While Men Slept

Matthew 13:24-28

Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this...

 

This is a most intriguing parable, with volumes to teach us. His enemy waited until the "men slept." The men that slept were obviously the ones who were entrusted with the care of the field. But they slept, so his "enemy came."

Who the enemy was and what he sowed is explained by our Lord a dozen verses later, but what is presently concerning us here is that "while men slept, his enemy came." Jesus is not giving a lesson on horticulture. He is telling the parable because His ministry was being rejected! That's right! "While men slept His enemy came and sowed tares." The men "that slept" were the ones that were originally charged with watching the field, the religious leaders, the scribes and the doctors of the law.

Many Church goers think that the purpose of Jesus Christ's ministry was to establish the Christian Church as we have it today. This is not true. He came rather to bring salvation to His own nation, Israel. When sending out His twelve disciples, He specifically instructed them to "Go not into the way of the gentiles..." (Matthew 10:5), "But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." His ministry was an attempt to get His nation of Israel to "repent" (Matthew 4:17) not to start an entirely different religion called "Christianity!"

Over the centuries, the men who were laden with the responsibility of preparing Israel for the coming of their Messiah were failing miserably at the task. So much so that when the magi (or wise men) from the east came, saying, "Where is He that is born King of the Jews?" all Jerusalem was troubled. They had not a clue as to the age that was dawning upon them. The religious and political leaders of the day had not been looking for "His star" even though the same night sky visible to the magi was also visible to them. If they would have kept the ancient teachings of Daniel and others, how the stars reveal the handiwork of GOD, perhaps they too could have followed His star. But they had not! Counting the traditions of men of greater importance than their Creator's purposes, they were unaware of GOD's redemptive plan for Israel, which had been revealed in the heavens. The ministry of their Messiah caught practically all of the religious leadership in Israel unaware.

Perhaps this is why mid way through Jesus Christ's ministry He went into the "parable mode." No more Sermons on the Mount, no more "gracious words" in the synagogues. Now He focused His teaching in parables. Beginning in chapter 13 of Matthew, He teaches on eight different parables, one after another.

Jesus started with the one about a sower and his seed, which speaks of the four different responses to the Word. First, those that hear but just don't understand. Second, those that hear and receive it with joy, but when persecution comes, they split. Thirdly are those that receive the Word amongst the concerns of this world, and the Word becomes unfruitful. And lastly are those few that hear the Word and understand it and it bears fruit.

It is nearly always the case that the few, the election within an election are the ones that "get it." The rest are either knowingly or unknowingly working against the few. This is the repeated theme of Jesus Christ's ministry. Most didn't have a clue as to what He was all about while many of the rest were only "fare weather friends" and when pressures mounted, they vanished (John 6:66). Others were too comfortable in the easy chair they had settled into, never becoming serious about whether Jesus Christ was the Messiah or not. With man's continual unbelief, it is only because of GOD's infiniteness that HIS purposes are ever accomplished.

Perhaps one of the reasons they didn't believe Jesus to be the Messiah was because He wasn't what they expected. The Judeans readily accepted the idea that their Messiah would come in His glory, defeat the occupying army of Rome and set up an eternal kingdom similar in majesty to David's. That Messiah they understood well. It was their Messiah's sufferings that they wrestled with. Many of them just could not accept that this "King of Kings" would be as horribly abused as the Old Testament prophets had foretold.

One solution to their problem was to believe that there would be two Messiahs, one to suffer and one to reign. We think this is why John the Baptist, while in prison, sent two of his disciples to ask Jesus;

Art thou he that should come, or do we look for "another"

(heteros, a different one)?

Even many of Jesus' disciples believed in Him as a victor, but they couldn't bring themselves to believe in Him as broken. This is why they were in such disarray when He was taken captive and crucified. Judas Iscariot had wrongly expected his betrayal of Jesus would force the Lord into a military confrontation with the Romans. When it didn't, he was so overwhelmed with grief that he went out and impaled or hung himself upon his sword (Matthew 27:3).

