The Parable of:
” The Lost Piece of Silver”
LUKE 15
8 Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it ? 9 And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me ; for I have found the piece which I had lost.
Comments:
In this parable a Physical woman has lost something of great Physical value to her. She spares nothing in order to recover what she has lost. This parable will then be about
a Spiritual woman (church) that has lost something of
great Spiritual value and must spare no effort until she has recovered what she has lost.
Lets take a moment and think about this parable.
Since the solution to the problem is to to use
Physical light (candle) to search for the lost item, then the parable will be about using Spiritual light to find the missing item.
Since the solution to the problem also requires removing Physical dust (sweeping), then the parable will be about removing Spiritual dust in order to see the missing item.
Since the missing item is a piece of Physical silver,
then the parable will be about recovering a piece of
Spiritual silver that has been lost.
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Since the piece of Physical silver was lost in the
Physical house, then the parable will be about a piece of Spiritual silver that has been lost in the Spiritual house or Church.
Jesus always reveals valuable truth to us in His Parables, but once again it is hidden and can only be
understood as we discover the Spiritual meanings of the Real Objects used in the parable.
REAL OBJECTS KEY WORDS
woman, candle light a candle, *darkness
silver, 10 pc of silver sweep, *dust
Who does the “woman” represent ?
THE “WOMAN” REPRESENTS THE “CHURCH”
What does the “candle” represent ?
THE “CANDLE” REPRESENTS THE “BIBLE”
(God’s Word)
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What does it mean to “light” a candle ?
TO “STUDY” THE “BIBLE”(TO UNDERSTAND TRUTH)
What does “light” represent ?
“LIGHT” represents “TRUTH”
What does “darkness” represent ?
“DARKNESS” REPRESENTS “ERROR”
(Lack of Understanding)
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What does the “house” represent ?
THE “HOUSE” represents THE “CHURCH”
What does the “silver” represent ?
THE “SILVER” REPRESENTS THE “WORDS” OF GOD
(THE BIBLE AND 10 COMMANDMENTS)
What does “dust” or “sand” or “clay” represent?
Job 10:9 “Remember..thou hast made me as the clay: and wilt thou bring me into dust again?”
Joshua 11:4 “…much people, even as the sand upon the seashore.”
“DUST” or”SAND” or “CLAY” REPRESENTS
MAN and the “WORDS” of MEN
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Now that we know the Spiritual meanings of the Real Objects in the parable, we are ready to substitute those meanings back into the parable so that we can understand the Spiritual meaning of the parable.
We now know that the parable is really about the Church (woman) using the Bible(light) to discover part of God’s Words(silver) that she has lost.
In order to discover the missing Words of God the Church must remove(sweep) the words of men(dust) that have been hiding part of God’s Words(silver).
The parable also told us that it is the Church(house) itself that is responsible for losing part of God’s Words(silver) because of its lack of understanding (darkness).
What we yet need to discover is what Words of God are missing? Since “silver” is the object that Jesus used to represent God’s missing Words, we need to once again look at the Spiritual meaning of “silver“.
Psalms 119:72 “The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.
This Bible verse tells us that God’s Law(10 Com.) is like silver. Now we know why there were 10 pieces of silver in the parable! 10pieces=10Commandments.
The parable told us that one of the pieces of silver was lost. Thus, the parable is telling us that one of the Commandments of God would be lost! Now we need only to examine the 10 Com. to see which is missing.
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The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20 : 3-17)
(1) 3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me 1 ü ALL MINISTERS ACCEPT
(2) 4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven 2 ü ALL MINISTERS ACCEPT
image, or any likeness of anything that is in
heaven above or that is in the earth beneath,
or that is in the water under the earth.
5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them or
serve them : for I the Lord thy God am a
jealous God…
(3) 7 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy 3 ü ALL MINISTERS ACCEPT
God in vain for the Lord will not hold him
guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
(4) 8 Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy 4 MOST MINISTERS
9 Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work DO NOT ACCEPT THE
10 But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the 7TH DAY SABBATH
Lord thy God : in it thou shalt not do any
work. Thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter,
nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant,
nor thy cattle, that is within thy gates.
11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and
earth, the sea and all that in them is, and
rested the seventh day wherefore the Lord
blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.
(5) 12 Honor thy father and thy mother : that thy 5 ü ALL MINISTERS ACCEPT
days may be long upon the land which the
Lord thy God giveth thee.
(6) 13 Thou shalt not kill 6 ü ALL MINISTERS ACCEPT
(7) 14 Thou shalt not commit adultery 7 ü ALL MINISTERS ACCEPT
(8) 15 Thou shalt not steal 8 ü ALL MINISTERS ACCEPT
(9) 16 Thou shalt not bear false witness 9 ü ALL MINISTERS ACCEPT
against thy neighbor
(10) 17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s 10 ü ALL MINISTERS ACCEPT
house, thou shalt not covet thy
neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant
nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor
his ass, nor anything that is thy
neighbor’s
It is clear as we examine the 10 Commandments that the one Law or one Commandment that has been “Lost” is the 4th Commandment which specifies which day that God says we are to worship him on.
