighbor who invests wisely in the Kingdom of God and, thus, obtains eternal life!

By showing the obvious differences between the certain Samaritan’s actions and the two certain Jewish religious leaders’ actions, Christ proves that the Good Samaritan’s treatment of the physically and spiritually beaten, robbed, undressed (stripped of grace’s covering), and fallen (subject to sin and mortality) “certain man” is better than the treatment this “certain man” receives from the two Jewish religious leaders. Allegorically, Christ (the GOOD SAMARITAN) is comparing the godly characteristics that He displays during His final trip from the Promised Land’s sin city (Jericho) to the Promised Land’s city of peace (Jerusalem) with the Jewish priest and Levite’s displayed ungodly characteristics. In doing so, Christ proves that His characteristics far exceed the Jewish priest and Levite’s hypocritical righteousness, holiness, and goodness, because their response to the beaten, robbed, undressed, and fallen “certain man” was anything but godly behavior (cf. Luke 10:30-37). Indeed, in the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Christ is saying that He is the ONLY One of these three men of God who is able to have “…compassion on…” (Luke 10:33b) the beaten, robbed, undressed, and fallen “certain man.” Ironically, Christ also is saying that His kind of compassion is what initiates the Passion of Christ.

At the beginning of the Good Samaritan Parable, Christ says: “…A Jewish man was traveling on a trip from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes and money, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road” (Luke 10:30, NLT). This Jewish “certain man” (KJV) symbolically represents the fallen Adam and the fallen Israel. This spiritual Truth is brought out through Christ’s allegory about this beaten, robbed, and fallen Jewish man.

Allegorically, the parable’s certain Jewish man symbolizes the seed of the first Adam—all men (and women) who have inherited Adam’s sin nature. For sure, the people in Christ’s day understood the word “man,” as used in the Good Samaritan parable, to mean “man,” “mankind,” or “men,” as well as “Adam.” Likewise, the people in Christ’s day also understood that the word “man” represents the rebellious and disobedient nation of Israel. Not only is this certain sinful Jewish man representative of a twice-fallen son of God, (the fallen first Adam and the fallen nation of Israel, as a whole), but also he is the prodigal son who has been seduced into leaving Jerusalem (God’s city of peace) for Jericho (a sin city). When the “Jewish man” (NLT) or “certain man” (KJV) allegory is extended to mean the “prodigal son,” then the word “man” also represents every human being who, while traveling through this world, is exposed to the risks and vicissitudes of daily life. Since humanity indisputably personifies the “prodigal sons and daughters” analogy, this parallelism is the reason why the Good Samaritan Parable’s meaning is relevant to 21^st century individuals.

Now, where the first Adam is concerned, Christ’s “certain man” metaphor presupposes (takes as fact) that the Good Samaritan Parable’s Adam (Jewish man/certain man) is the same Adam (son of God) who is kicked out of God’s Garden of Eden—God’s place of tranquility and peace from which the first Adam was to rule the whole world. As a result of the first Adam’s sin, Satan is permitted to rob him of his earthly right to rule this world. Thus, when God evicts this first Adam from the Garden of Eden, this Adam’s offspring (mankind) ends up traveling from one sin city (Jericho) to another. Along the way, this first Adam falls prey to spiritual and physical beatings—his judgment that ultimately ends with him being left alone to die.

Similarly, Christ’s “Jewish man” or “certain man” metaphor also presupposes (takes as fact) that the rebellious and disobedient Israelites (sons of God) have been robbed of their right to live in and rule over their own Promised Land. Historians write about the many Gentile nations that have conquered Israel, and these historians also reference the inestimable number of Hebrews whom these Gentile conquerors have carried off as their own “property.” Moreover, Jesus’ “Jewish man” or “certain man” metaphor also predicts a future banning of Hebrews from Israel, which happens in 70 A.D. and again in 135 A.D., when the Jewish people not only are robbed of their rights to control Israel but also are cutoff (exiled) from their Promised Land (more specifically, cutoff from Jerusalem, the city of God’s peace). Therefore, as a nation, Jewish people have wandered the world, traveling from one sin city to another. They not only have been dispersed throughout the world, but also they have been left vulnerable—susceptible not only to falling prey to spiritual and physical beatings but also to being left to die alone.

