SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/18/2022 9:47 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 “The Interpretation of the Parable of
the Wheat and Tares”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Matt. 13:34-43
Message of the verses: “34 All these
things Jesus spoke to the multitudes in parables, and He did not speak to them
without a parable, 35 so that what was spoken through the prophet might be
fulfilled, saying, "I WILL OPEN MY MOUTH IN PARABLES; I WILL UTTER THINGS
HIDDEN SINCE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD." 36 Then He left the multitudes,
and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, "Explain
to us the parable of the tares of the field." 37 And He answered and 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 “Therefore 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
cast them into the furnace of fire; in that place there shall be weeping and
gnashing of teeth. 43 "Then THERIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in
the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.”
In verse 36 we see that the disciples asked Jesus to
explain the parable of the tares of the field, and this shows us that they
realized the major emphasis was on the tares rather than the wheat. This parable is obviously about judgment, and
the tares obviously represented unbelievers.
It is possible that the disciples may have had the same questions about
what to do with the tares as the slaves had.
“And the slaves *said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather
them up?’ (Matt. 13:28b). I want to now
look at Luke 9:54 to show us that James and John demonstrated their attitude
about unbelievers “51 ¶ When the days
were approaching for His ascension, He was determined to go to Jerusalem; 52 and He sent messengers on ahead of Him, and
they went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make arrangements for Him.
53 But they did not receive Him, because He was traveling toward Jerusalem. 54 When His disciples James
and John saw this, they said, "Lord, do You want us to command fire
to come down from heaven and consume them?" 55 But He turned and
rebuked them, [[and said, "You do not know what kind of spirit you are of;
56 for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them."]]
And they went on to another village.” I
decided to quote the entire paragraph to show the whole story.
I
certainly believe that all of Jesus’ disciples wondered why the wicked tares
would be allowed to coexist with the good wheat. Had the landowner done as the slaves wanted
then they could have gotten rid of the tares right away. I want to talk about something that has been
on the hearts of mankind ever since man sinned in the garden, and that is why
would a good God allow trouble to come into the lives of people, and I think
that in this parable and also in the quotation from Luke’s gospel we can see,
at least, a part of the answer. God is
allowing good and evil to grow up together as seen by the wheat and the tares,
and so evil will be with us until the judgment comes as seen at the end of the
parable. James and John wanted to take
matters into their own hands when the Samaritans would not allow Jesus and His
disciples to travel through their land, but Jesus gives us an answer that also helps us understand why the good and
evil will grow up together: for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s
lives, but to save them." We can
see here and from the parable that God is in control, and in the end judgment
will be taken care of. The Bible is very
clear about the coming judgment, and in what is called “The Great White Throne
Judgment” where only unbelievers will be there and in the end will receive a
new body, a body that will not be burned up in hell, but a body that will be
used for judgment, judgment that is promised in this parable, and will
happen. I think that another reason for
the wheat and the tares to grow up together is because there will be times in
the lives of unbelievers where their offspring will be believers, believers who
will be a part of the kingdom of God. I
mentioned in our Sunday school class yesterday that there are two lists in the
Bible, one of those who will go to judgment and one of those who will go to
heaven, and I believe that why the world will last as long as it does is that
everyone on both lists have to be born.
Now
back to what the slaves and the disciples were thinking and we will end with
this quotation from MacArthur’s commentary.
“But as it was, the were perplexed about the landowner’s reaction,
because they still did not understand the greatness of God’s grace or His plan
of redemption for the intermediate and millennial periods of the kingdom before
Christ would judge the world.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I have to remember that Jesus Christ is in
total control of all things at all times.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord who is in control of all
things at all times to work things out in my life to bring glory to Him.
4/18/2022 10:25 AM
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