Because of Their Unbelief Matthew 13:44 – 14:1 ~ Our last report concluded with the harshest words the Lord Jesus ever spoke. We certainly aren’t going to make any departure from His interpretation that He gave us about those parables. If you’re not a regular reader I suggest you go back and start at the very beginning. We have too many people that want to start in the Bible in the back. They’re always sensational and seriously confused. So, why not try a real, sincere and educated study with us? Our safari brings us to three very unusual parables today that all deal with different aspects of the Kingdom of Heaven as it is today – right now. You’re really going to need to make some mental notes…. XIII 44 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. ~ Let’s stop in this field for just a moment because we already know the ‘’field’’ is the world. The Lord Jesus Himself told us that! There is an age old interpretation that this is a sinner buying the Gospel. We know that cannot be because the Gospel is not hid in a field. The hidden treasure is the nation Israel and the field is the world. Israel today is certainly hidden, buried, actually, in the world. They’re a nation today, sure – but they’re having a supreme and almighty struggle, too, aren’t they? Israel will NEVER enjoy peace and rest in that land until they get it from the Lord Jesus Christ; and that just hasn’t happened today! There was a picture in a paper from an Israeli convention of prominent scientists and above the platform of speakers was a huge sign in Hebrew and in English that read ‘’Science Will Give Us Peace in Israel’’ – that was some seventy years ago. May I say the Prince of Peace is the only One that will be capable of giving peace in that land! The largest segment of Israelites today is in New York City, California and South, Florida – not Israel. They are still scattered throughout the world. God is definitely not through dealing with Israel as Paul wrote in Romans, ‘’I say then, hath God cast away His people? God forbid! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, and of the tribe of Benjamin.’’ God has not cast away His people which He foreknew, friends. Paul, apparently, didn’t believe the Lord was through with Israel. Zechariah makes it abundantly clear in his twelfth chapter at ten, right before we run out of Old Testament, that there is a day coming in the future when He brings His own back to Him. Jeremiah speaks of God gathering Israel from the east and the north and the south and the west. Well, that day has not come yet; when that day does come they won’t even continue to observe the single oldest holiday known to mankind: the Passover! Anyone that thinks God is through with the nation Israel is not seeing the Word of God clearly. How does God redeem Israel? – He bought them with His blood, friends. It’s all right here in the Bible just as plain as daylight. God will redeem Israel the same way He redeemed you and me. The fountain will be opened in the house of David…. 45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: 46 Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it. ~ Allow me to indulge to you the popular interpretation of this parable today: many people say the sinner is the merchant man and that the pearl of great price is Christ and the sinner goes and sells all that he has and he buys Christ that way. And that certainly is simple enough for most simpletons. There’s even a hymn that says ‘I have found the pearl of greatest price – my heart does sing for joy – and sing I must – for Christ is mine – Christ shall my song employ’ ~ The reason we won’t accept that and we must dismiss it as unworthy of thoughtful consideration is because people aren’t looking for Christ. The Bible says people are not looking for God and I have found in real life that people just aren’t looking for Jesus Christ and they’re not looking for salvation at all. The merchantman cannot be the sinner because the sinner has nothing to pay for his salvation. Mankind is simply not seeking Christ and, even if man found Him, man has nothing to pay for redemption; we’re spiritual beggars on the streets. Christ’s offer is free as He tells us to come and buy without money, remember that? Those who thirst can come to the waters and drink freely – there’s no charge. This man sells all that he has – but we don’t have anything to sell because we are dead in trespasses and sins before we are saved. Christ’s offer of salvation isn’t for sale – it’s a gift! God so loved….that He GAVE His Son. The GIFT of God is eternal life in Christ. The merchantman in this parable is Christ. Christ left His home and came to this earth from Heaven to find a pearl of great price. What He found were a bunch of lost sinners. So, Christ died for them and shed His blood – that’s called selling all that you have, my friends. Though He was rich, yet for our sakes, He became poor that we, through His poverty, might be made rich! That’s how we are redeemed to God – HE bought US! But we need to inspect this pearl very closely, obviously. A pearl is not a stone like a diamond or a ruby. A pearl is formed by a living organism. That little sea creature gets a grain of foreign matter that intrudes into the shell. The spec of sand hurts and harms it. So, the oyster send out a secretion that covers over and over until the beautiful white pearl is formed. It’s not an emerald or a sapphire and we don’t cut pearls like we do stones. Interestingly, the pearl was not considered valuable at all to the early Israelites. Check out the twenty eighth chapter of Job from fourteen to nineteen. Pearls and coral were put together – as in, no value. There are other pearly passages you may want to find in connection with this. However, pearls WERE very valuable to the Gentiles. I’m sure the apostles were a little confused about that parable and the mention of goodly pearls. The oriental had given a symbolic meaning to the pearl of innocence and purity and was fit for only kings and potentates. Now, with that information we can see that Christ was the merchantman who saw man in sin. Sin had intruded upon Him so He took man’s sin and He bore it. He was made sin for us. We get into the heart of Christ through a spear wound. Christ was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. So, how does Christ respond? – He puts around us the white robe of righteousness and He formed the church. The pearl is the response of the organism; your sin – and mine – is the foreign matter and HE makes us white as snow. Impurity made pure; we are His workmanship and we are created in Christ Jesus. God saw what He could make out of us and not what we were. Christ sees His church as she will be someday; presented to Him with no spot or blemish. Christ sold all that He had that He might gain the church. Beloved, NOW are we the sons of God. It doth not yet appear what we shall be but when He shall appear we shall be like him. When we get to Revelation we‘re going to find some gates in the New Jerusalem – and guess what they’re made out of? This is no accident we’re looking at. This makes the church one body presented to Him and it’s also one precious jewel! ~ 47 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: 48 Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. 