28. Questions On The Parables
QUESTIONS ON THE PARABLES In the parable ofLuke 16:1-8, it is difficult to understand how the unjust steward could be commended by our Lord. Please explain. But the unjust steward was not commended by our Lord. It was his lord who commended him. Notice that the word lord is not printed with a capital L. It is the steward’s employer who commended him. To me the matter has offered no difficulty. I can easily understand how the unjust steward’s master might appreciate the shrewdness of the man and for that commend him in spite of the fact that he had suffered a financial loss through the steward’s crookedness. It is not stated that his master approved of his act but only that he commended him. This commendation was on account of his foresight in providing for the future even in temporal things. Of course, the lesson of our Lord in giving the parable is perfectly obvious. We ought to provide for the future in eternal things. The teaching is made clear by the key-verse, the 9th, as rendered in the Revised Version: “And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends by means of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when it shall fail, they may receive you into the eternal tabernacles.” In these words our Lord clearly advises us to use our money to send folks to Heaven, so that when we reach there they may welcome us. Will you kindly give me light onLuke 16:8-9? How can the friends of unrighteousness receive anyone “into everlasting habitations”?
That, of course, would be impossible. But you have not read the parable carefully. Read it again. The mammon of unrighteousness is money. The word “mammon” comes from the Greek mammonas, Latin mammona, Aramaic mamona, and its meaning is riches. Since riches are worshiped by the unrighteous world, mammon is called by our Lord the mammon of unrighteousness. The parable referred to in your question teaches us what use we are to make of money. We should use it to send people to Heaven. The Revisers have corrected the translation to make it read: “Make to yourselves friends by means of the mammon of unrighteousness; that when it (that is, the mammon, or money) shall fail, they (the friends) may receive you into the eternal tabernacles.” The Word of God says that “he that winneth souls is wise” (Proverbs 11:30); and also that “they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever” (Daniel 12:3). What joy it will be for soul-winners to greet in Heaven those whom they have helped to send there!
What is the difference between the Parable of the Pounds and the Parable of the Talents (Luke 19:11-27;Matthew 25:14-30)?
There is a difference between these parables, although there are many points of similarity also. The emphatic lesson in the Parable of the Talents seems to be that the Lord’s return will be a test of professed service. In the Parable of the Pounds the great point emphasized is the postponement of the kingdom as it says in the 11th verse that he “spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear.” In the Parable of the Prodigal Son, does the son represent the sinner or a backslider?
He represents a backslidden child of God restored to fellowship with the Father through confession of his sins, in agreement with the promise of 1 John 1:9. This same is true of all the three parables of Luke 15—The shepherd recovering his wandering sheep, the woman (representing the Church) recovering her lost coin, and the father recovering his sinning boy. None of these—the sheep, the coin, the boy—was “lost,” except in the sense that each of them was out of place. The sheep belonged to the shepherd all the time, but was out of the fold where his other sheep were gathered. The coin belonged to the woman all the time, and all the time was in the house, but it was out of its proper place, perhaps, as some have suggested, adorning her person as part of a necklace or bracelet. The wandering boy belonged to his father all the time, but was out of his fellowship and away from his house. It is a beautiful chapter on the doctrine of restoration to the Father’s communion of those who have “sinned against heaven, and in His sight.”
What does leaven mean?
Leaven is a Bible symbol of evil working under cover. Any good concordance will show you every occurrence of the word leaven in the Bible and will prove the truth of what we have said. See, for example, Exodus 12:15-20; Leviticus 2:11; Matthew 16:6; Mark 8:15; 1 Corinthians 5:5-8; Galatians 5:8-9.
Please explain why leaven is included in the Pentecostal offering (Leviticus 23:17), in view of your teaching that leaven always typifies evil. Also explain the Parable of the Leaven inMatthew 13:33.
Leaven in Scripture is uniformly a symbol of evil or corruption, and it is so employed in the Pentecost type. Jews and Gentiles, both evil and corrupt, are yet saved through faith, and are “accepted in the beloved” on account of His shed blood. Please observe that in the ritual of Pentecost (Leviticus 23:15-21) the two wave-loaves were presented with bloody offerings. In the Parable of the Leaven, the woman is the apostate church, mingling with the pure meal of the Word of God (which is His appointed food for the household of faith) the leaven of false doctrine. The three measures of meal may speak of the threefold division of the professing church—Protestant, Roman Catholic, Greek Catholic. Each has a measure of meal, but in each the meal is so poisoned by corrupt doctrine and practice as to make it a menace to the children of God. The leavening process goes on till the whole lump becomes corrupt. The end will be for the Lord Himself to spew the disgusting mixture out of His mouth (Revelation 3:14-16).
