Angelic Conflict part 313: Warfare teachings from Christ – Mat 13:24-43; 1Ti 6:3-6; 2Th 1:6-10; Joh.

Title: Angelic Conflict part 313: Warfare teachings from Christ - MAT 13:24-43; 1TI 6:3-6; 2TH 1:6-10; Joh.

 

 

Next we look at the parable of the wheat and the tares, which Christ explains to the disciples.

 

/The point is that Christ fully taught that there was an Angelic Conflict or Invisible War and that this war would consist of the righteous and unrighteous and it would come to an end only at the end of human history.

 

MAT 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.

 

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

 

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

 

MAT 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?'

 

MAT 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?'

 

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

 

MAT 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."' "

 

Tares look just like wheat when they are young. This refers to satan's counterfeit christians and systems.

 

Counterfeit Christians:

 

2CO 11:14-15

Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their deeds.

 

Counterfeit gospel:

 

GAL 1:6

I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel

 

Counterfeit righteousness

 

ROM 10:3

For not knowing about God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.

 

Counterfeit God

 

2TH 2:4

so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.

 

Counterfeit Jesus and Spirit

 

2CO 11:4

For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.

 

Our task is not to pull up the false, but to continue to plant what is true.

 

We are not to be spiritual police who are going around correcting everyone we disagree with. We are to proclaim the gospel and the truth by which there will be an increase in wheat and spiritual growth.

 

Faith in the truth promotes godliness rather than disputes.

 

1TI 6:3 If anyone advocates a different doctrine, and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness,

 

1TI 6:4 he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions,

 

1TI 6:5 and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth [ironically they think they are finding the truth], who suppose that godliness is a means of gain [financial gain or prestigious gain].

 

Many use religion as a cloak of covetousness.

 

1TH 2:4-5

just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men but God, who examines our hearts. For we never came with flattering speech, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed —  God is witness

 

1TI 6:6 But godliness actually is a means of great gain, when accompanied by contentment.

 

By sowing the word of God and the true gospel we expose the lies of satan. You can only determine if a bill is a counterfeit if you are an expert at what the true one looks like.

 

MAT 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."

 

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

 

MAT 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;

 

MAT 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.

 

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

 

MAT 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,

 

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

 

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

 

The shenanigans of the tares as well as their destruction can be found in Paul's second epistle to the Thessalonians.

 

2TH 1:6 For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you,

 

2TH 1:7 and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire,

 

2TH 1:8 dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

 

2TH 1:9 And these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,

 

2TH 1:10 when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed —  for our testimony to you was believed.

 

Christ clearly taught that a war would wage in human history and that He would be the victor of that war and thus establish a kingdom of God and Heaven, a kingdom of the Church (spiritual or mystery), a Millennial kingdom (Messianic kingdom).

 

There are other instances in the synoptic gospels where Christ teaches on the conflict, but in John there are themes that are even more emphatic.

 

In a radical distinction from the synoptic gospels, John records no exorcisms by the Lord. The only case of demonization he speaks of is that of Judas being possessed by satan and even that is of a different character than the demon possessions we see in the other gospels. John's was the last gospel to be written so it may be that John didn't seek to repeat what was already known by the Christian community at large and wanted to, under the guidance of G/HS, relate certain themes that were not yet fully expressed about the incarnation.

 

John introduces the theme of light for God's kingdom and darkness for satan's cosmic kingdom right at the start.

 

JOH 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

 

JOH 1:2 He was in the beginning with God.

 

JOH 1:3 All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

 

JOH 1:4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

 

JOH 1:5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

 

"comprehend" - katalamba,nw[katalambano] = to seize, to light upon, to understand, to hold fast. Darkness did not overpower the light [Kittle].

 

Both translations work since darkness cannot comprehend light nor can it overpower it. Unbelievers need supernatural help to understand the gospel and no amount of opposition has been able to stop the gospel.

 

This theme being set by John is the theme that is set in the beginning of the Bible.

 

GEN 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

 

GEN 1:2 And the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.

 

GEN 1:3 Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light [sun and moon are not created until the fourth day].

 

The light of the first day is the Shekinah Glory.

 

2CO 4:6

For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

 

GEN 1:4 And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.

 

GEN 1:5 And God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

 

John's gospel continues with the theme of light and darkness.

 

JOH 3:19 "And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their deeds were evil.

 

JOH 3:20 "For everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.

 

JOH 3:21 "But he who practices the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God."

 

Believers continue to be sinners and are just as capable as unbelievers to live in lifestyles of sin, but the believer has to, at the moment of salvation, admit to himself that he is a sinner, for why else would he believe that he needs a Savior?

 

In this context, the ones who love the darkness and the ones who do not at all want to admit that the darkness is unrighteous and of evil.