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One and the Same

19 Monday Jun 2023

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Hello and welcome-or welcome back-to Renaissance Woman where, this week, I continue looking at the Hebrew word sane (saw-nay) often translated by the English word “hate”. 

In last week’s post, I shared an article by Chaim Bentorah where he says a nineteenth Century Hebrew master and linguist named Samuel Hirsh applies the English word “rejection” to sane rather than hate.  A post on the Light of the World blog (linked below) says a closer translation of sane would be “turn aside”.  This post also points out the original Hebrew picture of the word sane shows us what Hate/Rejection/Turning Aside does, not how it feels as that picture is not one of an intense negative emotion.  This is a subject I’d like to explore in the upcoming weeks.  For the sake of this post, I want to share some thoughts I had as I considered the different ways to translate sane. 

I wasn’t sure “rejection” was thoroughly supported by the context of the passages in which sane appeared.  For example, Leah was “hated” but she was not “rejected” in the sense that Jacob had nothing to do with her.  On the contrary; Leah was obviously the recipient of Jacob’s attentions as she bore him children.  So, she was not “rejected” in the way I think of the word which is “to have nothing more to do with” but she did not have Jacob’s heart. 

I saw the same picture where scripture states God “hated” Esau.  I can see a bit more support for the idea of rejection in the story of Esau but there is a passage worth noting.  It is Deuteronomy 2:4-7 where God warns the Israelites to take care as they passed through the lands of the descendants of Esau saying He had given Mount Seir as their possession and not one bit of their land would be given away.  The Israelites were also admonished not to meddle with them in any way and to buy any food and drink that might prove necessary.  So, God “hated” Esau but did not utterly reject him in the sense that He had nothing more to do with him or his descendants.  However, Esau didn’t share in God’s heart the same way Jacob did. 

Since “rejection” didn’t sum up the meaning of sane for me, I looked it up on thesaurus.com hoping a list of synonyms might help fill in some of the gaps.  I was especially curious to see if “incompatible” was included in the list.  It was not but “cast aside” was.  This fascinated me and I was reminded of something I’d just read in Andrew Murray’s commentary on the Book of Hebrews.  He was speaking on Hebrews 12:1 which says, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us”.  Andrew Murray quotes the latter part of that passage and writes:

“One of the first thoughts connected with a race is the laying aside of everything that can hinder.  In the food he eats and the clothing he wears, how resolutely the runner puts aside everything, the most lawful and pleasant, that is not absolutely necessary to his success.  Sacrifice, self-denial, giving up, and laying aside is the very first requisite on the course.  Alas, it is this that has made the Christian life of our days the very opposite of running a race.  The great study is, both in our religious teaching and practical life, to find out how to make the best of both worlds, how to enjoy as much as possible of the wealth and the pleasure and the honor that the world offers.  With many Christians, if their conversions ever were an entering through a straight gate, their lives since never were, in any sense, a laying aside of everything that might hinder their spiritual growth.  They never heeded the word, “Whosever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33).  But this is what we are called to as indispensable: “lay(ing) aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily best us.”  Yes, laying aside every-sin-however little it seems, however much it be our special weakness; it may not be spared.  Sin must be laid aside if we are to run the race.  It is a race for holiness and perfection, for the will of God and His favor; how could we dream of running the race without laying aside the sin that so easily bests us?” (Murray, Page 493)

Andrew Murray had spoken on the idea of perfection in an earlier chapter where he was discussing Hebrews 11:39-40: “’That apart from us they should not be made perfect.’ He writes, “The better thing God has provided is perfection.  The word ‘perfect’, or forms of it, is used fourteen times in the epistle.  The law made nothing perfect.  Jesus Himself was, in His obedience and suffering, made perfect in His human nature, in His will and life and character, to us.  As the Son, perfected forevermore, He is our High Priest; having perfected us forever in His sacrifice, He now brings us, in the communication of that perfection, into real, inner, living contact with God.  And so, He is the Perfecter of our faith, and He makes us His perfect ones, who press on unto Perfection.  And our life on earth is meant to be the blessed experience that God perfects us in every good thing to do His will, working in us what is pleasing in His sight.  Apart from us, they might not be made perfect; to us, the blessing of some better thing, of being made perfect, has come.” (Murray, Page 489).

