The doctrine of the mystery part 5: The Lord introduces the mystery of the kingdom after His ultimate rejection. Matt 13

While we recognize the distinctions between the earthly and the eternal aspects of the kingdom program,we must guard against making the terms kingdomof God and the kingdom of the heavens absolute. Only the context can determine the meaning intended to be conveyed by the terms.

 

/The Lord reveals what kingdom He is referring to through the use of parables - 1. The Parable of the Sower and the Soils.\

 

Matt 13:1 On that day Jesus went out of the house [symbolic of His leaving the Israel of His day], and was sitting by the sea.

 

Matt 13:2 And great multitudes gathered to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat down, and the whole multitude was standing on the beach.

 

Matt 13:3 And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, "Behold, the sower went out to sow;

 

Matt 13:4 and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up.

 

Matt 13:5 "And others fell upon the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil.

 

Matt 13:6 "But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.

 

Matt 13:7 "And others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out.

 

Matt 13:8 "And others fell on the good soil, and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.

 

Matt 13:9 "He who has ears, let him hear."

 

Matt 13:10 And the disciples came and said to Him, "Why do You speak to them in parables?"

 

Matt 13:11 And He answered and said to them, "To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted.

 

Matt 13:12 "For whoever has, to him shall more be given, and he shall have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.

 

Matt 13:13 "Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

 

Matt 13:14 "And in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says,

'You will keep on hearing, but will not understand;

And you will keep on seeing, but will not perceive;

 

Matt 13:15 For the heart of this people has become dull [negative volition - the more you reject the word of God you become more dull to it.],

And with their ears they scarcely hear,

And they have closed their eyes [volition - you close your own eyes]

Lest they should see with their eyes,

And hear with their ears,

And understand with their heart and return,

And I should heal them.'

 

Matt 13:16 "But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear [positive volition].

 

Matt 13:17 "For truly I say to you, that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it; and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

 

The Lord will interpret this parable Himself:

 

Matt 13:18 "Hear then the parable of the sower.

 

Matt 13:19 "When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, the evil one [“one” is not in the original, evil refers to the birds which refers to the false gospels ] comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road.

 

/The first example is the unbeliever. He has heard the gospel but rejected it and believed a false one.\

 

Matt 13:20 "And the one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word, and immediately receives it with joy;

 

Matt 13:21 yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word [represented by the scorching sun], immediately he falls away.

 

/The second example is the believer who has rejected doctrine and therefore cannot handle life’s problems. He thinks and acts just like an unbeliever.\

 

Matt 13:22 "And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

 

/The third example is also a believer who has rejected doctrine and lacks faith rest. He frantically searches for happiness and also thinks and acts no different than an unbeliever.\

 

 

 

Matt 13:23 "And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit, and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty [notice the gradual decline]."

 

/The fourth example is the positive believer who handles life to the extent that he produces divine good; some produce much.\

 

The 100, 60, 30 could refer to different stages of spiritual growth or to the gradual decline of the number of these believers as this age progresses. I believe that it refers to both.

 

The Sower and the Soils (Matt. 13:3-9; 18-23). From the interpretation given by the Lord several important facts are to be learned concerning this present age [Church and Tribulation].

 

/(1) This age is one that is characterized by the sowing of seed, which is shown to be the Word (Mark 4:14). The sower refers to men who are sons of the kingdom.\

 

As the Lord sits at the right hand of God we are His ambassadors on earth to whom has been entrusted with the ministry of reconciliation. When the wrath of God comes against the earth in the form of the Tribulation the ambassadors are called home in the Rapture as a declaration of war.

 

/(2) Within the age there is a marked difference in the preparation of the soils for the reception of the seed sown.\

Preparation is tantamount to volition. In this world there are false gospels and false doctrines. God has given His Spirit in this age to testify for the truth and against the false. Every person’s soil is prepared through what he believes.

 

If he believes the gospel and then continues to believe the word of God he will have thick rich soil which will produce divine good as is here represented by fruit.

 

/(3) The age is marked by op­position to the word from the world, the flesh, and the devil (the evil).\

 

This reveals that the brunt of the attack against God in this age will be against His word by using false gospels and false doctrines.

 

There is nothing more important right now than to uphold the word of God against all attacks by religion. Christianity is not religion. Christianity is a relationship with God through His word under the power of God the Holy Spirit.

 

/(4) During the course of the age there will be a decreasing re­sponse to the sowing of the seed, from “a hundredfold” to “sixty” to “thirty.” Such is the course of the age.\

 

/Mark 4:13 reveals that this parable, with the revelation of the program which it makes, is basic to the understanding of the other parables in the dis­course.\

 

/The remaining parables deal with the development of the seed-sowing program.\

 

/2. The parable of the Wheat and Tares.\

 

Matt 13:24 He presented another parable to them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.

 

Matt 13:25 "But while men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares also among the wheat, and went away.

 

Matt 13:26 "But when the wheat sprang up and bore grain, then the tares became evident also.

 

Matt 13:27 "And the slaves of the landowner came and said to him, 'Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?'

 

Matt 13:28 "And he said to them, 'An enemy has done this!' And the slaves said to him, 'Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?'

