THE ASTONISHING COST OF BELIEVING

"The stonecutters quarried and shaped huge blocks of stone--a very expensive job--for the foundation of the temple" (1 Kgs 5:17 TLB).

There is a fascinating connection between this Old Testament description of the construction of Solomon's temple and how God builds a living temple for himself out of believers in Jesus--and the astounding cost for both God and the believer.

First of all, we need to get some sort of handle on the scope or magnitude of what we will be examining here. Otherwise, it will be all too easy to lose the significance of what it means to be a believer in Jesus Christ. We who live in a world that soaks itself in relatives need to be reminded that when dealing with God, we are dealing with something that transcends this world, a Being who is so far above what we are used to dealing with that it takes concerted effort to lift ourselves out of the ordinary way of looking at our lives and to concentrate on seeing the extraordinary. We need to focus on ultimates and supreme issues and absolutes--the highest and deepest and most extreme aspects of reality. In other words, God.

When Solomon contemplated building the temple, he said, "The temple I build must be large and magnificent" (2 Chr. 2:9 NIV). Why must this be so? Again, Solomon answers the question: because it is to be the dwelling place of God himself (2 Chr. 6:2).

Solomon had the right perspective. He was keenly aware that he was not about to embark on just another building project, but the project of his entire life as king of Israel. He was to build a temple for the Supreme Being, God. And therefore, that temple needed to reflect the supreme character of that God. He had the prerequisite humility and awe to undertake this great service to his God. And, of course, he did not just decide to do this on his own; he was chosen by God himself for this purpose:

"I intend, therefore, to build a temple for the Name of the LORD my God, as the LORD told my father David, when he said, `Your son whom I will put on the throne in your place will build the temple for my Name" (1 Kgs. 5:5 NIV).

This is the same order of events that the New Testament gives for how the temple of the new covenant with God is to be built, that is, how we who believe in Jesus are to become that living temple for God. It is not something we choose to do on our own, but God initiates it by calling us to believe in Jesus and chooses us for this purpose. As Jesus himself said:

"You did not choose me, but I chose you" (Jn. 15:16 NIV).

Thus no one can boast that he or she was the one who decided to follow Jesus and thus become a living temple for his worship. That decision, though necessarily made and confirmed by us, had its source of origin in the will of God and his calling to us.

"To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God--children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God" (Jn. 1:12,13 NIV).

Because of this proper attitude which Solomon had towards the building of the temple, the Old Testament temple was indeed a magnificent building, with much precious gold overlaying walls and articles and imposing statues of carved angels and many other touches that gave it an awesome atmosphere and look. Beauty and magnificence were the key characteristics throughout the entire structure. It reflected as well as any human endeavor could the nature of the God it was built to honor.

That temple from the Old Testament, and the tremendous cost and effort that went into it, are a symbol and representation of the even more costly temple of the New Testament: you and me. All believers are described in the New Testament as the temple of God:

"Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?" (1 Cor. 3:16 NIV).

"God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple" (1 Cor. 3:17 NIV).

"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own" (1 Cor. 6:19 NIV).

Although the Old Testament temple took years to build and was costly in labor and materials, and the finished product was stunning to behold, it was nothing compared to the effort and painstaking, costly work that is put forth to build a suitable temple for God in our present world. Indeed, the building of human temples in which the Holy Spirit can reside is so costly and demanding of both God and man that nothing else can compare with it. Here a just a few examples that illustrate the kind of preparation that is required for us to be the temple of the living God:

Moses: "He fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons. After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai" (Acts 7:29-30 NIV).

Joseph: ". . . sold as a slave. They bruised his feet with shackles, his neck was put in irons, till what he foretold came to pass, till the word of the Lord proved him true" (Ps. 105:17-20 NIV).

Abraham: "When God tested him, (he) offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, 'It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned'" (Heb. 11:17-18 NIV).

This last example illustrates the truth of a previous statement made above, that the cost for constructing a living temple (human beings who believe in Jesus) for God is great beyond measure. For it is not just we who are God's children who must suffer great loss in order to be molded into fit stones for God's temple: God himself suffered the loss of his own Son on the cross so that this work could be accomplished. Firstly, Jesus had to give up the glories of heaven to come down to earth to enable us to be built into a temple for God (Ph. 2:6,7). Secondly, even after arriving upon this earth in human form, Jesus, God in human flesh, was then sent away from his familiar surroundings, just as was Abraham, when Jesus was compelled by the Holy Spirit to be disciplined (trained) in the desert after his baptism by John the Baptist.

"At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert, and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him" (Mk. 1:12,13 NIV).

"In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers" (Heb. 12:10,11 NIV).

Yes, in Jesus, the Son of God, we find the perfect example and forerunner of who we are to be like in the strenuous and exacting discipline that God requires of those who are to be used as living stones in building a temple for the living God. "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus" (Ph. 2:5 NIV).

