The Parables: Part I.

~ The Parable of the Persistent Widow ~


"If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"
Matt 7:11


Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’


“For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming!’ ”


And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
Luke 18:1-8



Let’s Put This In Context


The background for this parable is found in chapter 17. “When will the Kingdom come?” some had asked. In response the Lord told them that one day soon they would long to see one of His days (days like this one when He was with them) but would not see it. First He had to suffer and die. Then there would be a succession of false Messiahs and still it wouldn’t be time. But when He finally did come it would be suddenly and it would catch many people off guard. They would have given up and stopped praying.


Then He told His disciples the story of the persistent widow. His point was that if even a corrupt judge could eventually be persuaded by the persistence of a widow, someone without standing or influence in their day, how much more likely would the Lord be to respond to the persistent prayers of His followers?


It Wasn’t the First Time


“Pray without ceasing,” Paul wrote in 1 Thes. 5:17. Good advice. Earlier the Lord had given us similar instruction.


“Ask and it will be given to you;” He said, “Seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

“Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! (Matt; 7:7-11)


In both cases the lesson is the same. If even those who are evil can be moved by persistence, how much more so the Lord? It’s funny in a way, how the Lord longs for our participation in His plan. His return is a foregone conclusion, the decision made before the foundations of the world were laid. Yet He encourages us to keep praying for it, and to never give up till the day it happens. It’s almost as if He’s saying our prayers could influence the timing.


It wouldn’t be the only time. Through His disciples He told the Jews in Jerusalem that as the time for the Great Tribulation draws near, to pray that it not begin on a Sabbath or in the winter (Matt. 24:20). What’s that all about? Would He alter the start date of the worst period of judgment ever to befall humanity to accommodate the needs of what will surely be a religious minority? Does prayer really have that kind of power?


To drive home the point He began in the widow’s story, the Lord closed with a question. “However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” Though His return is certain, will there be anyone left with the persistence to still be praying for it when He comes?


Prayer Power


The prayers of righteous people are powerful and effective, the Bible tells us (James 5:16), sufficient to save the soul, heal the sick, raise the dead. And, if the above examples are any indication, influence the timing of God’s Plan. If so, why don’t we see more evidence of the miraculous today? If the Age of Miracles really is over, as some would have us believe, is it just because we’ve stopped praying for them?


The widow hounded the judge to a point where he thought her obnoxious, and he answered her request just to get her off his back. In another case, the Lord told of a man who had unexpected guests arrive late at night, and him with no food in the pantry. Hurrying to his neighbor’s house, he pounded on the door asking for three loaves of bread. The neighbor was already in bed. The Lord explained that it wasn’t the neighbor’s friendship that got him out of bed to give the man what he needed, but his boldness in asking (Luke 11:5-8).

(The word translated boldness also implies persistence.)


Ask and it will be given to you. Pray without ceasing. Be bold and persistent, especially when praying for His return. Let the Lord know that at least in your heart, there’s still faith on Earth. Maybe if enough of us persist in this, we can hasten the day of His coming.

~The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard~


"For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, "You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right." So they went. He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, "Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?" "Because no one has hired us," they answered. "He said to them, "You also go and work in my vineyard."


When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, "Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first." The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. "These men who were hired last worked only one hour," they said, "and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day." But he answered one of them, "Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?" So the last will be first, and the first will be last."
Matt. 20:1-16



What Good Thing Must I Do?


This parable is given as the conclusion to a discussion that began a chapter earlier with a rich young man asking what good thing he must do to inherit eternal life (Matt 19:16-30). By the way, some believe this young man was Mark, future gospel writer and companion of Paul. As you know, a parable is a heavenly story set in an earthly context. Everyone and everything is symbolic. The key to unlocking a parable is to correctly interpret the symbolism.


Here's my view.


The vineyard represents the body of believers and the landowner is the Lord. The workers are those who respond to His call, the day is their lifetime and the wages eternal life. All through our lives God is calling. Some respond early in life, some later and others at the very end. But all who respond receive eternal life. For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, not by works (Ephe. 2:8-9).


Some workers in the parable resented the fact that all were paid equally, believing that since they worked longer they should have received more. This attitude reflects the spiritual pride found in some long term believers who think their years of service should automatically count for more. It actually betrays their works based theology, showing that they've forgotten that we serve the Lord to express our gratitude for what He's already done, not to earn more of what we expect Him to do. We should be grateful for long years of service because it means we've had more opportunities to say thanks. The landowner responded to these malcontents by saying that they had received everything he'd promised them. If he wanted to be generous with the others wasn't that His right?


