The GOSPEL of MATTHEW: Ch. 25 – The MESSIAH and HIS KINGDOM MESSAGE

By James Fire

At the risk of repeating myself, ad nauseum, may I beg your indulgence in reminding us all that the Gospel of Matthew is directed towards a particular people group: the nation of Israel.
Each Gospel account has a different audience it is appealing to. The portrait of Jesus in this Gospel is specifically as the coming King of Israel, Who is intent on establishing the kingdom of Israel, once the sins of Israel were paid in full by His own Holy blood.

Yet they rejected their Messiah – nevertheless, He paid for all of their sins, as well as for all the sins of the world.

In these kingdom parables, the church is often seen as the subject, however, if one examines the text and rightly identifies who the church is, who Israel is, who the Gentiles are, then one can understand who these are in the parables of the kingdom of Israel.

MATTHEW 25:1-5

1 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. ² And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. ³ They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: ⁴ But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. ⁵ While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. 

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The NARROW VIEW of the SCRIPTURES

By James Fire

Rebuttal to: Why Teaching Your Child to Read the Bible Literally Might Destroy Them… Literally.

Ontology is the philosophical study of the nature of being, becoming, existence and/or reality, as well as the basic categories of being and their relations. Its primary tenet is simply, “truth is that which corresponds to reality”. Or putting it another way, “the truth is that which is true.”
In language, we incorporate significance to words as they correspond with reality. If I write the word ‘house’ – in your mind you picture some semblance of a house with walls, a roof, windows and doors. If I write the word, ‘happy’ you think of the condition and experience of being agreeably content and feelings of well-being.

We can therefore attribute a literal meaning to words, but they can also express a certain figurative meaning as well. When you thought of the word ‘house’ it could have a figurative meaning, in that it could express the idea of a real family lineage, as Joseph and Mary were “of the house of David”. Obviously, they didn’t live in King David’s house, but rather they were, in reality, his descendants.

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BEWARE OF LEAVEN!!!

By James Fire

In Mark’s Gospel, chapter 8, the LORD Jesus fed four thousand hungry souls by miraculously multiplying some bread and fish. He did the same thing earlier in His ministry and fed 5000 (MATT 14:21).

After feeding the multitude in Mark’s account, the Pharisees approached Him and sought a miraculous sign from heaven, for which He rebukes them (having already performed this incredible miracle which they just witnessed).

He and His disciples then leave them all, and get into a boat to depart to the other side of the sea of Galilee. While in the boat, the LORD charged them:
MARK 8:15
15 . . . saying, ‘Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod’.

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