Matthew 13:36-43 Jesus Explains the Parable of the Two Seeds

Jesus has left the crowd He was teaching. He and His disciples have retreated into the house. I wonder how hard it is for Jesus to leave the crowds. Just thinking about it reminds me of someone being mobbed by reporters. There is always one more question. One more person who wants a minute more of the interviewee’s time. I don’t know how He did it. I know Jesus has patients with all of us now but what was it like then? I know He had patients then too, but was there ever an end to “one more question” or “one more healing?” No wonder He sent the disciples out to minister too. Otherwise He would have been constantly exhausted. Yes, He was God, but He was also human and had to live within those limitations.

Sorry, got sidetracked. Back to today’s point. Once inside the house, His disciples had “one more question.” You were so patient Jesus. You didn’t even let out a frustrated remark (or not one that Matthew recorded anyway) when asked to explain the parable. I wonder why Jesus’ disciples didn’t ask for all the other parables to be explained too. That would have come in handy yesterday. Again, I digress.

Jesus willingly shared the meaning of the parable of the “weeds of the field” (verse 36). Jesus says He is the sower in this story and the good seed is “the sons of the Kingdom” (verse 38). The bad seed, or weeds are the “sons of the evil one” (verse 38) and it is Satan himself who is sowing those weed seeds. The field in the whole world.

Just in case someone missed it, there are only two kinds of seeds in this field. Jesus would love for there to only be one kind. But in the beginning there arose an enemy of God. His name used to be Lucifer and he was the most beautiful angel God had created. He was “the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty” (Ezekiel 28:12). He was created as the highest angel, “the anointed cherub who covers” (Ezekiel 28:14). This was the position Lucifer held, until he decided he wanted to be “like the Most High” (Isaiah 14:14) himself. The creation wanted the position, authority, and worship belonging to the Creator.

In the creation of Lucifer/Satan, God gave him authority over other angels. One of the characteristics someone in authority has is an ability to get others to follow them. God created Satan with this ability. When he rebelled against God he enticed 1/3^rd of the angels to follow him. God removed this group from Heaven and cast them down to the earth. When God cast Satan down to Earth, he didn’t have a lot of power, but Eve fixed that for him. When Eve sinned God cursed the Earth along with man. Earth was now under new management.

Satan has not lost his ability to convince others to follow him, as demonstrated from Eve right on down through history. Therein lies Satan’s biggest power. He is a silver tonged devil. He is called the father of liars, and he will use any lie he can think of to create a new “son” for himself. He is good at selling man on a bill of goods, especially he one that man doesn’t need God.

No. Satan is NOT more powerful than God, nor is he equal in authority in ANY way to Jesus; Who is also part of God. But Satan is not a helpless spirit either. He is a real enemy of God. Jesus took his only true power away from him through His sacrifice on the cross. Because of sin entering the world and every person born in this world, Satan had the keys of death and Hell. Man was separated from God because of sin so man could not live in Heaven with God before Jesus completed His work. Once Jesus’ work was finished, He took the keys away from Satan and now Satan’s only tool is his lying tongue. Yes, he is still the prince or ruler of this world. But Jesus work removes those who believe in Him and surrender their life to him, out from under Satan’s rule and places us securely in God’s Kingdom under His rule.

So the seeds sown are Jesus’ words of life or Satan’s words of death. Both seeds will bring forth fruits or crops. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference, especially from the outside. God’s people don’t come equipped with halos and we often fail. Conversely, some people live exemplary lives but they live them for themselves, and reject God in the process. I would hate to be the servant trying to distinguish between the two. That is a lot of why God tells us not to judge. We don’t see the heart, God does. We also make mistakes and He doesn’t.

The ones charged with bringing in the harvest are God’s angels. They do this at the end of time. He instructs them in exactly what to look for. They know the difference between the two kinds of plants instantly. God tells them first to gather up Satan’s crop and BURN it. Then He sends them out to bring in the rest of the harvest, which now only contains Jesus’ crop.

If you are any studier of end time prophecy you probably have heard about the rapture of the church. You probably also know about the battle of Armageddon. The New Heaven and the New Earth are also familiar concepts too, along with the Judgment Seat and the Mercy Seat. I am not going to pretend to know the exact order and what happens with each of these events and meeting places with God. What I am going to say is that there WILL be a time when there is NO MORE SIN and Satan will no longer be able to influence men’s hearts. There will be ONE crop and ALL of it will belong to God.

Father God, I am SO looking forward to that day and place. I hate the lies that Satan tells. I hate that people still fall for them. I fall for some of them too. Thank You for helping me see through the most devastating one of all. The lie that I could live this life on my own terms and that I didn’t need You. I need You more than I need air to breathe! You are life itself. Without You is only death.

Thank You Jesus for Your work on the cross. Without it Satan would still hold us captive. You set the captive FREE! I know I don’t always live like the free woman You created me to be. When I listen to Satan’s lies and fall into the traps of sin, I bind myself up. I am fighting falling into one right now. I need to turn this over to You and let you fight my battle. Forgive me for entertaining thoughts of revenge. Be angry and sin not. Thank You Jesus for my freedom! Thank You that You do fight my battles for me, especially when I don’t even see Your “behind the scene’s” actions. Show me what to do in this situation I am facing now.

I want to provide you with some of the resources I was looking at today concerning Satan and his power in this world. At All About God.com I found the Story of Lucifer.  At Got Questions.org I found How much power does Satan possess.  And at Compelling Truth.org I found When was the fall of Satan and how did it happen. Just in case you were having any doubts after reading all this, JESUS WINS in the end!