Sitting in that Sunday service before Labor Day at Jacob’s Well in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, I had no idea the radical transformation awaiting me as I heard the Lord’s still, small voice, “Let Me pastor you through them.” I first thought “them” meant the pastors of this church, which He did, but more importantly, He meant His parables. As I mulled over them daily for the next seven weeks, my attention became riveted on the kingdom of heaven parables. Like the man chancing upon hidden treasure in a field, I felt as I’d stumbled into an exceedingly rich understanding the kingdom of God. A totally unexpected but delightful surprise.
I’d not truly understood these parables before. I’d read them tons of times and they served as good information, important even. But aside from the parable of the hidden treasure, they’d had little or no transformational impact on my walk with Jesus. What blew my doors off was perceiving for the first time a superarching principle tying all these kingdom of heaven parables together. Now I’m seeing the kingdom of heaven everywhere I look!
Man sees one way, God another. Whereas man (through a pagan king) sees the kingdoms of the earth as a noble statue (Dan 2), God (through a holy prophet) sees them as wild beasts (Dan 7). “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa 55:8 NKJV). Man looks at the outside, but God looks at the heart. I’ve been thrilled how these kingdom of heaven parables are God’s looking at the heart of His kingdom here on earth. One of my heroes of the faith, Corrie ten Boom, had an embroidery object lesson about the mysterious workings of Providence in the world. The needlepoint’s bewildering underside was all knotty and gnarled and disordered, analogous to how we confusingly see our world. But on the top side is a beautifully woven kingly crown. That’s how God sees it.
Substituting “King“ for “kingdom” in these kingdom of heaven parables is a breath of fresh air. Simplifying. Jesus is the center of the kingdom of heaven. No surprise, right? First and foremost the kingdom of heaven not any “it,” it’s Him—Jesus! Jesus is both King and kingdom. Romans 14:17 says, “For the kingdom of God is…righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Jesus is all these! He is made to us righteousness (1Co 1:30), He is our peace (Eph 2:14), and He is our joy (1Pe 1:8). In the Gospels the kingdom of God is preached whereas in the book of Acts Jesus is heralded. Preaching Jesus is preaching the kingdom of God. Kingdom territory is defined within Himself that He be all and in all.
Darlene Zschech’s “Jesus at the Center” song catches the spirit of the kingdom of heaven parables:
Jesus at the center of it all
Jesus at the center of it all
From beginning to the end
It will always be, it’s always been You
Jesus, Jesus
Nothing else matters,
Nothing in this world will do
‘Cause Jesus You’re the center,
Everything revolves around You
Jesus You,
At the center of it all,
At the center of it all
The kingdom of heaven is not an abstract idea; it’s King Jesus exerting Himself in His world.The first three parables, which I’ve coined the “outside-the-house” parables, highlight the King’s work among the nations. Each one uniquely corresponds to Father, Son and Spirit. Certainly all of God permeates all the kingdom is, but often Scripture spotlights the one member of the Trinity while still maintaining the Son’s central role to humanity as Savior and Mediator. The first parable is the Son sowing the children of the kingdom all over the world. The second is the Father showing the Son to the world, each miraculous “mustard tree” a supernatural revealing that attracts many people. The third is the Holy Spirit hiding the Son as leaven within for transformation, progressively converting our thoughts and desires little by little until we’re in His image. Summarized another way, the outside-the-house parables are like this: the Son sows to save people, the Father reveals the Son to draw people, and the Spirit hides the Son within to transform people. That’s what God’s kingdom is all about in our fallen, chaotic world today.
The next trio, the “inside-the-house” parables, unveil what’s most precious to God’s heart: the church, the bride of Christ. They advance relational intimacy with God. These inside-the-house parables mirror a Father, Son and Spirit symmetry with the former trio.The Spirit reveals the Son as supreme treasure, the Son seeks the bride as that costly pearl, and the Father made the Son a dragnet the purchase price to obtain her, gathering up all the hellish wages her sins deserve. At the very heart of the kingdom of heaven is this love story between the Bridegroom and the bride! The bride is joyfully seeing her Bridegroom more as the treasure He truly is. The Bridegroom has given up all for the Bride and keeps on giving of Himself to her. This love story is what’s chiefly on His heart. It’s the grand narrative of the Bible. After all, to love the Lord your God is the greatest commandment.
