Search
Week 9 — Day 1
38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered Him, saying, Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.
39 But He answered and said to them, An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and a sign shall not be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet.
40 For just as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.
41 Ninevite men will stand up in the judgment with this generation and will condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something 1more than Jonah is here.
42 The queen of the south will rise up in the judgment with this generation and will condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something more than Solomon is here.
The Lord Jesus proceeded to tell [the Pharisees] the significance of the sign of Jonah. In verse 40 He said, “For just as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.” This was to be a very meaningful sign to them. The heart of the earth is called “the lower parts of the earth” (Eph. 4:9) and Hades (Acts 2:27), where the Lord went after His death. Hades, equal to Sheol in the Old Testament, has two sections, the section of torment and the section of comfort (Luke 16:23-26). The section of comfort is Paradise, where the Lord went with the saved thief after they died on the cross (Luke 23:43). Hence, heart of the earth, lower parts of the earth, Hades, and Paradise are synonymous terms, referring to the place where the Lord stayed for three days and three nights after His death and before His resurrection.
In the Lord’s conversation with the Pharisees, suddenly another sign appeared: the sign of Solomon [v. 42]. Christ, as the Son of David, as the King, is more than Solomon the king. Solomon built the temple of God and spoke the word of wisdom, and to him the Gentile queen came (1 Kings 6:2; 10:1-8). This too was a type of Christ, who is building the church, making it the temple of God, and is speaking the word of wisdom. To Him the Gentile seekers turn. This type, and that in verse 41, indicate that Christ, whether as the Prophet sent by God or as the King anointed by God, would turn from Israel to the Gentiles, as prophesied in verses 18 and 21. According to history King Solomon preceded Jonah the prophet. But according to spiritual significance, Jonah came first, as recorded in Matthew. This too shows that Matthew’s record is not according to the sequence of history but according to the sequence of doctrine. According to doctrine, first Christ had to die and be resurrected; then He would build the church and speak the word of wisdom. Christ’s death and resurrection are the real sign to this generation, to both the Jews and the Gentiles (1 Cor. 1:22, 24). (Life-study of Matthew, pp. 418-420)
411 The Greek word for more, occurring also in v. 42, means better in quality and larger in quantity; hence, more.…Christ, as the Prophet sent by God to His people (Deut. 18:15, 18), is more than Jonah the prophet. Jonah was the prophet who turned from Israel to the Gentiles and was put into the belly of the great fish. After remaining there for three days, he came out to become a sign to that generation for repentance (Jonah 1:2, 17; 3:2-10). This was a type of Christ, who would turn from Israel to the Gentiles and who would be buried in the heart of the earth for three days and then be resurrected, becoming a sign to this generation for salvation.
Suggested daily reading: Life-study of Matthew, pp. 417-421; Hymns: #193 (vv. 1-2, 7)
Enlightenment and inspiration:
Week 9 — Day 2
43 When the unclean spirit goes out from the man, it roams through waterless places, seeking rest, and does not find it.
44 Then it says, I will return to my house from which I came out. And it comes and finds it unoccupied, swept, and decorated.
45 Then it goes and takes along with itself seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter in and settle down there. And the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. Thus shall it be also with this evil generation.
48 But He answered and said to him who spoke to Him, Who is My mother, and who are My brothers?
50 For whoever does the will of My Father who is in the heavens, he is My brother and sister and mother.
Verses 43 through 45 indicate that the rejecting generation will become worse.…The unclean spirit, a demon (v. 22), seeks rest but cannot find it in waterless places because the lodging place of demons, after God’s judgment by water in Genesis 1:2, is the sea. (See Life-study of Genesis, Message Two.) Since a demon cannot find rest in dry places, it returns into the human body that it originally possessed and settles down there (vv. 44-45).
Doctrinally, verse 43 continues verse 22. Between these two verses is a record of the Jews’ rejection of Christ and of Christ’s forsaking of them. Here the Lord likened the evil generation of the rejecting Jews to the demon possessed man. In the eyes of the Lord the rejecting Jews were like demon possessed people. The signs of Jonah and Solomon indicated that the Gentiles would repent, but the case of the demon-possessed man indicated that the rejecting Jews would not repent. They would only sweep away the dirt and decorate by adding good things to beautify themselves. They would not receive Christ and allow Him to fill them. Rather, they would remain empty and unoccupied.
