PARABLES OF CHRIST
OLD AND NEW TREASURE
DR. JIM DIXON
MATTHEW 5:17-19, MATTHEW 13:51-52, 2 TIMOTHY 3:14
JULY 19, 1998
Voltaire was the pen name of the French writer and philosopher whose real name was Francois-Marie Arouet. Voltaire was considered to be one of the greatest thinkers of his generation. He was a rationalist who subjected all things to the scrutiny of his own thought. He was educated in a Jesuit school, but he rejected Christianity completely and utterly. The year was 1728 when Voltaire made his famous quote, “It took many centuries to build up Christianity but I will show how just one Frenchman can destroy it within 50 years.”
It was exactly 50 years later that Voltaire died. The year was 1778. Voltaire was 83 years of age. Only 20 years after that, in 1798, Voltaire’s house in Paris was purchased by the Geneva Bible Society. They used Voltaire’s house to publish Bibles and distribute Bibles throughout France. A few years after that, Voltaire’s house was purchased by the British and Foreign Bible Society in conjunction with the American Bible Society. They distributed Bibles all over the world.
Before Voltaire died, Voltaire said, “I wish I had never been born.” The Bible says, “All flesh is like grass. All of its glory is like the flower of the grass. The grass withers and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord abides forever.”
I want to speak to you this morning on the subject of the Word of the Lord. I want to talk to you today about the Bible, which has stood the test of time. In our passage of scripture for today, Jesus gives a little parable. He had just taught His disciples seven parables, and having taught them seven parables, He said to them, “Have you understood all of this?” They said, “Yes, Lord.” Jesus said, “Therefore, every scribe of the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a householder who took out of his treasure both that which is old and that which is new.”
Now, the scribes were those who studied the scriptures. The scribes were those who pored over the Penteteuch, the Torah, the law and the prophets. For the scribes, the Old Testament was treasure. But when Jesus Christ left His heavenly throne of glory and came to earth and walked this earth and began to teach, suddenly every scribe of the kingdom of heaven had new treasure to go with the old. When Jesus began to speak, suddenly every scribe of the kingdom of heaven had new treasure to go with the old. Of course, this treasure has come to us in the form of the Bible, the Old and New Testament. We understand that the Bible is a treasure out of which we draw things that are old and things that are new.
This morning as we examine this treasure called the Bible, I have two teachings. The first teaching concerns life. The Bible is a treasure because the Bible offers life. To understand this, we have to go back to the book of Genesis, the second chapter, where the Bible says that God breathed on man and man became a living soul, the breath of God imparting life. Then in John 20 we’re told that the resurrected Christ breathed on His disciples and they received new life, the breath of God imparting life. Now, we’re told in 2 Timothy, chapter 3, one of our passages for today, that “all scripture is inspired of God.” But the Greek word there for inspired is the word “theopneustos.” This word literally means “God breathed.” All scripture is God breathed. The breath of God is upon this book and the breath of God imparts life. The breath of God imparts life. That’s why is says in the book of Hebrews, “The Word of God is living.” The Greek word is “zoe,” from which we get the word zoology and from which we get the word zoo. The word “zoe” was used in biblical times to refer to spiritual life. This book is a treasure because it gives spiritual life.
Many years ago in central Chile, there lived an 11-year-old girl whose name was Maria. Maria had lost her mother two years earlier when Maria was only nine years old. Maria’s father was still alive. Maria was a Christian. She had accepted Christ as her Savior and her Lord. Maria’s mother had been a Christian. Maria’s mother had loved Jesus Christ. Both Maria and her mother had prayed for Maria’s father that he might come to know and love Christ, but he was an atheist or at best an agnostic.
Oftentimes, Maria would ask her father to read the Bible to her but he refused. He never wanted to have anything to do with the Bible. Oftentimes Maria and her mother would try to talk to her father about Christ, but he refused to listen. Well, Maria’s father was a miner in central Chile. One day as he was going down into the mine, leaving home to go work in the mines on the night shift, Maria slipped a little Bible into his pocket without him knowing it. She slipped a little Bible into her father’s pocket. He went down into the mine that night. At 1:10 AM, there was a horrible explosion and the miners were buried deep in the earth. All through the night and into the next morning, the people of that little town in central Chile dug trying to reach those miners. One of those miners who died in that explosion was Maria’s father.