This common ignorance of the Messiah of the Scriptures is why Jesus had to reprove the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. When asked why they were so sad, they said because "the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to...death...but we trusted that it should have been He, which should have redeemed Israel. Jesus' response;

Luke 24:25 ,26

...O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?

They all too well understood His glory, but of His suffering they were totally ignorant. It is imperative that we know, understand and believe all that Jesus was, not only as Savior and Redeemer, but also as Lord of Lords and King of Kings. He is more then just some ghastly figured nailed to a cross on a stick the Pope carries around. He is risen and anxiously awaiting His return, when the day will arrive to finally knock some heads together.

Paul preached in Antioch a dozen years after Christ's ministry that the very reason "they that dwell at Jerusalem and their rulers" sought to have Jesus crucified was because "they knew Him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day" (Acts 13:27)! How little have things changed?! They still gather in the so called "house of the Lord" to worship, yet they still know Him not! The truth of who the Jesus of the Scriptures is, is so far removed from what is commonly thought of Him today, it is like they are worshipping a totally different person, a heteros.

Right after Jesus' visit from the two disciples of John the Baptist and their question about looking for another, an heteros, He begins to speak very harshly of the cities wherein "most of His mighty works were done," because "they repented not!" He makes the amazing statement that had the ancient cities of Tyre and Sidon experienced what Chorazin and Bethsaida just had by His ministry, they would have "repented long ago." If the ancient city of Sodom, which was destroyed by fire because its sin was very grievous, had seen what Capernaum had just seen, it would "remain until this day." With all the mighty works Jesus had done in these cities of the so-called Holy Land, they "repented not." They had in essence, rejected their Messiah.

Certain of the scribes and Pharisees had asked Him for a sign, as we hear many think they need today. His response was that "an evil...generation seeketh after a sign." He told them that the only sign they would be given was that of the prophet Jonas (Jonah). For as that prophet was in the whales belly three days and three nights "so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matthew 12:40).

Somehow the Church today must use a different math for they have Him in the grave from Good Friday afternoon till early Easter Sunday morning, less then two full days. Perhaps "the thief" (of John 10:10) stole a day while some other men were sleeping?

He then further reproves these proud Judeans by telling them that the men of the Gentile city of Nineveh shall set in judgment of His generation because the Ninevites repented at Jonah's preaching, and a greater then Jonah was there. Also that the Gentile Queen of the south would set in judgment of that generation, because she came from a distant land to hear Solomon, and a greater than Solomon was there. In other words, they neither repented as did the Ninevites nor even wanted to hear, as did the Queen of the South.  They had rejected Him as a Prophet (Luke 4:29), they were rejecting Him as a Priest (Matthew 12:1-14) and they are going to reject Him as King (John 19:15).

Notice that it was Jonah's preaching and the hearing of Solomon that enabled both the Ninevites and the Queen of the South to judge that generation. It was not faithful attendance at Church or even good works that made them worthy. It was the hearing and believing of the Word.

I've heard people say that they would more readily believe the things of GOD if Jesus would come back and do some miracle today. I wonder if they really would. If His own countrymen rejected him as He did "many mighty works among them," what is so different today that would cause men to finally believe?

It's obvious that His own family even rejected Him. Yes, most definitely His brethren (John 7:5) and possibly even His own mother rejected Him.  After teaching that "a man's foes (echthros, enemies) shall be they of his own household" (Matthew 10:36) Jesus received word that His mother and brethren were outside wanting to speak with Him. His response is astounding;

Matthew 12:48-50

But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.

At every opportunity He emphasized the importance of hearing and believing the Word, not who your family is or in what Church you congregate.

Luke 11:27-28

And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked. But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.

Rather then affirming that His mother was blessed, He said that these that hear the Word and believe it are blessed. These sayings also suggest that His own family didn't believe Him. In Mark 3:21 it is written that "His kinsmen...went out to lay hold on Him for they said, 'He is beside Himself'."

