We do desire to sit at Your feet, as Mary of old. May Your Spirit sweep over our souls as we gaze upon the Lord.
We pray that You will open our hearts, that we may understand. We pray that, as we wait upon You and know Your mind, we may be like Mary of old, with a pure heart.
O Lord, we pray that we may be one with You, not only in life, but even in purpose. We commit this time into Your hands, trusting Your Holy Spirit to perfect His work in us. In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
So, you read the first verses of Matthew 5 last night, but we have not touched upon them. Probably, we will reread them and add something more to them. Will you please turn to Matthew 5?
And seeing the multitudes, He went up into the mountain: and when He had sat down, His disciples came unto Him:
and He opened His mouth and taught them, saying,
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are they that have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are ye when men shall reproach you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake.
Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets that were before you.
On that day Jesus went out of the house, and sat by the sea side.
And there were gathered unto Him great multitudes, so that He entered into a boat, and sat; and all the multitude stood on the beach.
And He spake to them many things in parables, saying, Behold, the sower went forth to sow.And the disciples came, and said unto Him, Why speakest Thou unto them in parables?
And He answered and said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
We mentioned last night that the Gospel according to Matthew is the gospel of the King, because the Christ of Matthew, in His own experience, is the King.
When the Lord called Matthew, “Follow Me,” he left all and followed the Lord. Our Lord Jesus came to this earth for one purpose, according to Matthew, and that purpose was to establish His kingdom on earth.
That is why, at the very beginning of His ministry, He said:
Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
The King has come, and He is calling a people to Himself. That people will be His kingdom.
In Matthew 11:12, He says:
From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and men of violence take it by force.
The kingdom of heaven is here on earth; but those who are in that kingdom must be the violent ones—not in a fleshly sense, but in the sense of being desperate, in the sense of gambling everything upon Christ, and in the sense of committing everything to Christ. In that way, we are the kingdom of heaven on earth.
For the sake of understanding the meaning of the kingdom of heaven, we mentioned last night that sometimes the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven are synonymous. But at other times, the kingdom of heaven is more specific.
In other words, the kingdom of God extends from eternity to eternity.
Jehovah hath established His throne in the heavens;
And His kingdom ruleth over all.
This is the kingdom of God.
But the kingdom of heaven is a specific term used by Matthew. It refers in a special way to that which is related to Christ, because Christ is the One Who came down from heaven, and yet is still in heaven.
So, whoever is under the authority of Christ—Who is from heaven and still in heaven—is in the kingdom of heaven. In that sense, the kingdom of heaven is a specific section within the kingdom of God.
In the Gospel of Matthew, we find three peaks which give us an understanding of what the kingdom of heaven is.
By knowing these three points, it will help us understand what the kingdom of heaven is. This morning, we have to take a little more, because we did not mention anything about the first point last night. So, this morning, we will take two points instead of one and, God willing, leave the last one until tonight.
What is the kingdom of heaven? What is its reality? Who are in that kingdom? Where is it? How do we know that this is the kingdom of heaven?
The answers may be found in Matthew 5, 6, and 7. Sometimes people take these three chapters, the so-called Sermon on the Mount, as the standard of Christian ethics. They think that, as Moses gave the law to the nation of Israel, the Lord Jesus gave His law to the whole world.
But if we read carefully, we find that the Sermon on the Mount is not Christ giving some ethics, some moral code, to the world. Why? Because when there were great crowds coming to the Lord, instead of meeting them, the Lord seemed to withdraw from the crowd.
He climbed the mountain. After He had gone up the mountain, He sat there, and the Bible says that His disciples came unto Him. Then He opened His mouth and said:
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
So, you see, our Lord Jesus was not addressing the crowd. He addressed Himself to His disciples, those who had already left everything and followed Him. He was telling them what the kingdom of heaven really is.
The crowds were standing around and overhearing what the Lord said, but it was to the disciples that He was really speaking.
Brothers and sisters, the Sermon on the Mount is not something our Lord gives to this world, as if He were setting up a higher moral standard for the world. No, the so-called Sermon on the Mount is our Lord Jesus revealing the reality of the kingdom of heaven to those who are already in it.
The Lord is telling them what the kingdom of heaven really is.
There is a great difference between merely setting out a moral standard for people to keep, to do, and to follow, and revealing spiritual reality. Who can do that?
Not one in the nation of Israel could keep the law righteously. How can anyone in this world keep the Sermon on the Mount? The more we try to keep the Sermon on the Mount, the more we will be in the valley. It is impossible.
