Tares and Wheat

[taffy]

Originally Posted by Someday

Whereas I am often accused of "overspiritualizing" things in the Bible, I don't think this parable has more meaning than what Jesus explained. He does not explain this as the inner Kingdom at all. He is speaking to his apostles when he explains it, and giving them the meaning of it. So when he calls the field the world, I don't think he means the Kingdom within.

Blessings

Hi someday

Do you Understand the Parable of the PEARL of great Price..or the MYSTERY of the AGES which PAULS calls IT?

bLESSINGS
TAFFY

[Someday]

In the parable of the pearl, one also has to consider the parable immediately proceeding it. The treasure that was found, then hidden. Where was this treasure found? In the field that is also the world. The treasure is the people of God. In Exodus 19:5, the people of Israel who keep God's covenants "shall be a special treasure to Me above all people.". In other places, the Bible uses treasure metaphorically to describe His people. See Psalm 135:4 and Malachi 3:16-17 for examples.
In these parables, the treasure is the church, which fits all of these descriptions. It is spiritual Israel. This treasure is hidden in the world. When it is found, it is again hidden. Where is it hidden? In the world. Same field, same world. The Pearl is the elect of God. Jesus is the purchaser of that pearl. And he sent us back into the world... "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world." (John 17:18) He does not put us on a pedestal, but simply returns us into the world. The world hides us, but in a different way after our calling than before it. To look at us walking down the street, we are average Joes.
Many believe that we are the seeker of the Pearl, but this cannot be so. We are the pearl, that hidden treasure that was sought out. "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day." (John 6:44) "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." (Luke 19:10) The pearl's value resides not in its own intrinsic worth, but in the immensity of the cost paid for it.No one else can pay the price that was payed for this Pearl. Peter's denunciation of Simon Magus shows that men cannot buy the things of God. "But Peter said to him, 'Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money!" (Acts 8:20). Jesus Christ is the merchant, the price paid was His life, and the church is the pearl. The church is one pearl, one body, composed of those He has sought out through the ages to be a habitation for God by His Spirit and who will be His bride.
This takes it back to the field that is the world. It is literally the world, and it is not talking about the kingdom within, but the Body of Christ as a whole within that field. The treasure is the wheat, but it is hidden among the tares. Only God can sort it out, and we are just not capable. How exactly God will do that remains to me, a mystery, I know the many explanations, but since he proclaims over and over that all will be saved, I can only trust in Him to bring about that restitution of all things.

Someday

[taffy]

Originally Posted by Someday

In the parable of the pearl, one also has to consider the parable immediately proceeding it. The treasure that was found, then hidden. Where was this treasure found? In the field that is also the world. The treasure is the people of God. In Exodus 19:5, the people of Israel who keep God's covenants "shall be a special treasure to Me above all people.". In other places, the Bible uses treasure metaphorically to describe His people. See Psalm 135:4 and Malachi 3:16-17 for examples.
In these parables, the treasure is the church, which fits all of these descriptions. It is spiritual Israel. This treasure is hidden in the world. When it is found, it is again hidden. Where is it hidden? In the world. Same field, same world. The Pearl is the elect of God. Jesus is the purchaser of that pearl. And he sent us back into the world... "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world." (John 17:18) He does not put us on a pedestal, but simply returns us into the world. The world hides us, but in a different way after our calling than before it. To look at us walking down the street, we are average Joes.
Many believe that we are the seeker of the Pearl, but this cannot be so. We are the pearl, that hidden treasure that was sought out. "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day." (John 6:44) "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." (Luke 19:10) The pearl's value resides not in its own intrinsic worth, but in the immensity of the cost paid for it.No one else can pay the price that was payed for this Pearl. Peter's denunciation of Simon Magus shows that men cannot buy the things of God. "But Peter said to him, 'Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money!" (Acts 8:20). Jesus Christ is the merchant, the price paid was His life, and the church is the pearl. The church is one pearl, one body, composed of those He has sought out through the ages to be a habitation for God by His Spirit and who will be His bride.
This takes it back to the field that is the world. It is literally the world, and it is not talking about the kingdom within, but the Body of Christ as a whole within that field. The treasure is the wheat, but it is hidden among the tares. Only God can sort it out, and we are just not capable. How exactly God will do that remains to me, a mystery, I know the many explanations, but since he proclaims over and over that all will be saved, I can only trust in Him to bring about that restitution of all things.

Someday

Thanks for your response Someday..
Ive heard it explained this way..and no doubt you probably heard that Others see Christ as That Great Pearl hidden in the HEARTS of Men.....

I agree special Treasure is mentioned as youve put it along with the scriptures youve mentioned.......

This for me convinces me of the alternative....

Pearls opposed to PEARL...here are few scripts which alter my veiw to yours...

The twelve gates are the Apostles..the WALLS are the symbolic 144,000 as i assume you are aware

Rev 21:21 And the twelve gates [were] twelve pearls; every several gate was of "" one pearl:"" and the street of the city [was] pure gold, as it were transparent glass.

this ONE PEARL likened to the JASPER stone...which for mine again is Christ..slain from the FOUNDATION of the WORLD.

