Post by rgrove on Jul 13, 2005 17:17:42 GMT -5
I'll constantly be improving it, but here's a copy of what I have right now for exegeting Jesus' kingdom parables in Matthew 13. It may change a little over time because it's being prepared for the www.postmilll.info website when I've got the site ready for release. The latest version will always be located here in case you read this much later:
Matthew 13 Exposition on my blog
Here's a short exposition of the parables in Mattew 13. This exegesis is intended to focus primary attention on the nature and extent of the kingdom as well as how it grows. Of course there's a lot of other content that could be addressed, but the kingdom of heaven is the main focus. Feel free to leave feedback as I'm always seeking to improve it! :-)
- Parable of the Sower (13:1-9, 13:18-23)
Jesus is sewing seed in the world through "the word of the kingdom". Clearly this is a reference to the preaching of the Gospel. This seed gets various responses, but is only effective in the "good soil" that the Lord has tilled in preparation of the seed's reception. It's vital to note the extraordinary fruit that Jesus describes as a result of the seed planted! "He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty. The fruit of the gospel will result in exponentially more fruit. This is an often missed key point of this parable.
Mark 4:1-20 and Luke 8:4-15 are parallel passages and notably use the term "kingdom of God" instead of "kingdom of heaven". The only reason this is important is because Dispensationalists apply all "Kindgdom of Heaven" statements to the Millennial reign of Christ, and "Kingdom of God" statements are general statements about the people of God, the Angels, etc. All of the parallel statements using these terms interchangeably militates against this. And in Matt 19:23-24 Jesus uses the terms interchangeably regarding the temporally rich and salvation. It's a distinction without cause.
- Purpose of the Parables (13:10-17)
Jesus is sovereign over salvation. He gives us ears to hear and eyes to see the kingdom of heaven as a free gift of grace. Salvation is truly of the Lord and we are truly saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. We should never take this salvation for granted in our lives and never stop giving him thanks, praise and glory for this work of His.
- Parable of the Weeds (13:24-30, 13:36-43)
The Son of Man spreads His seed in His fields. As Jesus explains, the seed is the word of the kingdom, and the field is the world. Of course Satan all the while is trying to do whatever damage he might in order to cause weeds to grow. At the end of this age the King of kings and Lord of lords will "gather all of the causes of sin and lawlessnes" from his kingdom and they will meet their terrible end at His glorious Second Coming. The kingdom of v41 should not be confused with the "kingdom of heaven" because they are not synomymous. Christ is King, not only over His church, but over all of His creation. Since the kingdom is spoken of here in a general sense it should be undestood in His general kingship over all of creation. One aspect of this parable that is sadly missing in many people's interpretations of this parable, is that it is characterized as a wheat field, not a weed field. This points, once again, to the fact that God is reconciling this world to Himself and should give us great encouragement in the prostpects of our evangelistic endeavors.
- Mustard Seed and Leaven (13:31-33)
These parables clearly teach that the kingdom of heaven will result great success over time. The mustard seed grows to become a tree that is "larger than all the garden plants". Large enough that it attracts more and more to come and make their homes in it (v32). The mustard tree grows slowly over time, so we are not to expect to see this happen overnight. Dr. Greg Bahnsen once described the process like time delayed photography. If we plant the seed and then sit there and watch it we see nothing happen. We might have to sit there for weeks before we even see a sprout depending upon the plant we're photographing. Jesus is telling us we need to take a long term look. If we had a time delayed camera and we were looking at kingdom growth in the last two thousand years would we probably not be so pessimistic about it's success!
In the leaven parable the flour seems clearly to me to be the world. The leaven, which is identified as the kingdom, gradually "leavens" the whole world.
- The Parable of the Growing Seed (Mark 4:26-28)
This parable from the Book of Mark is included because because it goes well with the Mustard seed parable and actually precedes the mustard seed parable in the Markan account. This is a beautiful parable of not only kingdom growth, but the supernatural character of that kingdom growth (v27). Jesus is truly both the Just and the Justifier
and where the Holy Spirit blows as He wills, not necessarily how we would will Him to. As we plant seeds the most powerful thing we can do is pray that the Lord of the harvest would fertilize what was sewn.
- Parable of the Net (13:47-50)
The gospel will have a worldwide and societal influence because "fish from every kind" are spoken of. All kinds of people will be saved, not just the rich, not just the poor, not just the middle class, etc. From Tax collectors to prostitutes will be brought into the fold of the Kingdom of Heaven. Only one kind of person will never see salvation and that's the self-righteous. Jesus came for those that recongize their need for a physician of souls, not for those that think they are better than everyone else and need no saving. When the time has come, and there are no more fish for the net to pick up, our Lord will come again for His bride and His angels will carefully bring her to safety. Those that are not of his fold will be gathered as well and their fate will finally be sealed on that great and fearful Day of the Lord. Notice that both the righteous and the unrighteous are being judged here. There is no allowance for a "premillennial" thousand year reign in these statements. As with all of Jesus' parables, there is this age and the age to come.
- New and Old Treasures (13:51-52)
In this passage we see Jesus asking if they understood what he had to say. They say they do, but further scripture demonstrates that they still do not quite get the true significance of His statements about the kingdom of heaven. He then goes on to give us a description of the type of people that will be in the kingdom of heaven. They will be regenerate, saved people. He says "every scribe", not just most scribes or some scribes, that have been trained will bring forth the fruits of their treasure. As we have seen from the parables of the hidden treasure (v44) and the pearl of great value (v45-46), the treasure is the kingdom of heaven that they have sold everything they own to partake in.
