Mustard Seed and Leaven

Transcript

GR 694
12/16/1984
Mustard Seed and Leaven
Matthew 13:31-33
Gil Rugh

Christ’s offer to Israel of a kingdom over which He would personally rule and reign was conditioned on the nation’s acceptance of Him as their Savior and King. It is made clear in Matthew 12 that the nation was unwilling to have Christ as their King and Savior. When Christ left, He said He would not be back until the nation acknowledged, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord” (Matt. 23:39). In this study of the parable of the mustard seed and the parable of the leaven, it becomes evident that this will transpire just before Christ’s Second Coming. The material presented in Matthew 13 relates to the kingdom that Christ will establish on earth. This is made clear in verse 11: “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven,” which refers to the earthly kingdom promised and prophesied in the Old Testament.
In the previous study of the parable of the wheat and tares, Satan’s strategy is to produce counterfeit disciples who look like followers of Christ but who are not true followers. This relates to events leading up to the establishing of the kingdom. As people are being prepared for the coming of the Messiah, the Devil will be preparing people who are counterfeit believers who pretend to belong to Christ. Many of them will look like they belong to Christ and will think they belong to Him, but in reality they will not belong to Him. Some of Satan’s imitations will be very good.
The parable of the mustard seed and the parable of the leaven are closely linked together. The parable of the mustard seed speaks of the visible, external growth of the kingdom. The parable of the leaven shows how the message of the kingdom will work to bring about its intended results.
My present approach to this passage may cause some confusion since I am teaching this passage differently than I have taught it before. Previously I have related the material in Matthew 13 to Christendom and the period of time in which we are living today. But to take such an approach involves spiritualizing the expression “the kingdom of heaven,” an approach which I do not believe has validity in interpreting Matthew. The disciples would not have understood such an interpretation.
Rather than the parables of Matthew 13 being related to Christendom, I believe Christ is referring to the earthly kingdom which will be established at His Second Coming. This material relates primarily to events leading up to the establishment of that kingdom and is generally in the context of the seven-year Tribulation preceding the kingdom and the time during which the kingdom itself will be established.
The parable of the mustard seed is recorded in Matthew 13:31,32: “He presented another parable to them, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; and this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.’”
The traditional interpretation of this parable says that the mustard seed and the tree represent Christendom. Since Christ’s coming, the message concerning Him has blossomed into what is called the professing church. In this church professing Christians are represented by the mustard tree which is referred to as Christendom. The traditional interpretation of the parable says that the birds in the tree represent evil influences in Christendom. Just as the birds in the earlier parable of the sower represented the Devil, so here they are interpreted to represent wickedness and evil. This interpretation says that the spiritual kingdom, Christendom, has been pervaded by wickedness.

I do not have any problem with the facts of that interpretation. It is true that the message concerning Christ has blossomed today and that there are multitudes of people who profess a relationship with Christ in what we would call Christendom, a broad term representing both Protestant and Catholic branches of Christianity. It is also true that evil has pervaded professing Christendom. But even though these facts are true, I do not believe this is what is being presented in the parable of the mustard seed. That approach reads our situation back into what Christ was talking about, a practice which sometimes causes problems in the interpretation of Scripture.
Rather than Christendom being the subject of this parable, I believe the subject is the kingdom of heaven. Christ used the example of a mustard seed because that seed was known proverbially for its smallness in comparison to its growth. In Matthew 17:20, Christ speaks of one having faith as small as a mustard seed. The mustard seed referred to in Matthew is different from the table variety with which we are familiar. The mustard seed Christ referred to was a very small seed which grew to be a tree-like plant about twelve to fifteen feet high. This seed is referred to several times in the New Testament to illustrate smallness.
