Kingdom Parables

THE KINGDOM PARABLES
20 The tree you saw, which grew large and strong, with its top touching the sky,
visible to the whole earth,21 with beautiful leaves and abundant fruit, providing food
for all, giving shelter to the beasts of the field, and having nesting places in its
branches for the birds of the air-- 22 you, O king, are that tree! You have become
great and strong; your greatness has grown until it reaches the sky, and your dominion
extends to distant parts of the earth.
The tree we see is a symbol of a Kingdom of the world. A tree is always
on earth and is earthly. A man blessed by God is like tree on earth
(Psalms 1). there were trees of immense beauty in God’s garden on earth
in Eden. because this was an earthly kingdom.
Now we see that the church which was supposed to be a mustard herb
grew up into a kingdom. It happened in history by a strange turn of
events. In the Year 315 Constantine became the Emperor of Rome.
During the thick of war he saw a vision of the monogram of Christ and
heard the voice of assurance of success if the war was fought under the
cross. He did this and he won. Thus a religion which was persecuted and
hated became the religion of the state. A period known as State Church
was born. But to consider this event as a an event of miracle will be
taking the matter to absurdity. As we have seed in the previous chapter
Christians were persecuted and massacred. In spite of that Christianity
grew in number and the Christians were the spice of society. They made
life tolerable in times of perils and disaster. They literally exemplified the
good Citizenship and ideal man. As time went on even the new way
found its way into the bastions of Royalties. There was now no going
back. If Constantine saw the cross in his visions it was no accident. He
was constantly been told and has been seeing it. If he had to arrive at the
status of an Emperor, the old maxim of "One Country, One Faith" is to
be maintained he had no other alternative. His opponents were pagans
and the best way to out wit them was with this new faith which was
defeating all human obstacles.
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