Kingdom Parables, Part 2
Matthew 13
Last week we began this study of the Kingdom of God that will eventually take us to a verse-by-verse study of Matthew 13. In the meantime, I’m trying to set the table for the meal to follow by providing some general information about this subject of the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven.
Last week, we talked about two aspects of the Kingdom. First, there is the universal kingdom. God is the sovereign; He is the creator; He is the sustainer; He is the beginning and the end of all things; He dominates all things; He rules over everything and everyone forever. That one doesn’t need much explanation.
Then there is what I referred to as the Mediatorial Kingdom. That is the Kingdom on the earth. In all of the universal reign of God, there is a little spot of rebellion called earth, and it is the only place in all of creation where the universal reign of God is not exercised. More specifically, its not even the whole earth.
For the most part, the earth is under the sovereignty of God. The winds and waves obey Him. He could have commanded the rocks to praise Him. Fish spat out coins when He told them to.
But there is one place where that is not true, and that is the heart of man. It began in the Garden of Eden where God put Adam and Eve in charge of ruling and having dominion over everything.
They surrendered their right to rule to Satan in the fall, and now there is this ruler called Satan. And he seeks to usurp the authority of God.
But God didn’t give up; Down through the ages He has continued to seek to rule in the Kingdom on earth through the hearts and lives of people who allow Him to rule.
He used men like Noah and Enoch and the nation of Israel and prophets and priest and kings to continue to speak His truth and love, right on down through the earthly ministry of Jesus and now the church to present the Kingdom of God.
And eventually, Jesus will return to bring His kingdom to earth and will eventually usher in the New Heaven and New Earth to conclude the process.
Now the thirteenth chapter of Matthew deals specifically with the time on earth between the ascension and return of Jesus.
Notice verse 11
Now, may I suggest to you that the term, “the kingdom of heaven”, is a very important term. It is used in verse 11, it is used in verse 24, it is used in verse 31, it is used in verse 33, verse 44, verse 47 and then in verse 52.
And notice, He says, “you can understand the “mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven”.
So let’s just kind of begin with some general information about the Kingdom.
Then hopefully next time we’ll get into the place, plan, purpose and promise of the parables.
First of all,
The Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God are the same thing.
Some people suggest that the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God are different terms. I don’t see that. I think they are interchangeable. The reason I think that is because in the parallel passage to this in Luke, the term, “the kingdom of God”, is used to refer to the same things.
So, two titles used to refer to the same thing, mean the same thing. And so, we accept the fact that the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven are the same. Then think about this:
The church and the Kingdom of God are not the same thing.
Notice verse 11
Jesus references the “mysteries of the Kingdom of God”. That is a direct reference to the church age.
We are the unique mystery of this period and that is defined for us rather explicitly by the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 3.
He says, "This is the mystery which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men is now revealed to the holy Apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that the Gentiles would be fellow heirs and of the same body and partakers of the promises of Christ...in Christ by the gospel."
In other words, the mystery of this age is that Jew and Gentile would constitute a new body, a new identity, unknown. And that is the church; the church is the body of Christ made up of Jew and Gentile. That was not seen in the Old Testament.
That was hidden from then. Nobody saw that one coming.
In fact, just to give you a little idea of how the Old Testament sees this mystery period, turn with me to the book of Zechariah. In Zechariah chapter 12 – 14, we find the prophet discussing the conversion of Israel and the establishment of the great kingdom of the Lord.
But there are several details within that that I want you to note.
Chapter 12:10
Now, what is this saying? It's saying that there's going to come a day when the people of Israel will look upon the one they pierced, and that speaks of the crucifixion, and they will mourn that they ever did that. And they will be bitter that they ever did that.
Now that tells us that when the King came, He would be rejected. He would be pierced. Psalm 22 tells us the same thing. Isaiah 53 again tells us the same thing. There would be a piercing; there would be a rejection, a crucifixion. But later a mourning over that.
But Zechariah, the Psalmist, Isaiah say nothing about the time in between.
