INTRODUCTION TO PARABLES AND PROPHECIES
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        This Bible study will aid you in your understanding of the many parables and prophecies in God's Word The Bible, and how they relate to us today. Many do not understand the Bible, this is normal at first, but with instruction they will be able to understand deeper into that which is written to them in God's Holy Word, The Bible.

        A basic theme that runs throughout the entire Bible, both Old and New Testaments is the use of parables, similitude's, types, ensamples and examples. We will discus this further on in our study.

        The whole of the Bible is written by some thirty-three different men (exact number disputed), but as you study and become more familiar with God's Word you discover that it appears to be written in the same style as though it was authored by one entity. There is a very good reason for this; while the Bible was put to pen and paper by many different men over a long period of time, the content of the sacred writings are directly from Almighty God, holy and unbreakable.

        God, through the Holy Spirit (which is simply the Spirit of God) moved those men to write the various books of the Bible. God had them to write what He wanted written. Thereby God was able to interrelate the sixty-six separate books that make up our Bibles. It is like one giant puzzle where every piece fits perfectly into its place in relation to all the others.

        Just as God Himself wrote the ten commandments, He also had the entire Bible written through the pen and paper of man, but always by the power and the influence of the Holy Spirit.

Exod 24:12

12 And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them. (KJV)

        Moses was not alive to witness many of the events that he wrote of in the beginning of the first five books of the Bible (Genesis through Deuteronomy), for Moses was born in approximately 1571 BC and Adam and Eve were from 4004 BC.

        Nor was St. John, who was the author of the book of Revelation to be living when the events of that last book of the Bible come to pass (Revelation).

        For Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible in approximately 1490 BC, which was some 2500 years after some of the first of them happened; and St. John wrote the book of Revelation in AD 94, which was at least 1900 years before they where and are to come to pass. Yes they wrote those books, but God through His Holy Spirit guided them as to what to write.

        Jesus Christ is the Living Word, and the Bible is the Written Word of Almighty God. When the Bible utilizes the statement: "The Word," it is a powerful statement indeed:

John 1:1-5 (Jesus is "the Word" being referred to here)
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. (KJV)

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Rev 19:13-16 (Jesus at His prophesied second advent)
13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. (KJV)

        I spend so much time on this because it is important that you fully understand that the words in your Bibles are the Word of God and thus they are unbreakable promises. And once it is understood that the words in the Bible are God's words, written by men under the influence and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, then and only then can you benefit from the teaching style that God incorporates throughout the entirety of His Holy Written Word, The Bible.

        Now that we are properly prefaced, let's get back to the statement from the first page of this introduction study: "A basic theme the runs throughout the entire Bible, both Old and New Testaments, is the use of parables, similitude's, types, ensamples and examples."

What is a "similitude" and a "type?": Simply stated, all the events and various stories in the Bible are examples of what is to come. These particular events and stories did in fact happen, but through God's perfect plan and intervention; these events and stories will replicate themselves in a similar manner, were-by we can understand one thing that is to come in the future, by our understanding of another thing already past. This is one of the keys to understanding prophecy.

What is a "parable?": A parable is one thing that acts as another thing, or one thing that represents another thing. Christ so often spoke in parables. He did this as a way to say one thing and have it mean different things to different people at different levels of instruction. But no one meaning can go against the other meanings, this is a witness to the supreme authorship of God, and the presence of the Holy Spirit in the writings and events recorded in our Bibles. 

Matt 13:34-35
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. (KJV)
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Matt 13:10-13 (Christ's words in Bold)
10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
11 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.
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.
13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. (KJV)

        There are many other factors that must taken into account when one is studying prophecy, parables, and the various stories of the Bible. These include; figures of speech, idioms, traditions of the time of the writing, the difference of when something is meant literally or it is to be taken spiritually, translational accuracy, dispensations. . . .

