Revelation 1:1-3, `The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand'. And,
Revelation 1:19-20, `Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter; The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches'.
May the Lord add His blessing to the reading of His Word. The blessings and condemnations of each Age are cumulative, and the Laodicean Age gathers up into itself for one quick work, ALL the evil of every age and yet all the REALITY of Pentecost. (Because the church has been restored back to the apostolic faith and the mystery of God is finished).
The first Adam failed but the second Adam was perfect and resurrected. The first Eve failed, but the second Eve, the Bride of Christ is perfect and will shortly be translated for the Wedding Supper.
John 12:24, `Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit'.
That Corn of wheat went into the ground at Calvary, preached to the lost and led captivity captive. Jesus was the crowning of the Old Testament. The natural types the Spiritual. When He was smitten, His Life came back upon His elect to reproduce Itself in multiplied Form. That's the economy of farming.
Jesus admonished the Ephesian Age for tolerating false apostles: men who elevated themselves above the laity. Ephesus left their first love, the Word. The deeds of the nicolaitanes caused this fall and death set in whereas in Pentecost Life had reigned supreme (Revelation 2:2, 4-6).Then in the Pergamean Age, the deeds of the nicolaitanes became doctrine and were substituted for the Word of God at the First Nicea Council. Jesus calls this substitution spiritual fornication or Balaamism, for Balaam's teaching against the revealed Word of God caused the children of Israel to commit fornication.
The church denominated and died in AD 325 at the First Nicea Council and the Light of the first three golden Lamagsands, which had been declining since Pentecost, was all but extinguished in Thyatira which is known as the Dark Ages. That Corn of wheat which came back to life in multiplied Form in the Pentecostal saints, after whom we have the Book of the Acts of the Holy Spirit IN the Apostles, went back into the ground for almost a thousand years.
The cycle that produced death through the first three Church Ages, and burial in Thyatira, brought the Reformation of the Roman Catholic system of worship through justification, sanctification and the baptism of the Holy Spirit in the Sardis, Philadelphian and Laodicean Church Ages. Now the true Church has been RESTORED back to the original Corn of wheat in perfection and is ripening today under the Presence of the Son Light for the manifestation of the Sons of God and the resurrection.
The Reformation was NOT a restoration. It was a reformation of the Roman Catholic SYSTEM of worship. The Reformers were trying to return to the beliefs instituted by the early Roman Catholic church when it organized at the First Nicea Council of AD 325. Unfortunately they did not attempt to RESTORE it to the faith once delivered to the apostolic saints of the original and only Church Jesus calls His Own. ALL the Word spoken by the mouth of all God's holy prophets and apostles since the world began was restored by the prophet of Malachi 4:5-6, William Branham, the angel to the Seventh Church Age.
The growth cycle has ended and the FRUIT of each seed is ripening. Jesus said of the wheat and the tares, `these churches look so much alike, let both grow together UNTIL the harvest, for by their FRUIT - the teaching of the season - shall ye know them.'
Now it is SEPARATION time, the reapers are the seven Portions of the Holy Spirit that anointed the seven Church Age Messengers. The Fullness of the Word they have revealed in this day is separating Christ's elect from the church of the world, ready for the translation, and bundling the thorns and briars for the burning.
Tonight we're going to study the seven parables in Matthew 13.
First, Matthew 13:1-23, `The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side. And GREAT MULTITUDES were gathered together unto Him, so that He went into a ship, and sat; and the whole MULTITUDE stood on the shore.
And He spake many things unto THEM in PARABLES, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, (the hard unploughed earth by the side of the field), and the fowls came and devoured them up: Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. (No depth of soil to absorb moisture of the Holy Spirit). And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.
Who hath ears to hear, let him hear'. The appeal of Christ in every Church Age.
`And the disciples came, and said unto Him, "Why speakest thou unto THEM in PARABLES?" He answered and said unto them, "Because it is given unto YOU to know the MYSTERIES of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is NOT given'.
The multitude NEVER understand Spiritual things. To the unbeliever and make-believer, we also speak in riddles because we communicate in the SAME unwritten language as Jesus: FAITH or Spiritual revelation from God Theologians have been analysing It for thousands of years; and they're further away from understanding It today than they were in the days of Noah. They'll NEVER see It.