The Lord does not give these words to the world to keep. It is too high for that. Neither are we as Christians supposed to try to keep the Sermon on the Mount by our own strength, as though these words were merely moral standards.
Can you do that? Are you able to do it? We find that they are very hard words—very hard words. Impossible.
But when you find our Lord Jesus speaking these words to His disciples, He is not setting up a moral standard. God is revealing the spiritual reality of the kingdom of heaven.
If it is merely moral, it may be dead. But if it is spiritual, it is life.
In other words, unless you have the life of Christ in you, and unless you live under the authority of Christ, the life that is in you cannot be released. No one is able to follow the Sermon on the Mount apart from that life.
It is a spiritual matter, not a moral matter. It is not something set up before you which you then try to do. It is a spiritual reality which can only be realized by the life of Christ in you.
Brothers and sisters, we have the life of Christ in us. Thank God for that. But if we have the life of Christ in us and yet do not commit ourselves to the Lord and to His authority, that life is not able to manifest itself.
In other words, unless we are His disciples, unless we have denied ourselves, followed Him, and let Him rule over us, the life of Christ within us will not be brought forth. When that life overflows, that is the Sermon on the Mount.
It is not a work; it is the fruit of life.
Being spiritual does not mean that it is not moral. On the contrary, to be spiritual is more than merely being moral.
Therefore, our righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees and the scribes. The righteousness of the Pharisees and scribes is only a moral matter. Unless our righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the Pharisees and scribes, we cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.
It is purely a spiritual matter. So, first of all, we have to understand this: the kingdom of heaven is a spiritual reality.
This spiritual reality is found among those who have the life of Christ and who live under the authority of Christ. Being a spiritual reality, it is not limited by time or space.
Whenever you touch spiritual reality, you are beyond time and space. The Word is everlasting. Therefore, the Sermon on the Mount does not have a time limit or a space limit. Wherever there is the reality of the King ruling over His people, there is the kingdom of heaven.
The kingdom of heaven, in spiritual reality, is already here. For its public manifestation, we have to wait until Christ returns.
Matthew 5, 6, and 7 show us the nature of the kingdom of heaven. What are the characteristics of that kingdom? Christ said, “My kingdom is not of this world.”
Now, what is that kingdom like? If heaven rules over us, what will be our condition?
Without going into too much detail, personally, I feel that Matthew 5, 6, and 7 are so clear. When you come to spiritual reality, it is simple. We make things complicated, and because we make things complicated, we get confused. But when you get to spiritual reality, actually it is very simple.
When you read Matthew 5, 6, and 7, you do not need much exposition. It is clear; it is open. But we will mention very briefly three points.
In Matthew 5, you find that the Lord says the kingdom of heaven is spiritual. In other words, the nature of the kingdom of heaven is intensely spiritual.
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
How very different this is from the human concept. From the human concept, blessed are the rich in material things, for theirs is the kingdom of this world. The more you have in this world, the more of the kingdom you have.
But with the kingdom of heaven, it is different: “Blessed are the poor in spirit.”
Of course, this is the character of our Lord Jesus. Our Lord Jesus, being equal with God, emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant; and being found in the likeness of men, He further humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
This is being poor in spirit. It does not mean that one is poor in spirit because he has nothing. Usually, you find that the poor in spirit is one who has much; but because he has much, he is willing to empty everything and take the position of the poor, as if he has nothing.
In that kind of spirit, you find the kingdom of heaven. Brothers and sisters, poverty of spirit is the spirit of Christ.
He has everything, and yet He was willing to empty Himself and become nothing. He said, “I can do nothing of Myself.” What I do is because My Father is doing it. “I can say nothing of Myself.” If I say anything, it is because I have heard My Father say it.
In other words, in the life of our Lord Jesus there was poverty of spirit—not poverty in the natural sense, but humility. He emptied Himself.
He who is living under the authority of Christ is bound to be one who has learned much, and yet there is no pride or arrogance. Instead, there is poverty of spirit.
The kingdom of heaven is a spiritual matter. It is a condition of our spirit: humility and emptiness before God. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
When you read every item in the Beatitudes, you find that they are all characteristics of Christ.
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Our Lord Jesus is called a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
He said, “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.” Every item there is a description of the spirit of Christ.
Who composes the kingdom of heaven? Who becomes His kingdom? The kingdom of Christ is composed of those who have His Spirit. Therefore, brothers and sisters, the kingdom of heaven is intensely spiritual.
