2023-09-28 周四 国度的建立及假冒的情形

经文:祂就回答说,那撒好种的就是人子,田地就是世界,好种就是国度之子,稗子就是恶者之子,撒稗子的仇敌就是魔鬼,收割的时候就是这世代的终结,收割的人就是天使。(太十三37-39,另译)

从第二个比喻,主开始说,诸天的国好比,因为当五旬节教会建造时,诸天的国才开始建立,第二个比喻才开始应验。从那时,稗子(假信徒)便撒在真信徒(麦子)中,成为诸天之国的外表。

当主的奴仆睡觉,不儆醒时,主的仇敌魔鬼,便来把假信徒撒在真信徒中间。稗子是一种毒麦,是类似麦子的杂草,种子有毒,叫人昏睡、呕吐、痉挛,甚至死亡。稗子的芽和叶看起来与麦子一样,必须到吐穗的时候,二者才能分辨出来。

稗子大大阻挠麦子的生长,因为稗子耗尽了土壤的养料。我们可以把这个应用在我们当前的环境里。许多假基督徒阻挠了真基督徒的成长。凡有许多假信徒的地方,真信徒就很难在生命里长大。

这比喻揭示,藉着教会的建造,国度得着建立后不久,诸天之国的情形就起了变化。国度是由国度之子,麦子,建立起来的,但恶者之子,稗子,改变了情形。于是,诸天的国及其外表就产生了差异。国度之子,麦子,构成了国度;恶者之子,稗子,形成了国度的外表,就是今天的基督教国。

请享受生命诗歌234首 (点击诗歌名)


The Establishment of the Kingdom and Its False Constituents — Matt. 13:37-39

With the second parable the Lord began to say, “The kingdom of the heavens was likened to,” because the kingdom of the heavens began to be established when the church was built on the day of Pentecost, the time when the second parable began to be fulfilled. It was from that time, after the church was founded, that the tares, the false believers, were sown amidst the true believers, the wheat.

When the Lord’s slaves were sleeping, not watching, the Lord’s enemy, the Devil, came and sowed false believers amidst the true ones. A tare is a kind of darnel, a weed resembling wheat. Its seeds are poisonous, producing sleepiness, nausea, convulsions and even death. The sprout and leaves of the tares look the same as those of the wheat. It is impossible to discern one from the other until the fruit is produced.

Tares greatly frustrate the growth of the wheat because they exhaust the fertility of the soil which is meant to nourish the growing wheat. We may apply this to our present situation: many false Christians have frustrated the growth of the genuine Christians.

This parable discloses that not long after the establishment of the kingdom by the building of the church, the situation of the kingdom of the heavens changed. It was established with the sons of the kingdom, the wheat. But the sons of the evil one, the tares, grew up to alter the situation. Hence, a difference has arisen between the kingdom of the heavens and its outward appearance. Whereas the sons of the kingdom, the wheat, constitute the kingdom, the sons of the evil one, the tares, have formed the outward appearance of the kingdom, which today is called Christendom.