These parable’s actually teach the progression and decline and the restoration of the Kingdom in the history of the church age. Right now we are in the overlaping of the Philadelphia and Laodiceans church ages. The restoration of the gospel of the Kingdom came through and Apostolic and Prophetic community back in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s but the enemy attacked it and scattered the movement, and now we are in the Laodicean age, a divided church that thinks they are rich, but in reality, are blind, poor, and naked, and are off building their own personal kingdoms, yet the Lord always has a remnant and is now raising up His Apostolic chiefs, the generals of the Army of the Lord, who have been given the key of David, but that is another message.
In Matthew 13, a unique and rather lengthy chapter, the purpose of parables is clearly outlined. Seven parables, with their expositions, are also recorded in this chapter.
And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” And He answered and said to them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted.” A parable has the dual purpose of both revealing and concealing. For the disciple with the anointing of the Holy Spirit to perceive, a parable is very illuminating, whereas someone without any spiritual understanding receives nothing from it. The Lord follows the principle of not casting pearls before swine lest they turn again and rend you. He is not giving truths to those who are not prepared to walk in what they already know. Those who hold the truth in unrighteousness have the very capacity for more comprehension taken from them. So we see that parables serve the purpose of God.
In the sermons that are preached in this Walk with God, the Lord communicates on several different basic levels. In the same message, He speaks to babes, to young men, to the strong who have overcome the wicked one, and to the spiritual fathers. Different levels of truth are hidden in one message. This is what the Lord promised years ago, when He said that there would be a table spread for all of God’s people, from the babes to the spiritual fathers. All would be able to feast from it. God has a way of either concealing or revealing, so you will receive only the measure of truth for which you are prepared. And a parable serves that very purpose.
The Word of God is living, and we speak to you on the level that you are on.
“For whoever has, to him shall more be given, and he shall have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
“And in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, ‘You will keep on hearing, but will not understand; and you will keep on seeing, but will not perceive; for the heart of this people has become dull, and with their ears they scarcely hear, and they have closed their eyes; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart and turn again, and I should heal them.’
“But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. For truly I say to you, that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it; and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” Matthew 13:10–17.
Be thankful for your spiritual perception, for the comprehension that has been granted to you by the Lord. If you had not had a heart willing to walk on with God, that would have been taken away from you. Don’t wonder when people say, “In my former church they taught many wonderful truths, but it seemed as if the hearts of the people were blinded.” There is a reason for that. If a church does not walk in the light it has, that light turns to darkness and they will not be able to comprehend any more truth. We have so many truths preached to us and if the day ever comes that our hearts are not open and willing to at least strive to walk in those truths, the same thing will happen to us. Your capacity to walk in the truth comes from your willingness, not from your mental capacity. If any man will do His will, he shall know the teaching, whether it be of God (John 7:17). The comprehension comes from your willingness to do the will of God.
All these things Jesus spoke to the multitudes in parables, and He was not talking to them without a parable, so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden since the foundation of the world.” Verses 34–35.
The first parable is about the seed in the various types of soil. Although it is given more attention and space than the other parables in the chapter, we will not dwell on it at any length in this message. It deals basically with the reasons for the Word being productive in some people’s lives and not productive in others. We are already prepared to let the Word be a cross and we’ll die on it, to let it be a foundation and we’ll stand on it, to let it be something that hurts and we’ll receive it joyfully. I think we are already prepared. We wouldn’t be in this Walk if there were not a diligence to walk in the Word. Therefore this parable will have a minimum of attention in this message.
“Behold, the sower went out to sow; and as he sowed, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and devoured them. And others fell upon the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. And others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. And others fell on the good soil, and yielded (“is yielding” is the literal meaning; the action of the verb is brought into the present) a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.” Verses 3b–9.
The exposition is recorded in verses 18–23. “Hear then the parable of the sower. When any one hears the word of the kingdom (although this has been applied to the whole Church age, in a real sense it is a part of the Kingdom message), and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road.
“And the one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word, and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away.
“And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. And the one on whom seed was sown on the good ground, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit, and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.”
We all want to be included in that hundredfold category if we can. We realize that the devil tries to take the Word from all of us. We must give diligence that we do not hear a word in a shallow way. Because we have so much revelation, we must be careful that we give it the depth of penetration that it deserves.
The deceitfulness of riches and of possessions can be a very real danger, too. When Satan can’t get a man who is poor not to seek God with all of his heart, he may reverse that man’s fortunes and thereby try his soul. When he is given more possessions than he has ever had in his life, he may become so occupied with them that the Word which once grew in his life is now choked out by too much business. In the perpetual discipline of our spirits, we are learning to fight against the distractions and the preoccupations, and to be fruitful with the Word, to hide it in our hearts, and to walk in it with all grace.
