Matthew 13:39

Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. See the comments at 13:24-30....

39._The harvest is the end of the world. _This is, no doubt, a very distressing consideration, that the Church is burdened with the reprobate to the very _end of the world; _but Christ enjoins on us to exercise patience till that time, that we may not deceive ourselves with a vain hope. Pastors ought to labor strenuously to purify the Church; and all the godly, so far as their respective callings enable them, ought to lend assistance in this matter; but when all shall have devoted their united exertions to the general advantage, they will not succeed in such a manner as to purify the Church entirely from every defilement. Let us therefore hold, that nothing was farther from the design of Christ than to encourage pollution by lending countenance to it. All that he intended was, to exhort those who believed in him not to lose courage, because they are under the necessity of retaining wicke...

31-35 The scope of the parable of the seed sown, is to show that the beginnings of the gospel would be small, but its latter end would greatly increase; in this way the work of grace in the heart, the kingdom of God within us, would be carried on. In the soul where grace truly is, it will grow really; though perhaps at first not to be discerned, it will at last come to great strength and usefulness. The preaching of the gospel works like leaven in the hearts of those who receive it. The leaven works certainly, so does the word, yet gradually. It works silently, and without being seen, Mark 4:26, yet strongly; without noise, for so is the way of the Spirit, but without fail. Thus it was in the world. The apostles, by preaching the gospel, hid a handful of leaven in the great mass of mankind. It was made powerful by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts, who works, and none can hinder. Thus it...

DECLARE UNTO US - That is, explain the meaning of the parable. This was done in so plain a manner as to render comment unnecessary. The Son of man, the Lord Jesus, sows the good seed - that is, preaches the gospel. This he did personally, and does now by his ministers, his providence, and his Spirit, by all the means of conveying “truth” to the mind. This seed was, by various means, to be carried over all the world. It was to be confined to no particular nation or people. The good seed was the children of the kingdom; that is, of the kingdom of God, or Christians. For these the Saviour toiled and died. They are the fruit of his labors. Yet amid them were wicked people; and all hypocrites and unbelievers in the church are the work of Satan. Yet they must remain together until the end, when they shall be separated, and the righteous saved and the wicked lost. The one shall shine clear as t...

EXPOSITION A few remarks by way of introduction to the characteristic portion of this chapter (Matthew 13:1). (1) We have here a collection of the Lord's parables, all spoken, as it would appear, at an early period in his ministry, descriptive of the principles of the kingdom of heaven as they make themselves felt in history, and of the way in which those who are brought into contact with the kingdom ought to act. As the chapter stands, it consists of three chief parts, which probably roughly correspond to three stages of development in its composition. (A) Matthew 13:1, also in Mark and Luke, except some characteristic enlargements in verses 10-17. The section contains the parable of the sower and its interpretation, together with a statemen

THE ENEMY THAT SOWED THEM IS THE DEVIL,.... He that is designed by the enemy, who sowed the tares in the field among the wheat, is no other than the devil; the enemy of Christ, of mankind in general, of God's elect in particular, and the accuser of the brethren; and his getting of hypocrites and heretics into churches, is no small proof of his implacable enmity to Christ and his interest; and shows what an adversary he is to the peace, comfort, and fruitfulness of the churches of Christ. THE HARVEST IS THE END OF THE WORLD; that which is meant by "the harvest", until which time wheat and tares, good and bad men, under a profession of religion, are to be together, is "the end of the world"; meaning either the day of wrath and vengeance upon the Jewish nation; when those that truly believed in Christ were separated from the rest, and that hypocritical generation of men were utterly destro...

Matthew 13:24. _Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:_ He knew that it was good. It had been tested: it was unmixed: it was good throughout. Matthew 13:25. _But while men slept his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way._ It was a very malicious action. The thing has been done many times. Bastard wheat was sown in among the true wheat, so as to injure the crop. Matthew 13:26. 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 go

DEVIL Satan. Greek, "diabolos", means "accuser". See note, (Matthew 16:23); (Genesis 3:1); (Revelation 20:10). (_ See Scofield) - (Revelation 20:10). _ ANGELS (_ See Scofield) - (Hebrews 1:4). _...

II. THE REJECTED KINGDOM AND THE REJECTED KING. CHAPTER S 13-28. 1. The King at the Seaside. The Mysteries of the Kingdom. CHAPTER 13 1. The King at the Seaside. (Matthew 13:1 .) 2. The Parable of the Sower. (Matthew 13:3 .) 3. The Question of the Disciples and His Answer. (Matthew 13:10 .) 4. The Parable of the Sower Explained. (Matthew 13:18 .) 5. The Parable of the Good Seed and the Tares. (Matthew 13:24 .) 6. The Parable of the Mustard Seed....

MATTHEW 13:24; MATTHEW 13:36. THE WHEAT AND THE TARES. Mt. only. The parable is a substitute for rather than an adaptation of Mark 4:26 *. We need not deny its genuineness on the plea that the standpoint is that of the Church with its mixed elements. The field is the world, not the Church. As in the parable of the seed growing secretly, the non-interference of man is illustrated. Only the great Assize can determine between good and bad. The genuineness of the explanation is more doubtful than in the case of the Sower, and may be an imitation of it. It is mechanical and conventionally apocalyptic. Matthew 13:31. The Mu