Mysteries of the Kingdom: The End of History, Matthew 13:47-52

 

Because of the rejection of Jesus there is a shift in His ministry. He has publicly offered Himself and now His ministry becomes more private. As He makes this shift, because the people for the most part have rejected Him, He begins to teach in parables. This was designed to disclose truth to those who were willing to think about what He is saying, but for those who have already rejected Him it veils the truth. So during the last part of His ministry this is not so much public as it is private on the training of the twelve disciples for future ministry in the time period in which we live, which is the church age.

 

In Matthew chapter thirteen the focus is on how Jesus is now describing what is going to happen since the kingdom has been rejected. Because it has been rejected it is going to be postponed. Now there is going to be some new information given. What we have covered in the chapter is a foundational passage for understanding many of the parables that come up in the second half. There are a number of other parables that relate to the kingdom, and we find this phrase repeated: "the kingdom of heaven is like". In Matthew 13:11 Jesus is talking to His disciples and says, NASB "To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them [those who have rejected the offer of the kingdom] it has not been granted." Now He is going to veil what he is teaching in the form of parables.

 

The term "mysteries" describes previously unknown and unrevealed information about the kingdom, because it has now been rejected. Each of these parables describes something new in relation to the kingdom. So there is the parable of the soils, the first parable, which is not said to be "like the kingdom"; that phrase is not used in the first or the last parable. The first parable simply describes four different responses to the message. The first one is the person who rejects it, and then two, three and four represent different soils that respond in different degrees to the message. Then we have the parable of the wheat and the tares, the mustard seed, the leaven, the hidden treasure, the pearl of great price and the parable of the drag net, each giving new information in relation to this kingdom.

 

A question came up last week, a question that bothered me for a long time while trying to understand this particular passage. The question is: When we see the phrase the kingdom of heaven is like something, the descriptions that follow do not seem to be what the kingdom is like at all. So in what way is the kingdom of heaven like when it seems that the kingdom isn't like that at all. But that phrase, when we read it is English, "the kingdom is like", sounds to us like whatever follows is describing the kingdom. And that is how most people read it. But we have to think about this a little more before we actually get into it.

 

In Matthew 13:24 and 31 we have the statement, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared [in like] to a man who sowed good seed in his field." He is not really comparing the kingdom of heaven to the man sowing good seed. He is just making a comparison of a certain characteristic. "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed É" So the question is: What is the significance of this comparison? The first time we run into the phrase in v. 24, which introduces the parable of the wheat and the tares, the Greek word that is used is HOMOIAO. It is a verb form there and it means to make like something, to compare one thing to another, or one thing is similar to something else. In subsequent parables where it says, "the kingdom of heaven is like", it uses the noun form, meaning that something is like, similar, or corresponds to. So there is some truth in this parable that He is bringing out. It is new information that is going to help us understand the intervening period.

 

We want to understand this issue a little better. In what way does this phrase, "the kingdom of heaven is like", explain what is going on? It doesn't seem like the kingdom is like these things at all. One principle that we have to remember that is articulated in different ways in Sherlock Holmes mystery novels. Sherlock Holmes says, "How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." You're looking at a puzzle, you are trying to decipher all the clues and look at them, and what you do is use logic. Sometimes you have to work backward in logic, word backward from what came up; that is part of deductive reasoning. So you have to eliminate all the things that just don't work, and that is sort of the way we have to approach this passage—eliminate various hermeneutical or interpretive options. A more simplified way that Sherlock Holmes stated it was: If you eliminate all the factors the one which remains must be the truth. That is how we are looking at this.

 

My answer to the question: Yes, it doesn't seem that these parables really describe what is going on in the kingdom. The descriptions that we get from the parables themselves do not describe what is actually going on in the kingdom. What is the conclusion going to be? Therefore they must be saying something else. They are related to the kingdom but they are not talking about what is precisely going on in the kingdom. But we have to understand what the kingdom is.