The MYSTERIES of the kingdom of heaven since the Fall had increasingly become a MYSTERY to man because hybreeding the Word of God with carnal reasoning over time muddied the clear boundary between faith and fable.
These mysteries were revealed to Paul. Romans 16:25-26, `Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the MYSTERY, which was kept secret since the world began, But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to the GENTILES for the obedience of faith'. The mystery here spoken of is the Body of Christ made up of BOTH Jews and Gentiles. And of course that mystery includes the mystery of original sin which is REPEATED spiritually in the church.
Surely you can see that. Paul said, `I am JEALOUS over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to ONE husband (the SECOND Adam), that I may present you as a chaste VIRGIN to Christ. (The first Eve was NOT a chaste virgin and had TWO husbands). But I fear, lest by any means, AS or in the SAME WAY that the serpent SEDUCED Eve through his subtilty, so your MINDS should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ' (II Corinthians 11:2-3).
As the Serpent deceived Eve by Satan's lie and seduced her PHYSICALLY, Paul here expresses his concern that the second Eve, the church, will be seduced spiritually and persuaded to commit fornication against Christ, her espoused Husband. This took place at the First Nicea Council and is taking place today. Paul prophesied it in II Thessalonians 2:11 as Jesus did in Revelation in Revelation 17: 1-2, `And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: With whom the kings of the earth have committed FORNICATION, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her FORNICATION'. Revelation 18:3, `All nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her FORNICATION, and the kings of the earth have committed FORNICATION with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies'.
Do you know that physical fornication is the very same spirit that lies in organized religion? I said that the spirit of fornication is the spirit of organization. And all fornicators will have their place in the Lake of Fire. That is what God thinks of organization. Yes sir, the whore and her daughters will be in the Lake of Fire.
That's where the mystery began, in the garden of Eden when Eve hybrid with the Serpent, her first son was the bastard, Cain. And denominations have hybrid the Word by adding to and taking away so that It's no longer God's Spirit and Life, and cannot produce sons and daughters to God but bastards. The mystery ends back in the garden of Eden but ONLY for those who are virgins to the Word.
Paul said the saints of his day `spoke the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the foundation of the world unto our glory' (I Corinthians 2:7). He declared a dispensation of God had been given to him to fulfill the Word of God. `Even the MYSTERY which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but NOW is made manifest to His saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of this MYSTERY among the Gentiles; which is Christ IN you, the hope of glory' (Colossians 1:25-27).
Today there are MULTITUDES in every nation who can recite those verses. But they are a PARABLE to them for the MYSTERY Paul once revealed to the saints is UNKNOWN to them. HOW does Christ come into His people? How did He redeem the saints in Pentecost, in each of the Seven Church Ages. And more specifically, HOW is He redeeming His elect in THIS day?
By REVELATION God made known the mystery to Paul. In turn, he expounded the faith in his letters which are preserved to this day in the Bible and by which, he says, we may understand his revelation in the mystery of Christ (Ephesians 3:2-4). The great prophet goes on in Ephesians 4 and 5 to expound the fellowship with God through oneness with Christ the anointed Word which is by faith through the Spiritual marriage union or new birth.
Matthew 13:12, `For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath NOT, from him shall be taken away even that he hath'.
As the rich get rich and the poor become poorer, so those without faith become destitute and those with faith are increased in the faith.
`FOR THIS REASON I speak to THEM in PARABLES: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, "By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive'.
In the days of Isaiah, Israel had certainly hardened itself against the Spirit of the Old Testament. Hence the division of the kingdom between North and South, and the Assyrian captivity.
But this was most completely fulfilled when the Jews rejected the Gospel Itself. Isaiah's words were prophetic which is why Jesus cried, `Forgive them, Lord, for they know not what they do'.
But among the leaders it was WILLFUL blindness (Matthew 12:32; Titus 3:9-11). Hence their names were removed from the Book of Life (Psalms 69 :28).
`For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes THEY HAVE closed; LEST at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
But blessed are YOUR eyes, for they see: and YOUR ears, for they hear.'