I believe the mustard seed represents the ministry of John the Baptist and the message of the kingdom as John presented it. The message of the kingdom really begins with John the Baptist as is indicated in Luke 16:16: “The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John; since then the gospel of the kingdom of God is preached.” Jesus is saying that the proclamation of the kingdom began with John, an important point to keep in mind. The kingdom was announced throughout the Old Testament and was the major subject of Old Testament prophecy. But the kingdom was not offered to the nation until John the Baptist came on the scene saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 3:2). At that time John introduced Israel to Jesus Christ, their Messiah. The beginning of the proclamation of offering the kingdom to Israel was with John the Baptist. From that small seed, a kingdom will culminate which will encompass the world.
For the Jews to be able to understand this parable, it was necessary for them to have some awareness of the Old Testament background behind the parable. The message of the kingdom saturates the Old Testament. In order to be able to properly interpret the parable of the mustard tree, the Old Testament context must be considered.
The Old Testament uses the picture of a tree with birds in its branches to portray blessing and prosperity. Psalm 104 begins by speaking of the greatness of the works of God. “Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, You are very great; You are clothed with splendor and majesty, covering Yourself with light as with a cloak, stretching out heaven like a tent curtain” (Ps. 104:1,2). Psalm 104:5 continues, “He established the earth upon its foundations, so that it will not totter forever and ever.”
Later in Psalm 104 the blessings of God and the prosperity He provides are described: “He sends forth springs in the valleys; they flow between the mountains; they give drink to every beast of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst. Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell; they lift up their voices among the branches” (vv. 10-12). This picture of a tree with birds in it pictures prosperity, greatness and majesty and becomes a symbol for an earthly kingdom. The symbol is used in this manner in several passages in the Old Testament.
King Nebuchadnezzar had a vision which he related in Daniel 4:10-12: “Now these were the visions in my mind as I lay on my bed: I was looking, and behold, there was a tree in the midst of the earth and its height was great. The tree grew large and became strong and its height reached to the sky, and it was visible to the end of the whole earth. Its foliage was beautiful and its fruit abundant, and in it was food for all. The beasts of the field found shade under it, and the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches, and all living creatures fed themselves from it.”

Daniel interprets the meaning of this great tree and the birds dwelling in its branches in Daniel 4:20-22: “The tree that you saw, which became large and grew strong, whose height reached to the sky and was visible to all the earth, and whose foliage was beautiful and its fruit abundant, and in which was food for all, under which the beasts of the field dwelt and in whose branches the birds of the sky lodged-it is you, O king; for you have become great and grown strong, and your majesty has become great and reached to the sky and your dominion to the end of the earth.” The mighty kingdom of Babylon under the leadership of King Nebuchadnezzar is pictured by a great tree with the birds of the air nesting in it, showing its blessing and its prosperity. This vision encompasses many nations and makes provision for them. Daniel, of course, is a great prophetic book. It unfolds the course of the kingdom of Christ. It seems significant that the picture of the tree with the birds in it comes from Daniel’s prophecy and is used by Daniel to picture the prosperous kingdom.
In Ezekiel 31 the mighty nation of Assyria is also pictured as a tree with birds in it: “Behold, Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon with beautiful branches and forest shade, and very high, and its top was among the clouds. The waters made it grow, the deep made it high. With its rivers it continually extended all around its planting place, and sent out its channels to all the trees of the field. Therefore its height was loftier than all the trees of the field and its boughs became many and its branches long because of many waters as it spread them out. All the birds of the heavens nested in its boughs, and under its branches all the beasts of the field gave birth, and all great nations lived under its shade” (vv. 3-6). Assyria is pictured as a great tree with birds living in its branches, a symbol of prosperity, majesty and greatness.
One more significant passage is Ezekiel 17. This one is probably the most significant in interpreting Matthew 13. The emphasis of Matthew 13 is to unfold truth concerning the coming earthly kingdom. In Ezekiel the coming kingdom of the Messiah is pictured as a great tree with the birds of the air nesting in its branches.