The second parable has to do with the separation of the wheat (God’s people) from the tares, and the bundling of the tares, which is very significant. He presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares also among the wheat, and went away.” This is darnel, a weed that resembles wheat. “But when the wheat sprang up and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. And the slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this!’ And the slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’ But he said, ‘No; lest while you are gathering up the tares, you may root up the wheat with them. Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares; and bind them in bundles (the bundling of the tares presents a unique picture of something that is taking place today) to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ” Verses 24–30.
The exposition is given in verses 36–43. Then He left the multitudes, and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.” And He answered and said, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one; and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels. Therefore just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age.
“The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness.” This is speaking of the rebellion, and that is why God is dealing with the true sons of the Kingdom to walk in submission. The others look like wheat, but their identifying mark is that they are stumbling-blocks and there is rebellion in their hearts.
“And will cast them into the furnace of fire; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.” This is the speaking of the future glory that is going to rest upon the Body. They will shine as the sun. You believe that, don’t you, that the return of the glory will be so great that we will literally glow with it? We have only begun to walk in what God has for this day. This is beyond the restoration of what was in the church; this is the establishment of what is to be in the Kingdom. In case you are thinking, “It’s fantastic; I can hardly accept it,” accept what you can and walk in it with all of your heart. Then the capacity will be given for greater understanding.
This parable speaks of the separation of the tares from the wheat and the bundling which is done by the angels. In this day the angels are already maneuvering the tares into bundles, in the ecumenical movement which is bringing various groups together. A certain perverse unity is coming. You will be surprised to see how just the issue of persecuting this Walk will unite many religious groups. On that one point they will be united and bundled together. There is a provocation coming.
What about us? We just rejoice and keep on growing. “But,” you say, “There is a tare next to me!” Don’t worry about the tare; just be a good wheat. Right up to the end of the age there is a coexistence of that which is phony and false and that which is true that God is bringing forth. There will be many proclaiming that they are God’s move, and they will look very much like it; but when you look carefully, the spirit of lawlessness and rebellion is upon them. Every man does that which is right in his own sight. He is a rebel against the divine order that God is bringing forth.
The third parable, that of the mustard seed, is very brief. He presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; and this is smaller than all other seeds; but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.” Verses 31–32. I don’t think we have any mustard trees like that here; this was a plant distinctive to the old world.
This parable again presents the pattern of growth, indicating how a small beginning will have a fantastic fulfillment. “Don’t despise the day of small beginnings.” the prophet said (Zechariah 4:10). Don’t you worry if things start small in your own life. Don’t let that be any limitation in your thinking. I have been faithful to preach a word which I believe is foundational to the Kingdom, and right now, throughout the Walk, there are probably fifty men who also are becoming fountains of the Living Word. This pattern will continue and even increase.
This Walk started as a very small move, while all around us great movements were coming along. Throughout the years, the word has been so precious that it seems difficult to understand why we have not attracted people by the thousands. There is only one reason: this is not what people want to hear until God reveals it to their hearts. Who is going to come into a Walk like this, when it brings such drastic dealings of the Lord upon you? He says, “I love you,” and then He starts chastening and disciplining you. Most people don’t have the wisdom to perceive that they will progress and change more rapidly—with no boundaries or limitations to the extent of their growth—in this Walk, than in anything that God has ever done. How rapidly the people change! The quality of spiritual life that we find in many young people, who have only been walking with the Lord a short time, would have required a lifetime to produce elsewhere. There is a genuineness here, and just like a little seed, it is growing from a little handful.
I am not into advertising, and I said, “Lord, we’ll just preach your Word and let You lead us and bring in the people that should come.”
The parable of the leaven and the meal is found in verse 33: He spoke another parable to them; “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three pecks of meal, until it was all leavened.” This also is a parable of growth, indicating how the Kingdom comes. It shows that most of it is a hidden work. The Kingdom does not come with observation. We don’t say, “Our church is growing because last week we saw seven broken legs and ten broken arms healed. Demons were cast out, and other marvelous things happened: therefore we know that this Walk is real. Everyone believes because they saw the miracles before their eyes.”
