From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase

Part two of a series. Read part one.

In Luke 12, Jesus preaches the Gospel in a unique form: an evangelistic parable.

In the first segment of this series we examined Jesus' own description of the Last Judgment, and how He will conduct it, from Matthew 25. We noted that the Lord makes it plain that we will come to His throne not for our case to be judged, but for a verdict to be pronounced - based on a judgment that will already have been made before we arrive there.

As I mentioned at the end of the first segment, Jesus declared what each human being must do, in light of this great fact. He did so uniquely - in the form of a parable - in Luke chapter 12:

Then He [Jesus] also said to the multitudes, "Whenever you see a cloud rising out of the west, immediately you say, 'A shower is coming'; and so it is. And when you see the south wind blow, you say, 'There will be hot weather'; and there is. Hypocrites! You can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it you do not discern this time?

"Yes, and why, even of yourselves, do you not judge what is right? When you go with your adversary to the magistrate, make every effort along the way to settle with him, lest he drag you to the judge, the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. I tell you, you shall not depart from there till you have paid the very last mite." (Luke 12:54-59)

The Pattern of Christ's Parables

What is Christ's message in this parable? To understand this, we must first understand how Jesus employed parables during His earthly ministry. He spoke parables to different audiences with different purposes in mind. We see this earlier in the 12th chapter of Luke. We find the Lord Jesus in the midst of "an innumerable multitude of people" (Luke 12:1). But we notice in that verse that Jesus first of all speaks to His disciples about the false teachings of the Pharisees.

Beginning in verse 13 we find a man from the multitude addressing the Lord Jesus, and Jesus dealing with that man's question. He uses the man's question as a transition into a parable concerning covetousness.

And then in verse 22 we find the Lord speaking again to His disciples directly. He is speaking to them about how the Christian is to live life in this world, how we are to view the things of this world, and how we are to depend upon God for everything.

This is the pattern we find in the parables of our Lord all through the Gospels. Jesus sometimes speaks a parable to a few, but often to many. Sometimes He speaks a parable mainly to believers, but often to a multitude of unbelievers.

An Evangelistic Parable

The pattern continues through Luke chapter 12, and so we come to verse 54. We find Jesus once again speaking to the multitudes. He puts an evangelistic parable before them:

Then He also said to the multitudes, "whenever you see a cloud rising out of the West, immediately you say, 'a shower is coming'; and so it is. And when you see the South wind blow, you say, 'there will be hot weather'; and there is. Hypocrites! You can discern the face of the sky end of the earth, but how is it that you do not discern this time?

Yes, and why, even of yourselves, do you not judge what is right? When you go with your adversary to the magistrate, make every effort along the way to settle with him, lest he drag you to the judge, the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. I tell you, you shall not depart from their till you have paid the very last mite.

As we endeavor to understand what the Lord Jesus is saying in this parable, we must do it carefully. It is vital to understand that each of Jesus' parables recorded in the Gospels has a central message. We must not become so immersed in the details of a parable that we lose sight of the main message. We must not become so focused on the trees that we lose sight of the forest.

As we continue, we shall see four vital points in this parable.

First, the Lord makes it plain that He understands that He is speaking to intelligent people - but even these intelligent people have thus far not understood the Gospel.

Second, He describes the adversarial nature of the Last Judgment, and makes clear the identity of the true adversary of every unsaved human being.

Third, Jesus declares that a "guilty" verdict has already been rendered against each individual who is born into this world.

Finally, He explains the only way in which that guilty verdict can be changed to "not guilty" - and that this change must take place before an individual comes to His judgment throne.

We shall examine these crucial truths as we continue.

Next: How Intelligent People Can Be Blind to Spiritual Truth

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