In this episode, we will discuss the end time prophetic implications of the Parable of the Laborer’s Penny, Yeshua’s encounter of the woman at the well, Yeshua healing the nobleman’s son and the Parable of the Prodigal Son.

The Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard

Matthew 20:1–16, In this parable, Yeshua likens the kingdom of heaven to one who owns a vineyard and who hires laborers to work in his vineyard. During the course of the day the owner agrees to pay all of his workers a day’s wages regardless of when during the day they were hired. When pay time arrives, those hired at the beginning of the day murmured against those hired at the end of the day, since the owner paid them all the same wage. When accused of unfairness by those hired at the start of the day, the owner insists that they all agreed to the terms he offered and that they had no right to complain.

Prophetic Points to Analyze

• verse 1— owner of the vineyard
• verse 1— vineyard
• verse 1— hired laborers
• verse 2— their wages
• verse 16— the last shall be first, and the first last

One possible interpretation of this parable is that the owner of the vineyard is YHVH, while the vineyard is a metaphor for Israel which is comprised of the house of Judah and the house of Israel (Isa 5:7). The vineyard can also be a metaphor for this world, which is like a field in which Yeshua’s saints have been called to work (Matt 13:38; 9:37; John 4:35).Salvation is the reward or wage that everyone receives regardless of when during their lifetime YHVH called them to work in his spiritual field. 

During the course of time, YHVH has “hired” laborers to work in his vineyard whether it is to help gather the lost sheep of the house of Israel, or to preach the gospel to the world in general. Those hired at the beginning of the day to tend his vineyard will receive the same reward (eternal life) as those hired just prior to the advent of YHVH’s millennial kingdom at the return of Yeshua. Our Lord speaks of this when he declared that on resurrection day when he hands out the gift of eternal life, many who were first shall be last and many who were last shall be first (Matt 19:30). That is to say, all the saints will be resurrected at the same time and will receive the same reward of everlasting life regardless of their length of service in YHVH’s spiritual field regardless of how long they have been serving him. 

This parable is reminiscent of the Parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15, where the prodigal son was given the same honor by the father as the son who had stayed faithful all along. It is possible to view the prodigal, in the most general sense, as a representing the house of Ephraim (the Christians), who went into a far country and joined himself with the citizenry of that country where he wasted his inheritance on heathen living and then ended up eating the leftovers from pigs just to stay alive. 

Truly, this parable could apply to many of Judah, as well, who have traded their spiritual inheritance for what the world has to offer, and who also turned away from the Father in heaven by rejecting the Messiah. 

Not withstanding, a remnant of Judah who has remained faithful to their Torah-roots (and who believe in Yeshua the Messiah as well) may feel slighted when those who have recognized Messiah Yeshua, though they have lived like the world, including the eating of swine and other nonkosher foods, finally return to the Hebrew roots of their Christian faith and become Torah-obedient only to find that their reward in the world to come (olam haba) is neither greater nor less than the returning prodigals (or those Christians who have only recently embraced the Torah). 

There may be other, even more precise, allegorical interpretations to this parable that are yet to be discovered.

Yeshua Talks to the Samaritan Woman at the Well

John 4:3–42, This is the account of Yeshua stopping in his travels at a well in Samaria for a drink of water. There he encounters the Samaritan woman and discusses with here physical versus spiritual water, her marital status, his Messiahship, that salvation is of the Jews, and about the importance of worshipping the Father in Spirit and in truth. Yeshua then preaches the gospel to the Samaritan city of Sychar for two days.

Prophetic Points to Analyze

• verse 3— left Judea and departed again into Galilee
• verse 4— needed to go through Samaria
• verse 5— Sychar
• verse 5— Jacob’s well that he gave to Joseph
• verse 7— give me to drink
• verse 9— the Jews have no dealings the Samaritans
• verse 10— the gift of Elohim
• verses 13–14— living waters
• verse 18— five husbands
• verse 22— salvation is of the Jews
• verses 23–24— spirit and truth
• verse 35— four months of harvest
• verse 39— many Samaritans believed on him
• verse 40— two days

In this Gospel account, Yeshua takes the good news (or the gospel) to the mixed people-group (Israelite and Gentile) called the Samaritans. Historically, the Hebrew Scriptures record that the Northern Kingdom or Ephraim became intermixed with the Gentile nations (Hos 7:8; 8:8) into which it had been dispersed at the time of and subsequent to its deportation into captivity. The Samaritans are one aspect of the fulfillment of this prophecy. The story of Yeshua’s encounter with the Samaritans has many prophetic implications pertaining to evangelizing the people of the nations as we will now see.