Why is our attitude to be the same as that of our Lord Jesus? Because we are meant to be like him, so that he can live in us through his Holy Spirit:

"In him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit" (Eph. 2.22 NIV).

"Written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts" (2 Cor. 3:3 NIV).

What are some of the demanding challenges which must be met by we who would be living stones in God's temple? We have already seen that Joseph had to be falsely imprisoned, enduring physical and emotional hardships of such a depressing place. Moses had to flee for his life from a rich, kingly way of living to being a shepherd for forty years in a rough wilderness. And Abraham was told to give up his only son.

Yes, even human life is not held back from God's demands for us to be built into his living temple. In fact, it is human life itself, specifically ours, that is the key requirement. Nothing is held back. And, since, as was noted earlier, the temple which Solomon built, is a pattern for the ultimate temple of God, that is, human beings who submit to him as their God--it is required that the highest sacrifice of all, human life, be given for this highest honor of being a temple for God himself.

Now, this should not mistakenly be understood to mean that actual human sacrifice should be done. Abraham was told to sacrifice his son to God, but God himself stopped Abraham from carrying out that command. God both gave the command and stopped it from actually being carried out. It is the same with us. We are commanded by God to give all that we have and are to be used by him in his molding us and building us into his holy temple. Nothing less would be worthy of Him who is the ultimate goal in life. But that sacrifice is not literal, as some of the world's depraved religions have supposed. Literal human sacrifice is not in line with the character of the true God who is love.

No, the sacrifice which God requires is of our heart or soul, not of our body, although that may come about if it is his will that we die for his name. But then that would be by his hand and the working of his circumstances, and not by our own hand or at the hands of a religion in the culture of this world. For Scripture says, "You must not live according to the customs of the nations I am going to drive out before you. Because they did all these things, I abhorred them" (Lev. 20:23 NIV).

God rightly abhors the abhorrent practices of the false religions of the nations and its cultures and customs, and those who would be temples for him must not follow the depraved notions and practices of a world that sees death as fitting for their dead god. Rather, those who belong to the living God are to be living temples, not dead bodies burned to a dead god.

It was said that Abraham obeyed God and took his son out into the wilderness, prepared to offer him as a sacrifice. He was willing to offer to God that which was of ultimate preciousness to himself. He is to be our model and example, just as Jesus is. We are to look to the example of Abraham.

"Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn; look to Abraham" (Is. 51:2 NIV).

Look to Abraham and to Jesus for the right attitude which we are to have in order to fulfill our destiny to be living temples for the living God. We are to surrender all that we hold dear, even our very lives, to this end.

"Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me" (Mt. 10:37 NIV).

"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple" (Lk. 14:26 NIV).

That is the cost for being built into a living temple for the living God: We must overcome the natural inclination to cling to our love for family and self. Only when this is done, when we overcome even our own natural instincts for self preservation, can we become something even higher: a part of the temple of God.

"Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God" (Rev. 3:12 NIV).

But how does one do this? How in the world can a person overcome the strong, natural desire to cling to one's own life? It cannot be down "in the world", that is, by any human effort. It cannot be done by any natural means, only by supernatural power available in Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.

Three Scripture passages, show the simple yet profound way in which we become true believers in Christ and thus part of the temple of God that honors him and his name:

1. We must overcome our innate, natural inclination to cling to our own life by allowing the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God, to cleanse us of such obstacles in the human nature. We must die to self so that we can live for God.

"They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death" (Rev. 12:11 NIV).

2. It is through hearing the proclamation of the good news of the gospel, that this can be accomplished in us through surrendering to Jesus as Lord and Savior.

"So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Rom. 10:17 KJV).

3. We must both live out this new birth within us by deed and word.

"That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (Rom. 10:9 NIV).

Saved to be a living temple for the living God.

Wheat and Tares Parable

The Bible should not be read and studied like other books. This is because the Bible is not like other books. It is the very word of God, and therefore the very Spirit of God is poured forth into the words of this book, just as any human author of a book pours forth himself, his spirit, into a book he writes.

But there is a vital difference between a mere human being putting something of his spirit into a book he writes and God doing the same. A human author does not really put his actual spirit into his book, only words that convey something of that spirit, words that communicate who he is to others in words they can understand. God also does this, communicating who he is to us who read his Book. But there is this huge difference: When God puts his Spirit into what he writes, the actual Spirit of God is present in those words, so that all who read those words come into contact with the living God:

"For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart" (Heb. 4:12 ESV).

I have read riveting accounts of people who did not know God and even hated him, but after reading even just a few words from the Bible they sank to their knees in acknowledgment of God's existence. They could feel him speak to their spirit simply from reading the words of the Book which the Spirit of God authored. When a human being reads the Bible, the Spirit of God goes deep into that reader's soul and spirit, penetrating to the depths of that person's being and speaking to those depths, the Spirit of God calling out to that person's spirit.

"Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me (Ps. 42:7).

This is beyond human comprehension, even beyond human imagination:

"'What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him'--these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Cor. 2:9-14).

