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In the New Testament there are even more symbols of the believers than of the Spirit. This indicates that as God, Christ, and the Spirit are mysterious, so the believers also are mysterious. We are mysterious because something divine has been incorporated into us. The divine element has been dispensed into us and wrought into our being. As a result, we, the believers in Christ, are mysterious. In this message we shall begin to consider the many symbols of the believers found in the New Testament.
First, the New Testament uses the wheat of life to symbolize the believers. Matthew 3:12 tells us that the Lord Jesus will separate the wheat from the chaff and gather the wheat into His barn: “He will thoroughly cleanse His threshing floor and will gather His wheat into His barn, but He will burn the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Those symbolized by wheat have life within; they are the living children of God. The Lord Jesus will baptize them in the Holy Spirit (Matt. 3:11) and gather them into His barn in heaven by rapture. In order to become children of God, we must be baptized through water into the Spirit. We need to be born of water and of the Spirit (John 3:5). First, we are baptized through water; then we are baptized in the Spirit. In this way we are regenerated to become children of God, the believers symbolized by the wheat of life, which will be gathered into the Lord’s barn. Those symbolized by chaff, like the tares in Matthew 13:24-30, are without life. The Lord will baptize them in fire, putting them into the lake of fire. Chaff in 3:12 refers to unrepentant Jews, whereas the tares in Matthew 13 refer to nominal Christians. The eternal destiny of both will be the same — perdition in the lake of fire (Matt. 13:40-42).
According to Matthew 13, the wheat of life grows with the tares, the false believers, and will be reaped into the Lord’s barn. Matthew 13:25 says, “While the men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares amidst the wheat and went away.” These men were slaves (v. 27), referring to the Lord’s slaves, mainly the apostles. When the Lord’s slaves were sleeping, not watching, His enemy, the Devil, came and sowed false believers amidst the true ones.
A tare is a kind of darnel, a weed resembling wheat. Its seeds are poisonous, producing sleepiness, nausea, convulsions, and even death. The sprout and leaves of the tares look the same as those of the wheat. It is impossible to discern one from the other until the fruit is produced. The fruit of the wheat is golden yellow, but that of the tares is black.
The wheat is the sons of the kingdom, the real believers regenerated with the divine life. The tares are the sons of the evil one, the Devil. The sons of the kingdom are the sons of God who have the divine life within them. The sons of the evil one are the false believers, believers only in name, who do not have the divine life in them.
Both the tares and the wheat grow in the field, which is the world (Matt. 13:38). Some have wrongly interpreted the field, saying that it is the church. According to this interpretation, in the church there are both false ones and real ones. But the Lord Jesus says clearly in verse 38 that the field is the world. The wheat and the tares are allowed to grow together in the world, not in the church. This means that the false believers and the true ones live together in the world. The church is not to tolerate the false believers, but both the false and the true are allowed to grow together in the world. In the world there are both true and false believers, but this must not be so in the church.
To gather up the tares from the field means to take away the false believers from the world. The Lord Jesus did not want His slaves to do this, lest while taking away the false believers from the world, the true ones might also be taken away from the world (Matt. 13:29). The Lord told His slaves not to separate the wheat from the tares but to allow them both to grow together until the harvest. This means that the false believers must be allowed to exist in the world with the true believers.
In Matthew 13:30 the Lord Jesus goes on to say, “Allow both to grow together until the harvest, and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather first the tares and bind them into bundles to burn them up, but the wheat bring together into My barn.” The harvest is the consummation of the age, and the reapers are angels (v. 39). At the consummation of this age, the Lord will send the angels to gather all the tares, all stumbling blocks, and those who do lawlessness, bind them into bundles, and burn them with the fire of the lake of fire (vv. 30, 40-42). Then the wheat, the righteous, will be brought together into the King’s barn, the kingdom of their Father, to shine forth as the sun (vv. 30, 43).
As believers, we may have the full assurance that we are wheat and not tares. What does it mean to be real wheat? If we realize that we are sinful, fallen, and lost and if we truly believe in the Lord Jesus Christ — that He is the Son of God incarnated to be a man, that He died on the cross for our sins, that He was resurrected physically and spiritually, and that He is now the life-giving Spirit dwelling in us as our life and everything, we are certainly the wheat of life.