John records that Yeshua stayed with the Samaritans for two days (verse 40), which prophetically and allegorically represents the 2000 year time span between his first and second comings, which is commonly known as the “times of the Gentiles” (Luke 21:24). During this time, Ephraim (most generically speaking, the Christian church) will recognize their Messiah (Jesus), while most of those of Judea (the Jews) would be blind to Yeshua (Jesus) the Messiah.

Here is an analysis of some key prophetic points in Yeshua’s brief encounter with these mixed-race Gentiles:

verse 3— left Judea and departed again into Galilee. Yeshua left Judea departing for Galilee (the region of the former Northern Kingdom) passing through Samaria where the Samaritans lived, who were a mixed racial group comprised of Israelite ancestry and that of the Gentiles or people of the nations.

verse 4— needed to go through Samaria. Yeshua had to go through Samaria. He could not overlook these rejected mixed people who were basically scorned and rejected as second-class citizens by most respectable Jews. They too needed to hear the gospel message and had a place in YHVH’s kingdom.

verse 5— Sychar. Yeshua stopped at the Samaritan city of Sychar, which derives from the Hebrew word shekar meaning “strong or intoxicating drink, fermented or intoxicating liquor.” According to Lightfoot, Samaria, during the first temple period, was the name of a city, and during the second temple period, it was the name of a country. Its metropolis at that time was Shechem, which the Jews derisively referred to as Seckar based on the words of Isaiah, the prophet, in Isaiah 28:1 that states, “Woe to the drunken Ephraimites….” 

It is interesting to note that the Samaritans as a mixed people also had a mixed religion. They had the Torah, and yet followed a YHVH-type religion that was also mixed with some pagan traditions. 

Prophetically speaking, is this not the religious state (i.e., religious Babylon) out of which YHVH is calling his people in the end times (Rev 18:4)? Can it be denied that the Christian religion contains many non-biblical traditions that are totally antithetical to the truth of the Scriptures? This is not even counting those doctrines, beliefs and traditions that derive from overt pagan sources. To be sure, mainstream Christianity is a mixture of truth and error, and is part of spiritual Babylon (meaning “confusion” or “mixture”). 

Indeed, religious Babylon has made all nations drunk on the wine of her (spiritual) fornication;that is to say, all have committed spiritual harlotry with her by following many of her pagan and idolatrous traditions. All have had their spiritual senses and inhibitions dulled to the truth of YHVH by her sensual overtures. 

Sychar is either the historic city of Shechem or near Shechem, which is situated between Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal (where the Torah promises and curses were pronounced upon the Israelites upon entering the Promised Land under Joshua, Josh 8:30–35). Shechem is also the historic entry point of the Promised Land by the Israelites. That is why Joseph requested to be buried there as an act of his faith. Many other notable Jews are also buried there.

verse 5— Jacob’s well that he gave to Joseph. This event occurred at the well that Jacob gave to Joseph. This speaks of the birthright blessings Jacob passed on to Joseph’s descendants who would end up mixing themselves with the nations as Hosea the prophet had foretold (Hos 7:8; 8:8). 

According to rabbinic interpretation, a well can be a metaphor for the Torah. Scripturally, water can represent both Torah or word of Elohim (Deut 32:1–2 cp. Eph 5:26) and the Spirit of Elohim (Joel 2:23). This well was located in the historic region of the tribe of Manasseh, the son of Joseph, while Mount Gerizim, to which the Samaritan woman refers later, is in the historic territory of Ephraim.

verses 7–10— Give me to drink. Yeshua asked this woman (who represents the spiritual “mixture” that is in the Christian church) for a drink of water. Spiritually speaking, as noted above, water is a biblical metaphor for both Spirit and Torah-truth. This woman did not understand what Yeshua meant. Once he explained it to her, she wanted the spiritual water (Torah and the Spirit) he had to offer. Likewise, how many Christians today understand the full ramifications of the Torah and the Spirit and how it applies to them? Many today, like the Samaritan woman of old, are hungering for more.

verse 9— The Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. The Samaritan woman was likely all too well aware of the literal wall of partition (or soreg) that had been constructed in the Jerusalem temple to keep non-Jews from entering therein. To a certain extent, such a wall still exists between those who insist that the Christian church is comprised of Jews and Gentiles, even though Yeshua came to break down that middle wall of separation and bring all the Gentiles into the nation of Israel (Eph 2:11–19), and to reunite these two estranged people groups (or the two houses of Israel) in himself, which Scripture now refers to as “the one new man” (Eph 2:15), where there is no longer Jew or Gentile (Gal 3:26–29). Additionally, let us never forget, there is no Gentile gate in the New Jerusalem (Rev 21:12)!

verse 10— The gift of Elohim. What is the gift of YHVH to which Yeshua makes reference here? It is the loving gift of his Son, Yeshua, to redeem the world as John 3:16 states. It is the good news of the gospel message. It is the living waters of Spirit and truth (or Torah) that Yeshua would make available to those who thirst. It is all of these things and more.

