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51 Jesus said to them, "Have you understood all these things?" They said to Him, "Yes, Lord." 52 Then He said to them, "Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old." ~ Matthew 13:51-52
Today, we continue our study of Matthew 13 where the Lord Jesus is now in the house of Peter who lived in Capernaum. At this point the Lord Jesus was instructing His disciples only. He had sent the masses away. Having utilized seven parables to define the kingdom of heaven, the Lord Jesus asked His disciples a poignant question. Questions always propel us in our walk with the Lord. Often, we discover there are questions that we seem to never get answers, that is until we are ready. The Lord Jesus knew that His followers were about to go through the most soul wrenching of experiences. He knew that these types of moments are the moments that deepen us with Him the most. With these types of moments we are granted the deepest questions which will lead us most deeply into a deeper personal relationship with Him.
In v.51 of today's passage we read, "Jesus said to them, 'Have you understood all these things?' They said to Him, 'Yes, Lord.'"
Given the Lord Jesus taught in parables, when He asked His disciples if they had understood all these things, He had in mind all the things He has been teaching them about the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven that day. Even though the disciples responded to His question affirmatively, they did not fully understand everything He had taught them that day. This side of heaven there are and will be many things that we just do not have the capacity to understand. This is why our faith and our trust in Him are so very important. When we run to Him through the most unwanted of moments, we will find ourselves getting somewhere with Him.
The concept of mystery plays a major role in the development of our faith and our walk with the Lord. Pursuing God is not a clean pursuit, nor is it easy. There are often surprises en route of our discovery of Him and His ways. Mystery fosters in us humility, wonder, and a greater commitment to our pursuit of the Lord. This pursuit is referred to as "faith" throughout the Bible. According to Hebrews 11:6 this faith or our pursuit of God is the only thing that humanly pleases God. While God reveals certain truths to us, much of what can be known about God remains to be a mystery to us, prompting us to approach Him with reverence and an awe rather than a desire to fully comprehend Him and His ways. In my pursuit of Him, I have come to understand that knowing Him personally is far more rewarding than understanding Him. The nice part to it all is the first always leads to the second.
In Proverbs 25:2 we read, "It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter."
A mystery cannot be tracked down and trapped like an animal. It can’t be discovered by persistent searching. It must be revealed. We don’t unlock mysteries; they are unlocked for us. And they are only unlocked and revealed to those who hunger and thirst for them. The Lord Jesus had earlier said in Matthew 13:11-17 that He concealed truth in parables so it remained a mystery to some, but not for others. Mystery must always be a continual part of our relationship with God. We should always have more questions than answers. If our encounters with God don’t leave us with more questions than when we started, then we have had an inferior encounter with Him. He is the God of wonder and awe and tenderness of heart which ushers us into the realm of the unlocked moments with Him. But, we must understand that it is the mysteries of God that fuel our pursuit of Him.
In v.52 of today's passage we read, "Then He said to them, 'Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.'"
The Lord likened His disciples to scribes. That is a startling description since the scribes of the Lord's day were His enemies. The scribes of His day were the ones who came to the Lord Jesus with questions designed to trick him. They were the ones who constantly tried to turn the people against Him. But, they had not always been that way. The scribes in the Old Testament became prominent in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Ezra was the first of the scribes. He was a leader among the remnant of the Jews who returned to Jerusalem from Babylon after their Captivity. The first arrivals had found the city of Jerusalem in utter ruins and the temple completely destroyed. The Jews were authorized to rebuild the temple and the city, and, especially, to restore the worship of God in the temple. In order to be able to do so, the spirit of the people first had to be built up. And to do that Ezra took the Law of Moses and began to teach it to the people. In Nehemiah 8 we read of a pulpit of wood that was built for Ezra. This is the first time a pulpit appears in Scripture. Standing upon it Ezra began to speak to the discouraged people from the Scriptures. That was the beginning of the ministry of the scribes. At first it was a very helpful ministry. But, fallen men soon made it a position that served their selfishness and they no longer represented God as they should have.
When the Lord Jesus referred to His disciples as scribes He was communicating with them the utter importance of them daily walking with Him and learning from Him. As He shared His secrets with them, they were expected to treasure them and to share their insights with others. This was the purpose of the scribe from the beginning. The scribe was to understand that he was to be trained in the secrets of the kingdom of heaven.
The Scriptures always stress the necessity of knowing God far more than merely believing a set of doctrines or creeds. Anything short of that is a distorted picture of our calling. The life the Lord has called us to is transformational and it is not accomplished over night. In fact, the part that we play in it all is to be vulnerable to Him. It begins with our belief and our trust in Him and, over time, our souls will be transformed to the point of pointing others to Him. It is out of an intimate relationship with Him that we are given these truths about Him and His culture.
We must always remember that our lives will always be filled with much confusion and frustration. Many times we will not have the ability to distinguish between what is true from what is false. Our walk with Him will always be a continual process of our understanding of Him being changed and with that change comes trust and with that trust comes intimacy. When the disciples told the Lord that they understood they meant that they had an intellectual apprehension of the words that He had used. But, soon they learned that a personal relationship with the Lord of glory renders much more than an understanding of the truths of the faith.
In response to the disciples declaration that they understood His teaching that day, the Lord Jesus told them that they were "householders who bring out of his treasure things new and old." A householder was responsible to provide for those in the house and usually had a room where he would keep everything that was needed and distributed as it was required. So the truths of the kingdom of heaven are to be brought out new and old, good and bad, truth about heaven, truth about hell, all of it so the people can wrestle with it and understand it. The new things are always fresh and exciting while the old things are enduring. The new are the fuel for the day while the old the fuel for a lifetime.