What’s more, the spiritual Truth as illustrated through Christ’s ironic comparison of Himself to a certain despised and rejected Samaritan presupposes (takes as fact) that Jesus is the Jewish second Adam who has been sent from Heaven (the place of everlasting bliss and the home of God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, angels, and the redeemed) to sojourn in a sinful land located in the center of the world. This comparison also presupposes (takes as fact) that this second Adam—God’s only begotten Son who comes in this world through Jewish roots—is to die in Jerusalem (God’s city of peace) for the sins of God’s fallen sons. He then is to be resurrected, and thereby regain dominion over the Earth that God had intended for the first Adam.

Therefore, the Good Samaritan Parable, which is Christ’s answer to the “certain lawyer’s” eternal life and neighbor questions, also reinforces the lessons the Lord teaches to His disciples about His ministry being that which concentrates on saving men, instead of destroying them. The parable shows how ONLY the holy, righteous, and obedient Son of God can provide the WAY for fallen humanity to be receive, once again, God’s Grace covering. Furthermore, the analogy of a certain involved, neighborly Samaritan and a Jewish second Adam is quite significant, considering how the term “Samaritan” almost always is used in Christ’s day as a derogatory word—a name of contempt and reproach to the Hebrews (cf. John 8:48). This traditional animosity between the Hebrews and the Samaritans explains why Christ’s disciples, James and John, become so angry with the Samaritan villagers that they wanted to wipe these Samaritans off the face of the Earth. Ironically, Christ uses this known hatred for Samaritans to show how someone who is despised of men can end up being the very person who not only invests His spiritual gifts in the Kingdom of Heaven but also fulfills God’s global perspectives and in so doing receives eternal life.

Now, the Samaritans are the Jewish people’s hated neighbors and the rivals of Jewish theocracy, primarily because Samaritans are only part Jewish, from their mother’s side of their family. This part Jewish fact is why the majority of the Jewish individuals in Christ’s time never accepted Christ as God’s Son. The fact that Christ does not have a legitimate earthly father whose ancestry is Jewish is the reason why the Jewish religious leaders, and their followers, call Christ a “Samaritan” (cf. John 8:48). In other words, they use the term “Samaritan” in the same manner that contemporary believers use the offensive word that is equivalent to the phrase “illegitimate son.”

When Christ Himself ironically uses the term “Samaritan” in connection with someone who does “good” instead of evil, His intention is to show that the Good Samaritan’s actions toward the certain Jewish fallen man are in keeping with both the letter and the intent (spirit) of the Mosaic Law, concerning loving “…thy neighbour as thyself…” (Leviticus 19:18b). For sure, the Jewish “certain lawyer,” and his Pharisaical supporters, know that the parable’s Good Samaritan demonstrates loving, compassionate and righteous actions that honor God, who blesses persons who bless His chosen people (cf. Genesis 12:3). The religious law expert also knows that behaviors that violate God’s commandments and behaviors that dishonor God’s character are not only sinful but also subject to God’s wrath. For this reason, it is these ungodly behaviors and characteristics that should be despised, and NOT the people who commit them. That’s why Christ, through the Good Samaritan Parable, also is teaching that people neither should despise other humans nor think more highly of themselves.

Christ’s parabolic illustration speaks deeply to our human souls about how we all have needed, and that some of us today still need, to be supernaturally rescued. Since we all need to be made godly pure and righteous in our spirits, souls and bodies, this is the reason why we should despise the “behaviors” of the Jewish priest and Levite and judged their “behaviors” as being impure, unloving, unmerciful, and uncompassionate. Because the despised Samaritan actually stops to help a hated neighbor and rival (a certain Jewish man), Christ uses the Good Samaritan’s actions to teach us that these actions are godly characteristics (mercy, forgiveness, love, compassion, and neighborliness [friendliness, consideration, kindness, hospitality, and so on]) that we must pursue instead of following the culturally accepted ethics of “looking the other way.”

Indeed, in spite of the fact that the Good Samaritan is the last person Christ’s Jewish audience would have expected to help the parable’s fallen man, the Jewish lawyer confirms that of the three men in the parable it is the despised Samaritan who is more like God. Christ’s own words confirm the irony of a hated Samaritan showing more love, mercy, forgiveness, kindness, compassion, and hospitality than the full-blooded Jewish religious leaders, when the Lord says that by: “…chance a Jewish priest came along; but when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. A Temple assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side. Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt deep pity” (Luke 10:31-33, NLT).

