Everything in the natural is a picture of the spiritual.
It was made to teach us the spiritual.
The natural is visible and the spiritual is invisible.
So the natural is used to show us the spiritual.
The visible is used to shows us the invisible.
When Jesus explains spiritual things to us, He always uses natural things.
For example, He speaks of a sower who sows in a field.
Matthew 13:18-23
Therefore hear the parable of the sower:
When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart.
This is he who received seed by the wayside.
But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;
yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while.
For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.
Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.
But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
The seed is a picture of the gospel,
the field is the heart of the one who hears it,
and the sower is the one who brings the message.
However, not only the good seed of the Word of God grows in all hearts.
Thorns and thistles also grow in some hearts.
But why does Jesus use these natural images to explain the spiritual?
Jesus explains;
Matthew 13:13+16
Therefore I speak to them in parables;
because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear.
Many people only see with their natural eyes, because their spiritual eyes are still closed.
Therefore they do not understand what Jesus means and they do not understand the spiritual meaning of the natural images.
The first time this occurs is with Adam and Eve.
Genesis 3:6a
The woman saw that the tree was good for food,
that it was pleasant to the eyes,
and a tree desirable to make one wise
The fruit of this tree is a picture of earthly wisdom.
Adam and Eve walked with God every day, so they always had access to the wisdom of God.
The earthly wisdom however looked very attractive.
Genesis 3:6b
…she took of its fruit and ate.
She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
Then the eyes of both of them were opened
Adam and Eve had always looked with spiritual eyes and saw only the wisdom of God,
but by taking in earthly wisdom, their spiritual eyes were closed and they began to see with natural eyes.
This is why Jesus said:
John 9:39
For judgment I have come into this world;
that those who do not see, may see, and that those who see, may be made blind.
Again we see the spiritual eyes that must be opened to see heaven
and the natural eyes that must be closed, as it were, so that we are not tempted by earthly wisdom.
Now we can also see the image appear of thorns and thistles in the field.
Genesis 3:17
God said to Adam:
Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’:
“Cursed is the ground for your sake;
In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life.
Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,
and you shall eat the herb of the field.
What brought those thorns and thistles?
By listening to what someone said.
Adam listened to the voice of his wife
and the woman had listened to the voice of the serpent.
Now, instead of only the good seed of the voice, the Word of God, coming up, thorns and thistles come up through the seed of the voice proclaiming earthly wisdom.
For example, this voice bringing earthly wisdom says that you have to earn the love of God.
It says that you have to work hard for it, while God’s love is only grace.
Ephesians 2:8
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves;
it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
People who say you should earn the love of God are called false prophets in the Bible.
Jesus warns us about these false teachers.
He said:
Matthew 7:15+24
Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
You will know them by their fruits.
Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?
Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock.
Jesus here connects the fruit with wisdom.
King Solomon does the same:
Proverbs 24:30-31
I went by the field of the lazy man,
And by the vineyard of the man devoid of understanding (not wise);
And there it was, all overgrown with thorns;
Its surface was covered with thistles;
Its stone wall was broken down.
This imagery of thorns and thistles, combined with wisdom, occurs throughout the Bible.
We had already discovered that we see this for the first time with Adam and Eve.
The fruit of the tree looked attractive and gave you wisdom.
But the result of eating that fruit is that thorns and thistles spring up and sting your mind,
mixing earthly wisdom with the wisdom of God.
Paul tells in his letter to the Corinthians that he also suffers from thorns and thistles.
He calls it a thorn in his flesh.
To learn to see the inexhaustible love of God through the story of the thorn in the flesh with Paul and to discover its deep meaning (you’ll be amazed!) do the study or watch the video on YouTube.
Paul writes:
2 Corinthians 12:7-9
Lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me;
a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.
Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me.
And He said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.
The grace of God was fully revealed to Paul and must be revealed to us too…
Ephesians 4:13
…till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man,
to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine,
by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting.
The revelation to Paul of the grace of God was to exalt him to the measure of the size of the fullness of Christ.
But a messenger of Satan tells him things contrary to this, for the purpose of not being exalted to the measure of that fullness.
The messenger of Satan with his message plants a seed in Paul’s mind from which thorns spring up that pierce Paul’s mind.
He asks God to take this false teacher away from him, but God teaches him that His grace is enough to come to the measure of the size of the fullness of God.
The grace of God is found in Jesus Christ, in His broken body and His blood.
The first time Jesus bled is in the Garden of Gethsemane, just before He is arrested.
Luke 22:44
Being in agony, He prayed more earnestly.
Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
Notice the images throughout the Bible!
Genesis 3:17
God said to Adam:
Because you have heeded the voice of your wife,
and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’:
“Cursed is the ground for your sake;
In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life.
Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,
And you shall eat the herb of the field.
In the garden of Gethsemane, the blood of Jesus falls to the ground, cleansing the ground that was cursed after Adam and Eve first ate of the fruit.
This ground is a reflection of our heart.
A heart that could be sown with seeds that produce thorns and thistles that sting our minds and so tempt us to do certain things to try to earn the love of God.
Matthew 13:22
Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.
In this way we place ourselves under the law and not under the grace of God!
Paul puts it this way:
Galatians 5:4
You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.
The blood of Christ has lifted the curse from our hearts!
This is made clear to us in a wonderfully beautiful way even in the story of Noah.
Do the study on Noah or watch the video on Youtube
Jesus Christ shows that the Way to God is free, that we may come to Him with boldness.
Jesus died as you and rose again as you.
Romans 6:4
Therefore we were buried with Him
through baptism into death,
that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father,
even so we also should walk in newness of life!
So always keep your eyes fixed on Jesus.
He shows you the Way, He is the Truth, He is Life.
He has worn the crown of thorns so that thorns and thistles no longer need to sting your mind.
Hebrews 9:13
For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer,
sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh,
how much more shall the blood of Christ,
who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God,
cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God!
