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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." 37 He answered and said to them: "He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. 39 The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. 40 Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. 41 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, 42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!" ~ Matthew 13:36-43
Today, we continue our study of Matthew 13 where the Lord Jesus used seven parables to explain to His hearers the nature of the kingdom of God. When the Lord Jesus decided to teach the people with parables He did so in order to confuse those who weren't really seeking the truth. A second reason was to make the truth more accessible and rewarding for those who sought it. Those who through their questions seek the Lord will enjoy a deeper fellowship with Him. It is through believing in the Lord Jesus as our Savior that we are justified in God's eyes and it is through being defined by God that we are being sanctified. Justification gets us into heaven and establishes us in a personal relationship with God, while sanctification gets heaven into us now and it furthers our fellowship with God.
In v.36 of today's passage we read, "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.'"
The Lord Jesus dismissed the multitude and went into Peter's house to be alone with His disciples. There have been times in my life when I have been acutely aware of my own loneliness even though I was among many people. I have found that this loneliness is always an invitation from the Lord to be alone with Him. Since we can't love someone we don’t know, we are wise to allow the scaffold of loneliness to enable us to draw nearer to the Lord. I am finding that it is in these moments that I am granted an expanding heart to hear the Lord and to grow in intimacy with Him.
In response for further explanation, the Lord Jesus explained His parables to His disciples. God reveals His truth to those who seek Him through their questions. Although the disciples had heard four parables up to this point, they approached Him with a request for His explanation for the parable of the tares. They did this because of their confusion. We are often found in this same posture, confused by God's will and His teaching. It is during these moments of confusion that we tend to entertain more questions and when we bring those questions to Him in time we get answers. We must be wise in these moments to give Him the time to deliver the message we need to hear at the moment we need to hear it. All the while, we will find ourselves experiencing a greater degree of intimacy with Him.
In v.37-39 of today's passage we read, "37 He answered and said to them: 'He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. 39 The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels.'"
The Lord Jesus referred to Himself as "the Son of Man" more than any other designation in the gospels. In fact, the Lord Jesus is referred to as the "Son of Man" 82 times in the New Testament. By doing so, He identified Himself as the Messiah. In Daniel 7:13 we learn that the Messiah is referred to as the Son of Man. So He, through that title, was identifying Himself as the Messiah, God incarnate. The is important because this designation means that He is both God and man who has been given authority by the Most High. At the cross He demonstrated His power in the most unusual way. He demonstrated His power through His weakness. This is what it means for Him to be the Son of Man.
According to Luke 22:69, the Jews knew that "the Son of Man" was a Messianic title. When He stood before the Sanhedrin the Lord Jesus said, "Hereafter the Son of Man will sit on the right hand of the power of God." To that the religious leaders of Israel responded, "Are You, then, the Son of God?" To which He said He was the Son of Man. Then they reported that He claimed to be the Son of God. This proves they knew the title "Son of Man" was a Messianic reference. And so, the sower in the parable of the sower was the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself.
Even though Satan wrestled away Adam's authority over the earth in the Garden of Eden, the world is still God's field. It ultimately belongs to Him. He is King of the earth. He holds in His hand the title deed even though He hasn’t really laid claim to it fully as He will according to Revelation 6 when He will unroll the scroll. By doing so, He will reclaim the title deed to the earth. So, the Lord sows His seed or His word in the world which belongs to Him. Having received the word from the Lord and therefore having entered into a personal relationship with God, we are not where we are on this earth by accident. The Lord planted us where we are to serve Him by serving others. We are in this world to be used of God as He reaches out to the tares. And, we must never forget that we were once tares.
In v.40-42 of today's passage we read, "40 Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. 41 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, 42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth."
God is not the author of evil, it proceeded from the "devil" which means adversary. We were once on his team without even knowing it. The Lord reminds us that "the harvest waits till the end of the age." He said this because the disciples were ready to usher in the Lord's kingdom with force but the fullness of time for the Gentiles had not yet happened. In fact, we are still in that time awaiting the second coming of the Lord when He will usher in His millennial kingdom. The second coming will happen at the end of the Tribulation which is referred to in Daniel 9 as the time of Jacob's trouble.
The tares or the unbelievers will be gathered up by the angels of the Lord and burned. And their reaction will be "wailing and gnashing of teeth." Those in hell will experience painful, eternal, inevitable, inescapable judgment because no amount of suffering on the behalf of those who are yet in their sin will satisfy the wrath of God. This just underscores the eternal value of what the Lord Jesus did for us on the cross. It was at His cross that He rescued us from the wrath of God that we rightfully deserve. The wrath of God is the absence of God in our lives.
In v.43 of today's passage we read, "Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"
At the end of time, the much anticipated kingdom of God will be established. And those who valued their hearing by listening to and receiving the free gift that came through the cross of the Lord Jesus will reflect the likeness of God like the sun shines in the midday sky. Those who were justified through the cross and sanctified by the Holy Spirit will be glorified by the Father.
The Lord Jesus used the analogy of hearing to describe the process our hearts went through resulting in being saved. At the heart of sin is self-reliance. Not everybody who has ears hear. Not everyone listens to the Lord but He speaks to everyone. The Bible is clear that all of creation is continually revealing truth to everyone about God. In Psalm 19:1 we read, "The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands." In Romans 1:20 we read, "For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made." Not everyone responds to God from a heart of trust. At the end of time those who will be declared by God as righteous will be those who received the free gift of His righteousness through the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
