There are two places in the New Testament, which set forth a history of Christendom throughout the present dispensation relative to the proclamation of “the Word of the Kingdom,” the CENTRAL message of the New Testament and both accounts were given by Christ, on two different occasions:
* Firstly, Christ made the first known to the twelve disciples during His earthly ministry. And this account was given in “parabolic” form, recorded in Matthew chapter thirteen (verse 1 – 33).
* Secondly then, Christ made the second known to John at a time after His ascension, following John being removed from the earth into His presence, removed from Man’s Day into the Lord’s Day.
And this account was given in “signified” form (Revelation 1:1) via seven short epistles to seven Churches in Asia, recorded in Revelation chapters two and three.
These two accounts parallel one another and present two different pictures of the SAME thing. And each is followed by parallel accounts of events which also present two different pictures of the SAME thing as well. The first four parables in Matthew chapter thirteen and the seven epistles to seven Churches in Revelation chapters two and three present a history of the Church which extends throughout the dispensation, though from two different perspectives. And this history, in each account, CENTRES around the proclamation of “the Word of the Kingdom.”
Then, the Fifth and Sixth parables in Matthew chapter thirteen and the fifth through nineteenth chapters in the Book of Revelation record parallel events which deal with the SAME thing, presenting different facets of events which follow the present dispensation. That depicted by these two parables in the Gospel of Matthew and events recorded in these chapters in the Book of Revelation have to do with two things:
1. Christ’s redemption of the forfeited inheritance.
2. Christ’s bride becoming His wife through this redemption.
Then, the seventh parable in Matthew chapter thirteen carries matters forward into the Messianic Kingdom. And the parallel counterpart, in the Book of Revelation is seen in the opening part of Chapter Twenty. Thus, the WHOLE of that covered in these seven parables in Matthew, or in these nineteen chapters in the Book of Revelation, begins with events surrounding Christ’s first coming and moves forward through time into events surrounding Christ’s second coming and the millennial kingdom.
