Last week we were looking at an event from history where
Jesus began to tell a parable about the kingdom of Heaven to the large crowds
that were following Him. In this parable, Jesus compared the kingdom of heaven
to a man who sowed good seed in his field. Jesus explained that after the seed
was sown, an enemy of the man who owned the field sowed tares in the midst of
the wheat that he had planted.
Jesus then
explained that the slaves, upon seeing what was happening in the field, reported
to the owner what they had discovered and asked permission to go into the field
and remove the weeds. Jesus continued His parable by stating that the landowner
responded to the slaves request by explaining to his slaves that they needed to
allow these dangerous weeds to remain growing alongside the wheat until it was
time for the harvest.
The owner explained to his slaves that at the harvest,
after both the weeds and the wheat were removed from the ground, the reapers
would be directed to separate the wheat from the weeds. After separating the
weeds from the wheat, the reapers would be directed by the landowner to gather
up the weeds to be burned. Then the reapers would be able to complete the harvest
by safely placing the wheat into the landowner’s barn.
You see, while it is virtually impossible to
differentiate between the wheat and tare as they grew, at harvest, when both
plants reached maturity, a difference emerged. The ears of wheat, which is
where the fruit of the plant is produced, would become so heavy that the entire
plant would end up drooping downward, while the tare would remain upright. Here
is a picture of the two at harvest.
In addition, at harvest time, the wheat would have a
brown appearance when ripe, while the tare would be black. And by the time of
the harvest the wheat plant would be sufficiently mature and strong enough not
to be destroyed by the uprooting of the tares, which would not have been the
case if the slaves would have went in earlier to attempt to remove these weeds.
So at harvest time, there would be a distinction that would allow for the safe
harvest of the valuable grain and the destruction of the dangerous tares.
Now you may be thinking to yourself, well that’s a
great agricultural story, but what does that have to do with the kingdom of
heaven? What is the deeper spiritual meaning that we are supposed to apply to
our lives? If I have just described what is running through your mind, I just
want to encourage you. I want to encourage you because, just a few verses later
in this event from history, we see the disciples, ask Jesus the very same
questions, beginning in Matthew 13:36. Let’s look at it together:
Then He left
the crowds and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him and said,
"Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field."
Matthew
tells us that after telling this series of parables, these earthly stories
designed to reveal a deeper spiritual truth, He left the large crowds and
returned to the home where He was staying. The disciples, however, followed
Jesus home perplexed at this how seemingly obvious agricultural story had
anything to do with the kingdom of Heaven And in their perplexed state, the
disciples asked Jesus “Explain to us the parable of the tares in the field.”
Matthew then recorded Jesus response in verse 37-43. Let’s look at Jesus
response together:
37 And He said, "The one who
sows the good seed is the Son of Man, 38 and the field is the world;
and as for the good seed, these
are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one; 39 and the enemy who
sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers
are angels. 40 "So just as the tares are gathered up and burned
with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. 41 "The Son of
Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all
stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, 42 and will
throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and
gnashing of teeth. 43 "Then THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS
THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.
Matthew tells us that Jesus began to answer His
disciples’ question by revealing to the disciples who the characters in the
parable represented. Jesus explained that He was represented in the parable by
the landowner, while the field represented the world. Jesus then contrasted the
two types of seed. Jesus explained that the good seed, which is the wheat,
represented those who accepted the claims of Jesus Christ and the message of
the gospel by believing, trusting and following Him as Lord and Leader, which
resulted in them having experienced the forgiveness of sin and had entered into
the relationship with God that they were created for in the kingdom of
heaven.
By contrast, Jesus explained that the tares, or the
weeds, represented those who have rejected the claims of Christ and the message
of the gospel of the kingdom of heaven. Jesus then identified those who reject
the message of Jesus and the kingdom of heaven as being sons of the evil one
that were placed there by the devil.
Jesus point here was that those who have rejected the
message of Jesus and the kingdom of heaven have chosen, either consciously or
unconsciously, to align themselves with those in the world who are hostile to
God and who have set themselves up in opposition to God and His kingdom. As a
result, they were sons of the devil in the sense that they have aligned and
identified themselves with the same opposition to God and His kingdom as the
devil has. And as such, these people were instruments that the devil would use
in an attempt to destroy the kingdom of heaven and Jesus kingdom mission here
on earth to provide the opportunity for all of humanity to enter into the
relationship with God that they were created for.
