Matthew 13 -
Parables.
From the
Numerical Bible
DIVISION 4 (Chap.
xiii.-xx. 28.) The Kingdom in the hands of Men.
SUBDIVISION 1 (viii. 1-52) Viewed as a Whole.
SECTION 1. (1-35) As left to itself,-- the King absent.
Subsection 1 (1-30): Individual aspects.
Part 1 (1-23): a kingdom of the truth.
Part 2 (24-30): The enemy and
the spurious wheat
Subsection 2 31-33):
Collective aspects
Part 1 (31-32): in independence
Part 2 (33): the
leaven of falsehood.
Subsection 3 (34, 35):
things hidden manifest.
SECTION 2. (36-52.) Faith's view.
Subsection 1
(36-43): the beginning of the reign of righteousness.
Subsection 2 (44):
Preserved and reserved:
DIVISION 4. (Chap.
xiii.-xx. 28.) The Kingdom in the hands of Men.
We have now come,
therefore, to that which directly appeals to us, the Kingdom as we know it at
the present time, Israel while refusing the King having necessarily lost it, as
the Lord declares to them (chap. xxi. 43). But this involves a momentous
change: for the promises concerning it, all contemplated Israel as in the
central place of glory and power in that day, the law of Jehovah going forth
from Zion and His word from Jerusalem, the glory of God being manifested there,
and the Lord reigning openly in power to the ends of the earth (Mic. iv.).
These promises still belong to Israel, because His counsel shall surely stand,
- His gifts and calling are without repentance (Rom. ix. 4; xi. 29). But this
being so, either the Kingdom itself must be delayed till Israel is brought to
receive the Lord ; or else, it must in the meantime come in in a different
manner from that contemplated in the prophets. This last it is which has
actually taken place; not, surely, as an after-thought on Gods part, for
there is no such thing with Him as this, but on the contrary, revealing the
riches of His grace according to counsels hidden, indeed, from ages and
generations past, but now to make known to principalities and powers by means
of the Church the manifold wisdom of God (Eph. iii. 10). The whole time of the
working out of these counsels is necessarily, therefore, a gap in Old Testament
prophecy, and a time of delay as to the accomplishment of blessing for the
earth - a blessing which is inseparably bound up with that of Israel
nationally. Christianity is indeed universal in its character, the call of the
gospel being world-wide - "to every creature which is under heaven;" but it is
not a call to earthly but to heavenly blessings, and to strangership and
pilgrim character upon earth.
And this is, so far, only what the family of
faith has all along confessed (Heb. xi. 13-16.) Israels inheritance
nationally is another matter: and here the voices of the prophets unanimously
direct us on to such a scene as we have seen Micah picture. Heaven in the
prophets is the place of Gods dwelling, but little is known of what is
inside, even though Enoch went there, and Elijah went there, in days long
since. For us it is opened and furnished; Christ has come out and gone in, and
now we know it; and He is coming again to receive us to Himself. Our blessings
are in heavenly places in Him; our home is with Himself. In two different ways
people get confused and confuse others, as to things as plain as this. Some, in
the enjoyment of what is simple Christian truth to-day, read their Christianity
back into the Old Testament, and can think of nothing else but a heavenly
inheritance for all the saints of all times. Some, on the other hand, read the
Old Testament forward into the New Testament, and make the earth the final
habitation for all. Scripture is larger and more diverse than either of these
understand. The Old Testament outlook is earthly unmistakably, the New
Testament revelation is what our Joseph, rejected of his brethren, is telling
as the "Revealer of secrets" in the ears of His Gentile bride. These are the
"mysteries," which characterize Christianity, so that the apostle bids us
account of his fellow-laborers and himself "as ministers of Christ and stewards
of the mysteries of God" (1 Cor. iv. 1).
The first great mystery is that of
Christ Himself - "the mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh" (1 Tim.
iii. 16). Along with this, however, and as part of it, we have His whole life
here, "justified in the Spirit" - by the descent of the Spirit of God upon Him,
- and again by His resurrection from the dead, - "seen of angels, preached
among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory." It is
Christ actually come and known in His whole life down here, that is the
mystery: not the prophetic picture merely, which certainly and clearly made
known His Deity (e. g. Mic. v. 2), but the fulfillment of this in the person of
Jesus Christ. Next we may put "the mystery of Gods will . . . to head
up," as the word really is, "all things in Christ, things in heaven and things
on earth" (Eph. i. 9, 10) - the Headship of Christ over the (new) creation.
Then we have "the mystery of the Christ" - not simply of Christ personally, but
that in Him "the Gentiles should be joint-heirs, and a joint-body", a body
formed of Jews and Gentiles brought together, "and joint-partakers of His
promise in Christ by the gospel" (Eph. iii. 4, 6). Then the mystery of Christ
and the Church, His Bride (Eph. v. 32). Then the mystery of "Christ in you"
(Col. I. 27). The change of the living concurrently with the resurrection of
the saints at the coming of Christ (1 Cor. xv. 51), the present blinding of
Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles is come in (Rom. xi. 25), even the
"mystery of iniquity" working out in Christian times, (2 Thes. ii. 7), and
which the woman "Babylon the Great" bears as a brand upon her forehead (Rev.
xvii. 5). - all these are "mysteries" connected with the Christian
dispensation, hidden, therefore, in Old Testament times (Rom. xvi. 25; Eph.
iii. 5; Col. i. 26): secrets made known to those initiated into Christianity.
It is not the place here to inquire further into these: none of them are
mentioned as such in the Gospels; but we can see that in them the essential and
distinctive features of Christianity are to be found. In that part of Matthew
to which we have now reached, such secrets begin to be told out; and according
to what we have seen to be the theme of this Gospel, they begin with the
"mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven," - the Kingdom in the new form which it
acquires by the rejection of the King, and His consequent absence from the
place of His Kingdom. He reigns indeed, but on the Fathers throne (Rev.
iii. 21), - a higher place, and which manifests His glory as the divine Son:
none could sit upon such a throne but He; still it is not His human throne as
Son of man. The Kingdom is administered for Him in His absence by His servants,
and the fashion of it, therefore, greatly changed. In a parable in Mark, the
Lord compares it to a man casting seed into the earth, and seeing it no more
till the time of harvest: it springs up and grows, he knows not how (Mark iv.
26 - 29). This is already significant as to the possibility of failure. Left in
the hands of men, we know, only too well, what man is. Divine wisdom and love
cannot really be baffled; and yet we must be prepared for this seeming to be
so.
These mysteries of the Kingdom speak of "things that had been hidden
from the foundation of the world" (verse 35), and he that is now discipled unto
the Kingdom of heaven has, therefore, in his treasures things "new" as well as
"old" (verse 52). Of the bringing together of these the parables that follow
here will give us decisive proof.
SUBDIVISION 1. (xiii. 1-52.) Viewed as a Whole. The
history of the Kingdom is given us before the principles. It was necessary to
have clearly before the eye the character of that to which the principles
apply. And more especially is this so because of the opposition between the
Kingdom in its initiation and in its after-development, which the history so
clearly shows, and which would naturally raise question of their application
altogether, if this contradiction were not accounted for. On the other hand,
the veil of parable is thrown over the whole; and the Lords explanation
of the reason of this (verses 11 - 13), while applying primarily to unbelieving
Jews, has in it most important principles of far wider application. History
given beforehand, as One alone is competent to give it, is given, not to
gratify curiosity about the future, but as practical wisdom for the wise in
heart, that the servants of the Lord may find the path wherein to walk and to
serve Him (Rev. i. 1). Exercise of conscience will be needed to understand it,
far more than grasp of intellect, and we need not wonder at diverse
interpretations. Yet the Lord expects us to be able to see clearly through the
veil (Mark iv. 13) and without certainty no application can be safely made:
Scripture must first of all be for "doctrine," in order that it may be for
"reproof; for correction, for instruction in righteousness" (2 Tim. iii. 16).
Matthew gives us here seven parables - the usual number indicating
completeness. In some sense, surely, they are designed to give us a perfect
picture of the Kingdom, but in what sense we are not entitled to decide without
examination of the whole series; which is divided by difference of place and
audience into four and three, the usual division of a septenary series. Four
are spoken to the multitude upon the sea-shore; the last three to the disciples
in the house. The numbers concur with the circumstances to lead us to expect in
the first four a more external, in the last three a more internal and spiritual
view. The explanation of the second parable has its place also with the three.
