Chapter 13

The definition of the doctrine of the mystery. There are three passages which deal with the principle of the Greek word mystery — Ephesians 3:1-6; Colossians 1:25,26; Romans 16:25,26. The word “mystery” is not an English word, it is a Greek word, musthrion. It has been transliterated rather than translated. In the 5th century BC a number of fraternities were developed in Athens and in other Greek city states, and these fraternities had a system of doctrine [secrets] which they understood after their initiation but which the outside world did not understand at all. They called their doctrines which only they understood, mysteries, and by mystery they meant something which they understood as members of a fraternity but people on the outside did not understand. This is actually the use of the word as we find it in the New Testament. Basically there are eight mysteries which are found in the New Testament, i.e. doctrines which are known to those who are on the inside but not known to those on the outside. The ones on the inside are believers who understand the dispensation of the Church.

The “Mysteries”

The first of these mysteries is the mystery of the body — Ephesians 3:1-11; the second is the mystery of the bride — Ephesians 5:28-32; the third is the mystery of the Church — Revelation 1:20; the fourth is the mystery of the indwelling of Christ — Colossians 1:26,27; the fifth is the mystery of spirituality and/or godliness — 1 Timothy 3:16; the sixth is the mystery of the translation of the Church — 1 Corinthians 15:51-57; the seventh is the mystery of the blindness of Israel — Romans 11; the eighth is the mystery of the kingdom of heaven — Matthew 13.

So Matthew chapter 13 by way of subject is the mystery of the kingdom of heaven, in which we have a number of parables which teach this particular concept. Every time you find the word “mystery” in the New Testament it refers to some facet of the Church Age, and basically the doctrine of the mystery is the doctrine of the Church. The reason it is called a mystery is because it was not revealed in the Old Testament. There is no information in the Old Testament about the Church. The Old Testament was a time of detailed information about many things. For example, we have the death of Christ clearly declared — His burial, resurrection, ascension, His session at the right hand of the Father, and when you have the Church Age you skip right over that and you come down to the second advent. Then you have the Millennial reign of Christ. But you skip entirely the Church Age, it was not revealed in the Old Testament at all. That means that any information pertinent to the Church Age was not revealed. For this reason it is called a mystery.

In addition we need to remember that Jesus in Matthew chapter 13 is speaking to the Jews at the end of the Age of Israel, just before the cross. As far as the kingdom of Israel is concerned in the mystery, in 70 AD the Jews are going into the fifth cycle of discipline, and the fifth cycle of discipline will continue throughout the Church Age and the Tribulation, and will be terminated with the second advent. So Jesus is going to describe to these Jews the characteristics of the age when the Jews are under the fifth cycle of discipline.

Remember that the cycle of discipline concept actually begins in 721 BC when the Assyrians administered to Israel the fourth cycle of discipline. The Assyrians dominated the Jews. This fourth cycle of discipline continued under the domination of the Chaldean empire. Then in 586 BC the fifth cycle of discipline was administered for 70 years, the Jews were taken out of the land into captivity. In 516 BC the second temple was completed and the fifth cycle of discipline was over. The Jews then had their golden age down to the death of Alexander in 323 BC. Starting with the fall of Jerusalem to Pompey the Great in 68 BC we again have the fourth cycle of discipline and this continues until 70 AD when the Jews are under the fifth cycle again. This will continue until the second advent of Christ.

Jesus uses the parable to describe this period, from 70 AD to the second advent, and you have to remember that this is a period which involved two different dispensations. For example, in 70 AD the Church Age is on until the Church is removed at the Rapture. Then you have the Tribulation followed by the second advent, and this chapter, Matthew 13, describes in parable form the characteristics of the period during which the Jews are under the fifth cycle of discipline. And the purpose of all these parables is to describe exactly what goes on during the 5th cycle of discipline to Israel.

We have already studied the great discourse of the sermon on the mount. This is the second great discourse in Matthew chapter 13. Later on we will get the temple discourse in Matthew chapters 23-25, also called the Olivet discourse. The time covered by Matthew 13 is also important. As we have mentioned, Jesus is describing from 70 AD to the second advent, or the period of the Jewish 5th cycle of discipline. He has been rejected in all of the cities. He has now made a complete sweep through all of the cities of Judah and all of the scribes, the priests and the Pharisees and religious leaders have unanimously rejected Him. Because of their rejection they are under the terrible sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit which is the unpardonable sin. So Jesus has been rejected now and never again does He use the words “kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Up to this time we have noticed that “the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” but the official rejection of Jesus Christ now causes a change in His ministry. From now on He will talk of the kingdom — the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven — as that mystery period made up of born-again individuals during the period of the fifth cycle of discipline and/or the Church. This passage does not deal with the kingdom of the Davidic covenant, the kingdom of the Jews. That is phased out at this particular point and the kingdom of the Jews will not exist again until the second advent of Christ when the fifth cycle of discipline is over. This chapter is going to describe the kingdom during the period of the Lord’s rejection.