For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord (Isaiah 55:8).

Here on earth an employer who paid his people that way would be considered unfair and could actually be in violation of wage and hour laws. Compensation is normally based upon performance and length of service. That was also the attitude of the rich young man who had asked, "What good thing must I do?" All his life he had been taught the relationship between effort and reward, and he wanted to know what he could do to earn his salvation.


But the Lord looks at things differently. His love for us is derived from who we are, not what we've done. And who are we? Children of the King, the highest example of His creative capability, His work of art (Rom 8:17 & Ephe. 2:10). We don't have to work to earn eternal life, we just have to accept when He offers it. It's our inheritance, after all.



Riches And Righteousness


The Israelites had been taught that riches were an indication of righteousness and when Jesus now told His disciples that it's hard for a rich man to enter the Kingdom, they asked, "Who then can be saved?" "With man this impossible," Jesus replied, "But with God all things are possible" (Matt. 19:23-26). Still not willing to abandon their works theology Peter said, "We have left everything to follow you. What then will there be for us?" (vs. 27) Then the Lord illustrated the distinction between the free gift of salvation and the rewards that come from properly motivated service. They would sit in judgment of the 12 tribes of Israel, and indeed everyone who has abandoned the things of this world in favor of a life of service would receive similar rewards, plus eternal life (vs. 28-29). Many who perceive themselves as deserving of superior rewards based solely on their hard work or length of service will discover that the  Lord's criteria for such rewards is far different from their own. They will learn the meaning of His phrase, "the last will be first, and the first will be last." (vs. 30) It's the motive of our heart while serving Him that matters, not the duration or outcome of our effort. (1 Cor 3:10-15) Their pride has disqualified them for special rewards.


So the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard teaches that no matter when in your life you heed His call, you will gain Eternal Life. It's a gift freely given to all who will receive it, irrespective of effort. The only problem is that you can't determine in advance when your last chance to accept will come. Better make sure you've got it now.


Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts" (Hebr. 4:7).

~ The Parable of the Workers in the Field ~

Another Perspective of the Vineyard Parable:



"So the last will be first, and the first will be last." (Matt.20: 1-16)


What's That All About?.....


I've been some type or another a management consultant most of my adult life and before I became a Believer I thought the Lord had violated all kinds of motivational principles, not to mention the theory of fair compensation, with this story. Seemed to me like the landowner in the parable was training his workers to show up late. They'd still get paid for the full day.


Then I was born again, and learned that the Lord's objective in teaching through parables was to enlighten His followers on the ways of the Kingdom, while confusing everyone else. (Matt. 13: 11-13) It had sure worked with me.


I learned that a parable is a heavenly story put into an earthly perspective, and that all the characters represent someone or something else. This one was no different. As usual the landowner represents the Lord, the workers His followers, and the vineyard, His Kingdom. The pay stands for the rewards of salvation. The work is what His followers do to deserve the reward, and the day is the length of time they're given to do it, normally their lifespan. This parable wasn't meant to be a management seminar. It was given to illuminate three critical principles having to do with the Kingdom of Heaven.


Three Principles:


First, no matter when in your life you decide to join His Kingdom, you are entitled to all the rights and benefits pertaining thereto the moment you do. (Ephe 1:13-14) The last ones hired got the same pay as the first.


Second, you have to sign up before the end of the day. (Hebr. 4:7) No one was hired after the end of the day and as I said, the day represents our lifetime.


Third, if you think you deserve more in the Kingdom because you worked longer or harder or lived a better life than someone else, then you've forgotten how you got in. You weren't saved because of your merit or worthiness, but because of His mercy and grace. Thinking He owes you something extra is a sin that if left unconfessed won't get you thrown out, (remember every worker is a believer) but it could put a strain on your relationship with the Lord during your life and will certainly diminish your joy at having been accepted into the Kingdom.


Is Your Work All Done?.......


