
Our being found FAITHFUL at the time of settling accounts starts with being instructed in the Word of the Kingdom−Matt. 13:10-13.
Having been instructed in the Word of the Kingdom, our being found FAITHFUL depends on our choice to do business with our talents/minas, the Word of the Kingdom. If we do, we will realize profit i.e., bearing fruit−Matt. 13:23; Mk. 4:24-25; Lk. 8:18.
The unfaithful servants were rebuked by their master who described them as wicked and lazy. They also forfeited their positions of authority/rulership. Last of all, they were to be cast into the outer darkness!
The grammatical construction of the phrase ‘outer darkness’ is one that places emphasis on the ‘darkness’ and not ‘outer.’ As such, this phrase is literally translated, ‘the darkness, the outer’ and this is how it should be understood whenever it is used in the Scriptures.
The darkness, the outer is a realm immediately outside of another realm! Those cast out are removed from a sphere associated with light and placed outside in a sphere associated with darkness. While faithful believers who receive positions of authority/rulership will be in the Lord’s Presence, associated with light, the unprofitable servants will be cast out from the light into the darkness−Rev. 22:14-15.
The darkness, the outer does not refer to a literal place. Rather, this phrase is a metaphor and/or figure of speech used to describe the dreadful outcome that awaits the unfaithful Christian AND to demonstrate the severity with which the Lord will regard those who have rejected that which He has offered to them, by doing NOTHING with the talents/minas delivered to them!
The darkness, the outer is associated with ‘the weeping and the gnashing of the teeth’ which is a phrase used to express the excruciating pain, the extreme anguish and utter despair of those believers who will be excluded from the millennial rule of Christ!