Rev 21:10 And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,


Rev 21:11 Having the glory of God: and her light [was] like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;


you mentioned Treasure...i aslo see this concerning the INNER man( Christ in Our Hearts)

I did see you mentioned you have a tendancy to over spirtualise the scrips which tell me you see Beyond the words written...for mine we each are a HOUSE....our body is where we DWELL...

Pro 15:6 In the house of the righteous [is] much treasure: but in the revenues of the wicked is trouble

o 21:20 [There is] treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling of the wise; but a foolish man spendeth it up.

Isa 33:6 And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, [and] strength of salvation: the fear of the LORD [is] his treasure.

again Treasure speaks of the HEART where Christ THRONE IS...


t 6:21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

DID not Christ say..WITHOUT ME YOU CAN DO KNOTHING?

Mat 12:35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.

Christ is the KINGDOM of Gos for mine..dwelling in the Midst of men ..as he says...the KINGDON ( Christ IN US) is in the MIDST OF """YOU""""

Mat 13:44 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field

more symbolism

at 19:21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go [and] sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come [and] follow me.

The TREASURE HID in Earthen ( clay = man)VESSELS?,,,Christ is THE POWER of GOD according to SCRIPTURE.....Yes?

2Cr 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us


I see this here In Eccl....the WORLD...

Ecc 3:11 He hath made every [thing] beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

well that my Understanding...

Thanks for sharing

Blessings
Taffy

[Someday]

But is it not also true that we ARE Christ? Jesus purchased us, His treasure, that we shall become His Body. One pearl, one Body. God's grace is essential in understanding this parable. The merchant is willing to buy the pearl at an exorbitant cost. No one can buy salvation or the Kingdom of God. We do not choose Christ but He selects us, and the book of Revelations describes vastly how we become the Body of Christ. He is the merchant, the price paid was His life. We as the Body of Christ are that pearl.

A quick note on ECC 13:11...I don't believe it is meant to read "world in their heart" at all. The word "world" is translated from olam. The same word thet ECC 13:14 translates "forever". It makes much more sense to translate it as age, or ages here. The YLT translates it as knowledge in 13:11, but I'm not sure why. Perhaps that is the best translation, but again, I do not know why it would be. In this parable, we have the world translated from kosmos, a different sort of word entirely.

I don't give this any deeper meaning than what Jesus gave it in His explanation to the disciples --who did not understand the original parable of the wheats and the tares. Jesus is seen here explaining the parable to people who did not understand it. It seems to me, he was not trying to further spiritualize it, but to lend understanding to the original parable. This alone is why I do not give it a deeper meaning than Jesus does in His own explanation. He compares the field to the world (kosmos).

Blessings

[timbo]

In the parable or illustration of the "wheat and weeds"(tares, King James Bible) at Matthew 13:24-30, Jesus likens the "kingdom of the heavens" to a "man that sowed fine seed in his field" and which was later 'oversowed with weeds in among the wheat' by an "enemy", with him providing an explanation at verses 36-43. This parable or illustration is also interconnected with the illustrations of the "mustard grain" at verses 31,32, the ' woman who mixed leaven in with her flour '(meal, King James Bible) at verse 33, and with the "dragnet", at verses 47-50.

In the fall of 29 C.E., not long after Jesus baptism, he began to make known the "good news of the kingdom", saying: "The appointed time has been fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has drawn near."(Mark 1:14) And over the course of his 3 1/2 year ministry, from 29-33 C.E., he repetitively emphasized the "kingdom", a heavenly government that is now operational, using many an illustration to teach regarding it's truths and that God conceived, following Adam's rebellion in the Garden of Eden.(Gen 3:15) The unveiling or revealing of the "kingdom" began to occur over a period of some 4000 years. But with the arrival of Jesus as the Christ in 29 C.E., the "mysteries" of the "kingdom" was now explained with the use of illustrations. Thus, Jesus established truths concerning the "kingdom", with those accepting these truths being the "fine seed" or "wheat".(Matt 13:24,25)

However, in the parable or illustration of the "wheat and weeds", Jesus expected a change regarding the "kingdom". In this illustration, he says that following the sowing of the "fine seed", the "sons of the kingdom"(Matt 13:38), by the "Son of man" Jesus Christ over 3 1/2 years (Matt 13:37), he then says that "while men were sleeping, his enemy came and oversowed weeds (Greek zizanion, tares, King James Bible, "sons of the wicked one", Matt 13:38) in among the wheat, and left."(Matt 13:25)

Jesus most likely referred to the poisonous bearded darnel (Lolium temulentum), which it's poisonous properties are believed to stem from a fungus growing within it's seeds and closely resembles wheat until maturity. At this time, it can readily be distinguished from wheat by it's smaller black seeds. This, together with the fact that the roots of these "weeds" become entwined with the wheat, would make it most inadvisable to pull up the "weeds" at an early stage.Thus, in giving direction to the "slaves of the household", the "master" told them to let both the "wheat" and "weeds" grow together, "that by no chance while collecting the weeds, you uproot the wheat with them."(Matt 13:29,30) Thus, a considerable period of time would pass until it was time to ' collect the weeds '.

