Parables for Our Times*

      As I have been saying for many years, the Spirit is calling the Church to a 2 Chron. 7:14 repentance. In these last few years, we have seen many indications of this call of the Spirit. Kirk Cameron's documentary film, "Monumental" showing a monument constructed long ago to show the American people how to turn back to God. Rabbi Cahn wrote "The Harbinger", warning America not to fall into the same sins as scriptural Israel. The book "Wake Up" was published to bring the knowledge of the feasts of the LORD back to the Church, which has failed to observe them. All of these things have been meant to bring people back to God.

     Jesus taught the multitudes in parables about the principles of the kingdom of God that the people of His time were able to relate to as dealing with their everyday lives. However, could these parables also have been meant for today? In Mark 4, Jesus taught the parable of the sower who went out to sow seed. Certain conditions prevented most of the seed from growing and producing fruit. Some seed fell by the wayside and the fowls of the air devoured it. Some fell on stoney ground, sprang up, but because it had no depth of earth nor roots, the sun scorched it and it withered. Some of the seed fell among thorns and when they grew, the thorns choked the plants and they never bore fruit. However, some of the seed fell on good ground, grew up, increased and brought forth fruit in multiplications of thirty, sixty or a hundred: "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." (v. 1-9). 

     His twelve disciples asked Jesus about this parable. He answered: "Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables: That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them." (v. 10-12). Jesus expected His disciples to see, hear, and understand the parables of the kingdom of God, but it would remain hidden to those who were "outside".  Jesus then explained the parable of the sower to them. He said that it is the logos Word of God that is being sown. The Word/seed that had fallen by the wayside is stolen by Satan from the hearts into which it had been sown. The stony ground represented those who received the Word gladly, but they have no root, and can only endure in it for a time. When persecution and affliction come because of that Word, they are offended that they have had to suffer. Believers are being persecuted today in many parts of the world because of the Word which they preach and believe. The Word/seed sown among thorns is received, but "...the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful." This is the picture of this generation - the Word of God has become choked by the things that the hearer allows to become more important to them than the Word. However, for the Word/seed which is sown on good ground, it bears much fruit in those who hear and receive it. (v. 13-20). When we receive this Word/seed, don't hide it under a bushel. It is like the light that is to be placed high in order to be seen. This Word changes the lives of all who will receive it.

     Jesus also told a parable to those who were eating with Him of a man who prepared a great supper and invited many. He sent his servants to the invitees and told them to come for all things were ready. Those invited made up various excuses for not attending: one said he bought land, another said he had just purchased five yokes of oxen, one said that he had just married. (Lk. 14:15-20). The man of the parable who had made the great dinner then angrily told his servants to go to the streets and lanes of the city and bring "the poor, the maimed and the halt, and the blind." There was still room so the man commanded his servants to go further out to the highways and hedges and compel them to come in so that his house would be filled. "For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper." (v. 21-24).  This is especially where we are seeing salvation today - among the poor and the afflicted. We are called to be those servants who are sent out with the invitation to come. This is the Great Commission which Jesus commanded to His disciples. We need to understand where we are on God's prophetic timeline and act accordingly. This is a parable that reflects the coming Marriage Supper of the Lamb that will take place in the kingdom of God (see Rev. 19:7-9). Jesus started the parable above by saying: "Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God," 

     The excuses given by those who were invited to the great supper in Jesus' parable, are similar to the conditions of the sower of the seed parable above: the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lust for other things. Like Noah's Ark, and as spoken in other parables, once the time has come, and all of those who will enter in have entered, the door will be shut, and no others will be able to enter afterwards. Are you ready or not?

     The prophet Ezekiel is given a vision of the glory of the LORD filling a temple that will be built. The pattern of everything connected to this prophetic temple is a kind of parable that is supposed to speak to the people of God: "Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern. And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, shew them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the comings in thereof, and the goings out thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the laws thereof: and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them. This is the law of the house; Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house." (Ezek. 43:10-12, see also Isa. 2:1-3). The pattern of this house of the LORD is holiness and glory. It is holiness and glory to the point of making those who perceive this vision of Ezekiel's to see their own iniquities in comparison. This house reflects the ordinances of God, His law, His Word that goes forth to all nations. The LORD commanded His people, "Be ye holy for I, the LORD... your Father... am holy." We are also the temple of the Lord, and we are to live in a manner that reflects the Spirit of God who dwells within us in His glory and holiness. If we confess our sins, and all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, He has promised that He is faithful to forgive those sins.

     Ezekiel also wrote the Word of the LORD concerning the spiritual leaders of the people that were so corrupt themselves that they prevented the land from being cleansed in the day of judgment: "There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst of her., like a roaring lion ravening the pray; they have devoured souls...Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and the profane, neither have they shewed the difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from the sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain...The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully."  (Ezek. 22:23-29).

     These are the sins of the nation, the Church, the people of God. False prophets, corrupt priests and princes whose only interest is enriching themselves by dishonest gain. The LORD looked for someone to bring this people to healing repentance: "And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none. Therefore I have poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord God." (Ezek. 22:30-31, see also Ezek. 13:1-5). Once before the LORD judged the world with flood waters, but this time, He will judge with fire.

     The Lord Jesus also spoke a parable concerning His own return. Jesus spoke of the difficult conditions that would trouble and shake the world before His return, and then told His listeners a parable telling them to "Behold the fig tree, and all the trees." (Lk. 21:29).  They could tell the coming season by the leaves that begin to come forth on the fig tree: "So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand...This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled." (v. 30-32). The fig tree always represents Israel in scripture. We are living in the generation that has seen the re-blossoming of the nation of Israel and the Hebrew language, restored after two thousand years. We are living in the generation that is seeing the other prophetic signs beginning to appear that Jesus spoke of in Lk. 21. Again, Jesus prophesied of Israel as God's prophetic timeline as He warned of persecution for His name's sake. The persecution would cause believers to flee from city to city in Israel: "...verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come." He said "...he that endureth to the end shall be saved." (Mt. 10:22-23). The Gospel, although sometimes with rejection and persecution, is making its way through the cities of Israel now in this generation.

     We need to understand and receive the parables of Christ for our time, for this generation because of the prophetic meaning and warning that they contain for us.

*Based upon Dr. Kenneth E. Stevenson, Jr.'s 7/7/24 message to the church. If you would like to hear the complete message, you can find it on Dr. Stevenson's Facebook page. To contact or support this ministry, or to request prayer, you can write to PO Box 154221, Waco, TX, 76705. To find out more about the Shroud of Turin, and to receive a free e-book now available in several languages, go to http://www.theshroudofturin.org/freebook.