During this time from 70 AD to the second advent we not only have the fact that the Jews are under the fifth cycle of discipline, that is the first characteristic. But there is a second characteristic. During that time Christ who is David’s greater son and who will rule forever is absent from the earth. So it is a period of the absence of the Lord Jesus Christ as well as the period of the fifth cycle of discipline. Therefore, since Christ is absent and since He in not ruling on the earth the kingdom of Christ must take a mystery form. The mystery form is the Church. But then when the kingdom in its mystery form is removed there will still be believers on the earth (after the Rapture, that is) and so we also have some parables dealing with the Tribulation. In addition to that some of these parables are going to talk about believers only, some of the parables are going to talk about unbelievers, and some of the parables are going to talk about both.

This passage is going to begin with the parable of the sower which is the key to all of these parables. Every one of these parables will come out of the parable of the sower. Something that should be noticed about the parable of the sower: in the middle of verse three Jesus starts out by saying, “Behold a sower went forth to sow” .This is quite different from other parables which He has given. Jesus often said in His parables: “The kingdom of heaven is like unto,” and then He would give a parable. But He doesn’t say that here, He simply starts in with a parable. The parables that do not have the phrase in front of them, “the Kingdom of heaven is like unto,” are dealing with the Jews during the fifth cycle of discipline and they cover the period of the Church Age and the Tribulation.

The sower is going out to sow and the sowing of the seed is the dissemination of the gospel through out the world; it is evangelisation, the declaration of how Christ died for our sins, and so on. And basically Jesus will cover three periods of seed sowing, not all in this parable. First of all, in the dispensation of Israel there is seed sowing. He will not deal with that at all. In the dispensation of Israel the Jews were responsible for giving out the gospel; they were custodians of the Word and were responsible for its dissemination. And the reason that Jesus is teaching these parables is to show that when the Jews are knocked out through the fifth cycle of discipline the gospel goes on. But instead of having one racial kingdom made up of Jews we now have a regenerate kingdom made up of the Church. So we have one regenerate kingdom which is responsible for giving out the gospel and during this period — the Church Age — the Church is responsible for what the Jews had the responsibility for in the past, and that is the dissemination of the gospel. Since the Jews are under their maximum discipline of the 5th cycle it now becomes the responsibility of the Church. In the Church Age every believer is a witness for Christ, every believer is an ambassador for Christ, and actually the kingdom of Christ on earth today is made up entirely of ambassadors. (There are today, however, very few ambassadors among the clergy. That is because most of the clergy have never accepted Christ as saviour) Then, of course, during the Tribulation the Jews are still under the fifth cycle of discipline but 144,000 Jewish believers will be responsible for dissemination of the gospel.

Remember that the parable of the sower is the basic parable of this passage and it explains everything in the passage.

Defining a parable

1. A parable is a short narrative form which a spiritual lesson is devised, or deduced. All parables are derived from the life at the time.

2. The story gives an outward literal sense of a matter which anyone can understand, believer or unbeliever. Each one of these simple stories also teaches a doctrine and you have to know doctrine to understand the doctrine. So parables are for believers who know doctrine. This passage recognises three kinds of people: unbelievers, ignorant believers, understanding believers, believers who know doctrine. The parable is divided into two parts: the narrative and the doctrine that is being illustrated. Only the one who has doctrine can pick up the deduction, the true meaning of the parable.

3. The interpretation of these parables requires deduction compatible with known doctrine.

4. The characters and the incidents are figurative or typical.

5. Proper names and specific geographical locations are never used in parables. (The rich man and Lazarus is not a parable — Lazarus is a proper name and Hades is a geographical location)

6. The Greek word parable, parabolh, is a compound noun. Para is the preposition for beside, putting something beside something else, bole means to throw. So you take a simple incident and throw it beside a doctrine. In other words, you match up life of the time and doctrine — a parable is an illustration of a point of doctrine.

Verses 1,2 — the background for the parables.

Verse 1 — “The same day” refers to the time of the unpardonable sin, the same day the Pharisees, the chief priests, the scribes, rejected Christ and said that He was performing miracles in the power of Satan — “went Jesus out of the house.” Which house? Why does the Holy Spirit record this particular incident of leaving “the house”? Because at this point leaving the house is an act of significance, like shaking the dust off your feet when you leave the city. You leave it, walk out on it. Jesus is phasing out. The house represents Israel, cf. Matthew 12:44; “the house” is a reference to the temple, the temple represents the Jews and their purpose, and it is saying in effect that He is now leaving the religion of the Jews. Religion has rejected Him; He is leaving them. Jesus left the house, “and sat by the side of the sea.” The sea then also would have representation, for as Jesus leaves the house to go by the side of the sea, the sea represents the nations, as in Revelation 13:1. And the whole point is that in walking out of the house Jesus is telling us what is going to happen because of this rejection: the 5th cycle of discipline will begin very shortly, and under the 5th cycle God walks out on the Jews and scatters them throughout the earth. During the time of the 5th cycle He has another operation, operation Church.

Verse 2 — Even though He walks out on the house, “great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship and sat down” .In other, words they practically pushed Him in the water so He just climbed aboard and sat down [He was very relaxed]; “and the whole multitude stood on the shore.” And then He began to teach this wonderful discourse.

Verses 3-23, the parable of the sower.

