THE PARABLES AND THE STORM CONT.
MARK, LESSON 6 B
MARK, LESSON 6 B
5. Let us notice some IMPORTANT LESSONS for us.
a. There MUST BE A SOWER and that is OUR responsibility.
b. We DO NOT KNOW HOW the process works, BUT that is in the HAND of God, 1 Corinthians 3:6-9, “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.”
c. It is THROUGH the HOLY SPIRIT that this comes about, John 1:11-13, “He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
d. As there is A PROCESS that works with the corn, so is there a process as God works in the heart of a man. We must remember that the mighty oak was once an acorn.
e. We must WAIT FOR the harvest, Isaiah 40:31, “But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”
B. The Parable of the MUSTARD SEED, vs. 30-34.
Note: This parable must be interpreted very carefully, or we will make it teach error instead of truth. It can best be interpreted in relationship to the prophetic parables of Matthew 13.
1) In the parable of the sower we see the seed sown with different degrees of success, Matthew 13:3-23. This we can expect in the age of grace.
2) The tares among the wheat show us that the devil will imitate the work of God with evil seed, which will produce a mixed crop, Matthew 13:24-30.
3) The MUSTARD SEED represents the building of a religion that will END UP AS THE ONE WORLD CHURCH of the last days, Matthew 13:31-32; Mark 4:30-32.
4) The placing of the LEAVEN in the meal represents the PLANTING OF FALSEHOOD among the truth, which of course is what we have in the religious world, Matthew 13:33-35, “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. 34 All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them: 35 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.”
5) The net cast into the sea brings forth two kinds of fish. One is good and the other is evil. This shows the mixing of the lost and the saved in religion which only God can sort out.
1. This parable of the mustard seed also SHOWS the DETERIORATION IN KIND and QUALITY. It represents PROFESSING Christianity, but NOT THE PURE THINGS of God.
2. The mustard seed PRODUCES a MONSTROSITY that becomes a tree, Matthew 13:32, “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.”
3. This is the PUBLIC MANIFESTATION of religion as we see in the GREAT APOSTASY of our day.
4. The FOWLS of the air REPRESENT SATAN and his EVIL WORKERS who are ROOSTING in FALSE RELIGION of the last days. The fowls represent evil, Revelation 18:2, “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.”
a. There is a CONTRAST BETWEEN the seed in the PREVIOUS parable and the seed in THIS parable. Corn (v. 38) is a FITTING TYPE of Jesus Christ the BREAD OF LIFE.
b. The seed in this parable is MUSTARD seed, which CANNOT REPRESENT Christ the bread of life.
c. The mustard plant is NO MORE EVIL than the LEAVEN, BUT they are SYMBOLS of EVIL in this case.
6. There is NO HARVEST, but just a TREE FULL of EVIL BIRDS, Daniel 4:20-22, “The tree that thou sawest, which grew, and was strong, whose height reached unto the heaven, and the sight thereof to all the earth; Whose leaves were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all; under which the beasts of the field dwelt, and upon whose branches the fowls of the heaven had their habitation: It is thou, O king, that art grown and become strong: for thy greatness is grown, and reacheth unto heaven, and thy dominion to the end of the earth.”
a. The TREE in Daniel 4 represented the EVIL CORRUPT EMPIRE OF Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.
b. Notice that IT TOO IS FILLED with EVIL birds, Daniel 4:14, “He cried aloud, and said thus, Hew down the tree, and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, and scatter his fruit: let the beasts get away from under it, and the fowls from his branches:”
7. Jesus used MANY PARABLES to teach the MULTITUDE, BUT when He was alone with His DISCIPLES He EXPLAINED THEM.