Chapter BY Chapter

Matthew 13:36-58 – Secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven

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Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.”  He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.  The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.  Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age.  The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

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“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

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“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

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“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind.  When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad.  So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

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“Have you understood all these things?” They said to him, “Yes.” And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”

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And when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there, and coming to his hometown he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.”  And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.

 

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In verses 1-35 of chapter 13, we learned that Jesus spoke in parables.  Why did Jesus speak in parables?

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1. To fulfill prophecy.

2. To hide the message from those that are unwilling to learn spiritual things.

3. So those that truly believe would understand, knowing the secrets of heaven.

 

Did the Old Testament Prophets ever talk in parables?

 

2 Samuel 12:1-9,

 

“And the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor.  The rich man had very many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him.  Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him, but he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.”  Then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die, and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”

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Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul.  And I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more.  Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.”

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There are other parables spoken by Old Testament prophets, in fact, sometimes their life was a parable. 

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Here in this section, Jesus leaves the crowd, goes into the house and the disciples ask him to explain the parable of the weeds of the field.

 

Verses 36-43,

 

“Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.”  He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.  The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.  Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age.  The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.”

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So, what is the secret of the kingdom of heaven in this parable?

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1. The good seed is the sons of the kingdom of heaven sown by the Son of Man, Jesus.

2. The bad seed is the sons of the devil sown by the devil.

3. The field is the earth.

4. The harvest is the end of the age.

5. The sons of the devil will be thrown into the fiery furnace.

6. The sons of the kingdom will shine like the sun.

 

What is the significance that the disciples asked Jesus to explain the parable to them?

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1. They weren’t sure what it meant?

2. You only get to know the secret of the parables that Jesus explains later?

3. The disciples were in a complete learning course.

4. Good learning expects questions from the students.

 

What is the significance of this parable for us in today’s world?

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1. It is not our job to pull up all the bad weeds in the world. God will do that in the end of this age.

2. We can expect there will be evil in the world till the time comes that God harvests the world.

 

The next secret of the kingdom in heaven is in verse 44,

 

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”

 

What is the secret of this parable?

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1. That the kingdom of heaven is precious and worth more than all your possessions.

 

The next secret of the kingdom in heaven is in verses 45-46,

 

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”

 

What is the secret of this parable?

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1. That the kingdom of heaven is precious and worth more than all your possessions.

 

Now, if someone comes to faith in Christ and then goes on in his life as he did before, how is that like finding a treasure in a field and selling everything to buy the field?

 

How is your life like the man that found a treasure in a field and sold everything to buy the field?

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1. Spending time reading scripture.

2. Spending time praying.

3. Spending time praising God.

4. Spending time witnessing.

5. Spending time with other Christians encouraging and learning.

6. Changing your behavior.

7. Spending time helping others.

 

What do we get in return?

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1. Eternal life.

2. Blessings in life.

3. Answers to prayer.

4. Joys in life.

5. Fellowship with other Christians.

 

Can you tell of an example of how God’s treasure manifested in your life?

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Philippians 3:7-8,

 

“But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.  Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.”

 

The next secret of the kingdom of heaven is in verses 47-50,

 

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind.  When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad.  So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

 

Now, one of the kinds of nets that they used in those days was a dragnet.  There would be a boat on each end and they would drag it across the Sea of Galilee.  This kind of net would catch every kind of fish found in the sea, including catfish, which were unclean, and smelt, which you really don’t want because you’d be cleaning them for days.

 

What is the secret of this parable?

 

Now, Jesus says this is going to happen at the end of the age.  Who is going to separate the evil from the righteous?

The angels.  Not people.  Not the disciples.  Not the Christians.  Not any government.  Not any other religious group.  The angels. 

Now, there are people today, that think it is their job to separate the evil from the righteous in the world and throw them into the furnace.  This is not their job.  This will be the work of the angels at the end of the age. 

 

Next Jesus is going to see if they understand all the parables.

 

Verses 51-51,

 

“Have you understood all these things?” They said to him, “Yes.”  And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”

 

Have you understood all these things?

 

What did Jesus mean by saying that every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old?

 

Jesus is talking to his disciples.  They are the scribes that have been trained for the kingdom of heaven.  They are the ones that bought a field with a treasure hidden in it.  They are the ones that will bring out of their treasure what is new and what is old.  In other words, they have the Old Testament scriptures in their treasure, and they have the New Testament that Jesus is giving them. 

 

What does Jesus do next?

 

Verses 53-58,

 

“And when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there, and coming to his hometown he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works?  Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?  And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?”  And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.”  And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.”

Now this paragraph often comes with the title, “Jesus Rejected at Nazareth.”  Does it say anything about rejection?

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It is not talking about rejection.  It is talking about unbelief.  Notice that when Jesus taught in their synagogue, they were astonished and said, “Where did he get this wisdom and mighty works?”  This sounds like acknowledging Jesus, not rejecting him.  But it does say that they took offense at him.  The word for took offense here is “eskandalizonto.”  From the root word is where we get our word “scandal.”  But it does not mean what we think of a scandal.  They did not “scandalize” Jesus.  The meaning of this word is more like “to stumble over.”  The idea is that they stumbled over the idea that this was someone they knew.  All they could think of was that he was the little Jesus that grew up among them.  Does it say that Jesus did not do any great works there?  No, it says that he did not do many great works there.  Why?  Because of their unbelief.  They found it hard to believe because this was the little Jesus they knew.  If they found it hard to believe, they would not bring their sick to Jesus to be healed.  That’s all. 

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Many people today find it hard to believe in Jesus because they are only willing to see the natural world.  They fail to apply logic and ask, “Where did matter come from?”  If you look at the natural world, you can see that everything is moving apart.  Matter is sucked into black holes that grind the matter into particles and spew the particles out of the plane of the galaxy.  The destruction of the matter fuels the spinning of the galaxy, but every day, there is less and less matter.  If the universe had always existed, it would have dispersed into oblivion a long time ago.  Facts require logic to be applied.  Apply the logic and you find that there must be a God that created the universe.  Apply the logic, and Jesus, the man that controlled nature, then died and rose to life as he said he would, must be that God. 

 

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