MATTHEW 13: THE ENEMY WITHIN THE CHURCH!

SEVEN PARABLES DESCRIBING THE "CHURCH AGE."

Matthew 13:3 - The Parable of the Sower.  This could also be called The Parable of the Four Soils.  The period between the two advents of Christ will be a period of seed sowing.  The seed is the Word of God; to be specific, the Gospel (Rom. 1:16-17; 1 Cor. 15:3-4).  The soils represent four types of hearers or listeners:  1) those too hard hearted to receive the Gospel, and reject it;  2) those who profess to accept it, but too shallow to allow the Word to take root;  3) those who profess to accept it, but love the world too much to let the Word effect their way of life;  4) those who receive the Word and accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

Matthew 13:24 - The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares.  The "wheat," born again believers, the true Church, will consist of those who fall into category number four above.  However, Satan will use those in categories number two and three, to corrupt from within the congregation.

Matthew 13:31 - The Parable of the Mustard Seed.  This parable describes what is seen as the "miraculous growth" of the Church, but it is really describing it as being so large that it is inhabited by "the birds of the air."  "Birds" represent agents of Satan, who infiltrate the congregations (see 13:4).

Matthew 13:33 - The Parable of the Leaven.  Some believe this to represent the authentic growth of the Church.  In fact, the Feast of Pentecost, the feast which represents the Church Age, does include leaven (see Lev. 23:17 and Acts 2:1-47).  However, leaven always represents sin in the Bible, and is another false picture of the enormous growth of the Church.  Leaven is basically the gas given off by dead organisms!

Matthew 13:44 - The Parable of the Treasure Hidden in the Field.  Here again, the field is the world, and Christ gave all that He had to buy the field, not just the treasure, the Church.  Jesus died for the sins of the whole world (Acts 20:28; 1 Jn. 2:2)!

Matthew 13:46 - The Parable of the Pearl of Great Price.  Again, the pearl represents the entire world, and hidden at its center is "an irritating grain of sand":  the Church!

Matthew 13:47 - The Parable of the Fishing Net.  Finally, this last parable speaks of the judgment of God upon the whole world (the sea represents "peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues" - see Rev. 17:15).  The Church Age will have ended with the Rapture (Jn. 14:1-3; 1 Th. 1:10; 4:13-18; 5:9 - in addition, the Church is not mentioned in Revelation Chapters 6 - 18, the Time of Jacob's Trouble, a.k.a. Daniel's Seventieth Week and the Seven-year Tribulation).  Therefore this judgment is base upon how the nations treated the Jewish people during the Tribulation (see Mt. 25:33-46 - the "sheep" in this case are God's chosen people, Israel.  The "goats" are the Gentile nations.)  The "net" gathers and the "Lord" separates:  some to enter His kingdom, and the rest to be cast into hell.  So it is that those professing Christians, the tares, the birds of the air, the leaven, the world surrounding the hidden treasure, the "shiny outer layers" of the pearl, and the "bad fishes," will all be burned!

THE CHURCH AGE IS AN AGE OF GRACE! 

JESUS OFFERS FORGIVENESS OF SIN,

AND HIMSELF AS LORD AND SAVIOR! 

BUT THERE IS AN EXPIRATION DATE ON THE FREE OFFER! 

YOU HAVE UNTIL HE CALLS HIS CHURCH HOME TO ACCEPT! 

DON'T DELAY!  OUR SAVIOR IS COMING BACK FOR US VERY SOON!