SECTION 1. (1-35.) As left to itself, - the King absent. The first four Parables also are plainly susceptible of another division. Four is often divided in Scripture into 3+1; and in this way is significant of what is good: the number of the creature (4) resolves itself into the numbers which speak of divine manifestation. On the other hand it may divide into 2x2, which as true division seems generally to have in it an evil significance. The four parables here divide in the latter way: the first two giving individual aspects - the wheat and the tares; while the last two give us the collective aspect, the seeds gathered, as it were, into one seed ; the leaven permeating the meal. We shall see as we go on, the importance of these divisions. But the character attaching to the whole four parables may first of all be emphasized. The series as a whole has been already spoken of as applying to the Kingdom in its present "mystery" form ; but we shall find that in fact only the first four parables develop this, - the fact that it is a Kingdom left to itself, - the King absent. This certainly does not characterize in the same way the last three, inasmuch as in two of them we find the figure of the King Himself. The man who in the one sells all that he has to buy the "field" - if the interpretation of the second parable hold good here ("the field is the world") - can be no other than the Lord. And then also the similar action of the merchantman who buys the pearl must surely point out the same blessed Person. Here, then, we are in another line of thought to that of the first four parables. Of course, this waits for confirmation or disproof upon a closer examination. Subsection 1 (1-30):Individual aspects. The first two parables are in evident contrast with one another in this respect: in the first we have the various success - as to three parts out of four we must say the ill success of the good seed. In the second we have the enemy and the bad seed. Even thus far, it seems to be a picture of decline that is before us; or at least, the scene in the meanwhile grows darker and not brighter; and the tares remain, we are authoritatively told, until the harvest. But let us now take up the parables in detail.
DIVISION 4. (Chap. xiii.-xx. 28.) The Kingdom in the hands of Men.
SUBDIVISION 1. (xiii. 1-52.) Viewed as a Whole.
SECTION 1. (1-35.) As left to itself, - the King
absent. Subsection 1 (1-30): Individual aspects.
Part 1(1-23): a kingdom of
the truth. 1.1 On that day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea-side
And there were gathered unto him great multitudes, so that he entered into a
ship himself and sat down; and the whole multitude stood on the shore. And he
spake to them many things in parables, saying, Behold, the sower went forth to
sow; and as he sowed, some [seed] fell by the wayside, and the birds came and
devoured them. And some fell on rocky places, where they had not much earth;
and forthwith they sprang up, because they had no depth of earth; but when the
sun arose, they were scorched, and because they had no root, they withered
away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked them. And
some fell upon good ground, and yielded fruit, this a hundredfold, this sixty,
this thirty. He that hath ears, let him hear. And the disciples came and said
to him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? And he answered and said unto
them, Because unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of
heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given,
and he shall have abundance; but whosoever hath not, even that which he hath
shall be taken away from him. Therefore speak I unto them in parables, because
seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And
in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, In hearing ye shall
hear, and not understand, and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive: for this
peoples heart is grown fat, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their
eyes they have closed, lest at any time they should perceive with their eyes,
and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be
converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes for they see, and
your ears for they hear. For verily I say unto you, that many prophets and
righteous men have longed to see what ye behold, and have not seen them, and to
hear the things that ye hear and have not heard them.
Hear ye, therefore,
the parable of the sower. When any one heareth the word of the kingdom and
understandeth it not, the wicked one cometh and catcheth away that which was
sown in his heart: this is he that received seed* by the wayside. But he that
received seed* upon the rocky places is he who heareth the word and immediately
with joy receiveth it; but he has no root in himself, but endureth for a while;
and when affliction or persecution cometh on account of the word, immediately
he is stumbled. But he that received seed* among thorns is he that heareth the
word, and the care of this life and the deceitfulness of riches choke the
word, and he becometh unfruitful. But he that receiveth seed* on the good
ground is he who heareth the word and understandeth it, who also beareth fruit
and bringeth forth, this one a hundred-fold, and another sixty, and another
thirty.
(*Literally, "is sown." usually "age," but its oldest
meaning (in Homer) was "life.")
Part 1(1-23): a kingdom of the
truth. 1The Lord goes out of the house and sits by the seaside. He has just
declared the principle which carries Him outside of Judaism. The doers of His
Fathers will are now alone to be His kindred. He leaves therefore the
house, the sphere of natural relationship, and takes His place by the sea, the
figure of man in the restlessness and barrenness of nature, of man apart from
God, and so of the Gentiles. The concourse of the multitude, instead of
detaining Him, hastens His departure: He enters into a ship and sits down there
- takes His place definitively in separation from them. He speaks to them
indeed from this new place that He has taken, but He speaks in parables. The
nation as such is given up to hardness of heart: there is no use in increasing
their condemnation by more light. And yet the very addressing them shows that
all are not given up. "Blindness in part is happened to Israel:" if there are
those who have earnestness of heart to penetrate within the external form they
shall find still a gracious heart that beats towards them. The national
rejection leaves individual responsibility where it ever is. He that hath an
ear, as the Lord tells them, still may hear.
Yet behold, a Sower is going
forth to sow; and here is a decisive change. Israel had been Gods
vineyard planted once and enclosed and nurtured by Gods unforgetting
love. That had now long been given up: the fence had been taken away; the boar
out of the woods had wasted it; the people had long been scattered. Still,
though this were so, the end had not then been reached: after seventy years a
remnant had been permitted to return to the desolate land, and a "fig-tree" had
been "planted in the vineyard" (Luke xiii. 6). But this, too, had now failed to
bring forth fruit; if such was to be found, there must be a fresh labor of the
husbandman and in fresh fields: the sower must go forth to sow. There is not
now the planting of vines or fig-trees, but what better suits the character of
work among the Gentiles, - the broad-cast sowing of seed. Are we not to think
also of our Lords words, "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and
die, it abideth alone" (John xii. 24) and to realize the new form of the gospel
which would follow that death of His now coming so plainly into sight? Its
being, as the Lord in His interpretation calls it, "the word of the Kingdom"
does not hinder this; for the apostle shows us in the epistle to the Romans (x.
9-13) the gospel of the Kingdom in its present form, as based fully upon the
death and resurrection of Christ. Death and resurrection both we have, wherever
the seed springs up; and that is what we are called to watch now where and with
what final result the seed springs up. What success in its world-wide sowing is
the word of the Kingdom now to have?
We are at once made aware that it is
not world-wide success we are to expect from it. First of all, we see in the
seed received by the wayside, the hard, unreceptive heart, hardened like the
road by the constant traffic of the world, so that the seed never really finds
lodgment in it. True, it is said to have been "sown in his heart," and that is
a solemn thing. It is what the apostles words imply, where he speaks of
"by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every mans
conscience in the sight of God" (2 Cor. iv. 2). And yet he goes on immediately
to speak of those to whom his gospel is hidden, "in whom the god of this world
hath blinded the minds of those that believe not, lest the light of the gospel
of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." These
two things are easily reconcilable, and we can see that the case here is quite
similar to the first one in the parable, where the "birds of the air" are
interpreted by the Lord as "Satan." In the parable the word has first been sown
in the heart: Satan could not prevent that. It has made its appeal to the
conscience, commended itself as truth to it, been sown in the heart for
acceptance or rejection.* Conscience commends it, but that is not faith; in
which always the personal will is concerned. Conviction is not acceptance. The
soul may tremble, Felix-like, before the truth, and yet refuse it: the seed
after all lies outside; and now comes Satans work, - the god of this
world blinding the minds of those that believe not, Satan catching away that
which was sown in the heart, but which the heart has not accepted. Those may
well tremble who have not been true to what they could not but recognize as
truth: for here Satan has his opportunity with them, and he never fails to use
his opportunity. Well he knows what blessedness lies for them, contained in
what they so lightly refuse. His business is to prevent their knowing that, -
to hide the glory of Christ from those who might be attracted by it.
