Wednesday, July 22, 2020

Matthew 13

What does it say?
Jesus (from a boat) began speaking to a crowd who gathered by sea. He told a parable about a man sowing seed and only one of four soils (the good soil) yielded a crop. Afterwords, the disciples asked Jesus why he teaches the crowds in parables and the answer that he gave is that it has not been granted to them to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. However, the disciples have been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. Jesus then explains the parable of the sower to the disciples: The four soils represent four types of hearers one does not hear at all, one receives with joy but is short lived, one bears no fruit because of the worries of the world; however, the disciple hears the word and yields fruit. Jesus told the crowds a parable about a good sower and a bad sower. In another parable the mustered seed which begins small and grows larger than any garden plant. In the parable of the leavened bread, the leaven spreads throughout the loaf. Jesus teaching the people with parables is in fulfillment of Psalm 78:2. The disciples asked Jesus to explain the parable of the wheat and tares and he said the sower of the wheat represents the Son of Man and the sower of the tares represents the evil one, and the wheat represents the elect and the tares represent the damned. In two parables ( hidden treasure and costly pearl) Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven is worth giving up all to have. Jesus said that the end of the ages is like a fisher men who out of the drag net keeps the good fish but throws away the bad fish. In his hometown of Nazareth they would not except Jesus.

What does it mean?
There are essentially two types of people in the world. There are those whom God has elected to be in the kingdom of heaven and those who will be cast into hell. The elect hear the word of God, understand it , observe it and bare fruit. Those who have not been regenerated do not have the ability to hear, and if they do hear, they will not continue to observe the word of the Lord. All of these parables show these two types of people. At the end of time, the elect will enter the kingdom of heaven and the damned will be cast away. We can have an idea of who the elect are by their fruit. Therefore, we are to be fruit inspectors but we are not to cast anyone out because this is not our place. This is for the Lord to do at the end of time. We should also keep in mind that the preaching of the kingdom of heaven has a good effect on the world whether they believe or not. 

What shall I do?
I shall preach the gospel. Those whom God has elected to eternal life will hear and yield fruit, but the majority will not hear, and if they do hear, they will not yield fruit. I shall not be discouraged by unbelief because Jesus was rejected even in his own hometown of Nazareth. I shall preach the gospel to all persons because it causes a good effect in all of society.