Two Small Parables

To continue from the previous study, I look to Mark 13:26-37. Here, we find two small parables with a huge amount of information. Read the parables first.

Mark 13:28 says, “Now learn a parable of the fig tree; when her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near: so ye in like manner, when ye shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh, even at the doors.”

Mark 13:34 says, “For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch.”

We immediately form two pertinent questions regarding Mark 13:26-27. When will it be seen and Who are 'they'? By 'it', I refer to Christ's statement from verse 26, “And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.” This event is the 'it' that 'they' see.

Since it follows on the heels of the powers of heaven being shaken and the stars falling from on high, I will make the leap and assume that the event occurs directly after the tribulation. Further, I will assume that the ones who see their nemesis coming and marshaling his forces for their destruction are none other than the stars that fall.

Reading Mark 13:30-31 leads us to yet another question. Jesus affirms the immutable truth of his prophecy, in that “Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away,” and tells his disciples that all these events will be witnessed by their generation. Our question, then, is this: How long can a generation last?

Here, we must not confuse a generational lifespan with a generational type. When Christ said “this generation,” he obviously meant something more far-reaching than mere physical age. Christ often couched spiritual meaning in common expressions. As a type, a generation can be viewed in the light of its defining characteristics. I speak of characteristics that unite all of a type's constituents, regardless of time or epoch. Here, I can suggest characteristics such as 'born again', 'redeemed', 'elect'.

Mark 13:32-33 speaks of spiritual preparedness and sleep (or spiritual inactivity.) We are told that no one knows the exact time of the prophecied event except God, himself, yet, we are instructed to remain spiritually prepared for it. We are told to “watch and pray.” We are told to give this point special attention for the very reason that we do not know when the event will occur. We are instructed to take upon ourselves the nature of the porter.

Mark 13:34. Who is the porter? In the sense of this particular application, a porter is a gatekeeper, or in the broader sense, one whose business it is to look for the return of the Master – to usher the Master into what is his own and into the company of his servants. It is impossible that any one individual can remain vigilant around the clock. It is here that we think of a porter-collective – a porterhood. The flame of vigilance is passed in turn between one porter and another – at every shift change, or changing of the guard.

We find in Mark 13:35-36 a list of possible times that the Master could suddenly show up. The purpose of the porter, his calling, you might say, is to be spiritually alert, spiritually active, spiritually looking down the road and straining to see any indication of the coming of the Master. It is not a matter of when the Master is likely to find the porter asleep, but that spiritual vigilance, in any watch, has not been provided for. All the servants will want to be alerted to the Master's coming, so they might prepare to greet him – it is one of the porter's duties to make the call that gathers the servants to their Master's joyful return.

Spiritual vigilance is the defining key to these verses. The final verse, 37, unites all of us as a generational type. Christ gives his command to every one of us from the disciples of the first century AD to the porters of the 21st century. It is as if Christ turns and looks into my own eyes and says to me personally, “Watch.”

Powers and the Elect

As I scanned forward for another parable, my eyes fell upon two words: 'powers' and 'elect'. See for yourself in Mark 13:22-27. This is the part where Christ speaks about the times during and after the tribulation. In verse 23 he states, “Behold, I have foretold you all things.” So, this is what we can expect for the end of the old and beginning of the new.

Many have been the sermons on this topic; many church hours have been overcharged pounding the doom and gloom of judgment into wide-eyed, head-shaking congregations. What I see, and what I wonder if others see, is a definition that towers above the topic of judgment.

Two things stand out in this stretch of scripture. First is the very end of the tribulation and second is the coming of Christ to establish the new age. Jesus told his disciples that in the end, and this certainly began in their lifetimes, there would be false Christs and false prophets who would be able to display “signs and wonders.”