49 So shall it be at the end of the age: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, ~ Again, I have changed ‘’world’’ to ‘’age’’ because the Bible does not teach the end of the world. Time will be no more when eternity begins but I can’t tell the difference. I’ve never met anyone that could tell the difference. Either way – there’s no end to it. The word in the Greek is ‘’ion’’ – and that means it is a time related word. The end of this age is when Christ comes to establish His Kingdom. The Lord here makes it clear that it’s a terrible thing to be lost at WHATEVER time you come up with for that period! ~ 50 And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. ~ There was a very interesting scientific paper produced by men presenting certain evidence in several different fields. One was theorizing exactly what the atom blast from a bomb would do because they weren’t too sure at that time. They also weren’t sure of the effects of germ warfare and many different things. One scientist is quoted as saying, ‘’This is all much like eternity. You may not know if there is a Heaven or a hell but you better be sure that you’re going to Heaven; because even if you happen to be wrong – you’ll be right – and, if you’re wrong, it’s going to be so much worse.’’ Jesus makes it clear it will be bad – very bad. We think we are so sophisticated today the way some men deny hell. If they were honest they would admit they know nothing about it. Of course, they will say you don’t know, either. But we DO know what’s in the Bible. Since the Bible has been so completely correct and accurate in my own life I’m going to believe it is accurate about my eternity in death! They tell us a hurricane is coming and we take cover. The sun is always shining in the calm before a hurricane. I have been through three major hurricanes in Florida and we would have never known they were coming without modern weather tracking systems. The weather is gorgeous until it’s too late to prepare. Sometimes they veer off course at the last moment – and sometimes they come right through the house! It will be too bad if you’re wrong, friends…. 51 Jesus saith unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They say unto him, Yea, Lord. 52 Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old. ~ Some people call verse fifty two another parable. It could be. This is so personal that I sort of feel like this is my business writing these reports. I’ll be honest with you because I always am; I’m not interested in the world’s business or their commerce or their way of life, in general, at all. I just bring forth things both new and old. Many of you have heard much of all this before. I know you have but that has nothing to do with me. I do hope we’re getting some new things somewhere along the line, though? I think this is what we are called to do today…. 53 And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence. 54 And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works? ~ Nobody ever questioned the miracles being performed and I want to make that clear. What they did question was: HOW did He do them? To the Pharisee Jesus was just the son of a common laborer. That’s all Jesus is to many people today, too. The age old question still remains today: ‘’Who do men say that I am?’’ asks Jesus. Well, the Pharisees are now asking…. 55 Is not this the carpenters son? is not his mother called Mary? And his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? 56 And his sisters are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things? ~ Jesus has half-brothers and sisters and They did not understand Him. They were offended by Him. This is what deceives many people today; we don’t get too familiar with the Lord Jesus Christ. Many people thought they were familiar with Jesus in His day! ~ 57 And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house. 58 And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief. ~ The only thing that limited the power of God while He was on earth was….unbelief. The problem is never that Jesus isn’t able to do something – the problem is that we don’t believe He can. That is the problem with both you and me: we must believe He can do it in order for Him to do it! Christ is limited ONLY by unbelief. What marvelous truths we have here. XIV 1 At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus, ~ So, we reach the fourteenth chapter here in our Spiritual Safari. We can see hostility and antagonism building rapidly as they continue to reject Him as King, The conflict with the religious rulers will escalate into a crises now. We’re going to see John the Baptist murdered as Herod attempts to snuff the light out of the world. Ultimately they must lay their wicked hands on the Lord Jesus. Jesus withdraws at this time because His hour had not yet come. Read this entire chapter. Herod is just a tad superstitious, as you can tell. But the superstition of Herod is the superstition of a stupid man – Herod! His ignorance lives on today in men and women that are completely ignorant and, yes, just plain s-t-u-p-i-d-! Here’s an exercise that God will permit you this one time. Go look at your horoscope today. If you can believe it is less than laughable you have a real problem. The ministry of the Lord Jesus could not escape the notice of the man in power. I have said this before, I believe Herod formed the mafia and the original members of the Cosa Nostra were his family – I’m SURE of it! This man has a bad conscience and he’s an ignorant idiot – which is worse than being just one or the other. Herod put John to death because he was disturbed….by what was being said….
Posted on: Tue, 12 Nov 2013 05:04:24 +0000
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