Five
Parables
We will, the Lord willing, consider five parables found in Matthew 13: 24-46. These parables are popularly known as, Wheat and Tares, Mustard Seed, Meal and Leaven, Treasure and the Field, and The Merchant Man and the Pearl.
Before
considering the parables we will say something concerning parables. Bible
parables, especially those of the Lord Jesus Christ, are the choicest examples
of figurative speech employed to express and enforce Divine truths. In the age
and country in which Jesus appeared, parables were a common and popular method
of instruction, for both parables and fables were popular among the people of
the East.
A
good definition for parable is taken from ‘Fausset’s Dictionary,’
“A placing side by side or comparing earthly truths, expressed, with
heavenly truths to be understood.” An earthly story with a heavenly meaning.
In
Jesus’ earlier
teaching, as the sermon on the mount, He taught plainly and generally
without parables; but when His teaching was rejected, He in the latter half of
His ministry judicially punished the unbelieving by parabolic veiling of the
truth; “And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them
in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you 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 more abundance: but
whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore
speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear
not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias,
which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye
shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people's heart is waxed gross, and
their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any
time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should
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 desired to see
those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things
which ye hear, and have not heard them,”
(Matthew 13: 10-17).
“Another
parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a
man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and
sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up,
and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the
householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy
field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done
this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?
But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat
with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest
I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in
bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn,”
(Matthew 13: 24-30).
‘The
kingdom of heaven’ is the church, the good seed are ‘the children of the
kingdom,’ the church, (see verse 38). He that sowed the good seed is the
‘Son of Man,’ (see verse 37). The tares are ‘the children of the wicked
one,’ (see verse 38). ‘The enemy that sowed them is the devil,’ (see verse
39). The field is ’the world,’ see verse 38). However, here it is said, He
sowed in ‘His field’, for His church ‘is not of this world.’
The wheat is the harvest from the good seed.
‘But
while men slept;’
men aren’t conscious when they are asleep, and night is the normal time
to sleep. In the darkness is when and where Satan does his work, he is the
prince of darkness. When
not being watched is when Satan does his dirty work, subtlety and
unnoticed by men. For example we presently have a movement by some Liberals to
modernize Zion. The seed for these things were planted by Satan in the dark
recesses of their minds, and unnoticed by men, however, the seed sprouted and
grew and now the ‘true obedient servants’ of God can clearly identify the
tares; they were not able to identify them until the tares brought forth their
fruit.
‘Then
appeared the tares,’ it was not until the fruit was born that the servants
where able to identify the tares. The Lord of course, always knew what was wheat
and what was tares, but the servants could not identify the wheat from the tares
until the fruit was born. I understand the scriptures to teach that
we are allowed to be fruit judges and no more. Luke 6:44,
“For every tree is known by his own fruit.”
In John 15:4 it says. “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot
bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye
abide in me.”
So when a person is bearing good fruit we judge them to be a good tree,
and when a person is bearing bad fruit we judge them to be a bad tree, and this
we are allowed to do. However,
we know that at times if we were to be judged folks might say surely he
is a good tree, and then at other times they might find us to be bearing evil
fruit. It depends on where the fruit is coming from, when we are in the flesh
our fruit is sure to be judged as evil, and when we are in the spirit the fruit
is bound to be good. However, if the Spirit does not abide in us, or unless we
‘abide in the vine,’ we can not bring forth good fruit.
It is
impossible for the Natural Man to bring forth spiritual fruit, because the
spirit is not in him and it is impossible for him to bear spiritual fruit. Like
it says in 1 Corinthians 2:14, “But the natural man receiveth not the things
of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know
them, because they are spiritually discerned.” So the tares could only bring
forth evil fruit while the good seed brought forth good fruit. Also, it is very
emphatically set forth that the tares although they looked like the wheat or
good seed, they were tares of evil seed. Although the tares had similarities to
the wheat it was distinctly different, it was a tare and not wheat, and
there is absolutely no way that
it could ever be changed from being a tare, any more than the wheat could
be changed into a tare; the same is true with sheep and goats, there is
absolutely no way to change goats into sheep and vise versa.
‘The
servants of the householder.’
Notice! these are servants (ministers in the kingdom of heaven, the
church), not angels or reapers (see verses 30, 39). The householder is their
Lord, to which they inquire, “Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in ‘thy
field’ (church)? From whence then hath it tares?”
