The
American
Wisdom Series
Presents
Pamphlet 1753 Figtree
kc 1-2
How
many Christians do you know who go to Him privately,
to
His Word, and seek the answers to their questions?
Make no mistake about it!
The Day of the Lord and the
return of Jesus Christ as King of kings and Lord of lords
shall come whether any man
believes it or not.
The question is if you do
believe it,
"Would
you like to know when it shall come to pass?"
The
disciples wanted to know and so they sought Him
and
they went to Him "privately" and asked Him!
How
many Christians do you know who do likewise,
i.e.
who go to Him privately, to His Word, and seek the answers to their questions?
You
see, this is extremely important because herein lies the key
as
to whether or not you will be able to understand the Parable of the Fig
Tree.
How
so?
Well, first of all it is
a "parable", a teaching by analogy or similitude,
the
in-depth meaning of which lies beyond the understanding of the multitudes
of
main stream "churchianity" and is reserved only for those who "seek Him",
i.e.
who hunger and thirst for the true bread of life
and
the fountain of living water, the Word of God.
Let's document it.
Mark
4:1 And He began again to teach by the sea side: and there was gathered
unto him a great multitude, so that He entered into a ship, and sat in
the sea; and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land.
A great multitude came
to hear Jesus Christ teach
but they did not seek Him
afterwards as did His disciples.
We
can only imagine that like most good church goers of today,
when
they departed they likely said to one another
"Wasn't
that a wonderful message today"!
[2]
And He taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in His doctrine,
[3] Hearken;
Behold, there went out a sower to sow:
Christ taught in parables
for two reasons and one of those reasons is
because
He loves all of God's children and wishes to protect those of free-will
who
do not yet have the love of the truth.
You see, if and when they
are ready in this flesh age and truly
"believe in Jesus Christ",
they
will come to Him privately through His Word and ASK for wisdom and understanding!
They
will become doers of the Word and not hearers only (Rom. 2;13, James 1:22)
and
they will obey His commands because they love Him
(John 14:15
"If
ye love me, keep my commandments.").
One
of those commandments is the very subject of this study
which
is to "learn the Parable of the Fig Tree (Mat. 24:32 )".
Have you taken the time to
do as He commanded you?
Let's skip ahead to verse
10 of Mark 4:
Mark
4:10 And when He was alone, they that were
about Him with the twelve asked of Him the parable.
[11] And He said
unto them, 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:
You will also find this
documented in Matthew 13:10-11
where the disciples asked
Jesus face to face,
"Why
speakest thou unto them in parables?"
His answer was twofold:
Mat.
13:11 He answered and said unto them, Because
it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but
to them it is not given.
(1) To simplify
and make easy to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven to His
disciples.
(2) To hide the mysteries
of the kingdom to those who do not seek Him and do not have eyes to see
nor ears to hear.
Until
they are truly "converted" and turn and repent from forsaking Him,
from
forsaking His Word and not coming to Him privately,
they
shall remain unable to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.
Here are Christ's own words:
Mark
4:12 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.
Then Jesus Christ told
His disciples (which means you if you are one)
that unless they understood
the Parable of the Sower
they would not be able to
understand any of His parables.
[13]
And He said unto them, Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know
all parables?
Therefore we better
take some time and lay some groundwork
and make sure we understand
the Parable of the Sower
else per Christ's own words
we cannot understand the parable of the fig tree, right?
You see, the Parable of the
Sower has to do with "seeds"
and "planting" and "fruit",
etc., all of which we shall
be discussing in this study of the Parable of the Fig Tree
which actually begins in
the "Fig Grove",
in the Garden
of God called Eden,
where
the first "sowings" took place
and
the "cover-up" by the fig leaves themselves
have
kept hidden what really happened in that grove.
Do you know?
Let us therefore go to the
parable of the sowing in the beginning
and learn
the truth from the words of Jesus Christ Himself.
Matthew
13:24 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven
is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:
[25] But while
men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his
way.
What are "tares"?
We need to know and understand
the horticulture of "tares"
which is zizanion (dziz-an'-ee-on)
in Greek (#2215) and means "darnel" or false grain :- tares.
Here is Dr. Smith's explanation:
Tares: A noxious
plant, of the grass family, supposed to mean the darnel. It grows among
the wheat everywhere in Palestine, and bears a great resemblance to
it while growing - so closely that, before they head out, the
two plants can hardly be distinguished. The grains are found, 2 or 3 together,
in 12 small husks, scattered on a rather long head. The Arabs do
not separate the darnel from the wheat, unless by means of a fan or sieve,
after threshing (Mat. 13:25-30). If left to mingle with the bread, it occasions
dizziness, and often acts as an emetic. ("Smith's Bible Dictionary", A.
J. Holman Company, pg. 301.)
[26]
But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared
the tares also.
Only
a trained person can distinguish the toxic tares from true wheat
while
they are growing together in the field. However,
at
harvest time the two are easily distinguishable.