It is a condition of the spirit. If we have the Spirit of Christ, then His kingdom is with us. Only after we have the Spirit of Christ shall we be light and salt to this world.
How can you be salt to this world if you do not have the Spirit of Christ? It is not what you do, and it is not what you say; it is the spirit behind your saying and your doing that really is a testimony to this world.
Our Lord Jesus said that He did not come to destroy the law, but to fulfil it. It is not merely a matter of letter: “Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not do this or do that.” It is more than letter; it is the Spirit.
We may keep the letter of the law, but that gives us only the righteousness of the Pharisees and scribes. The Lord says that it is the spirit that counts. The kingdom of heaven is a spiritual matter.
How easy it is for us to think of the kingdom of heaven in terms of the physical, the material, and outward things. But the kingdom of heaven, in its reality, is spiritual.
The next step is that the kingdom of heaven is heavenly. It is not earthliness. It is not something for this world.
Brothers and sisters, the kingdom of heaven is a heavenly kingdom. It is on earth, and yet it is not of earth. It is a heavenly kingdom.
It is a relationship between us and the Father Who is in heaven. For this reason, we do not lay up treasure for ourselves upon the earth, because there moth and rust consume, and thieves break through and steal.
Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth consume, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
for where thy treasure is, there will thy heart be also.
Here you find that the kingdom of heaven is heavenly in its nature. Set your mind on the things above, because there Christ sits at the right hand of the Father, and we are hidden with Christ in God.
But seek ye first His kingdom, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
We do not need to worry about what we shall eat, what we shall drink, or what we shall wear, because the heavenly Father knows.
Due to mechanical difficulty, part of the message was missed.
Our Lord Jesus came to this earth, and He gave the explanation to the disciples concerning the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. What is the kingdom of heaven?
In the eyes of the world, the kingdom of heaven today is Christianity—Christendom. Wherever the gospel is preached, wherever missionaries go, wherever hospitals, orphanages, and schools are established, all these, in the eyes of the world, are the kingdom of heaven.
Before I came to this country, I heard that the United States of America was a Christian country. That is the way the world looks at this country: a Christian country.
You go to a mission school, and they consider the mission school Christianity, or Christendom. Brothers and sisters, we know better than that; but to the world, this is the kingdom of heaven—Christianity, Christendom, the kingdom of heaven in outward appearance.
Remember, the parables refer to the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. They do not refer to the church. If you try to explain these parables as concerning the church, then you will get into confusion, because these are parables concerning the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, not the church.
Now, let us see very briefly these parables. The kingdom of heaven is like a sower going out to sow seed.
Some seed falls by the wayside, and the birds come and snatch it away. Some falls upon stony ground, where there is only a thin layer of earth. It begins to come forth, but it has no root; when the sun rises, it withers away.
Some falls among thorns. It begins to grow, but it is choked by the thorns and cannot bear fruit. But, thank God, some grains fall into good ground, and they bear fruit patiently.
This parable is the basic parable of all the other parables. If you do not understand this parable, then you will not be able to understand all the rest. Therefore, it is very important that we understand what this parable means, and the Lord Himself explains it to us.
Who is the Sower? No doubt, the Lord Jesus Himself. He preached, “Repent; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The kingdom of heaven is in your midst. The Lord is the One Who is the Sower; He goes out to sow the seed.
The seed is the Word of God. Now, remember this: the seed is the word of the kingdom. It is very specific and very definite. It is not merely a general word; it is the word of the kingdom.
As you find in Matthew 24:14:
And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a testimony unto all the nations; and then shall the end come.
Not only the gospel, but the gospel of the kingdom—the word of the kingdom. Brothers and sisters, we do not hear such a word very much these days. We hear the Word of God, and we hear the gospel of Jesus Christ; but, generally speaking, we do not hear the word of the kingdom.
We do not hear that Christ is the King. We do not hear the call of obedience, of surrender, of giving everything to Christ. If the word is not sown, how can you get the fruit?
Here you find our Lord Jesus sowing the seed, which is the word of the kingdom. He is calling us to follow Him. He is calling us to yield our lives to Him.
But the word sometimes falls upon the wayside. Here you find four different kinds of heart.
The first kind of heart is a heart hardened by much traffic. The wayside is a place where everybody walks upon it, and under heavy trampling it becomes very hard, like cement. The seed cannot go into it; it lies on the surface, and the birds can easily snatch it away.