When they came to the section of the mines where he was, they found him and seven other men. They had been trapped in this one section and for want of air they died. All eight of these men were in a circle when they found them. They all had passed away, but they’d obviously been having a meeting and they had been conversing. In Maria’s father’s lap they found the little Bible. Inside the Bible, they found a note. I’m going to read that note to you. “Dear Maria: Thank you for putting this little Bible in my pocket. I have been reading it to the men here. It gives us strength. I asked Jesus Christ to come into my heart and be my Lord just as the Bible says. When you read this, I will be with your mother. Someday we’ll all be together. I love you, Maria. Your Dad.”
I remember when I first read that letter and I first heard that story (which is a true story). I remember how I marveled at the power of the Word of God to give life even in the midst of death. I remember how I marveled at the power of the Word of God to give spiritual life even in the midst of physical death. I marvel no less today. This book is a treasure and it’s a treasure because it gives life. It gives spiritual life.
You’ve all heard of the Gideons. The Gideon organization places Bibles in hotels and motels all over the world. They have story after story of women and men who have been in a hotel room, simply picked up the Bible and began to read, and found life, found Christ, found the light that only Christ can give. God wants you to understand this morning that, if you would immerse yourself in the Bible, if you would become a scribe of scripture, if you would become a scribe who views the Bible as treasure and if you would draw from it daily, that which is old and that which is new, you will become a source of life. By the power of Christ as His Word is hid in your heart, you will become a source of life. That’s why Jesus said, “If you abide in Me and My word abides in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be My disciples.” “If My Word abides in you…” and does His word abide in you? Do you want to be a giver of life as opposed to a taker as you live in this world?
The Psalmist writes that those who meditate upon the word are like trees, planted by rivers of living water that brings forth their fruit in its season. Their leaves do not wither and all that they do, they prosper.
According to the Barna Research Institute, one out of every two Americans hear the Word of God each week. One out of two Americans hear the Word of God each week. They hear it taught. They hear it preached. Perhaps they hear it in a church, perhaps on a radio, perhaps on television, but one out of two Americans hear the Word of God each week. One out of three Americans, according to the Barna Research Institute, read the Bible each week. One out of three. Not each day, but each week. One out of ten Americans study the Bible. They don’t just read a passage, but they actually study it. One out of 25 Americans memorize some portion of the Bible each week and one out of every 50 do all four of the above.
Where are you? Where are you in your walk with Christ? What place does this treasure have in your life? How often do you dig into this treasure to find things old and new? Have you become a scribe of the kingdom of heaven? Are you finding the life and all of its fullness that Christ wants you to have?
Well, there’s a second teaching this morning and the second teaching concerns light. The Bible is not only a treasure because it gives life, but the Bible is a treasure because it gives light. This is really a more difficult and a more complex teaching and it’s going to take a little bit more thought to follow this, but the Bible gives light. To understand this, we need to understand the world is in darkness. I think most of you know that the world is in darkness. “God is light,” the Bible says. “God is light. In Him is no darkness at all,” it says in 1 John, chapter 1. “God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.” But the world, the Bible teaches us, is separated from God, separated from the light, and the world is in darkness, in desperate need of the light.
In the Old Testament era, the light oftentimes came through the priesthood. It was the priests of Israel who brought the light of God to the people through the priesthood. I think most of you know that the priests of Israel represented the people of God before the throne of God. They did this through a sacrificial system. This was true supremely of the High Priest, who represented the people of God before God, before the throne of God through the sacrificial system.
I think most of you know that on Yom Kippur, on the Day of Atonement, the High Priest went into the Holy of Holies and there he sprinkled the blood of animals on the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant, hoping to atone for the sin of the people. I think most of you know that on that same day, on the Day of Atonement, the High Priest vested the sin of the people upon a scapegoat and sent the scapegoat into the wilderness, unto Azazel, symbolically removing the sin of the people from them. The High Priest did this all for the people. He did this to represent the need of the people before God, but the High Priest not only represented the people before God. The High Priest represented God before people. It was the responsibility of the High Priest to represent the light of God to the people.
For this purpose, the High Priest had two sacred oracles, the Bible calls Urim and Thummim. These two sacred oracles that you read about in the Old Testament were kept by the High Priest beneath the breastplate above the ephod. The etymology of Urim and Thummim are difficult because these words are not Hebrew. The Hebrew people borrowed these words from foreign peoples. They simply transliterated these words into Hebrew, but most etymologists believe that Urim and Thummim mean “light” and “truth.” It was the purpose of these sacred oracles to impart the light of God and the truth of God, to the people. You can go to Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges… you can go even to 1 Samuel and you will see, again and again, the priest consulting the Urim and Thummim, seeking light for the people. But there came a point where God said, “No longer will I speak through Urim.” No longer would He give His light through those oracles. And God began to give His light through the prophets. It was the prophets of Israel who imparted the light of God to a world of darkness.