THIS is why Jesus spoke to the MULTITUDES in parables. There was no profit in expounding the Word those who could not or would not receive It.
`For verily I say unto you, That many PROPHETS and RIGHTEOUS men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them'.
Israel were BLINDED by their own guilt and self-delusion, and because God had CONCEALED these things to the APPROPRIATE hour so the Gentiles could come in. NOW the SAME thing is happening to the Gentiles so that the Gospel can go BACK to Israel to fulfill Scripture and usher in the Millennium.
For homework you should look up Isaiah 6:9-13; 42:1-25 which foretold how God would blind Israel until the close of the Gentile dispensation. Paul covers it in one verse: Romans 11:25. Daniel 12:4, 9; Revelation 10:4, 7 and I Peter 1:10-12 give further examples of God concealing the mystery of His Word until the appointed time. A classic illustration is Christ's journey along the Emmaus Road with some disciples following His resurrection. Although they walked throughout the day, and the nailscarred Jesus reconciled His passion with the Word beginning at Moses and the prophets, `Their eyes were holden that they should not know him' (Luke 24:13-31).
Now Jesus gives us the interpretation of the first parable.
Matthew 13:18-19, `Hear YE therefore the parable of the sower. When any one HEARETH the Word of the Kingdom, and UNDERSTANDETH it NOT, then cometh the Devil, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the WAY SIDE'.
We learn from Luke 8:11, `The SEED is the Word of God'. Loss of seed is loss of life in the Spiritual as it is in the natural.
Matthew 13:20-23, `But he that received the SEED into STONY PLACES, the same is he that HEARETH the Word, and soon with joy receiveth it'.
Brother Branham said this represents the Roman Catholic church which built upon a rock with no earth at all for the Seed to grow in. Barren. Their doctrine is all dogma - no Word at all.
`Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when TRIBULATION or PERSECUTION ariseth BECAUSE of the Word, by and by he is offended'.
Persecution becomes in his mind as if there is a fault with the Word, and he stumbles at this rock of offense. Like the seventy apostles who followed Christ for eighteen months to two years and as soon as He said something that brought CRITICISM, `Except you eat My flesh and drink My blood you have no life in you'. They could not understand and being offended at such an outlandish saying, used it as their excuse to reject Him. Jesus does this to separate His elect from the world. His sheep receive His Word.
`He also that received SEED among the THORNS is he that heareth the Word; and the CARE of this world, and the DECEITFULNESS of riches, choke the Word, and he becometh unfruitful'.
Worldliness. Like Laodicea, rich in denominational traditions and cares of this world. Like the Protestants in THIS day whose worldly wisdom has choked the Word. `The days of miracles have passed .... there's no such thing as speaking with tongues ... there are no more prophets'.
`But he that received seed into the GOOD GROUND is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty'.
Man's NATURAL husbandry of the earth reflects God's cultivation of man by faith. Although the seed of the Kingdom has been so generously and abundantly sown, the NATURE of so much of the ground is poor.
The second parable is found in Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43, `Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed GOOD SEED in his field: But while men SLEPT, his enemy came and sowed TARES among the WHEAT, and went his way'.
After Pentecost and commencing with the Ephesian Age, preachers began to let down the bars and the goats came in among the sheep. In Pentecost, these durst not join themselves with the saints but over the 2,000 years that followed, the distinction between the true Church, the FALSE church and the world itself has almost completely disappeared.
Matthew 25:1-13 reveals that it was during the Seven Church Ages, whilst the Bridegroom tarried that `men SLEPT'. And in the HARVEST time, AFTER the end of Laodicea and the fulfilment of Revelation 4, 5 and 10:1-7 the `Shout' of the Message of the seventh angel awoke all the virgins - both wise and foolish (I Thessalonians 4:16; Revelation 18:4).
`But WHEN the BLADE was sprung up, AND brought forth FRUIT, then APPEARED the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, "Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?" He said unto them, "An ENEMY hath done this." The servants said unto him, "Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?"
But he said, "Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them'.
Wheat is the noblest of grains and is used for making bread which is known as the staff of natural life. Tares are darnel, the only species of grass which in Eastern countries springs up wild among the wheat. At first it looks like wheat but its seed is black, not yellow, and when taken, causes hallucination. If allowed to grow till the harvest it is difficult to separate from the wheat.
