Nothing good has ever come into the world without opposition, and that is especially true in spiritual matters. Here we face not only the hostility of mere people like ourselves but satanic opposition as well. That is why the Bible warns us to be on our guard against the devil, who, we are told, “prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” The Scripture alerts us to the devil’s “schemes,” because he must not be allowed to “outwit us.”
Category: Heads Up (Page 14 of 36)
Articles written by Pastor Steve for the White Mountain Independent newspaper
The third type of soil in Matthew 13 stands for a strangled heart – a heart strangled by things. The Lord describes those things as thorns and says, “The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.” We know this was true in Jesus’ day because of our Lord’s many warnings against riches: “I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven” and “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
The first parable is an ideal one with which to begin, since it deals with the beginning or origins of the Kingdom. Here it is compared to a farmer sowing seed. “A farmer went out to sow his seed” (Matthew 13). Not all of Christ’s parables are explained. In fact, most are not. But this one is, and the explanation Jesus gives is our starting point. The seed is the Gospel of the Kingdom, and the soil is the human heart. The emphasis is on the various kinds of hearts and how they reject or receive Christ’s message.
Although Jesus was much more than a storyteller, He was at least that, and as a result, the people of His day flocked to Him and listened to Him gladly.
Recent discussions in Matthew 12 provide good, strong evidence for the truthfulness of Christianity. It shows the accuracy of the Bible, the divine self-awareness and prophetic knowledge of Jesus, and most of all perhaps, the importance of the resurrection as a verification of Christ’s claims. The sign of Jonah is still the greatest of all signs.
The Pharisees must have been smarting from their verbal defeat by Jesus. Jesus had shown that their evil explanation of His miracles – that He was casting out demons by the power of Satan – was both absurd and contradictory. His arguments should have moved them to reconsider their position, but they did not, of course. They hated Jesus, so rather than altering their views, they merely came at Hm from another direction, demanding a miraculous sign.