*Compare Rom. x. 8. 9: "the word is . . . in thy heart: that is, the word of
faith which we preach; that if thou . . . shalt believe in thy heart," etc.,
The "heart" in Scripture is not necessarily the affections, as we generally
take it, but the man himself, the real man. For Christians also the same
principle holds good. For every truth in the word of God has to he accepted
thus in the soul or rejected, and we are tested by it as to how far we also are
"of the truth:" "every one that is of the truth heareth" Christs "voice"
(John xviii. 37). Not of mere ignorance, but by the refusal of truth, have all
systems of error flourished and been built up. And how few, alas, comparatively
are there who have not admitted some darkness into their souls by the lack of
perfect absolute uprightness before God in every particular! And in some
respect it is always the glory of Christ that is thus hidden. What need have we
to be cleansed according to His mind that we may have (as He desires for us)
"part with Him." Here, then, in this first failure of the good seed, the
opposition of Satan is manifest. We are at once made aware that it is in a
world which lieth in the wicked one that the Kingdom of heaven (in this new
phase of it) is to be found. Mans responsibility is carefully maintained;
but, alas, he is a fallen being, and manifests himself as such: the world, the
flesh, and the devil are but too fully united in opposition to Christ. This may
be detected even in the first case: for the heart has rejected the truth, and
the worlds traffic has hardened the heart, and Satan has only taken away
that which was unwelcome. But each element of opposition must be fully shown,
and we go on to see other forms of it in the seed upon the rocky ground, and
that sown among the thorns. Rocky ground it is, not stony: bed-rock, with a
slight layer of earth over it, in which the seed grows rapidly but
superficially, the very cause of its destruction in a little while, operating
at first to produce hot-house growth: "forthwith it sprang up because it had no
depth of earth;" by and by the sun growing hotter scorched it; and, because it
had no root, it withered away. Here it is the nature of the ground that is at
fault. In the case of the wayside hearer it might be urged that circumstances
had made him what he was: the traffic over it had made the ground hard. Here it
was the nature of the ground itself. The prophet - or rather, God by him -
speaks of a heart of stone" (Ezek. xxxvi. 26); and this, without any question,
is exactly pictured here. Yet there is earth also, a superficial
susceptibility, which promises largely at the beginning: "he heareth the word,
and immediately with joy receiveth it;" this is, as the parable states it, a
sign of a lack of depth. There has been no deep conviction, no true repentance:
the sentiments are engaged, but not the conscience; and such an one may be warm
and enthusiastic, and make rapid progress in the learning of truth; but he has
not counted the cost: "when affliction or persecution ariseth because of the
word, immediately he is stumbled." This is the flesh at its fairest; capable of
coming so near to the kingdom of God, and all the more manifesting its hopeless
nature. There is the unbroken rock behind that never yields itself to the word,
and gives it no lodgment; and the class of hearers pictured here are born of
the flesh only, and so only flesh.
Let things be outwardly favourable to
profession, it is plain that the number of these may multiply largely, and may
stick like dead leaves to a tree that has no rough blast to shake them off. But
life is none the more in them. There is still a third class of the unfruitful,
and in these the influence of the world is paramount. The seed sown among
thorns represents those in whom the cares of this life and the deceitfulness of
riches choke the Word. Poverty and riches, as Agur long before noted (Prov.
xxx. 8, 9), are seen here as alike unfavorable to spiritual life. Yet riches
may entice the poor, and care weigh heavily upon the prosperous rich man. The
deceitfulness of riches is so great a snare that the Lord has elsewhere said
that the rich man could hardly enter into the Kingdom of heaven (Matt. xix.
23). But He expressly guarded this from any implication of its applying to
salvation, as if salvation (when men sought that) were different for different
classes. Of those who realize their need of salvation there is but one class:
"Christ died for sinners" covers every case. But if it be a question of men
seeking after it, the more they have to satisfy themselves with here, the less
real is eternity likely to appear. How many have had the interest awakening
within their souls stopped by such things as these the day will declare. And so
one part alone out of four of the good seed becomes fruitful really. Not, of
course, that this is to be taken as numerical proportion. One fears, indeed,
that any reckoning in this way would give less satisfactory results rather than
more; but we must leave this with Him who "knoweth them that are His." At any
rate we know well that the success of the good seed is partial; and with those
in whom it does bring forth fruit, there are still various measures of
fruitfulness; "one a hundredfold, another sixty, another thirty," says our
Lord.
The devil, the flesh, and the world, are the unchanging, untiring
foes of all that is of God, and the true people of God have no discharge in
this life from this war. In this first parable, then, we see the beginning of
the Kingdom to be in the sowing of the word of the Kingdom. The Kingdom is,
ideally at least, a kingdom of the truth (John xviii. 37). The subjects are
"disciples" (ver. 52). How far the Kingdom being in the hands of men may affect
this we have yet to see; but even as we find it already, we find in it unreal
disciples as well as true; and this the after-parables confirm. The sphere of
the Kingdom is profession, a profession which will be in due time tested by the
fruit it bears. There is no undue haste to realize this: the picture is that of
a field of growing wheat, as to which the harvest alone can properly decide
what the fruit may be; and the harvest itself is not yet spoken of. Manifestly
it is a kingdom introduced in a very different way, not merely from any Jewish
conception, but from anything that the prophets had announced. Thus it is of
the mysteries of the Kingdom that the Lord is speaking. Of the sower himself we
do not hear: it is upon the seed that our attention is fixed, and whoever sows
that is the sower. Thus it might be the Lord Himself in His work on earth,
although the Kingdom does not begin till the end of the Gospel* (xxviii. 18);
it might be any one afterwards. In the sense in which the second parable speaks
(ver. 37), where ever the good seed is sown, the Sower is the Son of man:
personally or by His agents, it is all one sowing. *Which is probably the
reason why this parable does not begin, as the others do, with "The Kingdom of
heaven is like" - . The eleventh verse guards against any mistake resulting.
2 Another parable set he before them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like
unto a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy
came and sowed* tares among the wheat, and went away. Now when the blade shot
up and produced fruit, then appeared the tares also. And the servants of the
householder came and said to him, Sir, didst thou not sow good seed in thy
field? whence, then, hath it tares? And he said unto them, An enemy hath done
this. And the servants say unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather it
up? But he saith, Nay; lest when ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the
wheat with it. Let both grow together till the harvest, and in the time of
harvest I will say unto the reapers, Gather together first the tares, and bind
it in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn.
*Literally, "oversowed."
Part 2(24-40): the enemy and the spurious wheat.
2 The second parable now shows us the work of the enemy to defeat, as far
as he may, the work of Christ. Satan as the prince of the world, which has
rejected and cast out the true King, will not receive now His Kingdom; and he
is permitted to work without the curb of manifest power to restrain him. It is
the "kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ," as the apostle at the beginning of
Revelation fittingly reminds us (chap. i. 9); and Satan remains throughout, not
only the "prince of this world," but the "god" of it (2 Cor. iv. 4). The
expression used in the last passage is, in fact, much stronger than even this:
it is "the god of this aion" or "age"; which shows conclusively, therefore,
what the "spirit of this age" must be. It shuts out hope of any effectual
change of this until the Lord comes and Satan is shut up in that prison (Rev.
xx. 1 - 3). in which so many, who ought to be wiser, suppose him to be already,
but which will be then a more effectual restraint than even these can persuade
themselves is upon him now. Yet it is not by persecution of the saints that we
see Satan acting in this parable. He has practised this often enough, and
always will, as far as he can realize that the time is favourable; but he
knows, too, and that by plentiful experience that the "blood of the martyrs is"
apt, at least, to he "the seed of the church." and he has found for his
purposes what is a better way. This is the way of imitation, "as Jannes and
Jambres," in Egypt long since, "withstood Moses (2 Tim. iii. 8), counterfeiting
Gods miracles with lying wonders; and such is his method in the parable
before us now. The good seed has been sown and is growing up: the "word of the
Kingdom" preached has developed into "sons of the Kingdom;" so far, we have
just what the previous parable has put before us, the effect of the sowing of
the good seed only. The work of the enemy cannot be accomplished by sowing seed
of the same kind: he sows tares in the midst of it, and goes his way.
Such
"over-sowing" is today in the East a common piece of malice; and tares are a
poisonous kind of rye, which among the Jews was credited with being a
degenerate wheat: its grain is black and bitter. Thus it is evident that we
have not here false profession merely, but error and its fruit: at first,
deceptive and appealing at any rate not very different from the truth, but by
and by developing radical opposition. The dissemination of this is accomplished
"while men slept," a thing that shows an evil state among the "children of the
day," however natural it may be with others (1 Thess. v. 5 - 7). Notice that,
throughout the New Testament, if the flesh is opposed to the Spirit, and the
world to the Father, the devil is the constant enemy of Christ, and the
perversion of the Word and the denial of the Person of Christ are his special
work. As Christ is the truth and the true Witness. Satan is "a liar, and the
father of it" (John viii. 44).
