SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/19/2022 11:04 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-3
“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.”
"The
one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, 38 and the field is the world is how Jesus began His interpretation of this
parable. The term “the Son of Man” is
found 82 times in the New Testament and 29 of those it is found in the book of
Matthew, so we can be sure that the disciples knew that by the Son of Man that
Jesus was referring to Himself. This
term focused on our Lord’s humility and humanity in the incarnation, it was the
title He most commonly used of Himself.
This title beautifully identified Him as He fully participated in human
life as the perfect Man, the second Adam, and also the sinless representative
of the human race. It was also a title
clearly understood by Jews, and the reason is because of the fact that it is
referring to the Messiah (Luke 22:69; and we can also compare Daniel
7:13). “"I kept looking in the
night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was
coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him”
(Dan. 7:13). I mentioned that this title
was used 82 times in the New Testament, and it is used of Jesus by others only
twice in the New Testament, once we see it in Acts 7:56, and once it is used by
John in Revelation 14:14. The use in
Acts 7:56 is used by Steven as he was dying after being stoned by the
Jews. “Then I looked, and behold, a
white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man, having
a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand.” This verse from Revelation 14:14 surely goes
along with what Jesus is explaining in this parable we are looking at.
John
MacArthur writes “The one who sows is Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, and He is
sowing in His own field which is the world.
It is difficult to understand why so many interpreters maintain that the
field in this parable represents the church, and that Jesus’ point is that true
and false believers, represented by the wheat and tares, will exist together in
the church throughout the present age. The
Lord could not have identified the field more explicitly. It is the world, not the church. This is a picture of the church in the world, not the world in the
church.” Now I have to believe that as we look at this
parable that there are many unbelievers who would think that they are a part of
the church, but are not as they are actually a part of the world, and I am
speaking of unbelievers here as believers can be “worldly” which is not a good
thing, but they are still born-again believers and a part of the church.
As
believers who study their Bible’s we know that Satan is temporarily the ruler
of this world, yet we also know that it still belongs to God, who created it and
will one day redeem and restore it. We
read the following in Romans 8:20-22 “20 For the creation was subjected to futility,
not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself also
will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory
of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and
suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.” The focus is on verses 22-23.
I
have to say that this section on the interpretation of the wheat and tares is
taking longer than I expected, but we will continue to move along and hopefully
will have a better understanding of it once we are through with it. I will conclude this SD with another
quotation from John MacArthur.
“In
the parable of the sower, Jesus speaks of the good seed as ‘the word of the
kingdom’ (13:19); but here it represents the sons of the kingdom, whom the Lord
scatters through the world. The Lord
plants His people in the world as His witnesses, to grow and become fruitful
plants of righteousness. The sons of the
kingdom are faithful to the King and reflect His will and His standards before
a wicked, corrupt, unbelieving world.
Christians are not left in the world by accident but are placed there on
divine assignment from their Lord.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I have to believe that the Lord has planted
me right here in Northeast Ohio to do my work for the cause of Christ. I also have to say that I have been trying to
move out of Northeast Ohio ever since I was 18 years old, but I am still
here. I also have to say that I am not
nearly as content living here as I should be, but it seems that this is where
the Lord planted me, and so for circumstances that I won’t go into I guess this
is where I will be for the foreseeable future.
I will try not to complain some much in the future.
My
Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord to give me peace as to where He has
planted me.
4/19/2022 11:53 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment