Gleanings - the Kingdom of God

Sown Seed, Wheat and Tares, Mustard Seed and Leaven

The Doxology.

“Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven . . .For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen” Matt. 6:9b,10,13b.

This reading is taken of course, from what is known to us as “The Lord’s Prayer.” But this prayer as given us in the scriptures, did not have its origin in the gospel of Matthew. Jesus is largely quoting His “father,” David, as we shall immediately discover. But then, who is quoting who, for the words that David spoke were our Lord’s from before the foundation of the world!

“Wherefore David blessed the Lord before all the congregation: and David said, Blessed be thou, Lord God of Israel our father, forever and ever. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all. Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name” I Chron. 29:10-13.

Do you have occasion when your heart is greatly drawn toward your God: you want to praise Him, but can’t find the words? My dear friend, quote His Word back to Him! And what better than I Chronicles 29:10-13?

Parable of the Sown Seed

“And he said, so is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; and should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come” Mark 4:25-29.

The farmer is a Grave Digger. He brings forth from the mortuary the tools needful to break up the ground. In the tilled soil he makes trenches; or perhaps long columns of tiny holes. Into these is dropped dry, lifeless seed. The seed is then covered over with dirt; it is buried. Why on earth does he perform this strange ritual? Is there some purpose in preparing a grave for the seed? In a few short days the farmer returns to look over his graveyard; in fact, every day finds him carefully viewing the burial grounds; this cemetery where lies dead, lifeless seed. Why do you come every day to this Memorial Garden; why gaze you across the fields that are void of life? Exclaims the farmer, “I’m looking for Resurrection!” And who has not observed with curiosity the opening of the grave wherein lay sleeping seed to watch a tender plant emerge, the hardened earth being forced to give way to new life. Not only does the farmer contemplate Resurrection, but anticipates a yielding of fruit from that which has passed from a state of death, unto life!

In John 12:23 -24 we find: “And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” This He spoke concerning His own death, burial, and resurrection. We are the fruit that He has brought forth; our spirits being awakened by the Light of the Son! Again, every believer being raised bodily is quickened by His life, and shall be even as He!

Every seed that falls to the ground in death, and then springs forth in life, is a testimony of the Creator making manifest the Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Christ. Therefore, may we die to self, that we may live unto Him.

“He came unto His own, and His own received him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the Sons of God, even to them that believe on His name. Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” John 1:12,13.

Parable of the Wheat and the Tares

“Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the household came and said unto him, Sir, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let them both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn” Matt. 13:24-30.

“TARES, Zisanion: . . .growing in the grain fields, as tall as wheat and barley, and resembling wheat in appearance. It was credited among the Jews as being degenerate wheat. The seeds are poisonous to man and herbivorous animals, producing sleeplessness, nausea, convulsions, and even death.” Vines Expository Dictionary, page 1133.

“but the tares are the children of the wicked one; The enemy that sowed them is the devil” Matt. 13:38b,39a.

In the epistle of Jude we are given a graphic picture of the tares. “For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. . .These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds are they without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withered, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming out of their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. . .These be they who separate themselves, sensual, not having the Spirit” Jude 4,12,13,19.

In I John chapter 2 these “tares,” apostates, are further identified. “They went out from us, but they were not of us: for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.” Here’s the contrast; the true believer: “But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. I have not written unto you because you know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.” “Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son.” He is a tare; “the tares are the children of the wicked one.” Having obtained the knowledge of the truth, he blatantly denies it: he is an apostate. In denying Jesus to be Christ he is deemed an antichrist; which is all the more reason that it should be “impossible. . .to renew [him] again unto repentance, seeing that [he has] trodden under foot the Son of God.” These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.” The true believer is identified as to the working of the Spirit in his life. “But the anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him” I John 2:26,27. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of discernment. The abiding of His anointing Person is there to continually teach us that we may be learning to “rightly divide” the scriptures. We must needs “put on the whole armour of God,” to have our “loins girt about with truth,” also “taking the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Not that we should refrain from listening to and reading after preachers and teachers: the Holy Spirit is unto us a safe-guard against those who would mislead us.

“That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;” Eph. 4:14. Be not deceived - there are tares among the wheat!

The two-fold work of Satan? First, “Those by the way side are they that hear, then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved” Luke 8:12. Secondly the “tares,” and “the enemy that sowed them,” “the devil.” He is a thief of the greatest magnitude. Not only does he steal away the good seed that leads to salvation, but implants a poisonous weed that brings about utter destruction to those who “taste” and “eat” of its fruit. He substitutes the Lie in the place of the Truth.

Fallen man is in a real dilemma. Not only is he faced with the good seed being blown away or choked by thorns and briars, not to speak also of his stony heart, but he is seized by a further crisis: that Satan is likewise a sower of seed. And the receiving of that seed will bring about his ruin, even his death. Case in point - Judas Iscariot.

Judas Iscariot: a Tare amongst the Wheat.