But then you come to Hebrews, chapter 1. It says, “In many and various ways, God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days, God has spoken through His Son whom He’s appointed the heir of all things and through whom also He created the worlds.” Jesus came into the world. And what did He say? “I am the Light of the World.” He is light come into the darkness. We are to understand that we have His light. We have His light in this book, in the Bible, and what a gift that light is. What a gift.
Now, when we say that the Bible is a treasure that gives light, we mean it in three different ways. First of all, we mean it prophetically. The Bible gives prophetic light.
I think most of you know that the Bronco pre-season is only three weeks away. Some of you are excited. Some of you are bummed out. But the Bronco season is only three weeks away. I was at the supermarket yesterday with Barbara. She was in line, and I was thumbing through these football magazines that make predictions for the coming season. I looked through three NFL magazines just to see what their predictions were. All three of these magazines predicted that the Kansas City Chiefs would win the AFC West and they would win the AFC. Two of the magazines predicted that the Kansas City Chiefs would ultimately win the Super Bowl. But, of course, it doesn’t matter because in those magazines the light is dim. The light is dim. You understand, they are not prophetic. They are not Urim. They are not light. God only knows what’s going to happen in the football season.
But you come to this book and you find prophetic light. In the Book of Isaiah, it was prophesied that the Messiah would come from the line of David and so He did. In the Book of Micah, it was prophesied that the Messiah would be born in the little town of Bethlehem. And so He was. In the Book of Zechariah, it was prophesied that the Messiah would be betrayed by a friend for thirty pieces of silver, and so it happened. In the Book of Isaiah again it was prophesied that the Messiah would be a suffering servant who would die for the sin of the world. In the Book of Daniel it was prophesied in the prophecy of the seventy weeks the very year that the Messiah would die. And it was accurate to the year.
As you go through the Psalms, you see the crucifixion of Christ, the ascension of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, all prophesied. Of course, the major and minor prophets of scripture prophesied that the Jews would be scattered over the earth for centuries and generations, distributed amongst the nations but at the consummation they would be regathered in a regathering to their homeland and Israel would become a nation again. And so it happened in 1948 to the amazement of the world. In the major and minor prophets, it was prophesied that the Jews, having become a nation again, would once again reoccupy the city of Jerusalem, and so it happened in 1967.
The Bible prophesied that Sodom and Gomorrah would never be rebuilt, and so it is that today they remain buried, perhaps under the southern portion of the Dead Sea. The Bible prophesied that the ancient city of Babylon would be destroyed and never rebuilt. Archeologists only recently discovered its ruins. Jesus prophesied, as recorded in scripture, that the cities of Chorazin and Capernaum and Bethsaida would be destroyed and never built again. And so it was that after the biblical era those cities were destroyed and they remain in ruins to this day while other cities like Tiberius, around the Sea of Galilee, remain today.
Do not marvel at this, because the Bible is prophetic light. And the Bible prophesies that there will come a time of great tribulation. The Bible prophesies that there will come on the final stage of history the Antichrist. The Bible prophesies that there will come Armageddon. The Bible prophesies that Jesus Christ will come again in power and great glory, and He will judge the nations and He will receive His people unto Himself. All of these things will indeed happen because this is a treasure which gives light.
As Christians, having come into the light, we already see the future. We see what we need to know about the future and we know how it’s all going to tum out. We know our destiny and we know that we will spend eternity with our Lord Jesus Christ in a New Heavens and a New Earth because it’s all in the book.
When we say that the Bible is light, we are not only speaking prophetically but morally. The Bible gives moral light to a world that is in moral darkness. Is this not true? Moral light. It says in the 119th Psalm, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” The Bible there is not speaking of prophetic light but moral light. The Bible, the Word, enables us to walk the moral path that we’re called to walk day-by-day.