So what about the work that everyone, whether first or last, had to do to earn their pay? I thought salvation was free, and couldn't be earned. Earlier, the people had asked the Jesus, "What is the work God requires of us?" "The work of God is this," He replied. "Believe in the One He has sent." (John 6:28-29)


What a perfect opportunity to point out all the things required of us; the 10 Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, or some new list that combined them both and added regular church attendance, tithing, with maybe some missionary work thrown in. No. "Believe in the One He has sent." Period. End of Story.

The workers who worked all day represent those who have believed in the One He has sent, but then for the rest of their lives have labored long and hard for the Kingdom. Nothing wrong with all their hard work, and it has probably achieved much good, but at the end of the age, if they think they'll be in for some extra credit, their true motives will be exposed. The jealousy they feel when a terrible sinner makes a last minute confession and is saved without any good works to his credit shows they haven't been working to express their gratitude to the Lord for what they've already been promised, but to earn something more for themselves. (1 Cor. 4:5)


And The First Shall Be Last.....


When the Lord said, "The last will be first, and the first will be last," He was describing the spiritual equivalent of being sent to the end of the line. Something like that actually happened to me once. I arrived early for a popular seminar, found a good parking space, took my place near the head of the line that was already forming, and began mentally selecting the great seat I'd head for when the doors opened. As the line quickly got longer and longer, I began gloating over the fact that I wasn't going to be one of those losers who always arrive at the last minute and get terrible parking and worse seats. No sir, not me.


Finally the doors did open and to my shock I discovered I'd been standing in the wrong place. The first ones there had been misinformed and had started the line in front of the wrong door. The real entrance was at a different door and suddenly I was nearer the end of the line than the beginning. Bummer! I had been feeling so smug and superior, and now I was the loser. I mentally missed the first 15 minutes of the seminar trying to calm down, and never did get over the fact that I had waited all that time to get preferred seating and now my seat was no better than anyone else's. Going from first to last stole my joy that day, and my superior attitude made it all the worse.


Take Home Pay.....


If you're one of those believers the Lord could accuse of being jealous over what someone else is getting, confess and do it now. Don't let another day go by, estranged from Him by your jealousy.

And here's one way the parable is different from life. Everyone knew the workday was 12 hours long, so all could predict its end. But who among us can predict the end of our lives? If you're someone who hasn't yet fully committed to becoming one of His followers please heed the advice from Hebrews 4:7,

"Today if you hear His voice, don't harden your heart"  and from 2 Cor. 6:2 "I tell you, now is the time of  God's favor, now is the day of salvation." 


Join Him now, the wages are great and they pay eternal dividends!

~ Parable: Sons of Oil ~


"Then the angel who talked with me returned and wakened me, as a man is wakened from his sleep. He asked me, "What do you see?"

I answered, "I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl at the top and seven lights on it, with seven channels to the lights. Also there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left." I asked the angel who talked with me, "What are these, my lord?"

He answered, "Do you not know what these are?"

"No, my lord," I replied.

So he said to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty. "What are you, O mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of 'God bless it! God bless it!' "

Then the word of the LORD came to me: "The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands will also complete it. Then you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me to you. "Who despises the day of small things? Men will rejoice when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel."

(These seven are the eyes of the LORD, which range throughout the earth.)"

Then I asked the angel, "What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?" Again I asked him, "What are these two olive branches beside the two gold pipes that pour out golden oil?"

He replied, "Do you not know what these are?"

"No, my lord," I said.

So he said, "These are the two who are anointed to serve the Lord of all the earth."
Zech 4:1-14



What Time Is It?


It was February of 519 BC. Twenty years earlier the Jews had come back to Jerusalem after 70 years of captivity in Babylon, and following several abortive attempts had given up trying to rebuild their Temple.

To justify quitting, some had speculated that the reason for their difficulty was that the time wasn't right. So God sent them two prophets, Haggai to admonish them and Zechariah to encourage them, and it had worked. That very day they had begun work on the Temple again.


But the task seemed so intimidating. The older ones could still remember Solomon's Temple, destroyed in the siege of Jerusalem over 70 years earlier after standing in Jerusalem for nearly 400 years. In Solomon's time the nation was wealthy beyond measure and they were at peace with all their neighbors. But now they were just a rag-tag group of ex-captives, constantly harassed by their enemies. How would they ever hope to replace their beautiful Temple, so costly and magnificent?


And The Answer is ...