Brothers and sisters, lots of people are so involved in this world. Their whole heart is occupied by things. They have no desire, no thought, and no time for spiritual things.
When they hear the word of the kingdom, it cannot enter. Their hearts are full of other things. The birds, representing Satan and evil spirits, come and take the word away. It is as if they had never heard; it leaves no trace and is all gone.
Then there are the others, like the stony ground. They have heard the word of the kingdom and are emotionally stirred.
There is a rock underneath: perhaps some unconfessed sin, perhaps some controversy with the Lord that they refuse to have cleared, perhaps some disobedience in the past. Anyway, you find that underneath there is a rock.
They are only emotionally stirred. They seem very happy to follow the Lord, but when there is persecution because of the word, immediately they say, “That is not worth it,” and they go back.
Then there are others like thorny ground. Yes, they receive the word, and the word takes root in them, but they allow the thorns to choke the wheat so that it cannot bear fruit.
How often we receive the word of the kingdom. We know that we should surrender our lives to the Lord, and yet, at the same time, the cares of this life choke the fruit. We cannot advance.
Thank God, there will be some hearts that have been tilled, turned over, and made ready. When the word of the kingdom comes to their hearts, they receive it and bear fruit patiently—not quickly, as in the stony ground, but patiently: some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold.
When the gospel of the kingdom is preached, these are the results of the preaching. Some just fall away. Others receive it without root. Thank God, there will be some who grow patiently. This is the first parable.
Then we continue with the second parable: the parable of the tares among the wheat. A man goes out into the field to sow wheat.
After he has sown the good seed, men sleep. Notice that the man who goes out to sow the seed is singular, but “men slept” is plural. While these men were sleeping, the enemy slipped in and sowed tares.
These servants did not know it. As the plants began to grow, the tares resembled wheat very much. In the early stage, you cannot see the difference.
But when the tares grow, they are black in colour, while the wheat is light in colour. When the wind blows, the stalk of wheat falls down toward the earth, but the tare stands straight. Then you see the difference.
When the servants saw the difference, they went to the master and said, “Didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? Whence then hath it tares?” The master said, “An enemy hath done this.”
The servants asked whether they should go and gather up the tares. But the master said, “No, lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest.”
When the harvest time comes, then the tares may be separated from the wheat. The wheat is gathered into the barn.
Brothers and sisters, you find a progression in these parables. Who is the Man Who sows the good seed? Of course, it is the Lord. Those sown by the Lord may be called the sons of the kingdom.
What is the seed? It is no longer the word of the kingdom. In the first parable, the Sower sowed the seed, and the seed was the word of the kingdom. The word of the kingdom must be preached first.
But after the word of the kingdom is preached, those who receive that word, like the good ground, become the sons of the kingdom. Because they have received the word, they become the sons of the kingdom.
Whoever has received the word of the kingdom, in turn becomes a son of the kingdom. This is the principle of incarnation: the Word becoming flesh.
Our Lord Jesus is the Word of God made flesh. But this principle can be applied to all of us. When we receive the word of the kingdom, the word becomes flesh in us, and we become the sons of the kingdom.
In other words, the words will not remain merely words; the words shall become life. When words become life, then we become the sons of the kingdom.
The field here is not the heart, as in the first parable. The field here is the world. The world is the field.
So, you find a progression here. The Lord Jesus is sowing the sons of the kingdom in this world.
If you see that, you can see the strategy of God. Why are you in England? Why is a brother in Russia? Is it by chance? No. The Lord has sown you there.
This is the world, and the Lord, according to His divine counsel, sows us in the places where we should be. There is a purpose there. You are not in a particular place merely because you like the climate.
The Lord has sown you in a certain place for a specific purpose. It is just like in a battle: a general places his troops at strategic points. He is trying to seize a beachhead, a foothold in enemy territory. By holding those strategic points, he can control the whole place and win the war.
That is the strategy of God. Brothers and sisters, God has sown us in this world, here and there. Why? Because we have been put in strategic points.
By holding His people here and there, their testimony will be such that it will bring about the overthrow of the enemy’s rule. That is the way the kingdom of God shall finally come.
The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ.
The strategy is being played out today. God has planted us here and there, and that is where we shall stand for the kingdom of God, under the authority of Christ. The powers of darkness shall be overthrown. What a strategy God has!
Unfortunately, God’s servants have not been watchful. The Man does not sleep; the Lord knows very well what the enemy has done. But the servants sleep.