“For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come. . .”

Enlightened? Jesus is the Light of the world. The “heavenly gift?” Christ, the incarnate Son of God? Made partaker of the Holy Ghost? Beholding the manifestations of the Spirit working in and through the Lord Jesus? The good word of God? “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” The powers of the world to come? Were they not greatly evidenced in the person and work of Christ? And Judas was witness to it all. He stood as it were at the very threshold of salvation, and then trod underfoot the Son of God; accounted the blood of the covenant. . .an unholy thing. . .done despite to the Spirit of grace.

Identifying the Tare.

Sometimes you can’t. Judas was “one of the twelve.” He had walked, eaten, slept, and yes, probably even prayed with Jesus and the other disciples. When our Lord announced that one of them was to betray him, they had neither clue nor hint that it was Judas. Even after Jesus identified him as the betrayer, saying, “He it is to whom I shall give a sop. . .he gave it to Judas Iscariot. And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then Jesus said unto him, That thou doest, do quickly.” The scripture declares: “Now no man at the table knew for what intent he spake this unto him. For some of them thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus had said unto him, Buy those things that we have need of against the feast; or that he should give something to the poor” John 13. Judas Iscariot: surely a more wicked apostate could not be found. Yet the disciples were unable to discern it! “Jesus answered them, Have I not chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil? He spoke of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon: for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve” John 6:70-71. “but the tares are the children of the wicked one; The enemy that sowed them is the devil” Matt. 13:38,39. Judas is a “tare,” a child of Satan, yet the Lord “called” him, allowed him to grow up undetected unto maturity, in the midst of Himself and the eleven. Then came the “fruit,” the outward display of his apostasy in that he betrayed the innocent blood.

Parable of the Mustard Seed.

“And another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: Which indeed is the least of all seeds; but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof” Matt. 13:31-32. cf. Luke 13:18-19.

“But when it is sown it groweth up, and becometh greater than all the herbs, and shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it” Mark 4:32.

This parable is said to the most difficult of all to discern. One reason may be that many examine it only in its immediate context, not realizing that this group of parables are best taken as a “cluster” of fruit, effectually working together to portray the Kingdom.

Let us be reminded that the Kingdom of heaven consists first and foremost of the King! “Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in heaven and earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honour come of thee, thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand to make great, and to give strength unto all. Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name.”

In our study of this “cluster” of parables we were first given the ‘sower’, then the picture is expanded to reveal two kinds of seed; wheat and tares: the wheat being of ‘good’ seed, and the tares, though being look-a-likes, were said to be “degenerate wheat. . poisonous to man and herbivorous animals, producing sleeplessness, nausea, convulsions, and even death.” Though two kinds of seed are not directly specified in this parable, we had best look at it with a wary eye. (As there is the Kingdom of God; in contrast and comparison, there is the kingdom of Satan.) You do not have Day without having Night; light without darkness, and so on.

The Kingdom of God.

Matthew Henry describes the Kingdom twofold: “the Kingdom of God among us, would be set up in the world: in this way the work of grace in the heart, the Kingdom of God within us, would be carried on in particular persons.”

The Mustard Seed. “Christ Jesus. . .equal with God. . .But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” Phil. 2:6-8.

We recall the psalmist’s question: “What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?” He is small, he is weak and of little significance; even as the mustard seed. As such became Christ. (May we insert here that the Kingdom of God most certainly did not begin with the birth of Christ. His Kingdom is eternal and is great beyond all comprehension. Here we are dealing with an earthly aspect.)

This Jewish nation by and large expected a great Tree: that Messiah should suddenly rise up in great power and glory to subdue all the nations (especially Rome) who would rule over them.

“Many perhaps were prejudiced against the gospel, and loth to come in to the obedience of it, because its beginning was so small; they were ready to say of Christ, Can this man save us? And of his gospel, Is this likely to come to anything? Now Christ would remove this prejudice, by assuring them that thoughits beginning was small its latter end should greatly increase; so that many should come, should come upon the wing, should fly like a cloud, to lodge in the branches of it with more safety and satisfaction than in the branches of Nebuchadnezzar’s tree, Dan. iv. 21.” Again, our thanks to Matthew Henry for his insight into the scriptures.

There were a mere 120 souls gathered in one solitary room before Pentecost. Before that, Christ and 12 disciples (and one a devil). Before that, a couple in a stable in Bethlehem, with a child who was called Jesus. Before that, a scattering of Old Testament saints: “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth” Heb. 11:13. Is this not also the pattern for us Gentile believers? That we are saved through faith; that we see the truth presented in the Gospel; that we are convicted, yes, persuaded by the Spirit of Promise; that we are so persuaded that we embrace by faith the reality of a crucified, risen Christ whose effectual work has provided a sure salvation for all who will come to him? And lastly that we confess that Jesus Christ is Savior; that He is our King of kings and Lord of Lords?

