| The Parables of the Kingdom of God by Kobojunkiee: 7:45pm On Oct 12, 2020 |
1. THE PARABLE OF THE TEN VIRGINS, AS TOLD BY JESUS CHRIST
Matthew 25 vs 1-13 (ERV)
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1. “At that time God’s kingdom will be like ten girls who went to wait for the bridegroom. They took their lamps with them.
2. Five of the girls were foolish, and five were wise.
3. The foolish girls took their lamps with them, but they did not take extra oil for the lamps.
4. The wise girls took their lamps and more oil in jars.
5. When the bridegroom was very late, the girls could not keep their eyes open, and they all fell asleep.
6. “At midnight someone announced, ‘The bridegroom is coming! Come and meet him!’
7. “Then all the girls woke up. They made their lamps ready.
8. But the foolish girls said to the wise girls, ‘Give us some of your oil. The oil in our lamps is all gone.’
9. “The wise girls answered, ‘No! The oil we have might not be enough for all of us. But go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’
10. “So the foolish girls went to buy oil. While they were gone, the bridegroom came. The girls who were ready went in with the bridegroom to the wedding feast. Then the door was closed and locked.
11. “Later, the other girls came. They said, ‘Sir, sir! Open the door to let us in.’
12. “But the bridegroom answered, ‘Certainly not! I don’t even know you.’
13. “So always be ready. You don’t know the day or the time when the Son of Man will come.
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| Re: The Parables of the Kingdom of God by Kobojunkiee: 7:56pm On Oct 12, 2020 |
AkinwaleJJ:
The Parable was about God's Holy Spirit!
The virgins are religionsists before the coming of our Master, Lord and King Jesus Christ in 1914!
Before then there were thousands of religious groups claiming Christian, so when the Lord arrived that year he visited all the religions claiming Christians globally but only one produced the fruit of God's Holy Spirit (JW) so he took all those sleeping in death before then and handed over the authority to continue with his father's work in the year 1919.
Though all these are things of the spirit invisible to humans but Jesus promised that the Organization that's working for his father will be identified by the FRUIT! Matthew 7:15-20
So no matter how many feel about God's choice of Organization after 1914, they will continue to see that the one and only group having LOVE, JOY, PEACE, PATIENCE, GOODNESS, GENTLENESS, FAITH, MILDNESS and SELF-CONTROL will stand out! Galatians 5:22-23; Matthew 5:13-16
So the oil connotes the holy spirit, all the other religions failed to produce the fruit so they were left behind!   Are you serious? |
| Re: The Parables of the Kingdom of God by delkuf(m): 7:59pm On Oct 12, 2020 |
So what do you understand about the story of the ten Virgins 1 Like |
| Re: The Parables of the Kingdom of God by Kobojunkie: 9:47pm On Oct 12, 2020 |
delkuf:
So what do you understand about the story of the ten Virgins You mean to say that from reading up the passage, you do not clearly comprehend at least the gist of the message that Jesus Christ intended for His followers?  |
| Re: The Parables of the Kingdom of God by Kobojunkie: 1:07am On Oct 13, 2020 |
The parable compares God's kingdom to just 10 girls who went out to wait for the Bridegroom- this particular bridegroom has something to do with the Kingdom, unlike the many other bridegrooms that may exist out there in the rest of the world.
Matthew 25 vs 1-2 (ERV)
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1. “At that time God’s kingdom will be like ten girls who went to wait for the bridegroom. They took their lamps with them.
2. Five of the girls were foolish, and five were wise.
There are obviously more than 10 girls out there in the world, but only 10 of them are of interest in this story since they seem to share a common interest, this particular bridegroom. All 10 girls took their lamps with them -- it seems the lamp holds some importance in this story. Of the 10, 5 were described as being wise, while the other 5 as being foolish. What makes one group wise and the other foolish?
Matthew 25 vs 3 - 4 (ERV)
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3. The foolish girls took their lamps with them, but they did not take extra oil for the lamps.
4. The wise girls took their lamps and more oil in jars.
The wise girls took, along with their lamps, extra oil, while the foolish girls did not take extra oil with them. QUESTION(s): What does oil represent? Does the Bridegroom require that His brides all have lamps that are burning to meet Him?
Matthew 25 vs 5 (ERV)
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5. When the bridegroom was very late, the girls could not keep their eyes open, and they all fell asleep.
It seems the wait turned out to be a long one and so all 10 of the girls (both wise and foolish) eventually fell asleep. QUESTION: What does their falling asleep during the wait imply?
Matthew 25 vs 6 -9 (ERV)
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6. “At midnight someone announced, ‘The bridegroom is coming! Come and meet him!’
7. “Then all the girls woke up. They made their lamps ready.
