Matthew 13:24-52
Welcome back to the second half of what Carl called two
Sundays ago the boom in the chiastic structure of the book of Matthew. As you
recall Carl pointed out how the series of ideas in the first half of the book of
Matthew are reflected in the second half in reverse order. This chiastic
structure reinforces important points and creates a particular focus on the
midpoint of the chiasm, the very center of the text and its key theme.
So, last week Tim shared the first half of the midpoint Boom
in chapter 13 verses 1 through 23. That half of the boom contained the parable
of the sower and the seed. Jesus explained that the seed represented the message
of the kingdom. This parable focused more on the four different types of soil
that the seed fell on and how the soil represented the four different attitudes
of the hearts of the people that heard the message of the Kingdom. Some fell
along the path soil and the Satan came and snatched it away. Some fell on rocky
ground and it was received with joy but it had no root so it withered and died
and some fell among the thorns and the worries of life and the deceitfulness of
wealth came and choked it out. Finally, some fell on good soil and it yielded
thirty, sixty and a hundred fold.
This week’s message will focus not as much on the seed and
the soil but on the harvest that will come from the seed and the soil as well
as other similar metaphors that Jesus chose to use in subsequent parables to
represent the message of the kingdom.
Before we begin let’s pray and ask God to prepare our
hearts so that His message will be received and yield fruit a hundred-fold as
He desires.
We begin today with Matthew 13:24
Jesus told them another parable: “The
kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while
everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went
away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. –
Matthew 13:24-26
Clearly this man did nothing wrong. He bought good seed and
he sowed it in the field where it belonged (i.e., not on the path and not on rocky
soil and not among the thorns). He sowed the good seed in good soil. It was not
wrong for him to sleep for we all must get sleep at night. But this man had an
enemy. Satan is the enemy that is alluded to here again.
“The owner’s servants came to him and
said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds
come from?’
“‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.
“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us
to go and pull them up?’
“‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you
are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. Let both grow
together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First
collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat
and bring it into my barn.’” – Matthew 13:27-30
Jesus will explain this parable when he goes back into the
house with the disciples. It should be said here though, that the object is to
let the wheat grow to full maturity without being disturbed. If the weeds are
removed before the wheat reaches full maturity the removal could damage the
wheat in such a way as it may not reach full maturity.
He told them another parable: “The
kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his
field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is
the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air
come and perch in its branches.” – Matthew 13:31-32
In the time period
that Jesus spoke this parable, the mustard seed was often used proverbially for
the smallest thing one could think of. Jesus often used parables in his
teaching for a number of reasons. Teachers commonly use the technique of moving
from the known to the unknown. When introducing a new concept or idea, a
teacher will often relate the concept to something their students already understand.
This is exactly what Jesus is doing in this parable. According to commentator
Alfred Plummer, the Jews of Jesus’ day used the phrase “as small as a mustard
seed” to refer to anything small and almost unnoticeable. Jesus adapts that use
in this parable. His point is that the beginning of the kingdom is tiny to the
point that it seems insignificant. Hardly anyone notices its start, just as
almost no one pays any attention to a mustard seed. Jesus used this phrase
to give the Jews a starting point for his parable. They were familiar with the
size of the mustard seed since many of them were farmers and had planted it
themselves. Jesus built upon that knowledge to explain the kingdom of God. The
mustard seed was an analogy, something taking the known to the unknown.
Building an idea about the spiritual realm on a known physical concept made it
easier for his audience to understand. The parable was never meant to be an
exposition on botanical size.
However,
Evolutionist sight this parable as proof that the bible cannot be trusted
because they can show other seeds that are smaller than the mustard seed. These
Evolutionists are assuming that the seed sizes we observe in the present were
the same in the past. It is quite possible that some or all of the plants with
smaller seeds had yet to differentiate into the species we observe today. The
jewel orchids, for example, might not have branched from the originally created
orchid kind at the point Jesus made his statement. Even supposing these smaller
seeds had branched from the orchid kind, the Jews would not have been familiar
with them, so there would have been no point in Jesus citing them as an
example. However, the roughly 2,000 years since Christ lived is certainly
enough time for additional speciation to have occurred within the orchid kind,
given the rapid rate of speciation. If speciation is rapid, then evolutionists
cannot make uniformitarian assumptions. Without these assumptions,
evolutionists’ attempts to mock the Scripture lack foundation because what we
observe today may not be what existed in the past. Ironically, even
evolutionists admit that speciation can be rapid.
He told them still another parable: “The
kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount
of flour until it worked all through the dough.” – Matthew 13:33
Here the living
organisms in the small amount of yeast grow overnight in the comparably larger
amount of dough, so that by morning the entire quantity of dough has been
affected by the yeast. The point of this parable is the living word of God is
added to a large number of people and in a short period of time the people of
the whole world is affected by it.
Jesus spoke all these things to the
crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. So
was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet:
“I will open my mouth in parables,
I will utter things hidden since the
creation of the world.”
Then he left the crowd and went into the
house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the
weeds in the field.”
He answered, “The one who sowed the good
seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for
the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy
who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the
harvesters are angels.
“As the weeds are pulled up and burned
in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out
his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin
and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there
will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the
sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear. – Matthew 13:34-43
Notice how He came back into the house and explained this
parable when the disciples asked Him to explain it to them much like He did
when the disciples came to Him and ask Him why He spoke in Parables and He explained
them in verses 18 through 23 the parable of the sower and seed that fell on
different types of soil.
Jesus goes on to state two more parables concerning the
value of the kingdom of heaven.
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure
hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy
went and sold all he had and bought that field.
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a
merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went
away and sold everything he had and bought it. – Matthew 13:44-46
These last two parables indicate that the value of the
kingdom of heaven exceeds the value of everything that you own in this world.
“Once again, the kingdom of heaven is
like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. When
it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and
collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. – Matthew 13:47-48
Notices in this next verse how Jesus explains this parable to
them while they were inside the house before they even ask Him to.
This is how it will be at the end of the
age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw
them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
“Have you understood all these things?”
Jesus asked.
“Yes,” they replied.
Although, I seriously doubt that they
understood all these things.
He said to them, “Therefore
every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is
like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well
as old. – Matthew 13:49-52
Here Jesus explains that the
teachers of the law that hear these thing and understand them will be able to
bring together the things that they learned from their earlier training in law
and these new secrets formerly hidden to form the total picture of the kingdom
of Heaven. Remember in verse 35 Matthew guided by the Holy Spirit writes:
So was
fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet:
“I will open my mouth in parables,
I will utter things hidden
since the creation of the world.”
– Matthew 13:35
The apostle Paul was the most famous of the
teachers of the law that actually applied verse 52 when he brought out of his
storeroom of knowledge the old treasures that he had learned before he was
saved and effectively combined them with the new as Jesus and the Holy Spirit
revealed them to him. We need to follow Paul’s example as he followed Christ’s
example. All of us have learned many things about the bible before we actually
put our faith in Christ and received the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the down
payment on our salvation. We need to examine all of those former truths that we
had learned before we were saved and combined those truths with the truths that
the Holy Spirit is revealing to us daily. Likewise, we must correct anything
that we may have misunderstood about the Bible or were taught about the Bible
that was in error. We must apply what Paul instructed the Thessalonians in 1
Thessalonians 5:21 when he said
“examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good”
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