When the mourning comes though, verse 1 of chapter 13 says, "In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness."
So when they look on the one they have pierced, they mourn in bitterness, they're sorry for their sin of rejecting the King and His kingdom, then God will pour out the fountain of salvation upon them.
Notice chapter 14:4
This is the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, splitting open the hillside there, the Mount of Olives.
Verse 9
Now, what do we see? Zechariah says there will be a piercing, there will be a killing, there will be a rejection, and even a resurrection.
And eventually, there will be a mourning on the part of the people of God, the Jews, and then a salvation of the people of God, and then the establishment of the kingdom.
But the one thing they never saw was what happens between the rejection and the mourning, what happens between the refusal to receive the King and the time they will receive the King.
That is the mystery period, hidden from all generations past, never discussed in the pages of holy writ, until Jesus opens our understanding here in the thirteenth chapter of Matthew.
And now we have that part of redemptive history that's known as the parenthesis, the church age, revealed to us by Jesus.
Now, having said that, we need to keep in mind that the kingdom is not the same as the church, and the church is not the same as the kingdom.
We are but a component of the kingdom. Remember He said we are the mystery of the kingdom. The kingdom was before the church and the kingdom concept goes beyond the church, but for this period of time they are one and the same.
Here’s something else to keep in mind:
The kingdom on earth is composed of the true and the false.
If you don't catch that, then you will be very confused when you consider the kingdom. The kingdom is a term that includes anyone who considers themselves to be a part of the people of God.
That means in the kingdom, there can be those who have outward profession and inward possession. And the truth of the matter is, sometimes we really can't tell which is which. We don't always know who's real and who isn't.
That has always been true of God's kingdom. For example, in the nation of Israel there were people who weren’t true to God. Paul said in Romans 9, "All Israel is not Israel." In Romans 2, he said, "A Jew is not a Jew who is one outwardly, but is one inwardly."
So, there will always be identified with the quote/unquote "kingdom of God" both the true and the false. If you don't understand that, you get very confused.
Let me give you an illustration of that right here in Matthew.
Matthew 8:12
Now if you know anything about the New Testament, and anything about the gospels, you know that is a description of what Hell.
Now here we have a direct reference to the nation of Israel as the “sons of the Kingdom” who are going to hell. Therefore we can conclude that not all sons of the kingdom are believers. So, the kingdom is made up of the true and the false. We’ll look at that in detail in our study in the parable of the wheat and the tares.
So that was true in the Old Testament with the nation Israel. It was true in the New Testament with Judas as an example. We have it now in the church. And it will even be true in the millennium with Jesus Himself on the throne when multitudes leave Him to follow Satan when He is released from Hell to deceive the nations.
So, whenever you're looking at the mediated kingdom on earth, whether you're looking Old Testament or millennium or any time in between, you always see the true and the false side by side.
Here’s the final thing:
To get in the Kingdom during the church age, there are requirements.
God's universal kingdom has no conditions for entrance. It's everybody and everything forever.
But God's mediatorial kingdom has a condition for entrance. You're not in His mediated kingdom unless, according to Mark 1:15, you repent and believe the gospel. That's what it says. “The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel.”
So unless you repent and believe the gospel, you are not a part of the mediated kingdom. As a subject in His universal kingdom, you will suffer under His universal rule over hell, but know not the blessing of heaven. In fact, that is really the focus of His first coming. Will you accept me as King of your life? He was asking men to come into His Kingdom. Repent and believe. Why? Because the kingdom is at hand.
Listen, that wasn’t a threat of judgment, it was an invitation to life. And there's no room for neutrality at this point. Over and again the Lord was saying - You either receive Me or you don't. You're either for Me or you're not. You're either accepting the King or rejecting the King, therefore either entering the kingdom or being kept out.
That’s the one thing that John the Baptist asked the Jews to decide and that was the thing that Jesus asked them to decide, and tragically, they decided the wrong thing. They refused the King and therefore refused His kingdom. And so He pronounced judgment on them.
And it’s still the question of the hour. Will you receive Jesus as your King?