Please do not misunderstand the above. This does not mean that the Bible is God and to be worshipped, only that it is not an ordinary book but has power to change the life of anyone who reads it--if that person will let it do so.

Now . . . given that all this is so, the question is, "How are you going to read the portions of the Bible included here and the following Bible study ? Are you going to read God's Word only with your mind? or with your spirit?" If you read and study only with your mind, then that is as far as God's words will go, to your mind only. But your mind is only part of who you are, and it is not the deepest part of you. Your spirit is.

The Pharisees of Jesus' day studied the Scriptures with their mind. They knew those Scriptures extremely well. But because they studied it with the mind and not with the spirit, they failed to discern and receive the deepest truths available to them there in God's Word. In fact, they failed to discern when that Word became flesh and stood before them in the form of Jesus Christ. They were dead to the works of God because they relied solely upon their mind instead of opening their spirit to the Spirit of God that was in the Word of God, whether it be the written word or that word made flesh in Jesus Christ. They knew the letter of the law but not the Spirit who wrote that law and Scriptures; therefore, they were dead to God:

"For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life" (2 Cor. 3:6).

"The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life" (Jn. 6:63).

The Pharisees followed the written law to the letter. We see this in the parable Jesus told of the Pharisee and the tax collector (Lk 18:10-14). But what was the result of this following the dead letter of the law? They became dead themselves.

"Their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see; they have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but they cannot smell; they have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but they cannot walk; nor can they utter a sound with their throats.

Those who make them will be like them (i.e. "dead"), and so will all who trust in them" (Psalm 115:4-8).

"The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.
They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see;
they have ears, but cannot hear, nor is there breath in their mouths.
Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them"(Psalm 135:15-18).

The Pharisees who read the Scriptures with their minds only became like the sort of Scriptures they read: dead. They killed themselves because their spirit became dead to the Spirit of God, and as Jesus said, "It is the Spirit who gives life."

But not only did they bring death to themselves, they killed others who sought to bring life to their dead spirits. They even killed the Author of Life himself. They killed Jesus. Jesus knew that they would kill him and he told them:

"I know you are Abraham's descendants. Yet you are ready to kill me, because you have no room for my word" (Jn. 8:37).

The room where God's Word needs to go is the room of the human heart, the spirit that dwells in a man. If we do not allow Him room there, we will never receive Life from the Word, as it is meant to give us.

Is that what you want, to kill Jesus as he seeks entry into your heart and not just your mind, as you read the Scriptures? No? Then don't make the same mistake the Pharisees made, and read the Scriptures with your mind only. Open up your heart and spirit to let Him, the Holy Spirit of God, speak to your heart and spirit,

Do you need yet more convincing that this is the only way that the Scriptures should be read? Then hear what those same Scriptures say about this:

"For it is written: 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.' Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe" (1 Cor. 1:19-21).

Now, none of this is meant to advocate abandoning our reasoning ability which God gave us. We are not to be anti-intellectual, as worldly humanists love to accuse Christians of being. No, the mind and its abilities are a precious gift that God has given to us and we are to use it to its fullest capacity when studying his Word. But it is to play a secondary role, not the primary role. We are to reason about God, yes, but not independently of his Spirit. We are to reason together with God:

"Come now, let us reason together," says the Lord" (Isaiah 1:18).

Finally, hear the words of Jesus concerning letting the Holy Spirit of God be our teacher, and not our own reasoning abilities:

"The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you" (John 14:26).

"When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me" (John 15:26).

"But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you" (John 16:13,14).

Given all of the above, then, what should be our response? We should pray for the Holy Spirit to enlighten our reading of God's Word and to speak to us as we listen to him speak to our own spirit the things hidden in the depths of God's own Spirit:

"Lord, I am about to read and study your precious and holy Word. I ask you to fill me with your Holy Spirit and open my spirit to your Spirit. Let me hear your words aright and understand them. May they bring to me the life you intend for them to give to me, in Jesus. In the name of Jesus I ask this. Amen."

THE PARABLE OF THE WHEAT AND TARES

The story or parable itself is found in Matthew 13:24-30.
The explanation of the parable is in Matthew 13:36-43.

THE PARABLE

"Jesus told them another parable: The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26 When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. 27 The owner's servants came to him and said, `Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?' 28 'An enemy did this,' he replied. The servants asked him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?' 29 'No,' he answered, 'because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn'" (Mt. 13:24-30).

THE EXPLANATION

"Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, 'Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.'

37 He answered, 'The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. 42 They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear'" (Mt. 13:36-43).

WHY USE PARABLES?

Jesus often used parables to explain something deep or profound in terms of simple and familiar things, so that it can more easily be understood. This is God's will for us, that we understand the deep things of himself and his kingdom, not that they remain too deep for us and beyond our reach.

"I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter hidden things, things from of old" (Ps. 78:2).

"I have not spoken in secret, from somewhere in a land of darkness; I have not said to Jacob's descendants, `Seek me in vain.' I, the LORD, speak the truth; I declare what is right" (Isaiah 45:19).

"Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, ''Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?' Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, 'Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?' No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it" (Dt. 30:11-14).

THE DEEP SUBJECT OF THE PARABLE

If Jesus used this parable of the wheat and tares to teach us something deep about God, then the question obviously arises, "What is the deep subject of this parable?"

Answer: The answer is found in the first words of the parable (Jesus gets right to the point):

"The kingdom of heaven is like. . . ." (Mt. 13:24).

The kingdom of heaven is the deep subject with which this parable is concerned. But who knows what the kingdom of heaven is really like? Only one who lives there and has come from there to tell us the truth about it: Jesus, the Son of God. Who better to tell us what the kingdom of heaven (KOH from here on, to save space) is really like?

Because Jesus is not only from heaven but, in fact, its King, we can trust what he says to us about this kingdom. We can trust Jesus and what he says.

A MODERN-DAY PARABLE (movie) ABOUT TRUSTING JESUS

Permit me now to take a little side journey into something that will help give impact to this simple statement, that we can trust Jesus when he tells us something. I do this by referring to a movie that has many connections to our topic here, the movie The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I refer to the new Disney version of this classic tale and will not burden you with too much detail but only one scene that illustrates so well and so powerfully this extremely important truth, that we can trust what Jesus says. Just like a parable helped those of his day understand in a format with which they were familiar, so too can a movie do the same for us today.

The scene is found in Aslan's camp, Aslan being a representation of Jesus in the story. Just as in the Bible where Jesus is symbolically described as a lion, the Lion of Judah (Rev. 5:5), Jesus is represented in this movie by a lion. As he is preparing to go to war against the White Witch, his enemy, she approaches him for a conference in his camp concerning the fate of a traitor to Aslan, whom Aslan has nevertheless rescued from the witch's camp and clutches. By legal rights, the traitor, the boy Edmund, is hers. According to the law that governs Narnia, Aslan must turn him over to her.

But Aslan is not willing to have the boy lose his life, so he invites the witch into his tent to discuss the matter, knowing ahead of time what he must do to save the boy's life. So she and Aslan retire to the privacy of the tent, only to emerge later with the witch bypassing the boy and as Aslan announces to all that the witch has renounced her claim upon the child. Something has occurred inside the tent; Aslan has apparently made her a promise that satisfies her claim upon the boy. But then she has a momentary doubt. She turns around and says to Aslan, "How do I know that your promise will be kept?"

This is a crucial question. After all, whatever agreement was reached within the confines of the tent is private; no one else heard whatever words were spoken there; there were no other witnesses. It is just her word against his. Everything depends solely upon the character and nature of Aslan himself. Her question, therefore, is a good one, but it is also a question of Aslan's character. How does she know that she can trust him to be true to his word?

Aslan is quite aware of the true nature of her question, that it is an attack upon his character and trustworthiness. It cuts right to the very quick and essence of who he is. Therefore, he does not simply reply in yet more words; he has already given her his word that he will make good her claim upon the boy. No, instead of words, Aslan simply lets out a ferocious roar that shakes the witch and causes her to lose her strength so that she collapses down into her chair. She has heard the roar of the Lion that rules over all his kingdom in compliance with the rules of goodness and fairness and truthfulness that come forth from his very nature. She can trust his word because he is one with his word. The roar says it all, speaking louder than words. It is Aslan's roaring proclamation that his word is trustworthy because it comes from him and carries his very nature and spirit with it.

God does the same for us as Aslan did in that scene. In the Bible, God's Word, we hear him say that just as Aslan promised to die in the place of Edmund, so too has Jesus died in our place upon the cross for our sins. He took our place and when we believe in and trust what Jesus did for us on the cross, sacrificing himself for us, we have his promise that we will go to heaven and be with him forever. The question is do we believe this (Jn. 11:25)? Well, if we can't believe the very Son of God, whom can we believe? We can believe Jesus when he says something to us. We can trust him. Let us see what else he has to say to us concerning the KOH in this parable. Let us ourselves hear Aslan roar out his goodness and truth to us as we now return to the parable of the tares and wheat. That parable begins with the sowing of the seed.

THE SEED IS GOOD

Verse 24, the opening verse of the parable, says that the seed sown by the sower is good.

Question: Would a farmer knowingly sow bad seed? Would he sow good seed in a bad field?

You know the answer to these two related questions. The answer to both is "no". Yet those who do not believe in God or trust him raise these very questions and say that God is the one responsible for the evil that we see in human beings (the first question, bad seed), and that this earth came about solely by chance, by evolution (the second question, bad soil ).

In reply, we take the second question first, that this world has come about solely by chance, that is, that the earth was not designed by a god to have just the right conditions for human beings (good soil), but that it all came about solely by chance (bad soil somehow turning into good).

Consider some common facts about gardening or farming, specifically, that different plants require different soils in which to grow well.

Tomatoes need acid soil.
Cabbage tolerates alkaline soil.
Cranberries grow in wet bogs.
Cactus thrive in dry deserts.