Jesus then explained to the disciples that the harvest
represented the end of God’s story here on earth, when Jesus will return with
His angels to earth to achieve the final victory and judgment over selfishness,
sin, death and the devil and usher in the kingdom of Heaven in its fullest
sense. And as part of His final victory and judgment over selfishness, sin,
death and the devil; as part of ushering in the kingdom of Heaven in its
fullest sense, Jesus explained that His angels, who were represented by the
reapers in the parable, will first gather out of His kingdom all stumbling
blocks and those who commit lawlessness.
And just like the weeds in the parable, all of those
who were stumbling blocks to the advancement of the kingdom of heaven as a
result of their opposition to the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel
of the kingdom of heaven, all of those who rejected the claims of Christ and
the message of the gospel and the kingdom of Heaven; all those who either
passively or actively rebelled against the message of Jesus and the kingdom of
heaven will be revealed for what they truly are and will experience the eternal
separation from God and punishment in hell. When Jesus referred to weeping and
gnashing of teeth, He is painting a word picture to describe the response that
those who have rejected the message of Jesus and the kingdom of heaven will
have to the punishment that they will experience for all eternity in hell.
By contrast, Jesus explained that for those who are
members of the kingdom of heaven as a result of believing, trusting and
following Jesus as Lord and Leader, they will shine forth as the sun in the
kingdom of their Father. With this phrase, Jesus was pointing His disciples to
a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the Old Testament of the
Bible, called the book of Daniel. In Daniel 12:3, we see the prophet Daniel a
little over 500 years prior to the birth of Jesus, describe the resurrection of
those who were right with God and their entrance into the kingdom of heaven.
And it is in this earthly story designed to reveal a
deeper spiritual truth that we discover a timeless truth about the kingdom of
Heaven. And that timeless truth is that the Kingdom of Heaven is patient… to a
point. The timeless reality is that just as if was for the disciples, there
will be people in the world who respond to the message of Jesus and the message
of the kingdom of heaven by rejecting that message.
Some will violently oppose the message of Jesus and
the kingdom of heaven in a very overt and obvious way. Others will violently
oppose the message of the Jesus and the kingdom of heaven in such a way that
their day to day lives will look virtually indistinguishable from those who
have enthusiastically embraced the message of Jesus and the kingdom of heaven.
And those who violently oppose the message of the kingdom of heaven will live
right alongside those who enthusiastically embrace the message of the kingdom
of heaven until the day that Jesus returns to earth to usher in the kingdom of
Heaven in its fullest sense. And the timeless reality is that God will continue
to allow this to happen because the kingdom of heaven is patient, to a point.
The kingdom of heaven is patiently waiting until the
end of God’s story here on earth. The kingdom of heaven is patiently waiting as
God uses the church as the vehicle to reveal His Son Jesus to the lost,
hurting, and broken world around us. The kingdom of heaven will patiently allow
the devil to attempt to derail and destroy Jesus and His kingdom mission through
self-righteous religious people who do not have a relationship with Jesus who
serve as stumbling blocks to the kingdom.
The kingdom of heaven will patiently allow the devil
to attempt to derail and destroy the kingdom through those who violently oppose
Jesus and persecute His people. The
kingdom of heaven will patiently allow the devil to attempt to derail and
destroy the kingdom through those whose lives look no different from members of
the kingdom of heaven, yet fail to bear the fruit that results from being a
member of the kingdom of Heaven. The kingdom of heaven will be patient, until
the time of patience is over.
Now you may be wondering, “But why is the kingdom of
heaven so patient?” The kingdom of heaven is patient, because God is so
gracious. God, in His grace, desires to give all of humanity an opportunity to
respond to His offer of forgiveness through His Son Jesus by believing,
trusting and following Jesus as Lord and leader. The kingdom of heaven is so
patient, to a point, because, in God’s perfect timing, He will usher in the
kingdom of heaven in its fullest sense at Jesus second coming.
And at that time, all of humanity will be exposed for
who they truly are. And at that point, those who have rejected the message of
Jesus and the kingdom of heaven will have no excuse. All of humanity will come
face to face with Jesus, who will ask this simple question “Do I know you?” And
those who have rejected Jesus will want to say “but, but, but… And Jesus
response, in His perfect justice will be “Was I not patient with you? Did I not
allow you to reject me over, and over, and over again? What is your excuse?”
And for that person, they will have none.
So here is a question to consider: how are you
responding to the fact that the kingdom of heaven is patient, to a point? Are
you responding to the patience of the kingdom of heaven by rejoicing in the
grace that has been given you and by telling others about the grace that God is
offering them through Jesus Christ? Or are you responding to the patience of
the kingdom of heaven by taking advantage of it?
Because the timeless reality is that the kingdom of
heaven is patient…to a point…
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