2000-2-5 10:33:00
You gave some good answers on this and I will not have time to comment on all your replies, but I would like to welcome Diana Brown as a new member who is joining right in with some great posts. If I should miss commenting on your writings please remember that there are many others besides myself who are benefiting from them, and sometimes even a hurried comment off the cuff may touch someone in a way I cannot.
In interpreting any scripture, especially something like a parable from Jesus, we must remember that there are several layers of interpretation. This does not mean that just any old interpretation will work, for a correct meaning on a higher level must correspond to the lower and visa versa.
The point to bear in mind is that scripture is always fulfilled on one or more levels, but it is not always fulfilled on all levels. The least reliable of the levels is the physical. This is the reason that scripture is often very inspiring on a spiritual level, yet those who use it for physical prediction are wrong close to 100% of the time.
When the incident predicted is fulfilled, history often records a great accuracy in the prophecy, yet the events that transpired turn out to be of a much different nature than prognosticators ever thought.
The same is true with other high writings such as those of Nostradamus. Every time someone quotes him and predicts the future, they seem to be wrong; yet, each time a major historical event occurs and his predictions are reviewed, there the prediction seems to be staring us in the face and we wonder why no one spotted it earlier.
That said, let us review the first parable: "The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn." Matt 13:24-30
Basically the standard interpretation here is that the wicked and the righteous will dwell together until the end of times and around the coming of the Messiah the wicked (usually people with differing belief systems) will be burned with fire and the righteous will be saved and dwell a thousand years (or eternity) with Jesus.
If we read the all the scriptures literally it sounds like the majority of the people of this planet are in for one horrifying experience and even the so-called righteous will be pretty miserable until "the end," the rapture or whatever.
What few realize about this type of interpretation are two important points.
(1) The Jonah principle. Remember the story of Jonah where he definitely predicted destruction by fire, but the hearts of the people changed and so prevented the prophecy of doom from coming true on the physical level. What scriptorians overlook though is the prediction still came to pass. Instead of a physical fire there came a spiritual fire and burned away the dross of the lower self leaving the people with purified souls.
The Jonah principle is this: The outcome of each prediction is predicated on the free will of mankind.
(2) The time factor between the time the prediction was made and the time of fulfillment.
Why is this important? Consider that the Bible prophecies were made 2000 years ago or more. In between then and now, there have been many happenings on this planet that even the most inspired prophets of that time were not able to see; and these unforeseen events have altered the course of many predictions on the physical plane.
If the prophet Jonah could not prophesy accurately in the name of the Lord just forty days into the future what makes the world think that Bible prophets can accurately predict 2000 years into the future with even greater accuracy?
As the prophets looked into the future from the distant past and saw the technology we have developed today with all of our nuclear weapons and explosives they saw a strong probability that the earth would be destroyed by fire. They also saw the strong possibility that a man like Hitler would come much closer to world domination than actually happened in real life.
The greatest antichrist in our history (Hitler) was defeated by the combined will of humanity and this decisive defeat (along with other events) altered the course of prophecy on the physical plane for our age. It is not yet a sure thing, but the probability is now that we will enter the new age of peace without a cataclysmic destruction by fire and the Brotherhood of Light is actively working toward that end. The words of the Christ are watchwords for all the Masters which are:
"For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them." Luke 9:56
There are certain wild cards in the deck and we could yet have a major conflagration if we do not actively work to establish peace on earth good will to mankind on this planet. There will be some earth changes, but not nearly as devastating as those predicted by the doomsayers.
Another consideration overlooked in long term prophecy is this. The age we are entering is far from the last age we shall have. There will yet be many ages hence where humanity shall exist in the mortal condition. If there is not a mass destruction by fire in this age, there will definitely be one in an age to come, thus eventually bringing a literal fulfillment to the words of Peter:
"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up." II Peter 3:10
As it is, this prophecy is being fulfilled in a less expected literal sense. The "heavens shall pass away," is an interesting statement. The word "heaven" comes from the Greek OURANOS, the exact same word from which uranium is derived. It is also interesting that the name of the planet Uranus which rules the coming Age of Aquarius comes from the same word.