The Lord describes this house [v. 44] with three words: unoccupied, swept, and decorated. This word was also a prophecy, a prophecy that has been fulfilled and yet is still to be fulfilled.…The entire nation of Israel today has been cleansed [swept], and so many things have been cast out. Furthermore, they have been decorated with various good things; the Jewish people excel in science and other areas. However, the nation of Israel remains unoccupied.
I love Israel, but I must speak according to God’s revelation.…When the demon realized that the person was unoccupied, it took seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all came to occupy the vacancy. This indicates that year by year the nation of Israel will become more and more devilish. More and more demonic things will be found there. The Jews are like a clean house, but they will not accept Christ and receive Him into them. Rather, they remain unoccupied.…The nation of Israel today has no goal; hence, it is unoccupied.
After this, as the Lord Jesus was speaking to the crowds, His mother and His brothers stood outside, seeking to speak to Him….The Lord said, “Who is My mother, and who are My brothers? And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, Behold, My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father who is in the heavens, he is My brother and sister and mother” (vv. 48-50).…Whoever does the will of His Father is a brother who helps Him, a sister who sympathizes with Him, and a mother who tenderly loves Him.…In verses 46 through 50 we see a great turn, even a dispensational turn.…Thus, Romans 11 says that Israel was cut off, [and] that the Gentiles have been grafted in. [These events] took place at the end of Matthew 12. (Life-study of Matthew, pp. 421-424)
Suggested daily reading: Life-study of Matthew, pp. 421-424; Hymns: #617
Enlightenment and inspiration:
Week 9 — Day 3
10 And the disciples came and said to Him, Why do You speak in parables to them?
11 And He answered and said to them, Because to you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens, but to them it has not been given.
12 For whoever has, it shall be given to him, and he will abound; but whoever does not have, even that which he has shall be taken away from him.
13 For this reason I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
15 “…For the heart of this people has become fat, and with their ears they have heard heavily, and their eyes they have closed, lest they perceive with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart, and they turn around, and I will heal them.”
Matthew 13:1 says, “On that day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea.” To most Christian teachers, this verse is insignificant. When I read this verse as a young man, it meant nothing to me. But now I realize that this verse is very meaningful. At the end of chapter twelve, the heavenly King, having been fully rejected by the leaders of the Jewish religion, made a break with them. On that day He went out of the house and sat beside the sea. This is very significant. The house signifies the house of Israel (10:6), and the sea signifies the Gentile world (Dan. 7:3, 17; Rev. 17:15). The King’s going out of the house to sit beside the sea signifies that after His break with the Jews, He forsook the house of Israel and turned to the Gentiles. It was after this, while on the seashore, that He gave the parables concerning the mysteries of the kingdom. This signifies that the mysteries of the kingdom were revealed in the church. Hence, all the parables in this chapter were spoken to His disciples, not to the Jews.
Verse 2 says that great crowds were gathered to Him. But this does not mean that all those in these great crowds became His relatives. Verse 2 also says, “He stepped into a boat and sat, and all the crowd stood on the shore.” The boat, which was in the sea but not of the sea, signifies the church, which is in the world but not of the world.
Verse 3 says, “And He spoke many things to them in parables.” He spoke these parables in the boat on the sea. Do you want to know the mysteries of the kingdom? [v. 11]. If you do, then you must leave the house and not stand on the seashore, but get into the boat close to the Lord. This is the only place where we can understand the mysteries of the kingdom.
Before we consider the parables in Matthew 13, I would like to impress you with some of the warnings found in this chapter.…The King of the heavenly kingdom used parables to reveal the things of the kingdom (v. 34) in order to make them mysteries to the opposing and rejecting Jews so that they would not understand them. From the time the King came to sow the seed until He comes back to reap the harvest, everything concerning the kingdom is a mystery to the natural mind. Only the enlightened mind of a submissive heart can understand these mysteries.
In verse 12…the words whoever has refer to the receiver and follower of the heavenly King; to such a one the revelation concerning the kingdom will be given in abundance. But the one who does not have is the opposing and rejecting Jew, from whom what the heavenly King has spoken and done will be taken away.