The tempter of Christ in the wilderness, he
enters into Judas for the betrayal at a later time. He it is who "deceiveth the
whole world" (Rev. xii. 9). and who is cast into the bottomless pit to deceive
the nations no more until a thousand years are fulfilled. At the end of this
time, being let loose, he again goes out as of old to deceive, and is then cast
into the lake of fire (Rev. xx. 3, 8, 10). The "children of the wicked one" in
the parable are thus those who are the offspring of his deception, by whom he
seeks to antagonize the truth. And the New Testament epistles give us plenty of
proof of such a state of things already begun a good while before the canon of
inspiration was completed. It is not needed to do more than refer to this. They
show us how insidiously the "mystery of iniquity" began its work (2 Thess. ii.
7), which, however it might be hindered, would never cease until the "wicked
one," energized by Satan, should be destroyed at the appearing of Christ (ver.
8). Thus the tares would remain until the day of harvest, no human hands being
competent to accomplish the separation of Christian profession from it.
After many centuries now, we are all clear, whatever may be our standpoint,
that this separation in fact never has been attained. But we must remember,
however, that it is of the Kingdom that the parable speaks, and not of the
Church or Assembly, of which we have not heard, in fact, as yet. A large mass
of Christians make no distinction between these, although here it should be
plain that "the field is the world," - the Kingdom in its present phase, the
profession of Christianity in the world, or what men call Christendom; and we
have no capacity, authority or responsibility to purify Christendom after this
fashion. But, if we are truly Christians, we have responsibility to purge out
from our assemblies "all things that offend, and those committing lawlessness,"
the thing which the angel-reapers alone can do as to the profession at large.
Rome has taken in hand, and insists upon her authority to anticipate the time
of harvest; and the state-churches, following her, have feebly and
spasmodically attempted the same thing. Necessarily that has followed which the
Lord declared: with some tares, they have rooted up the wheat also, and indeed
this most of all. Yet the prohibition, to these Jewish disciples of the Lord,
(taught as they were by the Old Testament to expect the kingdom of Messiah to
be an open display of judgment upon transgressors,) would naturally be a
mystery indeed; and so to those who confound the New with the Old Testament.
But the Lord recognizes fully the coming of the judgment. It is only delayed,
not set aside. Evil is allowed in the meanwhile to manifest itself: in the time
of harvest, He will say unto the reapers, "Gather together first the tares, and
bind it in bundles for the burning; but gather the wheat into my barn."
We
shall find that the Lord in His interpretation carries this further: the tares
is actually burnt, and the righteous shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of
their Father. This we must look at in its own place. At present we have only
the preparatory work with the tares, which is bound in bundles with a view to
its being burnt; and then the wheat is gathered into the barn. The last is
clear enough: it speaks of the removal of the true saints to heaven; but the
binding of the tares in bundles is not so clear. It cannot refer to the
associations now so characterizing the days in which we are, except we take the
ground that harvest-time has already begun; and indeed it does begin, as is
plain, before the saints are taken home. If this were true, it would show the
end very nigh. The multiplication of associations, the prevalence of the
principle more and more, every one must admit. We should look for it to take a
form which would more and more gather the false and shut out the true, while at
present true and false are sadly mixed together. With the growth of infidelity,
so manifest as it is to-day, this might very quickly result. Even the religious
associations are swallowing up the churches, and taking their work into their
own hands; and all things move to-day with marvelous rapidity, as the stream
grows quicker near the brink of the precipice.
Subsection 2 (31-38): collective aspects.
2. The
two parables that follow differ strikingly from those that have preceded them,
and agree together in this, that we have no longer individuals before us but
the mass. In the grain of mustard seed the many grains of the wheat-field are
massed together: the "sons of the Kingdom" are no longer seen, nor indeed the
"sons of the wicked one," but a general condition, I believe we may add,
resulting from their mixture. The "woman" of the second parable here, the
common figure of the professing church, gives us in this the collective aspect,
and not the leaven, nor the three measures of meal. This we must examine fully
in its place; and as to both parables there has been sufficient disagreement
among interpreters to make us look carefully at every step we take. Nor have we
as to either of them the help in this way that the Lord gives as to the first
two. All the more thankful we may be, therefore, that the second parable has
already carried us on to the time of harvest, mournful as it is to realize that
it is thus settled without possibility of successful question, that the evil
result of the oversowing of the field of profession with false doctrine never
will be repaired, - that the crop, as a crop, is very much spoiled, however
much the good wheat still reproduces its own likeness. But this, at least,
assures us that the parables to follow cannot alter this: they cannot take away
the certainty of the failure of things in mans hands which the whole
history of time past declares. We have indeed but. shown ourselves all along
the road the too faithful imitators of our first parents in the violation of
every trust that God has committed to us. One might perhaps have hoped that,
with the new power of Christianity, a new history might have begun for man;
but, on the contrary, every feature of Israels history has been
reproduced in that of Christendom. It is even a proverb that "history repeats
itself." Prophecy and history unite to assure us that as to this Christianity
is not an exception to the rest. Part 1 (31, 32.): in independence.
2. 1
Another parable set he before them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like a
grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; which indeed is
less than all seeds, but, when it is grown, it is greater than herbs, and
becometh a tree, so that the birds of heaven come and lodge in its branches .
1The parable of the mustard-seed is similar to those that have gone before
it in its being the growth of a living thing that is brought before us, but
that which is to be remarked in it now is its disproportionate growth, in which
it seems to overstep the limits of its nature. The round seed of the mustard
was used proverbially among the Jews for the smallest of things, which it was
relatively to the other seeds they sowed. Its development in the East in
favorable places is indeed in conspicuous contrast with its growth elsewhere.
But the question is raised at once, Is the world, then, a favourable place for
the growth of a kingdom "not of this world," and where the devil and the flesh
unite with the world in unceasing opposition to it? Either the world must
(measurably, at least,) cease to be what it is, or the seed must change in some
respects its character, for the Kingdom of heaven to take its place among the
kingdoms of the earth: and this is, in fact what the parable shows. "And the
general meaning," says Edersheim, "would be the more easily apprehended, that a
tree whose wide-spreading branches afforded lodgment to the birds of heaven,
was a familiar Old Testament figure for a mighty kingdom that gave shelter to
the nations. Indeed it is specifically used as an illustration of the Messianic
kingdom." He refers in the first place to Ezek. xxxi. 3-6, where we have the
picture drawn by God Himself of the Assyrian power: "Therefore his height was
exalted above all the trees of the field, and his boughs were multiplied, . . .
all the fowls of the heaven made their nests in his boughs, and under his
branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young, and under his
shadow dwelt all great nations."
In Daniel we have a similar picture of the
Babylonian in Nebuchadnezzars dream, which is interpreted by the prophet
(chap. iv. 20-22): "The tree that thou sawest, which grew and was strong, whose
height reached unto the heaven, and the sight therefore to all the earth; whose
leaves were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all; under
which the beasts of the field dwelt, and upon whose branches the fowls of the
air had their habitation: it is thou, 0 king. who art grown and become strong;
for thy greatness is grown and reacheth unto heaven, and thy dominion to the
end of the earth." The likeness here to the "tree" of the parable cannot surely
be doubted: it is a figure of earthly greatness that is pictured. And yet it
cannot but be remarked that there is not in the parable after all anything like
the greatness of the Assyrian or Babylonian empire. The passage in Ezek. xvii.
also, to which Edersheim refers as picturing the Messianic kingdom, - in fact,
the resurrection of the house of David in Messiahs day, - still
represents a cedar, the stateliest of trees, under which "dwell all fowl of
every wing, and in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell." But
this speaks of a future time, and a very different dispensation. The tree of
the parable is a garden shrub out-doing itself. It grows into a tree, and the
birds of heaven lodge in its branches; but if you look at this as divine
increase, it will naturally be asked, why then is there nothing more glorious
than this? As growth it is dubious, and the mention of the birds of heaven
cannot but remind us that the birds of heaven carried away the good seed in the
- first parable, and that the Lords interpretation is, "Then cometh the
wicked one." Great Babylon, the figure of a professing Christian body in guilty
connection with the kings of the earth, becomes "a cage of every unclean and
hateful bird" (Rev. xviii. 2).