Verse 3 — “And he spake many things unto them in parables.” He is changing His teaching method. His teaching method has been direct. Once He has been rejected by the leaders of the land He goes to parables. He now takes simple narratives and matches them up with doctrine; “saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow.” The sower is the Church, the body of Christ, believers. The sower is always a believer communicating the gospel, and a sower sows seed, so the seed is the gospel. As we get into the parable of the sower we are going to notice something very interesting: there are four categories of reaction. The first category is found in verses 4 and 19. Verse 4 gives the narrative; verse 19 gives the explanation, and the category involved is the person who rejects the gospel. So in the first category only we have an unbeliever.

Verse 4 — category wayside. “And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside [unploughed ground].” The seeds, instead of dropping into the soil, bounce off the topsoil, the crust, and they just lay on top; “and the fowls [birds] came and devoured them up.” Remember that the seed always represents the gospel. Notice: The ground represents the unbeliever; the ground rejects the seed. Then the bird takes it. The seed is on top of the ground, not in the ground. The fowls are going to represent Satan, Satanic doctrine, and when a person rejects Christ as saviour he moves into Satan’s camp as never before.

Verse 19 — the explanation. “When anyone [any member of the human race] heareth the word of the kingdom [the gospel], and understandeth it not.” The word “understand” means more than not understanding, it means to refuse to put it together, refuse to believe it; “then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth it away that which was sown in his heart [frontal lobe].” So he understood the gospel, it was in his frontal lobe, he rejected the gospel. The word “heart” refers to the thinking part of the mind. So it was in his mind, he rejected it, and in rejecting it we have then “wicked one” referring to Satan. This follows out the principle of 2 Corinthians 4:3,4, “If our gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” So our first category is an unbeliever, and this unbeliever refers to the scribes and the Pharisees and the chief priests: they have heard the gospel and they have rejected it.

Verses 5, 6 — stony ground; explanation, verses 20, 21. This category describes a believer, and this is a believer minus doctrine. What goes on while Christ is absent from the earth? All of the time there will be evangelism, there will be witnesses, the gospel will be declared. How are people going to react? Some are going to reject it and come under the influence of Satan and hold Satanic viewpoint of life. Then, secondly, there are some who are going to accept Christ but they will never get with doctrine.

Verse 5 — “Some fell upon stony places” — literally, rocky places. And what this means is that it is fertile ground with rocks in it; “where they had not much earth.” The earth that is there is good but it doesn’t have much depth, there isn’t much topsoil; “and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth.” In other words, these seeds functioned properly in the ground and then they started to sprout. They sprouted very soon because of the shallow ground.

Verse 6 — “And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root.” Why didn’t they have a root? The roots went down and hit the rock and then the roots are not. So they have no roots and “they wither away.” The stability of this plant depends upon the roots, but the roots go down and stop because there are rocks underneath, a perfect illustration for heard-headed idiots!

Verses 20, 21 — the interpretation.

Verse 20 — “But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon [e)uquj: immediately] with joy receiveth it.” Not only does he receive the gospel but he does it with joy, he’s very enthusiastic.

Verse 21 — the problem. “Yet hath he not root in himself.” The root is Bible doctrine, he has no root; “but dureth for a while: for when tribulation [pressure] or persecution ariseth,” that is the sun coming out. The sun refers to adversity, pressure, trial. The trial comes because of the Word, he is identified with the Word; “because of the word, by and by [e)uquj: immediately], he is offended.” “Offended” means he is shocked. You have to have roots, you have to have inner resources, you have to have doctrine. So category number two here is the believer who can’t stand up under pressure because he doesn’t have doctrine to use. He is the believer who is ignorant of doctrine.

Verse 7 — thorns; explanation, verse 22. We are again referring to a believer. Perhaps this believer has a little more doctrine but he does not succeed either.

Verse 7 — “And some fell among the thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them.” In other words, up comes the stalk and there is a root now. So we have to admit there is more doctrine here. Here is a person who learns a little doctrine and now he begins to break out with some kind of a testimony. Then the thorns spring up and choke them.

Verse 22 — explanation. “He also that received seed among the thorns.” The word “receive” indicates again a believer; “is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world.” The care of this world is nothing less than one of the great enemies of the believer: mental attitude sin. And the type of mental attitude sin is worry. So this person has a little more doctrine but he is minus the techniques: i.e. faith-rest. Since he is minus the faith-rest technique worry gets to him. The word “care” is worry, and he can’t cope because he simply can’t perpetuate the faith-rest technique in his life; “and the deceitfulness of riches.” There is nothing wrong with being rich but you should never be deceived by it. The deceitfulness of riches doesn’t even mean that this person is rich, it just means that it is first in his scale of values. So not only does he have mental attitude sins but he has a false scale of values. Which indicates some doctrine but not enough to change his scale of values; no occupation with Christ, no faith-rest technique. And because this believer can never break away from the mental attitude sins, fear, worry, envy, jealousy, etc., and because he has a false scale of values, he never succeeds. He is a believer but he never succeeds.

In categories two and three we have eternal security. In each case the believer is saved but in each case the believer does not succeed. The believer does not succeed here because he is ignorant of doctrine and, of course, operates on his emotions. The believer does not succeed here because he never puts into action the doctrines he has learned with regard to the techniques — two specifically in view here: faith-rest and occupation with Christ.

“choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful” — and so these things, worry and the deceitfulness of riches, choke him out of any production.

Verse 8 — the productive believer; explanation — verse 23. This believer is plus doctrine, plus the techniques, plus on the promises, and this believer is a producer, a successful believer.