8. But the foolish girls said to the wise girls, ‘Give us some of your oil. The oil in our lamps is all gone.’
9. “The wise girls answered, ‘No! The oil we have might not be enough for all of us. But go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’
A call went out, announcing the arrival of the bridegroom. This call woke all 10 girls up and they in turn got their lamps ready. The lamps belonging to the foolish girls had run out of oil since the wait turned out longer than they had anticipated. Since they had to have their lamps lit in order to see the bridegroom, the foolish girls left to go purchase some oil for their lamps.
Matthew 25 vs 10 (ERV)
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10. “So the foolish girls went to buy oil. While they were gone, the bridegroom came. The girls who were ready went in with the bridegroom to the wedding feast. Then the door was closed and locked.
Unfortunately, upon their return, the foolish girls discover that the bridegroom had already come, taking only the 5 wise girls with him instead to the wedding feast, and locked the doors. Question: It seems the girls were expected to show up with a lit lamp for the bridegroom, but couldn't it be said that the bridegroom shared half the blame because if He had come on time, their lights would probably not have run out during the wait?
Matthew 25 vs 11-13 (ERV)
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11. “Later, the other girls came. They said, ‘Sir, sir! Open the door to let us in.’
12. “But the bridegroom answered, ‘Certainly not! I don’t even know you.’
13. “So always be ready. You don’t know the day or the time when the Son of Man will come.
The foolish girls sought to appeal to the good side of the bridegroom. They knocked on his door to plead with him to let them into the wedding feast. Sadly, the only chance they had was to meet up with the bridegroom, they forfeited just because they failed to bring more oil along with them for the wait. QUESTION: what becomes of the brides who miss their chance to enter the wedding feast? Based on the story, we can conclude that as far as the Kingdom of God is concerned, not everyone will make it to the "wedding feast". There will be those who make it to the 'wedding feast', and those who are left without. The wise will come with enough oil to keep their lamp burning till the Bridegroom arrives, while the foolish are those who will not have enough oil to keep their light burning long enough. And there will be those who will prepare for the Kingdom but will be denied access to it, not because they did not believe(the foolish girls did desire to meet the bridegroom, and so believed) but because they did not prepare themselves well for to meet the bridegroom. The key message of the parable is found in verse 13 by the way. |
| Re: The Parables of the Kingdom of God by Kobojunkiee: 6:49pm On Oct 13, 2020 |
The Parable of the Sower
1 Matthew 13 vs 1-9 (ERV)
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1. That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea.
2. And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach.
3. And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow.
4. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them.
5. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil,
6. but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away.
7. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.
8. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
9. He who has ears,[a] let him hear.”
Fortunately for us, we are provided the very explanation for this Parable in the gospel, unfortunately, even at that, many continue to miscontrue the message given. The Parable of the Sower Explained
Matthew 13 vs 1-9 (ERV)
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18. “So listen to the meaning of that story about the farmer:
19. “What about the seed that fell by the path? That is like the people who hear the teaching about God’s kingdom but do not understand it. The Evil One comes and takes away what was planted in their hearts.
20. “And what about the seed that fell on rocky ground? That is like the people who hear the teaching and quickly and gladly accept it.
21. But they do not let the teaching go deep into their lives. They keep it only a short time. As soon as trouble or persecution comes because of the teaching they accepted, they give up.
22. And what about the seed that fell among the thorny weeds? That is like the people who hear the teaching but let worries about this life and love for money stop it from growing. So it does not produce a crop in their lives.
23. “But what about the seed that fell on the good ground? That is like the people who hear the teaching and understand it. They grow and produce a good crop, sometimes 100 times more, sometimes 60 times more, and sometimes 30 times more.”
Some questions to consider asking Jesus Christ upon reading the parable and His explanation:1. What crop are we expected to produce? 2. If I have been 'hearing the teaching' for x amount of years now, how do I truly know I have produced good crop? and how do I measure my yield |
| Re: The Parables of the Kingdom of God by elated177: 11:01pm On Oct 13, 2020 |
Lol! Ehehehehe! |
| Re: The Parables of the Kingdom of God by Kobojunkie: 1:06am On Oct 14, 2020 |
A Story About Wheat and Weeds
Matthew 13 vs 24 - 30 (ERV)
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24. Then Jesus used another story to teach them. Jesus said, “God’s kingdom is like a man who planted good seed in his field. 25. That night, while everyone was asleep, the man’s enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat and then left.
26. Later, the wheat grew, and heads of grain grew on the plants. But at the same time the weeds also grew.
27. Then the man’s servants came to him and said, ‘You planted good seed in your field. Where did the weeds come from?’
28. “The man answered, ‘An enemy planted weeds. The servants asked, ‘Do you want us to go and pull up the weeds?’
29. “He answered, ‘No, because when you pull up the weeds, you might also pull up the wheat.