On the one hand, the Lord Jesus says that the believers are wheat; on the other hand, He tells us that the believers are the good seed. In Matthew 13:38 He says, “The good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom.” In Matthew 13:4 and 19 the seed sown by the Lord was the word of the kingdom. In verses 24 and 38 this seed has developed into the sons of the kingdom. First, the seed was the word sown into humanity. Then it grows into the sons of the kingdom. The seed in verses 4 and 19 is the word with Christ in it as life. This seed now grows in us, the kingdom people, the sons of the kingdom. Therefore, the good seed, as well as the wheat, is the sons of the kingdom, the real believers, those regenerated with the divine life.
Actually, the wheat and the good seed are the same. A farmer will first reap a harvest of wheat. Then he will use some of the better grains as seed for sowing. The principle is the same with us as believers in Christ. First we are the wheat and then, the good seed sown by the Lord.
The sowing of the good seed is a kind of martyrdom, for the seed experiences a real crucifixion and is put to death. Those who are willing to be sown, crucified, in this way will eventually grow, multiply, and be fruitful. But those who are not willing to be sown into the ground, who are not willing to be put to death, will be barren and unfruitful.
Matthew 13:24 says, “The kingdom of the heavens was likened to a man sowing good seed in his field.” The good seed is sown by the Lord Jesus to grow into His kingdom. This kingdom is Christ as the seed of life sown into His believers, God’s chosen people, and developing into a realm which God may rule as His kingdom in His divine life. Its entrance is regeneration (John 3:5), and its development is the believers’ growth in the divine life (2 Pet. 1:3-11). It is the church life today, in which the faithful believers live (Rom. 14:17), and it will develop into the coming kingdom as an inheritance reward (Gal. 5:21; Eph. 5:5) to the overcoming saints in the millennium (Rev. 20:4, 6). Eventually, it will consummate in the New Jerusalem as the eternal kingdom of God, an eternal realm of the eternal blessing of God’s eternal life for all God’s redeemed to enjoy in the new heaven and new earth for eternity (Rev. 21:1-4; 22:1-5).
The next symbol of the believers, fishers of men, is unusual. The Lord Jesus said to Peter and Andrew, “Come, follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matt. 4:19). Immediately they left their nets and followed the King of the kingdom of the heavens to be fishers of men. Eventually, on the day of Pentecost, Peter became the first great fisher for the establishment of the kingdom of the heavens (Acts 2:37-42; 4:4).
To be a fisher of men is to bring men out of the world, signified by the sea with its death waters, into the kingdom of the heavens. This means that to fish for men, “catching men alive” (Luke 5:10), that is, unto life (Acts 11:18), is to bring them into the kingdom. On the day of Pentecost Peter began his ministry of bringing people into the kingdom of the heavens. He brought in all kinds of people, Gentiles as well as Jews. He was a real fisher of men.
To fish for men requires patience. Peter, a quick person, may have learned this in Matthew 17:24-27. After Peter gave a hasty answer concerning Christ’s paying the half-shekel, the Lord Jesus asked him, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth receive custom or poll tax, from their sons or from strangers? And when he said, From strangers, Jesus said to him, Then the sons are free” (vv. 25-26). Then the Lord went on to say, “But that we may not stumble them, go to the sea and cast a hook, and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel; take that and give it to them for Me and you” (v. 27). Peter, no doubt, was troubled that he had to go fishing and wait for a fish to appear with a shekel. As a result, Peter may have learned that a fisher of men must have patience. If we would be fishers of men, gaining others for Christ’s increase, we also need patience. We cannot have the increase, the multiplication, in a quick way. Patiently we should contact others again and again until they are “caught” and brought out of the world into the kingdom of the heavens.
The way to bring others out of the world and into the kingdom of the heavens is not by today’s superficial gospel but by the gospel of the kingdom of the heavens. The Lord Jesus said to His disciples, “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole inhabited earth for a testimony to all the nations” (Matt. 24:14). The gospel of the kingdom includes not only forgiveness of sins (Luke 24:47) and the impartation of life (John 20:31) but also the kingdom of the heavens with the power of the coming age (Heb. 6:5) to cast out demons and heal diseases (Isa. 35:5-6; Matt. 10:1). Both forgiveness of sins and the imparting of life are for the kingdom.