I cannot believe that I did not find and understand this passage when I taught Matthew 13 previously. Notice what Ezekiel records: “Thus says the Lord God, „I shall also take a sprig from the lofty top of the cedar and set it out; I shall pluck from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one and I shall plant it on a high and lofty mountain. On the high mountain of Israel I shall plant it, that it may bring forth boughs and bear fruit and become a stately cedar. And birds of every kind will nest under it; they will nest in the shade of its branches. All the trees of the field will know that I am the Lord; I bring down the high tree, exalt the low tree, dry up the green tree and make the dry tree flourish. I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will perform it’” (Ezek. 17:22-24). The Lord is speaking in this passage about the kingdom that will be established by Jesus Christ. It is the same kingdom which is the subject of Matthew 13, and it is basically the same analogy.
Note some of the interesting details of this passage. The sprig, the tender one, the branch, and the small branch are common figures of speech in the Old Testament for the Messiah. This speaks of His common, lowly, humble origins. Jesus was born in a stable in Bethlehem and came from the small town of Nazareth. He did not have a significant birth nor was He a significant person, humanly speaking, but He is destined to rule the world in splendor.
Great messianic passages such as Isaiah 11:1, Isaiah 53:2 and Zechariah 6:12 use the picture of a tender branch, a shoot or a sprig, denoting the smallness that parallels the mustard seed of Matthew 13, indicating that the Messiah will start out lowly and little. This corresponds to the message of John in the humble birth of the Messiah.
The “top of the cedar” (Ezek. 17:22) seems to be a reference to the house of David as cedar represents his house. It is from the house of David that this little one is taken, an insignificant one.
The prophecy continues in verse 22, “And I shall plant it on a high and lofty mountain.” Compare this with Psalm 2:6: “But as for Me, I have installed My King upon Zion, My holy mountain.” This great messianic psalm tells of the rule and reign of Christ and warns the nations to submit to Him. He will be established on the mountain of Zion, the high mountain of Israel, a reference to Jerusalem which is built on Mt. Zion. Jerusalem will be the capital of the world during the reign of Christ.
Ezekiel 17 contains a reference to the messianic kingdom which begins in a small, insignificant way with the rejected prophet who was eventually beheaded by a king of Israel. It introduces a Messiah who was born in a stable who would eventually be crucified by the ruling empire at the instigation of the nation Israel. The climax of this prophecy is a kingdom which rules over every part of the earth and under which every nation on earth will be brought into subjection.
Daniel 2 gives a similar point with a different analogy. Daniel 2 unfolds the course of the kingdoms of the world as seen in the statue of a great man that Nebuchadnezzar dreamed about. “You, O king, were looking and behold, there was a single great statue; that statue, which was large and of extraordinary splendor, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was awesome. The head of that statue was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay” (vv. 31-33). The various parts of the body are made of different metals portraying the different kingdoms and characteristics of those kingdoms. The vision continues in verses 34 and 35: “You continued looking until a stone was cut out without hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed all at the same time and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.”
Daniel 2:44 speaks of “the days of those kings,” the ten kings that comprised the toes of the image. This is developed more clearly in Daniel 7 where it is pictured as ten horns on an animal. Each of the horns represents a king or kingdom. The same is true of each of the ten toes. They refer to what is called the revived Roman Empire, the ten-nation confederacy that will comprise the revived Roman Empire during the years immediately preceding the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to earth.
The ten-nation confederacy is described in Daniel 2: “In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever. Inasmuch as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will take place in the future; so the dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy” (vv. 44,45). Daniel unfolds the picture of Christ destroying the other kingdoms of the world and establishing a kingdom which will encompass the whole world. The details are not the same in these passages, but the idea is of a kingdom which encompasses the whole world.