`Let both grow TOGETHER until the HARVEST: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together FIRST the tares, and bind them in bundles to BURN them: but gather the wheat into my barn'.
Sowing of tares among wheat is a form of revenge practiced to this day.
So close as would ALMOST deceive the very elect IF it were possible. Now there have always been twins from the very beginning. There was the Tree of Life and His enemy, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. From these came forth the two seeds. One said, `thou shall not partake of the mixed Tree'; the other said, `Surely God won't mind, for it will make you wise, knowing good and evil'.
As a consequence two seeds were planted in the first Eve. One produced the bastard Cain, the other, bore Adam's son Abel. And there have been two seeds planted in the second Eve, the church. Woman is a field, she has NO seed. But Eve HAD seed, the seed of the Serpent. It populated the world. God placed enmity between the Seed of the Serpent and the seed of Adam. The enmity is still there. And the church is a woman. She's called the Bride of Christ. In this parable, the church is the field. Supposed to be pregnated by Christ's Seed. You've got to get the Word into the field before the sun and rain of the Holy Spirit can do anything. But the Enemy has planted his seed of creed and dogma into the church. It is so close to the genuine Word it is hard to tell the difference during the growing cycle, UNTIL the fruit comes into the ear at harvest time.
As it was in the beginning, there are again two plants sown from two DIFFERENT seeds. And the Holy Spirit sent to ripen the WHEAT, falls on the unjust TARES. Both sing hymns, preach salvation, pray to God, speak with tongues and prophesy. But only the Elect can catch the faith. God's Law of reproduction stipulates that each seed must bring forth of its own kind.
Only AFTER the revelation of the Seven Seals are the tares bound for the burning because the growth is finished. They've reproduced the original seed which was planted and the Fullness of the Holy Spirit, like the strength of summer's sun at harvest time (Matthew 24:32-33) ripening them maturity. Now they are each bringing forth the life which was sown. The spiritual Serpent's seed which grew from creed is uniting back with Rome or being bound for the burning (Revelation 2:20-25;14:9-13; 19:20; Matthew 3:12). They REJECT the wheat which has been restored back to the Original grain Word.
Notice, the natural or TARE church has her revival FIRST and inherits the binding. She will NOT be heir with the free woman. She's going in the Rapture (Genesis 21:9-10; Galatians 4:22-31). But the children of the bondwoman are going to be burned.
After the Dispensation change, the tares which set out from Nicea to DESTROY the Christ's WHEAT Church, unite with the State AGAIN, and turning from any vestige of truth, seek to eradicate forever the true believer. But She will be gathered into the heavenly Garner for the Wedding Supper and the tares will no longer receive the sun and rain which were sent for the elect. The TRUE Church IS the Blood of Jesus by the baptism of the Holy Ghost, because the Life is in the blood. When She has been translated, there's NO MORE BLOOD. Mercy has ended.
Matthew 13:36-43, `Then Jesus sent the MULTITUDE away, and went into the house: and His disciples came unto Him, saying, "Declare unto US the PARABLE of the tares of the field'.
Jesus didn't waste time trying to explain the Spiritual things to denominational babies. So He SENT THE MULTITUDE AWAY, left the field, and went back into the house away from the UNBELIEVERS. And before He raised Jairus' daughter, Jesus did the SAME, He put the people OUT of the room because faith and doubt cannot dwell together.
`He answered and said unto them, "He that soweth the GOOD SEED is the Son of man; The field (that's where Cain and Abel met) is the world (the Gentiles, or nations - Romans 11:12); the good seed are the children of the Kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; The enemy that sowed them is the Devil; the HARVEST is the end of the world (or the Seven Church Ages when the Seven Seals are revealed and the mystery of God is finished); and the reapers are the angels'.
Do you recall our opening text? Jesus interpreted some of the symbols John saw in the vision. `The mystery of the seven stars which thou saw in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches'.
We learn from Leviticus 23 and Revelation 1-3, the Gentile dispensation included seven sabbaths, or rests, or baptisms of the Holy Spirit which made Seven Church Ages. These seven distinct new births came from seven DIFFERENT baptisms of the Holy Ghost by the Messages of seven `angels' or messengers, each anointed by a different Portion of the seven fold Spirit of God as the Body grew line upon line, Word upon Word, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little.
