If you were asked to describe the kingdom of God, how would you do it? Oh, and you only get six analogies to compare it with. Here’s the kicker: your description of the kingdom of God has to encompass everything the Bible has revealed about it—all the Old Testament, the Gospels, Acts, Epistles, and all the way to Revelation. Pretty challenging, huh? Yet Jesus did it with six parables. Perhaps more astonishing, two of them at first seem to just repeat content of the other ones.
Ask a hundred different churches what the kingdom of God is and you’ll probably get a hundred different answers. It reminds me of the fable in which several blind men chance upon an elephant and are trying to figure out what it is. The one feeling the trunk thinks it’s a snake, another groping the leg says it’s a tree, and so on. A problem with churches (and my own life) I’ve observed over the decades is an overemphasis of one aspect of the kingdom to the neglect of the others. Now, all have the doctrine, for all read the same Bible. But what is actually lived out? So many of our failures in our churches or denominations—and us personally—come not because we don’t understand God’s kingdom, but because we don’t grasp its diverse parts in proper balance.
Balance in all of nature is what brings beauty, or as American theologian Jonathan Edwards put it: “an admirable conjunction of diverse excellencies.” For example, Jesus depicted as both strong Lion and meek Lamb in “admirable conjunction” is what makes His glory so appealingly captivating! That’s what Jesus as the master Teacher does for us with the kingdom of heaven parables. He brings together the foremost “diverse excellencies” of His kingdom in a magnificent harmony. Inside of an expensive Swiss watch is an engineering marvel of mechanical precision, outside an artistic work of beauty. So it is with the kingdom of heaven parables. As the palette is to the artist and the marble to the sculptor and the clay to the potter, so is the word to the Lord! He is an absolute master artisan of infinitesimal beauty and exquisite artistry!
Lord willing, over the coming weeks I’m excited to present this series of blog posts about the parables of the kingdom of heaven! It’s the result of over two months of asking, seeking, and knocking. The Lord mercifully answered me. I didn’t understand these parables before, not in reality. They were good information, important even, but had little or no transformational impact on my walk with the Lord Jesus. Sure, I’d read them many times. But I’d totally missed Jesus’ invitation to be as a scribe to study them. Hidden in plain sight.
Of the many parables Jesus spoke, Matthew purposefully selected eight in his characteristic accountant-like fashion of grouping themes together. Chapter 13 of Matthew is the parable section that lays out seven kingdom of heaven parables, five of which are only found here. None of Jesus’ other parables say, “The kingdom of God is like… ” Only these. These seven (the biblical number for completeness) sum up the essence of what the kingdom of heaven is all about. Since God’s kingdom is so vast and all-encompassing, having a simplified way of seeing everything in relation to the whole is life-giving! That’s what these kingdom of heaven parables do for us.
After explaining these parables, Jesus asked the disciples,
“Have you understood all these things?” They said to him, “Yes.” And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”
Matthew 13:51-52 ESV
“Have you understood all these?” Jesus’ question draws attention to synthesizing these six parables together. You want to understand My kingdom? Know all these in relation to each other and you’ll understand My heart about it.
The disciples’ response to Jesus’ question was a hasty “yes,” but they really didn’t understand. I don’t think they were lying. They were just ignorant. Their question right before Jesus ascended to heaven betrayed their misunderstanding: “Will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” These kingdom of heaven parables are not about an earthly, political kingdom of swords conquering Canaanites (or Romans) but a spiritual kingdom that breaks upon the whole earth in which Jesus is King. These parables are the crown jewels of all the parables, aligning with Matthew’s portrait of Jesus as the King. Swapping “kingdom of heaven” with “King” in these parables I find helpful to convey the intended sense.
Watch how Jesus mingles the Old Testament scribe with the New Testament disciple from the Mounce translation:
“Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a house who brings out of his treasure things new and old.”
Notice how scribe of old, a student of the Law, is fused with the new, a disciple of Jesus. Jesus is the truest scribe, the true Ezra, the Old Testament’s most famous scribe who set his heart to study the Law of God. Jesus not only best explains the Law (Lk 24:27) but is its fulfillment (Mt 5:17-18; Rom 10:4). Our Lord Jesus Christ transcended every scribe that came before Him, as He spoke with authority and reality whereas they were confined to the shadow of what was to come in Himself.
Jesus was not only the perfect scribe but the perfect disciple as well. He lived on earth as a disciple of the Father, totally submitted to His will. “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me” (Jn 7:16 ESV). “He awakens me morning by morning, he awakens my ear to hear as the learned a disciple” (Isaiah 50:4 NKJV).
But there’s more. “Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven…” Therefore what? It links back to understanding all these kingdom of heaven parables. Jesus implies that His disciples should study these parables. That’s what scribes do. Unlike the disciples, Jesus perfectly understood the kingdom of heaven. As we marvel at the ways of Jesus—healing the sick, raising the dead, preaching the word, etc.—He demonstrated what a master of the house who brings out treasures old and new is all about. Should we choose to accept this mission, we too will be “like the master of a house who brings out of his treasure things new and old.” Jesus calls us to enrich others in a God-impoverished world. These riches are riches in God, not in the coinage of this world.
Our spiritual DNA is hard-wired for eternal purpose, for our lives to matter and impact this world for Jesus. Do you want your life to bless others? Take Jesus up on His invitation. Be that scribe. Labor to understand these kingdom of heaven parables in their designed contrasts in tension and in balance. “Have you understood all these?” It’s when you and I understand this reality that we bring out treasures new and old to make a kingdom impact on others for eternity. Are you all in?
Glory Unveiled: Discovering Jesus 