Luke 19:27 What does it mean?

[Duncanmc]

I was recently discussing in another forum the story of the Army officer who created and taught a class on total war against Islam. I said that I could agree that the time could come when targeting Mecca and Medina with nuclear weapons might be a strategically sound idea. The conversation immediately turned into a diatribe about how sick and evil I was to suggest killing so many innocents for no reason at all. The other posters went nearly rabid in their condemnation. I tried to explain my POV but the die was cast and all any of them said was how evil I was and how equivalent Islam and Christianity are. I mentioned a couple of Surah/verse references to explain that Islam is in fact a religious political system based solely on submission and forced subjugation but they would not listen. One of them said that Christians had a history of viewing non believers as unworthy of life and I challenged him to give an example of ANY person who truly followed the way of Christ expressing that sentiment. He quoted Luke 19:27 and I was flabbergasted.
All that to say this: What was the context of our Lord's very clear orders to his servants to kill those who refused to believe? I had never read this verse before and frankly I was a little shocked by it. I know that He is God and what He chooses to do is beyond my right to question but I never knew He had instructed his followers to kill an unbeliever. Am I missing something? Help me find an answer please.....

[mattfivefour]

Luke 19:27 is the completion of the statement in Luke 19:14. The context, as is clear from the parable, is the return of the Master—which is symbolic of the return of Christ and the judgment at the end of the world. All those who refused to allow Christ to reign over them in this life shall be killed, cut off from the Master's presence: physical death being symbolic of spiritual death.

You'll find a similar thought taught in the parable in Matthew 22:1-13.

The servants are the angels, and the judgment will only take place at the end of time.

This is a judgment for GOD ALONE to enact and a punishment that He alone can enforce. Never us. We are to love our enemies in this life and do everything with our lives to bring them to Christ. Anybody who attempts to apply God's prerogative to a Christian does not understand God's Word.

Does that help?

[Duncanmc]

Yes! And thank you. I was confused in that it seemed that the Lord was instructing his servants to actually kill and I knew that this did not sound correct.