Parables often have the dual roles of instructing and prophesying, although one may be more apparent. The link between parables and prophecy can be controversial. Jesus makes it plain that parables cannot be fully understood unless the meaning is revealed. He gave parables to hide the true meaning. Because the people of this world have closed their eyes and ears to God's instruction, He speaks to them in mysteries that cannot be solved without His Holy Spirit. Parables cannot be interpreted alone. They rely on the revelation of the rest of Scripture. A parable is a story drawn from human experience that has a higher spiritual meaning. This does not exclude its use for other ends. The Parable of the Fig Tree both teaches a universal principle and prophesies of the coming Kingdom of God. Jesus gives it in the midst of the Olivet Prophecy. He presents this parable to key in on the time element of the signs of His return. The parables of Matthew 24 and 25 each have a future outlook, specifically the return of Christ. The Parable of the Ten Virgins is easiest to understand in a prophetic light. Jesus states that this parable deals with conditions just before His second coming. Parables and prophecies hold three important elements in common. Both employ symbols to communicate a truth, are inspired by the Holy Spirit, and speak of future events, particularly the Kingdom of God. These common factors mean that the principles of their interpretation are similar. The Bible interprets itself. This means that somewhere within the pages of Scripture the timing, the location, the characters and the symbols employed in symbolic texts like parables and prophecies are explained or defined. It is the job to search them out. God is constant, consistent and unchanging. If God is constant and His Word interprets itself, the corollary principle is that the Bible's interpretation of its symbols is consistent. This must be true. A lion can represent both Satan and Jesus because they both have a lion's characteristics. These are the general meanings of the symbol based on a lion's traits. They help in comprehending what God wants to focus on in the context. Now the specific meaning of the symbol in its context can be understood. The Bible is full of symbols that represent more important spiritual and sometimes physical ideas, traits or things. When assigning values to these symbols, care must be taken to distinguish between general and specific meanings. This allows receipt of God's intended instruction and profit from study. These principles cause the prophetic implications of the parables to rise to the surface. Minds have been opened to their full meaning by the receipt of God's Spirit. With the mind of Christ, what He really intended His disciples to understand for then, now and the future can be known.

When Jesus taught parables as prophecies of the course of the church's history until His return, He provided two views of the one subject: the outward aspect shown to the multitude and the inward aspect revealed to His disciples. The Parable of the Mustard Seed discloses evidence of a specific characteristic of the church compared to the outside world by revealing that the historical development of the church of God would be one of humble beginnings. Hidden within the parable is a warning about the perversion of the church's method of growth and of satanic attacks upon it. As an analogy the symbolism is not exact but similar, so the Kingdom of God is likened to a mustard seed to explain a particular aspect of the process the church goes through in preparing for God's Kingdom. The mustard seed represents the progress of the church from small beginnings and stands for something small that expands in preparation for the Kingdom of God, serving as an instrument by which spiritual growth can be advanced. The seed is the church, which appeared as the firstfruits of the Word, sown by the Son of Man in the world. Jesus Himself had an insignificant entrance into the world by human standards, and the church He founded is a little flock, small and designed by God not to become a physically powerful organization. The way that leads to eternal life is difficult and narrow, and few find it, for God calls the weak and the base of the world. Jesus refers to those few who voluntarily submit to God's dominion. The birds of the air represent the wicked one, Satan, and the devil. These demons, led by the prince of the power of the air, have continually tried to infiltrate the church. Upon the unsuspecting early church Satan moved quickly to implant his agents to teach false doctrine while appearing to be true Christians, and God has allowed antichrists to lodge within His church. The tree represents an abnormal growth beyond design parameters. As the church grew from a tiny seed into a small mustard bush it was as God designed it, but over time it mutated into a large tree, something never intended by God. This plant ceased to be God's church when it perverted its doctrines and objectives, becoming a counterfeit that appropriated the name Christian and blended pagan mystery religions with Christianity, eventually calling itself the Roman Catholic Church and later producing Protestant daughter churches. When the mustard plant mutated from its original form God replanted His true church in another corner of the field, beginning the process anew. It is a consistent characteristic of God's true church to remain as a small herb, spiritually feeding the few who are chosen to become regenerated children of the Kingdom of God.