19. The Kingdom Parables – The Fifth – The Hidden Treasure – Part 3 of 4
This study continues. We expand on some of the previous material and then open up a study on the church that matches the fifth parable. There is a challenge in looking at that Revelation church.
[H]. EXPANDING THE SECOND COMING WE LOOKED AT EARLIER
-It is most important to note here just where this parable is found in the chapter. Look at these verses (we touched on them earlier):-
{{Matthew 13:36 Then He left the multitudes and went into the house and His disciples came to Him saying, “Explain to us THE PARABLE OF THE TARES OF THE FIELD.”
Matthew 13:37 He answered and said, “THE ONE WHO SOWS THE GOOD SEED IS THE SON OF MAN,
Matthew 13:38 and THE FIELD IS THE WORLD and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom, and the tares are the sons of the evil one,
Matthew 13:39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and THE HARVEST IS THE END OF THE AGE, AND THE REAPERS ARE ANGELS.
Matthew 13:40 Therefore just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at THE END OF THE AGE.
Matthew 13:41 THE SON OF MAN WILL SEND FORTH HIS ANGELS AND THEY WILL GATHER OUT OF HIS KINGDOM ALL STUMBLING BLOCKS AND THOSE WHO COMMIT LAWLESSNESS,
Matthew 13:42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. In that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Matthew 13:43 THEN THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN IN THE KINGDOM OF THEIR FATHER. He who has ears, let him hear.
Matthew 13:44 “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field which a man found and hid, and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”}}
It is very important to note what these verses are saying.
1. The description of those verses is set at the end of the age.
2. The end of the age is the end of human rule when men have control “in God’s Kingdom. That Kingdom is the whole world over which God has control and contains good and evil. That is what operates now.
3. The end of the age ends with the Second Coming. We see more of that when we do The Dragnet, the last parable.
4. At the Second Coming all that is in the world that is bad (the unrighteous and wicked people, are gathered by the angels and sent to hell. This is at the same time of the separation of the sheep and goat nations. {{Matthew 25:31-34 “WHEN THE SON OF MAN COMES IN HIS GLORY, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne and ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE GATHERED BEFORE HIM, and He will separate them from one another as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and He will put THE SHEEP ON HIS RIGHT AND THE GOATS ON THE LEFT. Then the King will say to those on His RIGHT, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world”}} {{Matthew 25:41 “Then He will also say to those on His LEFT, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.”}}
5. Be absolutely certain that the Church is not on the earth at the end of the age. It has been in heaven for 7 years; has the Marriage Supper of the Lamb at the start of Revelation 19 IN HEAVEN, then she comes with the Lord back to earth at the Second Coming.
6. The righteous mentioned in verse 43 are the Jewish saints coming through the Great Tribulation, and coming from all over the world. As mentioned earlier the righteous fit in here – {{Malachi 4:2 “But for you who fear My name THE SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS WILL RISE with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall.”}}
7. Then in verse 44 the parable qualifies what was just said. The explanation of the hidden treasure, are the Jews gathered from all over the world “unearthed from all nations”. It is Israel redeemed. Paul is very exact on this point – {{Romans 11:25-27 “Brethren, I do not want you to be uninformed of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own estimation, that a PARTIAL HARDENING HAS HAPPENED TO ISRAEL UNTIL THE FULLNESS OF THE GENTILES HAS COME IN, and thus ALL ISRAEL WILL BE SAVED just as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion. HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB.” “And this is MY COVENANT WITH THEM, when I take away their sins.”}}. It is shameful that people write Israel off and make this an allegory.
8. I have two series on SermonCentral on the Restoration of Israel, one from Isaiah and one from Jeremiah. That restoration connects with “the righteous” of Matthew 13:44.
[I]. THE MATCHING CHURCH FOR THE PARABLE OF THE HIDDEN TREASURE
We have seen the exact correlation for the churches at Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamon, and Thyatira with the parables of the Sower, the Tares, the Mustard Seed and the Leaven. These also match the 4 periods of Church History and left us with the Roman Catholic Church for the last parable.