The bearded darnel (Lolium temulentum) is a poisonous
grass, almost indistinguishable from wheat while the two are only in blade,
but which can be separated without difficulty when they come into ear (cp.
mat. 13:29, 20). ("Davis Bible Dictionary", Baker Book House, pg. 759.)
Do
you understand that most people would not be able to tell the difference
between
a tare and a wheat plant?
This
is important to our understanding of the parable of the fig tree,
very important!
[27]
So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not
thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?
The "servants" of the
house knew there were tares,
toxic look-alike false wheat
plants, in the field!
You
could call them anti-wheats!
[28]
He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him,
Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?
Hmmm, it seems the sowing
of the tares was the deliberate covert activity of the enemy.
Should
we go round those suckers up?
[29]
But he said, Nay;
lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.
Let the tares alone!
That's an order!
[30]
Let both grow together until the harvest:
and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together
first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the
wheat into my barn.
The
reapers, whoever they are, will handle those tares,
whoever
they are, at harvest time, whenever that is!
We are about to learn the
mystery.
You see, what we have just
read from Mat. 13:24-30 is an actual parable,
which is a truth expressed
in similitude using symbols
with characteristics analogous
to something else.
Next, notice aga in the emphasis
on the fact
that Jesus Christ spoke
unto the multitudes in parables.
In
fact, He didn't speak anything to them that was not in parable form.
Matthew
13:34 All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and
without a parable spake he not unto them:
[35] That it
might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open
my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from
the foundation of the world.
This is a quote and a fulfillment
of Ps. 78:2:
Psalm
78:2 I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:
Are
you able to see and understand from what we have learned so far
that
contained in this parable of the sower of the tares is a "secret"
which
has been kept from the "foundation of the world"?
Do
you understand that the multitudes do not understand it?
They cannot tell the difference
between tares and wheat in the field!
Now
notice what happened next.
Jesus
sent everyone away and went into the house,
but
those eager-to-know-His-Word disciples followed Him
and
ASKED HIM to "explain the parable of the tares of the field"!
[36]
Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples
came unto him, saying, Declare unto
us the parable of the tares of the field.
Jesus granted their
request to seek knowledge from the Living Word of God
and He answered and EXPLAINED
the parable!
Therefore,
what you are about to read is NOT A PARABLE!
It is the simple EXPLANATION
of the parable by Jesus Christ
to His disciples who want
to KNOW the parable of the tares.
[37]
He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son
of man;
Remember, this is not
a parable nor a spiritual analogy!
It was God Himself who placed
the "good seed" in the field.
What
is the field?
[38]
The
field is the world;
The world is just that,
the world, i.e. good old mother earth
which He Himself created.
What or who are the "good seed"?
[38
cont.] ... the good seed are the children of the kingdom;
The "good seed" are
the children (real people) of the kingdom,
i.e. the children of the
kingdom of God which He placed in the field,
which we now know is the
world.
You MUST understand that
Christ is giving an explanation here of the parable.
It is not a continuation
of the parable nor is it a parable of the parable.
The "good seed" is simply
symbolic terminology for His children
which should not be a complicated
thing to understand at all.
He formed Adam and Eve and
placed them in the garden!
It is that simple and any
attempt to "spiritualize" it into something other than what Christ just
said
is to change His explanation.
In other words "children"
means "children" as in offspring.
[38
cont.] ... but the tares are the children of the wicked one;
Uh oh!
This where we separate the
men from the boys
or you might say the tares
from the wheat.
It seems that many are willing
to accept that the "good seed"
are the children of the
kingdom but that the "tares", the "bad seed",
are not really the children
"of" the wicked one, the devil himself.
Let us see and read from
Christ's own words who it was that "sowed his wild oats"
and produced these tares,
which we now know are also children (real people).
[39]
The enemy that sowed them is the devil;
HOLD IT right there!
Is Jesus Christ saying that Satan actually has progeny "of" his own,
as in his own offspring?
Yes, that is EXACTLY what
He is saying
and in our next study we
will document it even further.
Remember, this has been hidden
as in covered with figs leaves from the beginning,
and those who still "sleep"
(vs. 25) will continue to look at the field and see no tares.
It is time to wake up, Christian!
The hour is late and harvest
time is nigh indeed!
What is harvest time anyway?
[38
cont.] ... the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers
are the angels.
What will eventually
happen to the tares?
They shall be "burned in
the fire" at the end of this world age.
[40]
As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it
be in the end of this world.
[41] The Son
of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom
all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;
[42] And shall
cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of
teeth.
[43] Then shall
the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who
hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Do you have eyes to
see and ears to hear?
Well get them on because
in our next study
we will learn the minute
details of when, where, and how the devil "sowed the tares" in the field.
It is the foundation and
the beginning of wisdom
in learning the Parable
of the Fig Tree
and therefore we are going
to cast out the traditions of men
which have for so long obscured
the truth of God's Word
and we are going to learn
what REALLY happened in the fig grove in the midst of the Garden of God!
To study the Bible is the noblest of all pursuits;
to understand it, the highest of all goals.
We pray that with the guidance of the Holy
Spirit, you accomplish both.
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