Jesus used many parables to teach truths of the Kingdom. This was a tradition of instruction used many times in the Old Testament.
“Listen, O my people, to my instruction; Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old,” (Psalm 78:1-2)
Parables are powerful for their deep simplicity. There is a temptation to read over quickly, but if we seek after the knowledge of God in them, we will grow in our understanding of, closeness with, and likeness to God. Jesus elevated this method to a place no man had ever reached, as had been prophesied of Him. And by doing so, mysteries of the Kingdom are unveiled to those whose eyes are opened.
Yesterday, we mentioned the parable of the sower. Now let’s take a look at some others. We always link references of scripture with those scriptures at biblegateway.com and I would always encourage you to go read those, but it’s a particularly good idea with these parables. God has much better things to say to you through His word than I do…
1. The Parable of the Weeds: Matt. 13:24-30. This parable is explained in Matt. 13:37-43.
This parable is a plain explanation of the plan of God for all the people of this world. We, as people, live our lives out usually oblivious to the fact that we are acting out our small part in a play that was described long ago. God is in the process of subduing everything and in the end everything will be judged. Everything not of the Kingdom will be burned. The sons of God, those of the Kingdom grow up right alongside the sons of the evil one. God is allowing the fullness of time to play out so that as many as possible can choose to be His son and thus escape the coming wrath. Many people don’t understand how God could allow a world so evil, and yet this simple parable gives an excellent explanation. To destroy the evil now would be to keep some out of His eternal blessing, and He will wait until the maximum number of them can enter His grace.
Tomorrow we’ll cover the final three parables of the Kingdom. We have just scratched the surface, what can you add to the understanding of this parable?