Who though, is the "enemy" that sowed "weeds" in among the "wheat" ? Jesus identifies him as "the Devil". Thus Satan, after Jesus had laid out the principles and laws of the "kingdom" while on the earth, began to infiltrate the "kingdom" not long after Jesus death, using "weeds" or "sons of the wicked one." How ? Some twenty years later, the apostle Paul, in giving parting counsel to the older men from Ephesus, said: "I know that after my going away oppressive wolves will enter in among you and will not treat the flock with tenderness, and from among you yourselves men will rise and speak twisted things to draw away the disciples after themselves."(Acts 20:29,30)

Hence, not long after, from within the the Christian congregation, there arose men, "weeds" or "tares", who began to speak "twisted things", distorting the teachings of Jesus Christ. These professed to follow Jesus, but instead were counterfeit Christians that began to grow within the congregation that Jesus had established, even while the apostles were alive. There were thus an apostasizing or abandoning of the laws or governing guidelines of the kingdom that Jesus established.

Some eight years later, the apostle Peter wrote to fellow Christians, in about the year 64 C.E., that "there came to be false prophets among the people, as there will also be false teachers among you. These very ones will quietly bring in destructive sects and will disown even the owners that brought them,...Furthermore, many will follow their acts of loose conduct, and on account of these the way of the truth will be spoken of abusively. Also, with coventousness they will exploit you with counterfeit words."(2 Pet 2:1-3) Hence, the "weeds" or counterfeit Christians, were starting to steadily grow, altering the "truths" of the kingdom that Jesus gave, causing a corruption.

Peter, was warning true Christians that there would be a "falling away" or apostasizing (Greek a·po·sta·si´a, literally "to stand away from", and has the sense of "desertion, abandonment or rebellion." [Ac 21:21]), of the true teachings of the Bible. From within the Christian congregation would this occur, for both Paul said that "from among you yourselves men will rise and speak twisted things", and Peter said that "false teachers (will be) among you" that will "quietly bring in destructive sects". Especially following the death of the last apostle, John, in about 100 C.E., did this "falling away" or apostasizing begin to flourish, as Jesus said, "while men (the apostles) were sleeping". There was now practically no one to restrain or hold back this wave of apostasy.

The apostle John, in about 96 C.E., wrote: "Young children, it is the last hour, and, just as you have heard that antichrist is coming, even now there have come to be many antichrists; from which fact we gain the knowledge that it is the last hour."(1 John 2:18) Hence, at that "last hour", true Christianity was being overtaken by the "antichrists"(meaning "against [or instead of] Christ)", "weeds", counterfeit Christians.

Within a period of less than 300 years from the time that Jesus established the Christian congregation in 33 C.E., the wheat field of Christianity had been overrun with the "weeds" of apostate antichrists to the point where Constantine the Great (himself incriminated in the murder of no less than seven close friends and relatives) figured in events that led to the development of a state religion disguised as "Christianity", with the Council of Nicaea in 325 C.E.

Hence, there arose a "leavened" or apostate Christianity, one that is corrupted.(Matt 13:33) It is flourishing as the churches of Christendom, for just as the "mustard grain" grew into a "tree", the individual religious organizations (churches), that profess to be Christian, are like the "birds of heaven", with each one finding "lodging among (Christendom's) branches".(Matt 13:32)

A prophesy by Isaiah directs one's attention that true Christianity, though infiltrated with "weeds" during the course of over 1900 years (' growing together until the harvest',Matt 13:30), from the days of the apostles, would once again be reestablished in the "final part of the days", our time period. Isaiah was inspired to write: "it shall come to pass in the latter days, that the mountain of Jehovah's house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many peoples shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem. And he will judge between the nations, and will decide concerning many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."(Isaiah 2:2-4, American Standard Version)

During the "latter days", our time period now, angels are preparing to ' collect the weeds and burn them with fire ', these to be destroyed (Matt 13:39,40), during which "the righteous ones will shine as brightly as the sun in the kingdom of their Father."(Matt 13:43) Hence, true Christianity once again flourishes in these "latter days", even though "weeds", counterfeit Christians in the thousands of religious "branches" of Christendom, are still abounding until God's time to have these "collected and burned with fire" during the "conclusion of a system of things".(Matt 13:40, "end of the world", King James Bible)

Thus, Jesus fully expected true Christianity to be corrupted over the course of two thousand years and gave several illustrations at Matthew 13 that revealed this. We are now living during the "harvest" or "conclusion of a system of things" and thus God is to destroy the "weeds" or "tares", counterfeit Christians and whereby true Christianity would be clearly discernible for honest-hearted persons.