If we remember that this seed and its
development give the Kingdom as a whole, and that the previous parable has
shown us a mixed condition in fact, the result of the enemys work,
then the anomalous tree becomes perfectly intelligible. The state of the whole
has been affected by this mixture of diverse elements. There has resulted from
it what we know as Christendom to-day. Christianity has been more or less
assimilated to the principles of the world; the world, in consequence becomes
more favourable to the adulterated Christianity. The shrub grows, overgrows its
nature, if you consider what its character is as defined at its first
beginning. A people unknown by the world (l John iii. 1), and strangers in it
(1 Pet. ii. 11), followers of One it crucified, and crucified to it by His
cross (Gal. vi. 14), not of it, even as He is not of it (John xvii. 14), become
a people well-known, honoured and at home in it. Nay, they acquire the right to
rule, and like their predecessors at Corinth, "reign as kings" (1 Cor. iv. 8),
quite without fear of apostolic rebuke for it. Yet after all, the spiritual and
political interests can never become so accordant that the tree shall assume
the dimensions of full imperial power. The woman may ride the beast, but even
so these are diverse. Alas, this political Christianity is more powerful to
corrupt the Church than to elevate the world, and she that rides the beast is
but a painted harlot. It passes the subtlest imagination to conceive how what
is "not of the world" can become of the world and yet retain its character. The
birds of the heaven are wiser: they understand their claim upon the abnormal
tree for lodgment, and find it there.
The Kingdom is now, in the form it
has taken, in independence of its King. To the Corinthians the apostle could
say, "Ye have reigned as kings without us:" they were not in communion any
longer with men "appointed to death," for their sufferings "a spectacle to the
world and to angels and to men." "I Would to God," he says "that ye did reign,
that we also might reign with you." If the saints reign now, they are still
reigning without the apostles. Time can make no difference in this respect, so
long as it is still true that all the saints are not reigning together. And
that time will not come until the Lord takes His own throne as Son of man, - a
human throne that He can share with others. True, He reigns now, but on His
Fathers throne, which no mere man can ever sit upon (Rev. iii. 21); and
He reigns, distinctly, as rejected by the world: "Sit Thou at My right hand,
until I make Thy foes Thy footstool" (Ps. cx. 1). Thus the saints cannot reign
now, except in unfaithfulness, in independence of their Lord Himself. The tree
is thus anomalous, and the condition evil.
Part 2 the leaven of falsehood.
2 Another
parable spake he unto them, The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a
woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.
2 A worse thing follows, which clearly connects with what precedes it here:
"The Kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three
measures of meal, till the whole was leavened." Here the explanations
ordinarily given are so generally in contradiction to the truth, that it will
be well to look at them more particularly before attempting to develop this.
Edersheim gives thus briefly the generally accepted view: - "To this extensive
power of the Kingdom [as shown in the Mustard-seed] corresponded its intensive
character, whether in the world at large or in the individual. This formed the
subject of the last of the parables addressed at that time to the people - that
of the Leaven. We need not here resort to ingenious methods of explaining the
three measures, or seahs, of meal in which the leaven was hid . . .
To mix three measures of meal was common in Biblical, as well as in later times
(Gen. xviii. 6; Judg. vi. 19; 1 Sam. i. 24). Nothing further was therefore
conveyed than the common process of ordinary, every-day life. And in this,
indeed, lies the very point of the parable. that the Kingdom of God, when
received within, would seem like leaven hid, but would gradually pervade,
assimilate, and transform the whole of our common life." Alfords view is
similar, but he adds: - "Leaven has its good well as it bad side, and for that
good is used: viz. to make wholesome and fit for use that which would otherwise
be heavy and insalubrious. Another striking point of comparison is that leaven,
as used ordinarily, is a piece of the leavened loaf put among the new dough,
just as the Kingdom of heaven is the renewal of humanity by the righteous Man,
Christ Jesus." Lange still adds: - "The woman is an apt figure of the Church.
Leaven, a substance kindred, yet quite opposed to meal.- having the power of
transforming and preserving it, and converting it into bread, thus representing
the divine in its relation to. and influence upon, our natural life.
One of
the main points of the parable is the hiding, or the mixing of the
leaven in the three measures of meal. This refers to the great visible Church,
in which the living gospel seems, as it were, hidden and lost. It appears as if
the gospel were engulfed in the world; but under the regenerating power of
Christianity it will at last be seen that the whole world shall be included in
the Church." Trench remarks: - "In and through the Church the Spirits
work proceeds; only as that dwells in the Church is it able to mingle a nobler
element in the mass of humanity, in the world. The woman took the leaven from
elsewhere to mingle it with the lump; and even such is the gospel, a kingdom
not of this world, not the unfolding of any powers which already existed
therein, a kingdom not rising, as the secular kingdom, out of the
earth (Dan. vii. 17), but a new power brought into the world from above:
not a philosophy, but a revelation."
This is a sufficiently full account of
the most widely accepted interpretation; and, if not absolutely harmonious in
detail, as presented by these different writers, it is still as much so as it
would be reasonable to expect, and has in itself a very reasonable appearance.
From the Scriptural point of view, however, it must be judged; and it has been
often pointed out that in this way there are insurmountable difficulties to our
receiving it. In the first place, it is contrary to the general tenor of the
previous parables. After all that has been before us, we do not expect a change
so sudden and complete as this seems to involve. If the three measures of meal
speak of humanity in general, or the world, the progress of the leaven is
distinctly declared to be, till the whole is leavened." But the other parables,
from the very first one, are entirely against this; and the whole witness of
prophecy as to the Christian dispensation. To apply it, as some would, simply
to the work of regeneration in individuals, destroys in another way its harmony
with the series of pictures of which it forms a part, all of which give us the
public and general history. "Three measures of meal" seems a strange figure for
the world, and the "measure" seems not realizable. Not that this would be a
weighty objection with the many who deprecate any particular attention to such
minutiæ as they would consider this. For such, a general resemblance is
all that one need expect: which would leave in result a large uncertainty of
interpretation, and Scripture to the reproach of many unmeaning words.
The
signification of "leaven" in every other passage in which it is used is a great
difficulty also. The Lord applies it to the "doctrine of the Pharisees and
Sadducees" (chap. xvi. 12), and to their hypocrisy (Luke xii. 1). He speaks
also of the "leaven of Herod" (Mark viii. 15); the apostle again of the "leaven
of malice and wickedness" and of "the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth"
(1 Cor. v. 8). Twice we are warned how "a little leaven leaveneth the whole
lump" (1 Cor. v. 6; Gal. v. 9). That very piece of old dough which Dean Alford
interprets so strangely of the Lords humanity, the apostle applies in
quite another manner, when he bids the Corinthians "purge out, therefore. the
old leaven, that ye may be a new lump," and this where he is interpreting the
Old Testament feast of unleavened bread in its connection with the passover,
and which must remind us how absolutely leaven was to be excluded from every
"offering of the Lord made by fire" (Lay. ii. 11).
It will be urged in
answer to this that it is the Kingdom of heaven itself which is here compared
to leaven, and the Kingdom of heaven cannot be evil. But we have to go no
further than these parables themselves to perceive that this objection cannot
be sustained. In the very next one, if we interpret in a similar way, the
Kingdom is compared to the treasure which a man found, but in that which
follows, not to the pearl which corresponds to this, but to the merchantman who
seeks it. Evidently, the whole parable it is which is the similitude of the
Kingdom, and not separately either treasure or finder: and this is completely
confirmed upon examination.* *See also chap. xviii. 23; xx. 1
. In
this way, too, it will be seen that, while the Kingdom of heaven cannot indeed
in itself be evil, it may still be in an evil condition. This series of
parables have surely exhibited in it a steady growth of evil, which in that of
the mustard seed affects the form which as a whole it takes. We may naturally
expect, therefore, to find here this development going on; and if, as Edersheim
and others truly say, the leaven in contrast with the mustard-tree gives us
intensive character rather than extensive growth, then we may expect to find
this inward character affected now in a way corresponding to the outward form
before. And this is in fact the meaning of the leaven: it is an energy, but
alas, of evil from without, which transforms the character more and more of
what it works upon, and completes the sorrowful picture of decline at which we
have been looking. From this point of view also, all the details of the picture
assume significance, and give a definiteness of meaning to the whole which
vindicates the parable from the reproach of ambiguity or of useless verbiage.