30. Let the weeds and the wheat grow together until the harvest time. At the harvest time I will tell the workers this: First, gather the weeds and tie them together to be burned. Then gather the wheat and bring it to my barn.’”
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| Re: The Parables of the Kingdom of God by Kobojunkie: 5:31am On Oct 14, 2020 |
A STORY ABOUT WHEAT AND WEEDS
Matthew 13 vs 24 - 30 (ERV)
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24. Then Jesus used another story to teach them. Jesus said, “God’s kingdom is like a man who planted good seed in his field. 25. That night, while everyone was asleep, the man’s enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat and then left.
26. Later, the wheat grew, and heads of grain grew on the plants. But at the same time the weeds also grew.
27. Then the man’s servants came to him and said, ‘You planted good seed in your field. Where did the weeds come from?’
28. “The man answered, ‘An enemy planted weeds. The servants asked, ‘Do you want us to go and pull up the weeds?’
29. “He answered, ‘No, because when you pull up the weeds, you might also pull up the wheat.
30. Let the weeds and the wheat grow together until the harvest time. At the harvest time I will tell the workers this: First, gather the weeds and tie them together to be burned. Then gather the wheat and bring it to my barn.’”
A very important take away from this story is that not all that is allowed to grow in the man's field will end up harvested and stored in the barn belonging to the man in the story. Sadly, there will be weeds that will be cast into the burned, regardless of yield.
Matthew 13 vs 24 - 25 (ERV)
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24. Then Jesus used another story to teach them. Jesus said, “God’s kingdom is like a man who planted good seed in his field. 25. That night, while everyone was asleep, the man’s enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat and then left.
According to the story, there are two people who sowed seeds in this field- the owner of the field, who sowed good seeds in his field, and the enemy to the owner of the field, who planted weed, obviously bad seeds, among the good seeds, and then left. Again, in this parable, we see it mentioned that everyone fell asleep. QUESTION: Why did everyone fall asleep?
Why did the enemy leave after sowing his bad seeds in the field.
If we are to assume that the owner of the field is God Himself, and this owner, by His hands, planted good seeds in his field, doesn't this lend to the idea that there are in fact those whom God has chosen from among all the others?
Matthew 13 vs 26 (ERV)
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26. Later, the wheat grew, and heads of grain grew on the plants. But at the same time the weeds also grew.
The enemy allowed his bad seeds to grow in his enemy's field, among the good seeds. The bad seeds(weeds) by growing in the same field a the good seeds were nourished by the same soil, and their nature remained the same-- bad seeds will always grow into nothing but weeds no matter what.
Matthew 13 vs 24 - 30 (ERV)
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27. Then the man’s servants came to him and said, ‘You planted good seed in your field. Where did the weeds come from?’
28. “The man answered, ‘An enemy planted weeds. The servants asked, ‘Do you want us to go and pull up the weeds?’
29. “He answered, ‘No, because when you pull up the weeds, you might also pull up the wheat.
30. Let the weeds and the wheat grow together until the harvest time. At the harvest time I will tell the workers this: First, gather the weeds and tie them together to be burned. Then gather the wheat and bring it to my barn.’”
It is clear from the response that the man was aware of the presence of his enemy in his field, yet it seems He did not do anything to deter him, the enemy, from planting the bad seeds among his crop. The field owner's response to the question, "do you want us to go and pull up the weeds?" reveals a possible reason why he was not worried about his enemy's presence in the field while everyone was asleep. The man decided that his servants wait till harvest time to pull up the weed. A possible reason being that should wheat be pulled up in the process of pulling up the weed, the wheat is not harmed since it has already produced yield for harvest. During harvest no harm can come to the wheat as they are gathered into the barn, while the weed are gathered and burned instead. Again we see a familiar theme, the exclusion of a set, among those in the kingdom, from moving forward to the final state. In this case, the weed gathered by the servants are taken out and burned, while the wheat are harvested and taken into the barn, away from the weed. Fortunately, Jesus Christ provided us an explanation for the Parable of Wheat and weeds. Jesus Explains a the Parable of Wheat and Weeds
Matthew 13 vs 36-43 (ERV)
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36. Then Jesus left the people and went into the house. His followers came to him and said, “Explain to us the meaning of the story about the weeds in the field.”
37. He answered, “The man who planted the good seed in the field is the Son of Man.
38. The field is the world. The good seed are the people in God’s kingdom. The weeds are the people who belong to the Evil One.
39. And the enemy who planted the bad seed is the devil. The harvest is the end of time. And the workers who gather are God’s angels.
40. “The weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire. It will be the same at the end of time.
41. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will find the people who cause sin and all those who do evil. The angels will take those people out of his kingdom.
42. They will throw them into the place of fire. There the people will be crying and grinding their teeth with pain.
43. Then the godly people will shine like the sun. They will be in the kingdom of their Father. You people who hear me, listen!
