mustard seed

[WretchedMan]

Sorry. Something about using this phone is causing double posting.

 

[mike1para]

I commend your desire to grow and learn. That hunger is a good thing and I pray God will grant us wisdom and understanding. I am on a break at work and posting from my phone. I will, as fully as I am able, reply to your question when I am at my computer this evening.

God bless and keep you.

Do you think that the Lord was describing 'faith' as he does on numerous occasions, as growing and producing fruit, (more believers) or is he describing the Kingdom of heaven. which is?
God bless mate.

 

[Duckybill]

Science and the Bible are by no means compatible.

 

[WretchedMan]

I understand what you are saying, but im not trying to shoehorn anything into scripture just trying to interprit it. Jesus asked his followers many times how they interprited the scriptures, some of them are thousands of years old,and it is part of our faiths history that scriptures have been missunderstood leading to disasterous consequences. This thread is my interpritation of this scripture nothing more.
Could you give me the correct interpritation from your view point of the 'Mustard Seed' bearing in mind that Jesus described things from a literal point of view in this part of the Gospels.

Mike,
I apologize for the delay in responding. Parables can be tricky and I don't know that I've studied scripture for nearly long enough to be very accurate on interpreting them. I will give you my best understanding of this parable and I pray that others, wiser than me, will chime in and contribute to our understanding.

The parable is recorded in three of the four gospels. Here are all three instances.

Matthew 13: 31 & 32 NKJV: Another parable He put forth to them, saying: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches."

Mark 4:30-32 NKJV: Then He said, "To what shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what parable shall we picture it? [It is] like a mustard seed which, when it is sown on the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on earth; but when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all herbs, and shoots out large branches, so that the birds of the air may nest under its shade."

Luke 13: 18 & 19 NKJV: Then He said, "What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and put in his garden; and it grew and became a large tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches."

There are some different interpretations of this parable. Some believe it means the Kingdom of God, like the tiny mustard seed, starts out small (Jesus and his disciples) and grows until it becomes large and spread throughout the world so that all people are able gather into it for nourishment and shelter.

Others believe that it means the Church will start out small and grow unusually large and the enemy (Satan; birds of the air) will lodge in amongst it bringing lies and false doctrine to deceive the people and lead them astray.

Others believe that the mustard seed is Jesus, the planting the crucifixion, and the mustard plant is Jesus after his resurrection.

As you mentioned, some think that Jesus was speaking of faith in the heart of the believer.

In the parable about the sower and the different types of soil, Jesus did use the birds to represent Satan plucking the word out of the hearts of some of those that hear. This, to me, gives some validity to the interpretation that the birds nesting in it's branches are the enemy. Also, in the parable of the wheat and the tares, Jesus explains that good seed is planted by Jesus and the tares are planted by the enemy. They are mixed among one another so that it is difficult to remove the tares without possibly removing the wheat as well. When they are growing wheat and tares are hard to distinguish but when the harvest comes, which Jesus tell us is the end of the age, He will have His angels separate the sons of the wicked one from the Bride of Christ.

So, we know Jesus used the same image, birds of the air, to mean the enemy. Does that require that the birds of the air have the same meaning in the mustard seed parable? It may not. I tend to think that it does have the same meaning.

We also know that there will be many who take a place in the church and teach heresies and false doctrines. Mat. 7:15; 24:11&24; Mark 13:22; 2 Cor. 11:13&26; Gal 2:4; 2 Peter 2:1; 1 John 4:1. This, to me, also lends support to this view.

I acknowledge that my understanding is by no means complete and that I may be wrong. I am open and eager to read any insight others have into this. I hope this helps.

God bless and keep you.

 

[WretchedMan]

Science and the Bible are by no means compatible.

I've seen you make similar declarations in other threads. On what do you base your assertion?

 

[Duckybill]

I've seen you make similar declarations in other threads. On what do you base your assertion?

Hello there,

The Bible is a Book of miracles that cannot be explained by 'science' I.E. :

2 Kings 6:5-7 (NKJV)
5 But as one was cutting down a tree, the iron ax head fell into the water; and he cried out and said, "Alas, master! For it was borrowed." 6 So the man of God said, "Where did it fall?" And he showed him the place. So he cut off a stick, and threw it in there; and he made the iron float. 7 Therefore he said, "Pick it up for yourself." So he reached out his hand and took it.

 

[WretchedMan]

Hello there,

The Bible is a Book of miracles that cannot be explained by 'science' I.E. :

2 Kings 6:5-7 (NKJV)
5 But as one was cutting down a tree, the iron ax head fell into the water; and he cried out and said, "Alas, master! For it was borrowed." 6 So the man of God said, "Where did it fall?" And he showed him the place. So he cut off a stick, and threw it in there; and he made the iron float. 7 Therefore he said, "Pick it up for yourself." So he reached out his hand and took it.

I agree that science, as far as our current knowledge goes, can not explain miracles. Your statement was confusing. To me, saying science and the Bible are mutually exclusive offers a false choice. I took it, wrongly, that you were either saying you either accept science and reject the Bible, or accept the Bible and reject science. I wouldn't agree with that idea.

Thanks for clarifying.