Matthew 13:24-52

We should never think that in this rejection God was taken by surprise. He wasn’t. He knew the heralding of the Kingdom and King would be rejected but that doesn’t change the fact that it was that nation’s privilege and responsibility to accept and believe it.

Through the ages many very wise people have tried to think about what would have happened if the nation had received the message and they had believed the King. Where would it have left us, the Gentiles? How different would the last 2000 years have been? Obviously there would have been no wars, no sickness, no crime, no tears no death. The planet would have been a different place where evil is bound.

But it’s a futile exercise because when we look at the history of the nation of Israel, this nation blessed by God, God’s chosen people, they’ve always been disobedient and unbelieving even in the face of God’s incredible, miraculous promises to preserve them as a nation.

Of course, that hasn’t changed even up till today.

 

So, as we pick up today with the parable of the weeds, or the tares, we keep reminding ourselves that Jesus is speaking about the Kingdom of Heaven.

We can only see ourselves in this situation by imagining that we’re on a timeline between the announcement of both John the Baptist and Jesus Himself about the Kingdom of Heaven being at hand. The king had arrived you see. That’s the start of the timeline.

The timeline ends at the second coming of Christ.

These Mystery Parables show the timeline of the Kingdom after it’d been offered to and rejected by Israel. They reveal what’s going to take place between the time of Christ’s rejection and the time when He returns to the earth as King.

With these parables our Lord covers the entire period between His rejection by Israel and His return to the earth to establish His Kingdom. They’re very important.

During that whole period, right along that timeline, seed that relates to the Kingdom of Heaven has been sown. The Sower is the Lord Himself.

 

We begin at Matthew 13:24,

Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; 

 

It’s a picture of a man who sowed good seed in his field.

 

Matthew 13:25,

but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.

 

Notice who’s asleep. While men slept, the enemy came.

Remember, the Sower is the Lord, and He neither slumbers nor sleeps.

Satan is the enemy, and he sows tares or weeds among the wheat.

To Matthew 13:26 now,

But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. 

 

The most common tare or weed found in grainfields in the Holy Land, and elsewhere, is bearded darnel, sometimes called “false wheat” which produces a poisonous grain head. It’s almost identical in appearance to wheat while the two are growing but when they come into fruit, they can be separated easily.

 

Matthew 13:27-30 and remember it’s Jesus Himself telling the parable,

So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ 

He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ 

But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. 

Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them but gather the wheat into my barn.” ‘ ” 

 

This is a very important picture to see.

Jesus says, “Don’t try to pull up the tares, the weeds, because you’ll end up pulling some of the valuable wheat out with them. Let them both grow together, and when they finally ripen and the wheat is ready, you’ll be able to recognize which are tares and which are wheat.”

 

The wheat’s growing and the tares are growing, both together.

This is the Kingdom of Heaven situation during this interval between Christ’s rejection and His return to establish His Kingdom upon the earth.

The opening words, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like…” tell us this.

 

Jesus is going to give us the meaning of this parable after the next few verses.

 

Now we come to the parable of the mustard seed and this parable pictures a different kind of seed. We’re also going to read the next parable, the parable of the leaven with it because they go together and as we’ll soon see they don’t represent anything positive.

These two parables are placed together here in Matthew and it’s the same thing in Lukes recording of these parables.

Matthew 13:31-33,

Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.” 

Another parable He spoke to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.” 

 

In these verses the Lord first compares the Kingdom of Heaven to a mustard seed which He described as “the least of all seeds.” What did He mean by that? It was the least of all seeds that the people in His audience knew about, the least of all the seeds in the category of plants in which the mustard belongs. It’s a very small seed.

 

Then He says, “But when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree.”

This tiny seed becomes a tree large enough for birds to roost in.

Now mustard is a condiment that adds flavour, but it doesn’t have food value in itself like a grain of wheat which is loaded with vitamins and minerals. It’s not the seed as described in the parable of the Sower.

Mustard’s great on hamburgers or to add flavour to foods and sauces but it’s not a food we can live on.

Also, we need to remember Jesus’s own interpretation of the birds in the first parable. We know that the birds in the parables don’t speak of anything good, they represent evil. The birds are the ones that took the seed which fell by the wayside. Our Lord said that they represent the enemy who is Satan.

Also, there are many commentators who see the mustard tree itself as an abomination rather than a good tree.

The indications are that this tree doesn’t represent good seed like the wheat but a growth of false or distorted teaching about the coming Kingdom. The birds roosting in the branches represents Satan’s agents waiting amidst that false teaching and strange doctrine to devour any good seed that may be sown.