Now expand this common garden picture to the much bigger picture of the entire universe. Evolutionists say that it is just by chance that the earth has the right "soil" for human beings to live in. What does the Bible say?

"This is what the Lord says--he who created the heavens, he is God; he who fashioned and made the earth, he founded it; he did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited--he says: 'I am the Lord, and there is no other'" (Is. 45:18).

Here we see not only a refutation of the evolutionists' claim that it is solely by chance that the earth has just the right conditions for human existence, but also an expose of their reason for claiming such a false view: They do not want to admit that God is the reason and the cause behind it all. That is why God ends this great passage of Scripture with the words, "I am the Lord, and there is no other." There is no other way, no other view, no other god; he alone is God, the one responsible for all that exists.

This is the Bible's answer to the second question. But what about the first? If the earth is good soil and God planted good seed, then how is it that we see tares amidst the wheat? Why is there evil in a good world that was good soil and was sown with good seed?

This is the same question that God himself asked long ago:
"How could this happen? How can it be? For when I planted you, I chose my seed so carefully--the very best. Why have you become this degenerate race of evil men? (Jer. 2:20,21 TLB).

Later in the same book of Jeremiah, God answers his own question, along with a warning:

"This is what the Lord says to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem: 'Break up your unplowed ground and do not sow among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, circumcise your hearts, you men of Judah and people of Jerusalem, or my wrath will break out and burn like fire because of the evil you have done--burn with no one to quench it'" (Jer. 4:3 TLB).

It was not that the seed was bad that caused the problem; God sowed good seed originally. The problem is that the seed (originally good human souls) rejected the purpose which God had designed for themselves. That is the power of free will.

The New Testament records a similar rejection of this purpose of God. And once again, it is the Pharisees that are singled out as missing the will of God for themselves.

"All the people, even the tax collectors, when they heard Jesus' words, acknowledged that God's way was right, because they had been baptized by John. But the Pharisees and experts in the law rejected God's purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptized by John" (Lk. 7:29,20)

THE MYSTERY OF EVIL'S SOURCE EXPLAINED

The second verse in the parable explains the mystery of why weeds appeared in a good field sown with good seed:

"But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away" (v. 25).

The answer to the question of how evil came to dwell in the midst of good? Enemy action!

The word sleeping shows us the unseen nature of the profound conflict that exists at the present moment between good and evil. We cannot see the invisible battle that rages all about us between God and the evil one, although we often feel the consequences of that battle and are ourselves enmeshed in it. But the fundamental causes of the battles in this war are largely hidden from us; the evil one performs his dastardly acts in secret, just as criminals do their dark deeds in the darkness of night. These things are largely hidden from us, just as most criminal acts are hidden from those who sleep at night.

"There are those who rebel against the light, who do not know its ways or stay in its paths. When daylight is gone, the murderer rises up and kills the poor and needy; in the night he steals forth like a thief. The eye of the adulterer watches for dusk; he thinks, `No eye will see me,' and he keeps his face concealed.

"In the dark, men break into houses, but by day they shut themselves in; they want nothing to do with the light. For all of them, deep darkness is their morning; they make friends with the terrors of darkness" (Job 24:13-17).

THERE IS A TIME FOR EVERYTHING

But there is another aspect of this formerly hidden truth that God reveals to us in this verse. It says that after the enemy, the devil, sowed bad seed among the good, he "went away."

Question: Why did the evil enemy go away after sowing bad seed among the good?

Answer: There are at least two aspects of the answer that should be considered:

1. Because it normally takes time for any action sowed to mature into mature fruit, therefore the enemy left to develop further his plan while the seed he planted grew to fruition.

2. Because the enemy, the devil, knew that he was no match for a direct confrontation with God, in terms of power. He would depart to wait for a more propitious moment.

This is exactly the same strategy that the devil put into effect when he tempted Jesus in the desert. After three temptations offered by him to Jesus, which Jesus naturally refused, Scripture says:

"When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time" (Lk. 4:13).

Notice that this temptation of Jesus happened at the beginning of his ministry, but that the devil was astute enough to realize that just because he had been defeated at the beginning did not mean that that was the final result. There would still be other opportunities later that would be even more favorable to him to succeed.

This is a common feature of life. Often, people rally around a political figure, for instance, and elect him to office because of the promise of a new beginning. But later, after the realities of the complexities of life set in and things do not get better as promised, they turn against the very one they elected and want to be rid of him.

The enemy is very shrewd and clever. He knows much about human nature. Therefore, a setback at the beginning is not discouraging to him. He knows that he will have other, better, chances later on to rally the people around him and defeat his enemy.

This happened in the great exodus of God's people from slavery in Egypt. Moses led them out from slavery, yes, but after that glorious beginning, they quickly rebelled against him and even wanted to go back to slavery in Egypt:

"In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, 'If only we had died by the Lord's hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death'" (Ex. 16:2,3).

