MATTHEW 13
CAC The nation had reached the time of which the prophets had spoken long before, when judgment was about to fall on them. That was connected with the prophet Isaiah seeing the glory of Jehovah. The nation was blind and deaf to all God was saying, yet He did secure a remnant; that very chapter (Isaiah 6) speaks of a tenth. It is thus an important chapter in connection with this. It says, “I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple” (verse 1); that is really the kingdom. Then he has to go and tell the people of judgment; it is a message of judgment. “But a tenth part shall still be therein, and it shall return and be eaten; as the terebinth and as the oak whose trunk remaineth after the felling; the holy seed shall be the trunk thereof” (verse 13). That is what has come to pass here. The Lord speaks in parables because the nation was a judged thing. The parables were given to hide the truth from them. “Ye, therefore, hear” (verse 18) — that was the holy seed secured for God. A solemn moment was reached here. Faith could see Solomon, all the rights of the kingdom there in Him. The nation rejected it, so He says, “Hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand, and beholding ye shall behold and not see” (verse 14), and so on. The parable suggests that the King of glory was rejected, for He said He was more than Solomon, so the nation must be blinded.
The Lord takes great pains with the holy seed; He is instructing that in this chapter. Is that not the setting of it? He gives us a complete history in these parables. At the end of the chapter it says, “When Jesus had finished these parables ..”. (verse 53), showing it was a complete course of instruction which He begins and finishes. The Lord looks that we should all be scribes, discipled to the kingdom of the heaven, well furnished with spiritual stock. We never come together without having something to say.
In the first parable it is not exactly Christ Himself who is the Sower — Scripture does not say so. It is the general principle of sowing, not limited to Him here. In the next parable it is that what He sows is all living; He sows all living persons — it is a question of persons. It is a more general idea in the first parable, different soil and results, a general survey of what would be the result of sowing the seed of the kingdom, and how the word of God acts on people in responsibility — the responsible result, not the work of God. It shows different states and different results in the public effect of it. It is still going on. The way it works is a test as to what state things are in. The word is all right, but it is a question of how it will work upon people, dependent on their condition. In the first case, while the seed is sown responsibly in souls there is no reception, and it is carried off by the birds. He “does not understand it”, it says (verse 19). It is a very common thing that people hear the word and are not at all affected; they do not know what you are talking about; indeed, it may have the opposite effect from what it is intended to have. These are great general principles which may be applied to believers. Some said of Paul’s teaching, “Let us practice evil things, that good ones may come”, Romans 3: 8. It was not the substance of his preaching. The “sun” would be the influence of the day in a bad sense. It tests us as to how far there is suitable soil. In the second, there seems a show and you think something has been done. Then testing comes and it all shrivels up under a little persecution — I have seen it. There is always this process of elimination. We ought not to be surprised, but we ought to be sorry,
in the light of the Lord’s teaching if people go away.
Rem F.E.R. said, ‘We want to be more concerned with those who want to go on’.
CAC We want to promote the real work of God and go in that direction.
Ques Was Demas sown among thorns?
CAC It would seem he was. Bunyan thought the thorns were money-making. It may be riches or poverty when overweighted with it. If poor, I want the Lord, “Come to me, all ye who labour and are burdened”, He says; and if I am not, I want Him more! There is never any “good ground” unless God prepared it, He made it good. I cannot blame God if it is only thirtyfold with me; so there is a responsible side, which makes me ask, ‘Why am I less?’. In Luke it is nothing but a hundredfold; it is the full normal result of seed so precious. The fruit is that we take on practically what is presented in the word of the kingdom, we take on that character. It is that wonderful word connected with Christ glorified, that heavenly character, and we take it on; that is understanding it. Do not we get understanding by talking over the things of God and dwelling on them? So we get a definite understanding. I think the readings are specially times of getting understanding — it has been so in the last hundred years.
Rem “Think of what I say, for the Lord will give thee understanding in all things”, 2 Timothy 2: 7.
CAC It is most important to consider it; to go over the substance of the reading will do people more good than the reading.
Rem “Then he opened their understanding”, it says of the Lord (Luke 24: 45).
CAC The Lord undertakes to do that for the disciples, and I think we see the fruit of it before He gives the Spirit. Peter knew all about Judas and what he should do (Acts 1);
[p. 93] he had an understanding of the Scriptures. It is so good when you get the scripture that just fits the moment; well, it requires understanding for that. We ought to be able to tell people briefly what we believe, to outline it quite simply; and to do that is a thousand times better than having it in a creed! Men spoil things by doing that; the first sentence in the creed is not true. The creeds were honestly intended to safeguard the truth by human means, but they obscure it. Truth is in the Spirit and that is in the souls of the saints. It is good when you do get asked; I am always thankful. It says, one “discipled” (verse 52); it supposes we are furnished, and I believe a christian with a spiritual understanding of Matthew 13 would be a very intelligent person and would have something to say to all comers.
CAC In the last reading we saw the general principle of sowing the seed of the kingdom and the varying results. Here the Son of Man is the Sower definitely. What is sown in this parable is persons, the seeds are definitely persons, (verse 38, “sons of the kingdom”), which is a very important difference to note. When sown, results will follow. Strictly speaking, the word of the kingdom was not sown till Jesus was in heaven; it was by His disciples, with these varying results. Now here, you have come to a definite divine work; it consists of persons, it is not the word at all. The same principle applies in this sowing also because the kingdom of heaven was not a substantive reality until the King was in heaven. The Lord explains the parable in verse 38, so there is no question now of varying results because the seed sown by Him is a divine work. There is imitation seed here.
Rem The first sowing would be on the line of responsibility, the second more the line of sovereignty.
CAC A very great deal of our understanding in divine [p. 94] things depends on our understanding these parables. The Lord says we should be like the “householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old” (verse 52), that is, we should be furnished and able to serve in relation to the kingdom. Abel was the first of the seed of the woman and Cain the first of the seed of the serpent.
Ques Why was the parable explained only to the disciples?
CAC Do you not think it was because the Jews as such had become the subjects of judgment? The little remnant of instructed ones round the Lord got the explanation.
Rem The servant must understand and distinguish between responsibility and sovereignty; he must know how the Lord works.
CAC Making Christ the Sower only has greatly obscured the teaching. The Lord loves to accredit us with more than is due. He could accredit them with more than is due because He sees the things there in germ and He accredits them with the full result which abides till the harvest. The darnel are persons; it is not a question of the work but persons.
Rem “His field” means He has proprietary rights.
CAC Yes, and the world is viewed in that light, as that in which the Son of Man is entitled to sow — to have certain persons in this world who are the product of His own work, and they are the “sons of the kingdom”. Through redemption He has secured the right to operate in the world and He exercises His right by sowing persons in it. The devil works correspondingly by sowing other kinds of persons who are worthless.
Rem The Lord’s sowing resulted in wheat. The Lord was the grain of wheat.
CAC Those that He sows take character from Himself, persons who are morally after His own order in the world.