 

The same goes for the parable of the leaven.

“The kingdom of heaven is like leaven”. But we mustn’t stop there. The verse continues, “which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal.”

What does the leaven represent? It certainly doesn’t represent the Gospel as some who should know better say it does.

Nowhere is leaven used in the Bible as something good, and it’s used many times.

The word’s used ninety–eight times, about seventy–five times in the Old Testament and about twenty–three times in the New Testament, and it is always used in a bad sense, a symbol of evil.

In the Old Testament it was forbidden to be used in the offerings made to God. In the New Testament our Lord warned in Matthew 16:16 to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. And the apostle Paul spoke of the leaven of malice and wickedness (see in 1 Corinthians 5:8).

Scripture doesn’t contradict itself, so we can be certain that leavens not used to paint a picture of anything good here in Matthew 13.

The gospel, the message of the Kingdom, is represented by the three measures of meal.

How do we know this? Because meal is made out of grain or seed, and our Lord has already told us in the parable of the Sower that the seed represents the Word of God.

Remember that this parable is a picture of what happens to the Word of God on this earth during the interval between Christ’s rejection and His return to set up His Kingdom.

Note what happens to the Word of God represented by the meal. This woman comes along and takes the leaven and hides it in the meal. If the leaven represents the good news about the coming Kingdom why would she hide it? Because, the leaven is a principle of evil, and the woman puts it in the meal, which represents the Word of God.

We certainly see this today. No cult or “ism” completely ignores the Bible. Even those who worship the Devil, Satan worshipers, use the Bible. False teachers of every description put leaven in the meal, the Word of God.

What does leaven do?

Well, leaven is a substance, such as yeast, which produces fermentation. When it’s put in bread dough, it causes it to rise. And it makes it tasty also.

That’s the reason a great many people find a thrill in some of the cults.

Unleavened bread’s very bland, almost tasteless. A little leaven helps it.

This parable teaches that the introduction of wrong doctrine will finally lead to total rejection of the message.

“The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.” The Lord Jesus Himself said in Luke 18:8,

Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” 

The way the question is framed in the Greek, it demands a negative answer. In other words, he is saying that when He does return the world will be in total apostasy. And the apostle Paul, writing to a young man studying for the ministry in 2nd Timothy 4 verse 3, warns that the time will come when they won’t endure sound doctrine. The final, total apostasy of the church is revealed in the church of Laodicea in Revelation 3 verses 14-19.

These two parables are illustrations of the corruption of message of the Kingdom.

 

Now we move to Matthew 13:3-35,

All these things Jesus spoke to the multitude in parables; and without a parable He did not speak to them, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: “I WILL OPEN MY MOUTH IN PARABLES; I WILL UTTER THINGS KEPT SECRET FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD.” 

 

“I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world”. Remember that statement. Our Lord is giving us a brand–new truth.

The use of this teaching method by the Lord fulfilled Asaph’s prophecy in Psalm 78:2 that the Messiah would speak in parables, uttering things kept secret from the foundation of the world are features of the kingdom of heaven that were hidden until this time and are now being made known.

The idea is not that the very words of the Psalm, are given. Christ taught, as did that prophet – Asaph – in parables. The words of Asaph described the manner in which Christ taught.

The things He is revealing now, in parables, have never been revealed like this in the Old Testament.

 

To Matthew 13 verse 36,

Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.” 

 

Jesus has sent the multitude away and has gathered His disciples about Him.

He’s going to interpret the parable of the tares to them. Let’s read it as the Scripture states it.

 

Verses 37 to 40,

He answered and said to them: “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 

The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. 

The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. 

Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. 

 

During the entire journey along our imaginary timeline between the first and the second coming of Christ, there have grown sons of the Kingdom but there’s also grown up son’s of the wicked one, Satan.

It’s all in a vain attempt to destroy that coming Kingdom.

All along the Sower knew who was responsible for planting the weeds.

Like a lot of false teaching in the congregation, along with the cults and “isms” false doctrine very often sounds good at first and it’s hard to pick up any difference from the real thing.

Sometimes that difference from the reality and truth isn’t recognised until a person’s got themselves ingrained into the group and it’s only then that their false doctrine appears. Often it’s too late by then because they’ve become a part of the group and it’s difficult to change direction.

Often, people say to me, “I listened to such and such, and they were right on the money. You should listen to them.”