        When these arise in a particular In-depth Bible Study, they will be explained more thoroughly. The main thing to understand is that God has placed all of our answers before us in the personal letter He wrote to us called: The Bible. And with the assistance of a teacher, we can see deeper into the vast and inexhaustible wealth of knowledge and wisdom of God's deeper truths. Eventually we learn to read, understand, and study on our own; it is then that we can teach someone else God's truth. And on it goes.... God would not have written it to us if He intended that we not understand it! There is no wasted action with our Heavenly Father.

        All wisdom comes from God, and with study and prayer for understanding to our Heavenly Father, we are able to understand the wondrous mysteries that He has given us in the Written Word; and we are able to receive it with all the understanding of a child that it requires.

Prov 1:1-7 (All true wisdom comes from God)
1 The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel; ² To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding; ³ To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity; ⁴ To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. ⁵ A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels: ⁶ To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings. ⁷ The fear*1 of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Explanations from verse 7 above: *1 fear = Reverence. This is word whose meaning doesn't translate well into our modern English, and it appears throughout the Bible.  We don't fear our Heavenly Father, we revere Him, for He is not cruel to us, He loves us.  Language changes over time, and words morph into different meanings; like the word "cool" for instance.

        Many Christians assume that the Old Testament was superceded by the New Testament and that it doesn't apply anymore. This is not the case, in fact the New Testament fulfills the Old Testament just as Christ fulfilled the Old Testament. Example below.

1 Cor 10:11
11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples^*1: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.^*2 (KJV)

Explanations from above verse: *1 ensamples = examples, were-by we can understand the present and future by understanding the past. *2 for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come = That's us friend, we are that final generation. The final generation is referred to in Biblical prophecy as "the generation of the fig tree," and it began on or about May 14,1948 when Israel once again became a nation.

        We are living in exciting times where Biblical prophecies are coming to pass at a rate of almost one every three of four months! When you learn to understand God's Word you can feel comfortable about the coming second advent, and you can't be fooled by false teachers/preachers who try to mislead you with false rapture theories. . . . God did not say that you had to be ignorant of His plan, He just said that no man knows the moment of the second advent. But He also stated that the wise would know the season. That wisdom comes only from studying God's Word with understanding, and avoiding all the false teachers that will lead you to the false christ whom is satan as the antichrist.

        Since I mentioned the fact that the rapture theory is a lie from satan, absorb what God is telling us in verses 12 & 13 below. Surely it doesn't seem to you that Almighty God is telling us to be the first ones taken in some kind of rapture does it! There isn't going to be any rapture. Satan will tell people that he is Jesus who has come to rapture them away, and they will worship him as the True Messiah. This is the great apostasy written of. This is the hour of temptation written of. This is the great tribulation written of. But by the time the rapture boys figure out that they haven't flown anywhere it will be too late for them, they will already have been worshiping the false messiah, whom is the abomination of all abominations, that is to say satan. It is to them that Jesus states in [Matt 7:23] " And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." And what iniquity could there be greater than worshiping satan as the false christ!

Dan 12:8-13 (Almighty God speaking with Daniel the Prophet)
8 And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?
9 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.
10 Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.
11 And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.
12 Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.
13 But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days. (KJV)

        Enough about that for this study, the rapurist's are hypnotized by the fantasy and mirage of being God's favorites, when in fact they will worship satan in their ignorance of God's Word brought on by the "church doctrines" of men. Don't be like them, you must always put God's true Word over the charisma of satan's false teachers/preachers/prophets.

        Jesus quoted the Old Testament many various times, and He indeed did fulfill that which was prophesied of Him. From this we can believe that all the prophecies that are written about our time now, and even time future to us, on till the end; will come to pass exactly as they were written. Below is an example of Christ quoting Old Testament scripture and fulfilling it:

Luke 4:14-21 (Jesus is quoting from [Isaiah 61:1&2] (Bold Italics) in verses 18 &19 below)
14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about.
15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.
16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.
17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. (KJV)

        May God open our eyes and bless our understanding; for without that, all deeper study is in vain. God bless you always, in the eternal name of our Savior, Jesus Christ!

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In His Service:
Nick Goggin
Watchmen Bible Study Group

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