The Lesson of the fig tree was to answer the question as to when the end of the present time period of the visitation of the iniquities of the fathers would end. From my research into what the scriptures reveal to us, this one verse prophecy is on the money.
Matthew 28:18-20: - 18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.
NKJV
Ah! The parable of the Minas and the Talents tells us that before Satan is judged and imprisoned in the bottomless pit for 1,000 years that he will give his good and faithful servants the means by which they can impede the Gospel message from being preached to the nations during this 1,000 year period.When Satan returns he is only interested in getting what will not be His to Harvest from among the nations. He will also go after the Israelites to kill them but when God stops him from doing that, Satan will then go after the Christian Saints and cause many to fall away.
Your "contextual" understanding of both the parable of the Minas and the Talents is wrong and is not in line with what Jesus taught.
But that does not align with scriptural prophecy. Christ has not yet received a kingdom or been given dominion over the peoples of the earth where he would have a "crown" of dominion. The time when Christ receives His dominion over the peoples of the earth occurs after Armageddon, when Isaiah 24:21-22 is fulfilled and is still a near future event. Daniel 7:9-14, confirms this as well. Now do I assume that you believe that in 1914 Christ began his "presences" on the earth? It is my understanding that there is no evidence that this is so or will happen or is supported from scripture.
As for the "seven time period" as mentioned in Daniel 4:16, 23, 25, 32, the footnotes in a number of Translations that I looked at this morning, only suggest that it might mean "times" might refer to years, which is where the 2520 years has been determined from to arrive at 1914 AD from 606 BC.
Now if the time period is seven years, and we multiply the 7 years by 365.25 we end up with ≈ 2558 days, around another 38 years later if we use the same starting point for our calculations. Now if we consider the yearly calendar that Israel used, then an additional month was added every now and then to adjust for the difference of the length of the solar years, and over seven years it is possible that there are two additional months added, such that the time period is actual 2,580 days with respect to the Israeli calendar if this is the case.
My understanding is that the time period, translated as "times" could also be considered to be "seven ages" which is a little longer than 7,000 years. Sometimes, it is best to leave the understanding up in the air, so to speak, and let the passing of time actually reveal the true meaning as to what was meant by the passing of "seven times," without trying to set the understanding in stone/concrete.
Robert, so you too, will be judged at Armageddon for your trampling of God's earthly hosts by your casting of them into the trash as you trample all over them to get to the prize. The end of the visitation of the Israelites still has a number of years to go yet, and as Paul rightly states in Romans 11:24-25, that all of Israel will be saved after the fullness with respect to the 2,300 years of the Gentiles trampling God's Sanctuary and Earthly Hosts has run its full 2,300 years. It is my understanding that this will occur about 25 years or so in our near future.
It is also at this time that God will establish His Everlasting Kingdom, during the time of the kings of the feet segment in the Statue prophecy and the feet segment gained dominion over the Land of the Chaldeans in around 2003 when the Coalition of the Willing invaded the Land of the Chaldeans to heal the land instead of destroying "Babylon."
Now what I stated in my post above was that Israel will be "Christ's first fruits" shortly after the establishment of God's Everlasting Kingdom, of which Christ has dominion over.
Daniel 7:14: - 14 Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom,
That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion,
Which shall not pass away,
And His kingdom the one
Which shall not be destroyed.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion,
Which shall not pass away,
And His kingdom the one
Which shall not be destroyed.
NKJV
Now since all of Israel will be saved after the fullness with respect to time of the Gentiles has run its full course and is complete, they become the first fruits of the first age of the Everlasting Kingdom of God. To reject them as you have done, because of their circumstances 2,000 years ago is not very "Christian" on your part.
Now, your adoption of a "Brand New Covenant," theology shows your lack of understanding. God does not put freshly squeezed grape juice into "Brand New" wine skins, because even brand new wine skins can be hard and brittle and will burst like aged and used wine skins. However God does put the fresh Grape juice into recently refurbished wine skins that have the characteristic of being like new again, such that they will not burst after the fresh grape juice has been poured into them.
The understanding that God has established a "Brand New Covenant" with the Gentile Christians, is wrong in that the original Salvation Covenant has not been modified, however God has changed the process by which we can receive salvation today since Christ's death on the Cross and His fulfilment of Daniel 9:24b.
The like New Covenant referred to in Jeremiah 31:31 is the same Covenant that God had entered into at Mt Sinai, but which the nation of Israel had rejected while Moses was up on the Mountain with God for 40 days. The Refurbished Jeremiah 31:31 has been modified slightly in that instead of writing God's law upon stone tablets, God intends to write God's "law" upon their hearts such that they do not have to Teach their brothers about God and His requirements to become conversant with the Salvation Covenant and its requirements.
JW's have elevated themselves to become God's special people on the earth, especially during the End Times. Are not all of the Saints special to God? Not just a select group of people as the JW's suggest.
For me I am happy to be the lowest of the lowly servants of God just to be able to look upon him and worship Him while serving Him as the lowest of servants.
Shalom