He said, ‘An enemy hath done this;’ the enemy was the devil that had
done this evil work. The servants (ministers) asked Him if He wanted them to go
and gather up the tares. His answer was an emphatic Nay; because ‘while ye
gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. The concern was for
the wheat. This work is God’s work not men’s. He shall root out the tares
and not one wheat plant shall be disturbed or rooted out. It is a work that only
God can do. Man is not capable of doing this work and God never sent man to do a
work that he can’t do.
In
the last few years we have seen a number of tares (I’m speaking of instruments
and doctrines of men here) planted in the church, ‘His field,’ by the enemy
(devil) ‘while men slept;’ that is failed to see or shut their eyes so they
couldn’t see. Such as a preachers training school (seminary), foreign
missions, youth camps, bible schools, women’s societies,
a salaried ministry, tithing, premillennialism and no-hellism. A
disregard for the work of sister churches against known adulators, heretics, and
more I’m sure that doesn’t come to mind at this time. I have asked myself
what can I do to root these things out of the kingdom?
My conclusion is, that there is not a single thing that I can do. I f
they are rooted out God will have to do it. However, if God will bless me to do
so, and this is my constant prayer, I will endeavor to keep these things out of
‘His field’ that
I endeavor to labor in. Our text tells us that God is able to root these
things out and we should all pray that these troubles will be rooted out from
among us. We can withdraw from them, and we should, but God has reserved the
rooting up of the tares to Himself. It is not possible for man to infallibly
distinguish between the tares and the wheat. We would only add to the problem,
add insult to injury. We would surely harm some of the Lord’s little children
as we were trying to get to and root out the tares.
Notice!
I am not saying that the men who advocate and teach these things that I listed
above are reprobates, nothing will ever change their place with God, if they
ever were the children of God they always will be,
however, I am saying that those things that they teach are from the evil one,
for such evil seed was not planted by God in ‘His Field.’ We earnestly pray
that God will be merciful and lead them all to repentance and that they will
return to their first love, ‘HIS FIELD,’ THE CHURCH, for Zion’s sake. This
is where they all were to begin with , and they loved being there, but now they
have left to serve these other gods. They have willingly deserted God’s True
Church to serve the god’s of the world. They need our prayers, but I am afraid
that they don’t know it.
This
is history repeating its self, many of the things that are being introduced into
the church at this present time are the same things that were introduced into
the church in the early eighteen- hundreds. Those churches today, that were
advocating such things then, are now void of hardly any resemblance to what they
were when they first left the TRUE CHURCH to establish their New Church and to
follow after the same strange gods we listed above. Surely, if what the New
Baptists advocated then were needed (the same as being introduced among us
today) we should see a much better and more well informed people concerning
bible truths now than we did then, and we should see a more Godly nation now
than we did then, however, quite the opposite has occurred.
If the
Lord’s people had continued in the PRIMITIVE WAY and held to God’s doctrine
and form of worship, then the scene today would be considerably better. There
has never been a more revealing example given to us by our Lord to demonstrate
the failure of men’s works than the failure of those who set out to improve or
modernize God’s church in the split of 1832. Those who advocated change
and left the vineyard of the Lord lost their place in the True Church, ‘His
Field,’ and they planted a field full of nettles (tares) to leave their
posterity, and we can plainly see the results of their efforts in this
rebellious and evil nation today. Like boils they started out just as a red
inflamed area, they grew and festered, then erupted and scabbed over, and
finally like the scab, they sloughed off and fell away, however, they left their
scar.
Why
should those who advocate changes today expect anything less for their efforts
to change HIS CHURCH? God will do with them, as He did with those in 1832. He
will withdraw from them and leave them alone in their folly with Satan. However,
“And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom,
which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other
people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it
shall stand for ever,” (Daniel 2: 44). God’s kingdom (church) is in good
hands, it is in His hands, He did not leave it with men to do as they want with
it. Those who have attempted to change His church will only succeed in losing
their place in His church and their kingdom will be destroyed, but His
Kingdom shall endure for ever. So “if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD,
choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers
served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in
whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD,”
(Joshua 24: 15).
Now
when the time for the final harvest comes at the end of the world (verse 40),
God will say
‘to the reapers’ (the angels, verse 39), “Gather ye together first the
tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my
barn.” Notice, the tares were to be gathered and ‘bound in bundles to
burn,’ not
necessarily to burn up, but to burn; the lot of the non-elect
is to burn eternally in Hell.
“When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels
with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them
one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall
set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King
say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the
kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world,” (Matthew 25:
31-34). Then in Matthew 25:41,
“Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye
cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.”