The Lord’s irony is so clear, because He shows us the big discrepancy in what the Jewish religious leaders teach as opposed to what they actually practice. The priest and Levite in this parable only come across the fallen, half-dead man by chance! Neither the priest nor the Levite is out looking for people who are in need of their help. For sure, they have not made a conscious decision to search for this man. Moreover, even after they come upon this “Jewish man” or “certain man” by chance, they make NO effort to put into practice the godly characteristics, which they have studied in the Law and taught in the Temple.

Now the priest in Christ’s Good Samaritan Parable is a descendant of Aaron, or a High Priest. Ironically, even though he is a High Priest, he does not have the power or authority to lead anyone to salvation. This priest, therefore, only has the Mosaic Law to offer this fallen certain Jewish man. This truth is why he meets the “Jewish man” or “certain man” by chance instead of on purpose. Because the Law could not meet the physical and spiritual needs of this fallen certain Jewish man (neither could show mercy to nor provide forgiveness for the fallen man’s sins), this High Priest has to pass by the fallen certain Jewish man, for CONDEMNATION is ALL that this priest could offer him.

Likewise, the Levite (or “temple assistant” in NLT) represents the three Levitical families, minus the High Priest descendants of Aaron. The Levites are priests who help the High Priest during Temple worship services. As such, the Levite’s expertise in the areas of Temple sacrifices, offerings, and incense burning also could not meet the physical and spiritual needs of the fallen certain Jewish man (could NOT provide any cleansing, atonement, or healing for this sin-filled man, and could NOT give eternal life to this disobedient and rebellious man). This truth is why the Levite comes upon the “Jewish man” or “certain man” by chance instead of on purpose. Ultimately, this Levite also has to pass by this certain Jewish man, for the BLOOD of SACRIFICED ANIMALS (doves, goats, bulls, heifers, and lambs) is ALL that this Levite could offer him.

Christ’s Good Samaritan illustration, therefore, teaches that the Jewish Law and the Jewish sacrifices, offerings, and/or incense burnings could NOT provide the original Grace (Glory) that once covered the first Adam who, rightly, had been stripped of his spiritual covering. The Jewish Law and the Jewish sacrifices, offerings, and/or incense burnings also could NOT provide the love, healing, mercy, forgiveness, regeneration, repentance, restoration, reconciliation, salvation, or sanctification that everyone who has fallen into sin needs in order to escape the death sentence—God’s appropriate judgment for sin. In short, the Jewish Law and the Jewish sacrifices, offerings, and incense burnings could NOT rescue (save) anyone or provide eternal life for anyone!

With this truth about the parable’s priest and Levite in mind, it should be easier to understand Christ’s detailed answer to the certain lawyer’s first question. Through Christ’s vivid descriptions of the Good Samaritan’s actions, Christ is telling the certain lawyer, his Pharisaical supporters, and all mankind that, unlike the priest and Levite, the Son of God is the ONLY One who is able to heal, save, and give eternal life. This fact is made evident through the healing process Christ (the Good Samaritan) uses on the parable’s certain Jewish man’s wounds—wounds that symbolize the pains of life, the travails of the soul, and the afflictions caused by diverse sins and vices.

Without doubt, it is ONLY Christ, the certain Samaritan, who can be both the final High Priest and the final sacrificial Lamb. He is the Head of the CHURCH and Lord over Her. That is why Christ is able to offer this certain Jewish man (and EVERY person) physical and spiritual healing, agape love, compassion, forgiveness, regeneration, restoration, sanctification, and eternal life. Christ makes this Truth clear, when He teaches that it is the Samaritan’s (Christ’s) own mercy, love, and compassion (bowels that are moved with deep, inner sympathy) for the fallen “Jewish man” or “certain man” that trigger the Samaritan’s (Christ’s) need to go “…to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine…” (Luke 10:34a, KJV).

After Christ (the Good Samaritan) kneels down beside the “Jewish man” or “certain man,” He pours healing “oil and wine” into the fallen man’s wounds. Then He dresses the fallen man’s wounds with His bandages of righteousness—with His love, faith, and hope bandages. In the New Living Translation, both “oil and wine” are referred to as “medicine.” The medicinal oil, then, is the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and the medicinal wine is the blood of Christ, which also is the New Testament Gospel of salvation. The Good Samaritan’s actions, thus, symbolize the initial regeneration of mankind’s spirit (being born again) and Christ’s atoning sacrifice. The anointing of the Holy Spirit’s oil—healing medicine—not only causes fallen mankind’s human spirits to be rejuvenated so that individuals will be receptive to receiving an eternal-life offer, but also the anointing of the Holy Spirit’s oil sanctifies (gradually hallows, makes holy) believers’ bodies and souls, after believers are obedient to the Will of the Father concerning surrendering their lives to Christ’s Lordship.