The gospel of the kingdom, which also includes the gospel of grace (Acts 20:24), not only brings people into God’s salvation but also into the kingdom of the heavens (Rev. 1:9). The emphasis of the gospel of grace is on forgiveness of sin, God’s redemption, and eternal life, whereas the emphasis of the gospel of the kingdom is on the heavenly ruling of God and the authority of the Lord.
The New Testament speaks of the gospel of life, the gospel of grace, and the gospel of salvation. However, all these are different aspects of the kingdom. The kingdom is the center, the hub, and all the other items may be considered the spokes, which are centered on the hub. The gospel of life is for the kingdom, the gospel of salvation is for the kingdom, and the gospel of forgiveness is for the kingdom. All these different aspects of the gospel are for the kingdom. The kingdom is the real gospel. We may think that the gospel is the gospel and that the kingdom is something else. This concept is wrong. The kingdom is the gospel. If we do not know the kingdom, we do not know the gospel in a full way. If we want to know the gospel in a full way, we must realize that the kingdom is the all-inclusive gospel. This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole inhabited earth for a testimony to all the nations before the end of this age comes. The inhabited earth means every place inhabited by man. I believe that the churches in the Lord’s recovery will bear the burden to bring this gospel to all the inhabited earth. The gospel of grace has been preached in every continent but not the gospel of the kingdom. The gospel of grace is the lower gospel, but the gospel of the kingdom is the higher gospel. This higher gospel must be brought to every continent through the churches in the Lord’s recovery.
Matthew 5:13 says, “You are the salt of the earth.” Here the Lord Jesus is speaking of the people of the kingdom of the heavens (Matt. 5:3, 10). In particular, the “you” in 5:13 refers to the overcoming believers in the kingdom life. Furthermore, being the salt of the earth is a corporate matter, not an individual matter. Individually we cannot be the proper salt. It is as a corporate entity that the kingdom people are the salt of the earth. If we separate ourselves from the church life, we cannot be such salt.
For us to be the salt of the earth means that we keep the earth from being fully corrupted. This means that we exercise our influence over the earth created by God to keep it in its original condition. The earth, which was created by God, has become fallen. In a sense, it has become rotten and corrupted. But salt kills germs, eliminates rottenness, and preserves things in their original condition. By nature salt is an element that kills the germs of corruption and eliminates them. Thus, through its killing and preserving function salt brings the earth back to its original condition or keeps it in its original condition. Hence, the function of salt is to preserve what God has created. The entire earth is becoming more and more rotten. Therefore, we must exercise our influence over this corrupted earth. To the corrupted earth the people of the kingdom of the heavens are the element that keeps the earth from being fully corrupted. They have the salting function of killing germs, eliminating rottenness, and keeping things in their original condition or bringing them back to their God-created condition.
The Lord’s intention is to bring this earth back to its original condition. Although we cannot see this in the present age, we shall see it in the next age. When the millennial kingdom comes, the whole earth will be salted. All the germs on earth will be utterly killed, and the whole earth will be not only regained by Christ but also brought back to its God-created condition. This work will be done by the kingdom people.
Wherever the kingdom people are, they should exercise a salting influence over those around them. In our neighborhoods we should exercise our function of killing germs. If we have the nature of the kingdom people revealed in Matthew 5:3-12, we shall be truly salty. If we are poor in spirit, mourning, meek, righteous, merciful, and pure in seeking God, we shall have a salting function. There will be no need to rebuke others or point out their mistakes and shortcomings. They will be salted simply by our presence. This is what it means to be the salt that kills the germs of this corrupted earth.
In Matthew 5:14a the Lord Jesus says, “You are the light of the world.” This light is also the people of the kingdom of the heavens, the overcoming believers living a kingdom life to shine in the darkness of the world. In nature the kingdom people are the healing salt, and in behavior they are the shining light.
In Matthew 5:13 the Lord Jesus speaks of the earth and in verse 14, of the world. For the earth there is the need of salt, but for the world there is the need of light. The darkness is not upon the earth; rather, it is in the world, which denotes human society, a system of Satan. The world, Satan’s system, the dark human society, needs light. The light of the world in verse 14 is the shining of a lamp to enlighten those in darkness. To the darkened world, the people of the kingdom of the heavens are such a light effacing its darkness.