We’ve seen days when people would see miracles before their eyes and at the next healing meeting, within six weeks, the same individuals were in line, waiting to be healed again from the same infirmity. Very little of it was really consistent and often it caused great difficulty. Perhaps there can be enough psychic and spiritual authority to remove a symptom for a while, but if the basic spiritual cause of it is not removed, it will come back and continue to harass. Then the individual’s faith is even worse off than at the beginning. He has struggled on and on and on, but what he needs is to have his spirit healed. If that is healed, God will take care of the physical infirmity.
The Walk does a hidden work, as we constantly deal with people’s spirits. We may be asked, “Where are your miracles?” to which we reply, “Look and see if you can find one who isn’t a miracle. These are the sons of the Kingdom and miracles are taking place. Oh, you want to see some hocus-pocus stuff? Sorry about that, but this little leaven is hidden in three pecks of flour. And it works silently until everything of the spirit, soul, and body is invaded.”
God will get to the body by and by, but first He starts with the spirit. If it were done on a physical level before the healing is done in your spirit or in your soul, the devil could lay the infirmity right back on you because the basic cause and the channel is still there with you. The Kingdom of God comes in a hidden work. so some of our people are not yet healed physically. That is not as essential as what the Lord is doing in their spirits. Suppose they do have to limp along in their present physical condition and infirmity for another ten years; within the next ten years we’ll be in the Kingdom, I believe, and then there will be healing and deliverance for everyone. God has to start now with a hidden work in the sons of the Kingdom, working away in their spirits. After He accomplishes it on the right basis, we will not lose the things that are wrought by God. I would rather it be a hidden work, deep and thorough, than something spectacular and shallow.
The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field; which a man found and hid; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field.” Verse 44. This parable indicates again what we have said over and over: This Walk and the Kingdom message have value only to those to whom it is revealed. It does not say that this man was looking for the treasure when he found it. He probably stumbled over it, lying there, covered with dirt. Then he bought the field. You’re in this Walk because it is revealed to you to be wonderful. And there is no point in your talking about it, and how wonderful it is, to anyone who has no revelation of the treasure, for to him it is just a dirty old field. He says, “We know about that field. There’s nothing but rocks in it. You can’t raise anything in that field, not even good cactus. Did you see all the scorpions out there? Stay away from that field; there’s nothing good about it. Ask any real estate agent and he’ll tell you that it is the poorest buy anywhere in this entire valley!”
“I’m still going to buy the field.”
“What are you going to pay for it?”
“Well, it’s going to cost me everything I have.”
“Oh, are you stupid!”
Only to the man who has found the treasure is the field a bargain. Only to the one who walks with God, and sees what this Walk is all about because God has revealed it to his heart, is it wonderful. Even though he must give all that he has, he considers it a bargain. The greatest bargain of this last millennium is the privilege of paying the price of discipleship to walk as a son of the Kingdom. The revelation of the Kingdom and the cost of discipleship are closely related. The next parable, that of the pearl of great value, speaks of this also.
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had, and bought it.” Verses 45–46. Someone from a denominational church may have a revelation of this Walk, but he doesn’t want to identify himself with us. He says, “That word is marvelous, I’ll get their literature, their manuals, their tapes, but I won’t identify myself with them. I don’t want any part of the persecution; I don’t want to pay any price. I’ll sneak back to my old-order church and preach it. They will think I have the greatest revelation, but I won’t tell them where I got it. I’ll have the greatest sermons, the greatest ministry.” When he does preach it, it splits his old-order church and doesn’t work at all, and he decides, “Ah, it’s not any good.” Revelation of this Walk is never any good until you pay for it. The revelation you have will be limited by your willingness to pay the price. Are you praying for more revelation? Good, I’ll pray that you will have more revelation. I’ll lay hands on you and say, “Lord, help him to pay a greater price.”
The seventh parable is found in verses 47–50. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a drag-net cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind; and when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach; and they sat down, and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away. So it will be at the end of the age.” The end of the age brings a separation much like the one described in the second parable about the tares and the wheat. It deals with the deep work of separation that God is bringing to His people. It is typical that this day of ecumenical unity, when everyone is trying to come together and be unified, would take place at the end of the age when God is concerned about the separation of the remnant from the rest. We hear the cry, “Unity, unity, let’s all strive for the unity!” Unity with what? That’s the big problem! Are you going to be united with Satan’s church, with the great whore Babylon, the mother of harlots? The cry of the last days is, “Come out from her and be separate, My people!” There’s a ministry of separation as well as a ministry of unity in the Body.