The safest of rules that we can have is to let scripture be the interpreter of
scripture.
Now, if in carrying this out we ask ourselves, what leaven put
into the meal may mean, we are at once reminded of the meat or meal-offering,
as to which it is distinctly said (Lev. ii. 11): "No meat-offering which ye
shall bring unto the Lord shall be made with leaven: for ye shall burn no
leaven . . . in any offering of the Lord made by fire." If then this be the
application here, at once we see that the parable falls into line with the
previous parables in this that it continues that thought of evil and opposition
to the Word which they all more or less exhibit. The woman is doing what the
word of God prohibits: she is putting leaven into the meal-offering. But what,
then, is the significance of this? A terrible one indeed: for the meal-offering
speaks, as these offerings in general do, of Christ as the food of His people,
of which they partake in communion with God (see Lev. ii., notes); and thus we
see that to bring in the merely natural thought (whether it be true or not) of
the wholesomeness of leavened bread, as Alford does, is most misleading. God
insists upon the feast being kept to Him with unleavened bread: all mixture
with leaven is adulteration; and if the Church, as Trench with Lange and others
rightly says, is intended by the woman, then the professing church here seen as
adulterating the pure doctrine of Christ, the bread of life, with impure
admixture. "Three measures of meal:" does that add nothing to the significance?
Is it merely, as Edersheim says, the usual quantity, and is that what his texts
suggest? Not, surely, to one who is accustomed to see the New Testament in the
Old, and to read the histories contained in it, as the apostle does that of
Abraham (Gal. iv.) as types and prophecies of spiritual things. In this way it
is most instructive to observe that Gideons ephah of flour, which is the
equivalent of "three measures" was offered to the Lord; and that Hannah
likewise brought her ephah to the house of the Lord in Shiloh. The third case
he adduces (and the only other) is still more in point: for Abrahams food
with which he entertains his heavenly visitants was undoubtedly overruled, at
least, to show us again Christ in His Person and work (three measures of fine
meal and the calf - life sacrificed) as the means of communion between heaven
and earth.
* "Three measures" are the full divine measure, God in
manifestation, and that is the right measure surely of the true Meat-offering,
the Man Christ Jesus. *These are not random or fragmentary applications, but
have their place in a history completely significant throughout, in which by
the significance of the whole each part is certified (see Gen. xviii. notes).
How all this brings out what is before us! Christ, the bread of life, is what
the professing church has had entrusted to her for her own sustenance and for
the blessing of others. The doctrine of Christ is her most precious deposit,
and the maintaining this in purity her great responsibility. Alas, she has
adulterated it with leaven: the Lords own explanation of this as "the
leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees" and the "leaven of Herod,"
remains still for us in Christian times as wherewith to interpret His parable
of the Kingdom. Formalism, ritualism, rationalism, the corrupting tendencies of
world-pandering Herodianism, have all had their share in perverting the
precious doctrine of Christ. And here distinctly the "womans" form
appeals in that which Scripture itself stamps as "the mother of harlots and
abominations of the earth" (Rev. Xvii.), she who, claiming to be emphatically
the "CHURCH," at the same time assumes the power of adding to it her own
authoritative interpretations. Doubtless she is not alone in this: others have
followed her more or less distinctly, in claiming to give the "voice of the
church," whether in the "catholic" or some lesser form. In whatever way this
may be done it is an intrusion upon Christs office as the only "Master*
and Lord;" and wherever it is done, some kindred evil will spring out of it.
Christs voice, and that alone, must be authoritative for the soul.
*"Teacher" (John xiii. 13). The leaven is leavening the whole lamp. No doubt,
there is a present hindrance to this in the power of the Spirit working, and as
long as the present purpose of God is not complete, the lump as a whole cannot
be leavened. God will preserve His truth, which never has been as a whole
allowed to be in the womans hands to be leavened. Once let the true
Church be removed, the truth of God will he removed with it, and the leaven of
falsehood do its fatal work upon all that is left. Subsection 3 (34, 35):
things hidden manifest. 3 All these things spake Jesus unto the multitudes in
parables, and without a parable spake he nothing unto them: so that that was
fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in
parables: I will utter things that have been hidden from the foundation of the
world. 3 With this the parables spoken to the multitude are ended: and except
in parables He did not speak to them. The prophets word was being
fulfilled in Him (Ps. lxxviii. 2): He was taking the place of another Asaph, to
speak of things more deeply hidden than those of which Asaph spoke. The
psalmists words therefore are not exactly but freely quoted: his deep
things were contained in a past history, the meaning of which it is given to
him to utter; Christs in a history of things to come, but which
mournfully reflect in their general lesson that older story of another people.
Alas, mans history does repeat itself: now, however, it was of a state of
"things hidden from the foundation of the World" - of which the prophets of the
Old Testament themselves knew nothing.
SECTION 2. (36-52.) Faith's view. The Lord now
leaves the multitude and goes into the house: the audience is changed, and He
is now with His disciples only, and able to speak out. He does now give them
the explanation of the parable of the tares, carrying it further also than the
parable itself had done. But to this he adds three other parables, the third of
which He partially explains, but not the others. We are left to spiritual
apprehension to discern these. Between these last three and the first four we
shall find the difference which the numbers indicate. Four is the number of the
world, and they are spoken in the world - before the multitude. We find in
them, in fact, what we can see to be the external aspect of things, - the
Kingdom in the form which it has taken manifestly, even though those who see it
may discern little of its import. In what is said to the disciples in the house
we shall find what is for those of the present time only spiritually discerned,
- what is not public fact, but either lies beyond Christian times, or else is
of such a nature as only to he understood by those who have learned it from
God, from His word. It is faiths view, then, that we now are to be
occupied with, and it need not be a strange thing to us to find that we have
very different interpretations to consider, and which it will be necessary to
consider seriously, before we shall be entitled to speak with conviction upon
the subject.
Subsection 1 (36-43): the beginning of the reign of
righteousness. 1 Then, having sent the multitudes away, he went into the house;
and his disciples came and said unto him, Explain unto us the parable of the
tares of the field. And he answered and said, He that soweth the good seed is
the Son of man; and the field is the world, and the good seed, these are the
sons of the kingdom; and the sons of the evil one are the tares; and the enemy
that sowed it is the devil; and the harvest is the completion of the age, and
the reapers are angels. As then the tares is gathered and burned in the fire,
so shall it be at the completion of the age. The Son of man shall send his
angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and
those committing lawlessness, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire;
there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine
forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He that hath ears let him
hear.
1 But first of all we have what is itself an explanation. The
interpretation of the parable of the tares finds its place with the last three
parables, and for this there must be some special reason. It would not be
enough to say, it is an interpretation; for the Lord had before this explained
that of the sower apart to His disciples, without reserving it for the
after-teaching in the house. The true reason seems to be in that which is
manifest in it, that it goes beyond the parable itself, and therefore beyond
the end of the Christian form of the Kingdom of heaven. It presents, therefore,
what must be to us as long as we are down here a matter of faith simply: and
thus it comes into the second section here, and finds its place with the last
three parables. The parable ends with the gathering of the wheat into the barn.
The saints of the present are removed, while the tares, the fruit of
Satans sowing, is left in the field - in the world; bound in bundles for
the burning, but not burnt. It is noticeable that there is nothing else but
this mentioned now. There are no mere lifeless professors, but only the
followers of false doctrine, - the reason for which is an unspeakably solemn
one, as explained by the apostle in the second epistle to the Thessalonians:
the mere professors will be swept off by that "strong delusion" which will come
with the apostasy of the last days upon all that "have not received the love of
the truth that they might be saved" (ii. 7-12). The public judgment here is
upon those in manifest rebellion, not upon what is hidden but what is manifest.
The words in the epistle are decisive as to this. It is with what takes place
after the saints are taken home that the interpretation of the parable has
mainly to do: "As then the tares is gathered and burned in the fire, so shall
it be at the completion of the age. The Son of man shall send His angels, and
they shall gather out of His Kingdom" - it is now His Kingdom, He is not simply
sitting on the Fathers throne - "all things that offend, and those
committing lawlessness, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there
shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as
the sun in the Kingdom of their Father."
