The Rich Young Man Whom Jesus Loved “To properly understand the Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard it must be studied, like all Scripture, with reference to its context. And to do this in the present instance it is necessary to go back to the previous chapter. (The division is at an unfortunate point; the passage from Verse 16 of Chapter 19, to Verse 16 of Chapter 20, is all one account and should have constituted a chapter by…
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. Again he…
THE WEDDING GARMENT A crucial point in the parable is the absence of a wedding garment. There has been much speculation as to the source of the wedding garment. Some declare it was the custom in Jesus’ day to present wedding guests with garments. However there is little evidence to support such a claim. The parable leaves the source (of the wedding garment) in the background, and simply indicates that a suitable robe was necessary, however obtained. Adding to…
“And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said: “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come. Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come…
Matthew Chapter 24 Before we move on to our next verse we still have the question of the 120 years. What about the 120 years? 120 years prior to the flood the Lord warned Noah that the present age of mankind had but 120 years remaining before He would destroyed them from the face of the earth (Gen 6:13). Noah then immediately commenced to warn his contemporaries of this impending judgement; however the majority chose to ignore him while others…
Matthew Chapter 24 Before we proceed on to Verse 45 in our Matthew study we should first like to present a bit more insight in regards to the “watches” mentioned in Luke 12:38, which we hope might aid some to a better appreciation of what is being referred to. We should also like to take another look at the time similarity between the 120 years of Noah prior to the flood, and the passing away of “the world that then…
Matthew Chapter 24 Once again we return to the parable of “The Faithful Servant and the Evil Servant” as taken from Luke Chapter 12. Verse 38 “And if he should come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.” A THOUSAND YEARS…ARE AS A WATCH IN THE NIGHT According to the ancient Jewish method of reckoning the night time, the second watch would be from ten to two o’clock and…
Symbolic Meaning of Matthew 24:30-31 Heaven and heavens are often symbolic of corrupt religious systems (2 Pet. 3:5-10; Isa. 34:5-4; Joel 2:9-11). See can denote mental perception (Luke 3:6; John 1:51; Rev. 19:10; Matt. 27:4, 24). Clouds often represent trouble as in Joel 2:1-2, a parallel text of Matt 24:30-31. The word “angels” is translated from the Greek word aggelos which literally means messenger and often refers to any messenger of God (Rev. 2 and 3, the seven angels or…
Mental Perception Now let us consider more thoroughly Rev 7: 1 and Matt 24:30, which speak of all mankind seeing the returned Lord. Are they literal or symbolic? “Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.” “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth…
“Having established scripturally (See our last two studies, “Signs of Christ’s Presence” and “I will Come Again”) that the second advent of Christ begins with a secret invisible presence which is discernible only by the eye of faith, and only to those members of the Church who are awake and watching, the question logically arises, Will the future revealing to all mankind likewise involve mental perception or literal sight? Harmony must be sought between two sets of scriptures relative to…