Is the Tree truly great, and the branches thereof? Let‘s look at the last chapter in the Book and find out. “And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation . . .and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing” Rev. 5:9,11-12.

The “kingdom” of Satan

“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground,which did weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High” Isa. 14:12-14. Aspiring to exalt himself (great tree that he was,) he who would rule the nations, yea, the world -- his power and glory shall be short-lived as he shall be “fallen . . .cut down to the ground!” Isa. 14:12

“Birds of a feather flock together”

“The birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.” “there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies. . . and many shall follow their pernicious [ruinous, injurous. hurtful] ways. And through covetousness shall they with feigned [plastos: moulded, artificial, ficticious] words make merchandise of you . . . For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lust of the flesh” II Peter 2:lb,2,3a,18a.

“Barking up the wrong tree”

In his argument to beguile Eve, Satan combined a truth with a lie: “ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” Gen.3:5. Knowing good and evil? yes. Ye shall be as gods? no. But man has stubbornly hung onto the lie, determining to be his own god. Has the scripture not declared, “But now O Lord, thou art our Father; we are the clay, and thou art our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand” Isa. 64:8. Again, “Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand” Jer. 18:6. But in the depths of his depravity, man has thought to make himself the potter. He would form an image, an image of Jesus, to his own specifications, to his own finite standard. In Revelation 13, the people are instructed to “make an image unto the beast.” The image is given ‘life;’ it is empowered to ‘speak.’ But men have already made a great ‘image;’ they call it Jesus. This ‘image’ is given ‘life,’ it moves about; it ‘speaks.’ It can be seen upon giant motion picture screens; it can be seen in the confines of one’s own home. However, this ‘image’ with all its power may depict horrendous abuse and suffering, but as to a Gospel which teaches His death as the only means of Salvation; His power as Very God to forgive sin, to impute Righteousness, to redeem and reconcile. . .well, (to coin a well-used phrase,) the silence is deafening.

May we say that as there existed in the Garden the tree of Life and as such, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil: both trees are with us today; and we will partake [lodge in the branches] of the forbidden tree at our peril. But no; let us be found as partakers of Christ the Tree of Life and find safe lodging in His branches!

“Branch out!”

“beginning at Jerusalem” . . . “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature,” that the fowls of the air, no longer to fly about aimlessly as slaves ‘according to the prince of the power of the air,’ may also find lodging and shelter under the branches of the Tree of Life.

Parable of the Leaven;

“And again he said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened” Luke 13:20-21.

The leaven was hid in three measures of meal. “Leaven among corn unground does not work, nor does the gospel in souls unhumbled and unbroken for sin: the law grinds the heart, and then the gospel leavens it.” Matthew Henry

There is a grain that wills not to be ground, neither will accept; yea despises the leaven of the Gospel though it be offered. This corn will be “cast forth. . .cast into the fire and burned” John 15:6.

Simply “receive Jesus as your Savior.” Self is lavished with the leaven of gifts and grace: it becomes well coated; yet it is only a coating, as the grain remains unground and receives no internal change by the leaven. Alas, this grain shall in the end be ground also; and that, under the judgment hand of God. It shall not be leavened nor kneaded. It shall not be made bread, but be cast into the fiery furnace. “And he will thoroughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable” Luke 3:17.

Another scripture which parallels this parable pictures Christ the Cornerstone: “And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder” Matt. 21:44. Thus we fall upon Him that we may be broken, that Grace may accomplish His glorious work, else be confronted by the inescapable judgment of the Righteousness One.

Self-rising meal. That which has (hopefully) been ground, yet thinks itself to have some sort of inner leavening, not realizing that the leaven must come from something outside of itself, unwilling to confess that the leavening of Grace is wholly of God.

Thankfully there is plain meal, nothing claimed of itself. It is thoroughly ground by the law, quickened by the water of the Word, the leaven of Faith and of Grace, all of which are the Gospel. It is kneaded by the hand of the Master Baker; thoroughly, that there be nothing left that is not leavened. “Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenths deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the Lord” Lev. 23:17.

Christ, the unleavened Bread of Life. As the seed of woman, yet the Seed of God, He was planted on this earth that in death He would bring forth much fruit. Upon the cross He was ground by the Law. There was no leaven added. He was put into the fire. From all outward appearances this brutally marred lump of corn was destined to be cast into Gehenna and forgotten. Yet He today is an endless eternal source of strength and nourishment to all who will trust Him and be partakers of His Life.

One may not necessarily support a “deeper life” movement, but if he desires Abundant Life, it must needs have the support of a deeper root system! The roots must go downward into Christ our Sufficiency, that fruit may be born upward unto God for His glory. “And the remnant . . . of Judah shall yet again take root downward, and bear fruit upward” II Kings 19:30.

This article is not a commentary. It is seed that is cast forth. The Sower is the Trusted One. If it be found to any degree worthy, may He plant and nurture it.