The next church from Revelation 3 is the church of Sardis, and the next period of Church History is the Protestant Reformation. Again, these two correlate.
As the hidden treasure is the righteous ones and pleasing to the Lord (It is Israel), so too were some in the Reformation. Let us begin now with an examination of the Church at Sardis, but before that, we consider the city of Sardis from history.
[J]. BACKGROUND FOR THE CITY OF SARDIS:
Sardis, one of the oldest cities of Asia, became a very important trade centre, and then, a wealthy city. It was the first city in the world to introduce a coinage system instead of the normal bartering. The city was 1000 feet above the valley of the Hermus, and on the slopes of Mt Timolus, and was like a fortress for security.
In one conflict, Cyrus, the Persian ruler, offered a reward to any man who could find a way of scaling the apparently unassailable cliffs so as to take the citadel and thus, Sardis. One of his soldiers named Hyeroeades, one day saw a Lydian soldier accidentally drop his helmet over the battlements and then make his way carefully down the cliff to retrieve it and realised there was a way to climb up. In the darkness of the following night, Hyeroeades and a party of Persians climbed the cliff, found the route, and clamoured over the unguarded battlements to the city and captured it.
A devastating, strong earthquake in A.D.17 almost destroyed the city, and Lydia. The Emperor, Tiberias, ordered the suspension of taxes for 5 years and also contributed 10 million sesterces towards the cost of the city’s rebuilding.
The patron deity of the city was the goddess, Cybele for whom a magnificent temple was built, 327 feet long by 163 feet wide. This worship was of the most debasing character and orgies like those of Dionysus were practised at the festivals held in her honour. Sins of the darkest and foulest impurity were committed on those occasions, and when we think of a small community of Christians rescued from such gross idolatry, living in scenes of the worst depravity, and reminders of companionship and connections, all pulling against Christians, it may be wondered how the few Christians in the Sardis church were not sucked back into the great vortex. Those of Sardis became decadent, and developed into effeminate, pleasure-loving voluptuaries. SO IN SARDIS, WHAT WAS OF NOTABLE MENTION, BECAME DEAD AND USELESS.
[K]. THE CORRECT MEANING OF THE WORD “SARDIS”
This is so pertinent to our study, and like the other 4 named in the Kingdom Parables, the name is just so significant. Sardis MEANS "THOSE ESCAPING," "THAT WHICH REMAINS," OR "THE REMNANT". That is so important in this study.
Sins of the darkest and foulest impurity were committed on those occasions, and when we think of a small community of Christians RESCUED FROM SUCH GROSS IDOLATRY (THE ESCAPING ONES), (Revelation 3:4), living in scenes of the worst depravity, and reminders of companionship and connections, all pulling against Christians, it may be wondered how the few escaping Christians in the Sardis church were not sucked back into the great vortex. It was the power of the Spirit that maintained them. The same temple prostitution prevailed as elsewhere, and was a natural and accepted part of living.
[L]. EXAMINATION OF THE LETTER TO SARDIS
(a). {{Revelation 3:1 “To the angel of the church in Sardis write: He who has the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars, says this: “I know your deeds, that YOU HAVE A NAME THAT YOU ARE ALIVE, BUT YOU ARE DEAD.”}}
This may not seem kind to the Sardis church, struggling as it was, but it is God speaking, not John. The church was known, had a name, but was dead. How many modern churches fit this category. They think they are something and outsiders think they are special and great, known by name, but in God’s estimation, they are dead. The church was dead to God.
The church was at work. They did things; deeds were known. They probably were active and helped others. They continued with the rituals and the form but it was no more than routine and dead.
(b). {{Revelation 3:2 “WAKE UP, and strengthen the things that remain which were about to die, for I HAVE NOT FOUND YOUR DEEDS COMPLETED IN THE SIGHT OF MY GOD.”}}
Wake up! This is God’s command to the church and it was urgent. Being asleep to the Lord was oblivious to the decay and tenuous death they faced. The comment about their deeds not being complete is very significant and this has great application to the period of Church History represented, which is the Protestant Reformation. We see that later on. Sleeping churches are not rare, sadly. They are asleep to the holiness and doctrinal purity of God.