This idea, of running the race for holiness and perfection and that that perfection is ours in Jesus Christ, the Perfect One, is one that has stuck with me as I’ve sought to understand the meaning of sane.  The Hebrew letters comprising sane are the Shin (ש), the Nun (נ), and the Aleph (א).  The picture of the Shin is of teeth representing Sharp, to Eat, Devour, Destroy, Consume, like a fire, and is also representative of a process that repeats.  The Nun represents a seed, sperm, sprout, continuation, offspring, life, activity, and emergence.  The Aleph is a picture of an ox and represents strength, power, leader, master.  It is also the letter that represents God Himself and Unity with God. 

Thinking of sane as a devouring, consuming fire rooted in and springing from God, I am reminded of Hebrews 12:29: “our God is a consuming fire.”  I am also reminded of a passage in Romans 2 which, from The Message, is, “God is king, but he’s not soft.  In kindness he takes us firmly by the hand and leads us into a radical life-change.  You’re not getting by with anything.  Every refusal and avoidance of God adds fuel to the fire.  The day is coming when it’s going to blaze hot and high, God’s fiery and righteous judgment.  Make no mistake: In the end you get what’s coming to you-Real Life for those who work on God’s side, but to those who insist on getting their own way and take the path of least resistance, Fire!” (Verses 4-8, MSG). 

I recently conducted a study on the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares where I shared scriptures that spoke of each one of us being tried by the same fire.  The results of this testing were good or ill based on whether or not we were united to Christ.  I wonder if sane isn’t the same?  Again, the Light of the World blog pointed out the original Hebrew picture of sane shows us action rather than feeling.  Perhaps the same fire I welcome into every aspect of my life feels like rejection to someone who does not long to, or perhaps does not feel able to, know the heart of God.  Perhaps whether we experience the consuming fire of God as sane or ahab (love) is akin to the idea expressed by Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians: “For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.  To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death and to the other the aroma of life leading to life” (2 Cor.: 15-16.) Perhaps the fire of God is life to us pressing ever deeper into Him but rejection to those who are not.

It is something I will meditate on in the coming days and I hope this has been food for thought for each of you as well.  I will continue looking at sane next week.  Until then, let us each one go on unto perfection, that perfection that is Christ in us, our hope of glory.

Amen.

Unless noted otherwise, all Scriptures are quoted from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1982

Scripture notations marked MSG are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson.  Used by permission of NavPress.  All rights reserved.  Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

References

WORD STUDY – HATE – שׁנה | Chaim Bentorah

Hate (Sane), the Ancient Hebrew Meaning – Light of the World (wordpress.com)

Did God Really Hate Esau? – Israel Bible Weekly (israelbiblecenter.com)

Murray, Andrew, Holiest of All: A Commentary on the Book of Hebrews, Whitaker House, New Kensington, Pennsylvania, 1996, 2004

Peterson, Eugene H., The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language, NavPress, The Navigators, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 1993, 2002, 2018

A Vast Inheritance

29 Monday May 2023

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Welcome, Everyone, to this week’s new post on Renaissance Woman!

I had thought He Loves the World would be the last in my current study on the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares and would also serve as a good segue into my study on the Full Armor of God.  And yet, when I looked at my notes, I found I had more to say.  Therefore, this week I am continuing my look at the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares and Jesus’ explanation of the parable as found in the 13th Chapter of Matthew’s Gospel.

Last week I looked at the Greek word translated “world” in Jesus’ words: “The field is the world.”  That word is kosmos and I shared a few passages of scripture where the word kosmos occurs.  One such passage was 1 Corinthians 11:32 which says, “But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world (kosmos).”  The Apostle Paul is speaking specifically of the Lord’s Supper when he writes this but I do want to take a look at the ideas of judgment and condemnation within the context of other scriptures.

The main interpretations of the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares say the Wheat and Tares represent two different types of people who are being left alone to grow together-either within the church itself or the world-until some future day when the tares are gathered together to be burned in the furnace and the wheat is gathered into the barn.  Sometimes declared but always inferred is some far off day of judgment where unbelievers are condemned and believers receive their reward.  My biggest problem with this is that the Nowness of our day to day lives is utterly ignored. 