The parable of the mustard seed in Matthew 13 pictures the small, insignificant beginnings of the kingdom in the message of John the Baptist and the lowly, humble birth of Christ. But the culmination of that will be a kingdom of great blessing, majesty and prosperity that will encompass the entire world. This description draws from the idea of the kingdom which was clearly developed in Ezekiel 17 and brings the truth to these disciples that there is going to be a time lapse before the establishment of the kingdom. That time lapse is portrayed by the time needed for the seed to finally end up as a majestic tree, representing the development of the kingdom.
The parable of the leaven in Matthew 13:33 takes the same kind of idea, but views it from a different perspective: “He spoke another parable to them, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened.’” In the parable of the mustard seed, the tree is the visible kingdom which encompasses the world. In this parable the leaven pictures the message of that kingdom as it permeates the world in preparing the nation Israel in particular for the kingdom that will be coming.
In order to understand this parable more accurately, we need to know how leaven was used in biblical times. During those centuries, you could not simply go to the store and buy a cube of leaven, also known as yeast. The Israelites kept a starter of leaven for use in baking. At various times my wife has been given some starters for sourdough bread or other baking. When you have a starter, you take a part of it and knead it into the bread and it permeates the dough. Then you take a piece of dough from that loaf and use it to start the next loaf you bake.
Leaven is part of the story in Exodus 12 as the Israelites were leaving Egypt. They were told to take no leaven with them because leaven represented a tie with the past. They were to break their ties with the past as they left Egypt.
Leaven is sometimes used in the Bible to represent sin. Some have said that the parable of the leaven in Matthew 13 represents the sin that will pervade the “spiritual kingdom” and corrupt it. It is true that evil does pervade the world, even the professing church. But I do not think that is the point of the parable for a couple of reasons. First, I do not think Jesus is talking about a spiritual kingdom; He is talking about the earthly kingdom. Secondly, it seems that the basic portrayal in Scripture of leaven or yeast involves its permeating influence.
Once you put leaven or yeast into a lump of dough, an irreversible process is begun which will permeate and influence the whole lump of dough. In a quiet, unobservable way, the leaven permeates everything. In this analogy, the message of the kingdom will permeate and spread until it has encompassed the entire world. This indicates that the whole world is destined to be saturated with the message of Jesus Christ.
The Prophet Isaiah clearly lays out the gracious invitation of God to receive His salvation without cost. “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost” (Isa. 55:1). He continues with the invitation in Isaiah 55:6,7: “Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, and He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.”
God’s Word always accomplishes His purposes. “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so shall My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it” (Isa. 55:10,11).
I have never preached a sermon where God’s Word did not accomplish God’s intended purpose. You have never shared the gospel with someone where His Word did not accomplish His purposes. We need to keep that in mind.
We sometimes look at the visible results and conclude that nothing happened. But God says that every time He sends forth His Word, it will accomplish what He wants. It will not come back until its task has been completed.
That is the kind of image that leaven presents. As it spreads and permeates everything around, it will accomplish its purposes. Once it has been started, it begins an irreversible process.
The full realization of what is described in the parable of the leaven will come about in the seven years of the Tribulation. This has application today as the Word of God is shared. It does permeate wherever it is sent. God uses it to accomplish His purposes, but the fulfillment of this parable will be realized in the Tribulation.
The next event in biblical prophecy is the Rapture of the Church when all true believers will be bodily caught up in the air to meet Jesus Christ face to face. Those left on the earth will then experience a period of seven years of great and terrible tribulation during which time over half of the earth’s population will be destroyed. That seven-year period will serve to refine the nation Israel and prepare the Jews for accepting Jesus Christ as Messiah when He returns.
The events described in Matthew 24 and 25 occur in the Seventieth Week of Daniel which is the seven-year period known as the Tribulation after the Rapture of the Church. The characteristics of that period are described in Matthew 24: “You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes” (vv. 6,7). We may be seeing some of the beginnings of these things transpiring even in today. “But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs” (v. 8). This is referring to the first three and one-half years of the Tribulation, the most mild part. That period will only be the start of things, then in the last three and one-half years, things really get bad.
