The Parables from the Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand 

     As in ancient Israel, the "leaders are misleaders," who lead so many so far astray. God expects leaders to be the shepherds of His children. What will happen when judgment comes to the nations and their leaders.  The answer is the same as the one given by Jesus, when he concluded the parable of the absent landlord and asked, "what will the lord of the vineyard do to those ungrateful and wicked tenants (in our example shepherds)?" The present world is based on the principal Might makes Right. In the world of Melchizedek, King of Righteousness, the world will be based on Right makes Might.

     The prophets have asked God for thousands of years over and over; "How long Lord? How long?" meaning how long will the strong trample the weak? How long will the arrogant govern the meek? God’s answer is that everything has a season to grow and yield its full fruit; we then reap what we sow. The sun is made to shine on the good and the evil.  Remember the parable when the good man sows good seed, but while he is sleeping, an evil one sows weeds in the same field. And, when the weeds grow up with the good crop, the parable tells us that both good and bad will be allowed to reach harvest together. Then the field will be harvested and the good crop stored away and the weeds bound up and thrown into the fire. This is done because pulling the weeds up early would damage the good as well as the bad. The end of an age is a harvest time when everything is harvested and accounted for. The one on the cloud has a "sickle in his hand" to harvest the crop at the end of the age. This "one like a son of man" is Melchizedek who comes to save the world from itself, give restitution to "God’s people," and begin a new and glorious age of promise. The prophecy, "The meek shall inherit the earth" will finally become reality. Also, remember Jesus’ parable about the good landowner of the vineyard.  The landowner leaves his beautiful vineyard in the hands of workmen who ransack his property and ruin his vineyard. The landowner sends his best servants, and then even his very own son to check on its progress. The son they kill, so as to deprive him of his inheritance, and Jesus then looks to the listening audience and asks, "What do you think the landowner will do?" In unison they answer, "he will destroy those men…" .

     This story is not only a parable. It is also a prophecy of Jesus’ (the son in the parable) subsequent death at the hands of the leaders of Jerusalem who are playing the role of the workmen left in charge. Israel is the vineyard and God is the landowner who sends his son Jesus to set right the spiritual affairs of Israel. But Jesus is killed by the very ones causing the trouble in the first place, the workmen left in charge, i.e. the leaders of Israel.

     But wait! The parable prophecy hasn’t ended yet because God has not yet sent anyone to bring justice to the vineyard workers, i.e. the leaders. The parable will end, when God’s Agent of Justice arrives and sets the affairs of His "vineyard" aright, just as at the ending of the parable. This is exactly the function of the "Messiah" described in Old Testament prophecy. Not only was Jesus aware of his upcoming death, but he also was aware that the complete story would someday end like his parable ended.   The word messiah is used several times in 1Enoch in association with a divine being who brings peace and victory to those who "elect" God’s will during the end of the Age. This Messiah figure in 1Enoch is called the Elect One, the Concealed One, the Mighty One, and God of the World.  The word messiah means anointed in spirit, and when capitalized, Messiah means the Anointed One over all other anointed ones.  The word "Christ" simply is the Greek translation of the word "Messiah." Essentially, we have named Jesus "Christ" for precisely what he is not, i.e. "Messiah." When Jesus came, people were looking for the World Messiah and mostly missed recognizing the Spiritual Savior. This time around Christians are looking for the Spiritual Savior and alas –the World Messiah comes. Humanity gets it wrong both times. No one can say that we’re not consistent.

 

Quote from, The Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand by Edmund Roache.