Verse 8 — “But the other fell into good ground.” Good ground: doctrine, techniques, promises, the whole works; “and brought forth fruit” — imperfect linear aktionsart: kept on bringing forth production. There are all kinds of successful believers; three categories here; “one hundred fold, sixty fold, thirty fold.” One hundred: the mature believer; sixty: the adolescent; thirty: baby moving toward adolescent. They do not all produce the same, they have the same assets but they are in different stages of growth. The mature believer has the most production.

Verse 23 — “But he that received the seed into good ground is he that heareth the word and understandeth it.” There is the learning of doctrine. He not only hears it but he understands it. Present active participle for “understand” indicates that it is a process. You don’t understand it all at once, it is the process of learning a little bit at a time and consistently learning. The point is that he not only hears the Word but he consistently learns it. He stays with it, he doesn’t come and go.

“which also beareth fruit” — “beareth fruit” is a present active indicative and with the present participle it indicates that this is the result of consistently learning the Word. Consistency in learning doctrine results in production.

What can we learn from this basic parable?

During the time of the Church Age and during the time of the Tribulation there will always be evangelism, doctrine of the Word will always be taught. And during this particular period three things will be true: a. there will be unbelievers, people who reject the gospel; b. there will be believers who will be minus doctrine and who never get with the Christian life; c. there will be believers who learn a little bit but who do not utilise doctrine; d. there will be believers who produce — successful believers.

Verses 10-17, the purpose of parables.

Verse 10 — “And the disciples came and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?” They wanted to know why He had changed His method of teaching.

Verse 11 — “Because it is given unto you to know.” The eleven disciples are eventually going to learn doctrine. For some it is going to take a lifetime; “the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.” Remember that the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven simply have to do with the Church Age, and mysteries is in the plural because there are many different doctrines pertaining to the Church Age; “but to them [the scribes, the Pharisees, the chief priests, the religious rulers who have rejected Him] it is not given.” They can hear the story but they cannot understand the doctrine that goes with it.

Verse 12 — a principle. “For whosoever hath, to him it shall be given.” Going back to our categories in the parables, who does have? Category number four is the believer who has doctrine, and for the believer who learns doctrine he is going to learn more doctrine. Doctrine is built upon doctrine. If you have doctrine you can learn more doctrine and the more doctrine you learn the more you can learn, and the more you can learn the more productive you will become, and the more successful as you use it. So we have the principle that knowledge is built upon knowledge; doctrine is built upon knowledge of doctrine. “Whosoever hath” — he has doctrine, he has the techniques, he has promises — “to him it shall be given.” In other words, he will learn more doctrine; “and he shall have more abundance” — a phrase which means to richly furnish a castle, and it means you will have a marvellous life. Doctrine has to become your life. Your life will be richly furnished with blessing and the blessing comes from doctrine.

“but” — conjunction of contrast — “whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.” This refers to the other three categories. What does category #1 “hath not” ?Salvation. It is taken from them and that means judgement. Category two is a believer, he has eternal security and never will face judgement, but has no doctrine. And if you do not use doctrine you lose what doctrine you had to begin with and therefore the concept of the spiritual idiot. Then you have the person who knows it but doesn’t apply it. So it is taken from him by worry and the false scale of values.

Verse 13 — “Therefore I speak to them in parables: because they seeing see not.” He is describing the scribes, the Pharisees, those who have rejected Him. They see the point, they have heard the gospel, but they reject it. To see means they understood it, to see not means they rejected it. Seeing is used here as a system of perception; “neither do they understand” means because they have rejected Christ they could never go any further. So He gives them the parable, they can understand the narrative but they do not deduce the doctrine. This is true of: a. the unbeliever who has rejected the gospel; b. the believer who does not understand doctrine, he is in the same boat with the unbeliever, he gets the narrative but he doesn’t understand the doctrine. The principle that comes out is simply this: when a believer does not understand doctrine he thinks no different from an unbeliever, he acts no different from an unbeliever, i.e. he worries, he has a false scale of values, the only difference is that he is saved and will spend eternity in the presence of God, but he is just as miserable and just as unstable as any unbeliever. In other words, you cannot distinguish between an unbeliever and an ignorant believer.

Verse 14 — by using the parables He is also fulfilling a prophecy from Isaiah. “And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah” — Isaiah 6:9,10. The Jews are about to go into the 5th cycle of discipline — AD 70. In Isaiah’s day they were about to go into it for the first time [586-516 BC], and therefore there is a parallel situation between the Jews in Isaiah’s day and the Jews in His day. This is why Jesus quotes from Isaiah, He is anticipating the second administration of the 5th cycle of discipline — “which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand.” Hearing means to get it; not understand means they rejected it and therefore it went from them. They understood the gospel; they rejected it — that is, the unbeliever. But in Isaiah’s day there were Jews who were born again, and they heard doctrine, they understood doctrine, and then they forgot it because they didn’t operate through doctrine or by doctrine.

“and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive” — both not understand and not perceive means that it didn’t stay with them, they didn’t use it.