 

We have to go back to the Hebrew Scriptures to understand how the kingdom was defined in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament the kingdom is a geopolitical kingdom ruled by the messianic Son of David from a literal throne in Jerusalem. It is a time when the provisions of the Abrahamic covenant, the Land covenant, the Davidic covenant, and the New covenant [Israel will be regathered forever as a regenerate people in Israel] would all be fully realized. What we see in terms of all of these passages, just as a sort of summary of what the kingdom consists of, is that Israel is portrayed at the time of the kingdom as being in possession of all of the land designated by the Abrahamic covenant. Israel will be regathered again from all of the nations [already underway today] as a regenerate nation, fully worshipping the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The new temple will be built (Ezekiel 40ff) and the ritual sacrifices of that future temple will be overseen by a Levitical line of priests from the Zadokite line. The Messiah will rule on the earth with righteousness and truth. He will have perfect government; it will be a true utopia, and it will be a time of unprecedented prosperity, peace and productivity. It will be a time also when portions of the curse will have been rolled back. For example, the wolf and the lamb will lie down together, a child will be able to put his hand into a cobra's den, and swords will be beaten into plow shares and spears into pruning hooks. It will be a time of no war whatsoever.  

 

A small portion of the numerous Scriptures from the Hebrew prophets that describe all of these different features: Isaiah 2:1-4 speaks of the fact that all of the nations of the world will come to Jerusalem to worship at the mountain of God. This is further described in passages like Isaiah 4:1-6; 9:6, 7 talking about the Ruler of the end times who will be called Mighty God, indicating that the child who was born, the Son who was given, will be called God. That prefigures the God-Man, Jesus Christ. Isaiah 10:20-22; 11:1-16; 14:1-6; 16:5, 24; 23:5-7; 49:13; 51:3-9; 59:21; all of chapter 61; 62:1-12; 65:25, and much more in Isaiah focus on this time when Israel is regathered to the land. Jeremiah 30:1-3, 9; all of chapter 31; 33:14-26; Ezekiel 11:17-20; 16:60-22; 28:25, 26; 34:11-31; 39:21-29; Hosea 3:5; 14:4-8; Joel 2:28-32 (talks about the Messiah coming back to rescue the Jewish people and establish the kingdom); Amos 9:11-15; Micah 4:1-8; Habakkuk 2:14.

 

So we see again and again and again that the Old Testament emphasizes the future regathering of the Jewish people to their land, where God will fulfill all of the Old Testament promises He made to the patriarchs. They will be resurrected and will rule and reign again and realize all of those promises that God made.

 

The fact that the kingdom promise did not change, and the meaning of the kingdom did not change, is indicated by the question the disciples asked Jesus just before He ascended to heaven. Acts 1:6 NASB "So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, 'Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?'" They still understood it as a physical, geopolitical kingdom as it is portrayed in the Old Testament.

 

So the first thing that we understand as we look at this description is that the definition does not change. The second thing is that since Israel at the time of Jesus rejected the King and His offer of the kingdom, the kingdom could not then come into existence because the people weren't ready for it. Therefore it was postponed. The King ascended to heaven to await the Father's awarding of the kingdom. This is described in Daniel 7:12, 13 where the Son of Man comes to the Ancient of Days who then gives Him the kingdom. This hasn't happened yet. We know from what the New Testament says that Jesus ascended into heaven, and He sits at the right hand of God the Father waiting to be given the kingdom. When He is given the kingdom then He will come to the earth. This will occur at the end of the Tribulation when He will establish His kingdom; it will be this literal kingdom.

 

Since the kingdom was postponed an unexpected, unannounced intervening age was coming into existence. This was never described in Old Testament prophecy. That is why it was a mystery; it was unrevealed truth. Nobody in the Old Testament knew that this was going to happen. That was because it was contingent upon whether or not Israel would accept Jesus when He came. Since He wasn't accepted the kingdom was postponed and now we have this new intervening age. That is what Jesus is describing now: this mystery, this previously unrevealed information.

