all the Old-Testament saints, all the New-Testament saints, not one missing: Gather my saints together to me, Ps. 50. 5. [3.] All God's wheat shall be lodged together in God's barn: particular souls are housed at death as a shock of corn, (Job 5. 26.) but the general in-gathering will be at the end of time: God's wheat will then be put together, and no longer scattered; there will be sheaves of corn, as well as bundles of tares: they will then be secured, and no longer exposed to wind and weather, sin and sorrow: no longer afar off, and at a distance, in the field, but near, in the barn. Nay, heaven is a garner, (ch. 3. 12.) in which the wheat will not only be separated from the tares of ill companions, but sifted from the chaff of their own corruptions.
In the explanation of the parable, this is gloriously represented; (v. 43.) Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. First, It is their present honour, that God is their Father. Now are we the sons of God; (1 John 3. 2.) our Father in heaven is King there. Christ, when he went to heaven, went to his Father, and our Father, John 20. 17. It is our Father's house, nay, it is our Father's palace, his throne, Rev. 3. 21. Secondly, The honour in reserve for them is, that they shall shine forth as the sun in that kingdom. Here they are obscure and hidden, (Col. 3. 3.) their beauty is eclipsed by their poverty, and the meanness of their outward condition; their own weaknesses and infirmities, and the reproach and disgrace cast upon them, cloud them; but then they shall shine forth as the sun from behind a dark cloud: at death they shall shine forth to themselves, at the great day they will shine forth publicly before all the world, their bodies will be made like Christ's glorious body; they shall shine by reflection, with a light borrowed from the Fountain of light: their sanctification will be perfected, and their justification published; God will own them for his children, and will produce the record of all their services and sufferings for his name: they shall shine as the sun, the most glorious of all visible beings. The glory of the saints is in the Old Testament compared to that of the firmament and the stars, but here to that of the sun; for life and immortality are brought to a much clearer light by the gospel, than under the law. Those who shine as lights in this world, that God may be glorified, shall shine as the sun in the other world, that they may be glorified. Our Saviour concludes as before, with a demand of attention; Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. These are things which it is our happiness to hear of, and our duty to hearken to.
III. Here is the parable of the grain of mustard-seed, v. 31, 32. The scope of this parable is to show that the beginnings of the gospel would be small, but that its latter end would greatly increase. In this way the gospel-church, the kingdom of God among us, would be set up in the world; in this way the work of grace in the heart, the kingdom of God within us, would be carried on in particular persons.
Now concerning the work of the gospel, observe,
1. That it is commonly very weak and small at first, like a grain of mustard-seed, which is one of the least of all seeds. The kingdom of the Messiah, which was now in the setting up, made but a small figure; Christ and the apostles, compared with the grandees of the world, appeared like a grain of mustard-seed, the weak things of the world. In particular places, the first breaking out of the gospel-light is but as the dawning of the day; and in particular souls, it is at first the day of small things, like a bruised reed. Young converts are like lambs that must be carried in the arms, Isa. 40. 11. There is a little faith, but there is much lacking in it, (1 Thess. 3 10.) and the groanings such as cannot be uttered, they are so small; a principle of spiritual life, and some motion, but scarcely discernible.
2. That yet it is growing and coming on. Christ's kingdom strangely got ground; great accessions were made to it: nations were born at once, in spite of all the oppositions it met with from hell and earth. In the soul where grace is true, it will grow really, though perhaps insensibly. A grain of mustard-seed is small, but, however, it is seed, and has in it a disposition to grow. Grace will be getting ground, shining more and more, Prov. 4. 18. Gracious habits confirmed, actings quickened, and knowledge more clear, faith more confirmed, love more inflamed; here isthe seed growing.
3. That it will at last come to a great degree of strength and usefulness; when it is grown to some maturity, it becomes a tree, much larger in those countries than in ours. The church, like the vine brought out of Egypt, has taken root, and filled the earth, Ps. 80. 9—11. The church is like a great tree, in which the fowls of the air do lodge; God's people have recourse to it for food and rest, shade and shelter. In particular persons, the principle of grace, if true, will persevere and be perfected at last: growing grace will be strong grace, and will bring much to pass. Grown christians must covet to be useful to others, as the mustard-seed when grown is to the birds; that those who dwell near or under their shadow, may be the better for them, Hos. 14. 7.
IV. Here is the parable of the leaven, v. 33. The scope of this is much the same with that of the foregoing parable, to show that the gospel should prevail and be successful by degrees, but silently and insensibly: the preaching of the gospel is like leaven, and works like leaven in the hearts of those who receive it.
1. A woman took this leaven, it was her work. Ministers are employed in leavening places, in leavening souls, with the gospel. The woman is the weaker vessel, and we have this treasure in such vessels.
2. The leaven was hid in three measures of meal. The heart is, as the meal, soft and pliable; it is the tender heart that is likely to profit by the word: leaven among corn unground does not work, nor does the gospel in souls unhumbled and unbroken for sin: the law grinds the heart, and then the gospel leavens it. It is three measures of meal, a great quantity, for a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. The meal must be kneaded, before it receive the leaven; our hearts, as they must be broken, so they must be moistened, and pains taken with them to prepare them for the word, that they may receive the impressions of it. This leaven must be hid in the heart, (Ps. 119. 11.) not so much for secrecy (for it will show itself) as for safety: our inward thought must be upon it, we must lay it up, as Mary laid up the sayings of Christ, Luke 2. 51. When the woman hides the leaven in the meal, it is with an intention that it should communicate its taste and relish to it; so we must treasure up the word in our souls; that we may be sanctified by it, John 17. 17.
3. The leaven thus hid in the dough, works there, it ferments; the word is quick and powerful, Heb. 4. 12. The leaven works speedily, so does the word, and yet gradually. What a sudden change did Elijah's mantle make upon Elisha! 1 Kings 19. 20. It works silently and insensibly, (Mark 4. 26.) yet strongly and irresistibly: it does its work without noise, for so is the way of the Spirit, but does it without fail. Hide but the leaven in the dough, and all the world cannot hinder it from communicating its taste and relish to it, and yet none sees how it is done, but by degrees the whole is leavened.
(1.) Thus it was in the world. The apostles, by their preaching, hid a handful of leaven in the great