But the
wheat, ‘the good seed,’ was to be gathered into His barn. This was a
special depository for the wheat, as Heaven was especially prepared before as a
depository for ‘the good seed,’ the elect children of God. Every one of
those elect and predestined or ‘good seed’ will be gathered into its place
(Heaven), and the tares or non-elect shall be gathered together to burn in (not
up) the fire. There will not be one tare in Heaven nor one wheat in Hell. The
tares are gathered together to burn, but the wheat is harvested, “Gather my
saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by
sacrifice,” (Psalm 50: 5).
This
is to be done at the end of this world, verse 40. There is an end to this
present world that we live in, however, there is no end of the world we shall be
taken to, the eternal world, the abode of God and His saints.
The
Parable Of The Mustard Seed
“Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like
to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: Which
indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among
herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the
branches thereof,” (Matthew 13: 31, 32).
In
keeping with the interpretation given to us by Jesus in verse 37, the field is
the world, the planter of the good seed is the ‘Son of Man,’ which is Jesus.
The Mustard seed, ‘the least of all seeds’ is the New Testament Church
spoken of in Daniel’s prophecy, “And in the days of these kings shall the
God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom
shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all
these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever,” (Daniel 2: 44).
Notice,
‘The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man (Jesus)
took, and sowed in his field.’ The ‘kingdom of heaven’ and ‘His field’
are both speaking of His church. The church is the main object of the parable.
Jesus
set up His church, in its embryonic stage, with just a few poor fishermen, in
the midst of Daniel’s fourth kingdom of the world (the Roman empire) this
kingdom (church) has grown and spread its branches to every nation of the world
and has out-lasted all the kingdoms of the past and shall still be standing when
Jesus comes again, although there may be many other kingdoms rise and fall
before He comes.
‘The
birds of the air’ refer to those false teachers and their followers who seek
shelter under the branches of the church, since she has grown and become more
powerful in her outward appearance, and more numerous. Isaiah prophesied, “And
in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own
bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away
our reproach,” (Isaiah 4: 1).
There
are many that claim Jesus today in their profession, however, there is where it
stops. They wear their own robes of works and self righteousness and seek after
the doctrines of men while professing to be seeking after Jesus and His
righteousness. They are hypocrites, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear
beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all
uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye
are full of hypocrisy and iniquity,” (Matthew 23: 27-28).
A
historical example: When persecution broke out against the Church in 249 A.D.
hundreds apostatized. At the end of two years when the persecutions abated, many
of those who had apostatized desired to come back. Novation was an elder in the
church at Rome. Cornelius was also an elder in the church at Rome. Novation
opposed receiving any who had denounced the Christian faith during the
persecution, and Cornelius favored receiving them. The advocates of lax
discipline let the bars down and a great multitude of worldly minded people came
into the Church. Thusly Cornelius became ‘The Man of Sin.’ It was from this
group that the Church of Rome (Catholic) came. Cornelius and his followers were
birds that sought shelter under the canopy of the church, however, when
persecution came to the church, they changed their garments and followed the
persecutors of the church. Elder Novation and the other followers of Jesus
withdrew from Cornelius and his followers have remained separate and resisted
them ever since.
“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.” (Matthew 13:33).
In
this brief parable, (only 24 words) concerning the leaven in the meal, volumes
could probably be written. Jesus continues here with much the same teaching as
the parable of the Mustard Seed which is the ‘greatest among herbs, and
becometh a tree.’
Notice!
‘The kingdom of heaven’ or the church, the Lord’s spiritual
kingdom, is
like unto leaven. Although leaven in the scriptures, for the most part, is used
in the bad sense, here it is used in the good sense. However, in Leviticus 23:17
we seed leaven as good, “Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave
loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken
with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD.” Which is speaking of
a wave or heave (heavenly offering of thanksgiving unto the Lord), and is
applicable to our lesson here. The church is the main object of this parable,
the church of the first fruits.
The
woman is the same that we find in Revelation 12: 1, “And there appeared a
great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her
feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.” Which is speaking of the New
Testament church (the church is always spoken of in the feminine gender) having
the greater light when compared to the Old Testament church. Also the New
Testament church, or the Apostolic church (twelve apostles, twelve stars) had a
crown of twelve stars signifying that she was functioning under the authority
given the apostles by her Lord. She, the New Testament church, had the moon
under her feet, which speaks of the law service being subservient to the kingdom
of grace. She was clothed with the sun the greater light of understanding, she
no longer worshipped in types and shadows, but now with the understanding of the
gospel that was given to the New Testament church.