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| Re: The Parables of the Kingdom of God by Kobojunkie: 3:27am On Apr 22, 2023 |
The parables of the Lost Sheep, Lost Coin, and Lost (Prodigal) SonJesus Christ told those parables in order to provide a rebuttal to the Pharisees and teachers of the Law pointed out at the beginning of the chapter. 1 Many tax collectors and sinners came to listen to Jesus.
2 Then the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to complain, “Look, this man welcomes sinners and even eats with them!” - Luke 15 vs 1 - 2 These Pharisees and teachers of the Law were men who claimed to be knowledgable of the Law yet they looked down on the sinners in the land, thinking them worthless beings, and hence of no value to God and His Plan. This isn't the first time that Jesus Christ is recorded to have used parables to provide rebuttals to the claims made against Him by the same crew. And in almost all cases, the message of the parable is found within the story itself.
PARABLE #1 - The Kingdom of God aka God's special Nation of Priests - Exodus 19 vs 6 - welcomes the sinners of Israel who decides to change from following his sinful ways3 Then Jesus told them this story:
4 “Suppose one of you has 100 sheep, but one of them gets lost. What will you do? You will leave the other 99 sheep there in the field and go out and look for the lost sheep. You will continue to search for it until you find it.
5 And when you find it, you will be very happy. You will carry it
6 home, go to your friends and neighbors and say to them, ‘Be happy with me because I found my lost sheep!’
7 In the same way, I tell you, heaven is a happy place when one sinner decides to change. There is more joy for that one sinner than for 99 good people who don’t need to change. - Luke 15 vs 3 - 7 PARABLE #2 - The angels of God welcome a sinner of Israel who decides to change from following his old sinful ways8 “Suppose a woman has ten silver coins, but she loses one of them. She will take a light and clean the house. She will look carefully for the coin until she finds it.
9 And when she finds it, she will call her friends and neighbors and say to them, ‘Be happy with me because I have found the coin that I lost!’ 10 In the same way, it’s a happy time for the angels of God when one sinner of Israel decides to change.” - Luke 15 vs 8 - 10 PARABLE #3 - A sinner of Israel who decides to change from following his sinful ways is like a son who was once lost but is now found, once dead but is now alive. 11 Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons.
12 The younger son said to his father, ‘Give me now the part of your property that I am supposed to receive someday.’ So the father divided his wealth between his two sons.
13 “A few days later the younger son gathered up all that he had and left. He traveled far away to another country, and there he wasted his money living like a fool.
14 After he spent everything he had, there was a terrible famine throughout the country. He was hungry and needed money.
15 So he went and got a job with one of the people who lived there. The man sent him into the fields to feed pigs.
16 He was so hungry that he wanted to eat the food the pigs were eating. But no one gave him anything.
17 “The son realized that he had been very foolish. He thought, ‘All my father’s hired workers have plenty of food. But here I am, almost dead because I have nothing to eat.
18 I will leave and go to my father. I will say to him: Father, I have sinned against God and have done wrong to you.
19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. But let me be like one of your hired workers.’
20 So he left and went to his father. “While the son was still a long way off, his father saw him coming and felt sorry for him. So he ran to him and hugged and kissed him.
21 The son said, ‘Father, I have sinned against God and have done wrong to you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Hurry! Bring the best clothes and put them on him. Also, put a ring on his finger and good sandals on his feet.
23 And bring our best calf and kill it so that we can celebrate with plenty to eat.
24 My son was dead, but now he is alive again! He was lost, but now he is found!’ So they began to have a party. - Luke 15 vs 11 - 24 PARABLE #4 - A sinner of Israel who decides to change from following his sinful ways is like a brother who was once lost but is now found, once dead but is now alive. 25 “The older son had been out in the field. When he came near the house, he heard the sound of music and dancing.
26 So he called to one of the servant boys and asked, ‘What does all this mean?’
27 The boy said, ‘Your brother has come back, and your father killed the best calf to eat. He is happy because he has his son back safe and sound.’
28 “The older son was angry and would not go to the party. So his father went out and begged him to come in.
29 But he said to his father, ‘Look, for all these years I have worked like a slave for you. I have always done what you told me to do, and you never gave me even a young goat for a party with my friends.
30 But then this son of yours comes home after wasting your money on prostitutes, and you kill the best calf for him!’
31 “His father said to him, ‘Oh, my son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.
32 But this was a day to be happy and celebrate. Your brother was dead, but now he is alive. He was lost, but now he is found.’” - Luke 15 vs 25 vs 32 By way of these 4 parables, Jesus Christ provided, for the Pharisees and teachers of the law, 4 simple reasons why He came to call to Himself the sinners of Israel and not the righteous brothers/sons of Israel. |
