OCTOBER 18 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#31 “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season?” (Matthew 24:45)

 

OCTOBER 18  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  

JQ#31

 “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master

 made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season?”  

(Matthew 24:45)

LIVING FOR JESUS - Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Lord You are greatly to be praised for You Lord are 

Ever-Faithful and Loving to us, a sinful people, and to me the 

chief of sinners. Lord I know that it is only through Your Spirit Living

 in me can I do any good work,  LORD without You, 

I am indeed weak in the flesh.  

Lord, I praise the Holy Spirit for letting me know as soon as my intent 

is wayward the HOLY SPIRIT  convicts my mind and IMMEDIATELY

 my mind and my will start their discourse on “course correction” to get

 me back on the right SPIRITUAL track!  Lord You have given us 

Free Will and You expect us to use it responsibly, so Lord I pray for 

the Holy Spirit to guide me in self-discipline and

 Teach me True Obedience to Your Will and Your Ways!!!   

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus always Teaches a Lesson first and then asks the Question

 in order for us to laser beam focus onto the Truth of God that

 is paramount in every Lesson that Jesus Teaches. By 

understanding the “parable of the fig tree” we start getting a better 

understanding about Jesus asking, 

“Who then is a faithful and wise servant…?” 

The fig tree that Jesus cursed as He returned to Jerusalem after 

spending the night with friends in Bethany represents the nation Israel

 and the fig tree that was just outside the Eastern Gate as Jesus

 and His disciples were about to enter Jerusalem 

the morning after Jesus had overturned the money changers tables

 in front of the temple in Jerusalem. 

The fig tree withered immediately when Jesus pronounced

 a curse on it; however, the curse was not against the physical tree

 itself but was a curse on the religious leaders of Israel because

 they had abandoned God and His Commandments. The religious

 leaders in Jerusalem  were establishing “doctrines and traditions” 

from their own interpretation of God’s WORD and therefore the nation

 Israel was no longer producing “kingdom” fruit as commanded by 

God Himself. In other words, God [the master] had made the religious

 leaders the rulers “over [God’s] household” and they had proved

 themselves to be “unwise” servants and had not been “faithful” 

in feeding the nation the 

“spiritual food” God had intended for His word !!!

In the 55th Chapter of Isaiah, God Himself speaks about providing

 “spiritual food”:

 “As the rain and snow come down from heaven, 

and does not return to it without watering the earth, 

causing it to bud and flourish in order to bring forth 

bread for the eater and seed for the sower, so is my WORD

 that goes forth from my mouth,

 it will not return to Me empty, but will accomplish what 

I desire, and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” 

(Isaiah 55:10-11) 

In this Isaiah passage, “rain and snow” clearly is prophetic

 of Jesus {the living water} coming down from heaven and causing

 the earth to “bud” {learn the parable of the fig tree} 

and “flourish” {the abundant life} and provide

 “bread for the eater” {Spiritual food from the Word because

 man does not live by bread alone} 

and “seed for the sower” {those that spread the Word} — 

God’s Word was sent because of God’s Desire  {God so loved 

the world that He sent His only begotten Son} and

 consuming God’s WORD always produces kingdom “fruit”!!!  

As believers, we should always be aware that God has a Plan 

that will be “ACCOMPLISHED” because 

“no one can stay the HAND  OF GOD!!!  

Remember the opening line 

“as the rain and snow come down from heaven” 

which is a picture of Jesus coming in the flesh to die on the cross,

 but do not miss the line that the “rain and snow” will return to heaven —

 sounds like the “resurrection” to me so why not expect that

 God’s Plan is to judge the earth relative to the “Spiritual Fruit” 

we produce and to expect that if we are “barren” and show no

 signs of “spiritual fruit” in our lives that our fate

 could be the same as the cursed “fig tree” !?!?!?  

 Just a little “spiritual food for thought” ———

OCTOBER 17 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#31 “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season?” (Matthew 24:45)

 

OCTOBER 17  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  

JQ#31 

“Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master 

made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season?” 

 (Matthew 24:45)

LIVING FOR JESUS - Daily Prayer    

JESUS, praise be to the Son that was Obedient to the Father’s Will,

 who gave so unselfishly of Himself in order that others could have 

fellowship with the Father God in heaven. Lord, we live our

 day-to-day lives thinking only about ourselves and miss the 

blessing of Sacrificial Living that You demonstrated when You walked

 on this earth in the flesh and was tempted as we are tempted, 

yet You were without sin — does sin come from self? 