Addressed to the Jews, Matthew 24:9 continues, “Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.” In the middle of the Tribulation, the leader of the revived Roman Empire will begin a program attempting to annihilate every Jew from the face of the earth. This will be a period of persecution like the world has never seen.
Matthew 24:14 describes the permeation of the whole world with the gospel message: “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.” Notice that this is referring to the time of the Tribulation. Some people inappropriately apply this verse to believers today. I do not have any problem with proclaiming the gospel to the whole world. I believe the Scriptures indicate that believers ought to be doing that, but Matthew 24:14 is not one of the passages which indicates that. I praise God for the electronic media which allows the gospel to be carried to so many parts of the world. But keep in mind that Matthew 24:14 is speaking of the time after the Rapture of the Church. Notice the phrase, “gospel of the kingdom” (v. 14). The gospel of the kingdom is the good news concerning the earthly kingdom that God will establish on earth for Israel of which all other nations will partake, but it is a Jewish kingdom ruled over by the Messiah. The message of that kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world during the seven years of the Tribulation.
Again, I am not saying that we as believers should not be saturating the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ today. I believe there are Scriptures that indicate we should, but Matthew 24 is talking about what God is going to do during the Tribulation. The message of the kingdom that was started with John the Baptist will realize its potential in saturating the world during the Tribulation leading up to the Second Coming of Christ.
Revelation 7 and 14 introduce an interesting group of 144,000 people living during the Tribulation. All of the events from Revelation 6 through 19 take place within the confines of the Tribulation after the Rapture of the Church. It does not take a great deal of intelligence to identify who the 144,000 are. All you have to do is read Revelation 7:4-8 where God says there are twelve thousand from each of the twelve tribes of Israel. These 144,000 Jews will be sealed by God for a particular purpose. There is not a lot told about them, but some believe that these will be the Jewish messengers God will use during the last three and one-half years of the Tribulation to saturate the world with the gospel of the kingdom.
That may be true, but look at Revelation 14:6,7: “And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people; and he said with a loud voice, ‘Fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters.’” At the climax of the Tribulation, God will send an angel to fly in the middle of the heavens to proclaim the eternal gospel to those who live on the earth. God will see to it that every single person in every place in the world has been exposed to the gospel of the kingdom of Jesus Christ, and then the end will come.
Praise God for what is being done with radio and other media today. Praise God for what is being done by missionaries to spread the gospel to the ends of the earth. But keep in mind that when it comes to ultimately saturating the world with the gospel, God will get the job done Himself. “Wait a minute, ” you say. “I thought 'we have this treasure in earthen vessels’” (2 Cor. 4:7). We do. But keep in mind also that the Church is no longer on the earth when you get to these events at the end of the Tribulation. God will send forth an angel to carry out the proclamation at the climax of the Tribulation. At this time the Church will be in heaven, no longer on earth. It is possible that this angel will use the 144,000 Jews to carry out the proclamation, but we do not know for sure.
The point here is that the world will be saturated with the gospel of Jesus Christ. The whole of it will be leavened, if you will. The message of the kingdom will pervade everything. The result will be the national conversion of Israel as written about by Paul in Romans 11. One of the reasons that those who believe the Bible are so interested in Israel and what goes on in the Middle East is because the Bible unfolds that God has a program for the nation Israel which involves the restoration of that nation to the land of Palestine. Jerusalem will ultimately be the capital of the world which will be ruled over by Jesus Christ Himself.
Paul begins Romans 11, “I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He?” (v. 1). In other words, has God discarded Israel? Paul’s response is, “May it never be!” (me genoito) (v. 1). This is the strongest way to give a negative in the Greek language. It means no, never, impossible! Such a thought is abhorrent! The King James Version translates this phrase, “God forbid.” Romans 11:2 continues, “God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew.” Then Paul goes on to discuss God’s work in electing the nation Israel.
