The Parables of Watchfulness, Readiness and Labor
Matthew 24:32 to 25:30 and Mark 13:32-37
Late in the afternoon
on Wednesday the thirteenth of Nisan
After a lengthy discourse about the end-times upon the Mount of Olives the previous evening, Jesus used some parables to help the talmidim better understand coming events. The general theme of His parables is that the saved, those who love the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, will be prepared (saved) for the Rapture; but everyone else will be unprepared (lost) for His coming.
Altogether, the Messiah presented five parables: three short parables and two extended parables. All emphasized the need for watchfulness, readiness and labor in the Lord while waiting for the Rapture. I believe all five parables point to the Rapture. Here we see the Messiah teaching the apostles who are clearly having a very hard time grasping what He was saying. In fact, much of what He said to them could not be understood until after Shavu’ot and the indwelling of the Ruach Ha’Kodesh. Jumping back and forth between teachings on the Rapture and the Second Coming would be very confusing. It would be like trying to teach someone math and jumping back and forth between geometry and algebra.Another reason these parables point to the Rapture instead of the Great Tribulation is that daily life similar to days before the Flood will not go on as normal. Especially in its later stages, survival will be the order of the day. So I treat the five parables as a parenthesis in the discussion of the Second Coming that picks up again in Jy – The Sheep and the Goats.
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