Skip to main content

Matthew 13:24-30 Parable compares spiritual with physical - Day 13

Good morning fellow followers of Christ,

Well its raining cats and dogs this morning.  I have heard that idioms like this are very hard for non-native English speakers to understand.  I think that this concept also applies for Jesus' parables.  His audience would easily pick up on things that mystify us.  However, we mustn't let things that are "over our heads" be an excuse not to make every effort to understand.  Jesus's disciples were often uncertain about the meaning of his parables.  Let us strive to increase in our knowledge of God.

Blessings,

Jeff

Does "God's reign over God's people in God's place" fit this parable?  This is TGC working definition for Kingdom of God. Jesus tells me that the ideal, the true kingdom of heaven can be compared to something finite. He never says the kingdom is the field with wheat and tares. It is different, but some comparison can be made. 

First question is Why is understanding the kingdom of heaven so important to Matthew?  Seems like audience would be critical. Gospels have different audiences and contain different events or sometimes same events told in different ways. To Matthew's Jewish audience, the kingdom of David was perfection. Frequently asked: "is the kingdom (of David) going to be restored now?  Jesus is explaining a new kingdom model.  A new paradigm. God's direct rule, not indirect rule through physical line of kings.  The kingdom that Israel rejected by demanding a physical king. 

God's people and God's place are dramatically different from Davidic kingdom.  Jews in Israel. This is believers (Jew and Gentile) in the Church.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Revelation 22:3-5 Final and eternal restoration - Day 365

Dear saints in the Lord, Congratulations!  You made it.  We have been through much turmoil in the last year ('20-'21).  But God is faithful to His promises.  I trust that you have been blessed in your reading and have drawn closer to God.   Since we didn't get the blog up and running at the beginning of the challenge, I am going to go back and post entries to cover that first month or so.   Blessings, Jeff Nothing accursed in the city of God, the new Jerusalem.  The presence of sin will be gone.  I am working on memorizing Westminster Shorter Catechism and currently on question 82.  Is any man able perfectly to keep the commandments of God? No mere man since the fall is able in this life perfectly to keep the commandments of God but does daily break them in thought, word and deed. I think our passage today points to the truth of this question.  Do you notice how this answer is not exactly the same as the question. "Any man" bec...
Post a Comment
Read more

Malachi 2:10-12 Here we go again!! Day 363

Good afternoon friends, As we draw to the end of the Old Testament, we see that Judah has rebuilt the temple and the walls of Jerusalem, but they are following in the footsteps of faithless fathers and not in the footsteps of Abraham and ultimately God.  The exile was a low point, but now a new low is about to happen.  The prophetic voice has once again become warning and not encouraging. Faithful reading and preaching of the word is all that keeps us from losing our way.  May we be faithful in our generation. Blessings, Jeff I am sure I have mentioned this before, but it bears repeating.  The section summary, chapter and verse are not in the original language.  They are all rather modern inventions to help us.  For example, the section title here is "Judah profaned the Covenant".  That is OK as far as it goes, but which Covenant?  So let's take a look. Observations Starts with 3 questions but who is asking the questions and to whom are they addre...
Post a Comment
Read more

Zechariah 13:4 The one whom they pierced - Day 360

 Good evening friends, We continue to look at this difficult section of Zechariah.  I am generally a proponent of inductive study (going from specifics of what does it say to general or how does it apply0.  However, my late friend Martyn Lloyd Jones highlights the value of deductive study.  In this case, his view is more helpful.  Once we understand the purpose of whole Bible, it helps us to understand what the individual portions mean.  While we may not come up with an absolute correct understanding, if we try to see how it points to Christ, we can't be far off. Blessings, Jeff  That day" - And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. Zechariah 12:10 So this is a very messianic day - Jesus is the one whom t...
Post a Comment
Read more