“The angels shall come forth, and take out the wicked from among the righteous (this explains what is meant in Matthew 24:41, the passage that is usually interpreted as rapture teaching: “Two will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left), and will cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Again we see the emphasis on separation. We are not to see how well we can adapt ourselves to this environment. I’m not a part of this world and I don’t have to be adjusted to it. Even though I may have to co-exist with it for a little while, I can live with a continual reproach and rejection of everything that is happening in this old dying age. I know how it’s going to end. I belong to another age and to that I’m going to adjust every way I can. I want to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.
God is beginning to bring the distinctions and the separations of the age. The church and the world used to be quite close together, with few distinctions. Some may have protested against certain movies, but most people tried to pay their bills and live good moral upstanding lives. In fact, some of the people who didn’t go to church could honestly say, “I’m just as good as my neighbor who goes to church every Sunday.” But now something else is happening and the distinctions will be very evident. Daniel prophesied, “The wicked shall do wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand (Daniel 12:10a); but they that will be righteous will shine as the stars” (Daniel 12:3). In the book of Malachi it was prophesied, “In that day you will distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve God. The distinctions will become greater and greater. Those who fear Him and think upon His name, He will count as His precious jewels. The others will be burned like chaff in the fire” (Malachi 3:16–4:1).
The world and the ungodly are becoming more worldly and more ungodly; in fact, it is very difficult to have any kind of relationship in the world today because the gulf is so wide between what God is doing for His remnant and what is happening in the world.
Professional people who have to work within the system that God is bringing down find it very difficult. They constantly have to exercise a carefulness. How can a good Christian be a salesman? He must find an honest article to sell at a fair price, and where is he going to find it? We should have special meetings in which we minister to our people who are in business to help them because they need all the strength and all the grace they can find. The time is on us right now when God is beginning to separate the good fish from the bad fish, and the bad fish will soon be evident.
Verses 51–53: “Have you understood all these things?” They said to Him, “Yes.” What a masterpiece of presumption! And He said, to them, “Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household, who brings forth out of his treasure things new and old.” And it came about that when Jesus had finished these parables, He departed from there.
The real disciple, the one who is doing the will of God, who is speaking the Word of the Lord in whatever capacity God has for him, has hurdled the boundaries of prior dispensations and the boundary lines of former ages and he brings forth old and new. He recognizes all the beautiful things because he is versed as a disciple of the Kingdom. He is a scribe who is well read. He recognizes what these things out of the old meant, and they are fresh and alive to him. These are the new things. When a man does not really have the revelation of the Kingdom, he is always searching for another revelation and many of these revelations are contradictory because he always wants to hear something new. Finally, he will discard it all and go back to the old-time religion.
In this Walk, we talk a great deal about grace and the mercy of God. We’re opposed to the legalism that lays restrictions upon people in the name of religion, but accomplishes no spiritual change of nature or heart within them. We feel that this Walk does not regulate your conduct; it does more than that: it changes the motivation of your whole life, way down within your spirit. Because we teach the grace of God, we’re not as worried about what people have been, as we are concerned about what God wants them to be, as we start helping them become that in the grace of God. We’ve seen grace in the Church age, but it was always tainted with the legalism. Although we have this beautiful teaching of grace, at the same time, we are governed by spiritual laws and principles that are very real to us and much more rigid than those observed by the very legalistic forms of Christianity. Theirs are on a very simple plane, quite different from ours.
It’s true, we are under grace, but we are aware that in the Kingdom, Christ will rule with a rod of iron (Revelation 2:27), not in the old legalistic sense for that has always failed. It is not possible to legislate people into righteousness. A thousand laws can be passed, but that isn’t going to make the country righteous. The Internal Revenue code gets longer every year. Because more people are trying to find loopholes and work around it, there must be more laws to plug up the loopholes, and still there are all kinds of loopholes. When you give people a law they try to find ways to get around it. But that will change when the King reigns in righteousness. Then the knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea (Habakkuk 2:14).
The Kingdom of God is bringing forth things old and things new out of the laws and principles of God that are eternal. Behold, I make all things new (Revelation 21:5). Isaiah wrote, “Don’t say you knew about it, because now I bring it forth and you’ve never heard about it before” (Isaiah 48:6–7). It’s old and it’s new. It’s marvelous, just as if God were taking all things that He was trying to bring forth in every age and is concentrating them for us to walk in—things old and new. Paul wrote in I Corinthians 10:11: “All of those things happened for our ensamples and are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come.”
I want to be a scribe who is versed in the Kingdom, who is a true disciple of the Kingdom. I want to be able to lead you back into the treasures of the Old Testament and past ages and make them so real, that you will walk in the covenants and promises of Abraham. I want to lead you on into the glories of the age to come. I want things old and things new to be real to you because this is the secret of the Kingdom of God.