(c). {{Revelation 3:3 “REMEMBER therefore what you have received and heard and keep it, and REPENT. If therefore you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come upon you.”}}
This is both a dire warning and promise. The church was asked to remember, recall what was heard at the start, and repent. God’s warning to them was conditional. If they refused to budge from their sleepiness (apathy is what it was), then the Lord will come upon them like a thief and they will be finished. Protestant churches, those who came out one way or another beginning with the Reformation, be very alert! Repent!
(d). {{Revelation 3:4 “You have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy.”}}
As one has said - [[”We are known by our ways. Unclean habits betray a corrupt character; purity and chastity reveal a character the same mould as themselves. The implication was that the majority in the Sardis church had been contaminated by their environment, and had become willing participants in the impure practices of their unregenerate neighbours. The nature goddess was worshipped in the city with all the lascivious fertility rites and wild revelry associated with her service.”]]
[[Latourette says, “Her ritual dramatised the death of vegetation in Winter and the revival in the Spring. The main outline of this myth recounted the love of Cybele, the Magna Mater, for the virgin-born shepherd Attis. Attis died and the goddess mourned for him and effected his resurrection and he became immortal and deified.
It had become very difficult for the Christian to close his eyes to all around him and steadfastly refuse to participate in it. It is evident that moral laxity had become a characteristic of the Christian community, and that only a remnant had dissociated from it and kept isolated from it. Clean garments for worship was the rule for all ancient worship and the culprits in the church at Sardis had somehow disqualified themselves for Christian communion.”]]
(e). {{Revelation 3:5 “He who OVERCOMES shall thus be clothed in WHITE GARMENTS and I will not erase his name from THE BOOK OF LIFE, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.”}}
This is a quotation from another:- [[“Moreover, the overcomer who had lived and fought for his Master, was promised he would be clothed in white raiment in a coming day. The words used, convey the sense of shining in intense whiteness in a dazzling heavenly glory. A vesture of light would enrobe him and the glory of celestial heights would be his garb. Entering the banquet hall after participating in the triumphal procession, he was to be clad in the brilliant festal robe. He belonged to the select and chosen few who were to take part in the feast to the conquering general. His loyalty and devotion had won for him the coveted place and now he was to enjoy the fruits of his faithfulness to his Lord. Christ took up the imagery and symbolism which would be familiar to this military city and painted the reward of His followers in terms which would be well understood and appreciated by those to whom the message was addressed.”]]
The same commentator has something very interesting to say about the “book of life”. Here it is:-
[[“The Book of Life”. Practically every city of that day maintained a roll or civic register of its citizens and in that record was entered the name of every child born in the city. If one of the citizens proved guilty of treachery or disloyalty or of anything bringing shame on the city, he was subjected to the public dishonour by the erasing of his name from the public register. He was no longer regarded to be worthy of being a citizen of the city. The name was normally obliterated at death in any case. If, on the other hand, a citizen had performed some exploit that was honourable as deserving special distinction, honour was bestowed on him, either by the recording of the deed in the city roll or by his name being encircled in gold in the roll. Our Lord’s statement, therefore, did not merely imply that the name of the overcomer would NOT be removed from the book of life, BUT that the heavenly record would pay honour to the one who merited such an award. Some writers consider the book of life to be a record of all mankind, while others declare it to be a record only of regenerate souls.]]
(f). {{Revelation 3:6 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”}}
As usual, unless we are in tune with the Holy Spirit then we miss out. The Spirit does not speak audibly to us, but certainly does through our one and only guidebook, the Scriptures. We also have the witness in our own spirits. The rulers and elders in particular must have ears to hear with a spiritual hearing.
That ends today’s message but next time we look at a very troubled subject – the position of this parable and its connection with the Sardis church and what that church represents; then we are going to look at the Reformation in a shorter overview in Church History to the present.