 

Timeline: In the Old Testament there was the age of Israel until the cross. Then Jesus ascends to heaven. We have a new age that begins fifty days after the crucifixion, the church age, and at the end of the church age we are raptured. The Scripture says we are snatched out of here; it used the word HARPAZO. The Lord returns in the air, the dead in Christ will rise first, and then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with Him [HARPAZO]. Then there is a transition period, a short time, we don't know how long it will be, and then according to Daniel chapter nine there will be a seven-year period during which time there will be the Antichrist figure that will rise up and seek to destroy Israel. He will be the personification of all anti-Semitism throughout all of history, and it is at that time that Israel will recognize Jesus corporately. There are many Jews throughout the ages who have accepted Jesus as Messiah but corporately they will accept Him at the end of the Tribulation and Jesus will return to rescue them from the Antichrist, and He will then establish His kingdom. 

 

This period of the mystery covers from the period from when Jesus is rejected until He returns at the Second Coming. So it is not just related to the church age. The term "mystery" describes this previously unrevealed truth about this intervening age. Jesus here begins to disclose this unrevealed information. That is important. Everything about what the kingdom is like has been revealed in the Old Testament, so this is now giving new information related to the kingdom.

 

George N. H. Peters says, related to Matthew chapter thirteen:

 

"The very outskirts of the subject already force the conclusion that those mysteries refer not to the nature of the kingdom (that's obvious)

but to the manner of its establishment. The means employed, the preparation for it, the time for its manifestation and such related subjects."

 

In other words, when we come to this passage where Jesus says, "the kingdom is like", He is really talking about aspects related to the kingdom that haven't been revealed, and so He is talking about the end of the age.

 

In only one sense could the kingdom be said to exist during this period. That is, that a portion of the people who live during the age will form the nucleus of those who will rule and reign with the King and His kingdom. That includes Old Testament saints, those Jews who accepted Jesus as Messiah, church age believers, and those who believe in Jesus as Messiah during the Tribulation period. These are all referred to as the sons of the kingdom, those who will be present in resurrection form in the millennial kingdom (Matthew 13:38).

 

In terms of logic the major premise is the kingdom is a time of unprecedented spiritual and economic perfection when Satan is confined (Revelation 20:1-7). During the kingdom Satan is confined to the abyss so that he can no longer deceive the nations. The minor premise is that the kingdom parables describe a time of both positive and negative response when Satan is active and deceiving people. He is the one who sows tares among the wheat. If Satan is present in Matthew in the second parable and he is not present in the millennial kingdom we have to conclude that the parables cannot be describing the character of the kingdom itself; it must be describing the new information related to the postponement and future arrival of the kingdom. So we see that these words HOMOIA and HOMOIOS basically need to be understood to refer to something related to the kingdom. They are not talking about the kingdom itself. It is clear that the statements related to the comparison do not mean that the kingdom of heaven is symbolized by the wheat and the tares or the enemy that sows bad seed. Remember, Satan is in the abyss at this time (Revelation 20:2, 3). Therefore the kingdom of God could not be symbolized by the mustard seed or any other object in the parables.

 

The formula "the kingdom of God is like" is an ellipsis (where you leave a word out) of the phrase "the mystery of the kingdom of God is like". Verse 11 where we have the first reference to the kingdom of God uses the whole phrase, "the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven". So each time we see this, we should say, the mysteries of the kingdom of God or the unrevealed truth related to the kingdom of God is like this. That is the comparison; it is focusing on just new information and it relates to that intervening time.

 

As we come to each one of these particular parables we see that in the second parable we learn that in the intervening period there will be great deception. The sons of the kingdom are sown in the world by the sower who sows the good seed. This represents the Lord Jesus Christ and His representatives. The sons of the kingdom are sown in the world and they co-exist, side by side during this intervening age, with the unbelieving unrighteous—the tares.

 

The parable of the mustard seed talks about the expansion of the message and the blessing by association that comes with the acceptance of the message. The imagery there of a tree and the birds coming and nesting in the tree is an image that is found many times in the Old Testament. For example, Isaiah 2:2 where the kingdom is established and all the world comes to the mountain of God to worship—the blessing by association that comes.