`That in the dispensation of the fullness of times (AFTER all seven Church Ages were fulfilled) He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him' (Ephesians 1:10). AFTER the Church Ages were over, and they are, the seven portions of the Spirit, or `seven lamps of Fire' were gathered up and the angel to the Seventh or Laodicean Church Age was anointed with the Fullness of the Spirit to introduce the Fullness of the Word in the Seven Seals of Revelation as Christ revealed to him (Revelation 10:1-7; I Corinthians 13:10).
The reapers are those seven portions of the Spirit gathered up unto the Fullness of the Spirit. Revelation 18:1-5, `And after these things I saw ANOTHER angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was Lightened with His glory'.
O, glory! It SHALL be light in the evening time. For as Lightning cometh out of the East and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the parousia of the Son of man be. And It IS. The same LIGHT that shone upon Jerusalem at Pentecost HAS been restored in the West as Joel and Malachi and Zechariah and Jesus PROMISED IT would. And as they ALSO promised the churches are in gross darkness ... and knoweth it not.
`And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven having great power; and the earth was LIGHTENED with his GLORY.
And He cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies."
And I heard ANOTHER Voice from heaven, saying, "Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her INIQUITIES"' (Revelation 18:1-5).
`As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world (or Church Ages). The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do INIQUITY'.
WHEN is this? During the time of the Coming or `parousia' of the Son of man - between the END of the Church Ages and the end of the Gentile dispensation.
`And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth'.
The Lake of Fire is a place of torment and eventual annihilation. It is the furnace of fire mentioned in Matthew 13:42, 50 (also Revelation 9:1- 2; 17:8; 19:20; 20:10-15, and Matthew 5:41). It was in use among the Chaldees (Jeremiah 29:22; Daniel 3:6). David a type of Christ, made the children of Ammon taste its dreadfulness; Antiochus resorted to it in II Maccabees 7; I Corinthians 13:3. In modern times Chardin makes mention of penal furnaces in Persia.
But nobody will be in hell for eternity or that would make heaven simply a matter of geography instead of a Person. The Person of God.
There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth among the Foolish Virgin when they realize they have missed the Full Atonement and must surrender their lives in martyrdom in order to keep their names on the Book. They will go into the Great Tribulation. The FALSE Church is cast into the Lake of Fire after Armageddon.
Matthew 13:43, `Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. (For we'll be enjoying a thousand years of peace with Jesus in the great Millennium). Who hath ears to hear, let him hear'.
The NATURAL tendency of the field to bring forth weeds since the curse is typed against the NATURAL tendency of man to sin since the Fall. AS natural tares rapidly spread until they destroy the precious grain, so the seed of natural corruption in the human heart threatens to choke that of the Kingdom of heaven. Man has to toil to bring forth cultivated grain from the field just as he must overcome the soil of his mortal flesh to bring forth the Life of Christ.
The third parable is Matthew 13:31-32, `Another parable put He forth unto them, saying, "The Kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: Which indeed is the LEAST of all SEEDS: but when it is grown, it is the GREATEST among HERBS, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and LODGE in the BRANCHES thereof".'
Mustard is cultivated for its seed - the smallest seed used in Jewish husbandry. Among the rabbis, `a grain of mustard' was a common expression for anything minute. Just as we say, `a grain of pepper corn'. So small was the seed that a man was obliged to take it with great care, lest he should lose hold of it.
Mustard is an annual herb, some varieties of which grow to ten or twelve feet - a plant sufficiently tall for birds to rest on, and by comparison with the other pot herbs in the garden, `a great tree'. Like Jesus Christ who was the smallest or least esteemed of all men in the Kingdom. Made a little lower than the angels or prophets who were all rejected and killed, Jesus was made a curse by being hanged on a tree. But like the humble mustard seed that grows higher than any of its kind, He was raised to the Father's right hand, far above every principality and power.