Let us consider John 3:18-21 which says, “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.  And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world (kosmos) and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.  For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.  But he who does the truth comes to the light that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

This is not a passage I have ever heard a sermon on nor do I hear it quoted by fellow believers.  The message is clear.  Those who do not believe are condemned already.  The words Jesus spoke were true for everyone who listened to Him then and they are true for us now.  And, we are not left to wonder what He meant by condemnation: “and this is the condemnation, that light has come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.”

There is an echo of this statement later in John’s Gospel in the record of Jesus’ conversation in the upper room before his betrayal and crucifixion.  Speaking of the Holy Spirit, He says, “And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged” (John 16:8-11).  There is a “not yet but in the immediate future” idea to these words of Jesus because the Spirit was not yet given because He had not been glorified (See John 7:39).  That future Jesus was referring to was NOW during the day of Pentecost.  Peter quotes the Prophet Joel in Acts 2 saying “I will pour out of My spirit on all flesh”.  The Spirit has been poured out, continues to be poured out, and the time to which Jesus was referring began then and continues into our now.  The Holy Spirit is here and now the very presence of God on the earth and He is convicting the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. 

Sin, righteousness, judgment, condemnation…all of these are concepts deserving of devoted studies.  The point I am attempting to stress is the truth of Now.  So much of what I see and hear coming out of Christendom pushes everything off until some far off future.  This is only possible because of the marginalization-and in some cases outright denial-of the active presence of the Holy Spirit in the newness of our lives.  There is a circulating doctrine that the activity of the Spirit has ceased.  Any gifts were merely to authenticate the ministry of the Apostles and, once the Bible was completed, there was no more any use for them or, indeed, the Holy Spirit Himself (See article linked below).  I suppose that is why the best some denominations have to offer is a promise that, if you believe in Jesus now; you get to go to heaven when you die.

Does the Bible really say that?  I haven’t been able to find a passage issuing me that promise.  What I have found is 1 John 5:10-12: “He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son.  And this is the testimony; that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.  He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”  This sounds like a Now promise to me: not one I have to wait until some far off second coming nor experience physical death before I can claim it.

There are also passages like 1 Peter 1:3-9 which says, ““Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.  In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious that gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love.  Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith-the salvation of your souls.” 

This passage-and others like it-do speak of a future date of perfection, fullness, receiving a body like His, the restitution of all things, an inheritance reserved in heaven, etc.  It’s obvious we don’t have everything promised now because how many of us are walking around in bodies that can’t die?  I do agree there is so much yet to come but that doesn’t mean we stagnate now.  We believers are not a group of thumb-twiddlers waiting for some far off day when ZAP! Fullness of God is ours.  Our inheritance might be reserved in heaven but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t already exist in its entirety and, I would point out, we are of One Spirit with Jesus Christ and we are seated with Him in Heavenly places.  Who is to say this inheritance is not ours now to appropriate and enjoy?

Jesus also says of the Holy Spirit that, when He comes, He will both “honor and glorify Me, because He will take of (receive, draw upon) what is Mine and will reveal (declare, disclose, transmit) it to you” (John 16:14, Amplified).  What is the “mine” that Jesus is speaking of? Let us read verse 15 also: “Everything the Father has is Mine.  That is what I meant when I said the He will take the things that are Mine and will reveal (declare, disclose, transmit) them to you” (Amplified).  Wow!  If that is true, and I would not dare call my Savior a liar, then just what are the limits to how we can live now?  What if there aren’t any?

You may be wondering how all of this relates to the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares and, to answer that, I need another post.

Until then, let us not be robbed of what is ours now but may the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation, in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, open the eyes of our understanding that we may know the hope if His calling, the riches of the glory of His inheritance in us, the Saints, and the exceeding greatness of His power towards us who believe.  May we understand that He is light and life.  In Him, we have eternal life and we have it right now.

To be continued…

References

Understanding Cessationism from a… | Zondervan Academic

Greek Tenses Explained – Ezra Project

Hellenistic Greek: Lesson 9: The First Aorist

The Comparative Study Bible, The Zondervan Corporation, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1984

Alive in the Fire

15 Monday May 2023

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Image by Adina Voicu from Pixabay

Hello and welcome to another post on Renaissance Woman!