I have been immensely blessed by the reorienting nature of these kingdom of heaven parables. Remember back when we had orientation for school? It familiarized a new environment so we could find our way around. That’s what the kingdom of heaven parables have done for me! I see much more clearly now the variety of kingdom focuses held in proper balance. In reading or listening to Christians, I’m able to get a bearing on where they’re coming from (or failing to go). I’m much more attuned to observe the kingdom of heaven all over the Bible and all around me. So exciting!
My prayer life has been altered as well. Now when I pray the Lord’s prayer, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done here on earth as it is in heaven,” it’s fuller and richer than before. I pray for people or the church now with heightened expectation and faith. For instance, in a church setting, I find myself praying, “Jesus, be Yourself as the sower of good seed,” expecting Him to save souls. The reality that Jesus is behind the scenes as supreme Sower in all and through all greatly comforts me.
As I look back over the past three decades of my Christian life, each season has aligned with a different kingdom of heaven parable. Though somewhat oversimplified, one parable held the most sway over my thoughts and actions. The mustard seed parable dominated my first nineteen years at a Pentecostal church. I was so excited to experience firsthand God doing miracles in the world—healing, baptism in the Spirit, revivals. Alongside came Zac Poonen in the early 2000’s, a teacher from India that pulverized my inner Pharisee to pieces—the parable of the leaven. Painful, but such needed inner transformation! In December 2007 I left my first church for a charismatic, “reformed” church, adept in considering what Jesus accomplished for us on the cross and its lifelong implications—the parable of the dragnet.
Since 2005 the parable of the hidden treasure has gradually taken up the landscape of my Christian life. The former ones are still integrated into my walk with Jesus, but now I am more caught up with Jesus “in the house.” But I will say the reorienting nature of the kingdom of parables as a whole have helped me be more self-aware of what I’ve been neglecting and am weak in, such as the parable of the leaven. I’m more mindful now that I have three measures, a huge amount, within me in need of the Spirit’s beautiful, Jesus-centered transforming grace. The church I’m at now has renewed the parable of the sower of good seed in my thoughts. Jesus is still at work all around me to rescue lost sinners out of the world. And He wants me to be His mouthpiece. How refreshing to know that behind everything good going on in the world there’s one Sower. It’s Jesus!
So many of our failures in our churches or denominations—and us personally—come not because we don’t understand God’s kingdom but that we’re ignorant of its diverse parts in their proper proportions to produce harmony. When God blesses our church or denomination in a certain kingdom focus (e.g., evangelism, miracles, repentance, worship, justification), what invariably happens is we think we have a leg up on others in the body of Christ. Not healthy. I may be a good liver filtering out waste in the blood (the parable of the leaven), but the kingdom of heaven parables invite us to follow Jesus in a well-rounded way. We need the diverse “tribes” of Christendom to fully develop us to be like Jesus. It takes all the colors to make a rainbow, not just red or green.
I have a much greater respect for the parables than I did before. In thinking the parables as more the ABCs, less developed truth, than say, the epistles, I missed their grandeur. Our awesomely wise Lord Jesus is an absolute master with parables, using them to reveal the deepest secrets of the mind of God. Jesus ends the teaching of the parables of the kingdom of heaven with a question: “Have you understood all these?” 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.” It’s when you and I understand these in reality that we bring out treasures new and old that impact others for eternity. Jesus calls us to enrich others in a God-impoverished world. Are you all in? I am!
From my heart to the Heavens,
Jesus be the center
It’s all about You,
Yes, it’s all about You
(Darlene Zschech, “Jesus at the Center”)
Glory Unveiled: Discovering Jesus 