The reason those in that stubborn generation could not understand lay in their heart, which had become fat [v. 15]. Fat signifies the pride of having something.…That was the actual situation of the Pharisees. Because their heart had become fat, their eyes and ears were affected. They could see, but not perceive; they could hear, but not understand. (Life-study of Matthew, pp. 430-434)
Suggested daily reading: Life-study of Matthew, pp. 430-434; Hymns: #426
Enlightenment and inspiration:
Week 9 — Day 4
3 And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, Behold, the sower went out to sow.
4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the way, and the birds came and devoured them.
5 And others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much earth, and immediately they sprang up because they had no depth of earth.
6 But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered.
7 And others fell on the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them.
8 But others fell on the good earth and yielded fruit, one a hundredfold, and one sixtyfold, and one thirtyfold.
The first mystery of the kingdom [is] covered in 13:3 through 8 and 18 through 23. In contrast to what He said in the other six parables (vv. 24, 31, 33, 44-45, 47), at the beginning of this parable, the first of the seven parables concerning the mysteries of the kingdom, the Lord did not say, “The kingdom of the heavens is (or, has become) like…,” because the kingdom of the heavens began with the second parable. In the first parable, the Lord went out only to sow the seed for the kingdom. At that time the seed had not yet grown to be the crop for the formation of the kingdom. As the Lord said in His preaching at that time, the kingdom had not yet come but had only drawn near (4:17).…The sower in verse 3 is the Lord Himself (v. 37). Actually, the Lord did not come to teach, but to sow the seed. What is this seed? It is the word of the kingdom with the Lord being in this word as life (v. 19). The seed is also the sons, the people, of the kingdom (v. 38). If we check with our experience, we will realize that the seed sown by the Lord Jesus into our humanity is just Himself as life to make us the seed of the kingdom. Here three things are interrelated: the word of the kingdom, the sons of the kingdom, and Christ Himself as the life within the seed. These three cannot be separated.
Verse 4 says, “And as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the way, and the birds came and devoured them.” Beside the way refers to a place close to the way. It is hardened by the traffic of the way; thus, it is difficult for the seeds to penetrate it. The wayside signifies the heart that is hardened by worldly traffic and cannot open to understand, to comprehend, the word of the kingdom (v. 19). The birds signify the evil one, Satan, who comes and snatches away the word of the kingdom sown in the hardened heart.
The rocky places [vv. 5-6] that do not have much earth signify the heart that is shallow in receiving the word of the kingdom. Deep within such a heart are rocks — hidden sins, personal desires, self-seeking, and self-pity — which hinder the seed from taking root in the depths of the heart. The sun with its scorching heat signifies affliction or persecution (v. 21). The scorching heat of the sun causes the seed that is not rooted to wither. The heat of the sun is for the growth and ripening of the crop, which take place once the seed has been deeply rooted. But because of the seed’s lack of root, the sun’s heat, which should cause growth and ripening, becomes a death blow to the seed.
Verse 7 says, “And others fell on the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them.” The thorns signify the anxiety of the age and the deceitfulness of riches, which utterly choke the word, preventing it from growing in the heart and causing it to become unfruitful.
The good earth [in verse 8] signifies the good heart that is not hardened by worldly traffic, that is without hidden sins, and that is without the anxiety of the age and the deceitfulness of riches. Such a heart gives every inch of its ground to receive the word that the word may grow, bear fruit, and produce even a hundredfold (v. 23). (Life-study of Matthew, pp. 437-438, 442-445)
Suggested daily reading: Life-study of Matthew, pp. 437-438, 442-445; Hymns: #1132
Enlightenment and inspiration:
Week 9 — Day 5
Matt. 13:19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand, the evil one comes and snatches away that which has been sown in his heart.…
23 But the one sown on the good earth, this is he who hears the word and understands, who by all means bears fruit and produces, one a hundredfold, and one sixtyfold, and one thirtyfold.
Ezek. 36:26 I will also give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take away the heart of stone out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.