Now let us retranslate: "Uranium shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat..." Does this make sense? Yes when the atomic bomb explodes uranium literally "passes away" and is no more. The power of the bomb is created by the splitting of the uranium atom in two literally making it "pass away" so it no longer exists. Thus when uranium passes away there is a great noise and the elements do melt with fervent heat.
But does it burn up the works therein? It definitely burned up the works in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but it changed the works on this planet much more than this. Because of the threat of the bomb we have, as a planet, gone 55 years without a major war; and this would not be the case if we were not faced with wholesale destruction by fire.
How else has fire changed the "works" of mankind on the earth? What runs our transportation and our world economy? All gasoline engines are run by "fervent heat" or fire. The fire of the internal combustion engine has completely destroyed the old way of doing things and brought in an entirely new structure and economy. Even most of the electricity that heats our homes and runs our factories is generated by the combustion (fire) of oil or coal.
Thus we see from this prediction that the day of the Lord will come upon us as a thief. Why? Because many of the prophesies of the end of this age are already fulfilled and the majority are completely unaware of this, just as a homeowner is unaware of the thief in the night. The word "thief" is used because many will feel as if their reality is stolen from them when they realize that none of their precious expectations come to pass in the expected way. They will feel as if they are robbed of being right, just as Jonah was.
Now let us review the parable of the wheat and the tares. The first verse reads: "The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way."
In the beginning of the human race (which is "likened unto a man"), a good seed was planted. That good seed is the soul, the gateway to all things of the Spirit or the kingdom of Heaven. But then the attention of the race drifted away from the soul and they went into a deep sleep. As we slept to the world of the Spirit "an enemy came." When we have our focus on the light of the soul there can be no enemy that can do us harm, but if we sleep an enemy can indeed manifest. And what did that enemy do while we were asleep? It planted "tares" or weeds that grew with the good works of the soul.
Why do we allow the weeds to be planted and to grow? Because the weeds take faster root than the wheat and also grow with much greater rapidity. Because many feel that more is better, an illusion is created that the weeds are more desirable than the wheat.
Is not this the consistent problem with humanity? Are we not attracted to that which is not real, and so we ignore the Spirit which is the real wheat with real value?
The scripture continues: "But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them."
We as human beings go through many stages of spiritual evolution where the lower nature (the tares) sprout up and seems to overwhelm the spiritual nature (the wheat). Finally, as we approach the time of the harvest we realize that the lower nature offers us no nourishment of value. Any thought that desirable fruit would come from the tares was complete illusion. As we become aware of this we declare:
"Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn." (Matt 13:25-30)
As the lower and higher natures grow together, the wise seeker will not cast off all that appears lower for the sake of the higher because he realizes his discernment is not perfect; and his spiritual nature is not yet strong enough to sustain him. Thus he allows both sides of himself to grow together until his soul contact is strong enough to discern with certainty, the lower from the higher or illusion from reality. When he reaches this soul contact he examines himself and discovers all the parts of himself that are no longer useful and gathers them in bundles. The bundles are tied with strong rope which is the will of God. The higher will takes the undesirable parts of ourselves and binds them so they no longer have power to distract us from the kingdom of God. Next, the lower nature is burned away by the love of God, and exist no more to distract us from the world of Spirit again.
Finally the wheat is gathered into the barn. Those with soul contact are gathered together as one in the higher planes, and become the food of the gods. The higher lives feast on the works of their labors and receive nourishment from us lesser lives that allows them to progress onward in the eternal work.
I realize that Jesus gave a different twist in the interpretation of this parable, but again I wish to remind all students that inspired teachings such as this always have several corresponding interpretations that are true.
In part II of this treatise we will discuss the interpretation presented by Jesus and the second parable.
Copyright 2000 by J.J. Dewey, All Rights Reserved