GOSPEL PARABLES 11 THREE LOAVES AT THE MIDNIGHT HOUR

We are continuing in the three stories of the three loaves of bread that reveal what is hidden in these stories about the work of the three Person of the Trinity in our lives, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The background of this parable is that Jesus has just taught his disciples the Lord’s Prayer – the Our Father, urging them to confidently reach out to our Heavenly Father in their times of need.

Luke 11:5 And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me… The word ‘bother’ in Greek is parecho –which means to reach out confidently – and possibly pushing the envelope) the door is now shut and my children are asleep.

But the man, confident of his friend’s loyalty keeps on entreating him, and that tugs on his friend’s heart. So Jesus says that even though the door is shut, the reaching out is rewarded and the man opens the door and gives his friend as much bread as he wants, not just because of the friendship but because of his friend’s presumptive confidence and trust in him and in his goodness of heart. Jesus is saying here that a confident entreaty draws a helpful response which is different to a demand which creates a distance.
Jesus continues ‘so I say to you ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
Jesus then re-emphasises big-heartedness the Father in the Lord’s Prayer and says
If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or a scorpion instead of an egg? If you then, being human, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” (Luke 11:9-11)

In this story we see that Jesus is the friend in the middle of the three friends. We are the friend in need of bread in the first place and we go to our friend Jesus, and he goes to his friend the Father who is the friend that has all the bread, and who always provides above and beyond our daily bread. This story also contains a prophetic message for the end times because the request is made at the midnight hour - prophetic of the end times when great darkness will cover the earth – and how God’s desire is for people to receive the Holy Spirit in that time. Jesus says to us ‘your Heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask’ – those who keep on asking, keep on seeking and knocking on the door

The end time message of the midnight hour throughout the Bible from Exodus to revelation includes three things.
a) God’s judgement upon the words of darkness,
b) People being set free from the chains of spiritual bondage in their lives,
c) The time for Jesus to receive his bride, the Church. The last thing that God did in his work of creation was to present Eve as a bride to Adam created from Adam’s side. The last thing that God will do in his work of redemption will be to present his Church to Jesus as his bride. She is brought forth from the life of Jesus – from his side that was pierced on the cross. We will look at each of the midnight hour prophetic messages.

a) Judgement upon darkness. It was at the midnight hour that God delivered Israel out of Egypt and pronounced judgement upon Pharoah and the false gods of Egypt.
Exodus 12:29 At midnight the LORD struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt.
Midnight hour judgement will expose the corruption that is in the world at the end times and many false idols in peoples’ lives will be destroyed.

b) Freedom from spiritual bondage. Reading from the Book of Acts when Paul and Silas were in prison in Philippi for peaching the Gospel. ‘At about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the prison doors were opened, and everyone’s chains fell off.

c) The time for Jesus to receive his bride, the Church. The midnight hour is the prelude to the wedding of Jesus and his bride. This is a time when the church will have been made ready as seen in so many Scriptures, and the Bible tells the story of the time when some of the bridesmaids went to sleep while the bridegroom is being delayed, ‘at midnight a cry was heard Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!' (Matthew 25:6). The wise bridesmaids had oil in their lamps and went out to meet him, but some of the bridesmaids had no oil in their lamps - speaking of those who have neglected the gift of the Holy Spirit in their lives. The foolish bridesmaids who were without the oil of the Holy Spirit were told to go and get the oil for themselves from the one who had the oil, and when they went to receive, they were told that the door was now shut. It will be a time of desperate seeking and enquiry, and I believe that by the grace of God many will knock, and the door will be opened - many will ask and they will receive the Holy Spirit.

There is also the wedding story of the king who gave a wedding banquet for his son and wanted to fill his house with guests so he sends out messengers to tell people to come to the wedding, but everyone is too busy to attend (Matthew 22:1) The king was greatly disappointed and commanded his servants fill his house with guests. ‘And those servants went out on the crossroads and got together as many as they found, both bad and good, so the room in which the wedding feast was held was filled with guests.
Those highways and byways people would have made their best effort to wear their best wedding garment out of respect and gratitude to the king. But there was one man who had not bothered about a wedding and had no respect or gratitude and when the king saw that man he told his servants to put him out of the wedding feast and into the ‘outer darkness’ of the midnight hour.

The final end time wedding story in the Bible is of Jesus and his bride, and as we have seen, it involves three categories of people, 1) The bride and bridal party attendants, 2) The guests, 3) The ones on the fringe who either only just make it or end up in the outer darkness. If people live in shadows they end up in darkness. It is in that place of outer darkness where some vital decisions will have to be made by many people one day.

In the book of Revelation Ch.11 we are given the same story in a picture of the end time Church as the Temple. The three Temple areas are the inner sanctuary of the Most Holy Place inside the veil, signifying the many Christians who abide in a close relationship with Jesus, and then the inner court outside the veil where the priests ministered at the altar of incense, signifying the many Christians who faithfully serve and worship the Lord, and then there’s the outer court for the Nations – (ethnos), which is a mixed multitude of people. The apostle John is told to measure (metron) both the number of people in each of the three temple areas and the spiritual commitment of the people in those three areas. Note – sanctuary not only means holy place – it’s a place of safety.
‘A reed as a measuring rod was then given to me, shaped like a staff, and I was told ‘Rise up and measure the sanctuary (Most Holy Place) of God and the altar of incense, and number those who worship there. But leave out measuring the outer court of the temple of God; for it is given over to the Nations, and they will trample the holy city underfoot for 42 months (three and a half years)’.

That outer court is the outer darkness of the midnight hour and the people there are not measured at that particular time of the three and a half years mentioned in Revelation, because before the Lord arrives the people in that place will go through the time of great tribulation. As the prophet Joel said ‘Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision (h?ârûs? – agitation and threshing and decision) for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision (Joel 3:14). It is in that time and place that people will have to decide whether they cry out to God and ask and receive the Holy Spirit or to knock and have the door opened for them, just as Jesus described in the original parable. The Father in heaven will answer those midnight hour entreaties and give the Holy Spirit to those who ask and seek and knock, as Paul writes all who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Romans 10)

We do not know the times and the seasons of God but there will be times when the darkness will be at its greatest as God gives the world its warnings, and as he gives his Church his message of hope for setting people free. We are certainly in a dark time of history and God is bringing many things of the world into the light for them to be seen and judged for what they are. He is also encouraging his church to become pure of heart and prepared as a bride for his Son. We can be that friend in the parable of the three loaves that speak of the Father and Jesus and the Holy Spirit. We go to our friend Jesus on behalf of the people that we love and have some influence with, so ...