 

The parable of the leaven talks about the influence and the blessing that comes by association with the expansion of the message during this time. There is also the message of the expansion of evil represented by the leaven. So throughout this time we will see evil increase. Ultimately this finds its fullest manifestation during the time of the Tribulation and the reign of the Antichrist.

 

The parable of the hidden treasure. There are numerous passages in the Old Testament that speak of Israel as being God's special treasure. So this is a picture of God's love for Israel and He sells all that He has and buys the field; it is a picture of God's redemption that provides salvation for Israel.                                

 

The parable of the pearl of great price. A pearl is produced by an oyster, which is an unclean animal, often in the Old Testament referring to Gentiles; so the pearl of great price that is purchased is a representation of the Gentiles that will be included in the kingdom.

 

Then we come to the final judgment, which takes us to the theme introduced in talking about the Noahic flood, and that is the theme of judgment.

 

Matthew 13:47 NASB ÒAgain, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering {fish} of every kind É" A drag net is a circular net about nine or ten feet in diameter and it is weighted all around its circumference. It is folded up and then thrown out over the water. When they do that it spreads out to its fullest diameter and when it drops into the water the weights pull the outer circumference down. Whatever is below it is trapped by the net. Whatever is there is pulled in, fish that are clean as well as those unclean, and then the fisherman has to discard the bad fish and keep the clean fish. The picture here is that there will be a judgment.

 

Modern man believes in evolution. With evolution things always get better and better, there is an advance that goes on and there is no end, but the Word of God says that is not how it is going to end. God is going to bring everything to a conclusion and it is not going to be because of man's own efforts to destroy himself; it is because God had a plan and a purpose that will culminate in judgment. This is seen from Daniel 12:2 NASB "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace {and} everlasting contempt." In the end there will be a judgment and there will be a resurrection. This is exactly what is described here, at the end of the age. At the end of this period, right before the coming of the kingdom there will be a judgment. 

 

Matthew 13:48 NASB "and when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach; and they sat down and gathered the good {fish} into containers, but the bad they threw away. [49] ÒSo it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous, [50] and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

 

Again and again, in the Hebrew Scriptures of the Old Testament as well as the New Testament, there is a depiction of those who have obeyed God by trusting in Him—it is not by works we have done, it is according to His mercy. Earlier in the parable of the wheat and the tares there is the same depiction. At the end of the age the tares will be gathered and burned in the fire. So it will be at the end of this age. This is the cleansing that occurs at the beginning of the millennial kingdom so that all those who go into the kingdom are those who are righteous, those who have trusted in Christ as savior. Those who aren't will be cast into a furnace of fire where there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. This isn't pleasant; this is a difficult thing for many to understand, but God will bring judgment on those who have rejected Him. Because they have rejected Him they do not possess righteousness. He has extended grace to all, either through general revelation, which has been rejected by many, or through special revelation. There will be judgment. This is harsh, even the writers of Scripture understood this. Daniel said it was horrible. John sees this is Revelation and said that when the angel revealed this to him in the little book he said when John ate it [the book], it would make his stomach bitter, but it would be as sweet as honey in his mouth. It was sweet because we know that God would justify Himself and God will bring history to a perfect conclusion, but it will be something horrible as we see those who have rejected God's offer of salvation will face eternal condemnation.    

 

So this is the picture. There will be these judgments that come at the end of the Tribulation period and this is when God judges those who are alive. They are the judgments depicted in these parables. There is the judgment of surviving Gentiles, the sheep and goat judgments; the judgment of surviving Jews at the end of the Tribulation; the Old Testament saints will be resurrected and they will be judged and given their new positions in the kingdom. Tribulation saints, i.e. believers in Christ who survive the Tribulation will be judged; their destiny is certain but their role in the kingdom is what will be the result of this evaluation. There is also mentioned at that time that the Antichrist and the false prophet will be cast into the lake of fire and Satan will be bound in the abyss. 

 

So the kingdom has been postponed. We live in the intervening age so that God can continue to extend His grace to mankind, offering the gospel. Scripture makes it very clear from both Old Testament passages and the New that it is not about what we do, it is about what Christ did on the cross for us.

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