Jesus began life with a bad name. Accused of being a bastard, He was despised and rejected of men. But after He fell into the ground, He rose again and reproduced his Life in the Bride Tree. The Kingdom of heaven grows from this one small Seed called Jesus Christ, `... becomes a great mountain, and fills the whole earth ... a Kingdom which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all other kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever' (Daniel 2:35, 44). And in the Millennium, `the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea' (Habakkuk 2:15).
As this tiny seed grew, it put forth BRANCHES. As the Jewish patriarchs are likened to a root, so their posterity are likened to branches. And speaking of the church Jesus said, `I am the Vine, ye are the branches', My posterity. Unfortunately those branches didn't all ABIDE in the Vine: most will be pruned off and cast into the Fire.
The tiny DENOMINATIONAL seed GRAFTED into the Vine in Ephesus would grow in the spirit of ERROR. This seed of ORGANIZATION finally grew into a tree and is become the resting place of every foul spirit and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird, or evil spirit.
She is grafted into the Vine and living from the Life or Holy Spirit of the Vine but bearing her own fruit, which is DEATH to all who partake of it. Her fruit came to maturity in Laodicea, its head is antichrist, the mystery of iniquity. But the Bride Tree is growing from the ROOT, and is not a grafted BRANCH. She too is coming to maturity. Her Head is Christ, the mystery of Godliness.
(In Matthew 17:20, Jesus invokes another notable quality of this humble seed. Like faith, it will not hybreed with anything).
The fourth parable is Matthew 13:33, `Another parable spake he unto them; The Kingdom of heaven is like unto LEAVEN, which a WOMAN took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened'.
This parable is interesting because the previous three parables featured a MAN. That Man was Jesus Christ, the Word Himself. Here we encounter the WOMAN, a byproduct OF the man and representing the church. She took LEAVEN which in the Bible types SIN, and mingled it with three measures of meal until the WHOLE was leavened.
Meal types our Spiritual food of the Word of God and `a little leaven leavens the whole lump', the lump being the Body or church. According to the Levitical type there was to be NO leaven - no creed or dogma seven days. But in the Fourth Church Age, or Thyatira where the Church went into the Dark Ages, the faith which was in the hearts of God's saints, was LOST because It went to the grave with them when they were martyred.
By the time of the Reformation people were no longer led by the Man, the Word, but by the woman, the church. The Messages of the angels, Luther, Wesley and Branham to the succeeding three Church Ages of Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea each contained LEAVEN, or SIN, because the faith had been lost. Roman creed had been hidden with the Word, and the Bible was SEALED until AFTER Laodicea had ended.
By the close of Laodicea, the WHOLE Body was LEAVENED by Catholicism and APOSTATE. Then God anointed the prophet of Revelation 10:7 with the Spirit of Elijah to RESTORE the apostolic faith and call God's people OUT from ALL man-made systems into oneness with the UNLEAVENED Meal of God's ORIGINAL Seed Word (Malachi 4:5-6; Revelation 18:4).
Praise God for sending a prophet and for the grace He has extended to us that we might know of him AND by faith receive his Message.
Matthew 13:34-35, `All these things spake Jesus unto the MULTITUDE in PARABLES; and without a PARABLE spake he not unto them: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in PARABLES; I will utter things which have been KEPT SECRET FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD'.
And Jesus revealed NONE of these mysteries to the MULTITUDE to whom it was NOT GIVEN to know the mysteries of the Kingdom. In other Words FAITH is not given to the MAJORITY. Strait is the entrance or judgment seat, and narrow the way into the Body of Christ or Kingdom, and FEW there be that find It.
The leading idea pervading the last three parables is that vital Christianity is concealed from common view. As the pyramid City approached the Caagsone and the measure of faith grew, the TRUE Church has become so few, it is unrecognized and UNKNOWN by denominations and the world. Where once the church was obvious in that she was persecuted because of her stand against sin. Now it is ignored or tolerated because it has assimilated with the world and with sin. In Western society nowadays, EVERYBODY is considered a `Christian' and the church is no more than the world with God's Name on it.
The fifth parable is Matthew 13:44, ` Again, the Kingdom of heaven is like unto TREASURE HID in a FIELD; the which when a MAN hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that FIELD'.
