The Kingdom of Heaven is Like ...

[JoeMo]

We've started studying The Kingdom of Heaven in our SS class at church.  We started with Matt. 13.  Rather than quote the entire chapter, I will simply refer you to verses.

Matt. 13:1-9 is the parable of the sower - the seed that fell on the road, on rocky ground, among weeds, etc.  Matt. 13:10 - 17 explains why Jesus speaks in parables (code?)  In Matt. 13:18-23, Jesus explains the "code" in the parable of the sower.  Then He immediately goes to the parable of the weeds in Matt. 13: 24-30.  What if these parables - rather than being independent of one another, are sequential?  The owner of the field in which the sower was sowing is the same as the owner of the fields with the weeds.  Assuming the same "code" given in Matt;13:18 - 23 applies, wouldn't this parallel what happened in the early church?  Some of the seed (i.e., the Gospel) fell on empty ears, some took root; but for various reasons it didn't survive, and some produced abundant fruit.  In the field of abundant fruit, someone sowed weeds the is analogy of false teachings coming in to the true church - which it did according to several of the Epistles. The owner of the field (Jesus) directs the servants to let them grow up together - and indeed it has.  Then the field owner tells them that at harvest time, to cut and burn the weeds (unsaved people posing as believers); and gather the grain for His barns (the Kingdom) Indeed, Jesus' explanation of the parable of the weeds in Matt. 13:37 - 43 seems to confirm this.  Does this sound anything like Rev. 14:15 - 20?

Consider the parable of the mustard seed (Matt.13:31- 32) If the code of Matt. 13;18-23 still applies, the birds who ate the seed in the parable of the sowers might be the same birds as are sitting in the mustard tree - not necessarily a good thing, if the tree represents the church.

Then you have the parable about the kingdom of heaven is like yeast (Matt. 13:33) ... I have always believed that the yeast in this parable is a "good" thing.  Everyplace else in the Bible, yeast is a bad thing; so why would it be different here?  Nothing says the baker woman was good.  What if she was a false church sowing seeds of deception inside the church?

And on it goes through the chapter.  Anyways, Jesus said elsewhere that the Kingdom of Heaven was already among them.  The gift of the Holy Spirit on the church since Pentecost os evidence that the Kingdom of Heaven is indeed among us; although we are not yet in the dominion of heaven.  Could the "Kingdom is heaven is like ..." be a coded prophecy rather than just a story?

[Aliensanctuary]

Some of  Christ's parables about the Kingdom show something small growing into something much larger, with ultimately, the undesirable elements eliminated. Perhaps all humans will fit into one of his categories: weeds or wheat, good soil or poor soil, good fish or bad fish, good loaves of bread or failed ones, or a finding small, extremely valuable gem worth sacrificing everything, including life itself, to obtain.

I suppose some of his hearers heard the parables, but since they were unable to understand the meaning behind them, they were only stories. Stories they were, but they reveal to us the nature of the Kingdom of God. 

[Kevin H]

These are stories taking things that they were familiar with. A big mistake we make in the Bible is we know a little something but then end up reapplying it every time we come across it without carefully checking the context to see if that fits the context or not. For example we keep getting ourselves into trouble with the Year Day principle. We have a tendency of applying this to all time situations in the Bible whether it fits or not and then when we make the application in the wrong place and thus face problems, we then become gullible when someone says that there is no year-day in the Bible.

I would tend to disagree with JoeMo in trying to look for a coded prophecy. Jesus is simply taking different aspects of God's kingdom. There is the sower teaching how the word of God will respond to different people. There is the parable of the wheat and tares which shows that there is a similarity between God's people and the ones ones the enemy has in the church, and that God is too concerned about some of his precious people might be uprooted if we try too hard to get rid of the problems among us so just let them grow together until the end of time and let their purposes develop until it's clear.

People might have wondered about themselves. They were the common people, not knowing as much as the educated leadership; so Jesus gives the parable of the Mustard seed. And yes JoeMo, you are right that we should be worried about the birds and critters, but you missed the point that the Mustard tree is a weed that grows like crazy in Israel and farmers have a big task trying to keep it, as well as the birds and the critters out of their garden. This parable says that God is a crazy farmer who is proud of his garden of weeds, birds and critters. At times we can feel like unwelcome critters. Or we judge others for how they are in the church:

A bishop in England wrote about one of the crazy preachers who was preaching out in the field to the scum of the earth. He said that if this preacher is remembered at all they would be remembered as an odd footnote to history. that preacher was John Wesley.

 A shoe salesman wanted to join a church. The church got its revenue by renting pews. This young man was not yet married and his family was not near by. He asked if he could only rent part of a pew. He was told that he needed to rent a whole pew. So since he needed to rent a whole pew he just began bringing in people from the street to share his pew. His name was Dwight Moody.

Corrie Ten Boom held a Sunday School class for children with developmental difficulties. A German officer wanted to know why and wouldn't it be better for God to have one refined person than a whole room full of these people.

The Parable of the Mustard tree is two fold: First that God is proud of his garden of weeds and birds and critters as Wesley, Moody and Ten Boom understood. Second as (and along with the parable of the Yeast) is just as farmers listening to Jesus spend so much time trying to get rid of the mustard and birds and critters from their garden, so the church is just going to spread all over despite attempts of people trying to keep the weed along with the birds and critters out of their area.

[Kevin H]

Here are some good resources:

http://www.biblicalresources.net/product.cfm?product=35

http://whiteestate.org/books/col/col.asp

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/810257.The_Parables_of_Jesus

[8thdaypriest]

We only have communion once each year - at Passover.  We bake our own Passover unleavened bread.  I bake a lot, so I can give enough to each person to last them 7 days. 

I have wondered WHY the Lord commanded that the Children of Israel eat UNLEAVENED BREAD for 7 days - not just one day.  Jesus WAS the unleavened (without sin) bread from heaven.  I do believe that Passover was a prophecy, and I do believe that Jesus was the Bread as well as the Lamb. 

Is it possible - do you think, that there will be 7 days at the very END, during which the redeemed will be unleavened (without sin), while still living on this earth (or perhaps up in the cloud with Jesus) prior to leaving earth.  Israel marched around Jericho for 7 days, and on the 7th it fell.  Maybe the cloud with Jesus will orbit the earth for 7 days, and on day 7 Babylon will fall and burn.  

Just thoughts.

[Kevin H]

There are different reasons some I know and one is an educated guess: The guess is, from a practical purpose God's deliverance was to be so fast that they don't have time for the bread to rise, and what they brought with them, so (the educated guess) probably about a weeks worth of food.  

also, it was preparing the Hebrews for life in the promised land as the Canaanites were eating unleavened bread that week as a part of their agricultural cycle. (and God did not want them to eventually pick up the Canaanite habit of using the season to try to appease the gods for help for their gardens to grow.)

As for the last days you raise a good question that I hope to be able to come back to discuss.