Well, as happens repeatedly, within a few minutes of listening or reading, the uneasiness starts and then the doctrine comes out and so often it’s so far off the mark I wonder how people could have been enticed by it, but it’s usually mixed in with a few pieces of truth.

This is what Jesus is saying about the Kingdom of Heaven. The truth of it’ll be distorted by the weeds of false teaching being planted by an enemy.

Before they know it they’ll find it incredibly difficult to turn back to truth. Deception becomes ingrained.

To quote Paul yet again in 2 Tomothy 4:3-4,as we so often do,

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. 

This is an especially easy place to get to if we’re not founded on God’s Word and I mean the WHOLE Counsel of God.

You see, weeds, tares are sown among the wheat, the good seed.

 

For those whose spiritual house is built on the firm foundation of the whole counsel of God, it shouldn’t’ be a worry that the wheat and tares are growing together. One day the Lord Himself will harvest the field, which is the world, and separate the tares and wheat, and I’m so thankful that’s not my job because if it was I’d pull up a heap of wheat.

 

To Matthew 13:41-43,

The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 

Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear! 

 

Our Lord’s statement here is so plain and simple, that nothing needs to be added to it to illustrate it better.

I only pray to the Lord to give both myself and every person who ever listens to this the hearing ear, and the seeing eye, to know these things that are freely given to us of God.

 

To the parable of the Hidden Treasure now in Mattew 13:44,

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. 

 

The “treasure” here is Israel. The “field” is the world. The “man” is the Son of man who gave Himself to redeem the nation Israel.

This is not a sinner buying the gospel. Why? because the gospel’s not hidden in a field.

Israel, however, is actually buried in the world today. Someone might say, “Well, they’re a nation now.”

It’s true, they are, but look at the struggle and the cost. And look at the borders and how different they are to what was promised.

 

They’ll not be able to enjoy their land in the way that it was promised to them by God until they finally believe that the Lord Jesus Christ was their promised Messiah all along.

Until then they’ll be confronted with ever increasing waves of hatred, animosity, and war.

Only the Prince of Peace will be able to change that when comes and stands on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem again.

Israel is still scattered throughout the world today.

As of 2022, the world’s core Jewish population (those identifying as Jews above all else) was estimated at 15.2 million, which is 0.2% of the 8.1 billion worldwide population. The country with the largest core Jewish population is Israel, with 6,983,000 Jews. The United States has the second-largest core Jewish population at 6,000,000. Other countries with core Jewish populations above 100,000 include France, Canada, the United Kingdom, Argentina, the Russian Federation, Australia, and Germany.

However, God is not through with Israel as a nation.

The apostle Paul wrote in Romans 11:1-2,

I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 

God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew.

Paul believed that the Lord wasn’t done with Israel.

 

Zechariah, one of the last writers in the Old Testament, wrote that a new day would come for Israel in Zechariah 12:10 and it’s God speaking through the prophet Zechariah,

And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn. 

 

The prophet Jeremiah in many passages speaks of the regathering of the people of Israel and of God bringing them to their own land.

That time is still future. When God regathers them, it will be by miracles so great that they will even forget their miraculous deliverance from Egypt which has been celebrated longer than any other religious holiday.

God is not through with the nation Israel, and this parable makes that fact very clear. Israel is the treasure hid in a field, and Christ is the One who “for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”

In fact, He gave Himself to redeem the nation. Our Lord purchased them with His blood, just as He bought your salvation and my salvation. Zechariah writes in his book in chapter 13 verse 1 of the cleansing which will take place at the time of Christ’s return to this earth: “In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.”

 

To the parable of the pearl of great price in Matthew 13:45-46,

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it. 

 

The popular interpretation of this parable says that the sinner is the merchant, and the pearl of great price is Christ. The sinner sells all that he has that he might buy Christ.

This’s not the interpretation.

Let’s look closer.

Who’s looking for beautiful pearls? Are sinners looking for salvation? The Bible certainly doesn’t read that way.

Sinners, the world, are not looking for salvation. The merchant can’t be the sinner because he’s got nothing with which to pay.

He’s not seeking Christ, and if he were, how could he buy Him?

The merchant sells all that he has. How can a sinner sell all that he has when he’s dead in trespasses and sins as Ephesians 2:1 says?

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 

The Scriptures are crystal clear that Christ and salvation are not for sale. Salvation is a gift.

John 3:16,

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 

God so loved that He gave.

And in Romans 6:23 we’re told,

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

The correct interpretation of this parable reveals Christ as the merchant.