verses 10— 13–14, Living water. The living waters springing up into everlasting life are none other than Yeshua the Written Torah and Yeshua the Living Torah, the Word or Torah of Elohim incarnate.

verses 16–18— Five husbands. The woman had had five husbands and was living in sin with another man at that moment. This speaks of the Christian church (the house of Israel) who has been cohabiting with the foreign and pagan spiritual lovers almost from its nascence in the second century (just after the death of the last apostle) by adhering to many pagan belief systems and customs. We see this by its heavy emphasis on and devotion to such blatantly pagan and nonbiblical traditions as Christmas, Easter, Halloween, Lent, and Sunday observance and the like, all of which are rooted in paganism.

verse 22— Salvation is of the Jews. The Messiah was Jewish and the human foundation stones of the “church” and the authors of the Testimony of Yeshua—the twelve apostles—were all Jewish (Eph 2:22), and the Jews were the preservers of the oracles of YHVH (Rom 3:2); therefore, salvation was of the Jews.

verses 23–24— Spirit and truth. This is another way of saying Yeshua the Living Torah and Yeshua the Written Torah or Logos. Otherwise stated, it can be a reference to Elijah and the prophets and Moses and the Torah, the two witnesses of Ephraim and Judah, the Tanakh or Hebrew Scriptures and the Brit Chadashah or the Testimony of Yeshua, grace and law, mercy and judgment, and the spirit and the letter of the law. All these are different ways of saying the same thing.

verses 28–30, 39–42— Many…Samaritans…believed in Him. This prophetically speaks of the harvest of the lost sheep of the house of Israel beginning at the time of Yeshua’s first advent culminating with a great end time harvest that is yet to come when Ephraimites and the Gentiles, who have attached themselves to Ephraim, will come to faith in Yeshua the Messiah. He speaks of this harvest in verses 34–38.

verses 34–38— Four months and then comes the harvest. Yeshua’s encounter with the Samaritan women occurred around the feast of Shavuot (Pentecost) in May, and four month later the great fall harvest prior to Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles) would occur. Between Shavuot and Sukkot are the summer months, or prophetically, the two thousand year period Yeshua refers to as “the times of the Gentiles” (Luke 21:24), when the gospel would go out to the people of the nations. Many Gentiles would be given those living waters to which Yeshua made reference. These four months represent the time period between Yeshua’s first and second comings.

verse 40— He stayed there two days. Yeshua stayed with this mixed group of people (Israelite and Gentile) for two days, prophetically representing 2000 years, or the two thousand years between his first and second comings. The phrase “two days” is used elsewhere in the Scriptures to represent 2000 years of Messiah’s work on earth prior to his second coming (e.g., Hos 6:2).

What You Can Do

As Yeshua walked along the road of life, he met many people in his day-to-day activities. He took every opportunity to sow spiritual seeds into the lives of those people, to meet their needs (both physical and spiritual), to ask them questions, to listen to them, and to build a relationship with them. Then when the time was opportune, he shared with them the gospel message and the truth of the Torah. For him, this was a lifestyle, a modus operandi. 

This should be our method of operation as well. Be a spiritual Johnny Appleseed by continually looking for fertile soil into which to plant the seeds of the Word of Elohim, the Torah, the gospel message, the life, hope and light of Yeshua the Messiah. In this way, we will be helping to advance the kingdom of Elohim one life at a time as we reach out in an effort to gather in a bountiful harvest of souls—the lost sheep of Israel.

Yeshua Heals a Nobleman’s Son

John 4:43–54, “Now after two days he departed from there, and went into Galilee. For Yeshua himself testified, that a prophet has no honor in his own country. Then when he had come into Galilee, the Galileans received him, having seen all the things that he did at Jerusalem at the feast, for they also went unto the feast. So Yeshua came again into Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Yeshua was come out of Judea into Galilee, he went unto him, and besought him that he would come down, and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. Then said Yeshua unto him, ‘Except you see signs and wonders, you will not believe.’ The nobleman said unto him, ‘Sir, come down before my child dies.’ Yeshua said unto him, ‘Go your way; your son lives.’ And the man believed the word that Yeshua had spoken unto him, and he went his way. And as he was now going down, his servants met him, and told him, saying, ‘Your son lives.’ Then inquired he of them the hour when he began to get better. And they said unto him, ‘Yesterday at the ninth [HRV, as found in the Old Syriac] hour the fever left him.’ So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Yeshua said unto him, ‘Your son lives,’ and himself believed, and his whole house. This is again the second miracle that Yeshua did, when he had come out of Judea into Galilee.”

Continue reading →