This week I am continuing my study of the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares and Jesus’ explanation thereof.  The Parable is found in Matthew Chapter 13 verses 24-30 and the explanation is found in verses 36-43 of the same chapter.  There are two mainstream interpretations of both the parable and the explanation.  Both say the wheat and the tares represent believers and unbelievers, the end of the age is whenever Jesus comes again, the angels who reap the harvest are angelic beings, the believers are gathered into the barn which represents heaven, and the unbelievers are taken away to be burned which represents the eternal torment that awaits in hell.  The only respect in which these two interpretations differ is a belief as to where the wheat people and tare people are located.  One group say the wheat and the tares are the people within the Church.  They sit side by side with each other and it’s impossible to tell them apart until the time comes to reap the harvest.  The second group says the wheat people and tare people are believers and unbelievers in the world.

There is a third interpretation which is not as widely accepted.  I first came across it in an article by J. Preston Eby where he was quoting Dora Van Assen.  As I went looking, I found echoes of it in a few Bible Commentaries (there’s a link to Barclay’s Study Bible below) but there are very few lending this interpretation any weight.  Even so, the more I study this parable and Jesus’ explanation, it is the interpretation I believe is true.  The wheat and tares are not separate groups of people but are rather thoughts planted in our minds.  The good seed is sown by the Son of God and the bad seed sown by the Enemy.  Both grow together and come to fruition in the same field.  I have written in depth on this interpretation in previous studies so won’t repeat myself here but did want to share at least this much so you know where I’m coming from in this week’s post.

I do want to devote a post to the meaning of Jesus’ words “the field is the world” and why this statement is a major reason why I believe the seeds as thoughts rather than people interpretation is correct: I plan to do that next week.  I have already written posts on why I don’t think there is any reason to insist “the end of the age” Jesus speaks of in His interpretation has to be pushed into some far-off future.  I have also written on why there is also no need to think of the “angels” in this passage as heavenly beings when Jesus tells His followers many times to pray for laborers to go into the field and even calls His disciples reapers (See John 4:35-38).  In this week’s post, I want to show why there is no reason to think of the tares being burned in the furnace of fire as a symbol for eternal torment in hell.

For one thing, the Greek word translated as “eternal” or “everlasting”, as in “eternal life” or “everlasting fire” or “everlasting punishment” is aionios.  It is the adjective form of the word aion and doesn’t appear anywhere in this passage.  Aion does and the more accurate translations have the English word “age” as the translation for it: “the harvest is the end of the age (aion)” and “so it will be at the end of this age (aion).  The argument can be made that, because the terms “everlasting fire” do appear in passages like Matthew 18:8 and 25:41, it’s what Jesus meant in His explanation.  I agree: the word aionios is used to describe fire in these two passages.  It does not appear in the parable or the explanation of it. My argument is let us look at all of the many other passages describing “fire” before attempting to determine what Jesus meant in His explanation of the parable.  There are many mentions of “fire” in the New Testament and it is obvious none of these passages mean “fire” to be in any way negative.

John the Baptizer is speaking of Jesus and describes Him as the One who will “baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matthew 3:1, Luke 3:16).  Luke’s gospel records Jesus saying, “I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!” (Luke 12:49).  This cannot possibly be referencing eternal torment in hell because firstly, it is a fire that burns on the earth; and secondly, it is a fire that Jesus is excited about.  I cannot see the same Jesus who loved each one of us so deeply He chose the cross being thrilled with the idea of certain people burning in Hell for all eternity (see Hebrews 12:2).  No, these passages have to mean something else and I am convinced they are speaking of a fire which none of us is exempt from passing through.

The 9th Chapter of Mark is fascinating as a great deal happens in it.  Jesus is transfigured before Peter, James, and John, He casts out the mute spirit, makes His eye-opening statement about little children, and then speaks of the fire that will not be quenched.  Verse 49 is the last verse in the chapter and it begins with Jesus saying, “For everyone will be seasoned with fire, and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt.”