Please give the interpretation of the Parable of the Hid Treasure (Matthew 13:44), and also that of the Pearl (Matthew 13:45-46). The treasure is Israel, now hidden in the field which is the world. The Man who in His joy goes and sells His all and buys the field is the Lord Jesus. He bought the field by giving His precious blood on Calvary, and therefore not only by creation but also by redemption, “the earth is Jehovah’s, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein” (Psalms 24:1). One day the treasure will be brought forth and “Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit” (Isaiah 27:6). That will be when He has turned away ungodliness from Jacob, and the promise of Exodus 19:5-6 and Psalms 135:4 will be fulfilled: “if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. For Jehovah hath chosen Jacob unto himself, and Israel for his peculiar treasure.” The pearl of great price is the Church. The Man is again the Lord Jesus. The price is His blood (Ephesians 1:14; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 and 1 Peter 1:18-19).
What do you think of the Parable of the Ten Virgins (Matthew 25:1-13)? Some say that all believers will be taken away when the Church or the body is raptured. But it seems to me that some Christians will be left here for the Tribulation. I should like to have your opinion. The coming of the Bridegroom here is not at the Rapture of the Church. Such a thing is not to be sought for in Matthew. It is rather His return with His Bride at the close of the Great Tribulation (see chapter 24:29,30). It is “the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of his power in flaming fire, rendering vengeance to them that know not God, and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus: who shall suffer punishment, even eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he shall come to be glorified in his saints and to be marveled at in all them that believed in that day” (2 Thessalonians 1:7-10, R.V.). In the ancient Syriac New Testament as well as the Latin Vulgate, the first verse of our chapter reads: ‘Then may the kingdom of heaven be shadowed forth by ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom and bride” (see John 3:29). The word “marriage” in verse 10 should read “marriage feast” (see R.V.). The actual marriage will have already taken place in Heaven. The virgins are professing Jewish disciples during the King’s absence and just preceding His return. It is not like the Holy Spirit to present the Church under a plural figure; He is too jealous for the unity of the body of Christ. In 2 Corinthians 11:2 the Church is seen as “a chaste virgin,” not a company of virgins. Again, in Psalms 45, the Church is seen as the Queen, the King’s Bride; while the Jewish disciples are seen as “the virgins her companions that follow her.” Likewise, the Jewish remnant is seen twice in The Revelation as a company of virgins (7:4; 14:3,4). The Bride will certainly appear with her Bridegroom when He is manifested, but she is not typified by the virgins in the parable. The lamps or torches are the Word of God in a type (Psalms 119:105; 2 Peter 1:19). The going forth of the virgins is their outward profession of loyalty to the coming King. They all “went forth.” The oil is a type of the Holy Spirit (Zechariah 4). Five of the virgins had oil in their vessels with their torches. So every regenerate person has the Holy Spirit indwelling his body as well as the Word of God in his hands. We have this treasure in earthen vessels (2 Corinthians 4:7; 1 Corinthians 6:19). The foolish virgins took no oil. They were “none of his” (Romans 8:9), for though they had a form of godliness they denied the power thereof (2 Timothy 3:5).
All boasting is excluded by the humiliating statement of the 5th verse—”While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept,” wise and foolish together, showing the failure of the flesh, and reminding us of our Lord’s agonized question in the garden (Matthew 26:40). The scene which follows the midnight cry is very pitiful. There is a great trimming of lamps signifying, in the figure, a frantic searching of the Word of God at a time when it will be too late; a great longing for the oil of God, even a willingness to buy at any cost, but it is all in vain, for while they went, the Bridegroom came and the door was shut. There is much prayer—”Lord, Lord, open to us!” but He knows them not for they are not among “them that are his” (2 Timothy 2:19). Surely there is need for the exhortation of verse 13, “Watch, therefore!” (Compare Luke 12:35-36.) In the parable ofMatthew 13:24-30, is the Kingdom of Heaven, spoken of there, the Church or the world? Are the wheat and the tares the people in the Church or in the world? My pastor teaches that it refers to the Church. To me it seems it cannot be so, according to the Word which teaches that the true Church is the body of Christ. How can wheat and tares be together in it? They can’t be.
You are right: “They can’t be.” The answer to your question is in the 38th verse of the same chapter: “The field is the world.” This parable is often used as an argument against the exercise of church discipline, because of the words in verse 30, “Let them both (the wheat and the tares) grow together until the harvest.” But the parable is not talking of the church, either the true Church which is the body of Christ, or of the professing church. ‘The field is the world.”