In the Bible, we have seen real prophets and Christ, himself, display real signs and wonders, real eye-openers. Diseases have been cured, the dead have been raised, strange sights have been seen from the shining face of Moses to the glory of Christ standing with Moses and Elijah. To pick up on the cue, the signs and wonders of false Christs and false prophets will be nothing more than false signs and wonders. They may dazzle the eye, but they are only smoke and mirrors.

To be sure, the rise of these actors is possible only because the curtains are drawn on an empty stage. In other words, there is a void to be filled. There is a yearning audience willing to pay dearly for the show. It is the cravings of a certain type of people that is directly responsible for the emergence of such entrepreneurs. This type of people does not represent all types, however. This type can be deceived because of their own inclination toward an easy path. These will be grouped with the unbelievers as those who have chosen the wrong direction and spiritual inactivity.

There is only one type of person who will successfully navigate the treacherous end times. I speak of the elect. Who are the elect? One dictionary puts them as the 'carefully selected.' It is a type of person who has been singled out through circumstances that are not applicable to the common, or run-of-the-mill. It is a type of person, who by his very nature of being the opposite of those who are deceived, will do his own spiritual legwork – someone who stands apart from the bleating throngs, and as such, has the elbow room to seek and find the truth on his own spiritual legs.

It is said that in the coming, this type of person will be gathered from all the world for the purpose of establishing the new age. A better world will be manned by just this type. They are gathered from the “four winds.” They will be found in every nation and every tongue and every social order. They will be alike regardless of race, creed, or religion, and will sync perfectly because they are spiritually advanced.

The elect will not be fooled by the false prophets. There will be no false Christs for the elect; they already know the true Christ. They will be everywhere despite the world's ongoing anti-spiritual spirit. They will be rejected and stand alone, but I believe they will find each other – and while the warmongers war, while the mega-churches spiral out of control and while the non-believers and believers in blue elephants get swept along in the wake, The elect will find their place and ready themselves for the new age.

The mind of the common world is flawed. It hungrily seeks and accepts a common but easy state. It does not strive to be exceptional. Scientific facts and measurements aside, the common world is a pig at home in its mud sty, for it cannot tell its slop apart from its own filth. The mind of the world is an anti-spirit spirit. To be sure, it is the prevailing spirit of the world and has been set on a pretty high pedestal.

Which brings me to 'powers' . . . as the New American Standard version of Ephesians 6:12 states, “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Christ said plainly in Mark 13:25, “the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken.” This makes it quite obvious that there are evil powers in heaven. They are wicked spiritual forces and world forces of this present darkness.

If I have seen one constant in my studies, it is that spirit and mind are the same. The spirit of the world is the mind of the world. Wicked spirits in heaven are wicked minds in the highest places of authority. They are mindsets, philosophies, precepts and protocols that seek to be written in stone. The real Christ will shake that all around and the powers, who are superstars in their own minds, will fall from heaven. The elect will see this.

As a closing thought, I want to touch briefly on timelines. When we think of the tribulation, we think of the final days. We think of some unnamed, unset time in the future (another common comfort of the common world mind.) But, what if the future is now? Christ said that the elect would be gathered from the “uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.” That is a range from the lowest to the highest to be sure, but since the word 'earth' is specifically used, and not 'world', I think it safe to assume the far end of that spectrum would place the elect somewhere out in space. This is just a thought, but, as far as timelines go, we are in the space age.

When We Speak

When we speak, this is what we assume goes on: a neuron fires, then the mouth makes words. Another way to think of this process is: a thought forms in the mind, which activates the physical brain so that mental concepts may be expressed, or transmitted, via physical sounds produced by the mouth. What we assume is the we have a thought and then we speak.

This is going to be a short study. It deals with a concept transmitted physically through Mark 13:11. In the latter portion of the statement which the only begotten son of God put forth, we find this explicitly expressed: “it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost.”

Read that again. It is a concept connected to disciple-specific possibilities, but which in no way depends upon those particular events for its own measure. It is a concept that is fully able to stand on its own two feet. The examination of the latter part of the statement, I guarantee, in no way takes the concept out of context.