The healing that comes from the anointing of the Holy Spirit’s oil is the progressive transformation of believers’ bodies and souls, an ongoing conversion. He is changing (sanctifying) each old “man” into the new creation—changing each believer into the image of Christ and bringing each person to his or her final end of wholeness and perfection. This wholeness and perfection are better known as glorification, an instantaneous change from corruptible to incorruptible that will occur at the moment of the Rapture. Finally, the anointing of the Holy Spirit’s oil seals each true believer unto the day of redemption (until the moment he or she enters into the prophesied eternity with God).

What’s more, since Christ, as the Good Samaritan, is mankind’s final High Priest, and because He sacrifices Himself as the Passover Lamb, He becomes the final sacrificial Lamb. As such, His atoning blood or “wine” once and for all eternally cleanses condemned sinners of all of their sins and unrighteousness so that they can receive salvation and an eternal life with God. For these reasons, it is essential that humans come to know and understand that everyone’s eternal life with God comes from developing a loving and obedient relationship with Christ, through whom every sinner who accepts God’s saving grace is rescued from his or her spiritual dilemma—from fallen man’s sins and the wages thereof that every unregenerate, unrepentant unbeliever inherits because of the first Adam’s fall from grace. For sure, no one will ever be able to love God or any neighbor with any measure of pure, spiritual love, if that person has not been made a partaker of God’s saving grace.

For this last reason, the bottom-line answer that Christ (the Good Samaritan) gives the certain Jewish lawyer concerning who is his neighbor is also crucial to developing a loving and obedient relationship with Christ. Christ tells this interpreter of the Law, and today’s Christians, that a neighbor is any person who shows mercy, love, and compassion to every fallen individual with whom he or she comes in contact. Since Christ is the “certain” hated “Samaritan” (cf. John 8:48)—the rejected One who saves the parable’s fallen and beaten Jewish man’s life by being merciful, loving, and compassionate enough to take the time to meet the certain fallen man’s spiritual and physical needs—every believer has no other recourse but to do the same. When a person has accepted Christ as Savior and, therefore, is saved by Christ’s sacrificial work, that individual must be like Christ rather than like the religious leaders (priest and Levite) in the Good Samaritan Parable. Without a doubt, because the priest and Levite only have an outward religiosity, for inwardly they are spiritual naked, this spiritual nakedness is why they are totally unresponsive to the beaten, robbed, undressed, and fallen man’s spiritual and physical needs.

Jesus is our example. As Christ does, we, His believers, must do. Being an involved neighbor who lovingly shows mercy and compassion for every person (every neighbor) is what Christ maintains we should be doing. This Divine Truth is seen ever so clearly when Christ (the Good Samaritan) tells the “certain lawyer” to “…Go, and do thou likewise” (Luke 10:37b, KJV). Christ is instructing this interpreter of the Law who thought that he could tempt Christ with his questions on eternal life and neighbors that he must do the same as the Good Samaritan (as Christ). Christ also is telling His twenty-first century believers that they, too, must do like He has done—they must be Good Samaritans (neighbors) to every person, including their enemies or most-hated rivals.

Like Christ, we must take the time to attend to our neighbors’ physical and spiritual needs. We must take the time to seek out people who are in need and then deal with their needs/wounds. We must deal with every fallen, stripped, beaten and left to die sinner or backslider we meet by first and foremost offering each needy or wounded person our physical help. Next, we must minister to each person’s spiritual need to have the Holy Spirit’s oil and Jesus’ blood heal that person—to regenerate (to give that man or woman’s spirit new life from above), so that this person can receive salvation, deliverance, restoration, and sanctification.

We then must go the extra mile by lifting the needy/wounded person up from the ground and placing this individual’s burdens on our own shoulders. Like Christ, we must bear the infirmities of the weak, which Christ confirms when He describes what the Good Samaritan does after He pours oil and wine into the “Jewish man” or “certain man” and then bandages up his wounds. Our Lord says that the Good Samaritan (Christ) put the “Jewish man” or “certain man” on His donkey, a beast of burden that symbolizes Christ’s body, which bore our sins, took our places on the Cross, and endured the most horrendous physical abuse so that we ALL could be healed of our ailments and diseases.