Some years ago, archeologists unearthed in Israel these little lamps, these little tiny lamps that had sealed compartments for oil. Beneath each little tiny lamp, they found a ring. They were baffled for a long period of time as to the use of these little tiny lamps. Then one archeologist read the 119th Psalm and that verse, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path” and they understood that these little lamps were actually placed on the toe, the big toe, of the feet and actually used to give a little bit of light for those who would walk paths in the darkness. Certainly, the Bible served that purpose for us. It enables us to not only see far in the future with prophetic light but it enables us to take one step at a time with the moral instruction that is in the Word.
But the Bible is not only prophetic and moral light, the Bible also gives (and we’ll conclude with this) what we might call a missiological light, a ministerial light. The Bible enables us to understand our mission. The Bible enables us to understand our purpose. How critical is this?
In 1799, Napoleon’s soldiers discovered the Rosetta Stone in the Nile Delta. A French soldier in Napoleon’s army stumbled upon it. The Rosetta Stone had been buried near the little town of Rosetta, which wasn’t too far from the ancient city of Alexandria. The Rosetta Stone has been called the greatest archeological discovery in the history of the world. And indeed, the Rosetta Stone has proven to be incredibly important. For centuries, philologists and linguists had been unable to understand the ancient Egyptian languages. For centuries, philologists and linguists had been unable to decipher the meaning of Egyptian hieroglyphics. They could find no pattern of internal consistency. They were not able to understand Egyptian hieroglyphics, but they found the Rosetta Stone and that was the key that unlocked the whole deal.
On the Rosetta Stone they found inscribed an inscription to Ptolemy V Epiphanes, who ascended the throne of Egypt 203 years before Christ. That same inscription was carved into the stone in three languages: First, Egyptian hieroglyphics, then the demotic text, which was the written text Egyptians used 203 years before Christ, and then finally the Greek language. By looking at these three and comparing them, philologists and linguists were able to understand Egyptian hieroglyphics. It unlocked the meaning of the whole deal.
You see, we live in a world where many people do not understand the meaning of life. You see that in the book of Ecclesiastes where you see the attitude of the world reflected. “Vanity, vanity, all is vanity. Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow you die.” Life has no meaning. That’s how many people feel. But you come to the Bible, and you get a worldview, a biblical worldview. The tragedy is many people who take the name of Christ do not have a biblical worldview. They’ve not really come into the light. God would ask you today, do you have a biblical worldview? Has the meaning of life been unlocked for you? Do you really understand it? You see, the Bible tells us that God is a loving Creator. This is foundational to a biblical worldview. God is a loving Creator.
I hold in my hands Newsweek and U.S. News magazines this last week. One says, “Science Finds God.” The other says, “Is Ours the Only Universe?” You can look in these magazines and you’ll find some scientists who look at the creation and posit a creator, but you’ll find other scientists who look at the creation and they see no creator. I mean they think the whole deal just spontaneously generated.
Ludicrous as it might seem, there are some people out there who think that there can be a creation without a creator, there can be an effect without a cause. That’s just rationally absurd. And yet it’s a world in darkness and there are a lot of people who do not understand that God is a loving Creator. This is foundational to a biblical worldview. Being a loving Creator, He seeks fellowship with us. He seeks fellowship with us, but that fellowship was broken because mankind is fallen. Mankind is fallen. That’s foundational to a biblical worldview. Since we are fallen, we are separated from God, sinners in need of a Savior, sinners in need of grace. Jesus Christ is that Savior. For this He was born and for this He came into the world.
Christians, those who believe in Jesus Christ are aliens. This is foundational to a biblical worldview. If you believe in Jesus Christ, you’re an alien on the earth. You’re not meant to blend in. If you just blend in, you’ve not come into the light. You don’t have a biblical prospective and you do not have a biblical worldview. You are an alien on the earth. This world is not your home. You’re just passing through and you have been given a mission. You are ambassadors for Christ. The whole light of scripture is meant to reveal this—that YOU are called into ministry. That is why constantly in this church we are calling you to participate in volunteer activities, in compassionate, loving activities in the inner city with the poor, in service to your brothers and sisters in Christ right here at the church in Sunday school, and in small groups and in so many ways. Indeed, on the mission fields, we call you to take the gospel to the nations because it’s all part of the light, missiologically speaking. Understanding our mission, we have been called to ministry. A Christian who’s not involved in ministry—I mean, that just creates cognitive dissonance. That’s not possible.
Christians are called into ministry. If indeed you would be people of the book, understand that this is the truth, the light. We have been called as aliens to be ambassadors for Christ in a world that is fallen and in darkness. Let’s look to the Lord with a word of prayer.