Matt. 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
In this [first] parable, [the parable of the sower], we see that…the establishment of the kingdom of the heavens is absolutely a matter of growth in life.…The kingdom is not established by outward working, but by inward growing.…Because many Christian workers have not seen this, they still think that the church is built up by work and labor. But the church can be produced only by sowing Christ as the seed into humanity.…If we see this vision, we would no longer trust in what we do because we would know that the kingdom is a matter of life, that the church is a matter of growth in the life seed sown into our humanity.…Those who have been with us for a number of years can testify that I do not teach others what they should do. I do not give them instructions regarding their behavior. But in meeting after meeting, conference after conference, and training after training, I have ministered Christ as the all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit. It has always been a matter of Christ, life, the Spirit, and the church.
The young people who are burdened for the campuses must see this vision. Young people, if you go to the campuses to do a work, that will mean nothing. You should not go there to work, but to sow the seed, to be a sower. During the years I was with Brother Nee in China, I saw that he was not working; he was sowing Christ as a seed. He told me that Miss M. E. Barber did not come to China to work. She was in China sowing Christ, even sowing herself in Christ. She was a seed sown into that district in China. Eventually, something grew out of that seed. The Lord’s recovery today is the produce of the seed sown by Sister Barber and Brother Nee.
According to this parable and the Lord’s own interpretation of it, this seed is sown into our heart (v. 19). In the past we have pointed out that our heart is not the receiving organ but the loving organ, and that our receiving organ is our spirit. We say this based upon Ezekiel 36, where God promises to give us a new spirit and a new heart, a new spirit to receive God and a new heart to love Him.…In 1 Peter 3:4 our spirit is called the inner man of our heart. This indicates that our spirit is surrounded by our heart.… When we believed in the Lord Jesus…we opened our heart. The result, however, was that He came into our spirit. When we opened our heart to believe in Him, He came into our spirit. But our spirit is not the soil for growing Christ. The soil is our heart. This parable makes it perfectly clear that our heart is…the earth, the very place where the seed is sown and where it grows.
The parable of the sower seems very simple, but it is actually deep and profound. It exposes the real condition of our heart in the presence of the heavenly King. Whatever is in us is exposed.…As long as you are either the wayside, the soil with hidden rocks, or the soil with thorns, the kingdom cannot grow in you. [But]…the good earth signifies the good heart…that grows Christ….The kingdom and the church are growing here. (Life-study of Matthew, pp. 438-442, 445-446)
Suggested daily reading: Life-study of Matthew, pp. 438-442, 445-447; Hymns: #1132, #395
Enlightenment and inspiration:
Week 9 — Day 6
24 Another parable He set before them, saying, The kingdom of the heavens has become like a man sowing good seed in his field.
25 But while the men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares in the midst of the wheat and went away.
28 And he said to them, An enemy has done this. And the slaves said to him, Do you want us then to go and collect them?
29 But he said, No, lest while collecting the tares, you uproot the wheat along with them.
30 Let them both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, Collect first the tares and bind them into bundles to burn them up, but the wheat gather into my barn.
In this, the second parable [13:24-30, 36-43], the Lord began to say, “The kingdom of the heavens is (or, has become) like...,” because the kingdom of the heavens began to be established when this parable began to be fulfilled, that is, on the day of Pentecost, when the church was built (16:18-19). It was from that time, after the church had been founded, that the tares, the false believers, were sown among the true believers, the wheat, forming the appearance of the kingdom of the heavens.
[In] verse 25…the men were the slaves (v. 27), referring to the Lord’s slaves, mainly the apostles. It was when the Lord’s slaves were sleeping and were not watching that the Lord’s enemy, the devil, came and sowed false believers among the true.
A tare is a kind of darnel, a weed resembling wheat. Its seeds are poisonous and can cause sleepiness, nausea, convulsions, and even death. The sprout and leaves of tares look the same as those of wheat. It is impossible to distinguish wheat from tares until the fruit is produced. The fruit of the wheat is golden yellow, but that of the tares is black.
When the King’s slaves wanted to collect the tares (v. 28), He said, “No, lest while collecting the tares, you uproot the wheat along with them.” Both the tares and the wheat grow in the field, and the field is the world (v. 38). The false believers and the true live in the world. To collect the tares from the field means to take away the false believers from the world. The Lord did not want His slaves to do this, because while taking away the false believers from the world, they might also take the true ones away. The Catholic Church did this very much and by so doing killed many true believers.