We, thus, accomplish bearing the infirmities of the weak when we take on the responsibilities of getting beaten, robbed, undressed, and fallen individuals to a sanctuary where they can rest safely. When we see that people in need get to an “inn” located in a non-threatening environment like Jericho and its vicinities, then we will be just like the Good Samaritan who takes the fallen man to an “inn.”

The English word “inn” as used in Luke 10:34b is translated from the original Greek word, pandocei’on, which is transliterated as pandocheion. A pandocheion is any public house that is open to all people, like a wayside inn, a public shelter, or a hospital. “Inn,” however, also symbolizes Christ’s CHURCH—the spiritual haven where all ethnic groups (world travelers) can receive the necessary aid that will help them so that they will be able to continue their earthly journey that is taking them to their eternal home.

Therefore, unlike Jericho and its nearby communities, which represent some of the world’s deadliest locations, and unlike Jericho, which literally is the “lowest” city in the world, since it is both the place where some of the most miserable people in biblical times lived, as well as the city that is 800+ feet below sea level, the parable’s “inn” symbolizes any kind of place that offers safety and acceptance to everyone who wishes to enter its doors. Specifically, the Good Samaritan Parable’s “inn” symbolizes Christ’s CHURCH, the earthly refuge that offers EVERYONE relief from life’s distresses without having any regard for ethnicity; political, social or denominational predispositions; or any other distinctions. That’s why we should try to get the physically and spiritually needy/wounded persons we are helping into a local church where they can get the unadulterated Word of God. At the least, we should get the physically and spiritually needy/wounded persons to a safe haven like a Christian homeless shelter, or a halfway house, or a hospital, and so forth.

Then, we need to provide them with material, financial, emotional, and spiritual support until they have recovered fully from their needs or wounds, realizing that our giving will become the treasures we lay up in Heaven, where we will be compensated. At the judgment seat of Christ in Heaven is where we will receive our interest (our rewards) for the works we have done for Christ here on Earth, whether good or bad (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:10).

Christ makes our evangelistic and discipleship callings and our responsibilities to the needy very clear, when he says, in the Good Samaritan parable, that this Samaritan (Christ) put the fallen man: “…on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host; and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee” (Luke 10:34b-35; cf. Revelation 22:12, KJV). In essence, Christ is saying that we, like the Good Samaritan (Christ), must stay with our injured persons and personally take care of them during their first night spent at the “inn.” The implication here is that Christ, Himself, lovingly spent His last day with sinners and, after His death, burial, resurrection and ascension, left them in the care and keeping of the CHURCH until He returns. Christ’s (the Good Samaritan’s) actions, therefore, teach His disciples, and apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, and other spiritual leaders in Christ’s CHURCH, that they are responsible for providing the adequate nurturing and preserving of any delivered and redeemed soul, just like the parable’s “innkeeper” is responsible for the “Jewish man” or “certain man.”

Before the crucified, buried, and resurrected Christ ascended up into Heaven, He puts His believers in charge of the Great Commission and the daily development and revitalization of His CHURCH, duties that are represented in the Good Samaritan Parable. Moreover, when Christ gives the “host” or “innkeeper” in Luke 10:35 two pence, an amount that equals 2 denarii, and then tells the “host” or “innkeeper” that if what He has given is not enough to pay for the care and keeping of the “Jewish man” or “certain man,” He will repay the “host” or “innkeeper” when He returns to Earth, which is a reference to Christ’s Second Coming.

In Christ’s day, 1 denarius is the equivalent of a full day’s wages. Therefore, the 2 denarii not only symbolize the financial, material, emotional and spiritual support that we must give to needy individuals until they are completely restored, but also the 2 denarii symbolize the CHURCH Age. As Apostle Peter tells us, 1 day is as a 1,000 years with the Lord (cf. 2 Peter 3:8); thus, the 2 denarii represent the 2,000 years of the CHURCH Age, or Age of Grace.