He left His heavenly home and came to this earth to find a pearl of great price. He found lost sinners and died for them by shedding His precious blood.

He sold all that He had to buy us and redeem us to God. Paul told this to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 8:9,

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich. 

He redeems us to God. He bought us.

Now let’s look at the pearl for a moment.

The pearl represents the church.

A pearl is not a stone like a diamond. It’s formed by a living organism. A grain of sand or other foreign matter gets into the shell of a small sea creature. It hurts and harms it. The response of the organism is to send out a secretion that coats over the foreign matter. That fluid builds up until a pearl is formed, not a ruby or a diamond, but a beautiful white pearl. A pearl is not like other gems. It can’t be cut to enhance its beauty. It is formed intact. The minute you cut it; you ruin it.

The pearl was never considered very valuable by the Israelites. Several verses of Scripture give us this impression. For example, in Job 28:18 pearls are classed with coral, not Kosher. Although the pearl was not considered valuable among the Hebrews, it was very valuable to the Gentiles.

When Christ used the figure of “beautiful or goodly pearls” as the King James has it, His disciples would’ve wondered why.

Oriental people gave the pearl a symbolic meaning of innocence and purity, fit only for kings, royalty and emperors and the like.

Now, let’s look again at the parable.

Christ came to this earth as the merchant. He saw man in sin, and He took man’s sin and bore it in His own body. Our sin was an intrusion on Him, it was that foreign matter. And He was made sin for us.

He was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities says Isaiah 53:5.

Notice Christ’s response to the sinner. He puts around us His own righteousness. He covers us with His own white robe of righteousness. We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus says Ephesians 2 verse 10.

Christ sees us, not as we are now but as we will be someday, presented to Him as Ephesians 5 verse 27 says,

that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. 

Christ sold all that He had in order that He might gain the church.

1 John 3:2,

Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 

 

When we come to the last book of the Bible, the Book of the Revelation, we find a description of the New Jerusalem, the future home of the church.

Notice the emblem on the outside of the city. The gates are made of pearls! That’s no accident, friends. It’s planned that way by Christ’s design. He’s the merchant “Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.”

 

Both these parables, the hidden treasure in the field and the pearl of great price relate to the Kingdom of Heaven because again Jesus opens each parable with, “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like”.

We refer back to our imaginary timeline again between Christ’s rejection and His second coming and we see along that timeline the Gentile Church, even though it’s very doubtful that the disciple got exactly what He was saying. If you listened to our seven part series called Defining the Kingdoms you’ll see that the Church is inside the Kingdom of God with, and slightly intermingling with, The Kingdom of Heaven.

Only time reveals that as we look back into history.

 

Now to Matthew 13:47-50 and the parable of the net.

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind, which, when it was full, they drew to shore; and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels but threw the bad away. 

So, it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” 

 

The Bible doesn’t teach the end of this world. It’s true that time will end, then there’s eternity.

The end of the age simply means the time when Christ will return to establish His Kingdom on earth.

Our Lord makes it clear in this section that it’s a terrible thing to be lost and on the outside.

 

In this sophisticated world of our day in our day it’s not considered cool to believe in the existence of hell. But, my friend, the reality is you cannot be sure it doesn’t exist.

You may say to me, “Well, you don’t know either.” Well, I know what’s in this Book the Bible and since it’s been accurate in everything it’s predicted, and since in my own life I have proven it true, I take it for granted that it’s accurate in its description of hell.

That’s the basis I choose to work on, as unpopular as it may be with the world. I’ve lived long enough to know that very little of what the world believes is right.

Will you chance your eternal existence by rejecting Christ’s warning of hell? Our Lord Jesus Himself makes this fact very clear in this parable when He says, “The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

 

Now to verses 51 and 52,

Jesus said to them, “Have you understood all these things?” They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.” 

Then He said to them, “Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.” 

 

When Jesus had finished the parables, He asked His disciples if they understood. They replied, “Yes.”

This may surprise us, or even make us slightly jealous of them. We may not be able to answer “yes” so confidently.

Because they understood, they were obligated to share with others. They were now scribes trained for the Kingdom of Heaven. They were teachers and interpreters of the truth. They were like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.

In the OT they had a rich deposit of what we might call old truth. In these parables of Christ, they’d just received something completely new. From this massive storehouse of knowledge, they were to go and give that glorious truth to others.

Next time friends we’ll take up Matthew’s Gospel again and we’ll see that after teaching these parables, the Lord Jesus departed and headed toward Nazareth, His hometown, where He’s rejected.