The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1920-12-03
LESSON FOR DECEMBER S
THE GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM

LESSON TEXT-Matt l3:24-Ss.
GOLDEN TEXT-Fret not thyself be-
cause OF evil-doers.-Ps. 37:1.
ADDITIONAL MATERlAL-Gal. 6:6-10.
PRIMARY TOPIC-Jesus' Story About
Good Seed and Bad Seed.
JUNIOR TOPIC-The Story of the Wheat
and the Tares
INTERMEDIATE AND SENIOR TOPIC
Wheat and Tares.
YOUNG PEOPLE AND ADULT TOPIC
How the Kingdom of Heaven Grows.
The parallels Of this chapter set
forth in graphic way the condition
of affairs In the interval between
Christ's going away and His coming
again.
I. The Parable Of the Wheat and
Tares wv. 24-30. cf. 36-43).
/. The Sewers. ~ The Son Of
Man ". 37). He Is the One who sows
the good seed. The field in which they
are sown is the world. (2) The Devil
". 39). He is In peculiar sense
Christ's enemy. He intensely hates
Him, and with relentless energy Is
striving to defeat His purpose in saw
ing men. While men slumber. he sows
tares among the wheat.
2. The growing crops. They are
not easily distinguished while growing.
but the effects produced when eaten
are quite different. The wheat Is
wholesome. but the tares produce Ill
ness. The chief danger In the tares
lies In their resemblance to wheat. The
chief danger of the devil is that he
strives to initiate God.
8. The haryests. There comes a
time when the fruitage of the growing
crops shall be gathered. For the tares
there is a furnace Of fire where there
shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
The righteous shall be gathered into
the Lords garner and shall shine forth
as the sun in the kingdom of the
Father.
u. The Parable Of the Mustard
Seed wv. 81. 32).
l. Its Important beginning. 1t be-
gins MS the least Of all seeds and grows
to be the greatest among herbs. The
and humble circumstances
Of the King greatly perplexed the peo-
pie. That twelve unlettered fishermen
should be selected as His royal ad-
visers is still more amazing. The proph-
ct said concerning Him that He
should be despised, rejected, forsaken.
2. Its vigorous growth. From very
small beginnings the influence Of the
Christ has gone forth SO that there 10
no power or influence so great as that
of Christianity.
8. Its lodging capacity. The birds
which find lodgment in the tree do not
represent the children Of men which
find safety and salvation In the church.
Birds constitute no part of the tree.
The bird is something foreign to and
independent Of the tree. The branches
increase the growth Of the tree. but
birds are Injurious and burdensome to
1t. They are predatory-waiting to
pluck the tender buds or to prey upon
the ripened fruit The effect of such
lodging is evil. blighting and spelling
to the tree.
~. The Parable Of the Leavened
Meal ". 33).
/. The meal. Meal has wholesome
and nutritious effect. 1t was used in
one of the sweet-savor offerings, which
typified Christ Uev. 2:1-3, r.. W; 1t
was food for the priests (Lev. 6:15-17.
r. W; Abraham had Sarah knead
cake out of three measures of meal
for the angelic messengers (Gen.
8:6); Solomon's royal table was pro-
vided with meal Il Kings :22) Elijah
was fed upon a cake made of meal
III Kings 4: :4D Elisha used meal as
an antidote for the poison of death In
the pot (II Kings 4:3S-41).
2. The woman. The woman Is not
the head of the home, but its admins
traitor. Her responsibility is to take
the bread provided by the head. pre-
pare and distribute 1t to the children.
In Scripture we find false doctrine be-
ing taught by woman Grew. 2:20).
Dealing with doctrine is forbidden to
woman Il Tim. 2:12). In Tim. :1-3 |:
II Tim. 2:17. 49,; 4:3. 4; II Pet. 2:1-3,
we find that apostasy will be brought
in through false teachings within
the ranks of Gods people. The
meaning, then, of the parable is that
the true doctrine, the meal given for
the nourishment Of the children of the
kingdom QI Pet. 2:2; Tim. 4:8).
would officially be corrupted by false
doctrine The children's food is cor
rupted by the mother.
3. The leaven. In Scripture. leaven
is invariably a type of evil. Let the
following examples suffice as proof !:
~ All through the Old Testament
heaven Is continual and unvarying
type Of evil (Ex. 12:15; Lev. 2:11).
t2) Jesus himself makes leaven to
denote sin (Matt. 1876, 12; Mark s:15).
(3) Paul uses leaven in its usual bibli-
cal sense Il Cor. :6-S; Gal. 8 IS, 81.