Now, the Scriptures make it clear that Christ can return to Earth at any time within this current 2,000-year period of Grace. Believers, thus, know that Christ’s Second Coming also will be in stages: (1) the end of the CHURCH Age Rapture (when Christ meets His Bride in the air); (2) the end of the world wheat and sheep (Tribulation saints) and tares and goats’ (Tribulation unbelievers’) separation, which, like the Rapture, happens in the clouds, only this time, just prior to (3) Christ’s triumphant, powerful, and visible bodily return to Earth, specifically on the Mount of Olives (cf. Zechariah 14:4; Matthew 13:24-30, 36-42; Matthew 25:31-46; 1 Corinthians 15:51-54; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9).

After the true CHURCH is raptured, believers immediately will stand before the judgment seat of the Lord where He will judge (evaluate) all of the works believers did for Christ. At that time, based upon the quality of their service to the Lord (their treasures laid up in Heaven, such as “…gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or stubble”), believers will receive Christ’s rewards (compensations) and/or suffer the loss of rewards when their works are consumed by fire (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:12-15; 2 Corinthians 5:10; Revelation 22:12).

Additionally, at every stage in Christ’s Second Coming, He comes ready to reward every person according to his or her completed works (cf. Revelation 22:12). To this end, the Word of God declares that our compensation (reward) will be great in Heaven, if we have consented to Christ’s Lordship, have been good stewards of our resources, and have allowed the Holy Spirit to train us in righteousness and holiness (teach us how to live a righteous and holy life) while we are yet in our unglorified bodies (cf. Matthew 5:12; Matthew 10:41-42; Matthew 25:20-23; Hebrews 11:24-26).

Therefore, if we ever hope to perfect our godly worship and our Body of Christ fellowship to the point that we genuinely are worshipping God in Spirit and in Truth and sincerely are loving, uplifting, and encouraging each other, and if we ever hope to be successful at winning the lost for Christ, we must follow Christ’s teachings and emulate His life. We must copy the biblical ensamples (exact duplicates) of Christ’s life that are found in God’s Word. Furthermore, when we gladly and freely invest our God-given resources in the Kingdom of Heaven, we will become the kind of believers who cherish every opportunity we are given to meet the needs of our brothers and sisters in Christ, and the needs of this world’s unsaved populace.

When our spiritual portfolios have in them the kinds of treasurers that will be stored up in Heaven (the kinds of works that we will have done for Christ that will not be those of wood, hay, and stubble [straw], which God’s Holy Fire consumes), our spiritual portfolios will have ONLY loving, merciful, compassionate, and righteous “good” works that the power (dunamis) and authority (exousia) of God cause us to do. For sure, consistently making sound investments in the Kingdom of Heaven by doing neighborly acts of love, mercy, and compassion will mean that we will have the appropriate righteous “good” works that our spiritual portfolios must have in them. Anything less than having our spiritual portfolios full of ensamples (exact duplicates) like those found in the Parable of the Good Samaritan will be unacceptable.

Heaven and heavenly rewards should be true believers’ goals. Thus, if there are faithful believers among us who are meeting God’s global perspectives’ goals by investing wisely in the Kingdom of Heaven, we will notice that these believers will be seeking after and doing what Christ is saying we ALL must seek and do.

These Holy Spirit-filled believers will be taking advantage of every daily opportunity they have been given to deposit some encouragement in believers while simultaneously admonishing those who need to be corrected. Furthermore, these believers will be taking advantage of every local and worldwide opportunity they have been given to bring their saved carnal brothers and sisters, and the unsaved unbelievers, into the full knowledge of who they are in Christ. Moreover, to achieve these goals, these believers will be managing their investments in four ways: (1) with their humility; (2) with their unity (harmony); (3) with their generosity, which they are sharing with true Body of Christ members, and with the spiritually lost and weak worldly individuals (respectively, natural unbelievers and carnal believers); and (4) with their love and compassion for all.

Finally, anyone who is not investing in the Kingdom of Heaven is someone who either hasn’t been steadfast in his or her commitment to Christ, or he or she has NOT consistently accepted and followed Christ’s best investment plan that will earn the sought after heavenly rewards—or both. These rebellious and disobedient believers, thus, should heed Christ’s words that He speaks at the end of the Parable of the Good Samaritan. To be sure, Christ (the Good Samaritan) is saying to people who have ears to hear and eyes to read the Gospel message that He is communicating through said parable that any person who is not doing righteous “good” works like those the Good Samaritan does should “…now go and do the same” (Luke 10:37b, NLT)!