In church history, you find that Christ has planted His people here and there—first in Jerusalem, then in Antioch, then in Rome. You find the planting of the kingdom here and there, so that He may finally bring this world under His feet.
But in church history, God’s servants have not been watchful. They allowed the enemy to come in and sow the tares. The tares are the sons of the evil one.
In this way, throughout Christianity, you find mixture and confusion. It should be a pure testimony to God, but because men were not watchful, the enemy has put sons of the devil among Christians. In the beginning, you cannot see the difference.
You cannot try to pull them out. If you do, you may pull out the wheat also.
At one time, some Reformers tried to establish the kingdom of heaven on earth in Geneva. They tried to root out all the tares. They condemned those in Geneva who would not keep the law of God, even condemning them to death. They wanted to build the kingdom of God on earth and make it pure.
But you cannot do that. In Christianity, there are many people who are not believers at all. Nominally they belong to Christianity, but actually they belong to the devil.
There is no need for us to separate them. This is not something that man can do, because when harvest time comes, it is the work of the angels. God has not entrusted man to do this. The angels will divide.
We are approaching harvest time, I believe. I can almost see the angels gathering the tares together.
You cannot apply this parable to the church, because so far as the church is concerned, there can be no tares. The church is an unleavened lump.
Purge out the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, even as ye are unleavened.
In the church, you cannot allow leaven to remain. There has to be discipline. But in Christianity, it is impossible.
This is the mystery of the kingdom of heaven. This is what the world sees, and now this is Christianity.
How often, in China, when we tried to preach the gospel, people would say, “Look what Christianity has done today. These Christian nations waged the Opium War. China wanted to get rid of opium, but England fought China because of opium.”
Confusion! What a confusion! But this is what Christianity is to them: the kingdom of heaven in its outward, mysterious appearance.
Then there follows the parable of the mustard seed. The mustard seed is the smallest of all seeds, and yet when it grows, it becomes a great tree, and the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches.
The traditional interpretation is that Christianity began very small but, thank God, became a great institution in this world. Look how large Christianity has become, and people boast about it.
But if you read very carefully, you find that it is just the opposite of what God has in mind. The mustard seed represents living faith.
In Matthew 17:20, the Lord said that if your faith is as a grain of mustard seed, you can remove a mountain. Therefore, the mustard seed represents living faith.
But a mustard seed, if it grows normally, remains a vegetable, an herb. Mustard is an herb, a vegetable plant; it is not a tree.
In Genesis 1, when God created everything, everything was created according to its kind. The tree after its kind, the vegetable after its kind—God is a God of order.
When living faith grows normally in this world, it should remain a very small and insignificant thing in the eyes of the world. God never intended His church to be a great institution, something that dominates this world.
That is why, in Luke 12:32, the Lord said:
Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
In comparison with the world, those who belong to the Lord are a little flock. Do not be afraid, because it is the good pleasure of your heavenly Father to give you the kingdom.
When the Lord walked on earth, those were days of His humiliation. How can those who follow the Lord today be glorified while the Lord is still rejected? It is contradictory to the Lord.
These are days of humiliation to us. We are not supposed to be courted or favoured by this world. We ought to remain small and insignificant so far as the world is concerned.
But instead of remaining in its kind and order, Christianity grows abnormally, out of divine order, into a great tree. What happens to that tree? The birds of the air come and lodge in its branches.
You cannot explain these birds differently from the birds in the first parable. If the birds in the first parable refer to Satan and his evil spirits, then these birds refer to the same thing.
As Christianity becomes a great organization, you find Satan and his evil powers beginning to lodge and rest in it. That is the kingdom of heaven in mystery—but this is only its outward and human appearance.
A woman hid leaven in three measures of meal until the whole was leavened.
The traditional teaching is that this describes how Christianity has grown. But if you read carefully, you find it is just the opposite of what God has in mind.
Three measures of meal represent the meal offering. You remember when God appeared to Abraham, Abraham took three measures of meal to make cakes for the Lord. The meal offering is something for God.
This is what the church really is. We are to be an offering to God. We are to worship God with sincerity and truth.
But here you find a woman hiding leaven in the meal. Leaven in Scripture always speaks of something evil.
In all the offerings made to God, leaven is forbidden. Leaven and honey are forbidden. Only on the day of Pentecost, when the two wave loaves were offered as firstfruits, was leaven allowed. That offering represents the church, and no matter how pure we are, there is always the flesh.
But aside from that one instance, no oblation can have leaven. Leaven in Scripture speaks of corruption, whether it refers to evil doctrine or evil conduct.