Lord Jesus, forgive me when I get caught up in “how I feel” and miss

 the blessing that comes from caring about my fellow man like You did.

 Lord, we cannot perform miracles on our own but I am confident

 that we can have “compassion” for others and that the Father 

will work in their lives and bless us as well.   

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus always Teaches so much more than just what is on the surface 

and this Lesson that He is Teaching which begins 

“Now learn this parable from the fig tree:” 

(Matthew 24:32) 

has much meaning if we put forth the effort to do as Jesus instructs

 us to do and “learn” the meaning of the “parable” and the “fig tree”. 

The other thing that Jesus does with His Lesson is to take the obvious

 which we see on a daily basis and give great “spiritual” meaning 

to it and since Jesus uses that which is familiar to us in our daily world

 that we will be able to “learn” His intended Lesson —

 the Lesson also being the answer to His Question.  

Jesus asks each Question to get us thinking about another

 “Truth of God” 

and with each Lesson 

Jesus reveals the Father in Heaven to us which Teaches us that

 GOD IS TRUTH. 

The Fig Tree that was “cursed” in Matthew 21 is actually a commentary 

on the state of the Jewish church in Jerusalem. Jesus had returned

 the temple to a “house of prayer” and the chief priests and elders

 in the church began to attack Jesus because they felt that all authority 

was theirs by “tradition” and were very confrontational with Jesus, 

so much so that Jesus left Jerusalem that night and went and stayed

 in Bethany. The next morning Jesus returned to the city and the 

Scriptures note that Jesus was “hungry” which meant He was looking

 for the church in Jerusalem to provide “spiritual” food for the nation.

 When Jesus came upon the fig tree and found that it only had leaves,

 Jesus knew that the church IN JERUSALEM

 was barren for the Fig Tree actually puts forth fruit buds 

BEFORE the leaves appear — also the late figs often

 winter-over and ripen the following spring — so knowing about the 

Fig Tree one can understand why when Jesus looked at the Fig Tree 

as symbolic of the church in Jerusalem was not producing “fruit”,

 Jesus “cursed” the unproductive tree for obvious reasons. 

Jesus observed that on this Fig Tree outside the Eastern Gate,

 there was no fruit from last year nor was there any fruit buds for 

the upcoming year, therefore Jesus pronounced “judgment” 

on the church in 

Jerusalem by His “cursing” the fruitless tree

 and by making it wither 

God has passed Judgement on the church in Jerusalem because the 

church showed no signs of spiritual fruit, 

none from the “fall fruit” that ripens the following spring 

nor any small buds indicating that the tree 

would not produce any “summer fruit”.  

The statement that Jesus made after the parable of the vineyard

 makes much more sense once we “learn” about the “fig tree”:

 “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you 

and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.” 

(Matthew 21:43) 

So we can “learn” from the “fig tree” that God expects “kingdom fruit” 

and if there is no “fruit” then God will move the tree 

somewhere that it will bear fruit. 

Now with this second lesson using the Fig Tree we can ascertain 

that since Jesus is giving “signs” of the end time that Jesus is telling us via

 this parable of the Fig Tree what the state of the nation of Israel will be

 “at the end of the age” because Jesus says 

“So you also, when you see all these things 

(the tender branches and its putting forth leaves), 

you will know that “summer is near” 

and when you see the nation Israel putting forth leaves and its national

 branches are tender, that the “end of the age” is 

“near—at the doors.” (Matthew 24:32-33) 

Therefore if we are looking for "signs" of the “end of the age” and 

Jesus returning to earth, we should “learn the parable of the fig tree” 

and know that it is representative of the nation Israel and by watching

 Israel we will know that God has promised to “restore” 

Israel in the Promised Land and God has a Plan 

which includes the “end of the age” 

and Jesus “coming again” — 

Jesus has given us a list of signs so that those that have

 “[learned] the parable of the fig tree” will know as Jesus stated,

 “Heaven and earth will pass away,

 but My words will by no means pass away.”

 (Matthew 24:35) 

My prayer for America and the world is that we will 

“learn the parable of the fig tree” 

and we will produce “kingdom fruit” 

for the ONE that spoke Creation into existence 

IS the ONE whose WORD will remain 

after Creation has “passed away.”