Hey everybody! Thank you for joining me in daily Bible reading as we seek to glorify Jesus, know Him more, and interpret the truth of His Word.
If this is your first time going through the Bible, I am incredibly excited to have you here. If this is your 5000th time, I am humbled that you are here and hope you grow in your relationship with Jesus along with me. May we all seek to know Him more and apply what we learn to further our mission of spreading the gospel. If you missed a day and want to catch up, visit the archives page HERE! But there is no shame if you start today! Day 156, Matthew 13:41-43 — The Parable of Wheat and Tares Matthew 13:41-43 (NASB1995) “41 The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, 42 and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.” Discussion We have been reading Jesus’ parable of wheat and tares. In this parable, we see an image of a farmer sowing good wheat seeds in his field (13:24). After sowing, his enemy came and secretly poisoned his field by sowing bad ones (13:25). In v. 26, we see the crop maturing, revealing the farmer’s good wheat and the enemy’s tares growing amongst each other. The farmer’s slaves question him about the seed, wondering why there are tares amid the wheat (13:27). The slaves inquire about uprooting the tares (13:28), but the farmer tells them that pulling up the tares would then uproot the wheat as well because of their entangled root systems within the soil (13:29). Because of this, they must wait until both crops mature before separating them at the harvest. Yesterday, we read about the harvest and separation of the wheat from the tares. At the time of the harvest, the farmer will send reapers to bind and bundle the tares for burning while they will gather the wheat in his barn for safekeeping. It was common practice to bundle tares and other dead-and-dry wheat for burning. Conversely, the wheat would be stored, sold, or traded. We learned the harvest represents the end of the age or judgment day. Many Jews believed the coming of the Messiah would immediately start judgment upon their enemies. But Jesus says we cannot uproot and burn the tares before the harvest, as God allows humanity to grow together until the period of Christ's second coming. Furthermore, the reapers are God’s angels, who will gather and burn the wicked with fire while gathering the righteous to Christ. The juxtaposing fates of the wicked and the righteous echo John the Baptist’s teaching of this subject (Matt. 3:12). In that passage, we see those who remain unrepentant and unfruitful baptized with fire (3:11) and burned in judgment (3:12). Likewise, those who reject Christ and remain unrepentant and unfruitful will be bundled and burned like tares. Today, we conclude the parable of wheat and tares as it reaches its thematic climax. It says, “41 The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, 42 and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Most scholars and commentators note the distinction of the angels gathering the tares out of God’s kingdom. In this image, we see Jesus returning to establish His millennial kingdom. Around the same time, His angels gather or take (Lk. 17:34-37) the wicked into judgment while those remaining are caught up with the LORD to reign with Him (1 Thess. 4:17). The wicked being gathered here are those who have made stumbling blocks and practice sin. One scholar notes the angels gather these tares, or the wicked, out of Christ's kingdom. “Thus, they appear to be those who profess faith in Christ but don’t walk their talk. [Therefore], they are defined as ‘law-breakers’ (v. 41) and, even worse, as not merely sinners but those who cause others to sin (stumbling blocks). These [people] will be gathered, bound, and burned (vv. 30, 40–42).”[1] In ancient Jewish culture, a practical example of a stumbling block is placing a brick in front of a blind person as they walk. It will cause the blind person to stumble and fall. Later in Matthew, Jesus explains that keeping someone from their relationship with God is a stumbling block (Matthew 18). Furthermore, Jesus calls Peter a stumbling block for attempting to thwart His mission (Matt. 16:23) to die on the cross for the world's sins. We also see Christ as a stumbling block to devoted law-practicing Jews and ignorant Gentiles (1 Cor. 1:23). In all these examples, a stumbling block is something or someone keeping others from knowing the LORD and His saving grace. The language in v. 42 speaks of “all” stumbling blocks being uprooted, which shows an image of an earth completely transformed by the glory of Christ. These stumbling blocks are not only those who keep people from the truth of Christ but any sin or legalistic ideology keeping believers from walking in freedom and truth. When Christ returns, He will uproot ‘all stumbling blocks’ to show that the people of God are forever free from deception, sin, and wickedness in its entirety. Doug O’Donnell says, “It is probably best to see the rooting out of evil as part of what the Son of Man does to establish His rule.”