Notice the contrast: the Kingdom
of the Son of man below, the Kingdom of the Father above: the righteous reign
in the Kingdom of the Son of man; they shine in the Kingdom of their Father.
The Sun of righteousness is risen upon the earth; and this is why the righteous
shine as the Sun: they are with Him, sharers of His glory; not suns - central,
independent orbs, - but lustrous with the glory put upon them. But this carries
us, as is plain, beyond the present form of the Kingdom, as also we shall find
the parable of the net does. For us, to whom all these parables of the Kingdom
belong, it is a matter of faith alone. The numerical symbolism stamps this, I
doubt not, as what it so plainly is, the beginning of the reign of
righteousness.
Subsection 2 (44): Preserved and reserved: 2 Again,
the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in the field, which a man
having found, hath hid, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath
and buyeth that field. 2 We come now to two parables which ought, by their
evident likeness to one another, to render mutual help in their interpretation
- the parables of the treasure and the pearl. They are commonly understood by
Christians as portraying in somewhat different ways the value of Christianity
or of Christian blessings, and the need of sacrificing all else in order to
secure them. But we must take them separately. "Again, the kingdom of heaven is
like unto treasure hid in the field, which a man having found, hath hid, and
for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath and buyeth that field." An
old note of Luther gives what is still the common view: "The hidden treasure is
the gospel, which bestows upon us all the riches of free grace, without any
merit of our own. Hence also the joy when it is found, and which consists in a
good and happy conscience, that cannot be obtained by works. The gospel is
likewise the pearl of great price." "True Christianity," says Lange, "is ever
again like an unexpected discovery, even in the ancient Church: the best
possession we can find, a gift of free grace. Every one must find and discover
Christianity for himself. In order to secure possession, even of what we have
found without any merit of our own, we must be willing to sacrifice all; for
salvation, though entirely of free grace, requires the fullest self-surrender."
He is naturally perplexed, however, about the purchase of the field, to get the
treasure. His solution of the difficulty is so strange that it can only be of
value as showing to what strange methods people have to resort to interpret
consistently: "If the field refers to external worldly
ecclesiasticism, the expression might mean that we were not to carry the
treasure out of the visible Church, as if we were stealing it away, but that we
should purchase the field in order to have full title to the possession hid in
it. Accordingly it would apply against sectarianism."
It is hardly worth
while to go further. In fact the interpretation is scarcely scriptural in any
part. A man like Luther may speak of "buying" the riches of free grace, and so,
no doubt, does Scripture; but it never speaks of selling all that one has to do
it. God says rather, "Come ye, buy wine and milk without money and without
price." And the Lord does indeed say, "Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh
not all that he hath, he cannot be My disciple" (Luke xiv. 33); but He has
taught us elsewhere how to understand all such expressions, and that the
would-be disciple does not by this "buy" the grace of God, but must receive
that grace first to enable for such whole-hearted discipleship. Not "whosoever
will lose his life," in order to find it, but he who does so "for my sake,
shall find it" (chap. xvi. 25). For "though I bestow all my goods to feed the
poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profiteth
me nothing" (1 Cor. xiii. 3). Love must be the motive power, or there is
nothing that can count; but then we cannot love in order to gain for ourselves
by it: there is but one way of acquiring it, and that is, as flame lights
flame. So love alone kindles love: "we love Him, because He first loved us" (1
Jno iv. 19). To sell all that one has to buy the free grace of God is not
according to the gospel: that alone wrecks this interpretation; but, if we
inquire further, What is the "field" that is bought to get the treasure? the
Lord has Himself answered, not with Dr. Lange that it is "external worldly
ecclesiasticism" - a strange thing indeed to buy at such a cost! - but the
"world." simply the world. That is the field in which the Word is sown,
clearly; ecclesiasticism may spring up in it, but only after the sowing, and
must always be a very different thing. But, if "the field is the world," are we
to sell all we have to buy the world, to find the gospel in it? That is mere
absurdity, of course. This interpretation breaking down, then, it only remains
to reverse the order of thought, and find in it the Saviour seeking the sinner,
instead of the sinner seeking the Saviour. Divine love is first and worthiest:
and then how the central figure here shines out! He went and sold all that He
had - "emptied Himself," as the word in Philippians literally is (ii. 7, R.
V.): "though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor, that we through His
poverty might become rich" (2 Cor. viii. 9). Texts are easy enough to find in
this direction, and simple enough, too, in application. Here is a view of the
Kingdom which lies outside of the range of the first four parables, as the
continuation of the second parable does, but antecedent, not consequent to
them. But it is the foundation upon which all rests, and which could not be
omitted from faiths view of things. It is the fundamental view of the
Kingdom itself, and now its being the field of the world that He buys, instead
of being out of place, or difficult to understand, is most exactly accordant
and most perfectly intelligible. "Even denying the Lord that bought them" is
said of those who bring in "damnable heresies," and bring upon themselves swift
destruction (2 Pet. ii. 1). They are not, therefore, of His redeemed (for
redemption involves the forgiveness of sins, (Eph. i 7,) and is much more than
purchase); nor of the treasure, therefore, for which He buys the field; but
they are purchased, as all the world is purchased, and He is Lord over them:
the word used here being not the usual title of authority, but "despot" ,
"owner."
The world, then, belongs to Him, and the treasure He has found in
it, and for which He buys it, must be His people, who are therefore His
purchased ones, the people of His possession (Acts xx. 28; 1 Pet. ii. 9, Gk).
Yet there are still points of difficulty about this parable, if we apply it to
Christians now, as is usual and natural with those who accept the
interpretation which we must believe to be the true one. For, according to this
view; neither the (implied) first hiding, nor the finding, nor the re-hiding of
the treasure is accounted for, and even the buying of the field does not seem
fully explained, though the meaning of it in itself is clear enough. But beyond
all this the parable that follows it, so similar, and which yet cannot be so
close a repetition of it as it appears, needs explanation. We must go on,
therefore, to this and compare the two together, before we can get a
satisfactory view of the whole matter.
Subsection 3 (45, 46): His
own and for His glory. 3 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a
merchantman, seeking goodly pearls; and when he had found one pearl of great
price, he went and sold all that he had, and bought it. 3 Here "the kingdom of
heaven is like unto a merchantman, seeking goodly pearls; and when he had found
one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that he had, and bought it."
Such interpretations as those of Lange need not long detain us, since they are
but slight variations of what we have, in the case of the former parable,
already rejected. "The following points," says Lange, "are plain: he who
obtains the Kingdom of heaven is no longer represented, merely as a fortunate
finder, but at the same time as an untiring searcher. He is consciously seeking
and striving after goodly pearls, of precious spiritual goods. At the same time
what was formerly described as a treasure is now characterized as a pearl of
great price: it is presented in a concentrated form as the one thing needful,
bright and glorious in its appearance, - i. e., the person of Christ and life
in Him, are now all in all. Accordingly, all former possessions are readily
surrendered." Surely, one would not expect two parables to present things no
wider apart than these; and the buying of Christ after this manner is an
unscriptural thought. If we have had to refuse, moreover, the similar
interpretation of the treasure, the parallel features in the two forbid our
acceptance of dissimilar explanations for them. If Christ be the Finder of the
one parable, He must be also the Seeker in the other. But why, then, the two
parables? If Christ be the central Figure in each case, there must be surely
difference as to the object before Him; but the general thought of those who
accept this view is that it is only one and the same object, though differently
presented: "The parable of the hidden treasure," it is said, "did not
sufficiently convey what the saints are to Christ. For the treasure might
consist of a hundred thousand pieces of gold and silver. And how would this
mark the blessedness and beauty of the Church? The merchantman finds one
pearl of great price. The Lord does not see merely the preciousness of
the saints, but the unity and heavenly beauty of the assembly. Every saint is
precious to Christ; but He loved the Church and gave Himself for
it."