So
we will say that the woman is speaking of the New Testament Church. The three
measures of meal speaks of the Lord’s elect people, and as it is written in 1
John 5:7, “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the
Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one,” in like manner we see that
the three measures of meal become one loaf. The leaven is hid within. The loaf
then also is symbolic, as is the woman, of the church of the First Born, of he
Lord. There is only one loaf, and there is only one church. The measurements
were exact (three measures) for the loaf; and the number of the saints that make
up the Lord’s body, loaf, or church, were carefully and exactly numbered in
the eternal covenant by the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. As the three
in the Godhead are one, so the three measures of meal became one loaf, one body,
symbolic of one church.
The
leaven which was hidden in the three measures of meal, after they were kneaded
together, began to do its work and ultimately permeated throughout the entire
loaf. We can here, symbolically, see the work of the Holy Ghost as it is hidden
in the heart of God’s children in regeneration and after awhile the affects of
the leaven begin to appear outwardly. The same is seen in the body of the church
in her beginning with Jesus and His apostles. Like the tiny mustard seed or some
leaven hidden in the meal; the church began small and somewhat insignificantly
in the Roman empire, but has grown to be seen in all parts of the earth.
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which
when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that
he hath, and buyeth that field,” (Matthew 13:44). Again the main object of
this parable is the Church.
Here
the kingdom of heaven (the church) is likened to a treasure. Any of the Lord’s
people, that He has led to His church, will understand the joy the brother of
this parable experienced, because the church of Jesus Christ is a treasure of
joy unspeakable to them also, worth more than anything else in this world. In
fact they would rather part with all their earthly possessions, as he did, if
necessary before they would give up their church. Many have given their lives
(the ultimate price) for the love of their Lord and His church.
In
Matthew 13: 24 we found that “the kingdom of heaven (church) is likened unto a
man which soweth good seed in his field.” That man is the Lord Jesus Christ.
In 2 Corinthians 4: 7 we read,
“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of
the power may be of God, and not of us.” The field of the Lord’s work is in
the heart of His people. The
heart is the field where He hid the treasure in the brother of our
parable, and when the time was full in his life, the Lord opened his heart and
understanding, God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into his heart, crying,
Abba, Father. It became the first day of the rest of his life. His course had
been altered by God, he had been led to repentance. The things of this world
suddenly became of no importance to him, before they had been everything to him,
now he was ready to sell all to obtain and pursue this very particular field.
“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also,” (Matthew 6:
21).
He
hid his treasure, however, like the leaven this treasure can’t be hidden very
long. Perhaps he knew of no other he could share it with at first. Although he
cherished the treasure so much, it would mean little to him unless he could find
others to share the joy of his treasure. However, our parable tells us that the
treasure that he found was the kingdom of heaven and all of its
amenities, and it can’t be hidden. Wouldn’t this be a waste howling
wilderness to us all without the treasure hid in the field, the church (the
world can’t see it)?
The
Merchant Man And The Pearl
“Again,
the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who,
when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and
bought it,” (Matthew 13: 45, 46). Again the church is the main object of this
parable.
The
kingdom of heaven (church) here
is said to be like unto a merchant man seeking goodly pearls. This
parable is much like the one we have just dealt with, however it has something
for us that the other didn’t or the Lord wouldn’t have given it to us.
The
kingdom of heaven (Church) is of Jesus Christ, it is His kingdom and He is the
King, the head over the kingdom, and the members are his subjects. God has
“put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to
the church,”
(Ephesians 1: 22). Now I am not saying that Jesus came as a merchant man
buying and selling, but the parable says “like unto a merchant man, seeking,
goodly pearls.” As one who was able to pay the price for what He wanted and He
didn’t want just any sort of pearls but was seeking goodly pearls. “For the
Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost,” (Luke 19: 10).
The
Lord’s people are symbolically represented by the goodly pearls. Pearls are
found embedded
in some oysters found in the bottom of the sea. The sea in the scriptures
generally speaks of the world. The Lord’s people, like Jonah, by sin went down
to the bottoms of the mountains, in the sea; the earth with her bars were about
them for ever: see Jonah 2: 6.
The
pearls in the oysters make them of greater value and without the pearl they are
of little or no value. The Lord’s people are goodly pearls by the grace of God
and without God’s grace they are nothing. These goodly pearls are those that
Jesus came to seek and to save. “Yet hast thou brought up my life from
corruption, O LORD my God,” (Jonah 2:6).
The
price was a great price, He sold or gave all He had for the goodly pearls. He
gave His life, the Just for the unjust, “God commendeth his love toward us, in
that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5: 8). “For ye
are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit,
which are God's,” (1 Corinthians 6: 20).
In
Old Baptist Bonds
Elder
Kenneth W. Clevenger