In Matthew 16, the Lord told His disciples, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” The leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees is their doctrine—the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
The teaching of the Pharisees is formalism: everything is merely outward things and ritualism. The teaching of the Sadducees is rationalism and unbelief; they do not believe in anything supernatural. The leaven of Herod is worldliness.
Christianity is supposed to be an offering to God. You are supposed to be an offering to God. Yet leaven has come into it, and leaven has permeated the whole thing. Evil doctrines have come into Christianity and puffed it up, making it more palatable to man but no longer fit to be offered to God.
If you bake bread or cake, you put leaven in it because it makes it rise and makes it more palatable. Without leaven, it is flat and hard. But, brothers and sisters, how Christianity has compromised! How Christianity has tried to make things acceptable to man! But it is no longer fit to be offered to God.
In 1 Corinthians 5, leaven speaks of evil conduct. So, nothing in this picture speaks of something good.
Outwardly, Christianity has grown abnormally into a great institution, and all the evil forces have come to lodge in it. Inwardly, it is corrupted by evil teaching and evil conduct. This is Christianity.
This is the so-called kingdom of heaven. Is it not a mystery, a confusion? But thank God, this is followed by two other parables.
These parables were spoken in the house. In other words, the Lord spoke to His disciples two other parables: the parable of the treasure hidden in a field and the parable of the pearl of great price.
These parables are in contrast to the preceding parables: the mixture of wheat and tares, the abnormal growth of the mustard seed, and the leaven in the meal. Here you find the part which is of God.
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. Most likely, someone had first buried the treasure there; otherwise, it would not be there.
During wartime in China, I remember my grandfather. We had so much war, and sometimes we had to flee. What would we do? I remember that he used an earthen jar, put gold and silver into it, and then, at midnight, while everybody was asleep, he and one of his most faithful servants would go to the field.
We had a yard there. They would dig a hole and bury the things there so that nobody would know. Then, when we came back, he would dig them up again. That is how my grandfather did it.
So, most likely, someone had hidden a treasure. Then a man came and discovered the treasure. He did not take it, because the field belonged to somebody else. So he hid it again and went away and sold all that he had to buy the field.
Brothers and sisters, even before the foundation of the world, God had in His mind a treasure. What is the treasure? The church—the true church.
In 2 Corinthians 4:7, it says:
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves.
The treasure is Christ. But because we have Christ within us, we become a treasure to God. Do you know that we are a treasure to God? We are a treasure to Christ. We are very precious to Christ.
Even before the foundation of the world, God had the church in mind. But in this world, the church is hidden. The church is like a treasure hidden throughout the ages. It is a mystery hidden from the ages.
The Man Who found the treasure is Christ. He came into this world, and He found the treasure. What did He do? He did not bring it out; He hid it again. The church today, in this world, is still hidden.
Then He went away to buy the field. When He had bought the field, then He would take the treasure. This is all His.
This is followed by another parable: the pearl of great price. A merchant, an expert in pearls, was looking for beautiful pearls. He had found other pearls before, but when he came to one pearl of great price, he went and sold everything in order to obtain it.
Brothers and sisters, Israel is the treasure of God, but the church is the pearl of great price. For the sake of having His church, our Lord Jesus sold everything for it. That is what it is.
Whether it is the outward testimony or the inward experience, the treasure and the pearl are the part of God.
So, in the kingdom of heaven, there is a mixture: something bad, but, thank God, something good. These will remain in Christianity until the last parable.
The last parable is the parable of the net cast into the sea. It gathers all kinds of fish. Then they sit down and sort them out, putting the good into vessels and casting the bad away.
In other words, when Christ returns, He will send His angels to divide and separate that which belongs to Him from that which does not belong to Him. There will be a final separation.
Those who belong to Him will be gathered into vessels and enter into His kingdom. Those who do not belong to Him will be kept out. That is the end.
Brothers and sisters, when you see the outward appearance of the kingdom of heaven, that is the picture. The Lord says that it is for us to understand.
So, in Matthew 5, 6, and 7, you have the reality. In Matthew 13, you have the outward appearance. God willing, we will go to Matthew 24 and 25 for the public manifestation of the kingdom of heaven.
Our heavenly Father, we do pray that we may not be confused by the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. But, Lord, may we know Your mind, that we may be those who are in the reality of Your kingdom and not merely in its outward appearance.
O Lord, be merciful to Your people, not only here but everywhere. We pray in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.