No, just because one does not achieve success immediately in the beginning does not mean that all chance of success is forever vanished. Later on, other chances for a change of mind can be even better. A war is not necessarily determined by a loss in a single battle. The winner is who is victorious at the end, not the beginning. Therefore, yes, the one who sowed the bad seed went away, not in acknowledgement of defeat but to regroup and plan other attacks, other schemes.

OTHER SCHEMES

So, God sowed good seed in good soil, but his enemy sowed bad seed in the darkness of night. Then he went away to deceive humankind into seeking other schemes besides the good one God designed for them to fulfill.

"This only have I found: God made mankind upright, but men have gone in search of many schemes" (Eccl. 7:29).

Question: What are some of the other schemes that men have hatched to compete with the original, good plan that God ordained for this world?

THE BIG THREE

-- Education: The tree of knowledge
-- Government: The tower of Babel
-- Religion: The Pharisees and numerous other false views of reality

Education and Knowledge

Education is listed first deliberately, because of these three, I believe that education is the most prevalent and deepest threat. That is because it is so near to the heart of man and also the oldest threat. We can trace its origins all the way back to the Garden of Eden, the very first instance of rebellion against God on this earth. There, in the Garden of Eden, man deliberately disobeyed God for the first time, and he did it by partaking of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil. Thus the tree of knowledge (of whatever kind and of all kinds, including morals and laws) is the basic tree that has spread its roots into every aspect of human existence: from society and its morals, to government and its rule over people, and to religion and how man is supposed to relate to God. All three areas of the big three have been affected by this one, fundamental scheme that is outside the original plan that God laid down for man to follow. Thus, it deserves the premiere place in the list of schemes that mar God's own, good plan.

Have you not seen it for yourself, the huge place that knowledge holds in the eyes and mind of man? But is the accumulation of knowledge really the great blessing that the world thinks it is? Listen to these sadly profound words of a wise man:

"For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief" (Eccl. 1:18).

Grief and sorrow. Does that sound like something to be desired? What examples can you give that illustrate this truth from the Bible, that the increase of knowledge is not necessarily a good thing? What about nuclear fission? Well, supporters might say, it has the potential to provide energy for human beings. True, but think of all the pollution caused in the mining of the uranium, the dangerous radioactive pollution of the process afterwards; plus, as we have seen in Chernobyl and Japan, even the threat of explosion and meltdown in the operation of this type of knowledge. Then there is the other uses of fission, such as the atomic bomb. Many other such examples could be given.

No, all knowledge is not the same and God wisely restricted man from having certain knowledge that he did not need. Sadly, man did not trust God and his love, thinking that God was withholding something good from him in his prohibition from accessing the Tree of Knowledge. Man had to learn the hard way.

"A servant cannot be corrected by mere words; though he understands, he will not respond" (Prov. 29:19).

How much better it would have been if Adam and Eve had responded to God's prohibition of certain knowledge by obedience, understanding the love behind that prohibition, rather than having to learn through the dire consequences of disobeying the words of God.

"Are God's consolations not enough for you, words spoken gently to you? Why has your heart carried you away? . . ." (Job 15:12).

Why, indeed? Think about it. What area of life is now not touched by man's insatiable desire for knowledge? Whatever form acquiring that knowledge takes, it can be included in the word "education". Atheistic and/or secular humanist scientists have as their main presupposition that there is no god and that all that we can know about our existence and reality can come only through logic and our senses, often aided by technological tools that extend those senses. If man cannot sense it in some fashion, it cannot be. Knowledge and the obtaining of knowledge is their god.

For those who do not subscribe to that worldview, there is still the focus on education. What single arena of our existence is the one most often mentioned by those who would tear down the good plan of God and substitute their own in its place? It is education. For just like the devil, those who follow him in rebellion against God know that if they cannot win at the first introduction of some other plan into mankind, they need only wait until the next generation grows up who forget the goodness that that good plan gave to mankind. And then they will have a fresh group of people who are not familiar with God's kindness as was the former generation.

"After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel. Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals" (Judges 2:10,11).

Government

But if education ranks as the first and most important and widely spread alternate scheme of man to dethrone God, surely government comes in a close second. Again, think of how many people look to government first whenever they need something or want something. Whether it is FEMA or welfare or military protection or any of a myriad other areas, government is frequently the first place many people look for help and security.

Religion

But we dare not leave out religion. Man is, by nature created by God, a physical being with a spiritual aspect as well. And when education and government fail to provide for him, man looks to whatever god is handy and promises help and safety. It is not by accident that the book of Revelation describes two beasts deceiving the whole world in its final days: one a governmental beast and the other a religious one, as seen in the book of Revelation.

All three of these other schemes, the schemes of man instead of the one, original plan of God, have yielded weeds and tares among the wheat. We now live in a world of mixed plants, the good and the evil. Why didn't God stop this? Why doesn't he do something about this?

He did. God did something about the evil in the world by sending his Son to die for evildoers (you and me). God's ways are not our ways (Is. 55:8,9). God's plan for dealing with the weeds or tares has two parts. The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross is the first part. There, he nullified evil's effect upon man.