Men’s words(dust) have hidden God’s Words(silver) and the Church has replaced the command of God to keep the 7th day(Saturday) holy with a command of men to keep the 1st day(Sunday) holy.
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History tells us exactly how and when this change was made by the Church.
THE AMERICAN CATHOLIC QUARTERLY REVIEW
Volume VIII
FROM JANUARY to OCTOBER, 1883
THE OBSERVANCE OF SUNDAY AND CIVIL LAWS
FOR ITS ENFORCEMENT. 139
“The Sunday, as a day of the week set apart for the obligatory public worship of Almighty God ; to be sanctified by a suspension of all servile labor, trade, and worldly avocations and by exercises of devotion, is purely a creation of the Catholic Church.”
“The Council of Laodicea, in 364 A.D, defines : “That Christians must not Judaize and refrain from manual labor on Saturday, but work on that day ; and that, preferring the Lord’s day, they must then rest, if this can be done, as becomes Christians”.
“The Church thus began by calling her children to sanctify the first day of the week, that on which God the Son rose from the dead, that, on which God the Father began the creation of the world, and God the Holy Ghost descended on the Apostles. Constantine lent the power of the state to enforce the regulations of the Church, and the civil law began to enforce the spiritual decrees. He commanded the Lord’s day to be observed by all as a festival and day of rest.”
Thus, we see from this historical document exactly how the change of worship days was made. Once the change was made, the churches have continued to promote the keeping of Sunday because it has become a “tradition of men” even though it cannot be solidly defended from the Bible.
The question now is “Can we still honor God by worshiping Him on another day than the day that He has specified that we should worship Him on?
Let’s take one last look at the 10 Commandments and see if we can answer this question.
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The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20 : 3-17)
(1) “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”
This commandment is very plain. We are not to commit idolatry by worshipping another god.
(2) ” Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven
image, or any likeness of anything that is in
heaven above or that is in the earth beneath,
or that is in the water under the earth…”
This commandment is not as plain. Lets see what the Bible means by “graven image” by looking in the Concordance for other Bible texts using this word.
Exodus 32: 15,16 “And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides: on the one side and on the other side were they written. And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables.”
The 2nd Commandment told us:
(2) “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven
image, or any likeness of anything that is in
heaven above or that is in the earth beneath,..”
An “image” is something made in the likeness of something else. The 4th Com. “graven” on tables of stone by God, specifies worship on the 7th day(Saturday). The Church has made an “image” or “likeness” of God’s Com. by specifying worship on the 1st day(Sunday) and
enforced its “commandment” by Civil law.
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By worshipping on any other day than what God has specified in the 4th Commandment, the Church causes people to commit IDOLATRY because they are worshipping an “image” of God’s Commandment
which has been “graven” by man!!
Clearly, we have the answer to our question of ;
“Can we still honor God by worshiping Him on another day than the day that He has specified that we should worship Him on?
Jesus addressed the Church leaders of His day with a question.
“Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? For God commanded, saying,
Honour thy father and mother…But ye say, “Whosoever shall say..honour not his father and mother, he shall be free.” Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. …But in vain they do
worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” Matthew 15:3-9
Now we see why Jesus has repeatedly warned us in his parables to base all our beliefs on God’s Words instead of men’s words. The last blessing of Jesus in the Bible is found in the last chapter of the Bible as He blesses commandment keepers. Rev. 22: 14-16 “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs, and sorcerors, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. I Jesus have sent my angel to testify unto you these things in the churches..”
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Now it is time for our final Paraphrase of the Parable.
The Parable of: The Lost Piece of Silver
LUKE 15
8 Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it ? 9 And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me ; for I have found the piece which I had lost.
Paraphrase:
What Church(woman) having the 10 Com.(10 pc /silver),
if the Church(she) loses 1 Com.(1 pc), does not study the Bible(light a candle) and remove the teachings of men(sweep away dust) from the Church(house) and seek diligently until the Church(she) finds the lost Com.(it)?
And when the Church(she) has found the lost Com.(it), the Church(she) calls her friends and her neighbors together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the 4th Commandment which I had lost.
Summary:
We have seen how Jesus in the Parable of “The Lost Piece of Silver” has warned us that the “Church” would lose one of the Commandments and history has verified that it happened just as Jesus said it would.
The “Good News” is that in the same Parable, Jesus has also told us that the “woman” would find the lost pc of silver!! Thus Jesus has told us that His People would
re-discover the 4th Commandment and in turn would
re-discover the 7th day Sabbath Truth!!
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