Verse 15 — “For this people’s heart waxed gross.” They have heard it, understood it, and forgotten it. And “gross” means human viewpoint replaces it; “their ears are dull of hearing” because they have heard it and rejected it they are not interested in Bible doctrine; “their eyes they have closed” — to close your eyes is an act of volition. You decide to close your eyes and you close them. By their own volition they have rejected doctrine; “lest” introduces a negative purpose clause; “at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, ands should understand with their heart [frontal lobes], and should be changed [not “converted,” as in the King James version].” What are the changes here? Category #1, the change is from unsaved to saved; category #2, a changed life as a result of learning doctrine; category #3, a changed life as a result of using doctrine, using the techniques; and, of course, category #4 is changed by the Word; “and I should heal them.” The word “heal” here is used in the sense of blessing. Recovering from an illness is a blessing, there is a change. You feel bad, now you feel good.

Healing here refers: a. To the person who accepts Christ is changed in the sense that he has eternal life. Before he was condemned to die in the lake of fire; b. For the person who was ignorant of doctrine, he learns doctrine, he is changed; c. For the person who was worried and had a false scale of values, he is changed. It is doctrine that changes.

Verse 15 — “But blessed are your eyes, for they see,” which means they are learning a little doctrine and they will learn a lot more. And blessing means that happiness is involved. The word “blessing” means happiness. For the person who learns doctrine and lives by doctrine there is only one thing for him — happiness.

Verse 17 — “For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which you see.” People like Moses, Isaiah. Elijah and Elisha, they all wanted to be on the earth when Jesus came; “and have not; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.”

We have seen that the parables cover that period which begins with the 5th cycle of discipline to Israel and goes to the second advent, or that period in which Christ is absent from the earth. The parables of Matthew 13 cover various aspects of it. Some have to do with the Tribulation, some with the Church Age, but all have to do with a period which has one thing in common, the Lord Jesus Christ is absent from the earth.

The rest of the parables in this chapter fall into three categories. First category: mixed. In this category we have believers and unbelievers pictured as living together during the time that Christ is absent from the earth. This involves the wheat and the tares, the good and bad fish, and so on. Second category: the category dealing with unsaved people only. They deal with unbelievers in the Church Age and in the Tribulation. For example, the mustard seed: the Church Age unbelievers; the leaven: Tribulational unbelievers. The third category: the saved category, and these parables deal with believers only during the time that Christ is absent from the earth — the parable of the treasure deals with Israel during the Tribulation and the restoration, the parable of the pearl deals with the Church Age.

Verse 24-30, the statement of a parable.

Verse 24 — “Another.” The word “another” all the way through the passage refers to another of the same kind; “parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven.” All of the way through this passage the kingdom of heaven refers to born again believers during the time that Christ is absent from the earth. The King is in Heaven so it is called the kingdom of heaven. There is no difference between the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God, and the word “kingdom” in most of these passages. This has been often over emphasised. But the word Kingdom of heaven in these parables is specific, it refers to born again believers on the earth. Christ the King is absent and in heaven; “is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field.” The man who sows the good seed in the field is the Lord Jesus Christ. Anticipating the interpretation coming up: the good seed refers to the believers during the Tribulation, the field is the world.

Verse 25 — “But while men slept.” The word “slept” here implies ignorance of doctrine, believers minus doctrine leading to no challenge to the unbeliever; “his enemy [Satan] came and sowed tares among the wheat.” The tares refer to the unbelievers in the Tribulation; “and went his way.” So here is the principle. During the time when the kingdom is on earth during the Tribulation there will be living on the same earth unbelievers. Remember that Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father. Matthew chapter 13 covers the time when Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father until Christ leaves that position and returns to the earth at the second advent. Christ is absent from the earth and during that time we have two ages: the Church Age, and the Tribulation which is the last part of the Jewish Age. Now the wheat and the tares. The wheat refers to believers, the kingdom of heaven on earth [Christ is separated from part of His kingdom, the part which is dwelling on earth], the tares are unbelievers. And the principle: during the Tribulation there will be believers and unbelievers on the earth. The reason we have this parable at this time is because during the Millennium, after Christ returns to the earth, we have the Millennial reign of Christ and during that time there will be wheat only. The point is: all of the time that Christ is absent from the earth He puts us, as it were, on our own. He provides unlimited divine operating assets for us and these assets are available and usable at all times, but the believer has to learn to handle his own problems by utilising these assets. God has put us on our own and we are going to rub noses with the tares.

Verse 26 — “But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.” So we have wheat and tares growing together.

Verse 27 — “So the servants of the householder” the householder [farmer] is the Lord Jesus Christ, the servants are angels; “came and said unto him, Sir [the word is Lord and it refers to deity], didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?” In other words, Look there are tares where believers were, the original crop of 144,000 Jews, and now all of a sudden we have tares and wheat together.

Verse 28 — “And he saith unto them, An enemy [Satan, the ruler of this world] hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?” In other words, should we get rid of the tares? Should we go out and fight the battles for the Tribulational saints? And the answer is, No, let them stay side by side. You have to know something about the Tribulation to appreciate in full this parable. You have to know that the unbelievers who are tares are going to be the strongest religious group that has ever existed and they are going to be active in destroying born again believers wherever they can be found, and that the conflict will be drawn: religious versus regenerate. This will be stronger in the Tribulation than at any time in the history of the human race. And the point is: Should we go done and get rid of all those religious people who are hurting the born again people? and the answer is, No, the Lord has provided for them and they should go side by side with the religious crowd until the Lord returns. And there is a principle which applies to us today in this sense: we live in the age when Jesus Christ is absent from the earth, so we can’t run to heaven every time some religious person, some legalist, starts to malign us or the first time we get thrown to the lions. We are here on the earth and because we are we have to use what He has provided. In other words, the believer has to be spiritually self-sustaining, and this is done through knowledge of the Word of God and/or Bible doctrine. And the more Bible doctrine you know the more you are going to stand up under the enemy attack for this is the devil’s world during the time when Christ is absent. The devil is the prince of the power of the air, he is the ruler of this world.