[p. 95] So Satan sows those after his own order and it goes on in that condition to the harvest. It is “while men slept”; that is, it was carelessness on the part of the Lord’s servants that allowed worthless persons to be put in the place of seed — the brethren’s carelessness; so He puts the responsibility on His servants. So all heresies and false doctrines come in, not floating on the air but in persons. The Lord would not have any attempt made to get rid of them. It is a very natural thought to have but the Lord says, No, there is to be no attempt to root them up. It is as natural as possible to want to. People teaching blasphemy, for instance, we should like to have them shut up. There is no admixture of the wheat and darnel. The wheat is never affected by the darnel; it is brought out in its distinctiveness by the darnel. It is not at all the assembly, it is the world. If the church had paid attention to this parable it would not have been persecuted. All persecution was simply due to seeking to get rid of the bad seed, and they were throwing the christians to the lions and so on. It is wonderful how the Lord preserves simple souls; they are sons of the kingdom, begotten of the kingdom; there is something inward there. As to christians’ associations, we are enjoined to withdraw from iniquity and purge ourselves from vessels to dishonour. They are the vessels to dishonour. When you come to the assembly you cannot have any association with them; that is not the world. In the parable itself the wheat is harvested and brought into the barn, that is, into heaven. But in the explanation it goes a stage further and it is brought out in the kingdom. “Then the righteous shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (verse 43). So in the parable itself we have the rapture, and in the explanation we have the appearing. He means to fill both heaven and earth, “In time of the harvest” (verse 30). It is a very solemn things that the gathering into bundles is going on now; the way people are binding [p. 96] themselves together, mark today more than any previous day and it is a providential action of God, and the angels are the workmen. The first thing is to bind in bundles. As the truth is given up the tendency is for bodies of people to gather together and God is doing it providentially with a view to their destruction. The wheat is all going into heaven, the sons of the kingdom are all going to be harvested in heaven. So that we are just on the eve of that coming to pass; the sons of the kingdom are all going up together at the rapture. Presently they will come forth and in a new character; they are going to shine in the kingdom of their Father.
In the parable of the mustard seed He comes back to the present public side of things. The parable of the darnel goes right through to the finish with everything; that is, right through to the millennium clearly; so that it is more comprehensive in its scope than any of the other parables. “And they shall gather out of his kingdom all offences, and those that practise lawlessness” (verse 41), it says; so that leads on to the clearing out of the kingdom of the Son of Man everything unsuitable to it, lawlessness and so on, so that it can be left in its proper purity and righteous character, that is, it is the millennial day. There is no suffering of tares any longer, and thus there will be a sphere for the righteous to shine forth in. It is the earthly side all cleared and then on the heavenly side the righteous will shine in the kingdom, that is, they come out in the glory of sonship. Nothing will be right till then; that will put everything right below. The comprehensiveness of these parables is wonderful.
Rem In a sense all the other parables fit into this parable.
CAC The Lord’s perfect knowledge gives us in these parables His estimate of things. He foresaw that the christian profession would become a very great tree in the [p. 97] world. Nobody who read the New Testament could imagine that it could have such a result as has come about. So that christianity is the most imposing thing in the world. I wonder what Paul would think if he saw his cathedral in London!
The parable of the leaven is the secret working of what is evil; it is an element that is introduced and permeates the whole mass with corrupting influence. The Lord fore saw what would come about, that the “mystery of lawlessness” would permeate the whole christian profession. You get a wrong system and its darkening influence. Many have wrongly thought this parable meant the gospel would permeate the whole world.
CAC The time of display, of all brought about in the kingdom of the heavens, will see a company of many sons in the Father’s kingdom, the grand result of all the working of the Son of man’s sowing of persons. The Father’s kingdom will shine out in the great company of many sons — the most blessed side of the kingdom. The creation will be liberated (Romans 8). There is going to be a triumphant issue. There is the ‘going in’ (John 14: 2, 3) and ‘the coming out’, so that the Father may be seen in the glorified saints.
Ques It is the difference between David and Solomon?
CAC Yes, sonship is the crown of God’s purposes — displayed. “That the world may know that ... thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me”, John 17: 23. The Son will not be content until the world knows it; so when they shine forth the world will be compelled to see that the Father loves us as He loves Christ. Colossians 1: 11 - 13 links on because it connects sonship with the kingdom; it is “the kingdom of the Son of his love”. It links with Solomon, the Son of the Father’s love. He is the true Solomon and the true Isaac.
[p. 98] In what we have read today we come to the very heart of the matter. All these precious truths are linked on to the kingdom of the heavens and are not to be detached from it. It is good to see these blessed divine thoughts put together in unity. It is not retaining anything of the old. We are all the fruits of sowing and specially of the sowing of the Son of man.