This same concept is found later in the New Testament.  Paul writes to the Corinthians that, “each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is.  If anyone’s work which he has built on it (the foundation of Jesus Christ, see verse 11) endures, he will receive a reward.  If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire” (Verses 13-15).  Revelation 21:8 says, “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

“That’s hell” some insist but I don’t see how the lake which burns with fire and brimstone can possibly be hell because both death and hell are cast into it as related in Revelation 20:14.  And, Revelation 21:8 says this lake which burns with fire and brimstone is the second death.  Revelation 2:11 records Jesus saying, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.  He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.”  There are great promises to the overcomers in these letters to the churches but, even so, they are not spared the second death which is later revealed to be the lake which burns with fire and brimstone.  Rather, they are not hurt by it.

Fire is used to describe God Himself.  Hebrews 12:29 states, “Our God is a consuming fire.”  Jesus’ eyes are described like a flame of fire in Revelation 1:14, 2:18, and 19:12.  Revelation 19:13 says “His name is called the Word of God” and Jeremiah 23:29 records God saying, “Is not My word like fire…”  Malachi 3:3 describes Jesus as the One who “is like a refiner’s fire and like launderers’ soap.  He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver.”  When the Holy Spirit was poured out He appeared as tongues of fire (Acts 2:3).  Oftentimes, when the New Testament is speaking of fire, it is speaking of the living fire that is the presence of God in our lives now testing, purifying, and refining each one of us.  His fire burns away the dross and we can say like Job that, “when He has tried me, I will come forth as gold” (Job 23:10).

There will, of course, be those who remain unconvinced.  That’s okay, it’s the Holy Spirit’s job to convince each one of us of the truth.  I do hope that I have shown there are enough passages of scripture that give reason to doubt the mainstream interpretation of this parable and its explanation.  Question whether the meaning you’ve been given is in fact true.  Look up the scriptures that speak of fire for yourself.  Dare to believe this parable is speaking of the Kingdom within us and that which burns is everything in us that is not of Him.  Dare to believe that the Bible we read is telling us the truth.  Believe that God made Jesus “who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).  Let us remember that the Chapters and verses were put in by the translators and, if we just read a bit further, we find Paul writing, “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2b).  Let us realize that now is when “as he is so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17).  Let us dare to believe that we don’t have to wait for some far off future date but, even as the fire of His life burns in us now, we are the righteous who will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of our Father (Matthew 13:43).

Behold, we are the light of the world! (Matthew 5:14). 

Hallelujah!  Hallelujah!  Amen!

Unless noted otherwise, all Scriptures are quoted from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1982

References

Matthew 13 – Barclay’s Daily Study Bible – Bible Commentaries – StudyLight.org

KINGDOM BIBLE STUDIES: THE FIRSTFRUITS, THE HARVEST, AND THE VINTAGE by J. Preston Eby (godfire.net)

Strong, James, LL,D., S.T.D., The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1990

Times of Harvest

01 Monday May 2023

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Image by Gerald Friedrich from Pixabay

Hello and welcome-or welcome back-to Renaissance Woman where, this week, I continue to look at the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares.

This parable is found in Matthew 13:24-30.  This same chapter of Matthew records Jesus giving an explanation of the parable in verses 37-43.  I asked several questions in last week’s post and the one I am focusing on this week is what did Jesus mean when He said the harvest is at the end of the age?  There are two main interpretations of this parable in Christian circles and both say the “end of the age” as recorded in verse 39 is referencing a future date when Jesus returns and His angels reap.  I disagree.  For one thing, I don’t agree the wheat and the tares are referring to two different types of people because there is no possibility of conversion between wheat and tare: one cannot become the other.  Knowing this, it makes no sense that the call made by both Jesus and John the Baptist is “Metanoia!” which means “Think differently!” or “Change your mind!”.  I agree with the interpretation of this parable by Dora Van Assen shared by J. Preston Eby in his The Firstfruits, The Harvest, and the Vintage article which I have linked below.