Matthew 13 Exposition on my blog
Here's a short exposition of the parables in Mattew 13. This exegesis is intended to focus primary attention on the nature and extent of the kingdom as well as how it grows. Of course there's a lot of other content that could be addressed, but the kingdom of heaven is the main focus. Feel free to leave feedback as I'm always seeking to improve it! :-)
- Parable of the Sower (13:1-9, 13:18-23)
Jesus is sewing seed in the world through "the word of the kingdom". Clearly this is a reference to the preaching of the Gospel. This seed gets various responses, but is only effective in the "good soil" that the Lord has tilled in preparation of the seed's reception. It's vital to note the extraordinary fruit that Jesus describes as a result of the seed planted! "He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty. The fruit of the gospel will result in exponentially more fruit. This is an often missed key point of this parable.
Mark 4:1-20 and Luke 8:4-15 are parallel passages and notably use the term "kingdom of God" instead of "kingdom of heaven". The only reason this is important is because Dispensationalists apply all "Kindgdom of Heaven" statements to the Millennial reign of Christ, and "Kingdom of God" statements are general statements about the people of God, the Angels, etc. All of the parallel statements using these terms interchangeably militates against this. And in Matt 19:23-24 Jesus uses the terms interchangeably regarding the temporally rich and salvation. It's a distinction without cause.
- Purpose of the Parables (13:10-17)
Jesus is sovereign over salvation. He gives us ears to hear and eyes to see the kingdom of heaven as a free gift of grace. Salvation is truly of the Lord and we are truly saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. We should never take this salvation for granted in our lives and never stop giving him thanks, praise and glory for this work of His.
- Parable of the Weeds (13:24-30, 13:36-43)
The Son of Man spreads His seed in His fields. As Jesus explains, the seed is the word of the kingdom, and the field is the world. Of course Satan all the while is trying to do whatever damage he might in order to cause weeds to grow. At the end of this age the King of kings and Lord of lords will "gather all of the causes of sin and lawlessnes" from his kingdom and they will meet their terrible end at His glorious Second Coming. The kingdom of v41 should not be confused with the "kingdom of heaven" because they are not synomymous. Christ is King, not only over His church, but over all of His creation. Since the kingdom is spoken of here in a general sense it should be undestood in His general kingship over all of creation. One aspect of this parable that is sadly missing in many people's interpretations of this parable, is that it is characterized as a wheat field, not a weed field. This points, once again, to the fact that God is reconciling this world to Himself and should give us great encouragement in the prostpects of our evangelistic endeavors.
- Mustard Seed and Leaven (13:31-33)
These parables clearly teach that the kingdom of heaven will result great success over time. The mustard seed grows to become a tree that is "larger than all the garden plants". Large enough that it attracts more and more to come and make their homes in it (v32). The mustard tree grows slowly over time, so we are not to expect to see this happen overnight. Dr. Greg Bahnsen once described the process like time delayed photography. If we plant the seed and then sit there and watch it we see nothing happen. We might have to sit there for weeks before we even see a sprout depending upon the plant we're photographing. Jesus is telling us we need to take a long term look. If we had a time delayed camera and we were looking at kingdom growth in the last two thousand years would we probably not be so pessimistic about it's success!
In the leaven parable the flour seems clearly to me to be the world. The leaven, which is identified as the kingdom, gradually "leavens" the whole world.
- The Parable of the Growing Seed (Mark 4:26-28)
This parable from the Book of Mark is included because because it goes well with the Mustard seed parable and actually precedes the mustard seed parable in the Markan account. This is a beautiful parable of not only kingdom growth, but the supernatural character of that kingdom growth (v27). Jesus is truly both the Just and the Justifier
and where the Holy Spirit blows as He wills, not necessarily how we would will Him to. As we plant seeds the most powerful thing we can do is pray that the Lord of the harvest would fertilize what was sewn.
- Parable of the Net (13:47-50)
The gospel will have a worldwide and societal influence because "fish from every kind" are spoken of. All kinds of people will be saved, not just the rich, not just the poor, not just the middle class, etc. From Tax collectors to prostitutes will be brought into the fold of the Kingdom of Heaven. Only one kind of person will never see salvation and that's the self-righteous. Jesus came for those that recongize their need for a physician of souls, not for those that think they are better than everyone else and need no saving. When the time has come, and there are no more fish for the net to pick up, our Lord will come again for His bride and His angels will carefully bring her to safety. Those that are not of his fold will be gathered as well and their fate will finally be sealed on that great and fearful Day of the Lord. Notice that both the righteous and the unrighteous are being judged here. There is no allowance for a "premillennial" thousand year reign in these statements. As with all of Jesus' parables, there is this age and the age to come.
- New and Old Treasures (13:51-52)
In this passage we see Jesus asking if they understood what he had to say. They say they do, but further scripture demonstrates that they still do not quite get the true significance of His statements about the kingdom of heaven. He then goes on to give us a description of the type of people that will be in the kingdom of heaven. They will be regenerate, saved people. He says "every scribe", not just most scribes or some scribes, that have been trained will bring forth the fruits of their treasure. As we have seen from the parables of the hidden treasure (v44) and the pearl of great value (v45-46), the treasure is the kingdom of heaven that they have sold everything they own to partake in.