Verse 29 — “But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.” The wheat cannot grow. You might pull out a tare and you might loosen the roots of the wheat and I want the wheat to represent me, I want the wheat to be stabilised, so you let them alone. In other words, it is one of those situations where angels are to mind their own business.

Verse 30 — “Let both grow together until the harvest.” The harvest is the time of judgement which immediately follows the second advent of Christ; it is the baptism of fire; “and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers [the angels], Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them [baptism of fire]: but gather the wheat in to my barn.” The barn is the Millennial reign of Christ.

Verse 36-43, the interpretation.

Verse 36 — “Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house.” The people can only understand one part of the parable; “and his disciples came to him, saying [kept asking], Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field” — explain it to us, we don’t understand it either. And the point is that these disciples were born again and they should have understood thoroughly because they had been given doctrine and all they have to do is match the doctrine with the parable. And so He is going to show them again how to match doctrine with the simple narrative.

Verse 37 — “He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of Man.” In other words the sower is the householder, Jesus Christ.

Verse 38 — “The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom,” they are the wheat, “but the tares are the children of [that belong to] the wicked one.” In other words, these are the ones who have accepted strong delusion, cf.. 2 Thessalonians 2:7ff.

2 Thess. 2:7 — “For the mystery of iniquity doth already work.” The mystery of iniquity is the fact that religion is operative in the world today, and ecumenical religious systems have been operative for many centuries. But ecumenical religion will not make its world-wide breakthrough until the Tribulation; “only he who hinders will hinder until he is taken out of the way.” The removal of the Church will be the removal of restraint upon ecumenical religion and ecumenical religion will reach an all time peak of power.

2 Thess. 2:8 — “Then shall that Wicked one [Satan and Satan’s man] be revealed.” Satan offers the kingdoms of the world to a man and he accepts; “whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.” The Wicked one is the dictator of the revived Roman empire, he is the political ruler of a ten-nation confederacy and is the religious ruler of ecumenical religion.

2 Thess. 2:9 — “Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with power and signs and lying wonders”

2 Thess. 2:10 — “With all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish.” In other words, the unbelievers are going to be deceived. Why are they going to be deceived? Because “they received not the love of the truth [doctrine], that they might be saved.”

2 Thess. 2:11 — “And for this cause God will send them strong delusion.” This strong delusion is exactly the same as the hardness of Pharaoh’s heart, and it means they go on negative signals, they persist on negative signals after hearing the gospel, and therefore God removes all restraint from their negative volition. These people who do not love the truth, who are not saved and who will follow this dictator, are going to have the lid removed from their negative volition, and that is exactly what strong delusion is — negative volition allowed free rein to express it self to the maximum; “that they should believe a lie” — Satanic doctrine.

2 Thess. 2:12 — “That they all might be damned who believe not the truth [doctrine], but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

In Matthew 13:36 — “Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field.”

Verse 38 — “the tares are the children of the wicked one,” those who have strong delusion.

Verse 39 — “The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age [not “world” as in the King James version],” the end of the Jewish Age, the Tribulation, “and the reapers are the angels.”

Verse 40 — “As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire,” baptism of fire, “so shall it be in the end of this age [not world].”

Verse 41 — “The Son of Man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom.” Remember that the kingdom of regenerate goes right on. The kingdom of heaven in this passage is the kingdom of regenerate people in the Tribulation. This kingdom goes right on into the Millennium, it is the unbelievers who are cast off the earth by the baptism of fire. So He gathers the tares out of the kingdom; the tares are unbelievers being cast out of the world. As in the days of Noah all unbelievers are removed from the earth.

“all things that offend” — all of the stumbling blocks, literally. It has been translated here like a verb but there is no verb here, it is a noun in the plural and it should be translated “all the stumbling blocks,” the unbelievers.

“and them which do iniquity” — wrong. It should be translated, “and them which practice lawlessness,” i.e. to reject Christ as saviour, cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:7-12.

Verse 42 — “And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: and there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

Verse 43 — “Then,” after the baptism of fire, “shall the righteous,” those who have imputed righteousness, “shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” The Father will turn it over to the Son but it is the kingdom of the Father who is the planner. “Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.” You can understand this you disciples who have come into the house because you are believers, and because you are born again believers, if you have ears you can understand these things.

Verses 31-32, the parable of the mustard seed — apostasy in the Church Age. This parable logically follows the wheat and the tares. The tares are a very close imitation of the wheat, by the way, and religion seeks to counterfeit or to imitate the regenerate relationship with God. The devil imitates the truth through religion, the devil is the author and the promoter of religion, and religion is the basis of apostasy. In this parable we see the operation of religion or apostasy or legalism in the Church Age.