Ms. Van Assen points out that the wheat and the tares did not convert one another and then says she “saw this was not a parable on soul-saving, nor was it an exhortation to scare the heathen or sinning Christians in the church into a conversion, but it was a parable dealing with the inner thought life of the believer himself.”  She goes on to say that the context of the parable shows that Jesus was uttering things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world (Mat. 13:35) and then says she believes this parable is a picture of what happened in the Garden of Eden.  God created mankind and said they were very good but then the enemy enters the garden and sows seeds of the Lie in the minds of our ancestors.  The owner of the field does not allow the bad seed to be yanked out of the ground but rather lets both grow together in the same field, lest the good seed be damaged and the fruit of it lost.  Thus was and has been the state of the carnal mind throughout the generations. Ms. Van Assen says, “The harvest reveals what sort of seed was planted in our earth, and how they have matured in areas of our lives.  Only the mature know the difference!  And only by harvest conditions can the Lord bring the separation.” 

Mr. Eby is quoting Ms. Van Assen’s interpretation within the context of Revelation 14:15-16 and says, “When the Son of man as the crowned Reaper sends His sickle into the earth, all things will have come to full maturity.  The age has witnessed the sowing and growth and development of the Son of man, and also the sowing of the adversary, and there has been no conclusive divine dealing on earth to make manifest the judgment of God as to what has resulted.  But the harvest is the end of the age!”

What Mr. Eby is saying here makes perfect sense because who can deny there doesn’t appear to have been any sort of definitive harvest.  History records great and terrible evils done since Jesus’ birth, death, resurrection, and ascension so it follows that the “end of the age” in Matthew 13:39 is referring to some future date.  However, I have found there is enough evidence that the “end of the age” in this passage is referring to the age that ended with Jesus’ death, resurrection, ascension, and the giving of the Holy Spirit.  There are two passages in the book of Hebrews that come to mind. The first is Hebrews 1:1-2 which states, “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds.”

The Greek word translated as “worlds” in this passage is aion (G165) and means “an age.”  This is a complicated word in the way it has been translated throughout the Bible and is one of the reasons why I suggest everyone who wants to understand what the Bible is really saying get an Interlinear Bible.  The word appears in Jesus’ interpretation of the wheat and tares parable in Matthew 13.  I am going to quote verses 38-40 from the King James Version and include the Greek words for every English occurrence of the word “world”.

“The field is the world (kosmos); the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; the enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world (aion); and the reapers are the angels.  As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world (aion).”  Reading this in the King James, I can understand why the major interpretations of this parable say this is speaking about a future date when the world is brought to an end because it is obvious the world has not ended.  Other Bible translations have tried to do a better job: the NKJV, Amplified, New American Standard and New International versions all have “age” as a translation for aion but I haven’t seen that these more accurate translations have had much effect on how this parable has been interpreted.

The truth is something much deeper.  My second scripture from the book of Hebrews is 9:26 which states, “…but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.”  The Scriptures are clear.  The coming of Jesus in human flesh, His life here on earth, His death, His resurrection, His ascension, and the pouring out of His Spirit at Pentecost all heralded the end and consummation of the ages.  There is no reason to think either the parable of the wheat and the tares or the explanation given is describing a state that is continuing on until some future date.

All four gospels record Jesus mentioning the harvest as being ready, ripe, plentiful, and immediate.  Matthew 9:35-38 records Jesus saying to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.  Therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”  John 4:35 says, “Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!” Luke 10:2 says, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”  Mark 4:29 speaks of the ripe harvest within the context of a different parable but says, “…the harvest has come.”

The Book of Acts records times of great harvest.  One the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out on those gathered together, “Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them” (Acts 2:41).  Acts 4:4 record the number of those who believed coming to be about five thousand.

I believe the scripture record is clear: Jesus was manifested in the consummation of the ages.  There was a great harvest recorded in the book of Acts and I don’t deny there is something greater coming.  “For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God” (Romans 8:19).  I do expect something incredible at the end of this age and I don’t quibble with it being referred to as a harvest.  What I do quibble with is the idea that there is only one harvest and it has yet to happen.

If the “harvest at the end of the age” mentioned in Matthew 13:39 is indeed some far off future date then there is no hope for the Christian life except stagnation.  If the wheat and tares representative of thoughts sown in the fields of our hearts and minds, then they both are growing together and there is nothing to be done about it until that far off future date.  I don’t see this is the message of the New Testament.  We are to be “transformed through the renewing of our minds” (Romans 12:2).  We are to grow up into the Head, that is Christ (Ephesians 4:15).  We are transformed from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18).  Jesus told his disciples His Father was honored and glorified when they produced much fruit (John 15:8).  He also said the branch that abides in Him would bear much fruit and that every branch that bore fruit would be pruned that it would bear more fruit (See John 15:1-2).       