During that long February night Zechariah had a series of visions, eight in all. The one above was the Lord's answer to their questions about the Temple. Yes they had possessed much wealth and many resources during Solomon's time, and now they had precious little. But this temple would be built just the same. "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit," said the Lord.


Three years later the Temple was completed, and while it was a poor comparison to the splendor and glory of the earlier Temple of Solomon, this was the Temple visited by the Lord during His time on earth.

It was modified and renovated beyond recognition, first during the Hasmonean period that followed the Macabbean revolt, and then again by King Herod, but this Temple felt the touch of the feet of Him Who brought the gospel of peace.


Got Oil?


And with what symbolism did the Lord represent His Spirit in Zechariah's vision? Oil. Oil from the olive trees, sustaining the only source of light in the Temple, the seven-branched lamp stand called the menorah. It's from verses like these that oil has come to stand for the Holy Spirit when used symbolically.


Often the Holy Spirit's work is accomplished through men and women set apart for the purpose, also explained in the vision (vs.11-14). In Israel the High Priest and the Ruler were always anointed with oil symbolizing their calling. And in the Church today, we anoint with oil. The oil signifies our belief that the Holy Spirit is working through them. When we anoint the sick with oil, we're asking the Holy Spirit to work a healing miracle in them. Oil, the symbol of the Holy Spirit.


Double Vision


Frequently the messages of prophets concerned events far in the future. In those cases the Lord arranged a double fulfillment of the prophecies He gave them. The first one, often a partial fulfillment, took place fairly soon. Its purpose was to validate the prophecy so the people would know it truly came from the Lord. This protected the credibility of the prophet and verified the accuracy of the long-term fulfillment for the generation that would experience it in the future.


A good example is the prophecy of the virgin birth given by Isaiah (Isa. 7:14). In giving it, Isaiah used a Hebrew word that could mean either virgin or young woman. This was to permit a partial fulfillment in his time that would validate the prophecy.


And sure enough, a short time later Isaiah's wife became pregnant and gave birth to a boy the Lord called Immanuel. As he had prophesied, before the boy was old enough to speak, the Northern Kingdom was overrun by the Assyrians. (Isa. 8:1-10) The partial fulfillment had come to pass.


Six hundred years later, after Isaiah, his family, and the Assyrian invasion were ancient history, Jewish scholars translating Isaiah's writings into Greek saw the future Messianic fulfillment in the prophecy. They chose a word that could only describe a woman who has never experienced sexual intercourse, because they believed it spoke of a virgin birth. One hundred fifty years after that, the Virgin Mary gave birth to Jesus.

While both fulfillments contained specific outcomes that were important in Israel's history, a young woman giving birth was hardly the unique event that Isaiah needed to show the nation that God was with them ("Immanuel" in Hebrew). That would take nothing less than the only virgin birth in human history, which by the way also fulfilled a prophecy given to the serpent in the Garden. The "Seed of the Woman" (a biological impossibility) would bring about his downfall.


Sons Of Oil


In Zech. 4:11-14 we have one of those double fulfillments. First the immediate one; Zerubbabel the Governor, and Joshua the High Priest would be God's two anointed ones (literally sons of oil), charged with completing the Temple construction. In the vision they were the two olive trees from whom the oil flowed, signifying the Holy Spirit working through them. In the process, Zechariah's appointment as a prophet was confirmed as promised in verse 8 of his vision, since Zerubbabel, who started the project, also completed it.

But the use of the phrase "Lord of all the Earth" in verse 14 is a clue to another later fulfillment. It's used only four times in scripture, twice in Joshua 3 where the Lord stopped the flow of the Jordan River so the people could cross on dry ground, here in Zech. 4, and in Revelation 11:4 the only other place where it's used in conjunction with two men called by God for extraordinary service.


These of course are the two witnesses sent to Israel to display signs and wonders during the Great Tribulation. Performing the miracles of Moses and Elijah and preaching the sermons of John and Paul, they too will be "sons of oil," set apart for miraculous work, anointed with the Holy Spirit for extraordinary service, and supernaturally protected by Him till their ministry is complete.


Sons (or Daughters) of Oil, set apart for miraculous work, anointed with the Holy Spirit for extraordinary service, and supernaturally protected by Him till their earthly ministry is complete; even if that ministry is nothing more than to share the Gospel with other people they meet along the way.

By the way... That would be you and me! Awesome, isn't it?!