And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him? Though He bears long with them? I tell you He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth? Luke 18:7-8
Jesus taught many of the life concepts in His sermons and teachings by telling a parable, and it opens the question to what a parable really is. For most of my life I would have explained a parable as a story that Jesus told about everyday things to help the people understand the truth when He wanted the disciples or the crowd to understand, an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. I think it is interesting that Bible Study Tools, defines a parable as a tale about a simple common subject to illustrate a more profound valuable moral lesson. To me, this definition watered down the teachings of Jesus as just another fairy tale or bedtime story. The parables of Jesus are not tales that Jesus told to illustrate a moral lesson, Jesus is truth and he words He spoke brought truth and life to those who would hear them. Eight times Jesus ended a parable with “anyone or he who has an ear, let him hear.” R.C. Sproul said, “At its simplest the parable is a metaphor or simile given from nature or common life, arresting the hearer by its vividness or strangeness, and leaving the mind in sufficient doubt about its precise application to tease (the mind) into active thought.” After hearing Jesus teaching in parables, even the disciples who walked with Jesus every day, asked Jesus in private what was the meaning of the parable. Jesus told parables to explain kingdom concepts using everyday examples to help clarify kingdom concepts. It is my belief that the parable goes beyond a good story, and many of the parables are actual prophecies about things that were going to happen in the future. In Matthew 22:2-14 is the invitation to the wedding feast and Revelations 19:8-9 John the Revelator wrote about the Marriage Super of the Lamb that he saw when he was taken to heaven. The parable of the wheat and the tares, is the prophecy of reapers removing the evil seeds the enemy sowed in the good soil will be removed before the end time harvest to occur. I believe that the parable about the persistent widow was also prophetic and we are seeing this happen in real time.
Luke 18:2 “There was in a certain city a judge that did not fear God nor regard man.” We are living in a time that many of our judges in our nation do not fear God or regard man or the Constitution, the laws that God gave the American people to govern their land with. We are living in a time where the Word of God and our constitution is not only being twisted to fit the wants and desires of evil people, they are being ignored totally. Widows in the bible were women who whose spouse had died or who were abandoned and left to fend for themselves. God is the husband to Israel and He told them in Isaiah 54:6-7 “For the Lord has called you, like a wife who has been abandoned, grieved in spirit, and like a wife (married) in her youth when she is (later) rejected and scorned.” Says your God. For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with great compassion and mercy I will gather you) to Myself again.) God warned the children of Israel of the consequences of turning their back on Him. “Bur if you turn away and forsake my statutes and my commandments, which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will pluck them up by the roots out of My land which I have given them.” 2 Chronicles 7. When the modern American church started serving other gods and twisting the gospel, God backed away and let the consequences of their luke warmness take over. The United States of America is suffering because the Church did not take dominion over what God bestowed on us and we stopped standing for what is right trying to be politically correct. According to biblical terms instead of being the bride of Christ without spot or wrinkle, many in the church are widowed and left on their own to navigate the mess our churches and nation is in.
Jesus told the parable, the prophecy, of the persistent widow, the remnant, the ecclesia, who would not give up and kept hounding the judge for justice. Her persistency in asking for mercy caused an unjust judge to finally grant her requests just so she would leave him alone. Luke 18:6-7 “Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said. And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily.” God is on His own schedule and His timing is perfect and because He moves when everything is in place, it seems like He is not answering our prayers. The enemy wants us to agree with his plans and decree what he is trying to do instead of persistently asking God for help and coming into agreement with His will with what we speak out of our mouth. Daniel 7:25 “And he shall speak out great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High and think to change the times and laws: and they shall be given over into his hand until a time and a time and the dividing of time.” The enemy is trying to discourage you and to get you to come into agreement with his “false prophecy” trying to change the times and laws. Not only is this going on in the political realm with the fake news, for example the Biden administration trying to convince us that the borders are secure, the enemy uses the same tactics in our personal lives. He wants us to come into agreement that our personal situations are hopeless so we will quit praying. The attack may be on your finances, your health or even in your relationships. This parable promises that God will avenge His own elect and when He does it will be speedily. It is our job to keep praying and trusting God to do what He has promised. Jesus taught in the Lord’s prayer to pray “Your kingdom come, Your will be done.” We have a responsibility to pray for His kingdom and His will be done. 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down strongholds and every thought and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into the captivity to the obedience of Christ.” We must take every thought that is contrary to the Word of God captive and put them under arrest. Cast all thoughts down that God is done with you or that God is done with America. Your thoughts become your words and your words become you and your actions. Proverbs 18:32 “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” Proverbs 23:7 “As a man thinketh, so is he.” That is why it is so important to guard your thoughts. Philippians 4:6-8 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, my brethren whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, if there is anything praiseworthy think on these things.” In order to have the mind of Christ and to be all God has called us to be, we must take control of our thoughts, our words and then our actions.
The persistent widow knew the law and she did not quit asking until the judge honored the law and gave her justice from her advisory. We must know what promises are in the Bible, the law, our promises or rights we can hold on to. Too many Christians do not know the blessings and promises of God and they do not know what they are supposed to come into agreement with in our speech and our prayers and we end up agreeing with the enemy, who wants us to walk in fear, False Evidence Appearing Real. The more time we spend in the word the more we know our God and we know that He will avenge the righteous. Remember Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. If your faith is wavering, spend more time in the word and let it grow inside of you until you are able to come into complete agreement with all that God has promised. We must be convinced that God will not only defend us, He will avenge us. Avenge is to do harm or punish the person responsible for something bad done to you or your family.” God will punish those who have lied, cheated, and stolen the inheritance from the children of God. Ezra 7:22 “The gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looked to Him, but His great anger is against all who forsake Him.” And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him? Though He bears long with them? I tell you He will avenge them speedily. When the justice comes, it will be a speedy justice and the wicked will reap what they have sowed. Do you have the faith to believe God to work things together for your good? Do you consistently go to Him and night asking Him to fulfill the promises that are written in the Bible? The parable Jesus told ended with this question, “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” We say that God is good all the time and that He is faithful, the question is do we really believe it to the core of our being. When Jesus comes will He find you with this kind of faith that keeps asking and believing everything the Bible promises? Keep praying. Like a woman who is giving birth, we must push. Pray Until Something Happens.
Cathy Nesmith