 

Matt 13:29 "But he said, 'No; lest while you are gathering up the tares, you may root up the wheat with them.

 

Matt 13:30 'Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn."' "

 

The Lord interprets this parable as well:

 

Matt 13:36 Then He left the multitudes, and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field."

 

Matt 13:37 And He answered and said, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man,

 

The title Son of Man refers to the humanity of Jesus Christ, therefore the good seed is the incarnation with its resultant cross and believers in the cross who become sons of the kingdom. All good must now come through the Lord Jesus Christ. There is good in nothing else.

 

Matt 13:38 and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one;

 

Matt 13:39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels.

 

Matt 13:40 "Therefore just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age [Second Coming].

 

Matt 13:41 "The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness,

 

Matt 13:42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

 

Matt 13:43 "Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

 

Several im­portant facts are revealed through it concerning the course of the age.

 

/(1) The true sowing, mentioned in the first parable, is to be imitated by a false sowing.\

 

Remember, any imitation is only as good as how close is can be to the original. False gospels and false doctrine always bear a resemblance to the true.

 

/(2) There is to be a side-by-side development of that which is good with that which is evil as the result of these two sowings.\

 

This reveals to us that evil will coexist in this age; therefore campaigns against evil are a waste of time. What we bear, as we bear our own crosses and follow Christ, is the unafraid, loud, and clear proclamation of the truth.

 

/(3) There will be a judgment at the end of the age to separate the good from the evil. The good will be received into the millennial kingdom and the evil excluded.\

 

Therefore, the end of the age is the second coming of Christ when He will judge between the believing and unbelieving Jew and Gentile. Believers will enter the Millennial Kingdom with Christ.

 

No judgment is associated with the Rapture. The Church will be removed before the Tribulation through the Rapture. There will be an evaluation after the Rapture where fruit will be inspected and but for a moment of shame and embarrassment for the loser believer, all that are Raptured receive resurrection bodies just like our Lord’s, with 5 differences. (5 is the number of grace)

 

/(4)   The essential character of each sowing can be determined only by the fruitfulness or fruitlessness of that which was sown, not by outward observation.\

 

Many feel that this second parable is to be related particu­larly to the tribulation period and is to be distinguished from the sowing of the first parable.  In the first parable the emphasis was on the “Word,” and in the second on the “children of the kingdom” (Matt. 13:38).

 

In the first parable the seed is sown in the hearts of men and in the second in the world.

 

In the first parable there is no mention of judgment and in the second the age ends in judgment. This would seem to indicate that two sowings are indicated; the first that throughout the age, prin­cipally by the church, and the second in the tribulation period just prior to the end of the age when God is again dealing with Israel.

 

There are indications in the second parable that this is related to Israel in her Tribulation, rather than to the church: (1) the term chil­dren of the kingdom is used in Matthew to refer to Israel (Matt. 8:11-12);

 

(2) the judgment outlined relates to the time when God will again be dealing with Israel as a nation, that is at the end of the age;

 

(3) the wheat and tares grow together until the judgment, but the church will be raptured before the tribula­tion begins;

 

(4) the judgment that falls upon the wicked comes through the angels before the righteous are rewarded, so that the chronology here depicts the removal of the wicked so that only righteous are left;

 

(5) the millennial kingdom is set up im­mediately after this judgment;

 

(6) the church is never judged to determine who will enter into glory and who will be excluded.

 

This seems to indicate that this parable has primary reference to Israel during the tribulation period.

 

/Yet it is true that the en­tire age is to be characterized by a false sowing in competition with the true.\

 

/3. The parable of the Mustard Seed (Matt. 13:31-32).\

 

Matt 13:31 He presented another parable to them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field;

 

My personal opinion is that this man is Constantine - the initiator of Roman Catholicism, which eventually grew to enormous size and fostered the development of other religious denominations.

 

If the mustard tree refers to the true church then the man who sows is TLJC.

 

Either way, the principle of this parable is the defilement of the church with religion.

 

Matt 13:32 and this is smaller than all other seeds; but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches."

 

As the age progresses several facts are to be observed.

 

/(1) The age is characterized by an abnormal external growth. That which was to be an herb has become a tree—it has developed into a monstrosity.\

 

What has really become monstrous is the religious organizations claiming to hold true Christianity.

 

/(2) This monstrosity has become the resting place for birds. In the first parable the birds represented that which was antagonistic to the program of God and consistency would demand that they be so interpreted here. \

 

/Mark 4:13

And He said to them, "Do you not understand this parable [Sower]? And how will you understand all the parables? \

 

/Thus it is seen that the Lord is teaching that, whereas the opposition at one time was from without, it now has entered into the program itself and is working from within.\

 

The parable teaches that the enlarged sphere of profession has be­come inwardly corrupt. This is the characterization of the age.

The mustard seed refers to the perversion of God’s purpose in this age.

 

The mustard tree is therefore, Roman Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Mormonism, New Age movements, Jehovah’s Witness, perverted Protestantism, Darwinism, etc.

 

Don’t confuse this parable with the Lord describing your faith as a mustard seed.