He was rejected because they were expecting a Messiah totally different than what He turned out to be. He was not living up to their expectations as another King David, someone who would liberate them from the legions of Roman soldiers. They did "err, not knowing the scriptures..."

Israel had not learned what to expect in their redeemer. While men had slept, the enemy had came and sowed tares. When Jesus does return someday I wonder if He will be what men expect this time? Are we, as a collective Body of believers so much more in tune with the Scriptures today then they were then, when "the Word was made flesh and dwelt among" them? How many different interpretations of the Book are there on your street corners? Seems there are more every year, all claiming they are the 1^st Church or 1^st Assembly or 1^st Congregation of this or that. Will we somehow avoid the deep sleep that the Israelites failed to wake up from? Are not the same tares choking the same good seed, in the same field?

Who is Jesus Christ talking about when He declares;

Matthew 7:22,23

Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

I guarantee you that He was talking about someone. Someone will be thinking they are prophesying in His name but are not. Someone will be thinking that they are casting out devils in His name but are not. Someone will be thinking that they are doing many wonderful works in His name but are not.

We today could learn a valuable lesson from Jesus Christ's reproof of His generation. How foolish of us to think we are right, just because others in our camp agree with us. Don't be lulled into thinking that a consensus implies accuracy. Actually the truth is all the other way. The more the heard moves together, the more sure it is they are wandering aimlessly.

Later on in this paper there will be time to note the important details of "to whom" Christ was talking here, of the different administrations throughout the Bible and of "rightly dividing the word of truth." Now we concern ourselves with a principle, this one being that there is an enemy, and he works "while men sleep." That many of the details we have been taught about our Lord may very well be cloaked in error, regardless from whom we have learned them. That to practice thinking that is un-scriptural or even non-scriptural is a very slippery path upon which to venture.

2 Thessalonians 2:8-11

And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

"With all power and signs and lying wonders...because they received not the love of the truth." To love the truth you must hate the lie! If it doesn't matter to you how many days Jesus was in the tomb, or even in what season He was born (definitely not December) you will never care to know that His Second Coming is for the same people (i.e., Israel) as was His first coming. Until that day arrives, you will not concern yourself with the difference between His appearing (epiphaneia) with us in this age and His return (parousia) for Israel in a later age. You will care not that common Christian phrases like "Trinity" or "Rapture" upon which complex theologies are contrived are simply not in the Book.

Without the love of the truth, you will think it important that we just all "get along." That as long as we are all going in the same direction, lets not squabble over petty differences about what the Scripture says. What difference does it make if we don't all believe the same things as long as we all believe in the same God? And that is the all-important point! That is the point upon which it all turns! How can we all believe in the same GOD, the one and only GOD, if we believe many conflicting things about HIM? It is crucial that we question everything we have been taught about the Kingdom of GOD and only believe those things we can be assured of from HIS Word.

Luke 6:22,23

Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.

In "like manner did their fathers unto the prophets!" As it has always been, so it is today. These times may be very different from ancient times but it is the same enemy that sows, the same "spiritual wickedness in high places," the same "Serpent." The original lie sowed by the enemy was the question, "hath GOD said?" GOD had said! GOD had plainly said, "Thou shalt surely die!" Eve considered the lie, gave forth her interpretation of what GOD had meant and the truth was plowed under.

It is worthy to note here that the secret of the enemy's success is the secrecy of his moves. As long as he can clothe himself in religious garb, fools will chase after him. "In vain is the net spread in the site of any bird," (Proverbs 1:17) which means that the sight of the net does not deter the bird from its capture or death. We are reminded of the analogy Jesus made of "wolves in sheep's clothing"

Matthew 7:15

Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

What better way to overcome than by deceit! If you can convince your enemy that you are his friend, you have a far greater chance of overcoming him. Of course to deceive Christians requires that you dress and act in a way that will cause them to view you with trust, "Wolves in sheep's clothing," as "false brethren" "having a form of godliness."