Ques There is a spirit of subjection in the assembly, would you say?
CAC And that is eternal because He gives up the kingdom to the Father. “Then the Son also himself shall be placed in subjection to him who put all things in subjection to him, that God may be all in all”, 1 Corinthians 15: 28. So that element of the kingdom remains eternally.
What we have before us here in the treasure hid in the field is the joy that Christ Himself finds in that which is the fruit of His own work as the Son of man. He can look at it objectively; He can contemplate objectively what is a very desirable thing to possess and He would give everything for it. We have to learn to put these thoughts together in our souls.
Rem It is hidden in the field.
CAC It is rather the hiding time now in contrast to display. What is of God does not make any public show. “Your life is hid with the Christ in God”, Colossians 3: 3; we have to accept that hidden character. All we have as our spiritual life is a hidden thing. You cannot show you are a son of God to anybody; it does not give you prominence in the world if you express it.
Rem It is the glory of God to hide a matter.
CAC So the mystery was “hid ... in God”. It is a kind of glory of divine Persons to hide things. The Lord hid the treasure; He was the only One who could find it and He hid it. Display publicly now is out of keeping with this hidden character. If we are content with that place, the [p. 99] Lord will give us a great place morally — a city set on a hill. Who would have thought that the glory of God was wrapped up in a Babe in a manger? That is the great sign of the dispensation. The Lord has acquired rights by purchase over the whole world; every one owning that right becomes part of the treasure. The Lord Jesus bought every man, woman and child in the world and you can tell them so. If they say, ‘That is wonderful! How glad I am that He has bought me’. Well, they show they are of the treasure. It is the excellency of what has come into the Lord’s view in contrast to Israel. He takes up His title to a much wider ground now.
Ques What is the difference between the two parables?
CAC Oh, one is the epistle to the Romans and the other the epistle to the Ephesians. Is that right? Ephesians looks at us in a corporate unity. The treasure to Him is the joy it gives Him to have persons like Himself. Romans is individual; the Lord values us as a company of individuals. He would give up Israel for a company out of the nations having His Spirit (Romans speaks of having His Spirit). He would give all He had of the ancient promises for this prize. We need good eyesight to discover the treasure, for it is sometimes under queer covering! It will help us to bear reproach if we bear it in our heart. It is most comforting and stimulating.
Rem “They shall be unto me a peculiar treasure”, Malachi 3: 17.
CAC Peter preached “He is Lord of all”. The difference between the saved and the lost is really that the saved own His title, and those who are lost are lost because they will not own it; they prefer their own title.
Rem In these parables the different features of the kingdom are presented singly, the earthly and the heavenly side. The pearl is out of death; in its completeness it is “one pearl”. And it is formed [p. 100] under pressure.
CAC Its unity is important. There is hardly any thought of that in Israel; it was twelve tribes. It is good to think of the unity of the assembly. It is failure in the church that it has not taken shape in unity.
The net cast into the sea brings out the important principle of selection. There is a great mixture; it is the last phase of the kingdom of heaven which represents what is going on now. The selection of good fish into vessels is going on now. We would like to get them in! At the end of Revelation (chapter 22: 16) the thought of assemblies appears. The angel was sent to “testify these things to you in the assemblies”. So just before He comes He contemplates assemblies. He has said, “Behold, I come quickly”, Revelation 22: 7. We would like all the christians in T. gathered. The vessels are local assemblies; no sect could be a vessel. If we do not include all in our mind and heart we shall be a sect, if we do not take care.
Rem They sit down to do the selection.
CAC It is a deliberate matter. You would look to see if they had fins and scales to judge of good fish. Fins are the mark of the ability to move in a definite way, not influenced by the current but balanced. If there is no definite movement in the right direction seen with them, well, they are not fit for the vessels. Scales are a protective quality about a saint that keeps the influence of the world from operating on him.