[2] Following this perspective, we see exactly what this passage is saying. When Christ returns, He immediately establishes His kingdom, making the earth anew, destroys sin, and saves the righteous while the wicked perish in the lake of fire. This language about judgment fire is consistent throughout the New Testament, especially whenever Jesus teaches about judgment for the impenitent and unbelieving. The furnace of fire denotes a fierce torment for the wicked. Their ‘weeping’ and ‘gnashing of teeth’ show the extreme anguish and despair presented to those facing an eternity of judgment in hell.[3] Jesus then concludes the parable, saying, “43 Then THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.” Here we see the LORD welcoming those who have put their faith in Christ and faithfully endured to the end. They will shine as the sun as they enter His eternal kingdom. We could see this shining as an eschatological counterpart to Matthew 5:14-16, where Jesus affirms His disciples as the lights of the world.[4] Likewise, we observe this eschatological shining at His transfiguration (17:2),[5] where “His face [shines] like the sun, and His garments became as white as light.” The verbiage describing the juxtaposing fates of the wicked and the righteous is astounding. The righteous will inherit the earth in all of God’s holy majesty, as seen here and taught in the Beatitudes (Matt. 5:5; Ps. 37:29), while the wicked will inherit death in the lake of fire. There is no more reason to put off turning to Christ than these stern words from the Messiah Himself. John Nolland provides a fitting conclusion to the parable. He says, “For the unbeliever, this theme of judgment is a gracious warning and invitation. God is still lavishly offering salvation to all. He is scattering the seed of the gospel everywhere. Why stay a weed? Repent. Turn from your sin, and turn to Christ. Trust in him alone to save you from the judgment to come.”[6] Application After concluding this passage in such detail, the LORD has put such a great sense of urgency in my heart. His coming is soon and so many people need to hear the gospel or respond to it. For the last three years, the Holy Spirit has gifted me an eternal mindset. This was something I never thought about before, but now it is the foundation of my every thought and decision. As followers of Christ, our hope should be in Christ and His second coming. That is what we look forward to and should convict us to pursue Him more than ever as we obey His command to make disciples of all nations. We will thoroughly discuss this more later in Matthew. But other than simply learning about the truth of what’s coming, I see two practical applications for this passage: 1) we become burdened by the truth of the gospel. The people of the world yearn for spiritual truth and desperately need a savior. Without hearing the gospel or responding to it with faith in Christ, they are doomed to experience the terrible wrath of God and face judgment for their unforgiven sins. 2) We respond to our future eternal hope in Christ with more eagerness to pursue Christ and His holiness. To seek His holy face and lay down all our temporal burdens and desires. There is nothing more glorious than Jesus, and we get to experience His incredible coming one day, whether raised from the dead or alive. We get to be with Him forever with no sin, no death, no shame, no sickness, and no wickedness or darkness at all. I look forward to that day with great expectation, especially knowing that it could happen in my lifetime. I pray the LORD burdens me to boldly declare my faith to those who need His saving grace and pushes me to establish loving and caring relationships with them. May we repent of our sins and turn to Christ. May we have hearts that yearn for the truth of Christ to shine through us as we preach the gospel and pursue uncompromised holy living for the unbelieving world to see. May we seek His face and submit to His will over our own. May we praise, worship, honor, and glorify Jesus every day in all that we do while continually pursuing righteousness, holiness, and forgiveness as He forgave us. Looking Ahead Thank you for joining today’s daily Bible reading! Next, we read Matthew 13:31-32. I hope you join me! I have made commenting available, so please feel free to discuss the reading and ask questions. If you do not want to discuss publicly, you can reach out to me privately. We are on this journey together. References [1] John Nolland, “Preaching the Word Commentary.” [2] Doug O’Donnell, “New International Greek Testament Commentary.” [3] Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, ”Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary.” [4] O’Donnell, “New International Greek Testament Commentary.” [5] Ibid. [6] Nolland, “Preaching the Word Commentary.”
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