Paul continues in Romans 11:25 to talk about the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven as introduced in Matthew 13. “For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery, so that you will not be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.” This mystery to which Paul is referring is new material regarding God’s plan for the nation Israel. The revelation of this new material indicates that a partial hardening has happened to Israel. Notice in verse 25, “until the fullness of the Gentiles.” It is the period of time during which God is not dealing with Israel as a nation, but rather He is dealing with the nations of the world.
This is one reason I do not believe that a nation’s attitude toward Israel today is reflective of that nation’s attitude toward God. When Israel is the nation God is dealing with as His people, the attitudes of other nations toward Israel are an indication of their attitude toward God. That was true throughout the Old Testament and up until Acts 2. That will be true again after the Rapture of the Church when God will resume His program with Israel. But this is the time of the fullness of the Gentiles when God is drawing people from all nations to Himself.
At the end of the time of the fullness of the Gentiles, God will bring to completion His program with Israel. According to Romans 11:26,27 there will be a national conversion of Israel. “And so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, ‘The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob. This is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins.’” The spiritual salvation and restoration of Israel will bring about their physical deliverance from the trials of the Tribulation. The Messiah will come and intervene on their behalf, and the gospel of the kingdom will permeate the world. Jews all over the world will turn to the Messiah and recognize after this time of trial that indeed the Jesus they crucified was their Messiah. They will then bow down to worship Him. At that time the Messiah can come because the nation will say, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” (Matt. 23:39). They will be ready to accept Him as their Messiah.
Presently Israel stands as an enemy to the gospel of Christ. “From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake” (Rom. 11:28). This is the case because God is graciously doing a work with the Gentiles. It does not mean that no Jews are being saved, but believing Jews are the exception, not the rule. Among believers, Jews are a small minority today because God is dealing with Gentiles. There is coming a time when He will resume His program with Israel and the situation will be reversed.
Notice the statement of Romans 11:28,29: “From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” How do I know without a shadow of a doubt that God has a program for Israel and that the kingdom will be established on the earth? It is because God called the nation Israel and He cannot go back on His Word. “The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (v. 29).
The parable of the leaven is portraying the gospel of the kingdom going out in preparation for the setting up of the kingdom. It will saturate the world and prepare the nation Israel in the context of its tremendous suffering to bow the knee before Jesus Christ, to acknowledge Him as their Savior and to be willing to have Him to rule and reign over them.
The pictures portrayed by the parable of the mustard seed and the parable of the leaven are very similar. The parable of the mustard seed pictures the kingdom with its small beginning which will blossom to a great world-encompassing kingdom. The parable of the leaven pictures the message that brings about the kingdom as it permeates the world preparing the nation Israel particularly for its salvation and for the coming of the Messiah. Both parables present glorious truths concerning the preparation for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
The application for today is very clear. The message of the Word of God goes out with the same impact today. The Word of God permeates lives. It is used by the Spirit of God in supernatural ways. We as believers are called to proclaim that truth and to spread it wherever we go. We must recognize that the Word of God is supernatural; it is alive and powerful. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God which brings salvation to all who will believe whether they are Jews or Gentiles.
These parables portray the same kind of ministry that is happening today in proclaiming the Word of God. But the focal point of the activities described in these parables is during the seven years of the Tribulation preceding the Second Coming of Christ to earth to set up His kingdom.
Even though we are going to be a part of that kingdom, the focal point of our lives is to be on His coming to take us to be with Himself in the Rapture. It is exciting to know that He is coming again, but before He comes to earth to establish His kingdom, there will be a seven-year period of Tribulation. Before that period of Tribulation begins, the Rapture will occur when believers will be removed from this earth and caught up into the glory of His presence.
It is exciting to know that Jesus Christ is the King and that the program and plan of God will be accomplished. There is nothing which can stop God’s program. Nothing can keep His purposes from being accomplished. His Word will be spread. Praise God for the power of His Word, for the coming of His Son and for the glory of the kingdom that is yet future.