 In 1 Corinthians 10:11, Paul describes us as the people “on whom the end of the ages (aion) has come”.  Jesus was manifested at the consummation of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself but not only to put away sin: He came so that we would have life and that more abundantly (John 10:10).  One of the names of Jesus given in Isaiah 9:6 is “everlasting Father”.  That would be better translated “Father of the Ages” and, again, Hebrews 1:2 states Jesus is the one through whom God made the aions.  Ephesians 1:9-11 states the mystery of the will of God is that in the fullness of time all things are to be consummated in Christ and that we have obtained an inheritance in Him.

In Christ.  All things were created through Him and for Him, He is before all things and in Him all things consist (Colossians 1:16-17).  We believers know that we abide in Him and He in us because of the Holy Spirit (1 John 4:13).  This is the truth now.  We experience time in a linear fashion and so it is easy to look at our daily lives and think we must continue on as we are until some far off future date.  We don’t.  We are in Christ.  Our lives bear fruit now.  The harvest was not some one-time thing in the first days of the early church nor is it something reserved for some far off future.  Every age, past present and future, has its consummation in Christ.

There is still so much to be gleaned from this parable and so I plan to continue studying it next week.  Until then, may the eyes of our understanding continued to be enlightened that we see we are in Christ and it is no longer we who live but Christ who lives in us.  He is the one who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, and will also supply and multiply the seed we have sown and will increase the fruits of our righteousness (2 Corinthians 9:10).

Amen

References

Kindgdom Bible Studies Revelation Series (kingdombiblestudies.org)

The Comparative Study Bible, The Zondervan Corporation, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1984

Green, Jay P. Sr., The Interlinear Bible, Volume 4, Authors For Christ, Inc., Lafayette, Indiana, 1976, 1985

Strong, James, LL,D., S.T.D., The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1990

Fruit of the Mind

24 Monday Apr 2023

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Hello and welcome-or welcome back-to Renaissance Woman!

This week I am continuing to look at the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares found in Matthew Chapter 13 verses 24-30.  There are two interpretations of this parable I find taught in Christian circles.  Both interpretations say the tares and the wheat represent two types of people-believers and unbelievers-and that it is impossible to tell which is which until the harvest is ready and the angels come to reap.  Then the believers will “be gathered into the barn” meaning go to heaven and the unbelievers will “gathered together to be burned” meaning everlasting torment in hell.  The only difference in these two interpretations are some say the wheat and the tares sit together in church and others say no, the wheat and the tares grow together in the world.

There is a third interpretation which I’ve shared in my previous two posts.  I do encourage going back and reading them before continuing on in order to better understand what I am going to say in this post.  I found the third interpretation in J. Preston Eby’s From the Candlestick to the Throne study series # 173 The Firstfruits, the Harvest, and the Vintage.  In a nutshell, this third interpretation suggests the parable is referring to the inner thought life of the believer. 

The woman quoted by Mr. Eby is named Dora Van Assen and her interpretation doesn’t start with the parable of the wheat and the tares.  She begins with the wheat and the chaff from Matthew 3:12 and the entire quote is worth reading.  I’ve linked the article below.  Regarding the wheat and the tares and the interpretation Jesus Himself gives in Matthew 13:36-43, Ms. Van Assen writes:

“The Holy Spirit deals with men in their minds and thoughts, and Satan can only attack man in his mind, giving false ideas and imaginations.  These thought-pictures are often called ‘brain children.’ And these determine what manner of man a man is!  These thought-pictures can be either good or bad, spiritual or carnal.  Paul exhorts us to ‘cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ’ (II Cor. 10:5).

“Bringing this parable down to us personally, we find that our own mind is the field in which are planted both good and evil.  The children or offspring of the kingdom, and the children or offspring of the wicked one, are a mixture of both good and evil, flesh and spirit, growing up together within us until the harvest, which is the time of separation.  The tares are somewhat different than the chaff in that that the chaff is part of the wheat; however the tares are not part of the wheat but a foreign implantation made to appear as wheat.  The harvest reveals what sort of seed was planted in our earth, and how they have matured in areas of our lives.  Only the mature know the difference!  And only by harvest conditions can the Lord bring the separation!”