In addition you must get rid of any standard whereby one can measure truth. For centuries the Roman Catholic Church did this by simply forbidding all but the chosen priests to read the Word of GOD, with only the Pope interpreting it. Later, the Protestants did it by watering down the Word with their many interpretations, versions and editions. Finally the present day Christians rid themselves of this divisive Book with great help from "profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called." They no longer argue whether or not the Bible is truth. It is almost universally agreed it is not! They only argue whether or not it can contribute in a historical sense to their pre-concluded ideas.

On this side of the ages, it is truly hard to understand how the people of the gospel period could have failed to accept Jesus Christ for what He said He was. The answer, as simple as it is, can be summed up in just two words, deceit and enlightenment. Those who are deceived will be just that. They will believe Jesus Christ to be what their Congregation, synagogue or particular camp declares Him to be.

Those who are enlightened will never understand how the others cannot see what is so plainly written in the Book. They may both read from the same Book but one reads with his eyes open, the other reads with his eyes shut. The latter reads to prove his ideas, the former reads to learn his ideas.

The great apostle for our time is without question the Apostle Paul. He turned from being totally deceived in his pursuit and persecution of the believers to being the one man entrusted by GOD with the "all truth" which had been kept secret, a great mystery, even from before the foundations of the world. In chapter one of the epistle to the Galatians he recounts his conversion and early years in the ministry. In verse 11 and 12 he makes it plain that he did not learn the gospel from the heads of his denomination, "For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ." After his conversion, he did not join himself to his local Church to learn "Church Doctrine." Rather, he went away into Arabia.

It is in this same epistle to the Galatians where we learn that Paul "withstood Peter to the face" because when certain came from James, Peter separated himself from the Gentiles. Why? Because he feared what James' people would think. Amazingly, this great man of GOD who stood boldly against the political and religious rulers now is fearful of Jesus' brother James. James had by now wrestled leadership of the Church away from Peter, and along with the "thousands...zealous of the law" he was moving the believers further from the truth.

If Paul had been of their own school, I wonder if he would have been able to recognize and confront their error. For him to take such a stand against men, whom Jesus Christ originally chose as Apostles during a time when Paul was on the other side plotting their demise, is quite astounding. After all, Peter and John were the ones who walked with Jesus, not Paul. He came along much later, "as one born out of due time."

We have a temptation to be intimidated by our religious leaders and their impressive schooling. No need! If the enemy is going to be successful, he must remain secretive and what better way then to subvert the pulpit? Jesus Christ revealed the wizard behind the curtain by declaring "an enemy hath done this!" We would do well to always hold the established order suspect. It's not the drunken unbeliever at the tavern where the enemy finds his success. Nor is it the nut that kills a bunch of people in some Church gathering. The success of the enemy is found in the halls of power, from the Vatican to the White House. He has worked in those kinds of places for thousands of years and he knows his way around them all to well.

Be not deceived, there is an enemy who sows tares among the wheat. Just as surely as there are the children of the kingdom, there also are the children of the enemy.

1 John 3:10

In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil...

This explains why some of the doctrines we find the Church teaching are so far removed from anything we read in our Bibles. It is because they are the work of the enemy, sown in the field centuries ago, but rarely questioned by the masses. One generation teaches them and the next generation just accepts the teaching.

Reminds me of the story about the lady who always cut the ends of her ham off before she put it in the oven to bake. Her husband asked her one-day why she always cut the ends of her ham off. She replied that it was because that was the way her mother did it. "Why?" Was her husband's query. So they called her mother and asked, "Mom, why did you always cut the ends of your ham off before you baked it?" She answered that it was because that's the way her mother did it. "But why?" asked the husband again. So they called grandma and asked her why she always cut the ends of her ham off before she baked it. She answered, that she cut the ends of her ham off before she baked it because her pan was too short.

Have you ever seriously asked yourself why you believe as you do about GOD. Your answer will reveal a lot about the depth of your relationship with your Creator.