And what did Martin Luther do when he discovered the great Truth of JUSTIFICATION by grace through faith? He forsook EVERYTHING he loved and knew and all that he had worked for to claim that field or church for the Lord by that great revelation.
The Sixth parable is Matthew 13:45-46, `Again, the Kingdom of heaven is like unto a MERCHANT MAN, SEEKING GOODLY PEARLS: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it'. A Merchant man is a one on a journey for TRADE. This man was searching for something of great beauty and value. He was meditating on the Kingdom and the beauty of holiness, without which no man shall see God.
John Wesley was an Anglican minister who went to America as a missionary amongst the Indians but with only an intellectual conception of Christianity. It only AFTER his return to England from this failed venture that he was born again. When he found the REAL Thing he shut himself off from the formal theological experience and was one of a group who were spiritually exercised to worship on the basis of experientially LIVING the truth rather than making doctrine their standard. They drew up a spiritual guide of works, such as giving to the poor, visiting the sick and the imprisoned. For this they were called Methodists, and other derisive titles.
Wesley was to become the angel to the Philadelphian Age, and his Message of Scriptural holiness added to Luther's Message of Justification gave the new birth in that dispensation. Like Luther, Wesley sold all he had, all his formal Anglicanism which had turned grace to dis-grace. Once he was born-again, the Anglican church closed her pulpits to his preaching and he went and preached in the haymarkets and fields with great men of God such as George Whitfield.
The seventh parable speaks of the Laodicean Church Age. Matthew 13:47-50, `Again, the Kingdom of heaven is like unto a NET, that was cast into the SEA, and gathered of EVERY KIND: Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the GOOD into vessels, but cast the BAD away.
So shall it be at the END of the WORLD (or the end of the Gentile dispensation): the ANGELS shall come forth, and SEVER the WICKED from among the JUST (or righteous), And shall cast them into the FURNACE of FIRE: there shall be WAILING and GNASHING OF TEETH'.
Sea symbolizes multitudes of people. Jesus told His disciples He would make them fishers of men. And His disciples have been fishing for 2,000 years. In the final Church Age, the Gospel net was drawn to shore and a final separation made of the catch, dividing the Elect from the make-believer and the unbeliever. They were only after fish. The fish always was a fish, it just didn't realize it was elect until it was caught be the Word. The crab always was a crab, the squid always was a squid, and the unbeliever and make-believer were in the FOREKNOWLEDGE of God ALWAYS what they are.
At the end of the Laodicean church age, the angels or seven Portions of the Spirit which anointed the seven messengers to the Church Ages came forth and successively anointed God's prophet as they revealed the Seven Seals until he was anointed with the Fullness of the Spirit to introduce the Fullness of the Word. As John the Baptist introduced Christ's first Coming, Brother Branham's Message introduced His second Coming. Indeed It is His `parousia'.
Soon the righteous will be translated, the wicked will be cast into the Lake of Fire, and the saved will go through the tribulation.
Matthew 13:51-52, `Jesus saith unto them, "Have ye understood all these things?"
"They say unto him, Yea, Lord."
Then said he unto them, "Therefore every SCRIBE which is INSTRUCTED UNTO THE KINGDOM of heaven is like unto a man that is an HOUSEHOLDER, which BRINGETH FORTH OUT of his TREASURE things NEW and OLD"'.
Every teacher of the Word who has caught THIS revelation of the new birth in the END-TIME, the seven thunders, is like a householder who violently casts out of his house and curses the things which were once most precious to him, treasures both old and new. This is `Lamp trimming time' Brethren, time to prove all things, hold fast that which is good and curse denominational traditions we unconsciously own. Since the opening of the Seven Seals, the Bible has become a NEW Book.
And after Jesus had finished these parables He departed and came into His Own country where He taught in the synagogue. Astounded at His revelation and the mighty works God did by Him, their familiarity with Jesus and His family bred contempt. The manifestation of the Supernatural in His life was a stumbling stone their natural reasoning could not explain. He could not do many miracles there BECAUSE of their UNBELIEF.
The greatest hindrance to faith and the working of the Supernatural in our own lives is our intelligence. We have to rest upon a revelation of the Word. Let us not be offended like the majority but rest in Him and the revelation He has given too us by these parables. bb950331.htm