 I am inclined to accept this third interpretation for a variety of reasons.  The first is because of the words of Jesus Himself.  Matthew’s gospel relates Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness and, after He had triumphed, how he began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Jonathan Mitchell’s New Testament has this verse as: “From that time on, Jesus began to be repeatedly making loud public proclamations (performing as a herald), and to be continually saying, “You folks be progressively changing your thinking (change your frame of mind, mode of thought, perceptions, understanding and state of consciousness, and then turn your focus to [Yahweh]) because the sovereign reign, dominion and activity of exercising the sovereignty of the heavens (or; kingdom from the skies and the atmospheres) has drawn hear and now continues being at hand is close enough to touch (=has arrived and is now accessible).”

The Greek word for “at hand” in this passage is engiken (ἤγγικεν)and “is the 3rd person single form of the verb eggus which means “near, close (of a place or a condition), nigh or at hand (of a time), nearly (of numbers), akin to (of relationships).”  Its tense is perfect (which indicates a present-tense report of an action that has been completed but has effects in the now; like: ‘he has done’), its voice is active (which indicates that the subject performs the action instead of receives it) and its mood is indicative (which describes a situation that actually is-as opposed to a situation that might be, is wished for, or is commanded to be).” (abirampublications.com).

How we think of the Kingdom of Heaven is important.  Do we think of it as it is revealed to us in the tense of the Greek, as something close enough to touch, complete and available to us now?  Or do we think of it as something reserved for some future date?  This is an important factor in understanding both the parable of the wheat and the tares and Jesus’ interpretation of it.  Matthew 13:39 says “the harvest is the end of the age.”  The two main interpretations of this parable say that “end of the age” is a future date and most likely references the Second Coming.

That interpretation discounts the First Coming.  With the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, an age drew to a close.  With the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, a new age was inaugurated: that of the New Covenant ministered to us and in us by the Indwelling Holy Spirit.  What if that was the “end of the age” Jesus meant? What could it mean for us as believers?  For one thing, we can pray “Thy Kingdom Come” with the assurance that, since the Kingdom is near, completed, having effects in the now, our prayer is answered now.  We can expect His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven now.    

“The Kingdom of heaven is like…” wheat and tares sown in the same field.  It is important to remember the tares never become wheat and the wheat never become tares.  Conversion one to the other is not possible.  The call of both John the Baptist and Jesus was “Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”  Repent is not perhaps the best translation of the Greek word which is metanoia and it means “think differently”.  Think Differently! For the Kingdom of Heaven is available to you now!  It is clear to me the expectation is that we humans can change our minds and think differently.  I cannot accept that Jesus called for humankind to “think differently” without the expectation we were capable of doing so.  I do not believe Jesus ever considered any person a tare, incapable of changing his or her mind, and fit only for the fire.

So then, if the wheat and tares are not symbolic of two groups of people but are rather symbolic of thoughts coming to fruition in the field of our hearts and minds, doesn’t that suggest a duality of mind?  Is there no hope for us but to think both carnally and spiritually until Jesus returns?  I would say yes, if the “end of the age” did mean some date in the future.  If it did not, if Jesus was referring to when He accomplished His work and inaugurated in a New Age, then it ought to be possible to have the fields of our hearts and minds sown only with good seed.

Does the Bible support this possibility?  That is something I will continue to look at next week.

Until then, I leave you with 2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”  Something well worth thinking about.

Unless noted otherwise, all Scriptures are quoted from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1982

References

Kindgdom Bible Studies Revelation Series (kingdombiblestudies.org)

Matthew 13 – Barclay’s Daily Study Bible – Bible Commentaries – StudyLight.org

εγγυς | Abarim Publications Theological Dictionary (New Testament Greek) (abarim-publications.com)

Green, Jay P. Sr., The Interlinear Bible, Volume 4, Authors For Christ, Inc., Lafayette, Indiana, 1976, 1985

Mitchell, Jonathan, The New Testament, Harper Brown Publishing, 2019

Strong, James, LL,D., S.T.D., The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1990