This, however, does not adequately distinguish between the two
parables, and indeed passes over entirely some of the most conspicuous
differences between them. One cannot understand, if this be all, why the
"pearl" should not by itself suffice for both. That the pearl is the Church is
indeed capable of fullest demonstration. If, then, the Church, the heavenly
object be pictured in the second parable, does not this naturally raise the
question whether the "treasure hid in the field" of the world is not intended
to mark a contrast in this respect? If so, and in connection with the Kingdom
of heaven, our thoughts are at once directed to Israel as brought before us in
the treasure. Let us examine the possibility of such an application, and see
whether it may not help us with regard to some of the otherwise unexplained
differences between the two parables. We have seen that the Kingdom was first
announced to Israel. But they rejected the King, and on this account it passed
from them. This is, no doubt, why the thought of Israel being before us here
has not been more frankly entertained. The parables are "mysteries" of the
Kingdom: but is not Israels rejection from that which according to Old
Testament prophecy belongs to her (and which shall be yet hers in a day to
come) part of these very mysteries? The words of the apostle of the Gentiles
seem to be clearly in the affirmative with regard to this. He says: "For I
would not have you to be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in
your own conceits, that blindness in part is happened unto Israel, until the
fullness of the Gentiles be come in" (Rom. xi. 25). Thus he names the very
thing which has caused the rejection of Israel for the present time as among
the mysteries of this time. Is it not, then, antecedently probable enough that
among these parables Israels relation to the Kingdom should be found to
have a place? When we look at the parable again, we cannot but be confirmed in
this. To Israel it was promised that if they obeyed Jehovahs voice, and
kept His covenant, then they should be a peculiar treasure unto Him above all
people (Ex. xix. 5); and the psalmist would wake up their praise by the
recollection that "Jehovah hath chosen Jacob for Himself, and Israel for His
peculiar treasure" (Ps. cxxxv. 4). Yet when the Lord came to His own this
treasure as such was hid in the field of the world, - as it were, lost among
the nations. He discovered it, but could not possess Himself of it. He must
first purchase it as at the cross, where Caiaphas unconscious prophecy
declared He would "die for the nation" (John xi. 51).
We see also why the
field must be bought: it is in the world that Israel is yet to be displayed as
Jehovahs treasure. But the purchase being made, there is nothing further
done as to possession: here the parable stops; the end of this belongs not to
the "mysteries;" and in the meanwhile another purpose comes into sight, and is
the very thing of which the next parable certainly bears witness. Thus the
interpretation in this way fairly and fully unlocks the whole parable; and a
scriptural interpretation which does this must needs be the true one; for if
not, - if two interpretations, equally consistent, could be given of the same
words, then the words would not distinguish, would be defective in
significance, as the Lords words could not be. We would have no means of
discerning between the true and the false: a conclusion which would be the
destruction of the power and authority of Scripture: for that whose meaning
cannot be known ceases by that fact to have authority. In the pearl of great
price it is no wonder that Christians should imagine the Lord to be intended.
But it is the Church which is thus spoken of, and its preciousness is not only
insisted on, but in measure explained also. Its value is estimated by One who
knows fully what it is He values. It is now not merely a man who finds, but a
merchant who is seeking goodly pearls. The thing he finds he is in pursuit of,
and with the practised eye of the skilled observer. Notice, too, that it is
intimated that there are other pearls. This is one, however, whose value is
such that, having found it, he will sell all he has to buy it. But what is a
pearl? It is, first of all, the product of a living being: it is the only
jewel, as far as I am aware, that is so; and this is the first thing, surely,
that we are intended to realize in it. A pearl is the result of injury done to
the animal that produces it. Its material is the nacre, as it is called, or
"mother of pearl," which lines the interior of the shell, and which is renewed
by it as often as injured or worn away. A particle of sand getting between the
animal and the shell, the irritation causes a deposit of nacre upon it, which
goes on being deposited, layer after layer, till a pearl is formed. But
"completely spherical pearls" - and these are the valuable ones - "can only be
formed loose in the muscle or soft parts of the animal. The Chinese obtain them
artificially by introducing into the living mussel foreign substances, such as
pieces of mother of pearl fixed to wires, which thus become coated with a more
brilliant material." The pearl is thus, as we may say, an answer to an injury;
and it is the offending object that becomes, through the work of the injured
one, a precious and beauteous gem. It is clothed with a comeliness put upon it,
as the objects of divine grace are, with the beauty and glory of Him we
crucified!
It is in truth nothing else that He sought in coming among us
but object of divine grace. Between a common pearl and one of great price, the
difference is only of degree. The size and brilliancy depend, not upon the
grain of sand which may be inwrapped, but upon the number of layers of nacre
which inwrap it. The greatness of the grace bestowed is the distinguishing
feature in what is here. Different bestowals of grace there are, and Scripture
asserts this in the fullest way. The calling of Israel is not that of the
Church, which is Christs body; and though the departed saints of former
dispensations will plainly be in heaven as we shall be, Scripture again makes a
difference between "the Church of the first-born ones whose names are written
in heaven," (Israel being the first-born upon earth) and the "spirits of just
men made perfect" (Heb. xii. 23). God is going "in the ages to come to show the
exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus"
(Eph. ii. 7). Israel may be the treasure in the field, but the pearl speaks of
personal adornment. Christ will have the Church in heaven with Himself, putting
in the highest place what is to show most conspicuously the glory of His grace.
It is one pearl: as the body of Christ is one. There cannot be, it is evident,
another body of Christ. The "fullness" or complement "of Him that filleth all
in all" admits of no other. The treasure and the pearl both speak of what is
faiths view as to the Kingdom, not the external view presented in the
first four parables. In the treasure we find Israel preserved for blessing, but
reserved, they having in the meanwhile rejected the only possible way in which
it could be theirs. In the pearl we have that in which, during this
reservation, the purpose of God as to the Church comes out. It is the first
expression of it, and as yet we do not realize just what it is: as the
"assembly which is His body," or even as "the house of God," it is not yet
mentioned, but as people for Himself, destined to display His glory - the glory
of His grace: heavenly, therefore, not earthly, the earthly promises being
Israels still. The revelation will, of course, become fuller as we go on.
The light increases to the perfect day. 4 (47-52): the mercy to the world
4
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a draw-net, cast into the sea, and
gathering of every kind: which when it was filled, they drew to shore and sat
down and gathered the good into vessels and cast the worthless away. So shall
it be at the completion of the age: the angels shall go forth, and separate the
wicked from among the righteous, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire:
there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. [Jesus saith unto them],* Have ye
understood all these things? They say unto him, Yea, Lord. And he said unto
them, Therefore every scribe who is made a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is
like unto a householder that bringeth out of his treasure things and old.
*Omitted by some.
4 Israel comes no more into this picture: all has
been said about it that needs. The rest is told fully in the Old Testament
prophets. What we have in the last parable here concerns neither Israel nor the
Church, as is plain by the interpretation which our Lord Himself gives: it is
the mercy to the Gentiles, - after the purpose of God as to the Church is
complete. A new gathering now begins with the net cast into the sea, the figure
of the Gentile nations. It gathers of every kind, and is then drawn to shore,
and the sorting of the good from the bad is by angel-hands alone. This is at
the completion of the age, and while coincident with the final harvesting of
the wheat-field, is a different thing from it. To the present time it cannot
apply: the putting the fish into denominational vessels, as some have applied
it, is not a possible thought here: for we are not in the "completion of the
age,"* which is, as our Lord explains, the time of harvest; and the sorting in
this case is not by human but angelic hands. *The full explanation of this term
will be given in the notes on the twenty-fourth chapter, where the whole
prophecy relates to it. The "end of the world" is a wrong translation. The net
applies to the going out of the "everlasting gospel," as in Rev. xiv. 6, 7,
after the Church is removed to heaven, and where the terms of it show at once
the difference between it and the gospel at the present time. We cannot say,
"Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment is come," and on
the other hand the grace which it is ours to proclaim is infinitely fuller. The
issue of what is here is, no doubt, seen in the separative judgment of the
living, when the Lord appears, as shown forth in the "sheep" and "goats" of the
twenty-fifth chapter. In the wheat-field of Christendom there will be at the
end no separation of the wicked from among the righteous, but the righteous
will be gathered first of all, and removed to heaven; after which nothing but
the tares will remain to be gathered and burnt. With the fish here and the
sheep and goats in the later chapter, there is a true judicial separation of
the "sheep from the goats," the wicked departing into everlasting fire, and the
righteous left for blessing upon earth under the "Shepherd" rule of the Son of
man now come. This is the end of the parables of the Kingdom; and the
Lords words that follow to His disciples are self-evident in their
application to them. New things have been declared and put in connection with
the old; all the latter part being such an adjustment. The scribe of the old
dispensation, becoming now the disciple of the new, is brought into the
fullness of the whole revelation of God.
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