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By Dr Richard Ruhling
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Are We Missing the Meaning of the Wedding Parables, Expecting a Rapture? Matthew 24 & 25 Revisited

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Summary: This is the first of a series that looks conditions prior to the wedding parable of Matthew 25. We will see that some of the events in Matthew 24 preceding the wedding parable support the start of trouble and tribulation before the wedding parable, though most Christians looking for a rapture expect it before tribulation. Could they be wrong?

In Matthew 13, the Great Teacher likens Bible truth to a treasure buried in a field, but as Christians, we can be like little kids scurrying to find Easter eggs (or a text that says what we want), oblivious to the surroundings or biblical context.

So it is with the wedding parable of Matthew 25. We all would like to be among the five wise who get into the marriage, but we overlook its context suggested by the first word, “Then shall the kingdom of heaven be like 10 virgins…”

When is then? In the previous chapter, Matthew 24, Christ paints a broad picture of those events that bring us to His 2nd coming. Many of them, like wars, famines, pestilence and earthquakes have existed in every age. But after His coming in verses 30, 31, He gives five examples that, like the leaves on the fig tree, suggest that “summer is nigh” and His return “is near, even at the door.”

He said, “Now learn a parable of the fig tree.” What did He mean?

Christ cursed a barren fig tree in an acted parable. Flaunting its pretentious foliage, it was a symbol of the Jewish nation. The Savior wanted to show His disciples the cause and the certainty of Israel’s doom.

The Jewish nation had been specially favored by God and they claimed righteousness above other nations, but were corrupted by the love of the world, greed for gain, and they were full of hypocrisy. Like the fig tree, they were full of showy leaves but they had no fruit.

Christ’s act in cursing the barren fig tree is a warning to us today as suggested by His telling us to learn a parable of the fig tree.

“Some who think themselves excellent Christians do not understand what constitutes service for God. They plan and study to please themselves. They act only in reference to self. Time is of value to them only as they can gather for themselves. In all the affairs of life this is their object.” The Desire of Ages, p 584.

So it is that this once Christian nation is no longer Christian. Yes, we profess to be Christians. We believe the story of the gospels and want our children to understand what we were brought up to believe, but if we are honest with ourselves, from the days of Roe v Wade when a so-called Supreme Court yielded to popular demand for murdering the unborn because it wasn’t convenient, this nation has been going downhill at an ever-increasing speed, and like the Jewish nation, profession means nothing.

For an excellent commentary on the “signs of the times,” the reader may appreciate an online chapter from The Desire of Ages, a best-selling biography on the life of Christ that is cited above. 



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    • messengermark

      The parable of the fig tree is when Israel became a nation it starts in Jeremiah and Israel became a nation in 1948 and in Matthew 24 God gives you the 7 seals in order and this generation will not pass away before all things are fulfilled. Jesus foretold us all things Mark 13:23 he also gave us signs to look for because if man tells you this or that is going to happen if it didn’t come from God’s word then he is,a liar and the truth is not in him

      • Dr Richard Ruhling

        Thank you for your comment and we agree on much.
        Israel became God’s kingdom when they made a covenant with Him in Exodus 19:5,6.
        As a result, God later said, “I am married to you,” Jeremiah 3:14.
        Paul included that history (Exodus) in “All those things happened to them for examples…
        written for us at the end of the world,” 1Corinthians 10:1,11.
        This means we can marry Christ by a covenant as Israel married God (above)
        Since the Bible is its own expositor–it explains itself, we understand from the wedding parable in Luke 12;36 that we “open” to Christ at His “knock” and the next article in this series will show that the “knock” is an earthquake like the one that destroyed the ancient church of Laodicea circa 63 AD. That’s the “sudden destruction” of 1Thess 5:2,3.
        The establishment of Israel in 1948 was a step in the right direction, but it does not constitute the kingdom as defined by Scripture above, but thank you for writing.

      • Pix

        The Jews became a nation in 1948, the Israelites were wiped off the face of Earth by Rome in 70 CE. Judaism was the invention of the political group of wealthy influential bankers and traders called the Pharisees, and didn’t exist until after 70 CE. They have nothing in common with the Israelites, two completely different groups of people, eg the Turkish strader with the Roman citizenship Saul/Paul was a Pharisee, Jesus was anti Pharisee.

        Jesus was not Jewish, the Israelites were not Jewish. There’s nothing like surroundings and context.

        :lol:

    • Pix

      ” oblivious to the surroundings or biblical context.”

      Sums up the religious perfectly, and when you remind them of the surroundings and context their heads rotate 360 degrees followed by projectile pea green vomit. I prefer where Dionysus-Ysus-Jesus, a jovial character with a love of the vine, turns the water into wine.

      :lol:

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