"You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness" (Rom. 6:18).

"Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death--that is, the devil--and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death" (Heb. 2:14,15).

That is the first part of God's way of dealing with evil, to nullify it and free us from sin and its effect, death. This first part was accomplished when Jesus came to earth the first time, the nullifying of evil's power. The second part will be accomplished when Jesus comes a second time, when he will actually remove evil from his kingdom. More will said of this later.

But there is yet another reason why God has not yet completely removed evil from this world, why he lets the wheat and the tares grow together. That reason stems from his love.

"The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance" (2 Ptr. 3:9).

Remember that it was said at the beginning of this lesson that we can trust God when he says something to us. He has told us repeatedly that evil will one day be banished from this earth. Proud man must not question the way God accomplishes this by demanding that he remove evil now. God is God, not man. God decides when that final day is to be. He has good reasons for allowing evil to exist for now. There is a time and a reason for all things.

"For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter, though a man's misery weighs heavily upon him" (Eccl. 8:6).

The last part of this verse has much to do with our desire to be rid of evil now. The fact that we must suffer evil and put up with it for now weighs heavily upon us and we desire greatly that God remove it. He will. But not yet. For now, he has good reasons why we must still experience this situation. Again, we must let God be God. He and he alone has the right--and the power--to decide when that glorious day of the removal of evildoers will be.

"When I please, I will punish them" (Hos. 10:10).

Therefore, though we yearn for release, we wait patiently, obeying the words of our Lord:

"For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay" (Hbk. 2:3).

THE DAY OF SEPARATION

"Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn" (Mt. 13:30).

Right now, as we know all too well, we live in a world described by the first few verses of the parable, where both evil and good exist. Because this is so, many doubt the existence of God, since they believe that if he existed, he would not allow such a thing. Also, the world does not seem fair at times, with those who appear to be good suffering evil and those who flaunt God's laws and do evil gaining wealth and other things the world values. There sometimes seems to be no separation of one's deeds from the consequences: Those who do evil seem to get away with it. This causes consternation and doubt in the minds of many. Why does God allow this? We are not the first to feel this way. Listen to the words of Psalm 73:

"I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong.
5 They are free from the burdens common to man; they are not plagued by human ills.
6 Therefore pride is their necklace; they clothe themselves with violence.
7 From their callous hearts comes iniquity; the evil conceits of their minds know no limits.
8 They scoff, and speak with malice; in their arrogance they threaten oppression.
9 Their mouths lay claim to heaven, and their tongues take possession of the earth.
10 Therefore their people turn to them and drink up waters in abundance.
11 They say, "How can God know? Does the Most High have knowledge?"
12 This is what the wicked are like-- always carefree, they increase in wealth.
13 Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my hands in innocence.
14 All day long I have been plagued; I have been punished every morning.
15 If I had said, "I will speak thus," I would have betrayed your children.
16 When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me

Sound familiar? Surely you too have felt this way. But what is the answer to this outlook? We would do well to learn from how the ancient psalmist found his answer. He could not understand how God could let such widespread evil continue to exist until . . . until . . .

"17 till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny.
18 Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin.
19 How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors!
20 As a dream when one awakes, so when you arise, O Lord, you will despise them as fantasies.
21 When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered,
22 I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you.
23 Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
27 Those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you."

Ah, yes. Whenever we look at things from the limited human perspective, we are bound to falter in understanding why things are the way they are. We are like brute beasts, the psalmist admits of himself, when we do this, for we cannot discern the higher purposes of God in molding reality the way he has and does. As always, the answer lies in removing ourselves from our limited vision of reality and aligning ourselves with God's vision. The last verse quoted above, verse 27, reminds us once again that God does indeed have a day of reckoning for all who do evil. We have already seen that God alone decides when that day is to be. He has other, hidden purposes for allowing evil to exist in the mean time. For those of you who want a hint of what those other purposes are, read Ephesians 3:8-11. There you will find some very profound mysteries described regarding this whole matter.

For now, however, for those of you who, like the psalmist, wonder about their being no discernible distinction between the righteous and the unrighteous in this world, a look at yet another promise of God in his Word should give some light in this regard:

"'You have said harsh things against me,' says the Lord. 'Yet you ask, `What have we said against you?' 'You have said, "It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape.'"

"Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name. 'They will be mine,' says the Lord Almighty, 'in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not'" (Malachi 3:13-18).

WHAT IS THE HIDDEN INDICATOR FOR SEPARATION?

We have seen that God promises that one day he will indeed separate the unrighteous from the righteous. A question we might naturally ask is, "How will God know which is which?" This is not the same thing as asking about the ability of God to do this, for we know that God is God and knows all things, including who believes in his Son Jesus Christ.

"God's solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: 'The Lord knows those who are his'" (2 Tim. 2:19).

"I know my sheep" (Jn. 10:14).