Verse 31 — “Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven [born again believers on the earth. Christ is absent, the King is absent, believers on the earth, so it is called kingdom of heaven] is like unto a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and he sowed in his field.” The grain of mustard seed is doctrine. The man taking it and sowing it in a field is the teaching of doctrine.

Verse 32 — “Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is greatest among herbs, and becomes a tree,” this is a little seed and it results in a big tree, “and the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches.” The big problem here is the birds of the air. The mustard seed itself is doctrine which starts on the day of Pentecost. On the day of Pentecost Peter stands up and preaches and the sermon is loaded with doctrine. There is evangelisation, there is the gospel, there is doctrine for believers, there is all kinds of interesting information. He sowed it in the field, the field is the world. It is the least of all seeds. In other words, you have a small beginning on the day of Pentecost — the Church began with 120 people. Eventually the Church expands and it covers the whole earth, and the body of Christ, believers all over the earth, is a picture of a big tree with branches.

The birds are the emissaries of Satan who infiltrate the Church with false doctrine. So the birds sitting in the trees are false teachers — this is apostasy in the kingdom of heaven. In other words, this is simply saying that wheat is a beautiful and wonderful thing but we need another parable to show that not all believers during the time that Christ is absent are going to be wonderful people. In facts a lot of them are going to be clucks because they do not learn doctrine and they become suckers for apostasy. So today we have a great tree throughout the world, and a lot of apostasy. The birds refer to any system of false teaching which has infiltrated the Church, and notice that the birds are identified with the tree; these false teachers are identified with the Church. They may have the name “Bishop,” or they may have the name “Reverend” but they stand up they say things that are contrary to the Church — false doctrine.

Verse 33-35, the parable of the leaven.

Verse 33 — “Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven [regenerate people on the earth] is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.” The leaven refers to false doctrine in the Tribulation. Leaven is always used in a bad way; leaven always depicts evil in the scripture. The true Biblical meaning of leaven is found in Exodus 12:8, 15, 19; 13:7; 34:25, and it is always evil. There are five kinds of leaven in the New Testament and they are all evil: the Leaven of Herod, Mark 8:15, worldliness; the leaven of the Sadducees, Mark 16:6, rationalism or human viewpoint of life; the leaven of the Pharisees, Mark 8:15; Luke 12:1, religion, legalism; the leaven of the Galatians, Galatians 5:9, legalism in salvation and spirituality; the leaven of the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 5:6,7, licentiousness. In the leaven of the Galatians and the leaven of the Corinthians we have the two trends of the old sin nature. The trend to toward asceticism is the leaven of the Galatians and the trend toward lasciviousness is the leaven of the Corinthians.

The woman refers to the ecumenical religious system of the Tribulation — Revelation 17:1-15. She took and hid the leaven in three measures of meal: first measure of meal — the Church, and the leaven in the Church is false doctrine. This is the mystery form of religion, the mystery of iniquity; then in the Tribulation the second measure of meal — iniquity or religion is revealed and the second measure is the Gentile unbelievers of the Tribulation; and then the third measure of meal is Jewish unbelievers of the Tribulation.

Principle: The Church here is the mystery of iniquity and then the manifestation of iniquity are the other two measures.

So during the Tribulation all organisations will be taken over by religion; leaven will take over the meal; “till the whole is leavened,” it permeates everything. Apostasy will be in every organisation at that time.

Verse 34 — “All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable he did not speak unto them.” Remember, Jesus was rejected. Religion, which is the mystery of iniquity had already rejected Christ, and because Christ was rejected He switched over to parables. Parables then are for those who are born again because they hear the narrative but they can take the narrative and match it up with the pertinent doctrine, that which will happen during the time when Christ is absent. You see Christ was already rejected, therefore He is going to be absent from the earth, and during the course of His absence He explains by parables the general trends which will exist in the kingdom of heaven on the earth — the devil’s world.

Verse 35 — “That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.” The word “that” which introduces the verse is a purpose clause; “that it might be fulfilled” is an aorist passive subjunctive, the aorist tense is the point of time in which it was fulfilled, and the subjunctive mood indicates that Jesus did this of His own volition. He deliberately fulfilled that passage — Psalm 78:2.

Verse 44, the parable of the treasure, the chorus of believing Israel or the remnant during the end of the age, the Tribulation. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure.” The treasure is the Jewish believer of the Tribulation. Remember the Jew of the Tribulation is under the fifth cycle of discipline, and yet he is still a treasure. There is a principle behind this: the analogy to the treasure; in all ages born again believers are God’s treasure and He regards them as His treasure. And in God’s scale of values, therefore, we believers are first. Treasure means that which is most important; “hid,” perfect tense: hidden in the past with the result that it stayed hidden until revealed; “in a field,” the field is the world; “the which when a man hath found,” the man is Jesus Christ; “he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.” The “hiding” here means protection. In other words, the finding of the treasure are Jewish people receiving Christ as saviour during the Tribulation, and He “hides” them, i.e. He protects them. And this is the principle of the two groups of Jewish believers in the Tribulation.

“for joy” — this goes back to the cross; “buyeth that field.” The point is that every Jew who believes in Christ during the Tribulation has been bought with a price, he has been redeemed and because he has been purchased and redeemed he is protected, and because he is protected he is that treasure which will be delivered at the second advent.

Verse 45, 46 — the parable of the pearl.