Many Christian teachers 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 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. According to the Epistles, not even sinful ones are allowed to remain in the church.…If even the real but sinful ones must be cast out [1 Cor. 5], then how much more the false ones? 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 Galatians 2:4 and 2 Corinthians 11:26 Paul mentioned false brothers, saying that he was damaged by the false brothers. This indicates that in Paul’s time the tares were present. Of course, a great many more tares have come in since Constantine made Christianity the state religion.
In this parable the Lord points out the serious matter of the judgment upon the tares [vv. 30, 40-42]. This will be a special judgment, for the tares will be bound into bundles and cast into the furnace of fire, which is the lake of fire.…The judgment upon the tares will be so serious because they have been confusing, frustrating, and damaging God’s economy. (Life-study of Matthew, pp. 450-453, 456)
Suggested daily reading: Life-study of Matthew, pp. 449-456; Hymns: #945 (vv. 1-4, 11)
Enlightenment and inspiration:
Week 9 — Prophecy
IV. The King’s being rejected (12:1—27:66)
A. The establishment of rejection (12:1-50)
4. The sign to the rejecting generation (vv. 38-42)
5. The rejecting generation becoming worse (vv. 43-45)
6. Rejection resulting in the King’s forsaking (vv. 46-50)
B. The unveiling of the kingdom’s mysteries (13:1-52)
1. The preliminary work of the kingdom (vv. 1-23)
2. The establishment of the kingdom and its false constituents (vv. 24-30)
The King gave the rejecting generation a sign in Matthew 12:38-42. The sign for the evil and adulterous generation was the sign of Jonah. The Lord followed this sign with the sign of Solomon. By His word in verses 40 through 42 the Lord prophesied fully concerning His death, burial, and resurrection. Jonah was a type of Christ in His death and burial, and Solomon was a type of Christ in His resurrection. His death and resurrection were to be the unique sign to this age and to that generation.
Matthew 12:43-45 reveals the rejecting generation becoming worse. Here the Lord likened them to the demon possessed man out from whom a demon had gone. That person was like a vacant house which the Lord described with three words: unoccupied, swept, and decorated. When the demon realized that the person was unoccupied, it took seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all came to occupy the vacancy. This indicates that the Jews will not accept Christ, and their situation will become worse and worse. The Jews’ rejection of Christ in this chapter caused Christ to forsake them fully. Thus, in verses 46 through 50 we see a dispensational turn. After that, His relationship with people was based upon something spiritual. All those who do the will of the Father are His relatives.
The heavenly King went out of the house and gave the parables concerning the mysteries of the kingdom beside the sea. The house signifies the house of Israel (10:6), and the sea signifies the Gentile world (Dan. 7:3, 17; Rev. 17:15). All the parables were mysteries to that stubborn Jewish generation simply because of their pride (Matt. 13:14-15).
In the first parable, that of the sower (13:3-8), Christ establishes the kingdom of the heavens by sowing Himself as the seed of life into believing people. The kingdom is not established by outward working but by inward growing. The Lord’s recovery today is the produce of the seed sown by Sister M. E. Barber and Brother Watchman Nee.
This parable makes it clear that our heart is the soil (v. 19), the earth, the very place where the seed is sown and where it grows. The first type of soil, the wayside — because of much worldly traffic — corresponds to those who are not poor in spirit and pure in heart. The second, the rocky places, corresponds to those who still have their temper, lust, sin, self, and flesh beneath the surface. Instead of depth, there are rocks. The third type of soil, the thorns, is difficult for the seed to grow in because of anxiety and the deceitfulness of riches. The fourth type of soil, the good heart, is the soil that can grow the kingdom.
The kingdom of the heavens began with the second parable (13:24-30, 36-43) and began to be established when the church was built (16:18-19) on the day of Pentecost. From that time, the tares, the false believers, were sown among the true believers, the wheat, forming the appearance of the kingdom of the heavens. The wheat and the tares are allowed to grow together in the world, not in the church (1 Cor. 5:2, 13). At the time of the harvest, the judgment upon the tares will be so serious because they have been confusing, frustrating, and damaging God’s economy.
Composition for prophecy with main point and sub-points:
