Nicholson, J B: Skyland Conference 1993-07 ~ The Parables

I'd like to turn with you, please, in the Word of God to Matthew chapter thirteen. So good to be back at Skyland. This is one place my family loves to come. I don't have to constrain them, and, uh, good to see so many of the Lord's people here. Conferences were God's idea. He thought it was a good idea to get together and to sing together and fellowship and hear the word of God, and he designed that his people get together three times a year in the holy convocations. And, uh, no doubt for some young, uh, girls from, uh, Zebulun to meet some boys from Judah and vice versa, that may have been in his mind too. In any case, uh, it's a good thing to get together and to exalt the Lord and to enjoy fellowship together. And I'd like to read with you, please, in Matthew chapter thirteen, a few verses, uh, beginning at the first verse. The same day went Jesus out of the house and sat by the seaside, and great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship and sat, and the whole multitude stood on the shore. And he spake many things unto them in parables. Now, verse ten, please. And the disciples came and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance, but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables, because they seeing, see not, and hearing, they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, by hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see and shall not perceive. For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see and have not seen them, and to hear those things which ye hear and have not heard them. Hear ye therefore. And then finally, please, verse thirty four. All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables, and without a parable spake he not unto them, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world. And I know the Lord will bless his word to us as we listen for his voice today. Apart from its spiritual content, the Word of God is the richest literary work in every language, and in it are some wonderful figures of speech. Those of you who are familiar with E. W. Bullinger's great work on the figures of speech in the Bible, uh, will know how, uh, astronomical this study is. The index alone in his book is twenty pages long, listing the various forms of figures of speech that are used in the Word of God to illuminate the truth. Obviously, we can't look at all of those, but we shall be spending some time in our week together thinking about one form of figure of speech called the parable. The word parable is simply the Anglicized form of the Greek para, alongside, and ballo, from which we get our word ball. It means to throw, to cast something alongside. Uh, the word parable is a word that initially meant something alongside something else, but then it was something alongside something else so that you can make a comparison. And from this, uh, the, uh, inference was a short step to the idea of a similitude, a likeness, something like something else. Now, a parable is a particular, uh, mathematical form that approximates something else, but doesn't necessarily match it. So that when we're thinking about a parable, we ought not to fall into the trap of making a parable to be exactly like that which it has been brought alongside. If it is exactly like the other thing, well, then it's not a parable, it's the thing itself, isn't it? And so a parable approximates something else, and by that helps us to understand the thing itself. The Hebrew word that is used for parable in the Old Testament is the, the word mashal. It's used about thirty times, and it's used not only for what we traditionally think of as a parable, it's used for proverbs and dark sayings and enigmas and, uh, allegories, as well as for parables. But, uh, we might say that it's, it's, uh, any saying which requires an explanation. If I were to say to you this morning, my mind, it just, it's just like Thursday, and you'd say, I don't know what your Thursday's like, so I don't know what your mind's like. I mean, what does that mean, my mind is like Thursday? Obviously, if I'm going to use something that I think is like something else, then I'm going to have to give you some hint, some clue, some explanation, unless it's rather obvious. Our poet writes, the road was a ribbon of moonlight up to the old indoor, and I get the idea. I know what moonlight is and a ribbon, and so I, and so I get the idea that the road was illuminated by the moon. It doesn't sound quite as poetic, but I get the, I get the point. But many times you don't immediately get the point, and so we have to be careful when we discuss these. Some people say that parables are, are so simple, so obvious, they're common every day. Well, yes and no. In fact, what the Lord Jesus tells us here in John, in Matthew thirteen is that there were two groups of people who didn't get the point. Right? One group of people didn't get the point because they didn't want to get the point. They stopped their ears, they closed their eyes, and they said, I don't see anything, I don't hear anything. And seeing they didn't see, and hearing they didn't hear. And we'll look at that in a minute, just why the Lord Jesus did speak in parables. But this was one group of people. They were the Jews that then lived in the days of the Lord Jesus. He spoke these parables to them. They didn't want to get the point. They didn't discover the truth for the same reason that a po- that a a thief doesn't find a policeman. Uh, that's the very last person they want to find. And so these people didn't want to be converted. They didn't want to get the point, and so they didn't listen. They didn't pay attention. But then the Lord Jesus also says that there was a group of people, uh, before he came, prophets and righteous men, he calls them in verse seventeen, who really would have thrilled at the truth that he was telling them. But as he says near the end of the chapter, verse thirty five, these were things that had been kept secret from the foundation of the world. So you are a very privileged people this morning. Those Jews to whom the Lord Jesus came missed it. They didn't discover the truth, and so it didn't change them. They weren't converted. And there were people before, righteous men, good men, men who had a, an appetite for God, not those who held down the truth in unrighteousness, but who longed to know these things. But it wasn't the time, and now is the time. And we're gathered here today as we open the Word of God. We are, on two accounts, highly privileged. First, because the Spirit of God has wrought in our hearts and given us an appetite for the things of God. And secondly, because the day has arrived when the Son of God came to earth and unfolded to the people marvelous truths that were not known from the foundation of the world. There are two figures of speech that are probably more common than others. Uh, we studied them in school, I think. Some of you can remember ancient history, and you recall learning these things. Uh, simile and metaphor. And we remember that simile, uh, is similar, and it uses the words like and as. Psalm one, for example, where we read that, uh, a man that seeks after God, that has a heart for God, he is like a tree planted by the river. And the ungodly are not so, they're like the chaff which is blown about. Now, we understand what that means, and there is a little equation here. There's a righteous man, and he's like. He's not exactly the same as, obviously. He doesn't have roots, uh, doesn't have leaves, but he's like a tree that has leaves. And so there are some things that are true of a tree growing by a river that are also true of a righteous man. Uh, likewise, uh, an ungodly man, there are some things about an ungodly man that are like the chaff. If we come to Psalm three, we see now a metaphor, and uh, the way I learned it was the little word for, that something is said for something else. It's not uh, an equation, it's not similar to, it's actually there in place of the thing, it's said for it. So we read that the Lord is my shield. Is he? Is he a shield? Uh, now you, you acted out a metaphor this morning. Sitting around this table, we took the bread and we ate it, and Jesus said, this is my body. And there are many people who still didn't get the point. They think he was really talking about his body, but he was in his body when he took the bread. It was a metaphor, wasn't it? Just like he said, I am the door. Well, he wasn't a piece of wood, uh, he wasn't an opening in a wall, but he was like that. The word like isn't there. And so the metaphor treats it as if it really is the item, as as if it really is the object. Now, if we take a metaphor and expand it so that it becomes a story, a whole collection of metaphors, then we have an allegory. The most famous allegory in the English language was written by, uh, a poor man sitting in Bedford Jail, John Bunyan, and the story is pilgrim's Progress is a whole series of metaphors. He has a man named Christian, and he speaks about the Slough of Despond, and he speaks about, uh, the, the celestial city. And as we read through the story, he doesn't keep stopping and saying, now, there's not really a slough, you know, it, it's like that, you understand? He doesn't say that. He just assumes that you'll get the point, that there are places in life that are pretty mucky, and we can get stuck if we aren't careful. And the despondency, discouragement is just like a slough, just like a, a mud hole, and if you don't have spiritual four-wheel drive, you get stuck there. And, you know, he doesn't say that, but he gives you the point. It's an allegory. It's an extended, uh, collection of metaphors. That's an allegory. Uh, a parable is a little different. A parable is an extended collection of similes. The kingdom of heaven is like this. And then the Lord Jesus goes on to explain that the seed is like this, and the sower is like this, and this plant is like this, and he explains it to you in such a way that you get not just one point, as with a simile, you get a whole series of connected points, and with that you draw a little outline of the truth. It's a dot to dot, uh, point to point, as he gives to us little clues that we put together until we get the picture. I like picture books. I'm still waiting for the illustrated, uh, Darby and Kelly commentaries to come out before I read. There's something about a, an illustration. It's like a window, isn't it? And it lets in the light. It helps us to understand it. And we do this all the time with our children. They ask us something, and we say, well, it's like this because it's as close as they can get to the truth. And so the Lord Jesus, uh, reminds us that there are things on earth that can teach us about things in heaven. The famous, uh, Sunday school teacher's definition of a parable, an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. Uh, when we think about a, a s- series of similes, a, a parable, we have to raise some dangers, and I'd like to mention four dangers associated with the study of parables. First of all, the likeness is generally only in certain points. Now, you've all had the experience where you said to someone, you know, so and so really reminds me of Aunt Maud. And they say, really? I don't think so at all. And you say to them, well, I don't mean physical characteristics, I don't mean their appearance, I mean their personality or their sense of humor or whatever, the their stinginess, I don't know, whatever it is. In other words, they're not exactly like Aunt Maud. If they were, they'd be Aunt Maud, but there's something about them that's the same. So when we talk about a similarity, we don't mean at every point, and this is a danger. Some people try to make it out that way. Now, for example, uh, the lion in the Bible. You know that the Lord Jesus is likened to a lion, isn't he? The lion of the tribe of Judah. But you know that Satan is likened to a lion too. Obviously, the likeness, the similarity between Christ and a lion is different to the similarity between Satan and a lion. With the Lord Jesus, it's his prowess, his power. With the Satan, it's his veracity, his viciousness, his violence, his cruelty. The Lord Jesus is likened to a sheep, and we're likened to sheep, but not in the same way. With the Lord Jesus, it was his silent submissiveness. With us, it's our willful waywardness. Different. And so when we say that, oh well, you know that we're like sheep, we're all like sheep. Yes, well, you better explain what you mean by that, because we're not like sheep the way he's like a sheep. And so we have to be careful that, that we recognize that the likeness is generally only at certain points. Secondly, we must be careful in distinguishing between narration, interpretation, and application. Narration is simply the story itself, and by and large, the crowd were happy just to hear the story. You tell them a little story, and they say, that's nice, and they'd all go home. And generally, it was only the disciples who came and said, Lord, what did you mean by that? Obviously, you weren't just telling us a nice little story about catching fish in a net or, or finding a treasure in the field or whatever. There must be a point. What's the point? Well, the Lord Jesus had a very specific point in mind, and when we read these parables, uh, we ought not to confuse our application of the truth, and there are some wonderful applications, and those applications were intended by the Spirit of God. There are general principles that are true in every era, in every period of history, in every dispensation. There are general truths that run right through history, and so there are things that are true of these kingdom parables, for example, that are also true for us. But we must remember that they are kingdom parables, and we have to understand the interpretation and then make application. Uh, one author I was reading suggested that interpretation is dispensational and prophetic. In other words, it's looking forward, it's anticipatory, looking forward to what's going to happen. It's explaining something about the future from the speaker's point of view, and it's also teaching how God deals in history. Now that's what these parables are for. Whereas the applications are moral and practical, and they have to do with the present, how I live in the present in the light of the things that God has revealed through these parables. Uh, there are some who have taken, uh, the parable of the ten virgins, for example, and they've really made hay out of it, haven't they? Uh, and tried to teach us that it's possible to be saved in loss, for example. Now, if we understand the story of the ten virgins aright in Matthew twenty five, we'll notice, for example, the time marker, then. When is then? So the Lord is speaking about a time marker, then. When is then? So the Lord is speaking about a time immediately preceding his coming to earth and the establishment of his kingdom on earth. And so, while we can get some great benefits out of the parable of the ten virgins, there may be some people here who were saved through the preaching of the gospel of the parable of the ten virgins. Just the same, we have to understand the interpretation of it. And when we do, it's amazing how many of these problems just drop away. The third warning we have to raise is that we can make too much or too little of the parable. Um, Augustine, and this is true very often of those who reject the dispensational view to the Bible, they tend to have to, uh, allegorize just about everything. Jerusalem isn't Jerusalem anymore, Israel isn't Israel anymore, that all, everything in the Bible means something other than what it means. And after a while, of course, the whole thing becomes one huge mess. I mean, you just can't make head or tail out of it anymore because heads are tails and tails are heads, and, uh, and after a while it just doesn't make sense. If you read the story of, um, Augustine's exposition of, uh, say the s- the parable of the Good Samaritan, and he starts off at the beginning and he says, well, the man who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho is Adam. And the Jerusalem stands for this, Jericho stands for this, uh, the thorns stand for this, the guy, the the robbers, that's Satan, the fall, you know, he goes through the whole thing, and guess who the innkeeper is? The Apostle Paul, of course. You ought to know that. Don't you know your Bible? I mean, it's right there in gray and white. Anyway, that's the sort of thing that can happen, you see? There are those who take things too far. There are others who don't take them far enough and who say, well, uh, what they really do is they bring it back to a simile, and they say there's only one thing here, and leave everything else alone. Well, the Lord Jesus, in his own explanation of the first parable here in this chapter, shows us that there isn't just one point. There are many things that can be gleaned from the parables, and so we must, uh, not go farther than scripture warrants, but we want to get everything out of these that we can. Now, the fourth and final danger, warning concerning the study of parables is that we err concerning the purpose of them, especially Christ's parables. Uh, I gave the Sunday school definition, an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. In fact, the Apostle Paul would go a little farther than that. Uh, would you keep your finger in Matthew thirteen and turn over to Romans chapter one? Romans chapter one, and the apostle is building a case for the guilt, the inexcusable guilt of man before God. And these are, this is one of the reasons that Paul gives for man's guiltiness before God. He says in verse eighteen, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold, and the word there is to hold down, subvert the truth in unrighteousness, because that which may be known of God is manifest in them or to them, for God has shown it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made. All right? So what he's saying is that the physical world around us is a replica of the spiritual world. Uh, you go into the airport sometimes, and you will see in the center of the airport, uh, a glass dome or a plastic bubble, and underneath it there is a, an exact replica of the airport, right? And you can look at the details and say, oh yes, that's where we are. Well, no, it isn't. That isn't where we are. Here's where we are. Well, you understand what I mean. In the replica, that's where we are. Now, we're just like that little replica, little miniature, little bits and pieces stuck on the board there, three-dimensional world. That's like us compared to the real world, the world of God and his son and his kingdom and his people and all that he has in mind for us is like the world, the whole universe compared to that little replica. That's where we are, these little stick figures there. That's our world, you see. But the things that are in our world point to another world out there. And the Lord Jesus wanted us to get the point. So he wasn't just forcing an illustration like we sometimes do, uh, making things out to be like something else, and there's really very little connection. The Lord Jesus was telling us that there was a connection on purpose, that when God made the world, when he made seeds to grow, the way they grew, he did it on purpose so that we could get a spiritual point from that. The, the visible things in the world are there as a replica of the real world, and the Lord Jesus wanted us to get the point. Now, uh, in Matthew thirteen again, the Lord Jesus explains to us his use of parables, especially verses ten to seventeen. and he tells us that one of the reasons he spoke in parables was to fulfill prophecy. He said, Isaiah said I'd do it, I'm doing it. And the Lord Jesus had such a high view of scripture. He believed that every jot and tittle would be fulfilled. He had a very high view of scripture. He, he held to the, the story of Jonah. He, I guess he didn't read the German higher critics. He didn't know better. He, he believed that Jonah was a real person who really ended up in a real fish, and he was really there for three days and three nights, and he said that's a sign. He really believed in it, didn't he? Really believed in Adam and Eve, spoke about them as historical figures. So if we, if we read the Bible and, and with a jaundiced view say, well, I'm not so sure, Jesus would disagree with you. He had a very high view of scripture, and he believed that everything would be fulfilled, and one of the reasons he spoke in parables was, uh, to fulfill the scripture. And then secondly, as we've already noticed, to hide the truth from the obdurate. Now, most of you, I imagine, have seen those little bits of wood that are stuck to a another piece of wood, um, and they're done in such a way that if you see it right, it has the name Jesus there. And some people look at it and look at it until they just about pull their hair out, and they just can't see it. But when you can see it, you can't see anything else. Of course that's what it says, right? Well, either you can or you can't see it. You've seen a drawing of a, what looks like an old woman, and people see the old woman, and other people see a young woman. So, well, what do you see there? Well, I see an old woman. I don't see an old woman. I see a young woman. Well, it's the same drawing, but they see two different things, you see. And there are some people, and they could see it, and there are some people who couldn't see it. But Jesus gives the reason why. It wasn't a matter of being clever or perceptive or visual. It was a matter of the will. They didn't want to see it. And so Jesus spoke in parables, and the parable was like a veil, a blind that kept them from seeing it. But then on the other side, the parables were like a window that let in the truth, let in the light. And so the Lord Jesus said, uh, that one of his purposes in giving the parables was to draw men's minds toward God out of the common things of life, so that they would be never far away from any of his sermons. You can take your children for a walk. You can walk in the garden. You can take a walk down the street. You can look up at the sky. You can see the fish in the sea. Anywhere you go, you can find one of Christ's sermons, can't you? It's there all everywhere around us, there it is. And so the Lord Jesus, if he had used, um, I don't know, something that we're not familiar with, uh, it would be something that we couldn't understand. But anywhere you go in the world, you can see the sky and the stars, and you can think about the soil, and you can think about the common things of life. And so the Savior took the things that might tend to be distant, far away, uh, obscure, and he brought them right down into our world so that we could see things with our own eyes, feel them with our own hands, hear them with our own ears, right there in front of us. It was the immediacy of the truth of heaven brought before men. Well, our time is just about gone. Uh, we have time only to, uh, delineate the parables. Uh, we ought not to think only of the parables in the New Testament. You recognize that there are some wonderful parables in the Old Testament. Uh, twelve to fifteen from my recollection. I'm not going to give you a list of them. Uh, somebody ought to write a book on it. It's very rare, very difficult to find a book on the parables of the Old Testament, but they're very enlightening. And it reminds us that the Lord Jesus, in speaking in parables, was using something that the Jews were common, uh, were familiar with. It was a common form of expression, of communication. Uh, there were about thirty parables that the Lord Jesus told, some have up to thirty four. It depends on whether you include the, um, similes, really, or the rather the metaphors the Lord Jesus used in, uh, in John's gospel, I am the vine, and so on. These are really metaphors, and John doesn't use the word parable for them. Uh, but, uh, if we're going to look at the parables of the Lord Jesus, uh, obviously we don't have time to look at all of them, but I thought we might, uh, spend some profitable time looking at these seven that are recorded for us in Matthew thirteen. They are called the parables of the kingdom. And these seven parables were all given in one day, and you'll notice the day in which they were given. Verse one of chapter thirteen says, the same day. Now, when you read a phrase like that, please don't just step over it. Stop and take a look. The Lord Jesus, the same day, told these parables. These time markers are very important for setting the, uh, the context of any study. And if we go back into the previous chapter, we will see that this book, uh, of Matthew, known as the Gospel of the King, has a very marked shift between chapters twelve and thirteen. Chapter twelve was the official rejection of Jesus as the King of Israel. It was here that they ascribed to him the, uh, association with the devil himself. The common people in verse twenty three, seeing what Jesus had just done, and I wish we had time to look at the connection, because in chapter twelve, the Lord Jesus heals a man who can't speak and who can't, uh, see. He is blind and dumb, and the Lord Jesus heals the man so that he can see and so that he can respond. And here were all these people round about who had eyes that couldn't see, because they didn't want to see. And the Lord Jesus, having performed this miracle, the common people responded by saying, verse uh twenty three, is not this the son of David? What were they saying? He's the rightful king. This is the king. And what did the, what did the Pharisees respond? The Pharisees said, this fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub, the prince of devils. You, you want to know what relationship he has to kingship? Do you want to know what his royal line is? He's connected to the prince of the devils. That's his royal line. Now, the Lord Jesus called this the unpardonable sin. And from this point, he turns from these who will not hear to those who would hear, and he begins to speak only in parables. The phrase the kingdom of God is a, is a fairly well-known phrase in the Bible, both in the Old and New Testament. And we might say that the kingdom of God is that over which the authority of God is recognized. Not necessarily those who are, quote, Christians. Uh, the kingdom of God is larger than the church, started before the church began, and it will continue on after the church is taken out of the scene. We ought not to confuse the kingdom and the Church. Although those who are in the Church are related to the King, we are the bride of the one who will be King. Uh, we are never spoken of in that relationship. He's never called our King. Although we have been translated into the kingdom of the Son of His love, we are the co-regents with him, and as such, we are not specifically called his subjects. But if you want to see how a subject ought to act, you ought to be able to look at the queen. She ought to show how a subject ought to act. She has a higher motive than law. She loves the king. And so, uh, the church ought to manifest by our lives the characteristics of the kingdom, though the church is not specifically called the kingdom. There is another phrase, however, this, uh, phrase kingdom of God is quite familiar in the New Testament, but there is this phrase, the kingdom of heaven. It's found, uh, twenty six times, and always in the book of Matthew. And there are some who say there's no difference between the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God, because the same parables that are used in Matthew to teach the kingdom of heaven are also used in Luke and Mark to teach the kingdom of God. But I would suggest to you that there is a little difference. The kingdom of heaven is included in the kingdom of God, but that the kingdom of heaven is that administration of the kingdom on earth during the absence of the king. And these seven stories the Lord Jesus told describe to us what he knew would happen. They're full of subterfuge, full of intrigue, full of efforts by the enemy to destroy the authority, the dominion, and the efforts of the king. But the Lord Jesus is going to tell us how it's going to come out in the end. It's a great thing to read the last chapter and to know how it's going to all come out in the end. And so the kingdom of heaven is given to us here. Uh, this period of time when the king is rejected, he goes away, and uh, his work continues on earth. He is in absentia, but the work continues, and it leads up until that time when the Father will make his enemies the footstool of his seat. You know, God never gets tired of saying that. That's the most often quoted verse in all the Bible. Son, sit here at my right hand until I make thine enemy thy footstool. God never gets tired of saying that, and we ought never get tired of raising the cry. David said in the days when he had been rejected, living in a dhulm, at last Saul was dead. And David asked the question, why is there no word concerning bringing the king back? Uh, we don't preach the kingdom enough. The Lord Jesus, when he taught his disciples to pray, said, thy, when you pray, say, thy kingdom come. Does it not disturb you that the one who ought to have the highest place, his name is a gutter word? Does it not distress you that everything's out of order, that Israel, who ought to be the head of the nations, is the tail, and the church that is a heavenly people is still on earth, and that the one who ought to be admired of all nations is despised and rejected of men? That the devil who ought to be cast out is still roaming about doing his damage among the people of God. Does it not distress you? You know what we need? We need the king to come back. He's the only one who can do it, the only one who can set it right. Oh, may there be the shout of a king among us. And as we look at these mysteries of the kingdom, these that the, that the ancient holy men longed to understand but didn't, that there might be an appetite to know about not only the kingdom, but to know more of the king and to long for the king coming back. Shall we pray? O gracious Father, here we are, once sinners of the Gentiles, in the far off place, Lodi bar, no pasture, lame on both our feet, without hope, and without God in the world. And here we are today, the sons of God, heirs of the kingdom. We who are not a people are now the people of God. And these holy men of times past, these prophets who long to know these things, waited and watched and pointed forward to that day when at last a king would come. Jesus the King, born in a stable, living as a carpenter, walking the dusty roads of life, and speaking to those who would listen of his kingdom. And here and there a few saw it. A poor thief spiked to the tree beside him. Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. Oh, we thank thee for the glory of the king, and that though men mocked his kingship, giving him a secondhand purple coat and a thorny crown and a reed for a scepter, he was no less the king. And one of these days, to the utter amazement of the world, Jesus will return, and he shall manifest his glory as King of kings and Lord of lords, and his glory shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. We pray the prayer we were taught as children to list, O Lord, thy kingdom come.