Verse 45 — “The kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man [Jesus Christ] seeking goodly pearls.” This is the story of the Church Age. In the Church Age God is seeking goodly pearls and the principle is the formation of the body of Christ. So we have a special type of treasure and a treasure which beautifully represents the body of Christ.

Verse 45 — “who when he had found one pearl of great price.” There are six characteristics of a pearl and these apply to the Church Age and to us as believers.

The pearl

1. This was a pearl of great value. The believer in union with Christ is of great value to God.

2. A pearl is a complete unit. We as believers are completed by union with Christ.

3. The pearl is taken from the sea. This, of course, takes us to the book of Revelation where the nations are called the sea. The Church is made of people from all parts of the earth, the sea represent all nations.

4. The pearl is formed through suffering; the Church is formed through the suffering of Christ on the cross.

5. The pearl is said to be purchased. The purchasing of the pearl is the work of Jesus Christ on the cross — “the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin.”

6. The pearl is displayed. Believers are still on this earth representing the Lord Jesus Christ, as per 2 Corinthians 3:3.

Verses 47-50, the parable of the net — evangelism in the Tribulation.

Verse 47 — “The kingdom of heaven is like unto a net” .There are actually four ways of evangelism during the seven years of the Tribulation, the earth will be evangelised four times.

1. The 144,000 Jews of Revelation chapters 7 and 14.

2. Their converts.

3. The two witnesses, Moses and Elijah.

4. The angels with the everlasting gospel.

The net is actually a drag net, “that was cast into the sea,” the sea is the sea of nations, “and gathered of every kind.” People from all over the earth are going to be evangelised during the Tribulation; “which when it was full.” That is, there will be a full compliment of regenerate individuals in the Tribulation, just as the body of Christ will be completed when the last person of the body is saved.

Verse 48 — “When it was full, they drew it to shore, and sat down and gathered the goods.” Drawing to shore is the second advent, and now we have the separation of the good and the bad fish. Good fish: believers going into the Millennium; bad fish: unbelievers of the Tribulation cast off the earth [baptism of fire].

Verse 49 — “So shall it be at the end of the age: the angels shall come forth, and sever [literally: shall separate] the wicked from among the just [justified].” Wicked: unbelievers; justified: born again individuals.

Verse 50 — “And shall cast them,” the bad fish, “into the furnace of fire,” the baptism of fire. This is analogous to the wheat and the tares; “and there shall be wailing [strong crying] and gnashing of teeth.”

Verse 51 — “Jesus saith unto them, Have ye understood all these things?” He said, “all of these things,” which means you have to understand all of the parables to get the whole picture of the Tribulation and the Church during the time Christ is absent. “They say unto him. Yea, Lord.”

Principle: If you understand doctrine you have responsibility. You are responsible for what you know. If you know doctrine you are responsible to apply it.

Verse 52 — “Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which in instructed regarding the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man who is an householder.” The principle now is: Look, you are just like a scribe, a theological student. When they are instructed they are like a householder; “which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.” He is just describing something that happened in that day. What happens to a theological student when he graduates? He becomes a scribe. So what does he do? He goes around to the synagogues and he preaches, “something new, something old.” Something old is something he studied in seminary; something new is something he studied for himself. So new and old referred to Bible doctrine, and Bible doctrine is called treasure. You learn doctrine, you have a treasure in your frontal lobe. You are God’s treasure, now you have God’s treasure in you. Since you are God’s treasure God puts in your frontal lobe treasure, and that treasure is doctrine.

In the devils’ world you can lose everything, but there is one thing you can never lose and that is Bible doctrine. If you get Bible doctrine in your frontal lobe it is the most valuable thing in the world and you can’t lose it. You can use it but you can’t lose it. That is the principle of the householder. The householder is an administrator. The point is that when you learn doctrine you have this treasure in your frontal lobe and this treasure is to be given to others — imparting something new, something old.

Conclusion, verses 53-58.

Verse 53 — “When Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence.” He left. Why does He leave the disciples at this point? Because their heads are swimming, they have reached the saturation point for the moment and He walks off to give them a chance to digest it.

Verse 54 — “And when he was come into his own country [Nazareth], and he taught them in their synagogue,” instead of His disciples He is teaching Jews in the synagogue, “insomuch that they were astonished.” They are utterly amazed but they missed the boat because they start to look into His ancestry, His home life, and they are all a bunch of snobs. And they reject Him on the basis of snobbery and class distinction.

“Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works?” Why, He speaks like an educated man but He doesn’t have any education!

Verse 55 — “Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brothers … Whence hath this man all these things?”

Verse 57 — “And they were offended in him.” Why? They associated Him with background, a background to which they regarded themselves as superior. The family of Jesus during the residence in the northern part of the country were considered low down by the synagogue crowd. And the people in the synagogue were saying: Why, we won’t even let them in. And Jesus comes into the synagogue and gives them a fantastic message, and because they are snobs they reject Him. And because they were snobs they missed the boat of eternal life. And this is going on today. Snobbery is pride.

“But Jesus said unto them. A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country.” This is an idiom which says that a prophet has honour. Christ has been accepted as the God-Man, as the son of David everywhere else, but in His own back yard He is rejected; “and in his own house,” which means at that time none of His brothers were saved. Later on they were.

Verse 58 — and so because of that Jesus left them. “He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.”