That much we who believe in the Lord and trust him know. We know that he knows who is his because he is God and knows everything. But how does he know?

To answer this question, we can begin by comparing how we ourselves are told that even we can know this: by their fruits, by the lives they live. Jesus himself gave us this criterion (Mt. 7:16-20).

But this is not an infallible guide when applied by fallible human beings. Even wicked people can seem to do good things and be good, at least at times and in some circumstances, so that we can be fooled if we are not careful and discerning. Nevertheless, when this principle is applied by one with perfect understanding and knowledge, such as the Lord, it is one way that the righteous and unrighteous can be distinguished from each other. If this were not so, how could Scripture say of the final judgment, "Each person was judged according to what he had done" (Rev. 10:13)? This is not a contradiction to being saved by faith alone but simply another way of saying that there is an indissoluble connection between what one believes and how one acts.

So, God may know without error who is righteous and who is unrighteous, but Jesus said in this parable that he would give his angels charge over this separation process. Angels are not God; they do not have infinite knowledge as he does. So there must be some way that they will be able to distinguish between these two basic groups of people. What is that way? How will they know? What is the distinguishing mark that will enable them to separate all mankind into two groups on the final day?

To answer this question, think back over history and see if there is not some previous separation recorded in the Bible that shows how God distinguishes his own from those that are not. What event in Bible history comes to mind? It is the great exodus of God's people from slavery in Egypt. Just before they left, God sent a final plague that killed the first-born of all those living in Egypt except . . . except what? How did the destroying angel know whom to kill and whom to spare? What mark did God provide beforehand to spare his own people? It was the mark of the blood of the lamb applied over the doorpost of the homes of his people.

We know from various New Testament books that this ancient event was a precursor to the blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, being the covering mark that distinguishes believers from nonbelievers. But the blood of Jesus is an actual, physical thing. As you and I as believers walk around this world, we do not see blood upon each other's person. What then is the mark that God has provided for us? The secret is revealed in God's Word:

"He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come" (2 Cor. 1:21,22).

"Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit" (Eph. 1:13).

"Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God" (Rev. 7:3).

"They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads" (Rev. 9:4).

From all these verses, we see that, just as in the Exodus, when God judged Egypt, when he judges the entire world at its end, he will once again commission his angels for this purpose and once again, they will have a distinguishing mark to enable them to discern without error who is the Lord's and to be spared and who is not. That distinguishing mark is the Holy Spirit. Only those who believe in Jesus have this distinguishing mark within them and upon them.

SOMETHING TO CONSIDER ABOUT THE RAPTURE

It is commonly believed among many Christians that God will rapture or remove his children from this world before it ends, that they will not have to go through what is often called "the tribulation". In this viewpoint, it is the believers who are taken out of the world. I do not wish to argue this controversial subject, but do want to point out just one thing that this parable does say about the end.

Notice that in verse 30 and 41, it says that the weeds are gathered first, then the righteous. The unrighteous are destined to be removed from this earth because this earth was created as a dwelling place for God's children, not for those who do not want God to rule over them. This world is rightly for God and his people. Therefore, in Revelation's description of the end times, we see God's dwelling place, heaven, come down to earth, not earth going up to heaven (Rev. 21:1-4). In order for earth to be a fit dwelling place for God, it must be cleansed and purged of the evil in it, not by having Christians raptured up to heaven but by having heaven come down to earth. It is true that before this happens, believers are indeed raptured up. All I want to do here is point out that this is not the final end of things. After meeting the Lord in the air, and after other events, the final state of things is for all of us to live with the Lord in a new earth, one in which those who do evil are removed to a place outside of this new earth (Rev. 22:13,15).

FINAL SUMMARY

Below is a summation of all that was given above.

1. Eccl. 7:29 -- God made man upright (the original state of things), but men have sought out (free will)many schemes (abandoned/rejected God's design for themselves).

2. Ezek. 21:25-27 -- Things shall not remain as they are (with evil co-existing with good.)

3. Mt. 13:43 -- He who has ears to hear, let him hear. (This is serious; you had best pay attention to the words of this parable. Your very soul is at stake for all eternity.)

4. 2 Ptr. 3:10-14 -- Given that all of this is to occur without fail, what sort of life should you be living? How should we then live? Holiness is paramount, and that is possible only through faith in Jesus and submission to the Holy Spirit.

5. Mt. 13:40-43 -- This world is God's world. The unrighteous are squatters. They will be removed (weeded out, v. 41). In Narnia, LWW, when the white witch enters Aslan's camp to demand her rights from Aslan, you can hear the crowd of Aslan's followers mumbling in the background and just make out one such calling out to the witch, "Go away, witch! You don't belong here!"

6. Mt. 5:3, 10 -- "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. . . . Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

7. Mt. 5:5 -- "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth (not heaven, for God will create a new earth for us to inherit; it will be heaven on earth.)

8. Rev. 21:4,5 -- "He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. He who was seated on the throne said, 'I am making everything new!' Then he said, 'Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.'"

Anybody hear Aslan roaring?