Let us examine the concept as it stands. “it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost.” I have long affirmed that mind and spirit are one and the same; this has been a central tenet throughout my writings. Think about it. The mind, while connected to the physical brain, is in no way bound to it. Medical science accepts that the mind can continue to function after the physical death of the brain.

So, we think it is within ourselves that thoughts and concepts originate, but, the son of God says that is not true. Spirit is the realm of God; no thought can ever be hidden from him. While we may be allowed some elbow room to freely organize and express, we do not own, we do not rent, we merely have been granted access. The mind is the spirit; the spirit is the mind of God, who is Holy and Reverend.

Spontaneity is called to mind by the statement found in Mark 13:11. That would be interpreted as thoughts or concepts that are not forced into the mold of preconception. Our free thoughts are not our own. Our minds are not our own. We have been granted access to the Holy mind of God – the Holy Spirit of Truth – which agrees in one, joining the spiritual father to the physical son.

Christ is the Truth, being imbued with the Holy Ghost. His mind is the spirit of truth, making him one with the father. Like father like son, after all. The son expressed to all potential children of God, via the Holy Ghost, that he would see us be one together with the father and son, as we find in John 17:21, “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us.”

Think of your mind, or spirit, as one and the same with God and Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:16 tells us, in the plainest of all words that, “we have the mind of Christ.”

The Test

A teacher might well know, beforehand, whether a student will pass or fail a test. The signs are always there. The teacher will know the character of each student and will be aware of their habits and patterns. It was not idle chin-stroking when Jesus said that a tree is known by its fruit. What we do or say the most, that is what we are all about.

In this examination, we turn our eye toward Mark 12:38-40. It is here that Jesus explains the standard by which we may put the spirit of a person to the test. To those around him at the time, Jesus exposed the scribes, but this handy trick works as well with any man behind any pulpit, or any man on any soapbox.

He said, “Beware of the scribes.” He told them to take a good long look, to be aware. Let us take that long look and be aware, not only of who scribes are but also of what they do. For those in Jesus day, the definition of a scribe was 'an ancient Jewish record-keeper or, later, a professional theologian and jurist.' Got that off the internet. So, discounting the record keepers with no authority, what we are looking at is the professional – not only the title, not only the tier within society but the mindset and attitude.

I believe it was the attitude, the pride concurrent with that mindset, that Jesus warned of. We are aware that all words and actions must, necessarily, stem from that root, just as the fruit of a tree has its origin in its own root. Just as a salesman's every word may be seen to stem from his drive toward, desire for and anticipation of the dollar, so too, the veneer of the scribe is stripped away by the list that Jesus attributes to them.

He said this of them: “which love to go in long clothing, and love salutations in the marketplaces, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and the uppermost rooms at feasts: which devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers.”

If they 'love' to be seen in their office garb and 'love' public acknowledgments, then they may be seen in their labors toward such. They may be seen actually trying to accomplish these ends. They will make their long-winded prayers quite public. They do these things to maintain their station and advantage in society. The coffers must remain filled, even if the widow is turned out for the expected tithes.

Seems pretty damning. Is it any wonder they sought his life? And, we may learn from this list; we may make our own lists. This test is equally applicable to modern day preachers and politicians. I have made my lists, and I must say that the preachers and politicians look almost identical. You've got your love for public accolades and some seriously attention-grabbing expensive suits. The neckties are gaudy, the wristwatches are flashy, and the Florsheim shoes are shiny. The bellies are often large and the public message never fails to touch upon funding.

The apple never falls far from the tree and the bad apple always harbors a gnawing worm within. Jesus concluded about the scribes that they would receive, not the usual, average, or run-of-the-mill damnation, but “greater” damnation. Some will try and fall short while others will fail spectacularly. Be like the teacher who knows the student. Apply this simple test before the final exam. One might even be so daring as to apply the test to oneself.